The Signorile Report

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

As I was discussing the hate coming from far-right extremist GOP House members, including North Carolina’s Madison Cawthorn, who told a group of moms that they need to raise their boys to be “monsters,” Marie from South Carolina called in to my SiriusXM program to defend Cawthorn.

Marie was indignant, a true Trumper’s Trumper. At first she asked, “I would like to know where your information comes from, that you were saying Madison Cawthorn is telling moms to make their kids be monsters…?”

I had just played the audio clip and said, “Didn’t you hear the clip? It came out of his own mouth.”

She then switched to: “He meant to raise them to be real men, to stand up for their women, to provide for their families…”

Yep, stand up for “their” women, as if we are back in the 1800s.

I asked Marie if she was raising her children to be monsters and I read the dictionary definition of a “monster.”

Then she called Joe Biden a “monster” — which made no sense, since, if Cawthorn is telling people to raise their children to be monsters, whatever the definition he “meant,” then he’s telling them to be Joe Biden.

When I pointed that one out, it went over Marie’s head completely.

There’s only one thing that Cawthorn, a radicalized Trump loyalist who’s promoted white supremacist ideology, meant, of course: Raise your children to be violent. Monsters scare people and hurt people — and that’s certainly what children believe monsters to be.

Marie then changed the subject to my having said, “They’re trying to start a civil war.”

I did say that, having pointed out that Cawthorn held up a gun at an event recently and said there will be “bloodshed,” and having pointed out that he’s defended the January 6th insurrectionists. And he’s clearly telling mothers to prepare their boys for doing battle, in the form of physical violence. Oh, and he posed for photos at Hilter’s vacation retreat.

When I explained that to Marie, she got pretty discombobulated and confused, throwing out random comments.

Sometimes you just have to allow these people to walk out to the edge of a cliff with their comments, and then they have no where to go.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts!

Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

Bill from Ohio called my SiriusXM show claiming to be “channel surfing” and was supposedly shocked by how “irresponsible” I was by saying that half of the Republicans in the U.S. House are “anti-vax.”

I pointed out to him that 100% of Democrats in Congress reported getting vaccinated, while nearly half of Republicans in the House wouldn’t say.

He continued to say that I have “a microphone” and that I was not being “responsible.”

I got rightly pissed at this guy’s nerve — and yeah, a four-letter word came out — and asked if he called Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson, as well as Donald Trump, who told people to inject bleach, and told them they were irresponsible.

I pointed out that if politicians aren’t announcing that they are are vaccinated and that everyone should get vaccinated — in the middle of a pandemic — then they are anti-vax. Anyone who isn’t telling people to get vaccinated and won’t discuss their own status is anti-vax.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts!

Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

Yesterday, all but nine House Republicans voted against holding Steven Bannon in contempt of Congress for defying a lawful subpoena to speak before the January 6th Select Committee. That lawmakers — people who are sworn to uphold the law — would embrace lawbreaking is extraordinary and dangerous. But this is where we are as Donald Trump orders the GOP to do his bidding. This is how would-be dictatorships work.

New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat studies authoritarian leaders. Her book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, was published last year and is a must-read. I had her on my SiriusXM program several times, including last week, to discuss Donald Trump and what he has in common with dictators and autocrats of the past and present.

The GOP and the Trump base have lately been holding up Hungary and its authoritarian leader Victor Orban as a model for the U.S. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson went to Budapest with his show for a full week. The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is heading to Budapest for its next gathering.

This is a breathtaking open embrace of anti-democratic, authoritarian, corrupt and criminal leadership. Orban and Hungary are on the brink of being expelled by the European Union because of human rights abuses — attacks on LGBTQ people and immigrants — and the stripping or rights of citizens.

In our interview last week, Ben-Ghiat noted:

With this kind of strongmen personality where they are so arrogant and they need to be in power, because they’re very corrupt and they need immunity from prosecution, they will stop at nothing to get back in power. And then once they do, they make sure that nobody can touch them again.

She was talking about Orban, but she may as well have been talking about Trump. Orban lost an election and then spent his entire time out of power claiming that he really had won and was a victim of voter fraud — his own Big Lie. When he rose to power a second time he stripped rights and consolidated power in a way that made it difficult if not impossible for him to ever lose power again. Trump is clearly modeling himself on Orban among others.

