DSR's Words Matter

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...

As of the recording of this edition of Deep State Radio, no victor had been called in the presidential race. But it seems likely Joe Biden is the next president of the United States. Will we be able to appreciate and celebrate that or will challenges to the results, a rapidly deepening COVID crisis, election irregularities, and the possibility of divided government yuck our collective yum? We disc...

Aimee Allison is founder and president of She the People, a national network elevating the voice and power of women of color. She brings together voters, organizers, and elected leaders in a movement grounded in values of love, justice, belonging, and democracy. In April 2019, she convened the first presidential forum for women of color, reaching a quarter of the American population. A democratic...

Katie and Jen sit down with award-winning journalist and author, Wesley Lowery. Wesley has reported for the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, CBS News and in 2016 won a Pulitzer Prize as a lead on the Washington Post’s “Fatal Force” Project. He is the author of They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement  Wesley's latest project with Tiffany C...

A Democratic victory in the 2020 elections is not a sure thing. As we have discussed on other episodes, the elections are fraught with risks. Further, once an election takes place, there are many ways that the President or his allies can try to cling to power. Only after there is a smooth transition and new leadership however, can the US turn to the business of effectively confronting our looming...

Some of the most hard-hitting and shocking criticisms of Donald Trump have come from insiders in his administration. From Rex Tillerson’s calling his former boss a “fucking moron” to his former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats saying that having watched Trump up close the only conclusion he could draw was that the Russian’s had something on the president. Miles Taylor, former chief of s...

This week Katie and Jennifer are joined by award-winning journalist, author and the Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today, Susan Page. Susan has covered six White House administrations and ten presidential elections, and interviewed nine presidents. She was the first woman to serve as music chairman of the Gridiron Club show and was the president of the club, the oldest association of journalists...

In Game of Thrones leadership decisions were made with the help of dragons and Moon Doors and Valyrian steel daggers. In America today, people play just as rough but their tools are cyber warfare, disinformation, mobilized extremist groups and court orders that suppress the vote. It is so sordid it makes you wish there were still a dragon or two available. But absent that, understanding and prepar...

This week, Jennifer Duck, Emmy award-winning producer and instructor of journalism in the department of Cinema, Media and Television questions Katie about the Senate Judiciary Committee for the next Supreme Court Justice. Listen to Jen and Katie, talk law, politics, and journalism. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/words-matter. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information....

The biggest national security story in America today is the biggest domestic story and the biggest political story and the biggest economic story and the biggest public health story. The COVID outbreak at the White House might have resulted in greater empathy for those who have suffered so due to the pandemic but the opposite seems to be happening. It seems to be leading to an effort by the presid...

Katie and Jennifer Duck talk to Clemson University Professor Darren Linvill about social media and the 2020 campaign. Professor Linvill is a academic, an author, a researcher and an expert on social media disinformation and political discourse. As an Associate Professor in Clemson's Department of Communications, his research explores state sponsored social media disinformation and its influence on...

Mary Ellen Pethel and Jennifer Duck join Katie to talk about the debates, President Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis and the history of women as candidates and voters. ABOUT THE GUESTS Mary Ellen Pethel is an author, historian, digital humanist, and academic entrepreneur who serves as an Assistant Professor at Belmont University. Dr. Pethel is widely published. Her latest book is Athens of the New South...

The Constitutional rot of the past four years has set the stage for the corruption of our institutions and, equally importantly, for growing delegitimization of our government. This plays into the hands of a president who is ever more desperate to cling to power lest he lose his fortune and his freedom. This in turn has experts who are studying the preparations for the November 3 election to expre...

It is impossible to understand Donald Trump without understanding America's relationship with television. James Poniewozik is the chief television critic for The New York Times. He often focuses on the intersection between television, politics and culture. He is the author of the new book -- Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America Support this show http://supporter...

Is a resurgent COVID the October Surprise? Is it the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Will it be the nomination and approval of a replacement for her prior to the election? Will it be the announcement of a vaccine? Or is it tied to the president's reluctance to guarantee a peaceful hand-over of power if he loses. We discuss these options and others with Mimi Rocah, candidate for Westchester,...

Last week, America lost an iconic jurist and a life long advocate for equal rights. In memory of the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we replay Katie's interview with Lauren Moxley, the host of The Ginsburg Tapes Podcast -- which chronicles Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s oral arguments before the then all-male United States Supreme Court from 1972 to 1978 —before she became #Notorious RBG. The Ginsburg Tapes...

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...

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about the 2020 elections, systemic racism and the Trump Administration’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Congressman Jeffries recalls his role in the Impeachment Trial of President Trump, including when he became the first person in history to quote Biggie Smalls on the floor of the United States Senate. He also e...

White House and campaign veterans Jen Psaki and Paul Begala join Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart for a discussion about the “Rainbows & Rainclouds” of the 2020 presidential campaign. In a McLaughlin Group tribute, Joe joins the panel, and Katie leads the group as they analyze the political landscape heading into the home stretch of the race for the White House. Jen explains the challenges facing Tea...

Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about the virtual Republican National Convention, the future of his party, and Donald Trump’s “magic dust” with voters that the press and the political class often miss. Steele explains why he joined the Republican Party in the 1970s. He discusses where the party was heading then, and how it continued to grow until 2012...

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris, the virtual Democratic National Convention and the 3rd Anniversary of Charlottesville. Governor McAuliffe says Senator Harris needs to directly address all of the issues where progressives in the Democratic Party may have concerns about her record. McAuliffe explains...

Former White House Political Director Doug Sosnik joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart for an update on the 2020 elections. Sosnik explains how 2016 and 2020 are vastly different for President Trump, who he calls the “Austin Powers” candidate. Sosnik breaks down how the political landscape has been transformed in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic and how a vast majority of the electorate thinks...

Our guest today served as the 37th Deputy Attorney General of the United States from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States Attorney for the District of Maryland. At the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General on April 25, 2017, he was the nation's longest-serving U.S. Attorney. The Senate approved his nomination by a vote of 94-6. We are so e...

We're back! This week Katie and Joe officially return with a thank you and a message for our listeners. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/words-matter. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since we currently have a president who doesn't seem to know or even understand the importance of words, especially when they are spoken by the president of the United States, we thought it might be helpful in a time of national crisis to remember that we have had presidents of both parties who did understand this. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, led our country through difficult times with the p...