In this special, Drew and Alex stream the final debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. They have a few drinks while live reacting to the fact that this debate was actually semi civil.

Call it the pandemic or call it poor longterm economics, but the Cuban government is again toying with the idea of ditching their dual currency system. Since the end of the Cold War, Cuba has adopted a dual currency to get them off of the Soviet currency. Hence, they created the CUC which was meant to be more comparable to US dollars. The CUC can also be exchanged to a Cuban peso, but at a poor rate. This system has allowed public and state companies to flourish and has left average citizens with a 24:1 conversion rate that has stunted private and small business. In this Catching Up, Alex dives into this and discusses why now may be the perfect time to get rid of the CUC.

Back in March, during the early days of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Drew and Alex speculated on how this pandemic could change society for the better and worse. Now seven months in, it is interesting to look back and see where they were right and where they were wrong. Did Drew and Alex get it right? Where were they wrong? 

 

The original summary - 

In this episode focused on the coronavirus, Drew and Alex catch up on what has been occurring around the world and in the United States. Since they covered the issue in early February, the virus has spread to many countries especially in Europe, the United States, South Korea, and many more. Hospitals have been overrun, death tolls have been rising, and people have started panic buying. They focus on the political, economic, and logistical impacts COVID-19 could have on the lives of everyone. They also discuss some of the changes (positive and negative) that may come out of this virus.

Yesterday, Senator Ben Sasse criticized President Trump on a call with constituents. He said that “the president kisses dictators’ butts” and “flirts with white supremacists.” He also said that “I’m now looking at the possibility of a Republican bloodbath in the Senate, and that’s why I’ve never been on the Trump train.” In this episode, Alex tries to break down if this is an authentic schism inside the GOP or just a panic by some moderate republicans because the election is coming. Alex mentions the report from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia which predicted that Senate Democrats would earn “a net gain of between one and eight seats … enough to give them a small majority”.

In the United States, potential voters must register or "opt-in" to exercise their right to vote. However, in around two dozen countries, voting is considered a duty. This means that voting in elections has been made compulsory or mandatory and citizens are automatically expected to vote. Even some countries impose sanctions on those who don't vote. In this episode, Drew and Alex discuss the pros and cons of mandatory voting and they talk about whether or not this system would work in the US. They mention that mandatory voting can make democracy more vibrant and representative, and can also keep the fringe movements out of the mainstream.

In this episode of The Tonic Accord, Drew and Alex sit down with Mitchell Rosenberg who was on the show back in May. Mitchell works for California Governor Gavin Newsom and also is the creator of the news site ”Now Simplified.” The three discuss the shifting political demographics in the United States around President Trump’s self proclaimed “Silent Majority.” They discuss how the this idea may no longer exist and instead Trump’s base may have become the loud minority. They also discuss the state of politics in the United States and the chaos surrounding Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination.

Last week President Trump spent several days in Walter Reed Hospital after contracting COVID-19. He emerged from the hospital with an almost too perfect tale about how helpful the experimental drug HEK-293T (Regeneron) was for combating the virus. In this episode, Alex decides to discuss the controversial side of this Regeneron drug. According to The Guardian "The cells used to develop the drug derived from an embryonic kidney after an elective abortion performed in the Netherlands in the 1970s." It is a tale of two narratives, the GOP wants to limit women's reproductive rights and fight to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, they are fine with supporting the production of a controversial drug, that is from embryos if it helps Trump's polling and public reception for the election.

In this episode, Drew catches everyone up on the alarming story that came out of Michigan a few days ago. On Thursday, 13 men with links to the militia movement that protested Michigan Governor Whitmer lockdowns, had been involved in a plot to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home. Then they were hoping to try her for treason, and overthrow the Michigan state government. Alarming or just some crazies?

The United States of America issued a travel alert to American citizens in Ghana after Western Togoland separatist groups committed acts of violence and protests broke out in parts of Ghana. It has been over ten years now since the group has campaigned for the Volta region and parts of northern Ghana to break away.  In this episode, Drew and Alex dive into the Western Togoland independence/separatist movement. They talk about the flaws in actually covering an issue like this as both had a lot of issues finding good information about the conflict. They then look into related independence movements in Sudan and talk about the characteristics that make a movement successful.

In this debate recap, Alex discusses how the civility of the vice presidential debate could undermine the severity of the pandemic and ignore the paradoxical narrative used by the Trump Administration. He also goes into the different parts of the debate and gives his takeaways.