DSR's Words Matter

While Trumpists may have celebrated that the disgraced former president was not convicted by the Senate and the Senators who voted to convict have been attacked for their show of conscience, the reality is that Trump's legal prospects are not good. Mitch McConnell, his one time ally, called for his prosecution. Multiple cases in which he is a target are under way--in NY, Atlanta, and Washington DC...

Last week, as the House Managers presented their Impeachment case -- a step-by-step, rigorous, fact-based prosecution that clearly drew the connection between Donald Trump’s words and the violence that ensued in that very chamber little more than a month earlier - we thought back to the stirring words of the Senate Chaplain, Rear Admiral (Ret.) Barry C. Black following that failed insurrection. At...

The House Impeachment managers proved beyond any reasonable doubt that Donald Trump incited an insurrection against the US government that resulted in six deaths over 140 injuries and profound damage to our democracy. Good as they were, we have to admit, it wasn't that tough to do because we all saw the events unfold. So, ensuring justice will be done should be easy, right? Not so fast. The Senate...

Barbara Jordan was a lawyer educator politician and a leader of the civil rights movement a Democrat and Houston native. Jordan was the first African-American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. On July 25th 1974 Congresswoman Jordan delivered a televised opening statement as the House...

Has the GOP lost its mind? Or is its embrace and defense of lunatics, violent extremists, traitors, sex offenders, racists and the highly corrupt a shrewd, carefully considered political strategy? How should Democrats respond? How do they get accountability for abuses when the GOP absolutely refuses to go along? How do they achieve progress on healing our wounds when the other party actively wants...

As it looks more and more likely that the Republicans in the Senate will not hold former President Donald Trump accountable for his actions in inciting an insurrection against the United States, we thought it important to remind our listeners why it matters. And we could think of no more articulate voice than the duly elected Speaker of the People's House. Let's remember what happened. The Preside...

While some may look at the Trump coup attempt on January 6th as the last desperate act of the disgraced former president to remain in power, it is already being seen among white supremacist groups as a long expected signal of an escalation in domestic unrest leading to a civil war they have long planned and hoped for. The fact that Trump is likely to go unpunished for leading the January 6th effor...

Last week, after 4 long, divisive and tragic years, we witnessed the continuation of a 244-year-old American tradition. It was not a peaceful transfer of power. As incoming White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain correctly noted, “there was nothing inevitable about this day.” Nonetheless - last Wednesday we watched a quadrennial ceremony that Ronald Reagan once called both “commonplace and miraculou...

The past two weeks are unlike any America has ever seen. In the midst of a national pandemic and economic crisis, we saw an unprecedented insurrection on Capitol Hill incited by our then president, an impeachment and then the inauguration of a new leader. On Capitol Hill it was a traumatic period of highs and lows. But it has left America shaken too and asking what's next. We discuss this with Rep...

Last week would have been the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 92nd birthday. Given all that has happened over the last year and the last few weeks, we wanted to highlight one of the most significant and consequential calls for racial equality and social justice in American History - “Letter from Birmingham Jail” On Good Friday, April 12, 1963 - the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and fellow c...

We have never seen events like those that occurred on January 6. We have never had a president who posed the kind of threat to our security presented by Donald Trump. We are facing new challenges to our society and government associated with social media and widespread radicalization. How do we respond to these challenges? Who must be held accountable? We conducted a webinar with three experts--As...

We honored to be joined this week by New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, nonprofit CEO and political leader Stacey Abrams. In 2018, after serving for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Democratic Leader, Stacey Abrams became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, winning more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history. Leader Abram...

In the midst of a pandemic, with almost 4000 people dying every day, when the nation should be coming together, the President of the United States once again tore it asunder. Worse, what he did was mobilize the first violent coup attempt in US history on the back of his months long seditious efforts to nullify the November election and steal the sovereign power of American voters. As it happens, h...

Joe Biden's cabinet will look more like America than any in our history. It will contain more women, more people of color, a wide range of ages, political perspectives and regional points of view. Does that matter? How? And what is still missing? We discuss and then we turn our attention to the latest developments in the COVID crisis, Trump's increasingly erratic behavior as his exit approaches an...

This week we welcome back historian and sociologist Harvey J. Kaye for Part 2 of our discussion of his important book FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Harvey J. Kaye is Professor Emeritus of Democracy and Justice Studies and Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. An award-winning aut...

Jonathan Alter is a best-selling author, documentary filmmaker, television producer, NBC News analyst, columnist. And the Co-host, Sirius XM Alter Family Politics. Jonathan"s books on Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, and The Promise: President Obama, Year One, detail two Chief Executives who took office during times of...

This week we welcome historian and sociologist Harvey J. Kaye for Part 1 of our discussion of his important book FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Harvey J. Kaye is Professor Emeritus of Democracy and Justice Studies and Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. An award-winning author a...

William D. Cohan is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, and through his work there and other writings, Bill has proven himself to be one of the most meticulous and intrepid journalists working today. A former senior Wall Street M&A investment banker for 17 years at Lazard Frères & Co., Merrill Lynch and JPMorganChase, Bill is a New York Times bestselling author covering the important intersec...

Despite his historic losing streak in the courts (not to mention his big election loss), Donald Trump continues to argue he was robbed. And many in his own party are supporting Trump's arguments and his baseless conspiracy theories. In fact the vast majority of Republicans now believe what is a complete fairy tale from a president who, whether he likes it or not, has just a few short weeks left in...

We are about to enter a period of national catastrophe unlike any we have ever seen, unlike the past year, unlike wars through which we have lived. Mass death during this time is preventable if you listen to scientists and use common sense. But half the country does not. They have embraced an 11th Century combination of superstition and ignorance and are condemning their relatives, their neighbors...

Brian Stelter, host of CNN's Reliable Sources, joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about his new book HOAX - Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth. Brian talks about the battle between Fox News journalists and the network’s primetime opinion hosts - Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity. Brian credits former Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson as being the cataly...

This week we welcome historian and sociologist Harvey J. Kaye to discuss his important book Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again . Harvey J. Kaye was formerly the Ben and Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Democracy and Justice Studies and Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. An award-winning author and writer, he has written 9 bo...

We go where no one else dares: To imagine a Trumpless future, a normal American president doing normal American president-y things like making domestic and foreign policy, succeeding sometimes, faltering other times and doing his best for the American people. Yes, we bring together a great group of experts to have a discussion about what the Biden Administration is likely to look like, how it will...

Tania Israel is an award winning psychologist,, professor, author, activist, speaker, researcher, and counselor. As well as an occasional playwright, actor and lyricist. Professor Israel is psychologist in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the author of Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide, Skills and Strate...

With COVID spiking we will pass over 450,000 dead of the pandemic within months. Hospitals and morgues are being stretched past capacity. The White House has given up doing anything about the crisis and is not helping the incoming administration prepare. Holiday plans for many Americans will no longer be able to include family gatherings or travel. The economic crisis lingers and the Trump Adminis...