Tatter - Episodes Tagged with “Politics”

Episode 67: Metastasis (Impeachment, w/ Frank Bowman)

Michael Sargent — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 07:00:00 -0500

The U.S. House has impeached President Donald Trump, for an unprecedented second time. This time, a majority of members of Congress endorsed a single article of impeachment for "incitement of insurrection," based on Trump's urging a crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol where both houses of Congress were meeting to count electoral votes, urging the crowd to go pressure members of Congress to overturn the results in key states that Trump lost. Once the House officially transmits the article of impeachment to the Senate, they will be able to conduct a trial, which could result in conviction and disqualification of Trump from federal office in the future, ensuring he could not be President ever again.

I spoke with an expert on impeachment, Frank O. Bowman, III, the Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law, at the University of Missouri School of Law. He has many areas of expertise, including legal history and the impeachment of the President and other federal officers. We discussed the history of impeachment, his thoughts on the strengths and shortcomings of the single article of impeachment, as well as where blame lies surrounding the riot at the Capitol on January 6.

LINKS
--Frank Bowman University of Missouri web profile
--High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump, by Frank O. Bowman, III
--"Impeachable offenses: Examining the case for removal of the 45th President of the United States" (Bowman's blog)
--"The constitutional case for impeaching Donald Trump (again)," by Frank O. Bowman, III (in Just Security)
--Text of the impeachment resolution approved by the U.S. House on January 13, 2021

Special Guest: Frank Bowman.

Episode 66: Conviction (Impeachment Politics, w/ Sarah Binder)

Michael Sargent — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 06:00:00 -0500

In the wake of the violence and destruction resulting from mob action in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and given that many view President Donald Trump's public comments beforehand as inciting the mob's action, House Democrats have presented a single article of impeachment with a vote likely imminent. If this happens, Trump would be the first U.S. president impeached twice. I recently spoke with Sarah Binder, Professor of Political Science at The George Washington University, and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, speaking with her about impeachment politics, as well as things to watch as Democrats prepare to regain control of the Senate, albeit by the thinnest of margins.

LINKS
--Binder's GWU profile
--Binder's Brookings profile
--"What to expect when Congress counts the electoral college votes on Wednesday," by Sarah Binder (Washington Post's Monkey Cage, January 4, 2021)
--"Impeachment resolution cites Trump's 'incitement' of Capitol insurrection," Brian Naylor (NPR, January 11, 2021)
--"Impeachment lessons: Where has deliberation gone?" Sarah A. Binder & Steven S. Smith (Brookings, December 13, 1998)
--"We're on the road to impeachment. Here's what you need to know about what's ahead," Sarah Binder (Washington Post's Monkey Cage, December 12, 2019)

Special Guest: Sarah Binder.

Episode 62: Hard Knocks (w/ Seth Masket)

Michael Sargent — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 12:00:00 -0500

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
As Democrats were reminded (the hard way) in 2016, elections don't always turn out as we expect them to. When a political party loses an election, especially if it does more poorly than expected, it often has tough, self-reflective conversations about what happened. In so doing, parties try to learn lessons from their losses. University of Denver political scientist has written about these issues in his new book, Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016-2020.

LINKS
--Seth Masket's DU profile
--Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016-2020 (Amazon)
--"Amid tears and anger, House Democrats promise 'deep dive' on election losses," by Luke Broadwater and Nicholas Fandos (New York Times, 2020, Nov. 5)
--"Susan Collins was never going to lose," by Robert Messenger (New York Times, 2020, Nov. 6)
--Fair Fight (Voting Rights Organization founded by Stacey Abrams)

Special Guest: Seth Masket.

Episode 61: Legitimate Authority (w/ Sara Benesh)

Michael Sargent — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 05:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Many people discuss the public's trust in, and willingness to accord legitimacy to, U.S. courts, especially the Supreme Court. But why does that trust and legitimacy matter? What factors determine it? How might recent Republican maneuvering affect legitimacy, including maneuvering that has recently resulted in the confirmation of President Trump's third Supreme Court nomineee? What might be the impact of Democrats' increasing the number of seats on the Supreme Court? How might race matter for any of these questions? I discuss such questions with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political scientist Sara Benesh.

