Thursday’s debate was certainly something. Much of the Democratic camp is sounding the alarm after President Biden’s less than stellar performance, and discussions are swirling on whether or not it’s time for a new candidate. Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel join David Rothkopf on this special episode to discuss what happened and where we go from here.

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The Supreme Court is about to deliver some monumental verdicts, but some of the most consequential cases in the country have been delayed time and time again. Norm and Kavita are here to break down the biggest cases that are still on the horizon and why some justices keep dragging their feet.

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The media and journalists are pillars of a healthy democracy, but they’re not infallible. So how do we hold errant media personalities and companies accountable? Norm and Kavita break down this unique issue and pay tribute to one of the greats, Howard Fineman.

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Money can’t buy happiness. But it seems like it can buy you a Supreme Court justice. The corruption of certain justices continues to be laid bare for all to see, but the question remains: what can we do about it? Norm and Kavita break it all down.

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Trump is guilty 34 times over. That’s a big deal. So, what happens now? Norm and Kavita break down the political ramifications of the ruling, how MAGA-world is coping with the news, and the political fallout that is already underway.

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To say it’s been a busy week in American politics would be an understatement. Thankfully, Kavita and Norm are here to discuss the unfolding dynamics of the primaries and Senate races, the state of the Supreme Court and upcoming decisions, and why voters’ economic perception isn’t matching the reality. 

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As Donald Trump deals with a gag order in his hush money trial, his various cronies have come out of the woodwork to do his dirty work. JD Vance, Tommy Tuberville, and more have come out to criticize the trial and jockey for a vice presidential nomination. Norm and Kavita break down this MAGA race to the bottom and more.

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Each day of Trump’s election interference trial manages to be more salacious than the last. From the testimony of Stormy Daniels to Trump’s inability to stop smearing everyone involved, it’s clear that the trial will continue to be a roller coaster until the very end. Norm and Kavita take us through the latest from the trial, and what could be around the corner. 

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There’s much to unpack with the ceasefire protests at universities across the country. From students occupying a building at Columbia to the abysmal response by USC’s administration, it is clear that there is no easy way to address the issue. Norm and Kavita break down the latest news on this contentious topic, and why it may be even more impactful than we realize. 

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At the Supreme Court and college campuses, leaders aren’t leading. As the court weighs incredibly consequential decisions and colleges grapple with divisive protests, we need clear leadership more than ever. Norm and Kavita discuss this unique problem and where we go from here.

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The House is its own special kind of crazy, but the Senate is no slouch either. Tom Cotton’s recent comments calling for Americans to “take matters into their own hands” in response to protests reminds us that Senators can seemingly call for acts of violence and get away with it. Norm and Kavita break down the fall of accountability in the Senate and why some Senators continue to embarrass the institution. 

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House Republicans are fighting or floundering, Mike Johnson is traveling to Mar-a-Lago to pray at the altar of Trump, and Arizona lawmakers grapple with an archaic abortion law. All in a week’s work for this Republican Party. Norm and Kavita discuss the farce that is the contemporary Republican agenda and more.

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The Biden administration’s policy towards Israel has been controversial to say the least. As the conflict grinds on and the election approaches, it is clear that the conflict will loom large in the voting booth. Norm and Kavita break down the key issues that Biden faces, and why the administration desperately needs a new strategy. 

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The Supreme Court recently commenced hearings on a case that could restrict access to mifepristone, and the results were surprising. Only Justices Alito and Thomas appeared inclined towards supporting the ban on the drug, raising questions about the court's future direction. Norm and Kavita delve into the nuances of the hearing and the significant influence of women on the case.

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It’s an open secret that Congress is broken. Between extremism from House Republicans to an inability to pass a budget, there is something deeply wrong on the Hill. Norm and Kavita discuss the ways in which we can fix our ailing system, and why some solutions even have the ever elusive support of Republicans. 

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On March 13, 2020, COVID was declared a national emergency. Four years on, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel reflect on fallout of the COVID pandemic, what we learned, and why we're more prepared than ever for the next pandemic. Members get exclusive access to a discussion on the chaos around Representative Ken Buck's surprise early departure from Congress.

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Donald Trump is the healthiest, most successful, and most innocent man in America — according to Donald Trump. The grifts and lies show no signs of slowing even as the walls close in around the former president. Norm and Kavita go over the many machinations of the former president, including the New York criminal trial, his efforts to turn the RNC into his personal piggy bank, and more.

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The Republican crusade against families continues. The Alabama Supreme Court ruling equating embryos with babies makes clear the fact that they won’t stop any time soon. So what comes next? Norm and Kavita break down the ruling and the political fallout. 

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The Supreme Court is finally hearing Trump’s appeal of the Colorado ruling removing him from the ballot. The decision will be massive, but it is not the only legal challenge on Donald Trump’s plate. Norm and Kavita break down the case before the Court, and the state of Trump’s numerous legal battles.

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Greg Abbott and the House Republicans are using the border as a political poker chip, with disastrous implications for immigrants. As Abbott continues to defy the Supreme Court and the House refuses to pass immigration reform, what does the Biden administration need to do? Norm and Kavita discuss the answers and more. 

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Donald Trump is now the GOP's presumptive nominee. How should the Biden team be responding? What should they be doing differently.?David Rothkopf joins Norm and Kavita to analyze the good, the bad, and the ugly of the election so far and what comes next.

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The Iowa caucus was a blowout. Trump trounced DeSantis and Haley, leaving us all wondering how much longer they will hold on. But how much can we actually learn from the caucus? Norm and Kavita are back to break down the lessons from Iowa and the trouble for Trump looming on the horizon.

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With 2023 in the rearview mirror, many of our greatest political challenges remain unresolved. Norm and Kavita are back for a new year with new political prognostications about what 2024 holds for Congress and what will undoubtedly be a dramatic campaign season.

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Democrats have their work cut out for them moving into the new year. With monumental elections on the horizon, Norm has plenty of ways the Democrats can press the advantage. In this insightful episode, David Rothkopf fills in for Kavita to discuss the House, Senate, and presidential elections.

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Norm and Kavita are back! Republicans at both the state and national level have continued to chip away at abortion rights, with a case in Texas drawing national attention and the ire of the state’s AG, Ken Paxton. In addition, Senate Republicans have blocked Ukraine funding, demanding border action. Join us as we break down all this and more.

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Norm and Kavita are breaking the rules this week to talk about congressional fight club. With threats of violence by multiple GOP members, its clear that tensions are high as Republicans struggle to govern. With the government shutdown pushed to next year, join us as we break down the political field heading into 2024.

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Recent polls on a Biden and Trump showdown in 2024 aren’t great for the incumbent president. But with just under a year to go before the election, how worried should we really be? David Rothkopf joins Norm to explain how Biden can bounce back and why the lunacy of the Republican Party will be its own undoing.

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In the face of such overwhelming bad news, it’s all too easy to feel hopeless. Dr. Ben Miller joins Kavita and Norm to talk about the narrative of mental illness in mass shootings, and shares ways that we can maintain good mental health even when the news is bleak. Don’t miss this important episode.

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Two failed votes for Jim Jordan later, and the House is still no closer to electing a speaker. Norm and Kavita break down what could come next for a speaker pro tempore-led Congress and where the Republican caucus will go from here.

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With Norm away this week, Kavita is joined by Laurie Garrett for a conversation on a potpourri of topics. From the situation in Israel, to the House speaker race, to updates on COVID, there is a little bit of everything in this week’s episode. Don’t miss it!

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Another average week for the US Congress. With the shocking removal of Speaker McCarthy by a small cadre of his own party, the divisions within the Republican Party have reached new levels. Thankfully, Kavita is back with Norm to try and make sense of it all.

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The Republican Party is falling apart before our very eyes. Between the anarchic second presidential debate and the impending threat of a destructive government shutdown, it’s clear that the party is not going quietly. David Rothkopf and Norm discuss all this and more.

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Norm and David are not happy, and for good reason.The latest judiciary committee hearing reminds us all how far down the rabbit hole the Republican party has gone in the pursuit of scorched-earth politics, but it is not the only example of Republican lunacy this week. Norm and David break down the latest news and more in suitably ranty fashion.

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It is no secret that the media remains hyper-focused on Joe Biden’s age and the growing desire for a younger generation of politicians. As the election cycle continues to ramp up, Norm and Kavita break down how the conversation around Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will make waves in 2024.

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The latest special grand jury report from Georgia reveals recommended charges against 39 people including Senator Lindsey Graham. With Senator Graham and other high-profile individuals being named, Norm and Kavita break down DA Fani Willis’s potential course of action and more, including the latest on Trump's numerous cases.

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School is back in session this week as Norm and Kavita tackle the latest in Trump's many trials. Trump remains the frontrunner despite a deluge of legal woes, but new information coming to light daily and the threat of the 14th amendment could imperil his candidacy. Tune in for all this and more.

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Last night’s Republican debate may not have had a clear winner, but America was the clear loser. In this special episode, David Rothkopf joins Kavita Patel and Norm Ornstein to discuss the Republican presidential debate and what it means for the future of the party, why Ramaswamy is the front-runner for most unhinged candidate, and how Donald Trump still won - even though he wasn’t there.

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Norm and Kavita are taking a much deserved break this week, so we're bringing you one of the best episodes of 2022.

Original Description:

July 23, 2022

On this week's episode, we talk about how the Republican Party is embracing ideologies that used to be fringe, how the media is missing the mark, and what the future of the GOP could look like. We ground all of our analysis in the words of Matt Birk, David Brooks, and Joe O'Dea.

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With the sound defeat of Issue 1 in Ohio, Norm and Kavita discuss whether Democrats can apply the lessons learned to 2024. Also on the agenda are the latest developments with Trump’s documents case in Florida, and whether or not the myriad legal woes will actually help Trump in the next election. Don’t miss it.

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If you've been watching as much coverage of the indictment as we have, then you're probably more confused than ever. Norm and Kavita are here to make sense of it all, discussing what the indictment really means, how we got to this point, and what it will mean for Trump and the Republicans moving into 2024.

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It’s hot here in DC, but we’re not alone. Norm and Kavita talk climate change and what the administration can do to combat disinformation to change the conversation around climate. Additionally, we discuss what the Democrats can and should be doing to stop Governor Abbott’s abhorrent policies at the border. For all this and more, tune in!

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The Republican party is not sending their best. With the 2024 election cycle ramping up, Norm and guest Mary Trump break down the lackluster field of Republican candidates and the issues propelling their narrative. Also on the table are Trump’s latest legal woes. What effect could they have in 2024, and why are people upset about the January 6th indictment? Join us and find out.

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With the economy continuing to rally despite the odds, why are conversations about Biden’s economic performance so negative? Norm and Kavita discuss why voters have differing perceptions of the economy, and how they will play a key factor in the 2024 election. They also discuss the Vice President’s performance so far, and whether she will be an asset or liability to Biden’s reelection campaign. All this and more on the latest episode of Words Matter.

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With recent developments around the indictment of Donald Trump, Norm and Kavita discuss how the executive branch and Congress can work to repair agencies damaged by the Trump presidency. Looking to the future, how do the administration and other elected officials craft a more responsible federal government? Discover the answers in this week's episode.

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Norm and Kavita are back to discuss today’s headline story; the Supreme Court’s decision striking down Affirmative Action. Norm and Kavita break down the implications of the ruling, as well as the state of the Biden presidency with recent discussions surrounding the President’s health.

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Norm and Kavita are back this week to discuss the 8-1 ruling in favor of the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement guidelines. From there, they turn their attention to Justice Alito, who earlier in the week wrote a preemptive opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal addressing the ProPublica investigative piece which disclosed his fishing trips with a Billionaire Hedge Fund manger that petitioned the Supreme Court to rule in his favor in his business dealings. Don’t miss it!

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The lies and deflections from Republicans defending Trump have spun up the ire of "Words Matter" co-host Norm Ornstein. So in this episode he not only explains why but guest co-host David Rothkopf tries unsuccessfully to defuse his anger. Instead, both recount the facts surrounding the case for which Trump was arraigned this week and the likely cases to come and frankly, the outrage only grows. Join them to understand why it is fully justified.

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Norm and Kavita discuss the passing of the debt ceiling deal in the House of Representatives. Since taping, the bill also passed the Senate and is expected to be signed as early as Friday, June 2, 2023 by President Biden. In the members-only section, they discuss the recent alleged recordings of former President Trump stating that he knew that documents in his possession were classified. Tune In!

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Norm and Kavita are both traveling, but that doesn’t stop them from discussing the issues. This week, in this abbreviated version of Words Matter, Norm and Kavita discuss Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid announcement, the Surgeon General’s announcement on the impact of social media on adolescents and the Nebraska Abortion Case.

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This week, Norm and Kavita discuss the latest developments in the negotiations between the White House and lawmakers on the debt ceiling. In the members only segment, they discuss some wins for Democrats in elections in Florida and Pennsylvania. Tune In! 

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This week, Norm and Kavita discuss the E. Jean Carroll Civil verdict and Trump’s CNN town hall meeting. In the bonus section, they discuss Congressman’s Santos’ legal woes and the latest in the debt ceiling negotiations. Join us for this timely discussion.

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On this week's episode of Words Matter, Norm and Kavita discuss the latest developments on the debt ceiling, the Seditious Conspiracy convictions of the Proud Boys, Trump's legal woes and Clarence and Ginni Thomas. 

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This week, as Kavita so eloquently put it, there are so many issues to discuss. Norm and Kavita tackle the debt ceiling, touch on the Disney/DeSantis dispute and in the members only section, discuss the Biden 2024 announcement. Don't miss this timely discussion.

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On this week’s episode of Words Matter, Norm and Kavita discuss the GOP’s debt ceiling proposal. In the members only section, Norm and Kavita discuss the situation with Dianne Feinstein and how it’s impacting the Senate.

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On this week’s episode of Words Matter, Norm and Kavita discuss a number of judiciary issues, including reproductive health. In a special extended bonus section, Norm and Kavita tackle Clarence Thomas and Diane Feinstein.

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Note: This episode was taped prior to the announced indictments of Donald Trump. The absence of real indictments against Donald Trump allows him to set the narrative. That's not a good thing. So maybe prosecutors should consider drinking a little more Red Bull, having a few more cups of coffee. This is getting ridiculous. We discuss with Dr. Kavita Patel, Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf. We also discuss who will be the GOP candidate for president when Trump and DeSantis flame out. And we consider the imponderable: Why is George Santos still a member of Congress. Join us for answers to all the most pressing political questions.

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In the wake of yet another tragic mass shooting--and we're averaging two per day this year in the US--Americans are again asking the question what can be done. The response of the GOP: "Nothing." That's their plan and it has worked so far to make the U.S. a very dangerous place. So what can we do to help combat this national gun pathology? On this episode of "Words Matter" Dr. Kavita Patel, Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf discuss. Don't miss it.

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Trump might finally be indicted but what impact will that have on the political landscape? Kavita and Norm seek to answer that question during this engaging conversation. Members get a bonus conversation about COVID and the recent UN Climate Report.

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Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in spectacular fashion last week but the Biden administration stepped in to save its depositors. Was that the right thing to do and what can prevent things like this happening in the future? Norm and Kavita discuss during this thoughtful conversation. Members get a bonus conversation about Ron DeSantis and his views about the war in Ukraine.

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From the media and books to drag shows and voting, states is in the South have been trying to turn back the clock. Kavita and Norm talk about these updates, what they mean for the country as a whole, and what we can do about it. Members get a bonus conversation about Walgreens.

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Congress is back in session and there is lots of news. First Kavita and Norm talk about the Department of Energy's report around the "Lab Leak" theory and then they discuss Attorney General Merrick Garland's testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee. Members of The DSR Network get a bonus conversation about the recent hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment.

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Kavita is back from her trip but the problems in the country haven't moved much. The train derailment in East Palestine has caused concerns about environmental and health impacts while the right-wing media pushes it as race issue. Members of The DSR Network get access to a bonus segment about Mark Brnovich.

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On this week's episode, Kavita is still out of town. So Norm and producer Grant Haver talk Nikki Haley getting into the Presidential race, her potential candidacy, and what this means for the future of our democracy. Members of The DSR Network get access to a bonus segment about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

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On this week's episode, Kavita is still out of town. So Norm and producer Grant Haver talk about the State of the Union, what it says about the future prospects for Joe Biden, and if it matters. Members of The DSR Network get access to a bonus segment about the House "oversight" hearings on Twitter and the weaponization of government.

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On this week's episode, Norm talks with Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-6) about his work as the Chair of the Modernizing Congress Committee, what they were able to accomplish, and what work is left to do. Members of The DSR Network get access to a bonus segment where Norm and producer Grant Haver talk reflect on the interview.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about the never ending cycle of gun violence in the United States and what communities should do since the government is incapable of making progress on this issue. Members get a bonus conversation about the continuing kerfuffle about classified documents.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about the debt limit, what the U.S. can do at this point to pay its bills, and where we expect this to end. Members get a bonus conversation about the West Wing reboot and China.

Read more about the debt limit here: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12045

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about the start of a divided and performative Congress. Members of The DSR Network get a bonus conversation about Biden's classified documents and the Republicans investigations efforts across the government.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about Kevin McCarthy's quixotic quest to become speaker of the House and what it means for average Americans. What does this clown show mean for the most pressing issues facing the United States? Members of The DSR Network get a bonus conversation about the COVID crisis in China and how anti-vax terrorists are seizing on high profile deaths and injuries.

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Originally Aired: October 8, 2022

On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about the Senate races in Georgia and Pennsylvania. In the bonus segment, Words Matter Producer Grant Haver talks with Norm about what's on Democrats agenda if they win the midterms.

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Originally Aired: August 26, 2022

On this week's episode, we talk about the primaries in New York and Florida as well as the news the Leonard Leo now has over one billion dollars to spend on conservative political causes.

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Originally Aired: August 12, 2022

On this week's episode, we talk about all the races we are following for the midterms, and our campaign experiences. You won't want to miss it!

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Originally Aired: September 2, 2022

On this week's episode, we do a deep dive on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In the bonus segment, Norm talks about the latest Trump crime news and Biden's most recent speech.

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Originally Aired: August 19, 2022

On this week's episode, we talk about Liz Cheney's defeat, the senate race in pennsylvania, and we get the view from Chautauqua. You won't want to miss it!

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita answer your questions about everything from how to fix the Republican party, what policies are dividing the Democratic party, and much more. Members of the DSR Network get access to a bonus conversation featuring non-political questions around books that have impacted Kavita and Norm and how to turn off from the news.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita discuss what Congress needs to do before the holidays. Members of the DSR Network get access to a bonus conversation about the recently released texts from Republicans around January 6th. If you want to submit questions for next week's mailbag episode email [email protected] or tag us on your favorite social media app!

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita discuss Senator Warnock winning his run off race and what that means for his political ambitions and the Senate. They also discuss how the changing order of the Democratic primaries will impact 2024. Members of the DSR Network get access to a bonus conversation about the Senator Sinema leaving the Democratic party to become an independent.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita discuss what remains on the agenda for the lame duck Congress including issues like the debt limit and the looming threat of a railroad strike. Members of the DSR Network get access to a bonus conversation about the respect for marriage act and World AIDS day.

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Originally Aired: June 17, 2022

On this week's episode, we talk about the January 6th committee hearings, the Republican candidates for office that believe in the big lie, and how the media is talking about all of this. We ground all of our analysis in the words of Representative Liz Cheney, Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Candidate Doug Mastriano, and Tucker Carlson.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita provide their analysis of the midterms, discuss what they got right (and wrong) heading in, and where this goes from here. Members of the DSR Network get a bonus segment on how the parties should react to the results headed into 2024.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita are joined by EJ Dionne to discuss his latest column "In the midterms, GOP extremism is the ghoul in the room" and then they give their predictions about the midterms. Members of the DSR Network get a bonus segment on Biden's speech on the value of Democracy.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about the debate between Oz and Fetterman and between Gretchen Whitmer and Tudor Dixon. In the bonus segment Producer Grant Haver and Norm talk about the crossover between foreign policy and domestic politics.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about the recent debates in races across the country including Marco Rubio v. Val Demings, Tim Ryan v. JD Vance, and Raphael Warnock v. Herschel Walker.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about the Senate races in North Carolina and Nevada as well as state and local races vital to defending democracy. 

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about the Senate races in Georgia and Pennsylvania. In the bonus segment, Words Matter Producer Grant Haver talks with Norm about what's on Democrats agenda if they win the midterms.

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On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk with Anna Greenberg of GQR about the polls headed into the midterms and the broader conversation around the value of public polling in our extremely partisan environment.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about immigration policy and the political stunts performed by Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott around the issue. For members, Kavita and Norm talk about the latest Trump legal news.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, Norm and Kavita talk about Biden's successful handling of the potential train workers strike and the intersection for foreign and domestic policy. For members, Kavita and Norm talk about the Fetterman-Oz race and a Washington Post Editorial about Fetterman's health.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk with Michael Strain, the director of Economic Policy Studies, and the Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, about where the labor market is and what the recent reports tell us about the economy overall.  

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we do a deep dive on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In the bonus segment, Norm talks about the latest Trump crime news and Biden's most recent speech.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about the primaries in New York and Florida as well as the news the Leonard Leo now has over one billion dollars to spend on conservative political causes.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about Liz Cheney's defeat, the senate race in pennsylvania, and we get the view from Chautauqua. You won't want to miss it!

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about all the races we are following for the midterms, and our campaign experiences. You won't want to miss it!

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about why Biden's political successes are translating into better polling, abortion rights in Idaho and Kansas, and the latest news on January 6th. We ground all of our analysis in the words of Karine Jean-Pierre and Merrick Garland.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about the economy and why inflation is up but unemployment is down as well as the deal around the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. We ground all of our analysis in the words of Jerome Powell and Joe Manchin.

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Each week, Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel, we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about how the Republican Party is embracing ideologies that used to be fringe, how the media is missing the mark, and what the future of the GOP could look like. We ground all of our analysis in the words of Matt Birk, David Brooks, and Joe O'Dea.

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On this week's episode, we talk the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of Monkeypox, and, for members, the current state of reproductive rights. We ground all of our analysis in the words Antony Fauci, Ashwin Vasan, Ashish Jha, and Andrea Miller.

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We're relaunching the show with new hosts Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel. Each week we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback as we continue to shape it moving forward. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about the first, second, ninth, and tenth amendments and for members we talk about disinformation and Twitter. We ground all of our analysis in the words of the Bill of Rights.

Links for your consideration:

https://www.heritage.org/firearms/commentary/these-10-examples-defensive-gun-use-underscore-second-amendments-true-purpose

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We're relaunching the show with new hosts Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel. Each week we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback as we continue to shape it moving forward. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about the end of a monumental Supreme Court term and the explosive testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson before the January 6th committee. We ground all of our analysis in the words of Justice Barrett, Cassidy Hutchinson, and Kelly Shackelford.

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We're relaunching the show with new hosts Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel. Each week we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback as we continue to shape it moving forward. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about the January 6th committee hearings, the Republican candidates for office that believe in the big lie, and how the media is talking about all of this. We ground all of our analysis in the words of Representative Liz Cheney, Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Candidate Doug Mastriano, and Tucker Carlson.

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We're relaunching the show with new hosts Norm Ornstein and Kavita Patel. Each week we will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them. We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback as we continue to shape it moving forward. If you have any comments feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

On this week's episode, we talk about the epidemic of mass shootings in the country, the mental health red herring, and how this will impact the midterm elections in the fall. We ground all of our analysis in the words of America's political leaders like President Biden, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chris Murphy, and former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo.

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The Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade — or at least change the abortion-rights landscape dramatically. Katie sits down with Sarah Isgur and David French of The Dispatch to answer the question: Why is this happening?

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On July 4th we celebrate the birth of the American Experiment. The Declaration of Independence -- written in the Spring of 1776 by a 33 year old Thomas Jefferson -- is America’s mission statement. And like all mission statements, the words represented not what we were, but what we aspired to be. In fact, the author himself was a gifted writer, but a deeply flawed person who – like his country -- did not embody the ideas and ideal of that document.

For more than two hundred and forty years, the story of America has been the struggle between those who want to move us close to the words of our mission statement – and those who want to stop them.

It is often forgotten that the Declaration itself was meant to be spoken. 

In 2004 the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library released a previously unknown 1957 recording of then-Senator Kennedy reading the Declaration of Independence in New York on July 4th.

So this week to honor Independence Day -- And to remind ourselves that as a country must continue the struggle to turn America’s founding words into reality – we give John F. Kennedy’s reading of the Declaration of Independence the final word.

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On June 26th 2015 President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy at the funeral of the Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney, the senior pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston and a South Carolina State Senator.

Reverend Pinckney and 8 other Black church members had been murdered a week earlier during Bible Study in a racially motivated mass shooting perpetrated by a white supremacist. 

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is one of the oldest Black churches in the United States, and it has long been a center for organizing events related to civil rights. 

Founded in 1816, the church played an important role in the history of South Carolina, during slavery and Reconstruction, during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s and in the Black Lives Matter movement. 

It is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the South, often referred to as "Mother Emanuel". 

Rev. Pinckney, was a well known activist who had held rallies after the shooting of Walter Scott by a white police officer two months earlier, in nearby North Charleston. As a state senator, Reverend Pinckney had pushed for legislation requiring police to wear body cameras.

The Reverend and his church were targeted because of their history and role in civil rights activism. 

With a rousing eulogy and a chorus of “Amazing Grace,” President Barack Obama called on the country to honor the nine victims of the South Carolina church massacre by working toward racial healing.

He said that included removing the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State House grounds.

“It’s true, the flag did not cause these murders,” The President said, but “we all have to acknowledge the flag has always represented more than just ancestral pride. For many, black and white, that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. We see that now.”

“By taking down that flag,” he said, “we express God’s grace.” But I don't think God wants us to stop there.“

On July 6, 2015, the South Carolina Senate voted to remove the Confederate flag from display outside the South Carolina State House. 

Make no mistake - the protests we have seen in the last month are a continuation of that struggle. And none of us can stop - none of us should rest until we dismantle and remove every symbol and every fact of the systemic oppression and racial subjugation that President Obama described in his eulogy of Reverend Pinckney. 

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Not THAT Lindsay Graham. This week we profile one of our favorite podcasts American History Tellers. The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life -the words you speak, the ideas you share- can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? American History Tellers will take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation. And they'll show you how our history affected them, their families and affects you today. Hosted by Lindsay Graham (not the Senator). From Wondery, the network behind Tides Of History, History Unplugged, Fall Of Rome and Dirty John.

And check out Lindsay's latest podcast -- American Elections: Wicked Game

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you got your podcasts. American Elections: Wicked Game http://wondery.fm/AmericanElectionsWM

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This week we highlight presidential leadership and one of the most important civil rights speeches ever delivered by a sitting American president.

By June of 1963, John F. Kennedy has been president for nearly two and a half years.

While Kennedy had long privately expressed his deep moral objections to the treatment of black people in American society and indicated support for New federal legislation. 

His public comments ranged from cautious moderate criticism to a 1950s version of “both sides-ism” but were mostly nonexistent.

In June of 1963, however the man and the moment met.

Alabama Governor George Wallace’s staged photo op defiance of federal law by standing in the school house doorway had lasted less than 90 minutes. 

On June 11th 1963 two black students were peaceful enrolled at the University of Alabama under the protection of a federalized Alabama National Guard commanded by US Marshals under the direction of the Department of Justice and the Attorney General of the United States.

Kennedy’s advisors recommended and Fully expected that the president would NOT address the American people that evening. 

With a little less than 18 months until to the 1964 elections, the President’s legislative agenda and his political future depended upon the votes Southern Democrats in Congress and those of their politically unforgiving constituents. 

The President had other ideas. Kennedy saw a way to exercise moral leader on an issue where he had to that point failed. He would request Network Television airtime to address the nation on the issue of civil rights. 

The facts and statistics on racial inequality in the United States described by President Kennedy to the American people that evening had even never been acknowledged by a President before - much less spoken in such a detailed and direct language. 

In a telegram to the White House after watching the President’s remarks in Atlanta with other civil rights leaders, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. described the address as ONE OF THE MOST ELOQUENT, PROFOUND,AND UNEQUIVOCAL PLEAS FOR JUSTICE AND FREEDOM OF ALL MEN, EVER MADE BY ANY PRESIDENT.

Dr King knew that Kennedy was moved by his now famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” - written just weeks before. 

To President Kennedy and many Americans Dr. King’s letter was more than than a spirited defense of civil disobedience. It was an indictment of white indifference.

As you listen to the speech, you will hear Kennedy echoing King’s “Letter”

The President rejects the idea that Black Americans should have to wait for equality. "Who among us," Kennedy asks the American people, "would then be content with counsels of patience and delay?"

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Our guest this week is a writer, lawyer, speaker and an advocate. Cassie Chambers grew up in Eastern Kentucky, graduated from Yale College, the Yale School of Public Health, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School, where she was president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, a student-run law firm that represents low-income clients.

Cassie received a Skadden Fellowship to return to Kentucky to do legal work with domestic violence survivors in rural communities.

In 2018, Cassie helped pass Jeanette’s Law, which eliminated the requirement that domestic violence survivors pay an incarcerated spouse’s legal fees in order to get a divorce.

Her new book, Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains, celebrates the amazingly resilient women in her family and the beloved mountain culture that helped shape her.

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This week we welcome back historian and sociologist Harvey J. Kaye for Part 2 of our discussion of his important book FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Harvey J. Kaye is Professor Emeritus of Democracy and Justice Studies and Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

An award-winning author and writer, he has written 9 books – including:

• Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again (2019)
• Thomas Paine and the Promise of America (2005)
• The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great (2015)
•  “Why Do Ruling Classes Fear History?” and Other Questions (1996)

Follow Professor Kaye on Twitter @harveyjkaye

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This week we welcome historian and sociologist Harvey J. Kaye for Part 1 of our discussion of his important book FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Harvey J. Kaye is Professor Emeritus of Democracy and Justice Studies and Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

An award-winning author and writer, he has written 9 books – including:

• Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again (2019)
• Thomas Paine and the Promise of America (2005)
• The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great (2015)
•  “Why Do Ruling Classes Fear History?” and Other Questions (1996)

Follow Professor Kaye on Twitter @harveyjkaye

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Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was a politician, statesman, diplomat, and lawyer who served as a U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976 and as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter.. In 1984 he was the Democratic Party's nominee for president of the united states.

As a Senator, Mondale had been the primary sponsor of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 – transformative legislation that outlawed the Refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of their race, color, religion or national origin.

Walter Mondale was the first vice president to have an office in the White House and established the concept of an "activist Vice President." He began the tradition of weekly lunches with the president, which continues to this day. More importantly, he expanded the vice president's role from figurehead to presidential advisor, full-time participant, and troubleshooter for the administration. Subsequent vice presidents have followed this model.[38

In 1984 he made history as the Democratic presidential nominee when he selected New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. Making her the first woman on a national ticket

In August of 2019, we had the honor and privilege of spending some with former Vice President Mondale as Joe Lockhart and I traveled to Minneapolis to interview him for Words Matter. 

Joe had served in a senior position on Mondale’s 1984 Presidential Campaign and as far as Walter Mondale was concerned - that made him part of the family, literally.

They had kept in touch over the years. The former Vice President regularly held events and get togethers with his former staffers where ever he traveled - and Joe had always attended no matter how busy he was. 

At 91, Mondale was still very sharp and as always polite, courteous and inquisitive. He asked about Joe’s wife and children by name and remembered small details about their last visit that Joe himself had forgotten. 

He wanted to understand all he could about how podcasts worked, how many people listened, and why they were popular.

What impressed me most about him were his humility, self awareness and introspection. While most politicians can muster faux humility – during a campaign – that was not what Walter Mondale was all about. As with everything else - he was sincere and genuine. 

Mondale was brutally honest and realistic about why his 1984 campaign had been soundly defeated. Even with the microphones turned off, he was complimentary of former Presidents Reagan and George HW Bush - And unlike like most politicians- he took full responsibility (even for things that were not his fault) for the historic loss to Ronald Reagan. 

As we got ready to leave, the former Vice President was the embodiment of Minnesota Nice - he thanked us for making the trip, told us how much he enjoyed the interview, made Joe promise to send his regards to his family and even asked if we were all set with ride to airport. 

As he walked us to the elevator - he shook my hand and gave Joe a hug and told us both to “keep up the good fight”. 

Last weekend - just days before his passing Walter Mondale sent a final message to his staff:

Dear Team,

Well my time has come. I am eager to rejoin Joan and Eleanor. Before I Go I wanted to let you know how much you mean to me. Never has a public servant had a better group of people working at their side!

Together we have accomplished so much and I know you will keep up the good fight.

Joe in the White House certainly helps.

I always knew it would be okay if I arrived some place and was greeted by one of you!

My best to all of you!

Fritz

With that let’s listen to Joe Lockhart’s interview with the late, great former Vice President - Walter Mondale. 

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The shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado happened 22 years ago this week. Katie gives a special Final Word to Laura Hall and Sarah Bush -- sisters who survived the shooting, and in 2019 ran the Boston Marathon together.

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John Robert Lewis was a politician, statesman, and civil rights leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1966.

Born near Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940, he the third of ten children of Willie Mae and Eddie Lewis.[2][3] His parents were sharecroppers in rural Pike County, Alabama,

As a child in rural Alabama in the 1940s, young John Lewis was disturbed by the evidence that he saw around him of the South’s Jim Crow racial segregation laws. He wanted to know why they existed.

Even as a small child he would ask his mother why black children went to separate schools from white children, why Black people were forced to use separate bathrooms, separate drinking fountains and sit in separate sections in public places.

His mother discouraged his curiosity, by saying, “Don’t get in the way. Don’t get in trouble.” But, as John Lewis often explained later, he went in the other direction – he got in the way. He got into trouble – GOOD TROUBLE as he famously called it.

Inspired by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr who he first met at the age of 18, John Lewis was already an established Civil Leader by the age of 21. He had been one of the 13 original Freedom Riders in 1961 and lead the way in desegregating interstate transportation

At 23, John Lewis became the chairman of the  Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the August 1963 March on Washington. He was the youngest person to speak at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th 1963 – on the same stage that Dr. King delivered his iconic “I have a Dream” Speech.

While he held many important leadership roles in the civil rights movement and the fight to end legalized racial segregation in the United States. the cause John Lewis became most associated with was that of Voting Rights.

In 1965, John Lewis organized some of the voter registration efforts during the Selma voting rights campaign, and became nationally known for his prominent role in the Selma to Montgomery marches.[49] 

On March 7, 1965 – a day that would become known as "Bloody Sunday" – Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

At the end of the bridge and the city-county boundary, the marchers were met by Alabama State Troopers who ordered them to disperse.

When the marchers stopped to pray, the police discharged tear gas and mounted troopers charged the demonstrators, beating them with nightsticks. Lewis's skull was fractured, but he was aided in escaping across the bridge to Brown Chapel, a church in Selma that served as the movement's headquarters.[50] Lewis bore scars on his head from this incident for the rest of his life.[51]

In March 2015, on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, President Barack Obama, delivered a speech  in Selma and then John Lewis lead the way as President Obama, former President George W. Bush and 40,000 Civil Rights Movement veterans and marched across that very same bridge.

With that – let’s listen to the honorable John Robert Lewis talk about the importance of  “good trouble”  

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On April 3, 1968 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis, Tennessee to lend his support, his help, and his leadership to the Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike.

That February, Black sanitation workers had walked off the job because two of them had been crushed to death in a garbage compacting truck. There was already unrest and tension because the Black workers were paid poorly and treated even worse. They deserved a raise and better working conditions.

On March 28, Dr. King participated in a huge Memphis march, but to his dismay, it ended in violence. With the intention of leading a peaceful march later that week, Dr. King returned to Memphis on April 3. That evening, he spoke at Mason Temple, then the Church of God in Christ world headquarters. 

As he had throughout the tumultuous struggle for Civil Rights during the 1950s and 60s, Dr. King called on America and Americans to live up to the promise of our founding creed, and to honor the words of our founding documents. 

As Dr. King came to the end of his speech, he talked about his 1958 attempted assassination, the bomb threat that delayed his plane that day, and threats made against him in Memphis. 

As a storm raged outside the packed church, Dr. King prophetically spoke of his own mortality.

The next day, Thursday, April 4, 1968, Dr. King was at the Lorraine Motel with aides and friends; Rev. Billie Kyles of Memphis arrived to take the group to dinner. At about 6 p.m. Dr. King stood with Rev. Kyles on the balcony outside his Room 306 and told musician Ben Branch to be sure to play “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” at the rally that evening.

Then, as Dr. King leaned over the balcony railing to speak with his young aide Reverend Jesse Jackson  he was struck down by an assassin’s bullet.

He was 39 years old.

Later that evening, in Indianapolis, Indiana – presidential candidate, Senator Robert Kennedy delivered the news of Dr. King’s murder to a crowd of black and white supporters.

Exactly two months later Robert Kennedy himself was assassinated in Los Angeles after winning the California Democratic presidential primary.

With that, let’s listen to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I've Been to the Mountain Top” in its entirety.

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Geraldine Ferraro was a politician, diplomat, attorney - and also a teacher, activist, author, and businesswoman.

The daughter of an Italian immigrant, Geraldine lost her father when she was 8, and moved with her family to the South Bronx where her mother worked in the garment industry to support them.

She was an outstanding student winning a full scholarship to college, and earning a degree in English with honors. 

Geraldine Ferraro worked as a public school teacher in Queens before entering Fordham University School of Law in 1957. She continued to teach second grade at PS 57 in Queens during the day while going to law school in Manhattan at night and was of 2 women in her graduating class of 179 to earn a Juris Doctorate in 1960. 

Ferraro raised a family and worked as a civil lawyer for 13 years - occasionally doing pro bono work for women in family court.

She joined the Queens District Attorneys Office in 1974 heading the new Special Victims Bureau that dealt with sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence. 

Before she made history as the first woman to run for office on a national ticket - Geraldine Ferraro was a rising star in the Democratic Party and a powerful voice in Congress. 

Elected in 1978 to Represent New York’s 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn and Queens, a seat once held by Joseph Pulitzer and later by Chuck Schumer.

In only her second term she served in a prestigious leadership position as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus - under legendary Speaker Tip O’Neil. A position perviously held by Shirley Chisholm and later by James Clyburn. 

In July of 1984, former Vice President Walter Mondale made history when he asked Ferraro to join the Democratic ticket as his running mate when he became the presidential nominee to challenge incumbent President Ronald Reagan and his Vice President George HW Bush.

One hundred and ninety-seven years after the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia in 1787, a female candidate was finally nominated for national office at the Democratic Convention in San Francisco in 1984.

36 years, 6 months and 2 days later Senator Kamila Harris – also the daughter of immigrants, was sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States

Let’s listen to the Honorable Geraldine Ferraro’s historic acceptance speech for the 1984 Democratic Vice Presidential nomination

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Dr. Maya Angelou was a poet, professor, memoirist, actor, singer, author, educator and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and appeared in numerous plays, movies, and television shows over a 65 year career. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees

In literary circles, Maya Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

Her books center on themes including racism, identity, and family

She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked closely with both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. 

On January 20, 1993, Angelou became the second poet in American history -- and the first African American and woman -- to read a poem at a presidential inauguration, when she recited her original work "On the Pulse of Morning" at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton.

She was the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.

Angelou's audio recording of the poem won the 1993 Grammy Award for "Best Spoken Word" - introducing her to a whole new generation and bringing much deserved recognition for her previous works.

As evidenced by her Grammy win - Maya Angelou was as brilliant a performer as she was a writer.

In 2011 - she awarded the national’s highest civilian honor - the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

But of all her awards and accolades - one of the most memorable was her 1992 commencement address at Spelman College -an private historically black women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, 

The Spelman Messenger later wrote - 

“ Maya Angelou left an indelible mark upon the world. Her wit, wisdom, and work will continue to inspire generations of Spelman women.” 

With that - let’s listen to Grammy winning poet Maya Angelou and her iconic 1992 Spelman College Commencement Address

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Dr. Angela Davis is an activist, philosopher, academic and author.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama during World War II - she attended segregated black elementary and middle schools in the 1950s.

Davis studied philosophy at Brandis University and did her graduate work in Germany with famed philosopher Herbert Marcuse.

She would later say that: “Herbert Marcuse taught me that it was possible to be an academic, an activist, a scholar, and a revolutionary.”

After returning to the United States, Angela Davis joined the Communist Party, became involved in the Black Panther Party, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, second-wave feminism and actively protested the War in Vietnam.

In 1969 Angela Davis became an acting Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of California Los Angeles.

That same year the University of California initiated a policy against hiring Communists.[

At their September 19, 1969, meeting, the Board of Regents - urged on by then-Governor Ronald Regan, fired Professor Davis from her teaching post because of her political beliefs.”

On October 8th 1969, Angela Davis gave a speech at UCLA protesting her dismissal.

“Education” she told a cheering student audience, “should not mold the mind according to a prefabricated architectural plan. It should rather liberate the mind. Because the mind has to be liberated in order to perceive the world, to see society, to understand what its advantages are, what its disadvantages are.” 

In that same speech Angela Davis drew persuasive links between the suppression of academic freedom, academic and social institutional racism, and the rise of totalitarianism in German during the 1930s. 

Later that month Angela Davis was reinstated by a California Superior Court judge and completed teaching the 1969-70 academic year. 

With that - let’s listen to Angela Davis talk about academic freedom, institutional racism and the dangers of totalitarianism.

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This week, in honor of Women’s History Month, we wanted to pay tribute to one of the most consequential leaders in American History. Eleanor Roosevelt was the niece of the 26th President of the United States and the wife of the 32nd – but make no mistake, she was a political thinker, an international activist and a World Leader in her own right.

Of her many achievements and successes, perhaps none was more personally satisfying and poignant than her work - after FDR’s death - at the United Nations -- in particular, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Adopted at the Third Session of the U.N. General Assembly held in Paris, to this day it is one of the most meaningful and important accomplishments in the 75-year history of that World Assembly. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as Ken Burns noted in his award-winning series, The Roosevelts, was history's first attempt at laying out the principles under which all nations should behave toward their own citizens and toward each other.

And it was largely the work of one delegate from the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt.

It was no easy task leading the international drafting committee at the dawn of the Cold War. But the former First Lady, as always, was shrewd, persuasive, and relentless.

As tough as she was tactful, she drove her fellow delegates so hard that one felt compelled to remind her that they "had human rights too."

"If they wanted shorter days, Theodore Roosevelt's favorite niece answered, "they should make shorter speeches."

At 3 a.m. on the morning of December 10th, 1948, the General Assembly approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights without a single dissenting vote.

And after the historic vote, the entire General Assembly did something it had never done before and has never done since. It rose to give a standing ovation to a single delegate, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Please listen to Eleanor Roosevelt 1948 speech on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio.

Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. 

You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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As Black History Month ends and Women’s History Month begins, we wanted to honor a pioneer in the struggle for equal rights for both movements.

Shirley Anita Chisholm was a politician, educator, activist, community organizer and author.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924, as a child during the Great Depression - while her parents struggled to make ends meet - young Shirley and her two sisters were sent to Barbados to live with their Grandmother. Long before the Civil Rights movement in the United States, young

Shirley watched as her community advocated for their rights as she witnessed the Barbados workers' and anti-colonial independence movements. Chisholm would later say about her time on Barbados with her Grandmother: “Granny gave me strength, dignity, and love. I learned from an early age that I was somebody. I didn't need the Black Revolution to tell me that."

In 1964, after nearly two decades as an educator and community activist, Chisholm ran for and was elected to the New York State Assembly.

Even within the New York Democratic Party, Shirley Chisholm had faced resistance to candidacy based on her sex - so she took her

campaign directly to women, using her role as Brooklyn branch president of Key Women of America to mobilize female voters.

Four years later - in 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, representing New York's 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. 

Her 1968 congressional campaign slogan was "Unbought and Unbossed" - which later became the title of her memoir and a documentary film on her amazing life. 

On January 25, 1972, in a Baptist church in her district in Brooklyn - Shirley Chisholm became the first African-American candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

In her presidential announcement - she called for a "bloodless revolution" at the forthcoming Democratic nominating convention and described herself as representative of the people offering a new articulation of American identity: 

"I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am Black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman and equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people and my presence before you, symbolizes a new era in American political history."

Let’s listen to Civil Rights and Women’s Rights Pioneer Shirley Chisholm announce her candidacy for President of the United States. 

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When the 9/11 Commission was formed in the wake of the Al Qaeda attacks on the US, the current was united in grief and anger but politically polarized and it was very difficult to find a path forward that would be credible and an effective driver of reform. But the divisions of the early 2000s were nothing compared to what we have today and the problem is compounded by the active culpability one political party has in both of the issues that demand investigation. So, how do we get to accountability today? We discuss this question with former 9/11 Commissioner, former Indiana congressman Tim Roemer as well as Ryan Goodman of NYU Law School and "Just Security" and Dr. Kavita Patel of the Brookings Institution and former senior Obama White House staffer. Join us.

Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio.

Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. 

You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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He was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska- and he became one of the most celebrated, influential and misunderstood leaders of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s

Malcolm X was a Muslim Minister and human rights activist - best known as a pioneer of the Black Nationalist Movement and as an apostle for self-respect and uncompromising resistance to white oppression.

By the time he was assassinated 56 years ago this week - Malcolm X had become one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

He is credited with raising the self-esteem of Black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage. He is largely responsible for the spread of Islam in the Black community in the United States.

Many African Americans, especially those who lived in cities in the Northern and Western United States, felt that Malcolm X better articulated their struggle against racism and inequality than the mainstream civil rights movement did.

He argued that if the U.S. government was unwilling or unable to protect Black people, Black people should protect themselves.

Although he had publicly criticized the mainstream civil rights movement for its emphasis on nonviolence and racial integration - after he left the Nation of Islam in March of 1964, Malcolm X declared his willingness to cooperate with that Movement.

Of those civil rights leaders he said: “I've forgotten everything bad that [they] have said about me, and I pray they can also forget the many bad things I've said about them."

Originally delivered in Cleveland, on April 3rd 1964 - this recorded version was delivered in April 12th in Detroit.

Today, historians regard “The Ballot or the Bullet” as one of the most influential speech in American history. 

Far from a call to violence – Malcolm X sought educate his community as to the extent of their political power:

The whites are so evenly divided that every time they vote, the race is so close they have to go back and count the votes all over again. Which means that any block, any minority that has a block of votes that stick together is in a strategic position. Either way you go, that's who gets it. You're in a position to determine who'll go to the White House and who'll stay in the doghouse. 

While distancing himself from the Nation of Islam - Malcolm X described his continued commitment to Black Nationalism, which he defined as the philosophy that African Americans should control the political, economic and social destinies of their own communities.

Like many of the great speeches we feature - Malcolm X tied his and his people’s struggle to American’s Founding and embraced the spirit of the American Revolution:

The white man made the mistake of letting me read his history books. He made the mistake of teaching me that Patrick Henry was a patriot, and George Washington – there wasn't nothing non-violent about ol' Pat, or George Washington. "Liberty or death"- is what brought about the freedom of whites in this country from the English.

This is why I say it's the ballot or the bullet. It's liberty or it's death. It's freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody.

Here is Malcolm X’s historic speech - "The Ballot or the Bullet" - in its entirety.

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Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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Last week, as the House Managers presented their Impeachment case -- a step-by-step, rigorous, fact-based prosecution that clearly drew the connection between Donald Trump’s words and the violence that ensued in that very chamber little more than a month earlier - we thought back to the stirring words of the Senate Chaplain, Rear Admiral (Ret.) Barry C. Black following that failed insurrection.

At 4:45am on the morning of January 7th - just hours after an angry mob had violently attacked the US Capitol - a joint session of Congress certified the free and fair election of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States.

As the proceeding drew to a close - Vice President Mike Pence, who just hours earlier was targeted for execution by the mob in that very building - recognized the Senate Chaplain to give the final invocation.

Let’s listen to the powerful prayer offered by the Senate Chaplain, Rear Admiral (Ret.) Barry C. Black.

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Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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Barbara Jordan was a lawyer educator politician and a leader of the civil rights movement a Democrat and Houston native. Jordan was the first African-American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.

On July 25th 1974 Congresswoman Jordan delivered a televised opening statement as the House Judiciary Committee began consideration of articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon. It is regarded by historians as one of the greatest speeches in all of American history. Congresswoman Jordan offered a passionate and powerful defense of the United States Constitution. A document, she noted, did not include people like her when it was written and completed in 1787.

Congresswoman Jordan also provided thoughtful and well documented explanations of our system of checks and balances which were designed to stop any politician from abusing their power. She stuck to the facts and the law and noted the seriousness and the solemn duty she and her fellow members were about to undertake. As she quoted extensively from the Founders, Congresswoman Jordan explained that those who had drafted and ratified the Constitution anticipated actions like Nixon's and had created the check of impeachment to guard against such executive overreach and abuse of office. So this week we give Congresswoman Barbara Jordan the Final Word.

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Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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As it looks more and more likely that the Republicans in the Senate will not hold former President Donald Trump accountable for his actions in inciting an insurrection against the United States, we thought it important to remind our listeners why it matters.

And we could think of no more articulate voice than the duly elected Speaker of the People's House.

Let's remember what happened.

The President of the United States encouraged his supporters to launch an attack on the Capitol in an effort to stop Congress from certifying the free and fair election of Joe Biden. Six people were killed and dozens more permanently injured.

We have seen such things happen in other countries. But for those who think that America is exceptional, it was a rude awakening.

"It can't happen here," they said

It did.

On January 13th, as the House of Representatives began considering the Article of Impeachment now before the United States Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi reminded those gathered in the very chamber that had been violently attacked by an angry mob just one week earlier, that words matter, truth matters and accountability matters.

We could not agree more.

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Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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Last week, after 4 long, divisive and tragic years, we witnessed the continuation of a 244-year-old American tradition.

It was not a peaceful transfer of power. As incoming White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain correctly noted, “there was nothing inevitable about this day.”

Nonetheless - last Wednesday we watched a quadrennial ceremony that Ronald Reagan once called both “commonplace and miraculous” - commonplace because it has happened every 4 years for the 244 - and miraculous because it has happened every 4 years for the last 244.

It was, as John F Kennedy said exactly 60 years earlier- “not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom.”

It is a ritual that in the past many of us had taken for granted. Not this year - if the last 4 years have taught us anything it is that words truly do have power and they have consequences.

Not since Abraham Lincoln, had a new president given an inaugural address to a more divided nation while under the real threat of armed conflict.

And Joe Biden rose to the occasion.

Let us never forget how close we came to last week NOT happening and as Lincoln said at Gettysburg – rededicate ourselves to a new birth of freedom – where truth, facts and power of words are given their proper place. #WordsMatter

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Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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Last week would have been the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 92nd birthday. Given all that has happened over the last year and the last few weeks, we wanted to highlight one of the most significant and consequential calls for racial equality and social justice in American History - “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

On Good Friday, April 12, 1963 - the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and fellow civil rights leaders were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama as they lead a now famous Campaign of non-violent direct action to protest racial segregation and oppression in that Southern City.

In the early 1960s, Birmingham was one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States - enforced by both law and culture. Black citizens faced legal and economic oppression, and violent retribution when they attempted to even draw attention to these conditions

The Birmingham Campaign would become a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. President Kennedy’s Address to the Nation on Civil Rights, the August 1963 March on Washington and many other events were a direct result of this campaign and Dr. King’s now famous letter. 

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Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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We honored to be joined this week by New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, nonprofit CEO and political leader Stacey Abrams. In 2018, after serving for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Democratic Leader, Stacey Abrams became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, winning more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history.

Leader Abrams was the first black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in the United States, and she was the first black woman and first Georgian to deliver a Response to the State of the Union.

After witnessing the gross mismanagement of the 2018 election by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, Leader Abrams launched Fair Fight to ensure every American has a voice in our election system.

Over the course of her career, Leader Abrams has founded multiple organizations devoted to voting rights, training and hiring young people of color, and tackling social issues at both the state and national levels.

Stacey Abrams is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where she serves on the Subcommittee on Diversity.

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This week we welcome back historian and sociologist Harvey J. Kaye for Part 2 of our discussion of his important book FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Harvey J. Kaye is Professor Emeritus of Democracy and Justice Studies and Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

An award-winning author and writer, he has written 9 books – including:

• Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again (2019)
• Thomas Paine and the Promise of America (2005)
• The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great (2015)
•  “Why Do Ruling Classes Fear History?” and Other Questions (1996)

Follow Professor Kaye on Twitter @harveyjkaye

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Jonathan Alter is a best-selling author, documentary filmmaker, television producer, NBC News analyst, columnist. And the Co-host, Sirius XM Alter Family Politics.

Jonathan"s books on Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, and The Promise: President Obama, Year One, detail two Chief Executives who took office during times of extraordinary crisis.

His most recent book is His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life.

You can order Jonathan's latest book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/His-Very-Best/Jonathan-Alter/9781501125485

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This week we welcome historian and sociologist Harvey J. Kaye for Part 1 of our discussion of his important book FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Harvey J. Kaye is Professor Emeritus of Democracy and Justice Studies and Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

An award-winning author and writer, he has written 9 books – including:

• Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again (2019)
• Thomas Paine and the Promise of America (2005)
• The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great (2015)
•  “Why Do Ruling Classes Fear History?” and Other Questions (1996)

Follow Professor Kaye on Twitter @harveyjkaye

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William D. Cohan is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, and through his work there and other writings, Bill has proven himself to be one of the most meticulous and intrepid journalists working today. A former senior Wall Street M&A investment banker for 17 years at Lazard Frères & Co., Merrill Lynch and JPMorganChase, Bill is a New York Times bestselling author covering the important intersection between Wall Street and Washington. Bill is the author of 6 books:

The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co. 

House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street

Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World 

The Price of Silence: The Duke Lacrosse Scandal

Why Wall Street Matters

Four Friends: Promising Lives Cut Short 

Follow Bill on Twitter: @WilliamCohan

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Brian Stelter, host of CNN's Reliable Sources, joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about his new book HOAX - Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth. Brian talks about the battle between Fox News journalists and the network’s primetime opinion hosts - Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity. Brian credits former Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson as being the catalyst behind the international #MeToo movement. Brian also explains how American lives were lost during the Coronavirus pandemic because viewers believed the information they saw and heard on the network.

If you are interested in Brian Stelter's book HOAX - Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth you can find it at: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Hoax/Brian-Stelter/9781982142445

Sign up for Brian's must read and highly influential Reliable Sources newsletter here: https://form.cnn.com/reliable_sources

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This week we welcome historian and sociologist Harvey J. Kaye to discuss his important book Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again .

Harvey J. Kaye was formerly the Ben and Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Democracy and Justice Studies and Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

An award-winning author and writer, he has written 9 books – including:

Thomas Paine and the Promise of America (2005)

The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great (2015)

 “Why Do Ruling Classes Fear History?” and Other Questions (1996)

Follow Professor Kaye on Twitter @harveyjkaye

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Tania Israel is an award winning psychologist,, professor, author, activist, speaker, researcher, and counselor. As well as an occasional playwright, actor and lyricist. Professor Israel is psychologist in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the author of Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide, Skills and Strategies for Conversations That Work. 

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Jonathan Alter is a best-selling author, documentary filmmaker, television producer, NBC News analyst, columnist. And the Co-host, Sirius XM Alter Family Politics.

Jonathan"s books on Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, and The Promise: President Obama, Year One, detail two Chief Executives who took office during times of extraordinary crisis.

His most recent book is His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life.

You can order Jonathan's latest book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/His-Very-Best/Jonathan-Alter/9781501125485

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As of the recording of this edition of Deep State Radio, no victor had been called in the presidential race. But it seems likely Joe Biden is the next president of the United States. Will we be able to appreciate and celebrate that or will challenges to the results, a rapidly deepening COVID crisis, election irregularities, and the possibility of divided government yuck our collective yum? We discuss with Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, former Obama WH official Dr. Kavita Patel, election integrity advocate Jennifer Cohn and Ryan Goodman of NYU Law School. Don’t miss it.

Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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Aimee Allison is founder and president of She the People, a national network elevating the voice and power of women of color. She brings together voters, organizers, and elected leaders in a movement grounded in values of love, justice, belonging, and democracy.

In April 2019, she convened the first presidential forum for women of color, reaching a quarter of the American population. A democratic innovator and visionary, she leads national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions led by women of color. She leverages media, research and analysis to increase voter engagement and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. Aimee is a columnist for Newsweek and the author the book of Amy of None.

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Katie and Jen sit down with award-winning journalist and author, Wesley Lowery. Wesley has reported for the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, CBS News and in 2016 won a Pulitzer Prize as a lead on the Washington Post’s “Fatal Force” Project. He is the author of They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement  Wesley's latest project with Tiffany Cross - More than a Vote: Our Voices, Our Vote is available on Audible.

More than a Vote is an organization of Black athletes and artists lead by LeBron James, working to combat systemic, racist voter suppression by educating, energizing, and protecting the Black community in 2020. Read their letter asking fans to join in the fight against Black voter suppression.

Follow Wesley Lowery on Twitter: @WesleyLowery

Download More than a Vote: Our Voices, Our Vote with Tiffany Cross: https://www.audible.com/pd/More-Than-a-Vote-Audiobook/B08LF4GYYV

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A Democratic victory in the 2020 elections is not a sure thing. As we have discussed on other episodes, the elections are fraught with risks. Further, once an election takes place, there are many ways that the President or his allies can try to cling to power. Only after there is a smooth transition and new leadership however, can the US turn to the business of effectively confronting our looming challenges associated with the pandemic, economic recovery and the climate crisis. Rising to those challenges could be a moment of great hope, even of rebirth, for the United States. We discuss how we get there from here with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), one of the very smartest members of the U.S. Congress, and with our regulars, Dr. Kavita Patel, former senior official in the Obama White House and Ryan Goodman, professor at NYU Law School and co-editor of "Just Security." Don't miss it.

Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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Some of the most hard-hitting and shocking criticisms of Donald Trump have come from insiders in his administration. From Rex Tillerson’s calling his former boss a “fucking moron” to his former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats saying that having watched Trump up close the only conclusion he could draw was that the Russian’s had something on the president. Miles Taylor, former chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security, and Olivia Troye, a former top national security aide to Vice President Mike Pence are among the most vocal former insiders turned critic. On this edition of Deep State Radio join them, NYU Law School Professor Ryan Goodman and former White House senior health advisor Dr. Kavita Patel to get a glimpse of the dysfunction up close. Join us.

Each week, we’re bringing you a new episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Deep State Radio. Deep State Radio, hosted by David Rothkopf, produces new episodes 2-3 times per week and brings together top experts, policymakers, and journalists from the national security, foreign policy, and political communities. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you become a member of the DSR Network, you’ll receive benefits such as ad-free listening via private feed, discounts to virtual events and Deep State Radio Swag, and access to the member-only Slack community. This is one of the most closely followed podcasts among the people influencing the most important decisions in Washington and worldwide today. You can learn more by visiting thedsrnetwork.com. Listeners to Words Matter will receive 25% off of the regular membership price. Use code wordsmatter at checkout.

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This week Katie and Jennifer are joined by award-winning journalist, author and the Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today, Susan Page.

Susan has covered six White House administrations and ten presidential elections, and interviewed nine presidents. She was the first woman to serve as music chairman of the Gridiron Club show and was the president of the club, the oldest association of journalists in Washington, in 2011. She was president of the White House Correspondents Association in 2000.

In 2019 she wrote a biography of former First Lady Barbara Bush titled The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty.  And is working on an upcoming biography of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Earlier this month she served as the moderator of the 2020 vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, which took place on October 7, 2020 in Salt Lake City.

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This week, Jennifer Duck, Emmy award-winning producer and instructor of journalism in the department of Cinema, Media and Television questions Katie about the Senate Judiciary Committee for the next Supreme Court Justice.

Listen to Jen and Katie, talk law, politics, and journalism.

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Katie and Jennifer Duck talk to Clemson University Professor Darren Linvill about social media and the 2020 campaign. Professor Linvill is a academic, an author, a researcher and an expert on social media disinformation and political discourse. As an Associate Professor in Clemson's Department of Communications, his research explores state sponsored social media disinformation and its influence on civil and political discourse. In addition to his academic publications, Dr. Linvill has written for The Washington Post and Rolling Stone. He and fellow Clemson Professor Patrick Warren created the Spot the Troll Quiz to help promote social media literacy.

Take the Spot the Troll Quiz: https://spotthetroll.org/start

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Mary Ellen Pethel and Jennifer Duck join Katie to talk about the debates, President Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis and the history of women as candidates and voters.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Mary Ellen Pethel is an author, historian, digital humanist, and academic entrepreneur who serves as an Assistant Professor at Belmont University. Dr. Pethel is widely published. Her latest book is Athens of the New South…And she is currently working on a manuscript celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title Nine. She teaches courses such as “Making the Modern City,” which inspired the historical walking tour app, NashvilleSites.org. She also teaches a course called:  "The Good Life” and “Democracy, Media, and the Public Sphere.”

Jennifer Duck -- Emmy award-winning producer and instructor of journalism in the department of Cinema, Media and Television. Prior to her work with Belmont, Jen was a producer for CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and Katie Couric’s syndicated show in New York. Additionally, she worked for Oprah Winfrey Network in Los Angeles. Jen began her career at ABC News in Washington, D.C. and traveled around the world aboard Air Force One as White House producer covering President George W. Bush and reported from the campaign trail as President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain canvassed the country in 2008. Jen has been a consultant for Words Matter on-and-off since our launch in August of 2018.

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It is impossible to understand Donald Trump without understanding America's relationship with television. James Poniewozik is the chief television critic for The New York Times. He often focuses on the intersection between television, politics and culture. He is the author of the new book -- Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America

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Last week, America lost an iconic jurist and a life long advocate for equal rights. In memory of the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we replay Katie's interview with Lauren Moxley, the host of The Ginsburg Tapes Podcast -- which chronicles Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s oral arguments before the then all-male United States Supreme Court from 1972 to 1978 —before she became #Notorious RBG.

The Ginsburg Tapes allows the listener to be a fly on the wall for some of the most important cases in American jurisprudence as future Justice Ginsburg challenged laws treating men and women differently. In between the actually Supreme Court recordings, Lauren puts the cases, the law and even the Justices themselves in historical context and explains how as a lawyer, RBG really did change the World.

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Brian Stelter, host of CNN's Reliable Sources, joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about his new book HOAX - Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth. Brian talks about the battle between Fox News journalists and the network’s primetime opinion hosts - Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity. Brian credits former Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson as being the catalyst behind the international #MeToo movement. Brian also explains how American lives were lost during the Coronavirus pandemic because viewers believed the information they saw and heard on the network.

Recorded September 9, 2020

Words Matter will become part of the CAFE Insider membership product in the coming weeks. Become a member: www.cafe.com/words

Sign up to receive the weekly CAFE Brief newsletter which includes analysis by Elie Honig, links to new content, and more: www.cafe.com/brief

If you are interested in Brian Stelter's book HOAX - Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth you can find it at: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Hoax/Brian-Stelter/9781982142445

Sign up for Brian's must read and highly influential Reliable Sources newsletter here: https://form.cnn.com/reliable_sources

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Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about the 2020 elections, systemic racism and the Trump Administration’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Congressman Jeffries recalls his role in the Impeachment Trial of President Trump, including when he became the first person in history to quote Biggie Smalls on the floor of the United States Senate. He also explains why the future of American democracy may well hinge on the results of the November elections.

Recorded September 4, 2020

Words Matter will become part of the CAFE Insider membership

product in the coming weeks. Become a member: www.cafe.com/words

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includes analysis by Elie Honig, links to new content, and more: www.cafe.com/brief

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White House and campaign veterans Jen Psaki and Paul Begala join Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart for a discussion about the “Rainbows & Rainclouds” of the 2020 presidential campaign. In a McLaughlin Group tribute, Joe joins the panel, and Katie leads the group as they analyze the political landscape heading into the home stretch of the race for the White House. Jen explains the challenges facing Team Biden as they work to keep the Democrats united. Paul says the best strategy for defeating Trump is to ignore his Twitter feed and focus the voter’s attention on his track record and how his Administration has negatively impacted their lives. And Joe discusses Q-Anon – and why Team Trump is looking to this dangerous conspiracy group for new voters. 

Recorded August 28, 2020

Words Matter will become part of the CAFE Insider membership product in the coming weeks. Become a member: www.cafe.com/words

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And check Paul Begala’s new book You’re Fired: The Perfect Guide to Beating Donald Trump. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Youre-Fired/Paul-Begala/9781982160043

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Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about the virtual Republican National Convention, the future of his party, and Donald Trump’s “magic dust” with voters that the press and the political class often miss. Steele explains why he joined the Republican Party in the 1970s. He discusses where the party was heading then, and how it continued to grow until 2012. And Steele details how under Donald Trump, the GOP has been transformed into haven for racists, grifters, and conspiracy theorists.

Recorded August 20, 2020

Words Matter will become part of the CAFE Insider membership product in the coming weeks. Become a member: www.cafe.com/words

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Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart to talk about Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris, the virtual Democratic National Convention and the 3rd Anniversary of Charlottesville. Governor McAuliffe says Senator Harris needs to directly address all of the issues where progressives in the Democratic Party may have concerns about her record. McAuliffe explains how political conventions have been transformed by the Coronavirus pandemic and how they may never again return to what they once were. McAuliffe also discusses Joe Biden’s campaign, systemic racism and the 3rd Anniversary of the Charlottesville Tragedy. 

Recorded August 12, 2020

Words Matter will become part of the CAFE Insider membership product in the coming weeks. Become a member: www.cafe.com/words

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Former White House Political Director Doug Sosnik joins Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart for an update on the 2020 elections. Sosnik explains how 2016 and 2020 are vastly different for President Trump, who he calls the “Austin Powers” candidate. Sosnik breaks down how the political landscape has been transformed in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic and how a vast majority of the electorate thinks the country is on the “wrong track”. Sosnik also discusses Joe Biden’s strategy, the impact of early voting on the general election debates, and what impact an “October Surprise” might have on the race between Biden and Trump. 

Recorded August 7, 2020

Words Matter will become part of the CAFE Insider membership product in the coming weeks. Become a member: www.cafe.com/words

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Our guest today served as the 37th Deputy Attorney General of the United States from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States Attorney for the District of Maryland. At the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General on April 25, 2017, he was the nation's longest-serving U.S. Attorney. The Senate approved his nomination by a vote of 94-6.

We are so excited to announce that Words Matter Media is partnering with CAFE Studios to bring you a new season of the Words Matter podcast. CAFE strives to inform its listeners about the most critical issues of the day.

Each week, Katie and Joe will do their best to bring facts and context to the often fraught political conversations that dominate our national discourse. 

They’ll be speaking with an array of guests, including people who have made a great impact on American politics or who make it their business to understand what’s really happening in Washington. 

For now, you can continue to listen to episodes of Words Matter for free. In the coming weeks the show will be available exclusively to members of CAFÉ Insider.

We hope you’ll consider joining the Insider community, whose members enjoy a collection of podcasts created for engaged citizens around the world.

You can head to https://cafe.com/offer/words-matter/ to get 2 free weeks of membership.

You’ll get access to all future episodes of Words Matter and other exclusive content including the Insider podcast co-hosted by Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Anne Milgram, former Attorney General of New Jersey, along with much more excusive content. https://cafe.com/offer/words-matter/

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We're back! This week Katie and Joe officially return with a thank you and a message for our listeners.

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Since we currently have a president who doesn't seem to know or even understand the importance of words, especially when they are spoken by the president of the United States, we thought it might be helpful in a time of national crisis to remember that we have had presidents of both parties who did understand this.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, led our country through difficult times with the power and eloquence of his words.

In 1936 during the Great Depression and as the clouds of war gathered over Europe, he delivered one of the most important political speeches ever given by a sitting president.

The occasion was the Democratic National Convention held that year in Philadelphia four years earlier in 1932. FDR had made history by flying to Chicago and becoming the first presidential candidate to accept his party's nomination in person.

In an earlier episode of Words Matter, we discussed this important speech with Professor Harvey Kaye, who has just published a new book entitled: FDR on Democracy.

In his 1936 acceptance speech, Roosevelt used the language of the founders and decried the economic royalists who were trying to fight back against the progress of the New Deal because it threatened their power.

As you listen to his words, pay particular attention to the part where Roosevelt tells his audience they have a rendezvous with destiny.

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The Space shuttle Challenger’s launch had already been delayed twice when it finally took off on January 28th 1986. 

This particular launch was widely publicized because for the first time a civilian—a teacher named Christa McAuliffe—was traveling into space. The plan was to have McAuliffe communicate to students from space. According to the New York Times, nearly half of America’s school children aged nine to thirteen watched the event live in their classrooms. 

But tragically - After a short seventy-three seconds into flight, the world was stunned when the shuttle burst into flames, killing all seven crew members on board.

President Ronald Reagan cancelled his scheduled State of the Union address that evening and instead addressed the nation’s grief. 

A young speechwriter — a friend and hero of mine — Peggy Noonan was tasked with drafting the president’s remarks.

It was a heavy burden - as she later recalled “I kind of figured the entire nation had seen an auto accident,”

Peggy Noonan draft a speech that was aimed - as she put it “at those who were 8-years-old, those who are 18, and those who are 80 without patronizing anybody.”

It was one of the greatest speeches in presidential history and earned Ronald Reagan his now famous title “The Great Communicator” 

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On July 4th we celebrate the birth of the American Experiment. The Declaration of Independence -- written in the Spring of 1776 by a 33 year old Thomas Jefferson -- is America’s mission statement. And like all mission statements, the words represented not what we were, but what we aspired to be. In fact, the author himself was a gifted writer, but a deeply flawed person who – like his country -- did not embody the ideas and ideal of that document.

For more than two hundred and forty years, the story of America has been the struggle between those who want to move us close to the words of our mission statement – and those who want to stop them.

It is often forgotten that the Declaration itself was meant to be spoken. 

In 2004 the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library released a previously unknown 1957 recording of then-Senator Kennedy reading the Declaration of Independence in New York on July 4th.

So this week to honor Independence Day -- And to remind ourselves that as a country must continue the struggle to turn America’s founding words into reality – we give John F. Kennedy’s reading of the Declaration of Independence the final word.

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Wondery has new tru-crime mini series that we think you’ll really enjoy.

In the Mid 2000s James Arthur Ray was a charismatic self-help guru who promised his followers a path to wealth and happiness. But not all who followed him finished their journey.

This is the story told in a new true crime mini-series from Wondery called “GURU: The Dark Side of Enlightenment”.

James Arthur Ray wasn’t really well known until he was in a movie called “The Secret”, and then was a guest on Oprah’s TV show a few times. Soon after that, thousands of people started attending his seminars, and he was pegged to be the next great self-help guru.

But what many didn't know about were his more...extreme methods. Methods that pushed his students to their limits, giving some the transformative life experience they dreamed of ... and killing others.

Be sure to subscribe to Wondery’s new tru crime mini-series “GURU: The dark side of enlightenment”,  wondery.fm/wordsmatter_guru on Apple podcasts.

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This week on Presidential Words Matter - we highlight Bill Clinton’s remarks in the aftermath of the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.

On April 19, 1995 a domestic terrorist used a truck bomb to destroy the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building[2] in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 

Perpetrated by American terrorists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing killed at least 168 people, including 19 children,[3] - and injured more than 680 others. 

The blast destroyed more than one third of the building, which had to be demolished.[4] In addition, The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius,

Until the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Oklahoma City bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United States. It remains the deadliest confirmed act of domestic terrorism in American history.

Four days later, On April 23, 1995 - President Bill Clinton attended a memorial prayer service in Oklahoma City called “A Time for Healing”  

With the 1996 presidential election less than 18 months away - President Clinton spoke of unity and healing over the politics of division and hatred. 

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On June 26th 2015 President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy at the funeral of the Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney, the senior pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston and a South Carolina State Senator.

Reverend Pinckney and 8 other Black church members had been murdered a week earlier during Bible Study in a racially motivated mass shooting perpetrated by a white supremacist. 

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is one of the oldest Black churches in the United States, and it has long been a center for organizing events related to civil rights. 

Founded in 1816, the church played an important role in the history of South Carolina, during slavery and Reconstruction, during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s and in the Black Lives Matter movement. 

It is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the South, often referred to as "Mother Emanuel". 

Rev. Pinckney, was a well known activist who had held rallies after the shooting of Walter Scott by a white police officer two months earlier, in nearby North Charleston. As a state senator, Reverend Pinckney had pushed for legislation requiring police to wear body cameras.

The Reverend and his church were targeted because of their history and role in civil rights activism. 

With a rousing eulogy and a chorus of “Amazing Grace,” President Barack Obama called on the country to honor the nine victims of the South Carolina church massacre by working toward racial healing.

He said that included removing the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State House grounds.

“It’s true, the flag did not cause these murders,” The President said, but “we all have to acknowledge the flag has always represented more than just ancestral pride. For many, black and white, that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. We see that now.”

“By taking down that flag,” he said, “we express God’s grace.” But I don't think God wants us to stop there.“

On July 6, 2015, the South Carolina Senate voted to remove the Confederate flag from display outside the South Carolina State House. 

Make no mistake - the protests we have seen in the last month are a continuation of that struggle. And none of us can stop - none of us should rest until we dismantle and remove every symbol and every fact of the systemic oppression and racial subjugation that President Obama described in his eulogy of Reverend Pinckney. 

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On June 4, 1965, President Johnson delivered the commencement address at Howard University, the nation’s most prominent historically black university.

‪In his address, Johnson explained why “opportunity” was not enough to ensure the civil rights of disadvantaged Americans.

‪The ‘To Fulfill These Rights’ speech as it is widely known was the intellectual framework for affirmative action. 

‪President Johnson spoke of racial injustice and economic disparities between black and white Americans. 

‪For many in the audience that day, it was one of the first times they felt a president - any president - really acknowledge the treatment of black citizens from slavery to Jim Crow.

‪As one graduate - Lillian Beard -recalled on the 50th Anniversary - “I believe that afternoon in 1965 changed a lot of minds, because we felt that he spoke directly to us.”

‪LBJ’s Howard University address came only a few months after he had gone before a Joint session of Congress to speak in support of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March.

‪It was in that message to Congress that Johnson famously identified himself with the civil rights movement when he declared, “We shall overcome.”

‪The Howard speech, which was principally the work of presidential speech writer Richard Goodwin and then-Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan was an extension of Johnson’s March voting-rights speech.

‪The goal was to take the civil rights movement from one focused on legal justice to one focused on economic justice.

‪In the Howard speech, Johnson pointed out that the racial barriers to freedom were slowly tumbling down, but instead of resting on that progress and what his administration had done to that point - Johnson went a step further: “Freedom is not enough,” the President told the graduates.

‪It was important for American society to achieve “equality as a fact and equality as a result.”

‪The next day President received a telegram from Martin Luther King Jr., telling him, “Never before has a president articulated the depths and dimensions of the problems of racial injustice more eloquently and profoundly.”

Dr. King was not exaggerating the importance of the Howard speech.  

In August Johnson would sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, and two years later, he would appoint Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court, making him the nation’s first black justice. 

But unfortunately- the racial transformation Johnson had promised and hoped to bring about when he spoke at Howard did not take place. 

55 years later the same underlying conditions exist and the economic disparities LBJ described have not gotten better - far from it. They have gotten exponentially worse.

If we are to fulfill the promise of social and economic justice made By LBJ to Black Americans more than a half century ago - all of us must commit ourselves to radical and immediate change. Anything less would be a monumental failure.

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This week we highlight presidential leadership and one of the most important civil rights speeches ever delivered by a sitting American president.

By June of 1963, John F. Kennedy has been president for nearly two and a half years.

While Kennedy had long privately expressed his deep moral objections to the treatment of black people in American society and indicated support for New federal legislation. 

His public comments ranged from cautious moderate criticism to a 1950s version of “both sides-ism” but were mostly nonexistent.

In June of 1963, however the man and the moment met.

Alabama Governor George Wallace’s staged photo op definance of federal law by standing in the school house doorway had lasted less than 90 minutes. 

On June 11th 1963 two black students were peaceful enrolled at the University of Alabama under the protection of a federalized Alabama National Guard commanded by US Marshals under the direction of the Department of Justice and the Attorney General of the United States.

Kennedy’s advisors recommended and Fully expected that the president would NOT address the American people that evening. 

With a little less than 18 months until to the 1964 elections, the President’s legislative agenda and his political future depended upon the votes Southern Democrats in Congress and those of their politically unforgiving constituents. 

The President had other ideas. Kennedy saw a way to exercise moral leader on an issue where he had to that point failed. He would request Network Television airtime to address the nation on the issue of civil rights. 

The facts and statistics on racial inequality in the United States described by President Kennedy to the American people that evening had even never been acknowledged by a President before - much less spoken in such a detailed and direct language. 

In a telegram to the White House after watching the President’s remarks in Atlanta with other civil rights leaders, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. described the address as ONE OF THE MOST ELOQUENT, PROFOUND, AND UNEQUIVOCAL PLEAS FOR JUSTICE AND FREEDOM OF ALL MEN, EVER MADE BY ANY PRESIDENT.

Dr King knew that Kennedy was moved by his now famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - written just weeks before. 

To President Kennedy and many Americans Dr. King’s letter was more than than a spirited defense of civil disobedience. It was an indictment of white indifference.

As you listen to the speech, you will hear Kennedy echoing King’s “Letter”

The President rejects the idea that Black Americans should have to wait for equality. "Who among us," Kennedy asks the American people, "would then be content with counsels of patience and delay?"

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This week we highlight one of the most significant and consequential calls for racial equality and social justice in American History - “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

On Good Friday, April 12, 1963 - the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and fellow civil rights leaders were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama as they lead a now famous Campaign of non-violent direct action to protest racial segregation and oppression in that Southern City.

In the early 1960s, Birmingham was one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States - enforced by both law and culture. Black citizens faced legal and economic oppression, and violent retribution when they attempted to even draw attention to these conditions

The Birmingham Campaign would become a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. President Kennedy’s Address to the Nation on Civil Rights, the August 1963 March on Washington and many other events were a direct result of this campaign and Dr. King’s now famous letter. 

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This week we focus on leadership and comfort in a time of national tragedy, crisis and mourning.

On September 14th 2001 - President George W. Bush spoke at the National Cathedral in Washington at a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance Service.

Just 72 hours earlier - more than 3,000 Americans had been killed during the most lethal terrorist attack in US history. 

The country was still shut down - commercial air travel was grounded. The dead were still being counted. But the president talked of unity. The tragedy whose full toll had yet to be reckoned, could have torn the country apart, but instead it had united the American people and their leadership.

He expressed both empathy for those who lost family, friends and loved ones and a steady resolve that they shall not have died in vain.

In the interest of full disclosure - I joined President Bush’s White House staff less than three months after this speech. I was a Democrat from New York who had worked at both ABC and NBC News. Not the most likely candidate to serve in the West Wing under a Republican President from Texas. 

In the weeks, months and years that followed this speech - the President, his advisors and his Administration myself included - make some serious and consequential mistakes. 

We will spend the rest of our lives trying to rectify those errors and atone for those failings. 

But in the immediate aftermath of that national tragedy- President Bush provided leadership and resolve as well as a few things that the American people desperately needed - comfort, empathy and hope. 

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This week we highlight presidential leadership and one of the most important civil rights speeches ever delivered by a sitting American president.

By June of 1963, John F. Kennedy has been president for nearly two and a half years.

While Kennedy had long privately expressed his deep moral objections to the treatment of black people in American society and indicated support for New federal legislation. 

His public comments ranged from cautious moderate criticism to a 1950s version of “both sides-ism” but were mostly nonexistent.

In June of 1963, however the man and the moment met.

Alabama Governor George Wallace’s staged photo op definance of federal law by standing in the school house doorway had lasted less than 90 minutes. 

On June 11th 1963 two black students were peaceful enrolled at the University of Alabama under the protection of a federalized Alabama National Guard commanded by US Marshals under the direction of the Department of Justice and the Attorney General of the United States.

Kennedy’s advisors recommended and Fully expected that the president would NOT address the American people that evening. 

With a little less than 18 months until to the 1964 elections, the President’s legislative agenda and his political future depended upon the votes Southern Democrats in Congress and those of their politically unforgiving constituents. 

The President had other ideas. Kennedy saw a way to exercise moral leader on an issue where he had to that point failed. He would request Network Television airtime to address the nation on the issue of civil rights. 

The facts and statistics on racial inequality in the United States described by President Kennedy to the American people that evening had even never been acknowledged by a President before - much less spoken in such a detailed and direct language. 

In a telegram to the White House after watching the President’s remarks in Atlanta with other civil rights leaders, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. described the address as ONE OF THE MOST ELOQUENT,

 PROFOUND,

 AND UNEQUIVOCAL PLEAS FOR JUSTICE AND FREEDOM OF ALL MEN,

 EVER MADE BY ANY PRESIDENT.

Dr King knew that Kennedy was moved by his now famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” - written just weeks before. 

To President Kennedy and many Americans Dr. King’s letter was more than than a spirited defense of civil disobedience. It was an indictment of white indifference.

As you listen to the speech, you will hear Kennedy echoing King’s “Letter”

The President rejects the idea that Black Americans should have to wait for equality. "Who among us," Kennedy asks the American people, "would then be content with counsels of patience and delay?"

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Everyone needs a reminder about just how good people can be. On Wondery’s new series The Daily Smile, host Nikki Boyer brings you stories that will make you feel good each weekday morning. With interviews, inspiring clips, and chats with special guests and passionate friends, The Daily Smile takes you on a journey into goodness, gives you all the feels, and will leave you with a smile on your face.

Listen to the full episode: wondery.fm/dailysmilewords

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In January of 1989 after 8 years in office, President Ronald Reagan delivered his 34th and final Oval Office address.

His tenure was not without controversy - and there is much about Reagan and his policies for historians and commentators to rightly criticize.

But more than anything else Ronald Reagan understood the power and importance of words.

For his final presidential address Reagan wanted to end on a note of what had become his trademark - optimism.

All of his political life The Gipper had talked about America as a Shining City on a Hill. But he never really defined what he’d meant.

As he prepared to leave office - Reagan finally communicated that vision.

Pay attention to his words - in Reagan’s view America was made great by free trade and the contributions of immigrants.

“If that City had to have walls, those walls had doors and those doors were open to all who had the heart and the will to get here.”

It is a very different message than we hear from those who claim his legacy three decades later.

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Katie and Joe sit down with best-selling author and political analyst Doug Sosnik. He has advised presidents, senators, governors, Fortune 100 corporations and universities for 35 years.

Doug also served as a senior advisor to President Clinton for six years as Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategy, White House Political Director and Deputy Legislative Director.

He is the co-author of New York Times bestseller Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community.

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Today, on what would have been his 70th birthday, we pay tribute to the late, great Tim Russert - Moderator of Meet the Press and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief.

Unlike many in the public eye - Tim was the same guy off camera as he was on. He was tough, but fair, - always quick with a joke and above all he was forever humbled by his success and the opportunities afforded the son of a sanitation worker from South Buffalo.

“What a country?” Tim would often marvel - he lived by the words of the pious Saint Luke - “To whom much has been given, much will be required.”

Tim believed it was his responsibility as a journalist to hold our leaders accountable - regardless of party. To ask tough, but fair questions in pursuit of the truth.

A lawyer by training, a Meet the Press interview was like a public deposition. He didn’t suffer fools and he wrote his questions so that anything short of a complete and honest answer would be met with a series of increasingly pointed follow ups. When he believed a public official was shading the truth – or worse – Tim would lean across the table and remind them, with purpose: "Senator, Madame Secretary, Mr. President – Words Matter."

That is his legacy - and for those of us who want to honor him, we must try our best to continue that mission.

So today - on what would have been his 70th birthday - we honor Tim Russert by playing his 2002 Commencement Address at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

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This week, we begin a new series, Presidential Words Matter. Since we currently have a president who doesn't seem to know or even understand the importance of words, especially when they are spoken by the president of the United States, we thought it might be helpful in a time of national crisis to remember that we have had presidents of both parties who did understand this.

These presidents have led our country through difficult times with the power and eloquence of their words.

So this week, we wanted to highlight President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1936 during the Great Depression and as the clouds of war gathered over Europe, delivered one of the most important political speeches ever given by a sitting president.

The occasion was the Democratic National Convention held that year in Philadelphia four years earlier in 1932. FDR had made history by flying to Chicago and becoming the first presidential candidate to accept his party's nomination in person.

In an earlier episode of Words Matter, we discussed this important speech with Professor Harvey Kaye, who has just published a new book entitled: FDR on Democracy.

In his 1936 acceptance speech, Roosevelt used the language of the founders and decried the economic royalists who were trying to fight back against the progress of the New Deal because it threatened their power.

As you listen to his words, pay particular attention to the part where Roosevelt tells his audience they have a rendezvous with destiny.

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Cindi Leive is the former editor-in-chief of both Glamour and Self magazines. She was the driving force behind barrier- breaking initiatives like “Glamour Women of the Year” and “The Girl Project” which supports girls’ education.

Cindi is the author and editor of numerous books including the 2018 New York Times bestseller Together We Rise, about the organizing of the Women's March.

She has interviewed heads of state, Hollywood and fashion’s biggest personalities, and iconic leaders from all walks of life. Her many awards and honors include recognition from the White House, the United Nations, and dozens of media organizations. She is currently a senior fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center.

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This week, we want you to join one of our favorite hosts, Lindsey Graham of -- American Scandal and American History Tellers -- as he previews his new six-part series, "The Harry Krishna Murders," as he explores an eastern religion with pure intentions that in the hands of its Western followers became a criminal enterprise of drug running abuse and murder. wondery.fm/wordsmatterAS

Subscribe to American Scandal wondery.fm/wordsmatterAS and other great podcasts from Wondery on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

wondery.fm/wordsmatterAS

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Back in December Katie and Joe sit down with the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Congressman Adam Schiff is in his 10 term representing California’s 28th Congressional District.Before that he was a Member of the California State Senate where he served as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Congressman Schiff began his career as an Assistant US Attorney in the Central District of California.

Katie and Joe talk to him about the Impeachment of President Trump, what a Senate trial would look like and more.

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The Contenders is a special podcast series by Joe Lockhart. Given the importance of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, we thought it important and informative to hear from those people who've actually run for president. What goes into the decision? How do you possibly get to the place of thinking you can take on the toughest job in the world? What were your biggest mistakes as a candidate? What lessons did you learn and what advice do you have for those running against Donald Trump?

Joe recently traveled to Minnesota to interview his former boss, Vice Presidential Walter Mondale. Nearly a quarter century before Sarah Palin was picked by John McCain, it was Walter Mondale who first put a woman on a national ticket when he picked Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.

The former Vice President reflects on that and much more.

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Our guest today is a senior staff writer at ELLE.com where he has written the daily pop culture and politics humor column since 2016.

His opinion columns have also been published by The New York Times, among many others.

As a playwright, R. Eric Thomas won the Barrymore Award and the Dramatists Guild Lanford Wilson Award and was a finalist for the Steinberg/American Theater Critics Association New Play Award.

He is also the long-running host of The Moth Story Slams in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

R. Eric Thomas' first book -- Here for It: Or How To Save Your Soul In America was published last month and is already a national best seller.

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Our guest this week is a writer, lawyer, speaker and an advocate. Cassie Chambers grew up in Eastern Kentucky, graduated from Yale College, the Yale School of Public Health, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School, where she was president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, a student-run law firm that represents low-income clients.

Cassie received a Skadden Fellowship to return to Kentucky to do legal work with domestic violence survivors in rural communities.

In 2018, Cassie helped pass Jeanette’s Law, which eliminated the requirement that domestic violence survivors pay an incarcerated spouse’s legal fees in order to get a divorce.

Her new book, Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains, celebrates the amazingly resilient women in her family and the beloved mountain culture that helped shape her.

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In the latest of Joe's special series - The Contenders -- the sixty fifth governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979. Four years later, Michael Dukakis became the sixty seventh governor from 1983 to 1991 -- making him the longest serving chief executive in Massachusetts history. Before that, he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1963 to 1971. In 1988, he ran for and won the Democratic nomination for president, facing the vice president, George H.W. Bush in the general election.

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In the latest of Joe's special series - The Contenders -- he interviews author, medical doctor, and from 1991 to 2003 the 79th governor of Vermont. In 2004, Howard Dean ran for the Democratic nomination for president. While he didn’t win the nomination, he started a movement and later served as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. His implementation of the fifty-state strategy as head of the DNC is credited with the Democratic victories in the 2006 and 2008 elections -- with Democrats taking control of the House, the Senate and the White House.

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Katie and Joe are honored to be joined this week by New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, nonprofit CEO and political leader Stacey Abrams. In 2018, after serving for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Democratic Leader, Stacey Abrams became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, winning more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history.

Leader Abrams was the first black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in the United States, and she was the first black woman and first Georgian to deliver a Response to the State of the Union.

After witnessing the gross mismanagement of the 2018 election by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, Leader Abrams launched Fair Fight to ensure every American has a voice in our election system.

Over the course of her career, Leader Abrams has founded multiple organizations devoted to voting rights, training and hiring young people of color, and tackling social issues at both the state and national levels.

Stacey Abrams is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where she serves on the Subcommittee on Diversity.

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Since World War 2, US presidents have had to deal with pandemics as part of their job – the Eisenhower Administration fast-tracked the polio vaccine. Gerald Ford dealt with Swine Flu, Ronald Reagan’s legacy is marred by his Administration’s inaction on AIDS in the 1980s and of course, President Obama confronted the global threat of Ebola.

And now we have the Coronavirus – this week Katie and Joe, talk about the Presidency and pandemics.

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This week Katie and Joe sit down with best-selling author and political analyst Doug Sosnik. He has advised presidents, senators, governors, Fortune 100 corporations and universities for 35 years.

Doug also served as a senior advisor to President Clinton for six years as Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategy, White House Political Director and Deputy Legislative Director.

He is the co-author of New York Times bestseller Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community.

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This week Katie and Joe sit down with award winning journalist, best-selling author and nationally syndicated columnist for the Washington Post, Dana Milbank.

Dana is the author three books on politics and has covered politics for the Post since the year 2000. Before that Dana was a senior editor at the New Republic, and before that a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. 

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Impeachment is over and the Democratic primaries begin. This week Katie and Joe sit down with campaign veteran and former White House Communications Director under President Obama, Jen Psaki. They discuss the primaries with Jen who has worked on presidential, senate and gubernatorial campaigns in among other places – Iowa. She is also a CNN political analyst.

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