The Middle - UNPLUGGED with Anthony Weiner

The Harris coronation is going swimmingly in Chicago as The Donald spends his time not apologizing to the veterans he insulted.  So who’s winning?  It's been a few months since Anthony checked in on the polls (Episode 82) and freaked out a little bit.  Is he feeling any better?  In a word, yes…but.  It's been even longer since he gave us an update on the races in the United States Senate (Episode...

The ideal is that candidates make themselves available to the press and take hard questions, right?  Trump has and Harris hasn't. Outrage!  But Anthony asks whether a fact free hour in front of a microphone is anything to cheer about when Trump does just that. If “answering" questions is saying a string of untrue things, then maybe we need new standards. Speaking of double standards, now hacked do...

With only 90 days to work with, Harris has her man.  Minnesota Governor Tim Walz wins the veepstakes. Anthony was pulling for someone else but can barely contain his excitement. Pundits are smart, but a good campaign with a confident team makes good decisions. We check the pros and cons and then look at the contrast with the angry and weird Republican duo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...

Finally a week of relative calm! As we all try on our new campaign environment, the Trump v Harris race still has that new car smell.  So what will it look like for the next…checks notes…97 days?  Anthony has some ideas.  The Orange Man from Florida always brought some heavy weird to the game, but JD Vance is raising it to an art form.  Is this the opening for a campaign that is less about issues...

But of course we saw this coming!  A month of insane twists brings us the one Democrats needed and few of us expected.  Now, the race is between an old convicted felon and a young prosecutor.  Popcorn please.  In Ask Anthony Anything, explaining Kamala is brat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony looks at a busy and consequential week in America.  It seems like a lot has changed, but has it?  An assassination attempt may not succeed in cooling our national rhetoric.  A judge's ruling won't end the stolen documents case.  A veep pick just confirms what we already knew about how Donald Trump thinks.  If you are feeling exasperated, this might not cheer you up but we try to find some...

Lets first dispense with the obvious : Joe Biden has been old for a long time.  But suddenly over the course of a trainwreck of a debate, many Democrats and reporters were ready to do what polls show Americans had done a while ago - add the word “too”.  It’s 120 days before the election and there is a national consensus - Joe Biden is too old.  But what about that other universal point of agreemen...

Anthony is usually not one for hyperbole, but is this the worst Supreme Court decision in history or what? His hair isn't on fire or anything, but even a cool, level headed look at the breath of the Presidential immunity that now exists, is enough to make us all sweat.  He breaks it down and tries to find tiny silver linings.  In Ask Anthony Anything, a modest proposal for a Biden comeback. Learn...

Is anyone not giving public debate advice to Trump and Biden?  Has everyone already figured out what they need to do and what they need to avoid?  Anthony takes a look at what the partisans are telling their candidate to do in tomorrow’s debate and has some help in sorting out what will work and what won’t.   He is joined by Charlie King, friend of the pod and former Executive Director of the New...

If there is one economic data point that every president fears it is the price of gas.  But like a political Rorschach test, voters - and podcast hosts - see what they want to see when the cost at the pump goes up or down.  Now, with prices dropping and oil profits skyrocketing, could it be that Joe Biden has cracked the code?  It's time to bring in an expert.  Anthony chats with Dan Dicker, autho...

Hunter Biden is guilty but not for all the things he has been accused of.  Now that the jury has spoken, Anthony takes a step or two back in time and recalls the odd winding road that led us to this place.  It isn’t pretty.  A box on a form was filled out wrong and that is a crime.  But how did all that lead to just this?  Anthony explores.  Also, fast food is too damn expensive, but why? Learn mo...

Everything has been said about the Trump verdict, but has everyone said it on this podcast?  Anthony puts a bow on the proceedings by separating the Trump complaints into a couple of categories.  He finds plenty of good faith questions about our system and our most famous trial.  Answers abound but are they the correct ones?  We have a few more courts that have to weigh in.  In Ask Anthony Anythin...