LINKS
--Sara Benesh's website
--"Understanding public confidence in American courts," Sara Benesh. (2006). Journal of Politics
--"Be Careful with My Court," Shawn C. Fettig & Sara C. Benesh. (2016), in The Chief Justice: Appointment and Influence, Artemus Ward and David Danelski, Editors. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
--"Blacks and the United States Supreme Court: Models of Diffuse Support," James L. Gibson & Gregory A. Caldeira. (1992). The Journal of Politics

Special Guest: Sara Benesh.

Episode 58: The Seamless Garment Goes On

Michael Sargent — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 07:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Father James Martin is a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large at America, a weekly magazine published by the Jesuits of the United States. Father Martin is widely know for his advocacy for the rights of LGBT people, including his book Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity. In 2017, Pope Francis appointed him as a consultant to the Vatican's Secretariat for Communications. He's appeared on such outlets as CNN, NPR, and Fox News. He's also been a guest on The Colbert Report, and was informally dubbed the "Colbert Report chaplain." Recently, he was also one of three members of the clergy who jointly delivered the benediction at the close of the Democratic National Convention.

In this episode, Father Martin and I resume discussion of what it means to be pro-life, broadly defined.

LINKS
--Father Martin's Wikipedia page
--Contemplation and Political Action: An Ignatian Guide to Civic Engagement
--"Pope calls faithful to pray, participate actively in politics," Catholic News Agency
--Pope Francis's Laudato Si'
--Ignatian Contemplation (a video of Fr. Martin discussing Ignatian prayer)

Special Guest: Father James Martin.

Episode 57: The Seamless Garment (Pro-Life Politics, w/ Fr. James Martin)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 07:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Father Martin and I discuss what it means to him to be pro-life, the political implications of that position, and how it relates to Catholic teaching and action. We not only discuss abortion, but also immigration, race, and more.

LINKS
--Father Martin's Wikipedia page
--"Racism makes a liar of God: How the American Catholic Church is wrestling with the Black Lives Matter movement" (New York Times opinion piece, by Elizabeth Breunig; 2020, August 6)
--Sister Thea Bowman's Wikipedia page
--profile on Ralph McCloud, Director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

Special Guest: Father James Martin.

Episode 51: Engaging Power (w/ Eitan Hersh)

Michael Sargent — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 07:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Eitan Hersh is a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Tufts University, and he's the author of the book Politics Is For Power. In his book, he discusses what he calls "political hobbyism," which the host of this podcast all too often engages in when he gets into arguments in comment threads on Facebook. In one demographic respect, Sargent's doing so is not that surprising. But in another respect, it is a bit more unusual. To learn more, listen to the episode. You'll also hear about compelling stories of people who aren't "slacktivists," who aren't mere hobbyists, but who instead engage politics in deep and meaningful ways that actually build power. You should read Hersh's book too.

LINKS
--Eitan Hersh's Tufts University web profile
--Politics Is For Power: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change, by Eitan Hersh
--"How do you change voters' minds? Have a conversation" (New York Times Magazine article about deep canvassing, and Dave Fleischer)
--Changing the Conversation
--Voice of Westmoreland
--Website of U.S. Representative Conor Lamb
--"Bernie Sanders only had eyes for one wing of the Democratic Party" (the New York Times article by Thomas B. Edsall that brought Hersh to my attention)

Special Guest: Eitan Hersh.

Episode 43: Trash Talk (w/ Jeffrey M. Berry)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 08:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Political scientist Jeffrey M. Berry and sociologist Sarah Sobieraj co-authored the book The Outrage Industry, which examines media efforts to provoke outrage in audiences (including efforts that play fast and loose with the facts), as well as the conditions that have encouraged and rewarded such efforts. Berry joined me for a conversation about incivility, outrage rhetoric, and more.

LINKS
--Tufts University profile for Jeffrey Berry
--Tufts University profile for Sarah Sobieraj
--The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility, by Berry and Sobieraj (Amazon)
--"Anger is a business" (by Berry and Sobieraj, for Vox's Mischiefs of Faction)
--"New Republic: Rush Limbaugh's morality lesson" (by Jonathan Cohn, for National Public Radio)
--Forbes: The world's highest-paid celebrites
--"The caning of Charles Sumner" (from the United States Senate website)
--"Clear Channel renames itself iHeartMedia in nod to digital" (by Ben Sisario, for the New York Times)
--"Congress is more bipartisan than you think" (by Laurel Harbridge-Yong, for the Washington Post's Monkey Cage)

Special Guest: Jeffrey M. Berry.

