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

Clay welcomes former Rep. David Jolly of Florida to discuss the unraveling of our political culture, the changes our Congress needs and whether The SAM Party can move us forward.  Has the need for cold hard cash irreparably corrupted the two dominant parties in our country?  Can centrism be the solution, or must we first make the changes that take power away from those that divide us?
Guest:Rep. David JollyFormer Congressman David Jolly served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2014 – 2017.  A student of the institution, Jolly has held virtually every position in Congress, from intern to Member, and has worked outside the Congress as an attorney and political consultant, as well as in specialty finance.
Known for his fierce independent streak and bipartisan approach, Jolly was first elected in a special election in Florida, a Republican winning a Democratic leaning district.  It was his first run for elective office and became one of the most expensive Congressional races in U.S. history at the time.  It made Jolly a fierce campaign finance reform advocate and his resulting legislative effort to prohibit Members of Congress from directly soliciting campaign contributions was ultimately featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
Today, Jolly can often be seen as a policy and politics analyst on MSNBC and CNN, including regular appearances on The 11th Hour with Brian Williams, Hardball with Chris Matthews, CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Deadline White House with Nicolle Wallace, All In with Chris Hayes, and many others.   Jolly has also appeared on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, and regularly on PoliticKing with Larry King. Jolly’s work has been published in Time, Roll Call, the Washington Post, CNN.com, NewsMax, the Washington Times, and the Tampa Bay Times.  Jolly also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Florida and is currently authoring his first book.
A Washington Post columnist wrote, “Jolly speaks the truth.”  The Tampa Bay Times, “It’s refreshing to hear someone take on the system.”  And upon leaving Congress, one columnist penned, “Farewell to the one Congressman willing to compromise.”
Jolly received his Bachelor of Arts from Emory University in 1994, and his Juris Doctor Cum Laude from George Mason University in 2001.  The son of a minister, Jolly is a fifth-generation Floridian and resides today with his wife Laura in Belleair Bluffs, Florida.

Get more from Rep. David Jolly with:

Twitter | Website | The SAM Party |
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 welcomes Alex Wagner and Mark McKinnon of Showtime’s The Circus to get the inside scoop on the current state of the two parties.  In the quest to get along, talking to anyone and speaking with the people who make a difference are key to understanding what’s next for us-- and Alex and Mark share the many insights they’ve gained from dedicating their careers to understanding the electorate.  After impeachment, will the Republican party coalesce around a less controversial leader?  Can Joe Biden continue to unify the party?  Or is this year going to have more surprises than 2020?
Guests:
Mark McKinnon

Mark Mckinnon is a political advisor, reform advocate, media columnist, and television producer. He was the chief media advisor to five successful presidential primary and general election campaigns and is cofounder of No Labels, an organization dedicated to bipartisanship, civil dialogue, and political problem solving. McKinnon has worked for many causes, companies, and candidates, including former President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, late former Governor Ann Richards, and Bono. He serves on the boards of numerous organizations dedicated to reforming the influence of money in politics. In 2014, McKinnon launched Mayday PAC to force ethics reform in the United States Congress, along with Harvard Law Professor Larry Lessig and tech moguls Steve Wozniak, Peter Thiel, and Reid Hoffman. McKinnon and Julian Castro, HUD Secretary, served as co-chairs of Southerners for the Freedom to Marry before the historic Supreme Court ruling affirmed the right of all Americans to wed. For 20 years, McKinnon worked at Public Strategies, Inc., where he was an owner and served as vice chair. In 2010, Public Strategies merged with Hill+Knowlton Strategies, where McKinnon served as global vice chair. He remains an advisor to the firm. An award-winning media producer and communications strategist, McKinnon has been awarded more than 30 Pollie and Telly Awards, honoring the nation's best political and public affairs advertising.  President Bush appointed McKinnon to serve as a governor of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He serves on the board of the Austin Film Society and he lectures frequently at universities, including the JFK School of Government at Harvard University and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.  McKinnon has been a regular columnist for THE DAILY BEAST and THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (U.K.) and a consultant to the television series THE NEWSROOM and HOUSE OF CARDS.Get more from Mark McKinnon with:

