Politicon: How The Heck Are We Gonna Get Along with Clay Aiken

Clay sits down with Academy Award winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, the mastermind behind HBO’s upcoming Crime of the Century, a two part special taking on the opioid epidemic and the forces behind it, along with many other movies.  Does the profit motive drive people and corporations to slowly deceive themselves about what they are truly doing?  Is Congress on our side, or on that of those who would profit off our human needs?  And is the race to the top what’s pushing aside our humanity and ability to get along?
Guest:Alex GibneyDirector Alex Gibney has been called “the most important documentarian of our time” by Esquire Magazine (Esquire) and “one of America’s most successful and prolific documentary filmmakers” by The New York Times (The NY Times T Magazine).Known for his cinematic, gripping, and deeply insightful documentaries, the filmmaker has won the Academy Award®, multiple Emmy Awards, the Grammy Award, several Peabody Awards, the DuPont-Columbia, The Independent Spirit, The Writers Guild of America Awards, and more. Gibney was honored with the International Documentary Association’s Career Achievement Award in 2013 and the first ever Christopher Hitchens Prize in 2015.Gibney’s upcoming project The Crime of the Century debuts on HBO in May 2021, and his other films include: Taxi to the Dark Side (2008 Oscar); Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Oscar nominated 2006); Triple Emmy Award winning and Peabody Award Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (HBO); Emmy winning The History of the Eagles (Showtime); 2015 Peabody Award and Grammy nominated Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown; The Armstrong Lie (2013), which was short-listed for the 2014 Academy Award and nominated for the 2014 BAFTA Award, along with his film We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks (2013); and Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010), which was nominated for three Emmys.Get more from Alex:

Twitter |Jig Saw Films |HBO’S Crime of The Century | And Many Other Films…

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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In an emotional week for the nation, Clay welcomes journalist, author and political maven Jonathan Allen to discuss the political forces that brought us to our current moment and where they might take us.  With justice done after the Chauvin trial, and President Biden’s approval rating sitting near 60%, there are some reasons to hope that we might be getting closer to getting along than we’ve been in years.  But are the trends we’re seeing the result of luck, or is a new majority coalescing around the moderate policies of the Biden administration?
Guest:Jonathan Allen

Jonathan Allen is an award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author who covers national politics for NBC News.Formerly the Washington bureau chief for Bloomberg News and the White House bureau chief for Politico, Jonathan is a winner of the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for reporting on Congress and the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for excellence in political journalism. He has been a frequent guest political analyst on national television programs for the past 15 years and teaches a course on presidential politics at Northwestern University."Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won The Presidency" is his third book with Amie Parnes. Their first two books, "Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign" and "HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton," were both New York Times bestsellers. "Shattered" reached No. 1 on the list.Jonathan, who grew up in Silver Spring and Bethesda, Md., is a graduate of the University of Maryland and lives on Capitol Hill with his wife and two children. Before graduating from Maryland, he played baseball at St. Mary's College in Southern Maryland.Get more from Jon:

Twitter |NBC |Author of “Lucky” | And Other Books…

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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Clay welcomes business maven, author, and former Seal Team 2 Commander Mike Hayes to find out what our leadership needs to face the challenges of the 21st century.  Do our politicians have what it takes?  And more importantly, do we?  With optimism, focus, and the belief that we all have a contribution to make, we can unite around a bright future if we work for it.  But can we put aside our differences, embrace an ethic of service,  and step up to lead our families, friends, and neighbors to our shared dreams?  Mike thinks we can...
Guest:Mike Hayes