Episode 40: Up That Hill (Women in Congress)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 06 May 2019 05:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
As reported by the Pew Reserach Center, the current 116th Congress includes more women, and is more racially and ethnically diverse, than any previous Congress. Inspired by that shift, this episode features my conversation with political scientists Nadia Brown (Purdue University) and Barbara Palmer (Baldwin Wallace University). We discuss the experiences of women in Congress, including women of color, both in their campaigns but also while governing, and from both contemporary and historical perspective.

LINKS
--Nadia Brown's Purdue University profile
--Barbara Palmer's Baldwin Wallace University profile
--Sisters in the Statehouse: Black Women and Legislative Decision Making, by Nadia Brown (at Amazon)
--Women and Congressional Elections: A Century of Change, by Barbara Palmer and Dennis Simon (at Amazon)
--"Identity Politics Strengthens Democracy," by Stacey Abrams, in Foreign Affairs
--On Elizabeth Cady Stanton's congressional run
--"At She the People Forum, 2020 Candidates Speak Directly to Women of Color, by Maggie Astor, for the New York Times
--Wiki on Maria Stewart
--"Eric Holder to Lead Democrats' Attack on Republican Gerrymandering, by Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin, for the New York Times
--Barbara Palmer on "gendermandering"

Special Guests: Barbara Palmer and Nadia Brown.

Episode 35: Fear of Falling (w/ Ashley Jardina)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 06:00:00 -0500

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Ashley Jardina, a faculty member in political science at Duke University, is the author of White Identity Politics, which is scheduled to go on sale on Thursday, February 28. She and I recently talked about her book, which examines White identity and its political impact. As much as Whiteness has often been treated as a kind of cultural default, and even though it's often assumed that their own race isn't salient to White Americans and that they don't feel solidarity with other Whites, many actually do think about their race and do feel such solidarity. And it's not just the types who gained infamy in Charlottesville. Jardina's book explores what White identity is and what White consciousness is. She also documents some of the political correlates of those variables. We discuss that research, as well as her own background. And we even highlight one thing that Donald Trump has done "expertly."

LINKS
--Ashley Jardina's webpage at Duke
--White Identity Politics, at Cambridge University Press
--White Identity Politics, at Amazon
--"White Identity Politics Aren't Going Anywhere" (by Thomas Edsall, in the New York Times, and including discussion of Jardina's book)
--Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue

Special Guest: Ashley Jardina.

Episode 32: Movements (w/ Dan Kaufman)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 06:00:00 -0500

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
There are many robust threads of progressivism in the history of Wisconsin, running all the way back to its founding by Scandinavian and German immigrants. It also had influence on progressive policies in other governments, including the federal government. But at least in recent years, conservative officials in the state have successfully enacted policies contrary to the stances of progressives, and in many cases inimical to the interests of organized labor and others. And these policies have also been influential outside of Wisconsin. In this episode, I speak about such issues with Dan Kaufman, author of The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics. We discuss the administration of outgoing Republican Governor Scott Walker, organized labor, race, and more.

LINKS
--The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics, by Dan Kaufman
--Dan Kaufman's Twitter profile
--Ableman v. Booth (U.S. Supreme Court response to the Wisconsin Supreme Court's ruling on the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850)
--The Turner Movement
--Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette
--The Wisconsin Idea
--Wisconsin Act 10
--Right-to-work law
--"Trump's tweets attract attention. Act 10 moves forward. Quietly. Inexorably. Changing the political landscape like a glacier." (Grover Norquist)
--The Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968
--There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America, by Phillip Dray

Special Guest: Dan Kaufman.