Twitter | Instagram | The Circus | Trumped 
Alex Wagner

Alex Wagner is currently an anchor and correspondent at CBS News, co-anchoring CBS THIS MORNING: SATURDAY and reporting stories throughout the week. She is also a contributing editor at THE ATLANTIC and co-host of their weekly news and affairs podcast, RADIO ATLANTIC. In April, she will release her first book, FUTUREFACE, which examines questions about American identity in the 21st century. 
Previously, Alex served as an MSNBC analyst and hosted the Emmy® nominated program NOW with Alex Wagner. She has been a frequent guest host for several political shows, including ALL IN and THE LAST WORD. Before joining MSNBC, Wagner was a reporter with Huffington Post, where she covered innovation in the American economy, investigating the intersection of business, politics, and new technology. Prior to this, she served as the White House correspondent for Politics Daily and the Executive Director of Not on Our Watch, an advocacy and grant-making non-profit focused on combatting genocide and founded by actors George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle.
Get more from Alex Wagner with:

Twitter | Instagram | The Circus | Future Face | The Atlantic

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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Despite the inauguration of President Biden, the legacy of the Trump administration and the bitter feelings about the election still hang in the air-- especially after the events of January 6th-- and it’s anybody’s guess about how we can move the country forward. With that in mind,  Clay is joined by legal expert and member of Politicon’s #SistersInLaw podcast, Kimberly Atkins, to discuss the latest developments in the impeachment trial, the possible censure of Rep. Marjorie Greene, and whether it might not be better to leave the legacy of the last administration on the golf course instead of in the courts.  What do you think?  

Kimberly Atkins is a senior opinion writer at The Boston Globe. She is also an MSNBC contributor. Previously, Kimberly was the first Washington, DC-based news correspondent for WBUR. She has also served as the Boston Herald's Washington bureau chief, guest host of C-SPAN's morning call-in show's Washington Journal, and a Supreme Court reporter for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and its sister publications.  She began her journalism career as an intern at The Boston Globe. She has appeared as a political commentator on a host of national and international television and radio networks, including CNN, Fox News, NBC News, PBS, NPR, Sky News (UK), and CBC News (Canada). Before launching her journalism career, she was a trial and appellate litigation attorney in Boston. Kimberly is a native of Michigan, and a graduate of Wayne State University, Boston University School of Law and Boston University College of Communication, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.Get more from Kimberly Atkins with:

Twitter | Boston Globe | WBUR  | #SistersInLaw

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 California opening up but almost nothing feeling like it’s back to normal, Clay has on Dr. Jonathan Metzl of Vanderbilt University on the podcast to examine what ails our country.  And from race relations, to our isolation, the pandemic, and the tendency of voters to cut off our noses to spite our face, there is a lot that ails us.  But in spite of the many ills we face, they both find hope in the possibility of our politics to stop otherizing and return to coalition building and charm offensives--if it’s still possible in 2021. 
Guest:

Dr. Jonathan Metzl is the Frederick B. Rentschler II professor of sociology and psychiatry at Vanderbilt University and director of its Center for Medicine, Health, and Society. He is the author of several books and a prominent expert on gun violence and mental illness. He hails from Kansas City, Missouri, and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.Get more from Dr. Metzl with:TwitterFacebookWebsiteVanderbiltAuthor of “Dying of WhitenessAnd Many 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 Joe Biden newly inaugurated, Clay has on Bill Clinton’s White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart to discuss the promises and perils of our new president and if a new administration is what it takes for us to get along again.  Does President Biden have a good chance of getting us out of the mess we started with in 2021?  Or are the parties going to split apart, with a whole new political landscape nearly upon us?  No matter which way things go, at the moment we can appreciate that (for the moment) press conferences and the accountability they represent might just be back!
Guest:

Joe Lockhart is widely recognized as one of the top communications and public affairs professionals in the world, and offers strategic communications counsel to CEOs, C-suite executives, and Washington's most powerful leaders.  He knows how to handle a crisis and regain control of a narrative, honed through decades of experience in public affairs, corporate communications, administration, and political campaigns. Lockhart is perhaps best known for his service as White House Press Secretary under President Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2000. He has also worked for the National Football League (NFL) as executive vice president, overseeing communications, government affairs, social responsibility and philanthropy, and for Facebook as vice president of global communications. Lockhart's current role is to advise corporations and organizations on their communications strategies and vulnerabilities. He was vice chairman for public affairs at Edelman; he was also previously the founding partner and managing director of the Glover Park Group, and was executive vice president at Bozell Sawyer Miller. An award-winning journalist, he is also a frequent contributor to CNN and reflects on the week's news with Katie Barlow as they co-host the Words Matter podcast.  Get more from Joe with:TwitterRational 360 PRWords Matter
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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In the days after the Capitol raid (or protests depending on who you ask) Clay welcomes Sally Kohn to the podcast to see if the arc of progress is still bending towards justice, or if some drastic change is needed.  With the Biden Administration kicking off next week, there might just be that chance, but in the meantime they try and break down the factors that got our country to this point, what we need next, and how we can live, let go, and maybe not hate each other.
Guest:Sally Kohn is one of the leading progressive voices in America today. A frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, Sally's first book THE OPPOSITE OF HATE was published in April 2018. Sally is a popular keynote speaker at business conferences and college campuses talking about political division, hate, otherizing, diversity and identity — and how we can solve the deep problems of our past and present. A regular columnist and commentator, Sally's writing has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, New York Magazine, Time, and many other outlets. She is on the Board of Contributors for USA Today and a contributing editor to Afar magazine.  Sally is also a TED Curator and her three hit TED Talks have been viewed more than 6 million times.  Sally’s work has been highlighted by outlets ranging from the Colbert Report to the National Review. Sally is a popular media trainer and public speaking coach, helping build the skills of everyone from grassroots leaders to C-suite executives.Get more from Sally with:TwitterWebsiteTED TALKSAuthor of The Opposite of Hate
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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In the aftermath of protests that saw the Capitol building overrun with almost the entire government inside, Clay is joined by US Intellligence expert and anti-terrorism mastermind Malcolm Nance to discuss how it got to this point, and what our government should be doing as we approach the transition of power.  Will the halls of government be secured?  Or will a combination of ineptness and ill will continue to leave us at risk of terror or worse?  And with democracy in retreat across the globe, what will it take to turn things around so we can get back to getting along?
Guest:Malcolm W. Nance was a career counterterrorism and intelligence officer for the U.S. government’s Special Operations, Homeland Security, and Intelligence agencies, with over 33 years of experience in combating radical extremism. An honorably retired U.S. Navy Arabic-speaking intelligence collections operator, field interrogator, Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape specialist and founder of the Advanced Terrorism, Abduction and Hostage Survival School, he spent more than two decades on clandestine antiterrorism and counterterrorism intelligence operations in the Middle East North Africa, the Balkans, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa in direct support of the Special Operations and Intelligence Community. On the morning of 9/11, he eyewitnessed the attack on the Pentagon and became a first responder at the crash site.A fierce champion of ethics, human rights and cultural integration in intelligence practitioners and activities, he has trained and advised numerous defense, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies worldwide in understanding and exploiting terrorist strategies, tactics, and ideology to combat the spread of radical extremism.He has authored several books in multiple editions including The Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A Practitioner’s Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activity (1st-3rd Editions), An End to al-Qaeda: Destroying bin Laden’s Jihad and Restoring America’s Honor, and The Terrorists of Iraq: Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraq Insurgency (1st-2nd Editions).He is the best selling author of Defeating ISIS, The Plot To Hack America, The Plot To Destroy Democracy and The Plot To Betray America.Mr. Nance has been seen by millions of TV news viewers as a guest policy analyst for CNN, ABC News, FOX News, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, and Al Arabiya, and he has appeared on global interview shows including PBS’s NewsHour, the BBC’s Hardtalk and World Have Your Say, Australian Broadcasting’s Dateline, German TV’s ZDF Frontier 21, TV5 France, and other political talk shows. He has written opinion editorials and has been a source for the New York Times, New York Daily News, International Herald Tribune, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Washington Post, San Diego Union Tribune, Times of London, Guardian UK, Australian, Sydney Morning Herald (National) (Abu Dhabi), and Daily Telegraph. He has written articles for distinguished magazines and publications, including Foreign Policy, Small Wars Journal, Time magazine, Counterterrorism, Special Operations, and Counterterrorist. He was featured in the Academy Award nominated Documentary Dirty Wars, the award winning Torturing Democracy and on the Rolling Stone’s 2008 Hotlist as a blogger for Small Wars Journal.He regularly speaks and participates in programs at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.Mr. Nance is a graduate of New York Excelsior University. He lives and studies between Hudson, New York, and Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Get more from Malcolm with:TwitterThe Tactics of Terror.orgAuthor of The Plot to Betray AmericaAnd many 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.
Follow Clay Aiken further on:TwitterInstagramFacebook
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In this end of the year special, Clay shares what it’s been like becoming a podcaster after a successful music career and a not so successful run for Congress.  Then he shares with us some of his favorite segments from the conversations he’s had trying to Find Out How The Heck We’re Gonna Get Along! in 2020, and plays us some of the more fiery and passionate moments we heard on the show.  Will 2021 be a better year for the country and the time we finally learn how to get along?  We hope so, but no matter what happens, Clay is there for the ride.  Happy New Year!

