Sarah Kendzior is a journalist, authoritarianism expert, and author of Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America. We look at the decades-long rise of the former president and the various reasons why we are not immune to the threat of authoritarianism.
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Eli Zupnick is the spokesperson for Fix Our Senate, a group dedicated to ending the Senate filibuster. We discuss how the filibuster rule actually works, why it’s deeply anti-democratic, and why the time has come to eliminate it.
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K. Sabeel Rahman is an Associate Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, and co-author of Civic Power: Rebuilding American Democracy in an Era of Crisis. We discuss the concept of civic power, putting policy-making decisions in the hands of affected communities, and building an equitable economy for all Americans.
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Alex Hertel-Fernandez is Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and the author of State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States – and the Nation. We discuss the efficacy of controlling state legislatures and implementing public policies to reshape the political terrain.
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Theda Skocpol is Professor of Government at Harvard University, where Caroline Tervo is a Research Editor. They edited Upending American Politics: Polarizing Parties, Ideological Elites, and Citizen Activists from the Tea Party to the Anti-Trump Resistance, which looks at organized collective action on the Left and Right and their impact on state, local, and national politics.
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Drew Kromer built a Democratic party precinct in Davidson, NC, recently served as the Vice Chair of the National Council of College Democrats, and is currently a PLEO delegate for Vice President Biden. We discuss the importance of local politics, building a deep bench of candidates and volunteers, and the need to show up and be engaged.
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Eitan D. Hersh is associate professor at Tufts University and author of Politics is for Power: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change. We discuss how politics is the way we solve our society’s problems and why building political power is the key to making our civic engagement effective.
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Shoshana Zuboff is a Harvard Professor emerita and the author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. We discuss the creation of a human futures market by surveillance capitalists and the pursuit to replace democratic governance with computational governance by instrumentarian power.
This episode was recognized by the Asian American Podcasters Association with their Golden Crane Award for Best Interview.
Nancy Rosenblum is Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government at Harvard University and co-author of A Lot of People are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy. We discuss why this kind of conspiracism is deeply destructive to our society and how enacting democracy can protect reality and relegimitate our institutions.
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Lt. Col. Travis I. Trammell worked with Stanford Professor Elisabeth Paté-Cornell to analyze the risks of fake news and create a management decision model to combat disinformation. We discuss the national security risks posed by fake news from other nation states, the kind of influence campaign to expect in 2020, and the most effective countermeasures.
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