Truth and Consequences

In this week’s podcast interview, I spoke to Eric Rauchway, a distinguished professor of history at the University of California, Davis, about his new book “Why The New Deal Matters.”

In our conversation, we discuss why the New Deal was about more than saving the US economy. It was also about preserving and revitalizing American democracy. We talked about why the New Deal was such a revolutionary moment in US history; how it changed the relationship between citizens and their government; its tangible and political legacy in American history; what role bipartisanship played in getting the New Deal through Congress, and what lessons Joe Biden should take away from Franklin Roosevelt’s success in passing his agenda. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did, and I highly recommend picking up the book!

What’s Going On?

* I also highly recommend reading Eliana Johnson’s recent piece in Politico on what is motivating Republicans to throw Liz Cheney overboard. It’s not that she is refusing to embrace the GOP’s Big Lie; it’s that she is saying the quiet part loud.

One obvious assumption about the fact that Republican’s continue to lie about the 2020 election being stolen is that, as Greg Sargent put in the Washington Post, they “may be unshackling themselves from any obligation to acquiesce to future presidential election outcomes they don’t like — that is, liberating themselves to overturn those outcomes by any means necessary.” I’m not so convinced. As Johnson’s piece points out, Republicans are ticked off at Cheney not because they think she’s wrong about the election but because she won’t shut up about it.

What matters most to Republicans, it seems, is getting on the same page with the former president and playing down the party’s deep divisions. If that means playing into the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and further misleading their own supporters about what really happened last November, so be it. Don’t get me wrong, this is cynical, gross, and anti-democratic, but it’s likely more pathetic than purposely insidious.

* The latest terrorist attack in Afghanistan is simply horrific. Even as the US prepares to bring troops from that war-ravaged country, we should not look away at the horrors that the Taliban are perpetrating against innocent civilians.

* Interesting essay by Nathan Brown on where the Arab-Israeli conflict is headed.

Musical Interlude

For Friday’s “This Week in History,” I somehow forget to mention the most important musical moment of the 1970s - the May 8, 1977, Grateful Dead show in Ithaca, New York. It’s arguably the greatest live concert the band ever played - and features the best version of “Scarlet —> Fire” the band ever performed. As great as the second set is, don’t sleep on the first set, particularly the epic jam on “Dancing in the Street.”

This weekend I picked up Khruangbin’s first album, “Con Todo El Mundo,” which features the fantastic track “Maria También (featured below).” Khruangbin is a three-person band, and I’ve seen their music described as a cross between Thai funk and Hawaiian surf music. Who wouldn’t want to listen to that?

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

I don’t usually send out multiple emails per day but I’ve had a bit of a technical issue with this audio file that I finally fixed this afternoon … so you’re getting two today!

I have known Dahlia Scheindlin since we attended Jewish summer camp together more than three decades ago! Over the years, she’s become a prominent and well-respected political pollster who has worked on eight national campaigns in Israel and campaigns in more than a dozen countries. So when I wanted to get the lowdown on what to expect in Israel’s fourth national election in less than two years, I, of course, reached out to her.

In this conversation, which was relatively short by our personal, historical standards, we covered a host of issues - from the extraordinary political staying-power of Benjamin Netanyahu, the rise of right-wing leader Gideon Sa’ar, and the demise of Benny Gantz to the continued decline of the Israeli left, the importation of right-wing American conspiracy theories into Israeli politics, and the limited direct focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict in this election. This was a seriously great conversation, and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed having it!

If you want to get more of Dahlia’s analysis, she is doing a weekly podcast for Ha’aretz with Anshel Pfeiffer (who is also great), called Election Overdose.

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

This week I sat down (via Zoom) with Rosa Brooks to talk about her great new book “Tangled Up In Blue,” which tells her story of becoming a reserve police officer in Washington D.C.

We touched on a number of topics in our conversation, including whether becoming a cop changed her views on policing; the benefits of de-escalation strategies; how we ask the police to do too much; Rosa’s view that most police officers join the force because they want to help people; why police training implicitly encourages officers to use deadly force; and how cynicism is the biggest occupational hazard for cops.

It was a fascinating discussion. I hope you enjoy it!

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

For this week’s Truth and Consequences podcast I decided I wanted to know more about what makes West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin tick. So I reached out to the dean of West Virginia radio broadcasters, Hoppy Kercheval, who is an opinion columnist and the host of MetroNews Talk Line, a statewide radio show in West Virginia.

Hoppy and I discussed a number of topics, including how West Virginia became one of the reddest states in America, how Joe Manchin keeps winning, as a Democrat in a ruby red state, and why he remains a Democrat. We also touched on his love of deal-making, his short attention span, his self-appointed distance from the national Democratic Party, his skills as a retail politician, his affinity for the Senate filibuster, the likelihood that he will change his mind about scrapping it, and his support not just for the coal industry but also investments in alternative energy. It was a fascinating discussion so please give it a listen!

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

This week I was joined by ProPublica’s Alec MacGillis to talk about his recent essay reviewing the videos from the Capitol Hill riots posted to the far-right social media site Parler. Alec argues that those who broke into the Capitol were far more ordinary - and a lot less strategic - than many have assumed. As he argues in his piece, “There undoubtedly were some dangerous organized elements within the mob that attacked the Capitol. But what is scariest about these videos is that they show the damage that can be done by a crowd of unorganized Americans goaded and abetted by the leaders of an organized political party. The radical fringe is a cause for concern. The thousands of regular people whipped into a murderous rage is the real nightmare.”

In our conversation we talked about the petit bourgeois characteristics of the Capitol insurrectionists; the extent to which they were empowered by the experience and felt entitled to do it; the ignoring of the Stringer Bell rule about recording ones participation in a criminal conspiracy; the reasons why the rioters didn’t do more damage; and the dangers of overlearning the lessons of January 6. We also talked about the nihilism of Mitch McConnell and Alec’s forthcoming book “Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America.”

Hope you enjoy it!

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

I had not initially planned to do a podcast as a regular feature on Truth and Consequences, instead preferring to do Q&As with published transcripts. But this week, with so much going on, I decided it would be easier to just put out the audio from this fascinating discussion.

For this inaugural podcast I am honored to have been joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Fred Logevall to discuss his latest book, “JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956.” The book is the first of a two volume biography that he is writing on the life of Kennedy.

This first volume tracks Kennedy’s life from birth in 1917 to his decision to run for president in 1956. It’s a wonderful read and one that provides a historical context for understanding Kennedy’s personal, ideological, and political evolution while also telling the story of America’s rise to becoming a great world power.

In our conversation we touched on Kennedy’s childhood; his remarkable self-confidence, even at a young age; whether the patriarch of the Kennedy clan, Joe Kennedy Sr. was a good father; Kennedy’s innate political skills; how JFK is often misread as a Cold War hawk; and the pitfalls of writing a biography on someone you either don’t like or like too much.

Hope you enjoy it!

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