Mike Hayes is the Chief Digital Transformation Officer at VMware and responsible for the company's global business operations and acceleration of the SaaS transition. He leads the team responsible for technology, enterprise data and analytics, business transformation and automation, M&A integration, and security.Hayes is the author of "Never Enough", to be published by Celadon/Macmillan in February, 2021.Prior to joining VMware, Hayes was a senior executive at Cognizant, a 270,000 person IT services firm, Fortune #195, with $16B in revenue. He was a member of the 14-person executive leadership group, and had $2B P&L responsibility for the firm’s largest clients in Banking and Financial services, and led a massive change management program to drive scale and growth for the firm’s largest accounts.Prior to Cognizant, Hayes was a Chief of Staff to the CEO and Chief Operating Officer at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest and most successful hedge fund with over $160B under management. He joined Bridgewater after serving as a White House Fellow and Director of Defense Policy and Strategy at the National Security Council under the Bush and Obama administrations, and a 20-year Navy SEAL career during which he was Commanding Officer of SEAL Team TWO.Get more from Mike:

Linked In |VMWare|Author of “Never Enough” | Twitter

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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Clay is joined by journalist, businessman, and author Richard Lui to discuss the state of the nation in 2021 and how we can begin to come together as one people.  Is apolitical selfishness or making the effort to reach out and sit down to talk with those who disagree with us the answer?  It’s a difficult question, but with small steps, intention and good will, we might be able to take the advice of Richard and find the way forward for us, our communities, and our country-- no matter which side of the aisle we're on.  What do you think?
Guest:Richard Lui

Richard Lui is a thought leader at the intersection of media, social impact, and storytelling.  He is a content and digital-social specialist with 30 years of experience in network television, technology, and business.Currently, he is a journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News.  Before that, he was news anchor at CNN Worldwide, where he became the first Asian American male to anchor a daily national news broadcast in the U.S.  Most recently, Lui reported on the ground on the Paris and San Bernardino Terror Attacks and in Ferguson and Baltimore during heightened racial unrest.For 15 years Lui’s reporting has focused on politics, covering every U.S. national election since 2004. He has interviewed hundreds of politicians, from Detroit Mayor to U.S. President.  He has been a contributing columnist for USA Today, Politico, Seattle Times, Detroit Free Press, Huffington Post, and others. Lui is a Policy Fellow at UC Riverside.Lui’s passion for politics started in the 70s, when he debated California’s controversial Proposition 13 on bus rides to school. His interest turned into a job at the age of 19:  campaign manager for San Francisco College Board incumbent Alan Wong. After the election, Lui returned to college. His plan was to write on policy and the affairs of state, subscribing to the Washington Post when it had to be mailed to the west coast.In the 1990s, Lui reported for news radio KALX during a unique time in California politics. Two of his first stories as a journalist were Dianne Feinstein’s first successful U.S. Senate campaign and the Rodney King verdict and riots.Later in the 2000s, Lui reported from Asia during an increasingly heated political climate. Two Muslim countries in Southeast Asia transformed:  Indonesia’s Sukarno family was defeated after rule spanning over half a century; and Malaysia’s prime minister, after almost a quarter of a century handed over power.  Lui also reported on Taiwan’s controversial election between pro- and anti- China political parties. He was at Channel NewsAsia, an English-only news network in 20 countries and territories.Lui is also a technologist with a wide-reaching business career that started in the 1990s.  He launched six technology brands over three technology cycles, most recently an artificial intelligence company in Silicon Valley in 2016. While at Citibank Singapore, he co-founded and patented a Visa-like payments backbone (a first of its kind) and was a management consultant at Mercer for an IBM joint venture.  He sits on six boards of directors / advisers in spaces ranging from international relations to artificial intelligence.  He is a 2016 Governance Fellow for the National Association of Corporate Directors.Lui’s accolades and achievements include the top tiers of business, political and journalism distinctions.  In addition to being a team Emmy and team Peabody recipient, he has been recognized for his reporting from national organizations including the National Education Association, Advancing Justice, AAJA, NAAAP 100 and WWAAC. He is ranked globally in the top 1% of social media users by Twitter Counter.  Business Insider named Lui one of 21 careers to watch alongside Warren Buffett and Sheryl Sandberg. And more lightheartedly, he’s been ranked three years in a row by Mediaite as one of the “50 Sexiest in TV News.”Lui is a Policy Fellow at the University of California Riverside where he explores the cross of public policy and media, UN Spokesperson for the HeForShe Campaign, one of 100 US State Department Traveling Speakers, and ambassador for NGOs focusing on gender equality and human trafficking.Lui graduated from City College of San Francisco with A.S. Honors in Math and Science, UC Berkeley with a B.A. Honors Rhetoric, and the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan with an MBA. A first generation Chinese and Polynesian American, Lui has a twist in his background.  Because his grandfather, an unauthorized immigrant, filed false “Paper Son” documents, Lui’s real last name is Wong.
Get more from Richard:

Twitter|Website |Instagram |Author of “Enough About Me” | Asian American Business Roundtable

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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Clay welcomes White House Correspondent under 5 administrations April Ryan to hear what she’s learned pushing our leaders to answer tough questions, and how things have changed under President Biden.  Will he be able to help bridge the urban/rural divide, get infrastructure done, and unite us as a country?  April lets us know she thinks there's a decent chance-- if we can get everyone to understand the issues that are truly at stake.  Can we?
Guest:April RyanWhite House Correspondent April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House – a position she has held since the Clinton era. Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her unusual insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation’s past presidents.  
April can be seen almost daily on CNN as a political analyst. She is also the Washington D.C Bureau Chief on TheGrio. She has been featured in Essence, Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Elle magazines – to name a few. April Ryan has served on the board of the prestigious White House Correspondents Association. She is one of only three African Americans in the Association’s over 100-year history to serve on its board. She is also an esteemed member of the National Press Club.  In 2015, Ms. Ryan was nominated for an NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author) for her first book.  2016 National Council of Negro Women, Mary McCloud Bethune Trailblazer.
 In 2019 April Ryan became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and was recognized as the 2019 Freedom of the Press Award Winner by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. April was nominated in 2021 with the NAACP Image Award for Social Justice Impact. April is a Baltimore native and Morgan State University graduate, and she gives back to this community by serving as a mentor to aspiring journalists and assisting with developing “up and coming” broadcasters.  April considers her greatest life’s work raising her two daughters, Ryan and Grace – who are phenomenal young women.  April Ryan is the author of the award-winning book, The Presidency in Black and White, and At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White (December 2016), where she looks at race relations through the lessons and wisdom that mothers have given their children. Her latest book is Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House.
Get more from April with:

Twitter | Her Website |The Grio | Author of “Under Fire” | And other books! 
Host:

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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While we wait for vaccines to stem the tide of the Covid onslaught, Clay brings on author and health care expert Jonathan Cohn to take a look at the state of healthcare in our country.  Why aren’t all of us covered in the pandemic era? And isn’t there an incentive for business to turn over employee coverage to the government?  The devil is in the details, but many recent plans have the potential to take us past the goal line of universal coverage-- something that could have saved thousands of lives during COVID.  Will the current Congress and President Biden make any bold moves  to get us to it?  Or must we wait for legislators to overcome their historic inertia (not to mention interest groups) and deliver change that could benefit all Americans for decades to come?
Guest:Jonathan Cohn

Jonathan Cohn is a Senior National Correspondent at HuffPost who writes about politics and policy with a focus on social welfare. Jonathan worked previously at the New Republic and American Prospect, and has written for the Atlantic, New York Times Magazine, and Self. His journalism has won awards from the Sidney Hillman Foundation, the Association of Health Care Journalists, World Hunger Year, and the National Women's Political Caucus. 
He is the author of the 2007 book Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis and, coming from St. Martin's Press in February 2021, The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage.
Get more from Jonathan Cohn with:

Twitter | @HuffPost |Author of “The Ten Year War” | And other books! 
Host:

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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With a year passed since HTH last met in the studio, Clay welcomes University of Puget Sound History Department Chair Nancy Bristow, author of American Pandemic, to look at how the COVID  era compares to the country during the influenza of 1918.  You’d be surprised by how many similarities there are, but there are still a lot of important lessons we can learn to help us reach a new and better normal when things fully open.  Their lives went on eventually-- can we hope for another roaring 20s?
Guest:Professor Nancy Bristow

Nancy K Bristow is a professor of history at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, USA, and is the author of American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic and the Steeped in the Blood of Racism, published in July 2020.
Get more from Professor Nancy Bristow with:

University of Puget Sound| 1918 Pandemic & COVID Lecture |  Author of “American Pandemic” | And Other Titles...