Some American debates may be destined to never be resolved.  Abortion anyone?  How about gun control?  But there is one sticky wicket we have been able to sort out and kind of find compromise on : immigration.  It hasn’t been easy.  And, to be fair, it also hasn’t been recent.  But this week we consult with the last five Presidents to find a path through the pitched arguments about our border, the...

Ok, so it won’t be Kristi Noem, but there is no shortage of Veep wannabes preening for Donald Trump’s attention.  Anthony knows the best way to get on Defendant Donald’s radar screen is to get on his television screen.  This week we listen to what they are saying and why.  In Ask Anthony Anything, it is time for a prediction in the hush money case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...

After a lot of staring at trees, Anthony brings us a view of the forest in the Trump hush money case.  The big climax is Micheal Cohen but the scaffolding of the case seemed ready this week.  A preview of the Trump defense and a bold prediction about whether the defendant will testify to his own not guiltyness.  In Ask Anthony Anything, is it time to panic over the polls?  Lets ask this guy panick...

Donald Trump sat for interviews with Time Magazine and this week, Anthony tried to bring us a line-by-line analysis.  Tried, as in didn’t really pull it off.  He explains a few things we did learn (besides the surprising fact that Time Magazine still exists) and wraps up some loose ends.  In Ask Anthony Anything, our least favorite dog shooting governor digs herself a deeper hole. Learn more about...

How should we think about the campus debate/protests/politics around Israel's war with Hamas?  There are a lot of ideas and even more perspectives.  This week, Anthony checks in with a fellow who has worn a few relevant hats - former Representative and current university “professor” Steve Israel.  They talk about the often narrow scope of our education around these things and those who are operati...

Let's call it the fifth Passover question, how did they finally do their jobs?   Anthony looks at the historically incompetent 118th Congress and gives kudos for the week of action.  Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan all finally had urgent needs funded.  How did it happen?   Was it a sea change?  Maybe.  Also this week, a look at the early tells from the Trump trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Perhaps it's unexpected given his history with the criminal justice system, but Anthony has been a cheerleader for the idea that “the system" will hold and Donald Trump will be held accountable…if he's guilty.  But, there are reasonable questions that reasonable people can have about the ability of an infamous politician to get a fair trial.  Anthony asks them and tries to answer.  And, in Ask Ant...

Democrats have some PTSD around third party candidates.  You can imagine why.  Is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the newest version of Ralph Nader or Jill Stein?  Anthony takes a look at what we know about the guy with the iconic Democratic name and decides that we may not have that much to fear.  RFK Jr. said more words this week and his Dance of the Seven Veils shows him to be nakedly MAGA.  In Ask Anth...

Wait, wait!  Before the Rhona McDaniel tempest fades from memory, Anthony would like a word.  He explains what it takes to be considered an election denying conspiracy theorist worthy of the scarlet letter.  Spoiler alert, being pissed about the Electoral College or money in politics isn't enough.  But being a dangerous liar maybe is just what we need on TV right now, if they do it right.  What if...

It has the longest name of any committee in Congress (maybe ever) : The House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.  But what they lack in punchy, they made up for in actually working.  Anthony looks at what seems like a true national consensus around our rivalry with China and what we (and he) got wrong at the turn of this century.  I...

Another week and another sign that Donald Trump is super desperate for cash.  He can’t raise the money or find a bond for one of his many expensive legal verdicts.  This all got Anthony wondering about whether a fellow with the former president’s record would even pass a routine background check to be eligible for the security clearance that so many in Washington and the military get.  A not-so de...

Joe Biden had a lot of words to say in his amped up State of the Union this week.  More than a few of them were about the “greatest story never told”, the amazing recovery our economy has seen under his watch.  Anthony looks at the comparison between the Trump economy and this one and unpacks the “yes, but Covid” explanation that comes from the MAGA world.  If not for the pandemic, then Trump woul...

Buying, selling and consuming cannabis is legal all over the place.  So why is there so much chaos around it?  Anthony looks at the odd mish-mash of federal laws, state programs and local enforcement that has left citizens bewildered and policymakers returning to the drawing board.  Howie Miller of Two Buds Dispensary in the Bronx may be the poster boy for how New York intended its legalization pr...