The Ron Show

Retired Coker University sociology professor, author , historian and South Carolina Democratic Congressional candidate Mal Hyman joined me today for a deep-dive conversation on all the potential ramifications for the weekend's big headline: The ⁠U.S. bombed nuclear sites in Iran⁠. ⁠Iran, today, fired missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar,⁠ by the way. Mal's been to the Middle East multiple times and br...

⁠Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy with Third Way ⁠Democrats, had given ⁠a data-laden presentation⁠ at the ⁠2025 Ideas Summit in Atlanta⁠ last spring. His data? Strong. His takeaways? Ehh. Naturally this progressive has some different perspectives, but I reached out to Jim to come on the show and he graciously did so. Jim believes Democrats have to avoid trying to 'ace' special inte...

⁠Brian Recker⁠, a former Marine, former evangelical pastor, current theologian, speaker and writer, has developed a ⁠healthy social media following⁠ and solid presence ⁠on Substack⁠. His focus? Deconstructing his faith to find a more inclusive spirituality - which often runs afoul of today's right-wing aligned American evangelical movement. He's just the kind of guest to discuss the ⁠'Ted Cruz v....

⁠Maura Keller⁠, a former Army lieutenant colonel with 26 years in service, is another Georgia Democrat (the third I've talked to on this show this month) who's taking another run at MAGA representation in Congress. Like ⁠Shawn Harris⁠ and ⁠Lexy Doherty,⁠ she, too, has a prodigious gap to close at the ballot box in her district (Georgia's 3rd). Wednesday, we discussed the ways to do that, the issue...

In 2024, ⁠Lexy Doherty⁠ stepped up to walk into the MAGA buzzsaw and lost to Rep. Mike Collins by more than 26%. Undeterred, she's making another go of it in 2025, getting an early jump on fundraising and campaigning. Lexy joined me today to share her insights on how things can work in her favor in seventeen months. ------ Lost in all the antics from Saturday was this: there's a trend, locally and...

So much to unwrap from Saturday, what with the thousands of 'No Kings Day' protests across the country - dozens just in Georgia - along with the Trump-coveted military parade and the shocking double-homicide in Minnesota. In Atlanta, estimates of 8,000 - 10,000 protestors descended on Liberty Square near the state capitol where activists listened to impassioned speeches and brought their "a-game"...

⁠Thousands of protests⁠ (not protestors; protests, themselves) are planned across the United States and even in Europe, Saturday, with ⁠dozens just in the state of Georgia⁠. The ⁠ACLU has 'protest ready' resources ⁠aplenty for demonstrators to be prepared for multiple contingencies - not the least of which include addressing interlopers who wish to escalate the situation for ill-intent. It's going...

With thousands of National Guardsmen and Marines descending on Los Angeles because (checks notes) someone set a car on fire, the narrative from the right is predictable in the face of growing public resentment to them: send in the hammers all in riot gear with tear gas canisters, flash bombs and dressed in riot gear and foment chaos to create a spectacle for their base. It's a trope as old (older,...

Quentin Pullen - ⁠aka "Coach Q"⁠ - has ⁠made a run at politics⁠ but currently hails as a fitness coach & movement therapist. I sense serving constituents isn't off the table for him, though, and he's spent a lot of time as an activist and organizer with the Georgia 50501 chapter. He joined me today to provide his perspective - as a former Marine and Californian - on all that's going on in Los Ange...

Marjorie Taylor Greene's revelation that s⁠he voted for something she's dead-set against ⁠is just another in a long line of self-inflicted face-plants by MAGA. The Trump-backed 'One Big Beautiful Bill' wouldn't have passed out ot the House were it not for her vote, so now she and ⁠other Republicans and Democrats against a ten-year moratorium on state A.I. regulations are scrambling⁠ to try and und...

I remember telling myself in the lead-up and the aftermath of the 2024 November elections that it was apparent way too many American voters had forgotten about the first Donald Trump presidency, wrought with chaos, unrest, division, tensions, protests and 'tough talk' and bluster from the White House in the face of it, complete with threats of military use on domestic streets to respond. That was...

A month after securing the seat, new Georgia Democratic Party chair Charlie Bailey sat down with me today at Condesa Coffee in Old Fourth Ward Atlanta to discuss the state of the party he inherited from Rep. Nikema Williams. I wanted to know what was 'right' about the party he took the reigns of on day one, the biggest glaring need for the party, then, too, and covered a lot of ground on candidate...

