The Contrarian Pod

On Coffee with Contrarians Jen Rubin, Norm Eisen and April Ryan discussed Trump’s abhorrent comments about sacrificing Los Angeles and San Diego in the war with Iran.

April also talked about her new book, “Notes on a Blacklash” and reflected on the time a Housing and Urban Development official in the Trump Administration referred to her as “Miss Piggy”

You can join Coffee With Contrarians. Live every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 9:15 AM Eastern time.

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Contrarian Editor in chief Jen Rubin sat down with author Jennifer Weiss Wolf. Jennifer is the executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU School of Law and she’s out with a new book: When in Menopause: A User’s Manual and Citizen’s Guide.

You might have seen in the news that Congress, and government health agencies are suddenly very interested in menopause and hormone therapy. But this is not a new conversation: doctors have been pushing for more attention on menopause for decades. Jen and Jennifer discussed why advocating for women’s health goes far beyond medicine.

“Women’s health and women’s empowerment is multifaceted.. This is a midterms issue. This is the heart and soul of what we’re talking about at our, you know, our so-called kitchen tables, the cost of health care, lack of access to insurance, lack of investment in women in women’s research and women’s lives.”

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Contrarian senior editor Tim Dickinson spoke with two candidates hoping to flip tough House seats in the November midterms, Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania and Chaz Molder in Tennessee.

Brooks is a firefighter and union leader in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. He brings a working class perspective that’s a big contrast to incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.

And Chaz Molder is no stranger to winning tough races. He’s served two terms as mayor of Columbia, Tennessee, in a region that has consistently voted for Trump.

Tim and Chaz talked about the pushback against data centers in rural communities and why affordability remains the most important issue in this election.

The Contrarian is owned by nobody. Your paid subscription helps us bring you the brightest voices in politics & culture and fight every day against the Trump chaos machine. Join us on Substack.

On Coffee with Contrarians, Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen chatted with Adrienne Elrod, Democratic political strategist.

The trio talked about Trump’s latest commercial, which not only could be the world’s worst campaign ad, but also possibly violates the Hatch Act, and the key Senate races they’re tracking ahead of the November midterms.

You can join Coffee With Contrarians. Live every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 9:15 AM Eastern time.

The Contrarian is owned by nobody. Your paid subscription helps us bring you the brightest voices in politics & culture and fight every day against the Trump chaos machine. Join us on Substack.

Contrarian senior editor Tim Dickinson chatted with Sarah Mehta, a deputy director of the ACLU and an expert in immigration policy.

They discussed the Trump Administration’s practice of deporting vulnerable asylum seekers to third countries — where they have no cultural ties, no right to long term residence, and could be subject to abuse, or worse illegally sent back to the home counties that they fled from.

The Contrarian is owned by nobody. Your paid subscription helps us bring you the brightest voices in politics & culture and fight every day against the Trump chaos machine. Join us on Substack.

On Coffee with Contrarians, Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen chatted with Ben Wikler, a political organizer and the former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin

The trio discussed yet another Trump legal L this week: a federal judge’s block on his press ban against MS NOW, POLITICO, and CNN. Then, they dived into all things midterms, Ben’s top races to watch in November and how communities can stand up to corporate tax breaks for data centers at the ballot box.

You can join Coffee With Contrarians. Live every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 9:15 AM Eastern time.

The Contrarian is owned by nobody. Your paid subscription helps us bring you the brightest voices in politics & culture and fight every day against the Trump chaos machine. Join us on Substack.

On Coffee with Contrarians earlier today, Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen chatted with Tom Malinowski, Former New Jersey Congressman, speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, and diplomat in the Obama administration.

This week is the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, putting foreign policy at the forefront of today’s news. The trio reacted to Trump’s antagonistic address to allies at the UN General Assembly, particularly his possible threat against Iran, and his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. They also tackled the escalating costs from the Iran War and why we should make a plan to vote early in the midterms.

You can join Coffee With Contrarians. Live every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 9:15 AM Eastern time.

The Contrarian is owned by nobody. Your paid subscription helps us bring you the brightest voices in politics & culture and fight every day against the Trump chaos machine. Join us on Substack.

On Let’s do Lunch, economist and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress Jared Bernstein answered your burning economics questions with Ernie Tedeschi, Chief Economist at Stripe. Tedeschi is the former Director of Economics at Yale’s Budget Lab, and Former Chief Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors under President Joe Biden.

The two discussed how the constantly increasing diesel prices, which just hit a new high, are rippling through the economy. They also consider how tariffs may affect midterm outcomes and unpack the reality behind rising interest rates.

You can join Let’s do Lunch with Jared every other Tuesday at Noon eastern.

The Contrarian is owned by nobody. Your paid subscription helps us bring you the brightest voices in politics & culture and fight every day against the Trump chaos machine. Join us on Substack.

We have a special edition of the Tea with April Ryan for you today, April took a trip to the annual Congressional Black Caucus conference in DC and chatted with Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) and Rep. Angie Nixon (D-FL) from the Convention Center.

She also had the chance to sit down with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) to discuss the upcoming midterms and what he wants to see Democrats fight for if they take over Congress.

You can join The Tea with April Ryan, live every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30pm ET.

The Contrarian is owned by nobody. Your paid subscription helps us bring you the brightest voices in politics & culture and fight every day against the Trump chaos machine. Join us on Substack.

On the Tea with April Ryan, April chatted with vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey. Vote.org helped 8.3 million people vote in 2024 and lets voters check their registration status, find polling locations, and see what’s on the ballot.

April and Andrea talked about the importance of making a concrete plan — and even backup plan — to vote, why 18 year olds are registering to vote in droves, and a recent Supreme Court decision protecting mail-in voting from federal limits.

You can join The Tea with April Ryan, live every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30pm ET.

The Contrarian is owned by nobody. Your paid subscription helps us bring you the brightest voices in politics & culture and fight every day against the Trump chaos machine. Join us on Substack.