Senior Advisor, VoteVets.org
Senior Advisor for VoteVets.org, a nonpartisan group looking after the rights of active and retired duty officers; former specialist with the Army's 3rd Stryker Brigade, he is currently in the inactive reserves and writes the blog, Army of Dude
Origins of Memorial Day; Honoring Our Fallen Soldiers Memorial Day began after the Civil War, which killed 600,000 Americans, North and South. But the first day of remembrance wasn't really about them. It was started by southern women, mourning what they called the Lost Cause: the Confederacy. When the northern states got into the act, it was all about commemorating the soldiers who died for the Union. We bring the history up to the present holiday—which is also about barbeques, three-day weekends and the beginning of summer. Does America do a good job of remembering war dead? What about grieving families and living veterans?
Veterans' Day: Just Another Day to Go Shopping? In the aftermath of September 11, President Bush told Americans to return to business as usual and go shopping. Today Americans have the day off to honor the veterans of past wars and those that are being fought now in Iraq and Afghanistan. But since establishment of the all-volunteer service, there’s a disconnect so great that, on Veterans' Day, many civilians don’t even know one. We talk to veterans about why they fight and what it’s like to come home. Should the dead and the wounded be treated as "victims" or heroes who suffered the consequences of their own choices? Is Veterans' Day more than another day to go shopping?
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.