Ben-Ghiat and I discussed the current trajectory of the GOP and Trump, and why we can’t just push him aside or stop focusing on him. Every day they are organizing to subvert democracy.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

James for North Carolina called in to my SiriusXM program to say he “recently had Covid” and “it was rough” but that he “still fully agrees” that “you should not be forced to get the vaccination” even though he’s “going to choose to get the vaccination.”

James then went into some random story of someone who was vaccinated who supposedly died from Covid-19. (Of course, this has happened in extremely rare circumstances — such as the case in recent days of the immune-compromised Colin Powell, who suffered from multiple myeloma. But 99% of those who die from Covid-19 are unvaccinated.) And I had to cut through that distortion.

His bottom line was that if people don’t want to get vaccinated that is “their business” and about “their body” and yada yada.

I explained the you’re being vaccinated to protect other people — the public health at large. He admitted that he was vaccinated against polio, measles and other illnesses.

Why did he want to see this vaccine given some sort of exemption?

He claimed we don’t know enough about the Covid vaccines, which is just another bad talking point of the anti-vaxxers. We know more about these vaccines than we did about other vaccines before administering them. Emergency authorization for Covid vaccines required more rigorous testing than approval for past vaccines. And now Pfizer has full approval.

James then tried to claim the government is forcing people to get vaccinated — which is false. A mandate is in place to work in a specific job — a job requirement. You don’t have stay in that job if you choose to put your and others’ health at risk and stay unvaccinated.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

This is the second in a series focusing on Democratic candidates Im interviewing on my SiriusXM show as Democrats fight to keep the House and Senate, and even gain seats, in the 2022 midterms. (See the first installment here.)

Buncombe County commissioner and North Carolina Democratic Congressional candidate Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, who I interviewed on my SiriusXM program recently, views her mission to unseat North Carolina GOP Congressman Madison Cawthorn as exceedingly urgent.

Cawthorn, Beach-Ferrara said, has become “radicalized,” and is a danger to democracy as a Trump loyalist who has promoted violence and defended the January 6th insurrectionists being held without bail.

As executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, Beach-Ferrara has the passion of an activist who helped in the successful fight for marriage equality. As a pastor for the United Church of Christ she’s driven by her faith in seeking justice. All of that, as well as being openly lesbian, draws a sharp contrast with the extremist right-winger Cawthorn.

"He trafficked in false conspiracy theories for months after the [2020] election and helped incite the violent insurrection at our Capitol on January 6th," Beach-Ferrara said in announcing her run. "He has continued to lie about his resume and multiple women have had the courage to come forward with serious accusations of sexual misconduct."

When she announced her candidacy back in March, Beach-Ferrara astoundingly raised $100,000 in 24 hours, and while other Democrats have jumped into the primary race, Beach-Ferrara has outraised them all — and brought in over $320,000 in the third quarter, considered a strong quarterly number for the district. All of which shows enormous enthusiasm for her candidacy, as well as the drive to get Cawthorn out of office.

Beach-Ferrara and I spoke a lot about Cawthorn and the danger he represents — to the district and to the nation at large. But we also talked about her unique background and what she brings to race. And we discussed the big issues facing the country, like the Covid-19 pandemic.

I found her to be dynamic, passionate and very smart, and I know you’ll agree. It’s a tough Republican-leaning district, but creating enthusiasm is the key to winning.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts. And you can check out Beach-Ferrara’s site and help her out at JasmineForCongress.com.

Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

Most of my work here is free, so sign up for the list and please share posts widely. If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

Matt from Houston called in to my SiriusXM show to “push back” at the supposed “celebration” I was having over health care workers being fired in New York because they wouldn’t be vaccinated against Covid-19.

In fact, I wasn’t celebrating those who were fired — I was celebrating the thousands who got vaccinated at the last minute last week, when faced with actually losing their jobs as a vaccine mandate deadline arrived. In the end, only a small percentage of people have been fired when vaccine mandates have gone into effect in cities and states across the country, as people realize it’s a requirement for the job.

Matt thought it was terrible that people had to “relent to keep their jobs, to make a personal choice about a vaccine.”

I explained that this a now a requirement, like many other job requirements for various fields, and they can make a choice to stay in the job or get another job.

I told Matt that, with regard to health care workers who refuse a vaccine, it was good to “weed them out,” as they don’t believe in science and are not qualified for the job.

That seemed to really irk Matt. “Who are you to judge people on what they are and are not willing to do with their own bodies,” he said, with a flash of anger. “You’ve gone — that’s way too far. That’s ridiculous.”

You can do whatever you want with your body, I told him. But I don’t have to hire you if you want to put people in danger by transmitting a communicable disease.

Matt then grabbed for boilerplate anti-vax talking points about how vaccinated people can still get infected with Covid — without highlighting the fact that they are relatively rare incidents and those with a breakthrough infection are highly unlikely to get seriously ill and not as transmissible as unvaccinated people.

His arguments were pretty feeble, and I think it showed the the anti-vaxxer claims are wearing thin even with the unvaccinated. They’re losing the larger battle, as people are getting vaccinated when it becomes about keeping their jobs. Matt ended the conversation by saying we’ll have to “agree to disagree,” which in this case seemed like a surrender.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

This is the first in what will be a series focusing on Democratic candidates Im interviewing on my SiriusXM show as Democrats fight to keep the House and Senate, and even gain seats, in the 2022 midterms.

Joseph Rocha is an Army and Navy veteran who fought to overturn the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which banned gay and lesbian servicemembers from serving openly. He actually served in the Army first, and, after his discharge in 2007, used his story to fight against the discriminatory policy, testifying as a witness as the ban was challenged in federal courts. During that time he attended law school. After DADT was repealed ten years ago, Rocha joined the Marines, rising to the rank of Marine Corps Captain and prosecutor.

He spoke with me on my SiriusXM program about his personal story, his passion for justice and what made him want to run for office. He’s focused on jobs and infrastructure as top priorities, supports a $15 minimum wage and believes we must address climate change urgently.

Rocha has what it takes to win against incumbent Republican Darrell Issa, a complete lackey to Donald Trump and someone who Cook Political Report deems one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress.

Issa, you may recall, has a history as one of the GOP’s most far-right and antagonistic bomb throwers, viciously attacking Democrats at every turn. He served for 18 years in California’s 48th and 49th Congressional districts, until he threw in the towel in 2018, fearful of the coming blue wave amid the backlash to Trump.

But Issa, then the richest person in Congress (now he is number two), came back in 2020, running in a district he saw as more winnable at the time, California’s 50th district, which includes part of San Diego and Riverside counties. It was a year when Trump brought out GOP voters because he was on the ballot himself, and yet Issa didn’t win the margins of other GOP candidates in the district.

One of the first things Issa did in office was to support the Big Lie and the insurrection, voting to overturn the 2020 presidential election on that day when mobs stormed the Capitol.

Issa, who engaged in gay-baiting in political ads in 2020, and who still supports repeal of Obamacare, is running on Trumpism, which California Governor Gavin Newsom, in resoundingly beating back a recall effort, showed is toxic for GOP candidates across the country and certainly in California.

Joseph Rocha had a lot to say about Issa, and why he must be beaten. And we talked about so much more.

Take a listen to the full to the interview. And check out his website here.

Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

Lee McIntyre is an MIT professor, a philosopher who went out and to speak with those who deny science, and authored How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason.

The book is obviously particularly relevant as we’re in the midst of a pandemic in which millions deny the science of vaccines — and the coronavirus itself. The same is true of climate change, which is an existential threat.

I interviewed McIntyre on my SiriusXM program to get his insights in the hopes they could help others, in particular family and friends who have been hesitant of getting vaccinated against Covid-19.

Though we’ve come into a time when the vaccinated are fed up and angry — rightly — at the unvaccinated for their role in keeping the pandemic continue, McIntyre says anger is just not going to work, and neither is “fact-flinging.”

He says trust is key — the denier needs to trust the person speaking with them — and that you need to ask the denier a lot of questions, allowing them to verbalize their own answers, frustrating as it can be. This is why, he says, that politicians can’t really change people’s minds even if they’re admired by those people — even Donald Trump, who got boo’d by his own supporters for telling them they should get vaccinated:

It’s a funny thing because when you’re talking about family and friends, the trust is already there and so that’s half the battle right there. Sometimes I think people are reluctant to have these conversations because they don’t want to make it worse. They don’t want to have a rift with a family member. And they’ll say it’s not worth it to do it.

