The Middle - UNPLUGGED with Anthony Weiner

The switchboard lights up when the conversation returns to talk radio’s eternal flame - immigration. It's a weapon for demagogues. It’s the dry tinder of our multicultural democracy. For years it has been a tough nut for serious legislators. With the wave of new migrants coming to New York, Anthony opened up the phones and found himself being yelled at and doing some yelling himself. Who saw that...

Almost everyone knows today for whom they will be voting. But for the 10% of the population that resides in 4 or 5 swing states, the top issue continues to be the economy…stupid. Anthony looks at the new strategy by The White House to lean into Bidenomics. He has some thoughts about how to do it right. Also, in Ask Anthony Anything, Is Jonathan Turley wrong, dumb or greedy? Learn more about your a...

Ok, let's spin the wheel of sports metaphors to get this week’s edition underway…Anthony marks the end of the preseason in the Republican race. It's time for live fire. Wait, what? Maybe the first debate will actually mean something to the future of our republic. It is taking place in Wisconsin, one of the vanishing breed of true swing states. It will feature a bunch of interesting candidates that...

Once upon a time the Republican party held itself out as the pro military team. But all at once, Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is trashing that reputation. Anthony and his guest Paul Rieckhoff look at how this one Senator has jammed up hundreds of well earned and routine military promotions and what it means for our ability to fight wars and recruit for our all volunteer armed services. Anthony and Paul...

It's been a week of legal talk because the world still has Donald Trump. After letting ‘er rip on his radio show, Anthony checks in with famous lawyer and fellow radio icon, Arthur Aidala. They talk about the big questions and little mysteries of the many Trump cases. For Ask Anthony Anything we hear a dramatic reading of the latest not so bombshelly testimony from the Hunter investigation.  Learn...

Ok, stop laughing. Yes, the highest court in the land has a bit of a credibility problem. Only 18% of Americans have confidence in the Supremes. Anthony looks at why and what can be done. Term limits anyone? Also, Trump is being indicted…for you! Ok, you can start laughing again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In honor of our Ruby Anniversary show, Anthony has a conversation with two listeners and talks “woke” with an interviewer from a conspiracy theory loving podcast. It’s a tsunami of Ask Anthony just in time for the summer blockbuster season.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s not just hot this summer, it’s the hottest. Anthony looks at whether Joe Biden should do that thing that Presidents do from time to time: declare an emergency. Few would dispute that things are dire and our response needs to find a next level. This problem demands a “Bullhorn Moment”. Also, in Ask Anthony, what is that sound that Tucker Carlson just made? Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

Joe Biden is a family guy. We like that about him. But Anthony got stirred up this week when he learned our President has been lying about his grandkids. Yes, there is a Hunter Biden angle. Isn’t there always? Also, this week in Ask Anthony - hands off my pizza! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are these guys up to? Anthony looks at a guy with a famous name and a fellow who once gave the keynote address at a national convention. We know Robert Kennedy Jr. and Chris Christie are running for President, but why? And, are we sure we know for which party? Its a puzzle wrapped in a conundrum and a perfect holiday week conversation. Also, this week Ask Anthony makes a call to the bullpen t...

Anthony saw it coming, but even he didn’t think it would be this bad. SINO (Speaker In Name Only) Kevin McCarthy has mostly watched as his Republican friends (sic) have gone from censure to impeachment in their one true calling - to impress Defendant Donald and his legion. How did we get here? Why didn’t Nancy Pelosi have this problem? This week, we explain it all with the only three things you ne...

We have a right to a trial if we get accused of a crime. It's right there in the Constitution. But for 97% of cases there is no jury, only a plea bargain. Anthony sees a crisis in how few trials there actually are and so does his guest Norman Reimer, who is of Counsel to Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, former CEO of Fair Trials, former Executive Director of the National Association of Criminal Defense La...

Anthony is not unfamiliar with being the center of attention, but it's been a while. But this week both Trump and his biggest lackey Lindsey Graham took shots at your favorite podcast host. Anthony uses the opportunity to give a refresher on what really happened in the Clinton emails case and why it's not what Donny and Little Lindsey think it is. It surely isn't anything like stealing state secre...

Anthony is a part of the media now and he is worried about his profession.  He sits down with writer, newspaperman and now professor of journalism, Henry Goldman, to unpack a slew of recent stories that have turned out to be one way or another just wrong.  Confidence in journalism is at record lows but polls say only one party feels that way.  Can we agree on the truth when we have such different...

Every time the President said he would not negotiate over raising the debt limit, was that all just a negotiating tactic? You might expect a show named for the middle, might celebrate a deal to prevent the extremists from driving our economy off a cliff. But Anthony is not cheering. Who can be happy about a plan to make it harder for hungry kids to eat at a time when the military budget can’t be t...

Anthony is proud of himself this week. He was way ahead of the curve on a novel economic theory that is now in vogue - the idea that we have inflation in part because of corporate greed. He tries to explain. In a special listener mail segment, the long tortured history of the Durham report. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fixing the immigration regime in our country has been a vexing challenge but not because the solutions are so complex but because the politics are maddeningly simplistic : a lot of Republican voters and their politicians don’t really want a fix, they want an issue. Anthony looks at the efforts that have failed this century and sees a tiny opening on a narrow path to a slim chance at a breakthrough...

Joe Biden is old and he knows it. The Ronald Reagan strategy of self effacing jokes and controlled appearances in public can’t hide the obvious. But Anthony takes a look at the unusual contours of the likely campaign for reelection and sees lots of reasons to think that age might not be the silver bullet that the GOP wishes it was. In a rematch with “45” it will come down to who is perceived as ha...

Debates about government debt limits are like Kabuki theater without the screen.  The politics of the thing are so transparent and the outcome so preordained that Anthony wonders if there is anything interesting about this year’s version.  Well nothing is normal in Washington when the margins are so unprecedentedly narrow.  So maybe the sky does fall this time and our economy collapses.  Just in c...

On a week when Joe Biden announced his plans and Tucker got kicked to the curb, and after years of fears about the fate of Democracy, Anthony gives the country an inspection and finds that the emergency brakes still work.  The body politic bounced back very nicely in fact.  Also in listener mail, Anthony talks back to a fellow 77WabcRadio host. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...

Some people are very, very upset about a social media personality's choice of which beer she likes.  Well, as Anthony tries to explain this week, it's more about the pronoun the brand - Bud Light - uses for this actually very popular Internet figure.  She is a trans person and that's a cause for outrage.  But is it now? In listener mail, the trial of the century? Learn more about your ad choices....

Who is winning in this political asymmetrical warfare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To listen to the Axis of Loopy (Trump, Desantis and Fox) tell the story, you would think that the Manhattan District Attorney’s first name is “Soros-Backed”.  Anthony gets to the truth of how George Soros is connected to the story of 45’s long-awaited indictment.  He also looks at the depth of the anti-Semitic bile directed at Soros and how the legitimate right and their illegitimate supporters ha...

Anthony loves a good troll as much as the next fella, but the Trump “Be Outraged for Me” Tour this week seems to have been handled particularly badly by some in the Fourth Estate and those in one half of one half of the first branch of government.  Reporters still don't seem to know how to handle Trump’s brain farts and the great minds in the House GOP seem to not have read the basic rules of thei...

This Florida Man, Ron DeSantis, sure does use this word “woke” a lot. But Anthony wonders if everyone hears that as a sick burn or do many see it as a compliment? Some research shows that this may be less of a political cudgel than political consultants seem to believe. Anthony shares his experience with poll-tested ideas and dives into the numbers to see if being the most anti-woke candidate is a...