Thinking CAP

Michele is joined by special guest host Emily Tisch Sussman, and a panel of powerful women who are leading protest movements across the country: Paola Mendoza, artistic director of the Women’s March, Tiffany D. Loftin, head of African American outreach and policy at the National Education Association and Anisha Singh, senior organizing director at Generation Progress, CAP’s youth organizing arm. The women discuss their disappointment over the decision by Senate Democrats to blink first in the standoff over Dreamers, the theme of the second women’s march; holding politicians accountable through organizing and resistance, and finding redemption for those accused of sexual harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

Last week, in an Oval Office meeting to discuss a path forward for Dreamers, President Donald Trump made the now infamous comment that he’d like fewer immigrants from African nations—what he described as, “shithole countries.” Obviously, Michele and Igor have a lot to discuss. They take a deep dive into the long history of Trump's racist behavior, from discriminating against black Americans who wanted to rent his apartments in the 1970s to launching a presidential campaign where he called Mexicans "rapists." Michele and Igor are joined by Phil Wolgin, managing director for Immigration Policy at CAP, and Rejane Frederick, associate director for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at CAP. They provide the context behind the nation's racist immigration policies and and explain today's power structures that perpetuate many of these ideologies.

The government will shut down at midnight on Friday if Congress cannot pass a spending bill before then. These discussions will involve important negotiations on immigration and the potential for the Dream Act to be included in the bill. On this bonus episode, two Dreamers—both medical students who are close to receiving their medical licenses—share their experiences of being brought to the U.S. as young children; they recount the hard work that got them into prestigious medical programs and what will happen to them if the Dream Act is not passed before President Donald Trump’s March 5 deadline.

Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee joins Michele and Igor to break down the latest developments in the Russia investigation. He also comments on the allegations made in Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” that President Trump may not be fit for office and weighs in on whether impeachment or invoking the 25th Amendment may be necessary. Max Bergmann—Thinking CAP’s own Russia correspondent—explains the proposed criminal charges against Christopher Steele by Sens. Graham(R-SC) and Grassley(R-IA) on the Senate side of the Russia investigation, as well as the “sneaky” release by Sen.Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) of the full transcript of the Fusion GPS interview yesterday. And of course, everyone weighs in on whether or not they think Oprah should run for president

A record number of women are considering a run for office. In particular a record number are running for governor—49 Democrats and 30 Republicans. Michele and Igor speak with Karen Tumulty, national political correspondent for The Washington Post about who these women are, what roadblocks they will face, and what role the #MeToo reckoning has played in urging more women to step into positions of leadership. Then, they ask her about being a journalist in an era where the president is frequently lobbing personal attacks against reporters, and Michele and Igor share their thoughts on Hoda Kotb permanently replacing Matt Lauer on the "Today" Show.

Michele and Igor are joined by Mike Fuchs, senior fellow with CAP’s National Security team and a former State Department official, and Emily Tisch Sussman, campaign director for CAP and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, to break down 2017. They discuss the year of Trump’s foreign policy, the tweets that riled up North Korea, and the unfolding investigation by Robert Mueller to get to the source of Russian interference in the 2016 election. They also discuss racial tensions and the rise of white supremacy since Trump’s election, including the rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia; the courts blocking the Muslim ban; another fight for the Dream Act; the #MeToo movement; and—through all of it—a persistent resistance against the racism, the inequality, and the unfairness that have no place in our country. Finally, Michele and Igor get personal about how this past year affected each of them personally and what it was like working together on Thinking CAP.

Five years after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, there’s still no sign of comprehensive gun safety legislation out of Congress. With President Donald Trump in office, backed by $30 million of NRA funding, legislative solutions look more and more unlikely. On this episode, Sarah Clements shares her deeply personal experience of the shooting at Sandy Hook, waiting for news about her mother’s fate, and how it propelled her to advocate for gun violence prevention. Then, Michele and Igor speak with Chelsea Parsons, vice president of Guns and Crime Policy at the Center for American Progress about the continued fight for solutions to this issue, the NRA’s playbook, and how gun violence prevention groups can effectively engage with communities of color.