On the other hand, sometimes people go at it way too hard. There’s something about the fact that it’s a family member that leads to disrespect rather than respect. People will be insulting sometimes with those they’re closest to in their lives.

Both of those [approaches} are a mistake.

Those who listen to my show, know that the approach I take with anti-vaxxers who call in after hearing me talking about Covid-19 and vaccines is indeed very hard. Sometimes it’s completely nuclear!

But I’m not someone these callers trust, so there’s no way I’m going to convince them anyway. They’re not calling me to get insight or just to chat about what’s going on in their lives, like they would with a friend of family member. They’re calling me to do battle, feeling their worldview threatened. They are calling to try to use my show to disseminate more misinformation on the airwaves.

My goal in engaging with them is to expose their lies and conspiracies for many other people across the country — some of whom might be misinformed and even on the fence, who might see how ridiculous these people sound. So, it’s a very different interaction — on both sides — than a one-on-one discussion with a family member or friend.

I think McIntyre makes a good point about trust and asking questions — and answering questions — and giving it time. After the interview, several people called the show who either used this approach themselves with people they know and were successful, or were themselves previously resistant to getting vaccinated but eventually did because someone they trusted approached them this way.

So, I know for many of you it’s the end of the rope with some family and friends and you’ve given up. And maybe you’ve tried something similar to what McIntyre advises.

But I think it might be good to hear him out. And I’d love to hear from those of you have in fact convinced people to get vaccinated. What worked? Others will certainly appreciate the advise.

Listen in and let us know your thoughts and experiences.

Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

While discussing President Biden’s mandates last week, a regular caller to my SiriusXM, Linda from Virginia, called in.

Usually Linda talks politics, as she is someone who is out organizing rallies and door-knocking at election time. But she called now to tell us the terrible news that sister and her brother-in-law both recently became infected with Covid-19, because they refused to get vaccinated. Both very quickly were on ventilators and died, leaving what she described as a “mess” for their children and the rest of the family, not having written wills or made plans for others who depend on them.

“I’m real damned pissed,” she said.

Linda said her sister and her husband were Trumpers in Florida who followed the lies of Governor Ron DeSantis and have now paid for it with their lives.

“She knew how I felt, she avoided the science, she followed the politicians — and now she is dead as they come,” Linda angrily said, stating she has no sympathy for her sister. “Sympathy is a word in the dictionary between s**t and syphilis.”

Linda explained her feelings, and said she was sorry her sister is dead, but that this could have been prevented.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe

Source: AFGE, Licensed under Wiki Commons

If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

I didn’t want the week of Labor Day to end without posting my full interview with the amazing dynamo that is Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA AFL-CIO. Nelson has been a nonstop force for workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. And she’s created a lot of excitement among progressives — some even calling on her to run for office — as she injects a progressive energy for the labor movement and brings the voice of a woman to union leadership.

Speaking with me as part of our Labor Day special on my SiriusXM show, she outlined how she makes sure workers aren’t exploited, are paid fairly, and are treated with dignity and respect. Representing workers on the front lines who’ve been putting their lives at risk, Nelson made sure both the government and the industry protected workers in every way possible.

“Many people, when those hours were cut back, they took a 25 to 50 percent cut in pay because those hours no longer exist,” she told me about the early months of the pandemic. “Demand for air travel fell off overnight, like 97%, so we were immediately looking at the collapse of the entire industry. But flight attendants started to feel the brunt of this, as we were first learning about coronavirus, and still working on the planes and being on the front lines from the beginning.”

Nelson said she knew from looking back at the airline industry directly after the 9/11, when the industry suffered a devastating blow, “that if we didn’t set the demands right away, and make sure that relief [in government rescue programs] was defined as relief for the workers, that this would be another crisis that would be put on our backs.”

Nelson worked with government leaders closely, as well as industry executives. American Airlines CFO Derek Kerr recently said he was “most proud of saving jobs” and thanked the unions, including Nelson’s.

Nelson and I discussed that and so much more, from how flight attendants are dealing with mask-defying unruly passengers to the future of union organizing and the labor movement in America.

Listen in.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe