Retail Politics Podcast

Hispanic voters: America’s political future

April 10, 2022 – Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the American population and could steer its political future, picking those who control the U.S. House, Senate, and presidency.

“As long as we have this black-white dichotomy between the parties the real battleground is going to be over Hispanics,” says M.V. “Trey” Hood, a political scientist with the University of Georgia.

                       The Politics of Ketanji

First Black Female Court Nominee on the ‘Defensive’

March 20, 2022 – First Black female U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will face criticism this week from Senate Republicans for serving as a public defender.

“You’ve got a few guys up there running for president in 2024,” USA Today Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze says. “They care about firing up the Trump base of the party.”

Rom Com to Rebellion, Irish Film Part of America

March 6, 2022 – Decades of Irish movies focus on the theme of the island’s violent struggle to free itself from British rule.

“Happiness is not really a prevailing characteristic of the Irish,” says Irish Studies Professor Socky O’Sullivan. “We tend to actually celebrate our troubles.”

The Politics of the U.S. Intelligence

Radical Break from Past Strategies Stumps Russians

March 6, 2022 – Twenty years after colossal blunders claiming Iraq weapons of mass destruction and failing to intercept the 911 hijackers, U.S. Intelligence agencies are being praised for exposing Russian plans to invade the Ukraine.

“Someone decided to make a pretty radical break from what has been the practice for decades,” former New York Times national security reporter Scott Shane said. “What they did at each stage is they put the intelligence out.”

The Politics of the Putin

Could His Ukraine Bullying Backfire?

February 27, 2022 – Russia may capture the Ukraine capital, but the well-armed opponent could become Vladimir Putin’s Afghanistan.

“He’s asking for trouble,” former longtime Russian correspondent Will Englund says. “You’ll have a guerilla war.”

The Politics of the Robert T. Lincoln

Lincoln Son Close to Three Presidential Assassinations

February 20, 2022 – Our President’s Day edition focuses on how Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert T., detested politics after his father’s assassination.

“The Republican Party tried five times to run him for president,” Robert T.’s biographer Jason Emerson says. “He said ‘To me the presidency is nothing but a gilded prison.’”

The Politics of the Ukraine

Russian President’s Threats ‘Cold War Ghosts’

February 13, 2022 – Communist Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to invade Ukraine to prevent it from aligning with the Democratic west hearkens back to the east-west battle of a half-century ago.

“A lot of Cold War ghosts have been resurrected and scattered about,” Los Angeles Times Foreign Editor Jeffrey Fleishman said. “Is he willing to breach war to collect what the past has already taken from him?”

The Politics of Bashing Biden

Liberal Opinion Writers are Turning on their President

February 6, 2022 – America’s liberal media is starting to criticize President Joe Biden’s handling of national and international affairs. Is it wiping out his chances for reelection in 2024?

“Some of it is deserved,” said Bill Straub, a former White House correspondent. “The withdrawal from Afghanistan was just a bloody mess.”

The Politics of Killing Police

55 Shooting Deaths are Highest in 26 Years

January 29, 2022 – An increasing number of American police officers are being gunned down in a wave not seen in a quarter of a century.

“There’s a variety of reasons and most of them most of them can be laid at the feet of our elected officials and police leaders,” said a former Baltimore police union leader.  They have emboldened criminals in this country by the de-policing.”

The Politics of Bob Dole

The Man Once Called the Darth Vader of Congress Had a Soft Spot

January 23, 2022 – Bob Dole died last month at 98 and left a legacy of a tough, grim Congressional curmudgeon who failed to achieve the presidency three times but quietly helped the poor, including creating a key economic lifeline: food stamps.

“He had a very tough outside,” said author and Dole researcher Mark Zwonitzer. “He has a really soft core inside.”