Episode 28: Magnolia In Bloom (Mississippi Politics)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 06:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
The recent confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court--despite vocal and forceful opposition by many people--attests to the importance of being the majority party in the U.S. Senate. Democrats are currently in a narrow minority, and their path to control runs through Senate seats currently held by Republicans, many of which are in rural, agrarian states. One such state is Mississippi, and one such race features Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy, among others. The election is likely to go to a runoff, and if control of the Senate hangs in the balance, it will be an important runoff. In this episode, I discuss that election with Geoff Pender, political editor of the Clarion-Ledger newspaper, based in Jackson, MS. We also discuss the broader political context in Mississippi, including issues that might be on their way from The Magnolia State to the U.S. Supreme Court.

LINKS
--FiveThirtyEight's U.S. Senate Forecast
--May 2018 article by Geoff Pender on polling in the Mississippi U.S. Senate special election
--Geoff Pender's staff page at the Clarion-Ledger
--"Mike Espy sees runoff as path to a Miss. Senate seat. Here's why it's a bumpy road" by William Douglas (McClatchy DC Bureau)
--"Will a Black-Latino alliance in Mississippi change politics in the Deep South?" by Alexia Fernández Campbell (The Atlantic)
--"Long before sinking Roy Moore's candidacy, black women in Alabama were a force for change" by DeNeen L. Brown (Washington Post)
--"Mississippi bans abortions after 15 weeks; opponents swiftly sue" by Richard Fausset (New York Times)
--"Controversial HB1523 now Mississippi's law of land" by Jerry Mitchell and Geoff Pender (Clarion-Ledger)
--"Why is the Democratic Leadership Council shutting down?" by Espeth Reeve (The Atlantic)

Cover art adapted from an image by Darwinek (Wikimedia Commons)

Special Guest: Geoff Pender.

Episode 11: Magic Carpet Ride

Michael Sargent — Wed, 16 May 2018 05:00:00 -0400

Lucas St. Clair is famous (or, for some, infamous) for leading the successful effort to persuade former U.S. President Barack Obama to designate 87,500 acres in northern Maine as the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Now, St. Clair is running for Congress in Maine's Second Congressional District. As a follow-up to the "I-95 Northernmost" episode of Tatter, in which St. Clair was discussed and briefly quoted, this episode features the entirety of my interview with him.

Special Guest: Lucas St. Clair.

Episode 10: I-95 Northernmost

Michael Sargent — Mon, 14 May 2018 05:00:00 -0400

Maine political writer Al Diamon (The Daily Bulldog and The Forecaster) and political scientist Amy Fried (University of Maine and The Bangor Daily News) discuss Maine's Second Congressional District, the district's pivot from Democratic presidential candidates to Donald Trump, and the upcoming election of its representative to the U.S. House. The episode ends with an excerpt from a recent interview with Democratic candidate Lucas St. Clair, an interview that will be the basis of the next episode of Tatter.

Special Guests: Al Diamon and Amy Fried.

Episode 7: Rising Tide

Michael Sargent — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 05:00:00 -0500

Seth Masket is Professor of Political Science at the University of Denver, and Director of DU's Center on American Politics. He contributes to Vox's Mischiefs of Faction, and has contributed to The Monkey Cage, FiveThirtyEight, Politico, and The New York Times.

Click here to read Masket's article about a simple forecasting model that augurs well for Democrats in the midterm elections.

Special Guest: Seth Masket.

Episode 6: 2012

Michael Sargent — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 05:00:00 -0500

Social critic Cornel West has called President Barack Obama a neoliberal (among other things), and he's not meant it as a compliment. West appears to have been frustrated that Obama was not a forceful advocate of left-wing populism. These criticisms led me (your humble podcast host) to wonder if such an Obama would have been a one-term president. Julia Azari, of Marquette University, Christopher Federico, of the University of Minnesota, and Vincent Hutchings, of the University of Michigan, political scientists all, chatted with me about these and related issues. I revised my opinion on the question after talking to them. I wonder if you will too. Give it a listen.

Special Guests: Christopher Federico, Julia Azari, and Vincent Hutchings.

Episode 3: Sugar, Pt. 2

Michael Sargent — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 10:00:00 -0500

Heidi Sawyer leads the Lewiston Rocks Facebook group and website. She agreed to sit for a lengthy conversation, and these excerpts constitute Part 1 of what I'm posting. She was too interesting for just one episode.

Special Guest: Heidi Sawyer.

Episode 2: Sugar, Pt. 1

Michael Sargent — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Special Guest: Heidi Sawyer.