US of Ed

"Trump always finds the wrong side of the tracks." Joe Biden has laid out the stakes of the 2024 election in stark terms in last week's State of the Union address, we look at battle lines on both rhetoric and policy. Plus, Donald Trump has secured his hold on the Republican party as the presumptive nominee with a purge of the Republican National Committee with the former president hitting the camp...

"There's a clear chance that Trump might be the victor." In spite of denying Trump a clean sweep of the primaries, Nikki Haley has dropped out of the Republican race after a lacklustre Super Tuesday showing leaving Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee to go up against Joe Biden in the November election. And in spite of a Supreme Court decision in Trump's favour this week, with ongoing legal bat...

"America's in a mess... neither one of these candidates offers hope, unfortunately, for a nation that's in decline." The Supreme Court will rule on Donald Trump's claims of total presidential immunity in April as the former president tries to escape consequences for his rule in the January 6th attempted coup, while Trump's litany of other legal issues continue. Meanwhile, a ruling in the Alabama S...

"This man and his voice are deeper in Russia than Russians want to admit. And maybe this cataclysmic event will get some of them, in some small number, to form a movement to overthrow this regime." The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an arctic prison has led to worldwide condemnation and more economic threats from the United States, but at this point is there anything left to...

"Trump was giving a little underhanded nod... hey, Russia, like you did last time, give me a hand in this campaign." The House of Reps continues to block funding for Ukraine's military defense against Russian incursion as support for Russia's actions appears to grow amid Republicans and is actively encouraged by former president Donald Trump. Meanwhile, frustrations grow as the Biden administratio...

"This is his endgame, he wins it all or he loses it all." Bad news for Donald Trump this week with an appeals court unanimously ruling he is not immune from prosecution over his actions inciting insurrection on January 6th, 2021. Will it make a difference or is the appeals process just a delaying method anyway? Meanwhile, a band of both Democratic and Republican senators have turned back a bill th...

"This is an important issue but you notice how the Republicans are using it for themselves. They're not interested in the border." Texas Governor Greg Abbott is dating Biden to act, defying federal law and a mandate delivered by the Supreme Court with his border control crackdown. He's not alone, with Republicans seeing Biden as weak on borders and looking to leverage that as an attack even if the...

"America is spread too thin everywhere, and of course that thinness makes America weak internally." It's a two horse race in the Republican primaries as Ron DeSantis drops out and returns to the state he's meant to be governing in defeat. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set out his resistance to an independent Palestinian state in his clearest terms yet, so how does American stay inv...

"If Joe Biden runs or doesn't run they're trying to make the case that democracy is at stake." The race to the polls in November has already kicked into gear as we enter the new year! Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have amassed the largest campaign war chest in US history, but are they too preoccupied with their presumptive opponent? Meanwhile, Donald Trump is more concerned with his ongoing legal ca...

"Be strong, because it's going to take all of our fortitudes, external and internal, to make it through next year." Ed and Sean look back on the biggest stories of 2023 in their final podcast of the year, most of which continue to drag us forward in 2024. Gaza, Ukraine, Donald Trump's legal issues and escalating rhetoric on race, the Biden agenda and preparing for the 2024 campaign, the climate cr...

"Biden is DOA, he can't win the election now." Republicans have moved ahead on efforts to impeach Joe Biden in spite of a lack of evidence of any wrongdoing to provide cover for Trump whose legal issues are set to dominate the 2024 campaign, so what are the next moves for Biden and for Republicans? Meanwhile, Israel faces new accusations of war crimes carried out on a civilian population as Biden...

"There is nothing for him to lose, and that's a terrible position to be in." Bumper week for bad news as we head toward the end of the year, with fighting resuming in Gaza, trouble securing more aid for Ukraine, record-setting numbers of mass shootings, Republicans protecting January 6th rioters, and Donald Trump practically crowing over the possibility of a Trump dictatorship. But all the news ca...

