Thinking CAP

Fresh off of an announcement that he would not seek the U.S. presidency in 2020—as well as the fall of his beloved Los Angeles Rams in last week’s rather forgettable Super Bowl—Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made his way to Washington to tout a slate of bipartisan, comprehensive infrastructure priorities in front of Congress. While here, he dropped by the pod to fill us in on what he’s been up to. The short answer: a lot. Garcetti sat down with Ed and Daniella to discuss how his city remains a progressive model on a number of issues; he also explained that while there may be some bipartisan consensus or movement in Congress around issues such as infrastructure, immigration, and criminal justice, the foundations are being laid at the local level.

After briefly holding her invitation to President Donald Trump to deliver his State of the Union address while the federal government was shut down, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi allowed him to deliver his State of the Union address in front of Congress this week. In this episode, Daniella and Ed discuss Trump’s 82-minute speech with two in-house experts. First, Kelly Magsamen, vice president for National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress explains how the president’s vision for U.S. foreign policy didn’t offer us much of anything new, but did reinforce his tendency to act as an autocrat. Then, Juanita Tolliver, director of campaigns for CAP Action Fund, breaks down the lies that littered Trump’s address; the imagery of some congresswomen wearing white; and how Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic candidate for the governorship of Georgia, delivered a striking response outlining the real challenges that ordinary Americans are facing.

After the longest government shutdown in American history finally ended last week, freshman Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) wants to make sure that it never happens again. Wexton joins the pod to chat with Ed and Daniella about why she forced a vote this week on a resolution stating that “shutdowns are detrimental to the nation and should not occur,” and about what she thought of some of the backlash the vote received. She also fills us in on what it’s been like navigating the halls of Congress as a freshman member during one of the most contentious periods that the Trump administration—and the country—has endured. Also, she really loves "The Wire."

When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) last summer, some predicted it would be a nail in the coffin for labor unions. But Lee Saunders, the president of AFSCME—the largest trade union for public sector employees—joined the pod this week to tell us that the state of labor unions is, in fact, strong. Despite constant attacks from wealthy special interests working to lower wages for working people and decimate public sector unions, unions have defied their expectations and are enjoying a bout of popularity not seen in years among Americans. The son of a union member in Cleveland, Ohio, Saunders discusses with Ed and Daniella the challenges unions have faced to their viability and membership over the past decade, as well as about the hopeful future of unions with younger generations embracing the power of collective bargaining.

No stranger to the ways of Washington, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) knows a thing or two about the politics of power. As the new chairwoman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Waters dropped by the CAP Action Fund this week to deliver a speech on what she sees as the chief priorities of her committee—and how she plans to hold both the Trump administration and bad financial actors accountable. She also sat down with CAP Action CEO Neera Tanden to discuss how she sees her committee’s role—especially in the backdrop of an administration ill-prepared to address the challenges facing it—in pushing for stronger consumer protections, tackling the housing crisis, and increasing diversity in the financial sector. This episode includes segments from Rep. Waters’ speech and Q&A.

As President Donald Trump successfully manufactures a crisis on our southern border, an actual American crisis drags on, producing a death rate that resembles a war zone than the United States. This week we sat down with CAP immigration expert Phil Wolgin for a debrief on the so-called crisis along the US-Mexico border. Then physician and “The Atlantic” staff writer James Hamblin joins us to share his perspective on how we’ve let the opioid epidemic get so bad, and what kinds of innovative treatments—such as harm reduction or marijuana—he thinks should be explored to more effectively combat addiction.

Happy New Year! There’s a new House majority in town, and their first order of business is forging a deal to reopen the government. Pressuring President Donald Trump to let go of his so-called border wall to end the shutdown may prove difficult, but Sam Berger and Jesse Lee—both senior advisers at the Center for American Progress and former officials in the Obama White House—are here for our first episode of 2019 to walk us through how we got here, why this shutdown is different from others in the past, and whom this political ploy helps (and harms).

