- News Bits! Epstein docs unsealed. COVID surges back in Japan, Germany and Australia. Penguins hockey returns. Congress lets unemployment benefit expire.
- Mailbag! JuRY gets ROASTED for his Cuomo take and reads Umberto Eco's 14 Features of Fascism from both left and right perspectives.
- Molly Wood (@MollyWood) of Marketplace and Make Me Smart breaks down everything you need to know about the big tech hearings on Wednesday and if we will see any action.
- Biden-heavy episode this week. Is Biden running for president or simply to eject Trump from office?
- Susan Rice is our last VP vetting candidate... but honestly... is it necessary? We all know who the real nominee is.
- Biden finally weighs in on Portland but is he playing into Trump's hands?
- The history and impact of political memes with Jamie Cohen (@NewAndDigital) who pioneered a degree in the subject.
- Trump cancels RNC in Jacksonville in latest step to show he cares about COVID handing a big victory to the Dems. But did he just officially stop shooting himself in the foot on this?
- Mailbag! Ranked choice feedback from Aussies, teachers lecture on school reopening and a discussion of Trump's agents in Portland and Chicago.
- Interview with Sachin Pandya (@sachinspandya) about COVID liability legislation. Get his new book here.
- Donald Trump's campaign has made some incorrect assumptions about COVID and failed to have discipline enough to define Joe Biden. Both could cost him the election. Justin breaks it down.
- Andrew Heaton (@MightyHeaton) has a massive announcement. Seriously.
- Tom Clark (@tom_s_clark) helps sift through the Supreme Court decisions. Should conservatives be happy about the judges they appointed?
- All the numbers say that this election is going to be a generational landslide. But does it feel like it? We look back at 1980 to compare and contrast.
- Why COVID killed our appetite for Trump's rhetoric, the NBA taking heat from Sen. Hawley and why masks got politicized in our mailbag.
- Interview with Jason McDaniel (@ValisJason) about Ranked Choice Voting and if it is ultimately worth the unintended consequences.
- With RBG hospitalized, is Cocaine Mitch getting ready to run the hurry up offense to appoint another justice?
- We have some finalized matchups for Senate in Alabama, Texas and Maine.
- Kanye West is quitting the presidential race... or is he...
- Tom Merritt delivers a history lesson on how Richard Nixon almost became the Andrew Yang of his day
- Interview with Jennifer Mercieca (@jenmercieca) about the differences in rhetoric between Donald Trump and Barack Obama. Also,does Hide-A-Biden play to Joe's rhetorical strengths?
- With COVID deaths moving in the wrong direction again, President Trump is going to have to wrestle with his lack of approval on his handling. And by the way, he has a convention coming up.
- Mailbag including questions on Kanye, how the immigrant wave of the 1900 compares to modern day racism, being confronted by a freezing cold take from pre-COVID world and more.
- Interview with Davin Phoenix (@Davin_Phoenix) on how voters from different races are animated to go to the polls and what role anger does or doesn't play.
- Party platforms are historically angry and boring. Now the Democrats are going to hold theirs online while the progressive wing is desperately searching to move the party leftward. This will be a disaster.
- Kanye. The Forbes article. The Birthday Party. Please skip this segment if you hate Kanye.
- Interview with Kevin Mattson about comparisons between Trump and Nixon as well as Trump and Carter. Also, bonus talk about punk music in the 80s and Reagan.
- We discuss some of the odd cases of mask mandates including Knox County, Tennessee where the only man to vote against it is WWE Superstar Kane.
- Herman Cain has COVID and that could affect the power struggle within the Trump campaign.
- Dave Levinthal (Business Insider) talks the FEC crumbling, Biden beating Trump in fundraising and what a money factory The Villages.
- Biden lives! Justin breaks down his first speech and Q and A. What is his strategy now that he's emerged from the basement? What parts of Trump is he targeting? How did he handle his questions including a parting shot about his mental cognition?
- Hickenlooper survives a doozy of a final month to get his party's nomination for Senate. Amy McGrath will now take on Cocaine Mitch in November. Both beat progressives. Does the Bernie revolution play in the rural parts of the country?
