Start Me Up with Kimberley A. Johnson

The wonderful and glorious Mary Trump is back for the first Start Me Up podcast of 2023! Topics: Republicans in disarray (McCarthy loses 8th vote for House Speaker while we chatted); 2024 Election Season will be a madhouse; we both agree indictments are coming; Mary doesn't trust Garland but is happy Jack Smith is on the job; new social media sites on the horizon and so much more. Mary also of...

The last Start Me Up podcast of the year! Rick Shew is my guest. He's a podcaster, an actor, a liberal, and a cool dude! His pods: @FriendsWorkPod & @barstoolpod. We chatted about movies, guilty pleasure shows, acting/actors. We also talked about possible indictments and what the 2024 presidential cast of candidate characters will look like and how it will impact Donald's future. Becau...

Jody is back and we do our thing! Politics, of course, and fun stuff, too! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Greg Olear is back and we talked about all the things: DeSantis has no charisma, Rupert Murdoch has turned on Trump; Trump is the GOP's biggest loser; Greg weighs in on Jack Smith and his confidence on the whole DOJ process; Elon is a menace and so much more. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Fred Wellman is a Pro-Democracy advocate and a political consultant. He's an Army combat veteran. Host of the On Democracy podcast He's the co-founder of the Beer Hall Project and he's a senior advisor to Voters of Tomorrow. Topics: Donald Trump, the GOP, and Trumpism; Donald's legal problems as well as his big mouth just might get him jail time; the threat posed by chaos agents Mi...

Jared is a political analyst and author. His latest book, THE MIDNIGHT KINGDOM: A HISTORY OF POWER, PARANOIA, AND THE COMING CRISIS, comes out in January. Topics: antisemitism and toxic conspiracy theories have been a central component of Conservatism from the start; why Jared feels a positive change is taking place; why Milo, Ye and Elon are dangerous; despite the US not wanting to prosecute a fo...

Sarah Wood returns! Topics: GOP is doubling down on hate; Trump is running for POTUS but GOP is rejecting him; the infighting on the right is something to watch; Elon is a chaos agent; and living in an openly bigoted America is deadly! But Sarah and I still managed to have a great chat and we wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Ou...

Victor Shi, the youngest elected Delegate for Joe Biden in 2020, former White House Intern, Strategy Director for Voters Tomorrow, and co-host of the iGen Politics Podcast. He's a writer, speaker, organizer, and activist. Topics: GenZ showed up and helped Democrats have a historic midterm turnout; why the youth vote will continue to gain steam; GOP is selling a dystopian future and the younger...

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: There was no "red wave" and traditional pundits got it wrong (and aren't admitting it); Bouzy's predictions came to pass (for the most part); Trump ex...

It's Election Day and Cliff Schecter joins me again! Topics: GOP is threatening Civil War if they lose, Elon continues to kill Twitter, Mastodon; more the new site I keep teasing; midterm predictions and more! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Writer/Director Jay Arnold is back! Topics: early voting numbers are good for Democrats; Elon is a jerk; the blue check scandal rages on -- and why those badges matter; the fate of social media and pop-culture fun stuff! 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: Allison's infamous White House visit; killing Roe will bite the GOP in the ass next Tuesday...youth, women, conservative women--and AG makes a prediction; Donald indictmen...

Go-Go's bassist Kathy Valentine is a woman of many talents. Her memoir "All I Ever Wanted" is a fantastic view into her life as a young girl who dreamed of being in a successful rock band and seeing that dream come true. Her writing is raw, real, and very relatable. She talks about her relationship with her mom, her choice to have abortions (at critical times in her life), and how bein...

She goes by "Scully" on Twitter and her bio reads "Passionate lawyer focused on the Rule of Law & stopping the authoritarianization of the United States." She's an Iranian/American attorney and a big part of our focus was on the women's movement happening right now in Iran. Scully explains how important it is to amplify the truth of what's going on, how the right is...

Simon Rosenberg was the lead strategist for the DCCC when Democrats flipped the House in 2018. He is the founder of New Democrat Network (NDN.org) and the New Policy Institute, a liberal think tank and advocacy group based in Washington DC. Topics: New voting data is very encouraging and offers Democrats some hope and legit optimism for a successful 2022. Simon makes it clear this election will be...

Kat Cary is an American ex-pat who lives in Scotland and she's part of Democrats Abroad. We talked about the importance of ex-pats participating in American elections, what people from other countries think of Americans, and Kat filled us in on the Global Women's Caucus--an arm of Dems Abroad. It was a very interesting chat! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt...

The lovely and talented Sarah Wood returns! Sarah explains why she's optimistic about November; we discussed the docudrama: Dahmer, and then we talked about the batshit crazy, fascist GOP. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Melissa Jo Peltier's latest documentary The Game Is Up: Disillusioned Trump Voters Tell Their Stories is a fascinating look at the folks who voted for Trump and later regretted it.  Melissa and I had a fantastic conversation about her film and the people she interviewed. We eventually drifted over to current events and had a great discussion about what's at stake and what needs to be done...

Voters of Tomorrow was founded in 2019 by then 17-year-old Santiago Mayer, an immigrant from Mexico. Santiago noticed a lack of political engagement at his high school and decided to tackle that by creating a new organization for young people, by young people. Santiago explained how Voters of Tomorrow works, what they do, and how they are lobbying for youth rights. He emphasized the determination...

Tiffany Bond is a family law attorney who's running as a House Rep in Maine's second district. Her strategy is unique, she doesn't take contributions. She has no campaign staff and she asks that if voters wish to support her with cash, they should use that money to support small businesses and charities in Maine. Maine is a state that utilizes ranked choice voting and that helps candid...

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: First we talked about what's going on at Bot Sentinel and then we dove into politics: Why Christopher has an optimistic take on the midterms; Why the evisceration...

Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner is back to break down yesterday's NYAG announcement! Glenn weighs in on what this latest civil lawsuit against Trump and his children means for the family and their business. We discussed the pace at which the DOJ is moving; the two sets of justice in America; what might happen to Donald if he's convicted and which investigation into Donald Trump w...

Rachel Bitecofer is back to talk about messaging and the midterms. Topics: the House is competitive; why is Herschel Walker slightly ahead of Warnock; Rachel explains why Fetterman's messaging is so successful; is it worth it for Dems to fund the right-wing extremists as a winning strategy and why Dems need to be laser-focus on the evisceration of Roe. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle....

Jeremy Newberger is the CEO of Ironbound Films, a documentary, and new media production company. He's a Twitter Political Satirist, Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker, and TV Director. After Jeremy shared a little about his career as a documentary filmmaker, we dove into politics: why humor is essential in today's political climate; stupid GOP messaging and their absurd midterm strategie...

Greg Olear is back and he has a new book coming out. We talked about that then we discussed current headlines: The Leonard Leo threat to democracy; Greg wants 81 SCOTUS judges; midterms are approaching and Dems seem to be leading, and so much more. Greg is always fun and awesome. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy