Beltway Banthas: Star Wars, Politics & More

What a crazy month. In the world of Star Wars we all just experienced in person or through the power of Internet, Star Wars Celebration. Here in the world of current events and politics, lots has changed as well. In this weeks episode the Beltway Banthas share with you some audio from AEI's book talk on "The World According to Star Wars", a love letter to Star Wars by Cass Sunstein (former head of regulatory affairs in the White House under the Obama Admin). Cass talks through the chapters of his book, offering a broad view of why Star Wars was successful, and what lessons we can take away from it as observers of politics. This is a book we highly recommend..for a larger view of the Force. We are also joined by Zuri Davis (Rare Politics) for a dissection of the shooting in Dallas, and the deep & worsening racial divide in America today. This is a part of our developing series "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." The dynamic between people of color and police can be looked at through the prism of Yoda's warning to Anakin, so we dive into this tough topic. Thanks for coming on this wild ride of Star Wars + Politics with us! Drop us a review on iTunes and connect with the show on Twitter. @BeltwayBanthas @Stephen_Kent89 @ItsJustTirso @Zuri_Davis

Surprise! We have a bonus episode this week from Star Wars Celebration London! Our senior foreign correspondent, Swara Salih, attended the convention and spoke with Bryan Young of Full of Sith, and Riley Blanton of the Star Wars Report about politics & Star Wars. They are really nice people and fun chats so check this out. You can follow Swara on Twitter at @SwaraSalih1 Full of Sith podcast at @FullofSith and Bryan @Swankmotron and the Star Wars Report at @StarWarsReport and Riley @TheRileyGuy Norma episode next Thursday is on the way! Have a great week.

OMG one more day till Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016! Also known to the cool kids of Twitter as #SWCE. On this weeks episode we have a little extra fun in the spirit of Celebration. Joined by friend of the show, Michael Nitz, the Beltway Banthas talk over some of the schedule, what may happen at Celebration, what will be revealed? Rogue One gets a new trailer this Friday. Intrigue abounds. Will you be at #SWCE over the weekend? Stephen and Tirso couldn't make it but our Senior Foreign Correspondent Swara Salih will be roaming the convention. Find him on Twitter @SwaraSalih1 Also look out for livestreams from the convention on our Facebook www.facebook.com/beltwaybanthas Please do leave us a review on your podcatcher! Send us an email of feedback or a question to beltwaybanthas@gmail.com We WANT to hear from you and get to know our listeners. As usual you can find us online at www.BeltwayBanthas.com Twitter @BeltwayBanthas. Stephen is @Stephen_Kent89 Tirso is @ItsJustTirso

"I love democracy, I love the Republic." Little did the Senate know but Chancellor Palpatine had his fingers crossed. How do democracies descend into tyranny is the primary question of our new episode. Star Wars is riddled with history from ancient Rome, France, Germany and ties to contemporary American politics. Beltway Banthas welcomes to the show David Barnes, Policy Director at Generation Opportunity , an experienced political professional and student of Plato's writings on democracy in ancient Greece. The show received exclusive audio from the lair of Emperor Trumpatine himself, its FANTASTIC and you won't wanna miss it. You can hear from from our overlord Emperor Trumpatine on Twitter @RealTrumpatine . The show is joined by the first addition to our team, Swara Salih, located in the UK and reporting to us as Senior Foreign Correspondant on "Brexit", the British exit from the EU. Swara wrote a piece on our website you must check out to know how Star Wars can make sense of this news in Europe. Star Wars Can Make Sense of Brexit: http://beltwaybanthas.com/2016/06/26/brexit-star-wars-can-make-sense-of-britain-leaving-the-eu/ Please do leave us a review on your podcatcher! Send us an email of feedback or a question to beltwaybanthas@gmail.com We WANT to hear from you and get to know our listeners. As usual you can find us online at www.BeltwayBanthas.com Twitter @BeltwayBanthas and www.Facebook.com/beltwaybanthas Stephen is @Stephen_Kent89 Tirso is @ItsJustTirso

Thank you for tuning in for another installment of Beltway Banthas, a Star Wars podcast at the intersection of Coruscant & Washington DC. On this weeks episode, Stephen breaks down his time at AwesomeCon 2016 that brought Kevin Smith and a million Kylo Rens to the nations capital. Stephen assembled a special assembly of the DC Jedi Council for a round table chat about Star Wars fandom. He was joined by Kristen Soltis Anderson (The Pollsters podcast & author of 'The Selfie Vote') and Mike Shields (President of the American Action Network, fmr Chief of Staff of the RNC and Communications Director for Newt Gingrich). We had a great time discussing the films, the politics of the prequels and digging into the role political parties play in a functioning republic. This has been an emotional week for many. Stephen dishes some thoughts on the state of our union and how we can help our friends in Orlando: https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund Be good to each other. Love really, truly, always wins. You can find Stephen on Twitter @Stephen_Kent89 Tirso @ItsJustTirso Kristen Soltis Anderson @KSoltisAnderson and Mike Shields @MShields007 Email us your thoughts on the show, a theory you have, ANYTHING at BeltwayBanthas@gmail.com and Tweet us @BeltwayBanthas Review us on iTunes PLEASE. It makes a huge difference for getting the show exposure =) May the Force be with you this week...and always

Welcome back to another episode of Beltway Banthas! On today's episode we discuss the newest edition to Star Wars canon, Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray. This is a book in between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens that gives us a view of Leia's political career in this time. SPOILERS will be discussed. If you are going to read the book and don't want it spoiled, tune in another time. What are the politics of the Republic? How can we view the problems of the Republic as similar to our own? Do these controversies sound familiar? You can follow the author on Twitter @ClaudiaGray http://www.claudiagray.com/ Our ending music is brought to you by Jonas Sees In Color, a NC band and friends of this show. Their original song inspired by Star Wars cantina bands is called "El Cantina De La Revolucion" You can check them out here: http://www.jsicband.com/ GREAT band and worth listening to. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter @JSIC Please do leave us a review on your podcatcher! Send us an email of feedback or a question to beltwaybanthas@gmail.com We WANT to hear from you and get to know our listeners. As usual you can find us online at www.BeltwayBanthas.com Twitter @BeltwayBanthas and www.Facebook.com/beltwaybanthas Stephen is @Stephen_Kent89 Tirso is @ItsJustTirso

For the first interview episode of Beltway Banthas, Stephen talks to co-host of The Pollsters podcast, Kristen Soltis Anderson. Kristen is co-founder of Echelon Insights, the author of The Selfie Vote, a contributor on Fox, CNN and MSNBC and has made appearances on The Bill Maher Show as well! Did she go toe to toe with the Bernie Sanders' finger wag? Duh! Stephen and Kristen discuss her fandoms beginnings, how she has grown as a Star Wars fan in politics and also touch on polling in regards to Star Wars. You can reach Kristen @KSoltisAnderson or her podcast @ThePollsters. We highly recommend you subscribe to her show for the best in weekly political polling insights. Enjoy!

On episode IV of Beltway Banthas, Stephen and Tirso talk death & Star Wars. Stephen's grandfather passed away a few backs ago, and we felt this was a good time to talk about it. No better place to do so than on this podcast. If there is one thing the Star Wars saga can guarantee you, it is systematic and cyclical heartbreak, starting with Qui-Gon and ending most recently with Han Solo. "Death is a natural part of life" and so it is a natural part of Star Wars. Which Star Wars deaths have impacted you the most? Has Star Wars helped you deal with the loss of a loved one? Also! We preview our interview with with Kristen Soltis Anderson (The Pollsters, Fox, CNN and MSNBC contributor) Kristen co-founded a DC polling firm, authored The Selfie Vote and has guested a couple times on The Bill Maher Show. If you have some thoughts, reactions or questions about this episode...please email us at BeltwayBanthas@gmail.com...we want to hear from you. Hit us up on Twitter @BeltwayBanthas, Instagram @BeltwayBanthasPodcast and on Facebook.

Thanks for tuning in to episode III of Beltway Banthas! It's been a crazy week and this is coming to you on STAR WARS DAY 2016. No better time to release this podcast. On this episode, we discuss some of the latest Star Wars news and chatter about Rogue One. Then, as promised, we get around to some politics. Stephen leads the show on an exploration of the Galactic Senate. How does it work? Why is there gridlock and an inability to get things done? This will be the first of many topical discussions on the politics of Star Wars and we hope you enjoy it. Did we miss anything you think should have been discussed? Let us know and we will touch on it: BeltwayBanthas@gmail.com Emo Kylo Ren performance inspired by @KyloR3n : https://twitter.com/KyloR3n Referenced in this episode: Vox: The Galactic Senate Needed A Minority Party - http://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2015/10/6/9459735/galactic-senate-minority-party by Seth Masket The Delegation of 2000 meet (Episode III deleted scene): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42jp-O1y1HI&feature=youtu.be&t=2m52s

On Episode II of Beltway Banthas, we take some time to discuss news of the day. By time you hear this the news will be a few weeks old, but we wanted to share with you our reactions and thoughts on Rogue One. As quick as it came it went. The first trailer for Rogue One debuted on Good Morning America and we at Beltway Banthas had some things to say about it. We discuss the content of the trailer, go over some of the theories surrounding what is seen, and talk about other upcoming stand alone films. What stand alone film do YOU want to see? Tweet us @BeltwayBanthas This podcast will seek to understand how Star Wars impacts the world we live in, while also covering the Star Wars news, gossip and hype of the day.

Beltway Banthas is a Star Wars podcast about the intersection of fandom and the things that drive daily life. For hosts Stephen Kent & Tirso Perez, one of those things is politics. Star Wars draws from our worlds politics just as much as it contributes to it by influencing policy makers, journalists and thought leaders.