Political Playlist Happy Hour

Sadly we begin yet another Happy Hour mourning the tragic loss of American lives in mass shooting, this time another one involving 9 year old school children. The gang tries to examine this senseless (and preventable) epidemic in our country through the lens of leadership, specifically asking what kind of leadership exists among our elected officials and what’s it going to take to stop this? Then...

If you're like most Americans this week, you've been clutching your pearls--err, savings and treasury bonds in a confused panic about the health and stability of our greater banking system. Well, fear not! Because we, at Political Playlist have an especially "ranty" episode dropping for you where we break down the gist of all this and highlight one of our newest members of Congress, Rep. Jeff Jack...

In the spirit of Oscar's Monday, we're tipping our hat to this year's Best Picture winner in noticing how the current political landscape feels like some twisted version of the metaverse...and how Congress seems to be doing everything except its job! On this episode of the happy hour, Michael, Anna and Anthony dive into some salacious tweets from a few oldies-but-goodies, as they cover new January...

This week we're talking all things GEN Z. The mysterious, youngest generation in our nation has politicians, CEOs and cultural commentators buzzing and we get an inside look through today's guest, Rachel Janfaza. Rachel is a Gen Z journalist who covers youth culture in the political system. She got her career started at CNN covering primaries, breaking news and youth voting trends and has branched...

On this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, Michael and Anna take the wheel as they duet the latest political issues that Congress under the age of 45 is fighting for. First, they wade into some SCOTUS waters as the Supreme Court just heard a case revolving around Section 230--which many of our young leaders have talked about. Next they train their sights on some infrastructure bill rollout...

The gang needs a strong one for this Political Playlist Happy Hour as they unpack the recent report about the $3 trillion new increase to the U.S. Debt that was previously not calculated. Then Michael, Anna and Anthony discuss the Ohio train derailment disaster along with several derailed policies on Guns, Immigration and just how off-the-tracks much of this new Congress seems to be finding themse...

On this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, Anna wows the boys with her impressive pitch skills, while getting a little assist from everyone's new favorite A.I. in the process. The Gang then unpack the latest tweets from Rep. Seth Moulton, Rep. Robert Garcia, and Rep. Emilia Sykes. And last but not least, Anna debuts some of her newfound piano playing skills which she claims to have had for...

On this Happy Hour, Michael and Anna trade their wines for lattes as they chat with former Maine State Senator Chloe Maxmin, who by the way, just happens to be the youngest representative elected to the state! We take a dive into the tactics and strategy she implemented on her various campaign trails, which led to her Democratic victory among a very Republican constituency. And it turns out her mo...

You'll have to forgive us this week but we decided to kick off this Political Happy Hour with a little breaking doomsday news about...the doomsday clock, which they just announced is now only 90 seconds to midnight! Sure, the doomsday clock is rooted in some empirical data but its true purpose is to sound the allegorical alarm. And let's face it, I don't think any of us agree that everything is ju...

...And ain't no partisan rift low enough, to keep this Congress from (potentially) agreeing on raising the debt-ceiling. On this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, Michael, Anna and Anthony break down what exactly all this "paying our debt" hoopla is about and what exactly has our young Congress divided about it...chiefly Republican Byron Donalds of Florida. The gang also dives into some tw...

While we would gladly welcome the great Kenny Loggins onto the Happy Hour ANY time he wants, sadly this episode forges ahead without him. On this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, Michael and Anthony fly solo at the helm--or, should we say, Maverick and Rooster. The boys leave Anna to her spa weekend and train their sights on pressing issues like Border Security, the resurrection of the bi...

Love 'em, hate 'em, or didn't even know 'em-- on this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, the gang bids adieu to the departing under-45ers of the 117th Congress. And spoiler, it's a mixed bag of good, bad, and ugly heading for the exit. As always, Hosts Michael, Anna and Anthony pour some cocktails to discuss the transition of power in the upcoming 118th Congress and raise a glass to the inc...

