Start Me Up with Kimberley A. Johnson

Mariah Craven is the co-host of the How We Win podcast, along with Steve Pierson. Mariah is a campaign communications consultant who has worked with Kamala Harris, Alex Padilla, Karen Bass, Wendy Davis, and other candidates for office. She's also the former Executive Director of Sea Change, an organization that mobilized thousands of donors and volunteers to help flip the House in 2018.  Maria...

Kirk is back! First, we talked about his career and how "liberal" Hollywood isn't always so liberal. WE had some fun talking about the "biz" and then we talked politics: The unhinged GOP continues to get crazier; Kirk's thoughts on the new Democratic outreach to Latinos and how Roe will affect the midterms. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-O...

Cheri is back and we had a lot to talk about! Topics: Steve Schmidt's unhinged breakdown on Twitter; why you should never give money to the Lincoln Project; will striking down Roe backfire on Republicans; Cheri shares why she feels Garland has done damage and she shares what she thinks may happen. A good conversation. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https...

Christopher Bouzy is a serial entrepreneur, software engineer, and political maven and he’s the founder and CEO of Bot Sentinel. It’s a free platform developed to detect and track trollbots and untrustworthy Twitter accounts. Topics: Christopher predicted Musk won't buy Twitter; why Elon Musk should never own Twitter; what striking down Roe will mean for the coming election and Christopher&#39...

Rachel Bitecofer joined me again to talk about how Democrats can use the firehose of news and GOP fascism to win this November. Topics: How the Roe decision can mean a D win; what Dem leaders are getting right with messaging and where they need to improve; how voters can use messaging to control a narrative, and Rachel explained that Democratic voters must show up in big numbers or the GOP will se...

Julie and I went to high school together but didn't know each other. In recent years, we connected through social media and there are more than a few interesting details. After we reminisced about high school years in a southern California beach town, we dug in and talked about current events: Steve Schmidt's no-fucksTwitter confessions; how striking down Roe could mean a Dem victory (don&...

Topics: GOP likely leaked the Roe story as a distraction from abortion bans and MAGA insurrectionists; GOP released a new embarrassing sex tape of Madison Cawthorn--using that as a distraction, too; we need to hear from pro-choice men, and the importance of framing the abortion conversation. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Steph Walton and I are raged up, fired up and ready to FIGHT! They are overturning Roe v Wade and we're not going to assume defeat. Sure, we talked about Putin possibly dying of cancer and the fact that Elon is a danger to legit free speech, but our main focus was how to channel our rage for the 2022 midterms. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redci...

Comedian John Fugelsang hosts the acclaimed "Tell Me Everything" series on SiriusXM Progress.  He's debated David Duke on Bill Maher, been murdered on CSI, been picketed by Westboro Baptist Church & once interviewed 2 Beatles on different continents in the same week. We talked about John and his impressive career and then we focused on what's going on in the world: Covid; justi...

So grateful to have Jody back on. She was my light on a dark day--the day Elon Musk started the process to buy Twitter. We talked about politics but we also threw in fun stuff. Jody did talk me off the ledge and gave me some much-needed hope about the November midterms. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Allison Gill is the host of Mueller, She Wrote, and The Daily Beans podcasts. She's a veteran, Ph. D., and a former federal government executive, she’s a comedian, author, and staunch advocate for the resistance. Topics: DoJ is investigating both small and big 1/6 players; Allison and her "hope porn"; the real headline to the Alex Jones news. and AlexJones says he will cooperate with t...

Majid M. Padelan A.K.A. Brooklyn Dad Defiant is back!. He's the author of The Liddle'est President and he's funny, authentic, and a great conversationalist. Our chat was a mix of fun stuff and politics: quitting smoking; crazy right-wingers think tan balls make them macho; Dems do have a chance in Nov but voters have to help, and so much more. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.c...

D. Earl Stephens is the author of "Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump's Very Important Letters."  He's the former managing editor of Stars & Stripes, a Navy vet, and a prolific writer. Topics: How to cope in this volatile political climate; we are loyal Democrats who want to see tougher action from the party; Putin has to be stopped and we should follow Europe...

Steph Walton is back and she has COVID! It's mild. We did what we do best: TALKED! Drop in on two friends talking about COVID, life, politics and there's a surprise at the end! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. In the past four years, his blog Stuff That Needs To Be Said has reached a diverse worldwide audience. He's the author of  God is Love, Don't Be a Jerk. Topics: his book; his brain tumor; why faith (religious or not) is so important; how to deal with the overwhelming 24-hr news cycle and so much more. John i...

USA Today opinion columnist and former Justice Department prosecutor Michael J. Stern is back! We had a little fun and we talked about politics. Topics: Garland; "pale white daddy" --just listen; Ukraine; the benefit of trash tv and so much more! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

My friend, write Amanda Sowards joins me again for an easy conversation. I think I may have COVID but testing negative. We spend the first part of the show talking about that and other fun stuff, but then we head on into the current events, Will Smith/toxic masculinity; Putin is losing; midterms, and lots more. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircl...

Comedian Andy Kindler is my guest!  He played the character "Andy", a fellow sportswriter on the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, was a regular guest on Late Show with David Letterman, contributor to The Daily Show, and has performed on HBO.  We had a lot of fun talking about what he's been up to (he has a new album out); what it was like to work on Letterman & how COVID impacted h...

Ben Cohen of The Banter Substack is back. We talked about COVID protocols, what we're comfortable with and the news on the Omicron variant; Putin's invasion: Ben is cautiously optimistic about the outcome and then I asked him questions from the end of every episode of The actor's Studio Bernard Pivot. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcir...

Sarah Wood is back for more! Topics: Putin overestimated his invasion of Ukraine; how the "Don't say gay" bill might affect LGBTQ youth; Mandates are over but a new COVID variant is spreading in the UK and we tend to follow them in case number rate. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Jay Arnold is an American writer, director and filmmaker. He has written and directed more than 200 television commercials for national brands. Jay’s work has featured Kris Jenner, Marie Osmond, Alexa Ray Joel, Belinda Carlisle, Terry Bradshaw, Melissa Joan Hart, Dan Marino, Billie Jean King and Wendie Malick including animated spots featuring The Simpsons and Mr. Bill. We had a fun chat about wor...

Brian Karem is a White House Columnist and his latest book is titled Free the Press: The Death of American Journalism and How to Revive It. He's a political analyst for CNN and hosts the "Just Ask The Question" podcast. Topics: We discussed his book, Free The Press, and the ways news media can be improved (some GREAT ideas.) Then we dove into Putin's invasion of Ukraine: how long i...

Allison Gill is the host of Mueller, She Wrote, and The Daily Beans podcasts. She's a veteran, Ph. D., and a former federal government executive, she’s a comedian, author, and staunch advocate for the resistance. Topics: The moral dilemma of watching the unprovoked Putin attack on Ukraine. Allison and I weigh the pros and cons of doing more to help Ukraine; there's a good chance Putin will...

Jody is back for the first time in 2022. We had some fun before we jumped into the conversation about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It's always a good show with Jody! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

TizzyEnt is a filmmaker and an activist and he uses his large online platform to combat racism, misogyny, and bigotry. We talked about what inspired him to be a concerned and engaged citizen. He shared some success stories and how what he does, helps. We also discussed Russia attacking Ukraine as well as the overall state of where things may be headed. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/...