The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appointee began Monday and Judge Amy Coney Barrett faced questioning from lawmakers in both major parties. The 4 days of questioning are part of a warp-speed confirmation process for a Supreme Court nominee that is taking place even as voters are casting ballots in an election that has begun – an unprecedented combination of events in modern times. Among the most critical issues at stake are whether Barrett would rule on an election-related suit as a newly seated justice. In his opening statement on Monday Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said, “Your participation . . . in any case involving Donald Trump’s election would immediately do explosive enduring harm to the court’s legitimacy and to your own credibility. You must recuse yourself.” President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the election would end up in the Supreme Court. 

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of a future Supreme Court Justice Barrett would be whether she would vote to strike down the seminal abortion ruling Roe Vs. Wade. When asked by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Barrett refused to take a position.  While the hearing was being held Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan gave an interview to Elle Magazine sharing the story of how his ex-wife’s abortion saved her life. In a case where a pregnancy was wanted but became non-viable and threatened the life of the mother, the hospital in question said they recommended abortion but were prohibited from conducting one. Peters’ then wife had to be rushed to another hospital and survived because of the abortion. He becomes perhaps the first male lawmaker to openly share a story of abortion. Outside the Senate building where Barrett’s hearings are being held dueling protests took place by anti- and pro-abortion groups. 

Another major issue at stake that Democratic Senators have repeatedly raised during the hearings is the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare.” Like she has done on all other issues, when asked, Barrett would not say what position she would take on the healthcare law. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse raised the so-called “dark money” forces behind Barrett’s nomination. Meanwhile the government watchdog group Accountable.us has just released a new report showing how Barrett has consistently sided with corporations during her time as a federal judge and ruled against workers, immigrants, and consumers. 

Republican Senators have not seen fit to debate or vote on desperately needed coronavirus economic relief bills and are racing through Barrett’s nomination only 4 years after denying President Obama the right to appoint an election year justice. GOP Senator Mike Lee, who just days ago tested positive for the coronavirus, appeared in person at the hearing and was not even wearing a mask to protect his colleagues from his viral-laden respiration. And President Trump resumed his public events despite being hospitalized fo...

FEATURING KAREN DOLAN – It has been months since the CARES Act expired, leaving millions of unemployed Americans rudderless and with no plan from the federal government to aid them in making ends meet. The Trump administration has flip flopped repeatedly over supporting an extension to jobless benefits and/or a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks while the Republican Party has remained in limbo unsure of what the President actually wants. The House of Representatives has already passed a new $2.2 trillion bill to continue benefits but with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell far more interested in packing the courts with conservatives instead of ensuring families survive, there is little chance it will pass. 

Trump, who has been revealed to have paid little to nothing in taxes, has benefitted from socialized medicine at Walter Reed Hospital, $100,000 worth of cutting-edge treatment for his coronavirus affliction, and is now dipping into the Medicare Trust Fund to send $200 drug discount cards with his name on it to older voters ahead of the election. 

GUEST: Karen Dolan, Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and the Project Director of their Criminalization of Race and Poverty project

Karen Dolan’s latest article can be found here. Visit the Institute for Policy Studies at www.IPS-DC.org.

FEATURING TEA KRULOS – President Donald Trump’s tenure has been marked by an unusual proliferation of conspiracy theories entering the mainstream from Pizzagate to the Parkland shooting, the coronavirus, and now QAnon. This should not surprise us considering that Trump, one of the most enthusiastic promoters of the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen, arrived in the White House elevating the art of conspiracy mongering to a dangerous level. 

Tea Krulos, freelance journalist and author from Milwaukee, WI. His previous books, Heroes in the Night, Monster Hunters and Apocalypse Any Day Now explored the driving beliefs and lives of the people who choose to reject accepted reality and substitute their own. His new book is called American Madness: The Story of the Phantom Patriot and How Conspiracy Theories Hijacked American Consciousness. 

This program originally aired on September 15, 2020.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has moved to create a panel that could determine President Donald Trump’s fitness for office. Joined by Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, the two Democrats announced on Friday that they would create a commission to “help ensure effective and uninterrupted leadership” in the White House. Raskin and Pelosi explained that the process would include a medical diagnosis of the President. The Washington Post explained, “Under the 25th Amendment, a president could be declared ‘disabled’ and involuntarily removed from office by joint agreement of the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet, something that has never happened.”

