States of Mind

The Lincoln Project’s John Weaver discusses the group's battle against Donald Trump as he and other Republicans take a ‘flamethrower’ to their life’s work. Sawyer Hackett, adviser to Julián Castro on the woes and foes of campaigning in Election 2020.

From the streets to the ballot paper: Progressive pollster, Cornell Belcher outlines a turning point for minorities in politics while Prof Derryn Moten and Dr Hasan Jeffries discuss colonial symbols and why they were never welcome in the first place.

From the frontline: Physician Assistant Jim Nealon and Funeral Director Clive Anderson reflect on how Covid-19 ripped through New York this spring, remember the people they lost and discuss the moments that will stay will them forever.

One of the leading African-American politicians in the United States, Rep James Clyburn discusses racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the steps the country needs to take for it “to survive for the next generation”.

Women from both sides of the political divide discuss Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s record with women and explore what it means to be a woman involved in politics in 2020.

Trump and Obama economic advisors give a first-hand insight into the success and failures of the current administration and offer their two cents on the Covid-19 era. Also, one Irish woman on trying to get a business back on track in Virgina.

Only a heartbeat away from the presidency, the Vice President has resulted in some of the most memorable moments in US history. But how does the office work? America’s leading expert on VPs, Prof Joel Goldstein puts the role under the microscope.

If money can’t buy votes, what can it buy? Sarah Bryner, Centre for Responsive Politics and ex-Federal Election Commission chair, Bradley Smith discuss the ways and means of campaign fundraising and finding ways to lure donations during a pandemic.

Fake news poses a real threat to Election 2020 as CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan explains. While head of the American Press Institute, Tom Rosenstiel outlines how people have been losing trust in the media for a long time and where it all goes from here.

Untangling the complicated US voting web with Rob Richie from FairVote as he turns to Ireland for electoral reform inspiration. Chair of Texas Young Republicans, Hayden Padgett on why absentee ballot voting isn’t a partisan problem.

With Bernie Sanders officially bowing out, we go behind the man and the movement. Family friend, Shyla Nelson Stewarts remembers his early years in Vermont while Irish man, Conor Boylan talks about how he convinced Sanders to run in the first place.

As the Covid-19 pandemic turns the US Presidential Election upside down, it has also unearthed racial issues within the country. Kailee Scales from Black Lives Matter tells us why. Our divided American family is also back, reflecting on politics during lockdown.

One Irish man living in the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in New York tells Brian and Jackie why he is going beyond the line of duty to help people get some closure in a new restrictive and grief-stricken world. Also, how millions of people in America won’t see one cent of the multi-trillion dollar aid package.

It’s a testing time for a tested president as Covid-19 hits the United States and Election 2020. Brian O’Donovan and Jackie Fox speak to one family split by the the president’s response and Bernie Sanders' friend for more than 40 years about why his campaign suddenly fell flat.

Shamrock sharing delayed & former Whitehouse Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney talks about his final days in the job. In a Special St. Patrick’s Edition States of Mind, Brian O’Donovan and Jackie Fox discuss this year’s light greening of the White House as major events are cancelled for the first time in decades.

As the Joe Biden bandwagon takes to the road, Brian O'Donovan and Jackie Fox discuss whether it is on a steady track to the Democratic presidential nomination