Michele and Igor seek to dive past the headlines of yet another powerful man charged with allegations of assault or sexual misconduct that have been plastering our television screens, finally bringing awareness to this age old problem. In this episode, they examine the social psychology and the systemic structures that have allowed for this disgusting behavior to exist in the first place. They speak with Dr. Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at University of California Berkeley, and author of “The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence,” about the nature of power and why it drives, particularly men in power, to misread their environments, struggle with empathy and more easily harass and mistreat the women around them. Then they speak with Dr. Kimberly Lonsway, director of research at End Violence Against Women International, who discusses the barriers in our criminal justice system and our societal disillusionment to the claims of these survivors, why victim behavior doesn’t look the way we expect and how it contributes to our desire not to believe the unthinkable.

Congress continues to work at passing a tax bill that will massively cut taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals, and will strip many provisions that help middle class Americans. Michele and Igor discuss with Helaine Olen, contributor to the Washington Post’s Plumline blog and author of “Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry,” about what’s up for debate in conference this week, who this bill is for (hint: donors), and who it hurts the most (hint: folks who voted for Trump).

President Trump announced on Monday that he will slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah by 2 million acres, the largest rollback of federal protection in the nation’s history. In response, Patagonia – the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer that Igor wishes he had a jacket from – replaced its homepage with a banner reading, “The President Stole Your Land.” Matt Lee Ashley, a senior fellow with CAP’s Public Lands team and former deputy chief of staff at the Department of Interior joins Michele and Igor to breakdown the impact of these reductions, the importance of our national parks, and why this move is a personal favor to Utah's senators who are backing Trump's tax measure. Then, straight from the mouth of Patagonia, the company's director of philosophy, Vincent Stanley, explains how Patagonia has been involved in the establishment of Bears Ears since the beginning, and why President Trump’s unprecedented action deserved a response.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a plan to repeal net neutrality, the law that protects open internet access by stopping companies from charging more and blocking certain websites from their consumers. Michele and Igor sit down with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the five people who will be deciding the fate of net neutrality, to break down the importance of open internet access. Also make sure to listen to the end for a new segment from Michele and Igor!

President Trump has nominated 59 federal and lower court judges, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch since taking office. That's more than any president at this point in his tenure for nearly 50 years. To discuss this aggressive strategy, why he’s been able to push so many judges through, and who these judges are (you guessed it: largely white men), we speak with Christopher Kang, Former Deputy Council for President Obama, Kristine Lucius, Vice President for Policy at the Leadership Conference and Sharon McGowan, Director of Strategy at Lambda Legal. Also, a few tips and tricks for how to talk about the judiciary and anything else that may give you heartburn at your Thanksgiving dinner.

Roy Moore: It’s who everyone is talking about. The question this week—how is it possible that a person who has built his career on Christian conservatism can act in this way? Michele and Igor speak with Jack Jenkins, senior religion reporter for ThinkProgress, to get the answer. Jenkins also discusses the “white” factor of Christian nationalism, and the pivotal moment in 2017 that led the progressive movement to embrace faith more than ever before. Also on this week’s episode, E.J. Dionne, columnist for the Washington Post—and devout Catholic—gives his take on the pairing of progressivism and faith, and why progressives are so afraid of religion. He also discusses his new book, “One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported,” to understand what happened to the Obama coalition.

Best-selling author, Reza Aslan joins Michele Igor to discuss his new book, "God: A Human History." Aslan shares a dire warning about what he believes is a cult-like religious fervor among Trump supporters, and tells us why he's not surprised Trumpism failed in VA and NJ in Tuesday's elections. Then he shares the three reasons he believes white evangelicals votes for Donald Trump(clue: his whiteness and richness are both factors.)

In a special collaboration with In The Thick, Michele and Igor are joined by Maria Hinojosa, president of the Futuro Media Group and host of NPR's Latino USA, and Julio Ricardo Varela, Futuro's digital media director and founder of Latino Rebels. They discuss Sunday’s mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and the killer’s troubling past. Then, they explore biases in the progressive community, in the media, and offer ideas on how to fix it.