The Contrarian Pod

As of Wednesday afternoon, a Senate judiciary committee vote to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination to become Attorney General is scheduled for Thursday, July 30. Contrarian senior editor Tim Dickinson sat down with Senator Jacky Rosen from Nevada to talk about why Blanche’s mishandling of the release of the Epstein Files and connection to Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund make him unfit to lead the justice department.

Senator Rosen’s also shared her recent legislative moves to demand FEMA assistance for wildfire prevention, highlight the Iran war’s costs for Nevadans, oppose presidential pardons for Ghislaine Maxwell, and fight for strengthened DACA protections.

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On this week’s Let’s Do Lunch, Economist and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, Jared Bernstein sat down with with Neale Mahoney. Neale runs the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

They answered questions on private healthcare markets, what factors are driving up the cost of your groceries, and what Trump’s economic harms look like as real numbers

You can catch the Let’s Do Lunch live every other Tuesday at Noon et at ContrarianNews.org

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On The Tea with April Ryan, April caught up with Charles Blow. Charles is a journalist, author, and former New York Times columnist

They talked about Trump walking back his threat to subpoena the Times, how Georgia is raising the stakes for the midterms, and unpacked how Black Americans constantly struggle against political oppression and racially-targeted violence.

You can catch the Tea with April Ryan, live Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30pm eastern at ContrarianNews.org

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 this week, publisher Norm Eisen chatted with New York Times Politics Reporter Maggie Haberman about her latest book, Regime Change, co-authored with fellow White House reporter Jonathan Swan.

Regime Change is an inside look at Trump’s second term, his willingness to use power unlike any other president in American history, and how four years out of office built up his desire to surround himself with loyal supporters who would allow him to smash norms and wield that power.

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 this week, I caught up with Juan Proaño and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance.

Juan, you might remember, is the head of LULAC, the nation’s oldest and most important Hispanic civil rights organization. We got on-the-ground ICE updates from Maine and Texas, upcoming elections in Arizona and how DOGE failed us yet again with its cuts in food safety regulation and the spread of cyclospora.

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On Coffee with Contrarians earlier this week, our publisher Norm Eisen chatted with Brian Tyler Cohen. He’s the host of the No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen YouTube show and podcast, where he’s chatted with guests like Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and so many more.

He’s out with his second book, The Day After, How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World, which looks at the GOP’s effective way of abusing power and the Democrats’ opportunity to actually step up and fight back to protect democracy. Norm and Brian also react to Blanche and Clayton’s tense congressional hearings on Wednesday, and they push back against Trump’s latest false election interference claims.

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 this week’s Let’s Do Lunch, economist and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, Jared Bernstein, chatted with Aya Ibrahim. She’s a Senior Fellow for Economic and National Security at the AI Now Institute and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation.

After renewed strikes on Iran this week, Jared and Aya discussed their potential impacts on the U.S. domestic economy. They later delved into the June jobs report, looking at how AI is affecting the job market for young people and the administrative workforce.

You can get your own questions answered about the economy every other Tuesday at Noon ET by following us on Bluesky and Substack.

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.

After Graham Platner’s exit from the Senate race in Maine, Democrats are scrambling to figure out who will face off against Republican incumbent Susan Collins.

The upcoming state Convention provides a second chance for Maine voters to make their voices heard — something many Mainers felt they didn’t get the first time around with Platner.

Former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart, who now votes in Maine, spoke with us about how the Washington consultant class shaped the Platner fiasco, and how Maine can still capitalize on the progressive enthusiasm stirred up by Platner’s campaign.

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.

It’s been a week, and we had a lot to talk through. That’s why we’re bringing you all a special episode today. It’s a double feature!

On Thursday’s Coffee with Contrarians, April Ryan got to speak with Maya Wiley. She is the President and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. After that, she sat down with Rep. Al Green (D-TX) on The Tea.

Assaults on Justice proved to be a recurring theme this week.

Between Todd Blanche’s upcoming Senate hearings and ICE killing a man on his way to work, it’s becoming clearer every day that Americans cannot put their trust in the Department of Justice.

The Tea with April Ryan is live every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30pm ET at ContrarianNews.org.

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 Tuesday’s episode of The Tea with April Ryan, April spoke with Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance.

While discussing the worsening housing affordability crisis, Lisa revealed that DOGE has all but destroyed fair housing grants, jeopardizing the lives of already vulnerable people, all in the name of being “anti-DEI.”

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.