Dr. Cornel West is one of the great thinkers and public intellectuals of our time. In the wake of Bernie Sanders' exit from the Presidential race, and in the midst of the global pandemic, he joins Michael to discuss choosing sides between milquetoast neoliberals and vicious neofascists, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jim Clyburn and wrestling with despair.

***************

SPECIAL OFFER FOR RUMBLE LISTENERS: Get a one-month free trial of Audible!

Go to http://audible.com/rumble

OR text "RUMBLE" to 500-500.

***************

When Michael Moore made the Oscar-nominated film SiCKO about America's health care system, Wendell Potter was a Vice President and "chief propagandist" at health insurance giant Cigna. He and his colleagues devised a plan to "push Michael Moore off a cliff" due to fear that the film would expose the corruption of their industry. Potter's role was to fly to Michigan, infiltrate the premiere of the film, and and spy on and discredit Moore.

Not long after watching the film, Potter experienced a crisis of conscience and could no longer continue lying on behalf of America's health insurers. He became a whistleblower, spilled the beans about how his former business operates and is now a vocal advocate for a true, government-backed, universal health care system in America.

He joins Michael to recount their bizarre first meeting, expose the lie that Americans love their private health insurance and figure out health care in America post-coronavirus pandemic.

***********

Watch Michael Moore's 2007 classic SiCKO here:

https://youtu.be/YbEQ7acb0IE

or here:

https://vimeo.com/76646445

***********

Read Wendell Potter's books!

Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans

Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2XySkKI

Kindle:

https://amzn.to/3ch9dO4

Nation On The Take

Kindle:

https://amzn.to/2V55MnE

Paperback:

https://amzn.to/34Arfbp

Hardcover:

https://bookshop.org/a/1381/9781632861092

Visit Tarbell, the investigative journalism site Potter founded:

https://tarbell.org/

If satire is the art of taking reality to the absurd extreme, then what is a satirist to do when the absurd extreme becomes a daily reality? Michael is joined by one of the great satirists of our time, cartoonist Dan Perkins. Under the pseudonym Tom Tomorrow, Perkins created a strip called This Modern World which has ridiculed the corporate, political and media power structures for almost 30 years. He and Michael discuss the absurdities of living in the age of coronavirus, the Trump virus and the capitalism virus.

His most recent cartoon, "The Death Cult" can be seen here:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/13/1936455/-Cartoon-The-death-cult

Visit Tom Tomorrow's website:

https://thismodernworld.com/

Follow him on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/tomtomorrow

Follow him on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/realtomtomorrow/

Michael Moore reflects on his recent visit with Pope Francis, the meaning of "essential" human beings, and the possibility of surviving this pandemic and becoming a more just society. 

***********

PHOTOS: Michael Moore and Pope Francis

https://twitter.com/mmflint/status/1052738155894513664

WATCH: "Mary Magdalene" Starring Rooney Mara & Joaquin Phoenix

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5360996/

Here’s part two of your letters to Mike about what we need to do, now and post-pandemic. He’s in Day 32 of his self-imposed apartment exile and he loves reading the mail. A lot of people are stuck inside, and you know what happens with idle minds — they plot what we’re going to do in the post-pandemic America!

Oh-oh.

PLUS: A clip from Mike’s appearance in Amy Schumer’s podcast. Listen to the full episode here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0bqBNBz6EuPO7mfJeDjuYh

Michael Moore addresses the end of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign and invites you to look into the future - a future which has been created because of the battles fought, the progress made and the movements ignited by his candidacy. America has changed, and the majority of us will not want a return to what the owners call “normal,” to the ways of the past. Bernie showed everyone a different way, and that way will be our future very soon.

***********

Music Credit:

"Everybody Knows" - Leonard Cohen

https://music.apple.com/us/album/everybody-knows/192677178?i=192678729

Jane McAlevey is a lifetime agitator and shitkicker. So why haven’t you seen her on TV? Why don’t we ever see any of our brightest thinkers and doers in the mainstream media? This is one of reasons I started RUMBLE — to bring brilliant voices like hers to you. Jane and I discuss how we can start creating 2021 now — the world we want to live in, the things we want to change. Aggressive organizing, including strikes, will be necessary regardless of who wins the 2020 election. And, surprise, surprise — we can end up as the real winners once we realize we’re the ones who truly hold the power.

**********

Read Jane's new book, "A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy"

A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy

https://bookshop.org/a/1381/9780062908599

or

https://amzn.to/3bYr8Ja

Read Jane's previous books!

No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age

https://bookshop.org/a/1381/9780190868659

or

https://amzn.to/2UT9CAl

Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell): My Decade Fighting for the Labor Movement

https://bookshop.org/a/1381/9781781683156

or

https://amzn.to/3b47NGc

During the last Emergency Podcast, Michael put out a call for your ideas on how to combat the coronavirus pandemic and, as urgently, the massive societal and federal government failures to prepare and respond to the crisis. After receiving thousands of voicemails, social media posts and emails from all over the world (including from a member of the Danish Parliament!) Michael shares the actual voicemails and responds to your ideas. 

New York is days away from the massive manslaughter of thousands of innocent souls whose only crime was to be living in the time of Trump. Instead of a few hundred that might have otherwise died from an errant virus, thousands are now at death’s door because the profit motive is keeping the gear they desperately need away from them. And because we’ve now learned that the President chose to do little or nothing to help — initially blaming the “hoax” on the Democrats and the media, and then being clueless as to how to order, gather and ship the needed materials. As of this posting, nearly three 9/11’s-worth of Americans have died, and many more are about to join them. This time, though, Americans were killed by a different type of terrorist. There will be no memorial built to honor them, no country to invade to avenge their deaths (Mar-a-Lago is not a country).

Michael Moore issues an urgent appeal to his listeners on this special emergency edition of RUMBLE to immediately share their ideas with him as to how we can beat back two monsters at once — the war profiteers and the war president.

Email Michael at:

[email protected]

Tweet at Michael here:

https://twitter.com/MMFlint

Comment on his Facebook post here:

https://www.facebook.com/mmflint/posts/10156759453911857

Comment on his Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/michaelfmoore/

After a brief update on all the latest pandemic homicide news, Michael is joined by one of his favorite millennial writers, Nathan Robinson, the founder and editor of the brilliant magazine, Current Affairs. They discuss why older people don't like Bernie Sanders, why political half measures are killing us, and why  Americans are so afraid of the “S” word.

********

Buy Nathan's book, "Why YOU Should Be A Socialist" from:

Bookshop!

https://bookshop.org/a/1381/9781250200860

Or, if you insist on Amazon, buy it here:

Hardcover:

https://amzn.to/3bNkLIs

Kindle:

https://amzn.to/2JyDueP

Audio Book:

https://amzn.to/3dTdDft

Check out and subscribe to Current Affairs!

https://www.currentaffairs.org/

Here's the piece Nathan wrote in February of 2016 saying that Trump will win (unless the Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders):

https://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidency