Thinking CAP

Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security adviser for President Obama and author of “The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House,” joins Michele Jawando and Mike Fuchs to reflect on his years as a top adviser to the president. Rhodes reacts to the backlash over family separations at the border and responds to claims that the Obama administration had a similar policy. He also reveals the self-doubt President Obama felt after Trump's election and why Obama worried his presidency was 10 or 20 years too early. Finally, Rhodes shares the story of how he nearly derailed then candidate Obama's presidential campaign back in 2008.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) joins Michele and Igor to discuss the progress his state has made—including passing equal pay and paid sick leave, pushing back against the GOP tax bill, and his decision to create a Cabinet as diverse as New Jersey—despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle progressive agendas. Also, Ben Olinsky, senior vice president of Policy and Strategy at CAP, joins to outline the Center’s big ideas for states, including overtime, a state Earned Income Tax Credit, and “clean slate” legislation to automatically seal nonviolent criminal records.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) joins Michele and Igor to discuss why he's suing President Donald Trump for corruption, his concerns over the AT&T-Time Warner merger, and his thoughts on Trump's judicial nominees. Blumenthal also weighs in on Trump’s concession on joint military exercises in his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier this week and explains why he thinks America and its allies aren't any safer after the summit.

For analysis of the North Korea summit, Igor is joined by two CAP experts and former top national security and diplomatic advisers in the Obama administration, Kelly Magsamen and Mike Fuchs. Magsamen and Fuchs believe the agreement is long on trust and short on details. They argue that any meaningful deal needs specific steps toward denuclearization and a plan to keep America and its allies safe.

James Forman Jr., a former Washington, D.C., public defender, Yale University professor, and author of the Pulitzer Prize winner and The New Yorks Times’ best-seller 'Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America,' joins Michele and Igor to discuss one of the unexpected enablers of mass incarceration: black residents in cities across America who overwhelmingly supported tough-on-crime policies throughout the 1960s and 1970s, resulting in disproportionate numbers of black men being put in prison. Forman points fingers at every level of the criminal justice system, as well as President Barack Obama, for failing to address the problem of mass incarceration. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast

On June 5, 1968—50 years ago today—Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles, after winning the California presidential primary. Michele and Igor sit down with Dawn Porter, director of the new Netflix documentary series “Bobby Kennedy For President” to discuss Bobby Kennedy’s legacy, the tragedy of his assassination, and conspiracy theories that are still active today. Porter shares how RFK’s 1968 presidential campaign focused on bringing together a divided nation struggling through racial tensions and draws parallels to today's political upheaval.

Roseanne Barr is ultimately held accountable for her racist remarks, but President Donald Trump is not. Igor and Michele explore this hypocrisy and why some Americans are giving Trump a pass. Then, Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino, joins to discuss the outrage over families being separated at the U.S. border. Kumar talks about how the Trump administration is dehumanizing the Latinx community, why it is so important that the Latinx population comes out to vote in 2018, and why the power of all communities of color in our political system could be unstoppable. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast

It’s been one year since special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate whether the Trump campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. Igor and Michele talk to Chris Hayes, MSNBC host of “All In with Chris Hayes” and author of The New York Times best-seller 'A Colony in a Nation', to get his take on the Mueller probe and why he thinks a Republican-led Congress won’t impeach the president regardless of what the investigation reveals. Hayes also discusses how it took getting caught with marijuana at the Republican National Convention to understand the widespread problems within the criminal justice system. But first, Igor and Michele talk to Diana Pilipenko, associate director of anti-corruption and illicit finance with the Moscow Project and the Center for American Progress, to break down the biggest developments within the Mueller investigation in the last year. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast

At CAP’s 2018 Ideas Conference, Michele and Igor talk to Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood and author of New York Times best-seller “Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead.” Richards talks about the importance of progressives uniting around issues of reproductive justice; her mother's political career; and her meeting with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner after the inauguration. Then, CAP Senior Fellow Jocelyn Frye sits down with Valerie Jarrett, former senior adviser to President Obama, at the United States of Women conference in Los Angeles to discuss the galvanizing efforts for women’s rights and what change over time truly looks like. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast

Teachers across the country are striking for higher pay and more school funding. Igor sat down with Oklahoma’s "Teacher of the Year," Jon Hazell, a high school life sciences teacher who is also a Republican. Hazell shares his experiences working in Oklahoma after decades of deep budget cuts, which require him and his wife to work five jobs between them in order to make a living. He also talks about his now viral confrontation with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on school choice. Lisette Partelow, director of K-12 Strategic Initiatives at CAP and a former teacher, also joins to discuss why teachers in the United States are some of the lowest-paid around the world. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast

The Supreme Court is in crunch time. With eight weeks left, the justices still have 39 cases unresolved. Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitution Accountability Center, breaks down which cases are still on the docket and which decisions could threaten important progressive values, including immigration, LGBTQ rights, voting, abortion and unions. Then, Michele speaks with Julie Cohen and Betsy West, co-producers and directors for the new film “RBG,” which chronicles the life and legal achievements of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in honor of her 25 years on the bench. Cohen and West share what it was like having a front-row seat to RBG’s life over the past year, why young women all over have turned the 84-year-old gender equality advocate into a superstar, and why they chose to have an all-woman leadership team on the film. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast

In the past few weeks, two instances of racial bias—one at a Starbucks in Philadelphia, the other in an Alabama Waffle House—caught national attention. On this episode, Igor speaks with Clint Smith, teacher, writer and Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University, about the historical roots of racism and black criminalization that have created deep racial disparities such as in school discipline and policing. Then, Brian Ferguson, director of Washington, D.C.’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs, joins to discuss his experience being wrongly convicted for homicide; the 11 years he spent in prison fighting the conviction; and the barriers to reentry formerly incarcerated individuals face once they get out of prison. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast. Also check out smartoncrime.us for more on criminal justice reform.

One of the nation’s oldest magazines is finally facing its racist history. National Geographic Editor-in-Chief Susan Goldberg joins Igor and guest host Danyelle Solomon, CAP’s senior director of Progress 2050, to discuss the publication’s April issue dedicated to race. Goldberg offers an apology for how the magazine portrayed people of color in the past, addresses the controversy around the current issue’s cover, and talks about steps she’s taking to make sure the magazine includes diverse voices going forward. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast

Jennifer Palmieri, former communications director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign; former White House communications director for President Barack Obama; president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund and executive vice president for Communications and Advocacy at the Center for American Progress; and author of the No. 1 New York Times best-seller 'Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World', joins Michele and Igor to discuss the battle to elect the first female president. Palmieri outlines what is still ahead for women in the workplace and in politics to confront. She shares how President Trump has changed the political theater, especially in political communications, and what that will mean for candidates running in 2020. Like the show? Follow us on Twitter @thinkingcappod. Get in touch with us at thinkingcap@americanprogress.org & find other episodes at www.americanprogress.org/projects/thinking-cap-podcast

The redrawing of some congressional maps across the country could have a major impact on this year's midterm elections and beyond. Pennsylvania’s congressional map—widely viewed as among the nation’s most gerrymandered—is at the center of prolonged court battle. Igor speaks with Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims (D), Dr. Joan Duvall-Flynn, President of the NAACP in Pennsylvania, and Micah Sims, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, about how gerrymandering in the state has disenfranchised communities of color and how other states can follow their lead in fighting back against these undemocratic practices.