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.
Follow Clay Aiken further on:TwitterInstagramFacebook
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Clay is joined by Lauren Chen of BlazeTV to discuss the latest in the wars over tech censorship and free speech.  How should media organizations and big tech companies cover allegations or evidence of election fraud?  Is there a gatekeeper for the gatekeepers, or do we have to rely on questionable Section 230 protections?  No matter where you fall on the specifics, speech is part of the answer to how we get along.  Can Clay and Lauren bring the country together in time for 2021?
Guest:

Lauren Chen is a political and social commentator, and host of the CRTV show Roaming Millennial: Uncensored. She began as a YouTuber, and has since gained over 20 million views on the platform and hundreds of thousands of followers. She has also appeared on Fox News, The Daily Wire, Rebel Media, PragerU, and The Rubin Report.Lauren was born in Canada, raised in Hong Kong, and came to the US for college. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a Minor in Middle East Studies and Arabic.Get more from Lauren with:TwitterInstagramYouTubeEvie MagazineBlaze TVParler
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.
Follow Clay Aiken further on:TwitterInstagramFacebook
Email your questions to [email protected]

Follow @politicon and go to Politicon.com

Clay is joined by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson to discuss the revolutionary character of 2020 and what it means for our politics, our race relations and how we're all going to get along.  The verdict is that we have a lot of work to do, but between the First Step Act, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the new allies that they both brought to the cause,  there are powerful reasons for hope on both sides of the aisle.  Can we stay focused on the big picture? Or will the momentum of the past beckon us back to old and flawed paradigms?Guest:Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is a Georgetown University sociology professor, author of many books, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, and a contributing editor of The New Republic, and of ESPN's The Undefeated website.
Get more from Michael with:Twitter
Recent Books By Michael:Tears We Cannot StopLong Time ComingWhat Truth Sounds LikeAnd many others!
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.
Follow Clay Aiken further on:TwitterInstagramFacebook
Email your questions to [email protected]

Follow @politicon and go to Politicon.com