If you think the American evangelical fixation over Israel's well-being is simply about "doing the right thing," my hunch is you'd be wrong. As a southern-born kid who grew up in the baptist faith, there's a lot I came away with despite that fact I'm now a 51-year old atheist. i'm not saying I didn't come away with some good values from that exposure to organized religion, but I'd like to think my...

Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King (R) is already looking to distinguish himself in the GOP Senate primary field by taking aim at Democratic Georgia Senators John Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock. The issue: ⁠communication with he and his staff in the run-up to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.⁠ The problem? He left out some key details - like his own office's praise for the communication...

Retired Marine sergeant and Army Brigadier General, Northwest Georgia cattle farmer Shawn Harris made a go at Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2024, outpacing the Harris/Walz campaign by 12% in Georgia's 14th Congressional district. It wasn't enough to win but it does show that Democrats focusing on local races by being where voters are can sway elections up the ballot. Well today, Shawn joined me to ann...

The White House won't be recognizing Pride Month in 2025 (and we imagine the next three years as well), but there's also a lot of ⁠corporate hesitance to go "all out" this month⁠ with rainbow-adorned logos and dramatic proclamations on social media backing diversity, equity and inclusion, too. Because under the Trump regime, embracing D.E.I. could land you under investigation. Totally not fascist,...

Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ended all the speculation and ⁠announced her campaign for Georgia's governor's office⁠ early today. ⁠Greg Bluestein from the Atlanta Journal Constitution had a prolonged Q & A with Bottoms ⁠and it was somewhat revealing, actually. I'm still only lukewarm to the prospects of her being the Democratic party's nominee, but it's hard to ignore ⁠her introduction...

Atlanta's WXIA-TV, 11 Alive,⁠ broke the story late last week⁠: a ⁠Georgia woman, brain-dead since February, has been kept alive for more than 90 days ⁠because Emory Hospital lawyers advised the hospital against ending life support because of an early pregnancy. Now, her family's gripped in perpetual mourning while also awaiting the birth of what could likely be a child with immense medial woes of...

Kennesaw State University students and their supporters took to Atlanta - some 30 minutes (by car) south of their campus - Wednesday to ⁠protest KSU's announcement that they're eliminating black studies & philosophy majors⁠ outside the Georgia Board of Regents' offices. NAACP Georgia chapter president Gerald Griggs joined me to provide background & tell me what's next in the process & continued pr...

When a prominent politician does a town hall in Iowa, it sort of defines the unofficial start to the upcoming presidential cycle and their campaign in earnest to win the office. That's just ... tradition. So when former South Bend, Indiana mayor and U.S. Transportation ⁠Pete Buttigieg hosted a town hall with VoteVets ⁠Wednesday night, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a full 1,272 days before Election Day, N...

⁠The book⁠ Washington insiders have been tongue-wagging about for days now - "Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again" - ⁠was leaked⁠. It'll be a best-seller and have pundits and conservative snipers taking aim at a perceived "conspiracy" or "cover-up" in the Biden White House, but how much meat is even on this bone? All I've read (so far) is a...

On the surface, you'd think yesterday was a banner day for the second Donald Trump administration: his staff negotiated an end to the trade war he launched, he signed an executive order to mandate steep price cuts for prescription drug prices in the U.S., and who wouldn't have a good if they were given a $400 million luxury plane? Jon Stewart at 'The Daily Show' even ⁠confessed to having long-cove...

It dawned on me yesterday, while showing a house in Kennesaw for a mom sending her kids off to college not far away, that Georgia's political inhibitions towards rail transit continues to cost families like this one thousands per month for years, and unnecessarily. It's that sort of lack of vision - at the city level in Atlanta, the metro region, and of course, the state, that puts an undo burden...

I've followed Ethan Embry on ⁠Twitter/X⁠ (he's ⁠on Bluesky now⁠) for years now, and have always been fascinated with how well-versed he is on political and social issues. Today, I finally got to sit down with the Atlanta-based California transplant best known for his acting in cult favorites like 'Empire Records,' 'That Thing You Do,' 'Can't Hardly Wait,' 'Sweet Home Alabama,' and notable most rec...

Were it not for reporting by Ross Williams at the Georgia Recorder, none of us might've even known a 'Third Way'-backed centrist Democrat ⁠'Ideas Summit' even took place in Atlanta earlier this week⁠. State Senator Jason Esteves - the lone notable Democratic gubernatorial candidate (sorry, Keisha; until you announce 'for sure,' that's how it is ...) along with Senator Elena Parent, Representative...