We’re capping off the year with a discussion about the story that has more legs than your garden variety centipede: the Mueller investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election. CAP senior fellow and in-house expert on all things Russia-related, Max Bergmann, joins Ed and Daniella on the pod to take a dive into the web of ongoing investigations that have picked up speed in the final weeks of 2018. Max helps us identify what the major players – special counsel Robert Mueller, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, Maria Butina, and Rudy Giuliani – have been up to and what the state of play will be going into the new year. Hopefully your corkboard is as up to date as ours.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), incoming co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, joins the pod to outline her top priorities for the next Congress, which include fighting corruption, reforming immigration, and improving health care affordability. She also reacts to the televised Oval Office spectacle that captivated Washington earlier this week and predicts what it all means for a potential government shutdown.

There’s change afoot in Congress, and Greg Sargent—writer for The Washington Post’s must-read blog, The Plum Line—has some tips for the new leaders in town. His new book, “An Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in an Age of Trumpian Disinformation and Thunderdome Politics,” is both a deep dive into the Trump effect on our political system and a manual for how the new Congressional majority should seek to restore faith in democratic institutions. Sargent joined Daniella and Ed on the pod to get into the weeds of all of that and more and to explain what, exactly, he means by "thunderdome politics."

*This episode contains sensitive language that may not be suitable for all listeners. In July 2015, Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old black woman from Chicago, was arrested and jailed for failing to use a turn signal. Three days later, she was found hanging from a noose in her jail cell, sparking a groundswell of protests and activism nationwide. Now, three years later, a new HBO documentary explores never-before-told circumstances surrounding her death, punctuated by Sandra’s own commentary that seemed to foretell her own fate. This week’s pod was recorded at the Center for American Progress’ live screening of the documentary, “Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland,” in which Daniella moderated a panel with Cannon Lambert, the Bland family attorney, and David Heilbroner, the film’s co-director.

April Ryan is hardly a rookie. Having covered the past four presidential administrations as the White House Bureau Chief for American Urban Radio Networks, Ryan’s reporting instincts have found new resonance in the Trump era. She has been personally attacked by the president and singled out by his senior staff on a number of occasions, so we wanted to know: How does she keep her cool and stay focused on her work? The veteran correspondent sat down with Daniella and Ed this week to discuss how being one of the most prominent black, female White House reporters has changed under this administration; why she interviewed Steve Bannon; why she would interview David Duke; and why she’s a winner through it all.

As threats against journalists and a free press compound both at home and abroad, a pair of Academy Award nominees dropped by the pod to share the story of their new project celebrating the life and death of the legendary war journalist, Marie Colvin, who died in Syria in 2012 covering the brutal conflict there. Actor Rosamund Pike and director Matthew Heineman—whose new film, “A Private War,” opens in theaters tomorrow—sat down with Daniella and Ed to tell Colvin’s complicated but critical story, and to emphasize the importance of a free press in speaking truth to power, and holding power to account.

There was an election last night—did you hear? In this episode, Ed and Daniella sit down with Neera Tanden, the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, to talk about the electoral rebuke of President Donald Trump, the policy priorities that will shape the upcoming Congress, the success of female candidates this election cycle, and what she’s watching when she’s able to take a rare break from politics. We also react to the news of President Trump firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with multiple races still undecided. What does it all mean?

From racially motivated killings in Kentucky, to pipe bombs mailed to prominent officials, to murders in a Pittsburgh synagogue, the nation endured a particularly trying week. In normal times, we might rely on our president to step in and serve as healer-in-chief – a task that past presidents of all political stripes have dutifully performed. But these are not normal times. Five days out from the hugely consequential midterm elections, Jeh Johnson, former secretary of homeland security under former President Barack Obama, joined the pod to break down the past week of hate, the ongoing threats to our election infrastructure, and the imperative of voting in the face of it all.