During the hearings of the January 6th Select Committee, one question keeps coming up, “Did Donald Trump believe he had actually won the election?” “How could it be, that after being told repeatedly that no substantial fraud had occurred, he still maintained he won?”  

“Is the man crazy?”

It just so happens that we looked into this very question on the Bill Press Pod back in the summer of 2020 with our series, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, based on the bestselling book of the same name. In the podcast, in conversations with a dozen psychiatrists and psychologists, we explored the pathologies that make Donald Trump the person he is. So with that question on our mind, as well as the very real possibility that Trump could once again be president, we thought it prudent to revisit some highlights of the series that illuminate the behavior the January 6th Select Committee is investigating.

To try to understand why Donald Trump was ignoring reality and pushing the Big Lie.

In this episode you will hear from: the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, Dr. Bandy Lee, a then a psychiatrist on the faculty of the Yale Medical School

Dr. James Gilligan who was on the faculty of The Harvard Medical School and was for 13 years, the director of the Harvard Institute of Law and Psychiatry

Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, one of the most prominent psychiatrists in America and one of the originators of the field of psycho-history, which is the study of psychological motivations for war, terrorism, and genocide. He wrote the forward to the first edition of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump. He was a lecturer at The Harvard Medical School and is a professor emeritus at The City University of New York.

Stanford Professor Emeritus, social psychologist Phillip Zimbardo

Stephen Soldz, a clinical psychologist and director of the Social Justice and Human Rights program at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis

Dr. Judith Herman, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School

Dr. Harry Friedman a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School

Harper West, a psychotherapist.

Today in the break, Bill reminds us of the truly amazing work of Chef Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen. They are feeding millions of refugees in and around Ukraine as well as at natural disasters around the world and America. You can support their work by making a donation at the world central kitchen website at WCK.org

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The January 6th Hearings. Pence’s Chances and Gun Safety Stalled in the Senate. With Eliza Collins, Politics Reporter on the Hill for The Wall Street Journal, Amanda Becker, Politics Reporter for 19th News and David Jackson, National Political Correspondent for USA TODAY. 

Today's Bill Press Pod is supported by The International Brotherhood of Teamsters. More information at Teamster.org.

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A two-part Bill Press Pod today on the January 6th Select Committee hearings. We'll hear from California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who led the questioning in Monday's hearing and from David Corn, Washington Bureau Chief for Mother Jones magazine who was in the hearing room for both sessions. You can read David's work at DavidCorn.com and at MotherJones.com.

Today Bill featured the work of the World Central Kitchen run by Chef Jose Andres. They have served millions of meals in disaster areas and war zones, including over a million meals in and around Ukraine. You can support their work by visiting the World Central Kitchen website at WCK.org.

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The January 6th Special Committee Hearing. The Chances for Any Gun Safety Legislation. With Jeff Dufour, Editor in chief at National Journal, Igor Bobic, Senior politics reporter at HuffPost and Alayna Treene, Congressional reporter for Axios.

Today's Bill Press Pod is supported by The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, more information at UFCW.org.

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Norman Ornstein is one of the leading experts on the Congress and an Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author, with Thomas E. Mann of the 2012 book, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism and with Thomas E. Mann and E.J. Dione, the author of the 2017 book, One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported.

Today Bill highlights yet another group of frontline workers, this time the flight attendants who have had to deal with an increasing number of unruly passengers since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic. Their union, the Association of Flight Attendants, is led by the strong progressive Sara Nelson. Sara and her members continue to keep us safe on airplanes. We thank them. More information at AFACWA.org.

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Biden on Gun Safety. January 6th Hearings' Impact? Inflation and a Rare Mea Culpa. Trump and the Midterms. With Sudeep Reddy, Senior Managing Editor at Politico, Jason Dick, Editor in Chief CQ Roll Call and Political Theater podcast host and Tom LoBianco, Politics Reporter for Yahoo News.

Today’s Bill Press Pod is supported by The Laborers’ International Union of North America. More information at LIUNA.org.

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Elie Mystal returns to the Bill Press Pod with a withering takedown of the Second Amendment, Justice Alito and Supreme Court Ethics. He is The Nation Magazine’s Justice Correspondent. He's a frequent guest on MSNBC commenting on the intersection between the legal and the political. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he gave up Big Law to fight for justice.

He has just published a new book that immediately landed on the New York Times bestseller list at #2. Allow Me to Retort A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution can be purchased here.

Here are the links to the gun violence prevention groups worthy of your support.

MomsDemandAction.org

BradyUnited.org

GunsDownAmerica.org

Giffords.org

EveryTown.org

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With the tragic massacre of children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas dominating the news, we talked to Igor Volsky of Guns Down America about what can be done, if anything, to combat gun violence and the politicians who support it. But our gun laws cannot change unless our politicians do, so Bill also talked to two sharp political reporters about the 2022 primaries: Niall Stanage, White House Columnist for The Hill and Political Analyst at News Nation AM and Maya King, Politics Reporter for the New York Times covering the South based in Georgia.

Today's Bill Press Pod is supported by The American Federation of Teachers. It was two teachers, Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia, who lost their lives in Uvalde trying to protect their students.

More information at AFT.org.

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In their award-winning 75 episode podcast series, Trump Inc., WNYC reporters Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz told the story of the former president’s businesses, conflicts of interests, unhappy partners and the just bonkers idea that sitting president had a worldwide business. Now they have a new podcast which explores the events leading up to January 6th and the insurrection itself. It takes its name from a Trump tweet, “Will be Wild.” They recount the personal stories of the insurrectionists, the police who were attacked that day, and the national security officials who tried, unsuccessfully, to warn of potential violence on January 6th. It’s captivating, revealing and terrifying. The new podcast is from Wondery and is available on Amazon Music and all other podcast platforms. Here is a link: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f40a47b3-ddda-45a0-94f1-c5881bc6a429/will-be-wild.

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Trump Still Got it? Is Fetterman the Future? Will Abortion Help the Democrats? Great Replacement Theory and Murder. Biden to Asia. With Philip Bump, National Correspondent for The Washington Post. Newsletter: "How to Read This Chart," Ginger, Deputy Washington Editor at NBC News Digital and John Bennett, Editor-at-Large, CQ Roll Call and CQ Senate newsletter.

Today’s Bill Press Pod is supported by  the Laborers International Union of North America. More information at LIUNA.org.

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