Beyond Politics

In a word: YES. Here's why this is potentially so devastating...with a read of the indictment itself hot off the presses from former prosecutor Paul Hodes and political operatives Alicia Preston and Matt Robison.

The panel evaluates whether Trump's latest doozy of a rally represents a desperate attempt to keep his fans' attention with even more insane stuff. Also, is DeSantis about to fizzle? Will Republicans repeat their 2016 blunder? Will Democrats' connection with American Jews permanently fall apart over Netanyahu's power grab? And...rainbows!

As Israel spirals into street protests, strikes, and political chaos, former AP lead Middle East reporter Dan Perry joins us to explain why this is happening and to dive into the eerie parallels between Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump, and the political unraveling in Israel and what has been happening in the United States. And we ask what lessons we can learn about how to head off a similar crisis...

The 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq has raised important and enduring questions: why did we do it? Why did the press get so fooled by false arguments for invading? How could we have failed in our military planning so badly that we sent our troops to war without the equipment they needed? Was there a "winnable" version of this -- or even are we better off for having done it th...

How did right-wing MAGA Republicans dupe the media into parroting their undiluted propaganda to the public? Our Blue Amp YouTube Channel partner Cliff Schecter joins podcaster and journalist Greg Olear to trace the history and reasons why we landed here.

Desantis going hard after Trump, other Republicans going to the mat to defend him, and Democrats trying to play it cool. Could Trump come out of this stronger, or are Republicans tying themselves in knots as the world waits for Trump to make his perp walk? Also, a monumental ruling on abortion could come any day...what would a ban on the top medical abortion pill mean?

Will the increasingly likely indictment of Donald Trump somehow help him and the Republicans, or set them up for political misery? Matt Robison joins legendary radio broadcaster Howard Monroe to figure out the answer.  Also, what about Trump's call for protests--how dangerous is that? What about the other pending legal cases?

Today, an abusive Democratic politician, and an inside view as Joe Biden gears up for the re-election campaign. A bombshell story in Politico on Marianne Williamson and her abuse of staff and the people around her features a sole on-the-record quote from our own Paul Hodes. We wanted to understand more about what it's like to put a story together like that, and we also wanted to take the chance to...

No one likes to talk about banking...that is, until a couple of banks go down and everyone starts worrying that spreading panic might bring about another "Great Recession" style financial crisis. Paul Hodes was a member of Congress during that crisis and he takes us inside the differences between now and then.  Also, Republicans have put themselves in a box on cutting the budget, and now they...

Disinformation, misinformation, and lies: how do we deal with a fire-hose of mind-warping bullshit in the age of social media? There's been a perfect storm on this topic in the past month: the Dominion lawsuit cast a bright light on Fox News' determination to lie; the House oversight committee’s Festivus airing of invented grievances about the persecution of the right wing by social media; and of...

Our own experience getting pulled down by the YouTube algorithm highlights some of the deep problems with social media, Fox News, disinformation, and the myth of right-wing persecution. A panel conversation featuring guest conservative analyst Michael Graham, former CBS NEws analyst and currently of the NH Journal and the Boston Herald.  Also, do you want to live in Trumpville?

So...we kinda got censored over at YouTube...

Today, the baffling rise and spectacular fall of one of the right wing's biggest stars. When the news broke that James O'Keefe had been forced out of Project Veritas,  the group he founded that conducted stunts, undercover stings, another deceptive tactics to inflict embarrassment on Democrats and media targets, there was one person I wanted to talk to more than anyone else.  She's Lauren Win...

New documents in the defamation suit against Fox News for deliberately spreading Donald Trump's "Big Lie" about the election have opened a window on what it looks like when a media company sets out to deliberately mislead the American people, knowing they are lying. What does it mean for the first Amendment, for media coverage, and for the struggle against conspiracy theories?  Also, another...

How can we make Democrats kick ass again? We have better ideas, a stronger record of getting great stuff done, and we're not insane semi-fascists like some people we could mention. But we still barely eke out wins against a Republican Party led by nuts. This conversation is taken from a live YouTube show on the Blue Amp channel , where our expert guests explained exactly how Democrats can get more...

Possibly the greatest scandal in American intelligence history, and even political history, is unfolding right now. Our guest Craig Unger is the author of a recent article in the New Republic called "Did the FBI's Charles McGonigal help Throw the 2016 Election to Trump?"  It raises the very real possibility that Russia infiltrated the FBI and helped orchestrate a stunning swindle of the New Y...

Biden's bold Ukraine fly-in was historic, but we ask the question that no one is: was it too great a risk? Also, Kevin McCarthy hands over raw insurrection footage exclusively to Tucker Carlson, a known insurrection denier and Russian propegandist.  And Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks America needs a Red-Blue divorce.  The panel wonders: could we just divorce ourselves from Marjorie Taylor...

New revelations about George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan and the Freedom Caucus' demands provide a window into just how off-the-wall the Congress under Republican leadership has become. Matt appears on the radio show hosted by legendary broadcaster Howard Monroe to run down just how bad it's gotten, how Republicans are trying to reverse reality, and what the consequences would be fo...

Bringing you a conversation today that Matt recorded with AJ Kierstead, a libertarian Republican radio host who finds common ground with people across the political spectrum. We put a bow on the state of the union address and what it meant and ask why we can't stand politicians, but still like politics.

We take you inside a classified military briefing like the kind members of Congress got last week about the UFOs we've been shooting down.  What happens? What can you believe? Also, Republicans have an impossible dilemma in front of them that they may not solve.  And, a linguistic analysis: is Donald Trump ACTUALLY a PAB???

Congressman Steve Cohen tells us what's going on inside the right-wing Freedom Caucus-infused Congress, including the dramatic moment that Marjorie Taylor Greene confirmed that she's nuts, what Jim Jordon is doing with his gaslighting investigations, and what does George Santos do with his day?

The military shot down it's fourth object flying over our skies in eight days yesterday.  This raises a ton of questions: what are these things, where do they come from, and why are there so many right now?  Underlying them all is the big one: could it actually be aliens?  That is why we wanted to share our earlier interview with Mick West, who is the preeminent explainer of UFO vid...

This is the hidden story of how Russia invaded America -- not with soldiers, but with a mind-bending web of money. They briefly infiltrated and bent the highest levels of our politics, and then seemingly stopped.  Or did they? Dr. Ruth May is a business professor at the University of Dallas, now retired, and an expert on the economies of Russia and Ukraine. She wrote an article for the Dallas...

The panel describes what a State of the Union Speech is like behind the scenes, and what do members of Congress and both parties try to achieve on one of the biggest nights in American politics? Also, is the Chinese balloon episode meaningful in some way, or just plain stupid? And Matt admits that he was wrong, and Alicia was right, about one critical issue. 

The past week brought new revelations about Supreme Court conflicts and millions of dollars flowing through right-wing groups and Russian fronts into our politics.  That's why we wanted to bring you this recent interview with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island into what we know -- and dangerously, what we don't know -- about dark money, judicial influence, right-wing activism, and for...