Meanwhile Trump, who by all accounts should still be in the process of recovery from the coronavirus, has claimed he is in perfect health and is not contagious. In fact he expects to be out in public by Saturday for a rally in Florida. In a memo published on Thursday Trump’s physician Dr. Sean Conley claimed that by Saturday he could safely return to public life, ten days after his positive Covid test. Experts have said that the President’s treatment with a very strong steroid and with experimental antibody medication indicate that his illness was likely serious and that any return to public life ought to come only after a negative Covid-19 result conducted using a very accurate laboratory test. After the Commission on Presidential Debates decided to switch next week’s presidential debate into a virtual event as a precaution, Trump simply pulled out of the debate, leaving the plans in disarray. Indicating that Trump fears having his mic cut off in a virtual environment, he told Fox News, “That’s not what debating is all about — you sit behind the computer and do a debate, it’s ridiculous…And then they cut you off whenever they want.”

Trump has vainly attempted to remain in the public eye with less than a month before the election by appearing on as many favorable phone interviews as possible. Among his virtual appearances over the past few days was on rightwing shock jock Rush Limbaugh’s radio program. Trump had surprised everyone by giving Limbaugh the Freedom Medal earlier this year. On Limbaugh’s show this week Trump claimed without evidence that there was a cure for Covid-19 even though no nation, agency, lab, drug company, or doctor says there is a cure. Meanwhile academy award winning filmmaker Alex Gibney is releasing an explosive new documentary called Totally Under Control exposing the Trump Administration’s failures on the pandemic. Here is the film trailer.

Polls continue to show Trump struggling to surmount his rival Joe Biden’s lead in swing states but now even reliably Republican-voting states show a very close race. Arizona Republican Jeff Flake who was a GOP Senator and who is now supporting Biden, told the New York Times, “There are limits to what people can take with the irresponsibility...

FEATURING MICHAEL LATNER – Confusion abounds about whether the November 3rd election results will actually be known by the end of the night. That confusion has been deliberately sown by the President of the United States who appears to realize he is likely to lose to Joe Biden by a landslide if surveys of the public are accurate. Add to that the coronavirus pandemic and the dangers of in-person voting versus the uncertainty of voting-by-mail. Now, a political scientist has examined possible election night scenarios to determine which states could hold up the results. 

Michael Latner, Professor of Political Science at California Polytechnic State University and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He is also a Faculty Scholar at the Cal Poly Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy. 

FEATURING ROBERTO LOVATO – The New York Times recently exposed how Justice Department officials in 2018 candidly discussed Trump’s immigrant family separation policy as a deterrent to a migrant influx. Former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions in particular reportedly said, “We need to take away children.” The report is based on a draft written by the DOJ’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz and it reflects the dehumanization of migrants from beyond the southern border historically and today. We turn today to a well-known Salvadoran American writer who links through his own story the repercussions of years of U.S. policies.

Roberto Lovato, is a journalist and a member of the Writers Grotto. He is one of the country’s leading writers and thinkers on Central American gangs, refugees, violence, and other issues, and cofounder of #DignidadLiteraria, the national movement formed to combat the invisibility and silencing of Latinx stories and books in the US publishing industry. He joins me to discuss his new book Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas. 

The Vice Presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris on Wednesday night went off with far fewer explosive outbursts than the one that took place a week earlier between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. However, Mr. Pence still managed to channel his President’s penchant for interruptions and repeatedly spoke over Senator Harris. Among the issues discussed were the Trump administration’s failures on the coronavirus. Also discussed was the industry of fracking – the practice of hydraulic fracturing which is an invasive method of oil and gas extraction. Pence accused Harris of wanting to ban the practice and Harris responded saying Biden would not ban it. Video surfaced of Harris claiming she was for the banning of fracking when she ran for President in the Democratic primary. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jumped in on social media during the debate to remind both Pence and Harris that “fracking is bad actually.” 

Harris and Pence also clashed on the Supreme Court vacancy, abortion rights, healthcare, and racial justice. Harris took Pence to task on several of those issues as well as for wanting to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Pence proclaimed he was against the right to an abortion. A majority of Americans believe in the right to an abortion. Debate moderator Susan Page asked Mr. Pence if he would support a peaceful transition of power if the Trump ticket lost in November and he refused to answer. In fact checking the Wednesday night debate, the New York Times found that Mr. Pence spewed the most lies of the night and a new poll showed 6 out of 10 Americans agreeing that Harris won the debate. Arguably the biggest star of the night was a fly that landed on Pence’s head, clearly visible against the Vice President’s white hair. The fly remained on his head for more than 2 minutes with Pence seeming not to notice, and has generated so much buzz on social media that some hope it has a starring role in this weekend’s Saturday Night Live. Also garnering attention for the wrong reasons was Karen Pence, the Vice President’s wife, who joined him at the end of the debate on stage without a mask. The only 3 people exempted from wearing masks at the debate were the two participants and the moderator. 

Meanwhile President Donald Trump who remains at the White House after being treated for the coronavirus

FEATURING JESSICA J. GONZÁLEZ – Amid the crisis in the White House with the super-spread of the coronavirus through the top echelons of government, a massive Congressional report on the big four tech companies got little notice. The Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Judiciary committee released the 450-page report that, among other things, called out Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon for their monopoly business practices. The report goes further in calling for the companies to limit their acquisitions and even break up into smaller entities. 

Read the Congressional subcommittee report called ‘Investigation of Competition in Digital Markets,’ HERE and read the Free Press’ essay ‘Media 2070: An Invitation to Dream Up Media Reparations,” HERE.

Jessica J. González, Co-CEO of Free Press and co-Founder of Change The Terms, an organization dedicated to “reducing hate in tech.”

FEATURING JEAN GUERRERO – Clashes between the forces of left and right in cities like Portland, Minneapolis, Kenosha, Seattle, Chicago, and elsewhere are sparking fears of a civil war in the US between white-dominated conservativism as symbolized by Donald Trump –and those who identify as liberal, including most people of color. 

This state of affairs is no accident, four years after a Presidential campaign and resulting White House tenure that has fomented a very real political crisis. One man whose influence over President Donald Trump has been a large part of this story is White House advisor Stephen Miller, who in spite of constant staff turnover, remains lodged in the seat of power. Miller is known as the architect of Trump’s immigrant family separation program among other things and is the subject of a new book by investigative journalist Jean Guerrero. 

Jean Guerrero, investigative border reporter contributing to NPR, the PBS NewsHour and other public media. She is the author of Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir, which won the PEN/FUSION Emerging Writers prize. Her new book is called Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. 

** This segment was originally broadcast on August 31, 2020.

President Donald Trump, still ill and contagious, and still on medication for the coronavirus has flip flopped on negotiations over a new Covid-relief bill. Last week Trump had signaled he would sign a bill that included $400 a week in benefits to jobless Americans and urged Congress to pass it. But on Tuesday he abruptly called off all negotiations saying on Twitter, “I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business.” The stock market dropped precipitously and then hours later a president that many fear is even more unstable than usual, reversed course on Tuesday night tweeting that he wanted Congress to “IMMEDIATELY” approve an aid bill for the airline industry. About half an hour after that tweet he added that he wanted a bill that only included a new stimulus payment of $1,200 sent to all Americans. He directly addressed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying, “I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy?” leaving Americans to wonder if he expected Ms. Pelosi to magically appear at the doors of the White House late at night, bill in hand. 

Doctors who have experience treating the coronavirus are expressing serious concern about the President’s behavior and Pelosi wondered whether Trump’s dose of the strong steroid medication Dexamethasone was impacting his decision-making ability. Writing in Rolling Stone songwriter Andrew Leahey explained that he had been prescribed the same drug and said that, “just like Trump, it made me feel invincible,” as well as, “unencumbered, unafraid, limitless.” As if to echo such fears, Trump spewed a firehose of more than 50 tweets on Wednesday – all before lunch time. It is very possible that Trump, who advised Americans not to be afraid of the coronavirus, will recover considering he was given cutting-edge experimental treatment that almost no other Americans have access to. One medical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania said, “I think there is something wrong with the privileged, the president, getting special treatment that’s not available to the rest of us…There’s so much injustice in our healthcare system, with so many people not even having access to the basics.” Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted, “Mr. President: You attack ‘socialized medicine’ every single day. Well, let’s be clear. The excellent care you received at Walter Reed was at a 100% government-funded, government run hospital. For Trump, ‘socialized medicine’ is bad for everyone but himself. Total hypocrisy!” And it has now emerged that Trump was treated with the