Host:

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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2021 has ushered in a new era in politics, but has it done the same for our race relations?  Effective solutions have been hard to come by, even when our country is more desperate for them than ever.  So Clay speaks with Board Chair of Color of Change, Heather McGhee about her book, “The Sum of Us” to find out if her plans will give us the benefits of a solidarity dividend from being united as one people.  If done right-- it could be how we finally get along!
Guest:Heather McGhee

Heather designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. Her new book, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together is now available from One World, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Her 2020 TED talk, “Racism Has a Cost for Everyone” reached 1 million views in just two months online. In the coming year, she will launch an original podcast on how to create cross-racial solidarity in challenging times.
Heather has testified in Congress, drafted legislation, and developed strategies for organizations and campaigns that won changes to improve the lives of millions. For nearly two decades, she helped build the non-partisan "think and do" tank Demos, serving four years as president. Through her regular media appearances, she elevates the concerns of working families on programs including NBC’s “Meet the Press”.
She is the chair of the board of Color of Change, the country’s largest online racial justice organization, and volunteers for numerous other boards in the fields of philanthropy and social justice. Heather graduated from Yale University and the University of California Berkeley School of Law, and has honorary degrees from Muhlenberg College and Niagara University. She lives in Brooklyn with her urbanist husband, a twenty year-old cat and a chatty toddler.
Get more from Heather McGhee with:

Twitter | Website| Facebook | Instagram |@ColorofChange| Author of “The Sum of Us”

Host:

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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With the Senate held by only a razor thin margin and important legislation being debated, Clay brings on Senator Harry Reid’s former deputy Chief of Staff Adam Jentleson to find out what we can expect from them.  Is the institution irreparable broken?  The people seem to think so, but is the filibuster to blame?  Or are their other solutions that can get us back to compromise, action and good governance?
Guest:Adam Jentleson

Adam Jentleson is the Executive Director of Battle Born Collective and a former deputy chief of staff to Senator Harry Reid. A columnist for GQ and frequent political commentator on MSNBC, he lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Get more from Adam Jentleson with:

Twitter | Director @Battle_Born | @fightmonopolies | Author of Kill Switch

Host:

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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Clay has run for congress in North Carolina and almost unseated the Republican incumbent-- and he remains engaged in the state’s politics to this day.  So for this special 52nd episode, Clay marks 1 year of podcasting by welcoming his hometown representative, Congressman  David Price to discuss the future of bi-partisanship, the Democratic majority, what it takes to get and stay elected, and how to best represent your constituents.
Guest:Rep. David PriceRepresentative David Price represents North Carolina's Fourth District  -- a rapidly growing, research-and-education-focused district that includes Durham, Franklin, Granville and Orange counties as well as parts of Chatham, Wake, and Vance counties. He received his undergraduate degree at UNC-Chapel Hill and went on to Yale University to earn a Bachelor of Divinity and Ph.D. in Political Science. Before he began serving in Congress in 1987, Price was a professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University. He is the author of four books on Congress and the American political system.
Price currently serves on the House Appropriations Committee and is the Chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee. He also serves on the House Budget Committee and is a member of the Appropriations subcommittees on homeland security, State Department, and foreign operations. He is a recognized leader in foreign policy, serving as the Chairman of the House Democracy Partnership, which he initiated to help strengthen parliaments in emerging democracies. In North Carolina, David's constituents know him as a strong supporter of education, accessible health care, affordable housing, clean air and water, and improved transportation alternatives.
David is a native of Erwin, Tennessee. He and his wife Lisa live in Chapel Hill and are parents of two children and three grandchildren.
Get more from Rep. David Price with:

Twitter | House.Gov | Facebook |

Host:

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.
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