On the last episode of the year, Anna, Anthony and Michael dig one more time into what some of the youngest members of Congress are up to. The topic du jour is immigration with one young leader celebrating non-citizen service members getting one step closer to and easier naturalization process and another voicing concern over the surge of migrants at the southern border. Let's just say that this i...

This week we travel from eastern Europe to Midland, TX and back to Capitol Hill as Anna, Anthony & Michael discuss what young politicians are saying and doing. Brittney Griner is home. Finland and Sweden want to join NATO but Turkey's being a little pesky about it. Anthony met his cowboy doppelgänger in the oil fields of Texas. And one GOP senator is sounding the alarm about party priorities, and...

On this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, Anna, Anthony and Michael discuss the potential, and maybe actual, change that's a-brewin' in China as well as in our own Congress. While China is seeing unprecedented protests, it remains unlikely that the Chinese people will see very much change, if at all. Whereas in our own Congress, the democrats are poised for sweeping change among their lead...

Today we're joined by political technologist Eric Wilson who's worked on numerous Republican campaigns in the US and overseen campaigns abroad in Australia and Sweden - Mr. Worldwide! Eric is also the Managing Partner of Startup Caucus , an incubator and investment fund for Republican campaign technology. Needless to say, he has a few things to say about what went down in this year's midterms, how...

Whooo-ee. These midterms were certainly one for the books. On this week's episode, Anna, Anthony and Michael gives some reactions to what went down last week starting with one important observation - America's independents are powerful and sizable. They also talk about some of the important seats our young members of Congress kept in competitive races, newcomers to the platform who they're excited...

We're doing things a little different on this week's Happy Hour. Anna and Anthony each pick two races being run by some of the young women in Congress to take a micro look at what's happening in specific parts of the country. Join us as we break down these competitive campaigns and talk about what's unique about each district, how each incumbent is framing their race, and what their competition lo...

Yes, it's true...sometimes we use the show to work out our own issues, but it's only because this week's issues are a little bit of a bummer. On this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, Michael and Anna discuss the sobering fact that scholastic test scores in America are down, and we mean way down. And in tragic news out of Missouri, yet another shooting fails to register more than the oblig...

On this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, Anthony gets a case of the giggles when he learns about Liz Lettuce, an actually head of lettuce mockingly displayed on a webcam in an attempt to outlast recently installed, and more recently departed, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss. Michael, Anna and Anthony chat UK politics before bringing back home to discuss some recent AOC burns on twitter regard...

With Michael taking an episode off, Anthony & Anna are sure to put in a word for their favorite SINGLE thirtysomething while he's gone. While they could spend the entire episode pitching out Michael's Hinge profile, they do make it to some chatter about what our young politicians in Congress are up to. One Wisconsin Republican is going all in on the anti-crime message for the midterms, a Californi...

What could be more fun than Ron DeSantis's choice of post-hurricane footwear? This episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, as we dive into fiscal responsibility among our leaders, the potential need for legislation preventing members of congress from trading stocks while in office...oh and the idea of selling Hawaii. Spoiler, that is an Barkett original. So pull up a glass and get ready to dive...

On this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, Anna and Michael go it alone as Anthony attends his 117th wedding of the year. But it turns out, they don't miss him much, evident by the fact that Anna and Michael are professional long-winded talkers and happily didn't have anyone hurrying them along this time. They cover a range of issues including water infrastructure in Florida, Domestic Oil a...

The gang's all here for this episode of Political Playlist Happy Hour, and more importantly, it was recorded at 5pm so everyone showed up with an actual cocktail in hand! Anna, Anthony and Michael discuss some of the major news headlines, like Governor DeSantis of Florida sending migrants to Martha's Vineyard via private jet, before diving into some tweets of the week. Anthony brings up one from a...

The team does something different this week and welcomes Maddie and Sammy from The Girl and the Gov to Happy Hour. The Girl and the Gov is rebranding politics for millennial women and breaking down the barriers to civic engagement. Anna and Anthony may not have had cocktails for this morning recording, but that didn't stop things from getting a little rowdy. Maddie and Sammy break down how to get...