"This is going to be, in our lifetime, a forever arrangement that keeps the Palestians humble, poor, and without resources to fight." A pause in fighting continues this week as Israel and Hamas exchange hostages, how long will it continue and what will it mean for US involvement if fighting resumes? Meanwhile, Nikki Haley has been endorsed by the powerful Koch network for the Republican presidenti...

"I don't think we've found the road to peace but we've found the road to stopping a lot of the violence for now." A reprieve in Gaza as Israel offers an additional day of peace for every ten hostages released by Hamas. In such a fraught and complex situation, we ask this week how to separate criticism of Israel's actions from antisemitism. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has celebrated his 81st birthday this...

"There seem to be quite a few of them who don't give a stuff about running the country." Government shutdown has once again been averted as Republicans and Democrats come to an agreement to keep the government funded, the first under new House Speaker Mike Johson. For Dems, it all seems a little too easy, doesn't it? Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has unveiled a new code of conduct for Justices but...

"It's easier, as Lincoln said, to be critical than to be correct." One year out from the 2024 presidential election, Joe Biden is battling personal unpopularity in the polls as well as dissatisfaction with cost of living and his handling of Gaza. Meanwhile, his presumptive Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has done a disastrous job of testifying in his own defense at his New York civil fraud tria...

"No one would have anticipated this outcome from getting rid of McCarthy, we've gone from bad to worse." The hard right of the Republican party have gotten their way in electing Louisiana rep Mike Johnson to the position of Speaker after Kevin McCarthy refused to go far enough in shutting down the government simply to mess with the Biden government, so what has 'MAGA Mike' got in store? Meanwhile,...

"The US is doing their best to restrain any more actions and incursions but this is going to be a mess for many, many years." A bloody sort of stalemate in the Israel-Gaza conflict as Israel continues to consider a ground invasion, but tensions are bubbling over in the wider region. Meanwhile, Trump allies are rapidly abandoning the sinking ship, and grabbing onto any plea deal they can, as severa...

"The United States runs to the rescue and a whole lot of people get killed, get hurt, get maimed and the like." As fighting continues in and around Gaza, President Joe Biden has ventured to the region to discuss the path forward for Israel and to try and avoid a bloody ground invasion. Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives had been paralysed by the Republican Party's battle over the position...

"This will not end until all the blood stops." Escalation over fresh conflict around the Gaza Strip has left thousands dead and many more injured, homeless, or living in terror. Ed and Sean look over how planning for the coordinated mass attack by HAMAS was overlooked and the likelihood of further US involvement. Also discussing what this means for Ukraine, Donald Trump's latest legal issues, Bide...

"This is what you call hara-kiri, the Republicans killed themselves and they killed the whole government." Government shutdown was narrowly averted last week as Republicans abandoned their negotiating positions, but not everyone is happy with the deal leading to the historical ousting of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Meanwhile, Joe Biden seems to largely keep his head down and stay out of the news...

"It's not about governing, it's about destroying government." Another government shutdown looms as members of the Republican-controlled House refuse to come to the negotiating table despite the urgings of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is there anything they actually want? Joe Biden has become the first US president to walk a picket line in support of United Auto Workers, regaining some of the union cred...

"If you have to go this dark and this deep... you are just hunting for almost nothing." The first hearing in the Biden impeachment inquiry is set for next week with Republicans united behind the effort, but unable to come together on a deal to continue funding the running of the government or much of anything else. Meanwhile, Biden aims to create a new office for the prevention of gun violence but...

"They're not talking about preserving the democracy, they're talking about destroying the democracy so we've got to be very, very clear about what the game is." Kevin McCarthy has bent to the will of the far-right of his party and moved forward with an impeachment inquiry for Joe Biden in spite of a total lack of evidence, further dismantling the tools of American governance. Meanwhile, attempts m...

"This was a good storm, it hit at just the right time." More struggles for Republicans this week, as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton looks down the barrel of impeachment proceedings in the Lone Star State, and Mitch McConnell faces pointed questions about his health. Meanwhile, Biden splashes the cash on student loan forgiveness and Ukraine. Also looking at Hurricane Idalia recovery, Burning Man...