- Risa Brooks (@RisaBrooks12) discusses the simmering tensions between Trump and military leaders nervous about their historic relationship with civilian government.
BONUS EP BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT!
- Mailbag questions on Tulsa, electoral college, police reform and more!
- Interview with Pete Freedman of Central Track in Dallas, Texas about the desperate place COVID left his website, the unexpected rise in traffic with the lockdown, the intensity of covering a month of protests, how Facebook made an old article go viral and more.
- With another election stretching past election night and only more mail ballots on the horizon, is it time we realized that Election Week 2020 is coming?
- Trump's Tulsa rally was a big missed opportunity but not as big as his position on testing.
- We speak with Joanna Schwartz (UCLA) about Qualified Immunity, the arguments for/against, if it will be replaced by congress and why it might be the only thing Justices Thomas and Sotomayor agree on.
- Interviewing Trump fans in line for the rally
- Waiting for Air Force One to land with Kevin Ryan
- Sorting through the confusion brought on by attendance woes
- Getting pepper sprayed during the protests
- We interview the first woman in line for the Trump rally who drove five days from Florida to be there. Justin asks about masks.
- A trip to the former Black Wall Street to reflect on Juneteenth
- Interview with Seth Masket (FiveThirtyEight, Mischiefs of Faction) who defends the photo op and is dragged into a WAY too granular conversation about John Hickenlooper's Senate primary because Justin can't shut up about it.
- Donald Trump will officially reboot the 2020 campaign on Saturday but what are the stakes for Biden and Trump? Will the risky gambit be a fatal blow for Trump? Will it force Biden out of the basement? How tenable is Biden's very conservative strategy?
- John Hickenlooper didn't succeed in running for president but he's currently leading the GOP incumbent for Senate. But will he make it there? A few new revelations complicate Hick's chances to make it out of the primary.
- The Senate GOP has introduced their police reform bill, will they be able to work with the House? Is Cocaine Mitch trying to speed this along or slow it further?
- Interview with Daniel DiSalvo about police unions, their role in politics and if reform is possible without their cooperation.
- Justin is going to Tulsa to cover the first Trump rally so it gets him thinking about the lockdown and how we can hope to live our lives with the virus.
- John Bolton's book is finally going to come out at the end of the month. Will this be the one that FINALLY DOES TRUMP IN? Spoiler: probably not.
- Kyle C. Kopko and Christopher J. Devine (Authors of the new book Do Running Mates Matter?) join the show to discuss the historical worth of a vice president.
- Congress is possibly moving toward putting a bi-partisan police reform bill on Trump's desk and Joe Biden is suggesting a $300 million payment to police departments. We look at the strategy behind Joe's move to the right on police.
- A roundup of the primary contests last night including the hot mess in Georgia.
- Vetting Keisha Lance Bottoms, the mayor of Atlanta, who is now a Veepstakes frontrunner.
- Interview with Michael Socolow about the media's role in covering COVID, protests and election. Also, a conversation on how shrewd the Hide-A-Biden strategy is.
- Your emails including a defense of Canadian divisions, JLO for VP, a screen on straw men and for the first time in months... AN ANGRY EMAIL!
- Biden is leading by 7% on average but should he be leading by more considering his opponent is dealing with a pandemic and nationwide riots?
- Police officer listeners reached out after the Police Brutality episode with their thoughts.
- Interview with George Dehner about the 1957 and 1968 pandemics and the origins of our modern social distancing.
Justin discusses the George Floyd murder and the the reaction
- The history of how little accountability police departments have and how repealing Qualified Immunity could make a difference overnight.
- A moment when Rush Limbaugh applied Colin Kaepernick-esqe dexterity in his conversation with the Breakfast Club
- Vetting Val Demings, the only VP possibility who is a former police chief
Justin discusses the George Floyd protests and ensuing damage. Charges brought against the officer that did it. Trumps escalating war with Twitter in light of his executive order. The defunding of the WHO is also mentioned because a lot happened this morning.
Also, an interview about reopening anxiety and the universal truth with Kevin Ryan.