The Tent

With two weeks left before Election Day, tens of millions of voters have already cast a ballot in the 2020 election. This unprecedented enthusiasm from voters has been met unfortunately with new barriers to voting and the franchise. The Appeal’s Daniel Nichanian joins the pod this week to discuss this tension as well as how summer protests for policing and criminal justice reform have shaped down ballot races. Plus, Daniella and Jesse discuss the never-ending scandals of the Trump White House.

As Republicans in the U.S. Senate push ahead with their effort to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, our hosts connect with staff writer for The New Republic Matt Ford to talk about President Donald Trump’s SCOTUS nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett and how her confirmation could impact the future of the court. Plus, Daniella and Jesse debrief on the kidnapping plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the latest from the 2020 campaign trail.

On “The Tent” this week, Daniella connects with G. Elliott Morris, a data journalist for the Economist and author of the political blog “The Crosstab”, for a broad discussion looking into the election models and forecasts for the 2020 campaign cycle. Jesse and Daniella also break down the whirlwind of a week the White House has weathered from President Trump’s disastrous debate performance to the COVID-19 outbreak in the White House.

On this week’s episode of “The Tent,” David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, returns to the podcast to recap with Ed and Jesse the few highs and many lows of the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Plus, they break down revelations from The New York Times’ reporting on President Trump’s finances, including how little he has contributed in federal income taxes and his sizable personal debts.

This week on “The Tent", Jesse and Ed discuss the tragic passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the political fight over replacing her on the Supreme Court. Then, Andy Slavitt, former acting administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration, joins the show to discuss the precarious state of the Affordable Care Act, given the new SCOTUS vacancy, and his biggest frustrations he’s witnessed in the federal government’s response to the pandemic. 

This week, Evergreen Action’s Jamal Raad joins the pod from Seattle to discuss the devastation wrought by wildfires on the West Coast, how climate change is intensifying wildfire season, and how activists are successfully mainstreaming the issue to make it a top concern for lawmakers and voters alike. Plus, Daniella and Jesse discuss the U.S. crossing another grim COVID-19 milestone, the latest upheaval at the Justice Department, and how it’s all translating on the campaign trail.

The nation faces its toughest challenge yet as the pandemic continues to rage as schools across the country reopen this fall, some virtually, some in-person. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, joins the podcast to talk about the Herculean challenge educators face. Plus, Daniella and Jesse discuss the scandalous week President Trump has made for himself in the wake of shocking remarks about his knowledge of COVID-19 in recordings from journalist Bob Woodward.

On “The Tent” this week, Ed and Jesse discuss the 2020 general election as both campaigns move into the post-convention phase and examine the latest moves by the Trump administration to curtail intelligence briefings about election security to Congress. Later, they revisit a conversation from the 2020 Innovations Conference with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington about policing in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.

This week on “The Tent” Daniella and Jesse debrief on the unrest in Kenosha, WI following the shooting of Black Wisconsinite Jacob Blake by the police, as well as the norm shattering 2020 Republican National Convention. Later they connect with Juanita Tolliver, the political director at Supermajority, to talk about Senator Kamala Harris’s (D-CA) VP nomination, the stakes of the 2020 election for Black voters, and how organizing in these communities has changed since the last general election.

This week on “The Tent”, we reconnect with former Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe (D) to talk about the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention and a forward-looking vision on what the federal government can accomplish in 2021. He also discusses the how eliminating the filibuster could defuse the tension between ideology and pragmatism in the Senate. In the news this week, our hosts debrief on the Postal Service Crisis and reflect on the historic speeches made this week at the DNC.