'With Friends like These'
Ana Marie Cox is the host of the podcast With Friends Like These from Crooked Media. She is a former columnist for the New York Times Magazine, Daily Beast and the Guardian US. She is the founding editor of the blog, Wonkette.
Is there a positive despite the "double negative"? We've all seen the press conference between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. Is there more to it?
Tariffs, a PR Disaster and Bad Blood On the eve of hurricane season, a study says the death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria is 70 times higher than the official count.
North Korea Crosses a Line — This Time, it’s the Border Kim Jong-Un of North Korea and Moon Jae-In of South Korean had a historic meeting where they set big goals for peace and denuclearization. The meeting was big on drama and scant on details. Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron deepen their bromance during a state visit in Washington, and we need to talk about Kanye and dragon energy.
Al Franken, Roy Moore and #MeToo Minnesota Senator Al Franken has now issued two apologies for kissing and groping a Los Angeles broadcaster without her consent back in 2006. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell called for an ethics investigation into Franken, who's a Democrat. Roy Moore, the GOP candidate running for the open Alabama Senate seat, has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by multiple women. Sen. McConnell has called on him to end his campaign amid the allegations.
Hillary and Millennials The New York Times published an interview today with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democratic National Committee. She is asked if there’s a generational divide in women’s support for Hillary Clinton. She answers: “Here’s what I see: a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided.” Not surprisingly, many young women didn’t react well to being called complacent. What are they saying?
Democratic Debate Recap It was Democrats helping Democrats in a mostly collegial debate last night. There was less name-calling and far fewer candidates on stage compared to the Republican debates. There were also fewer viewers, only 15 million compared to an average 24 million for the first two GOP debates.
The Thrilla in Nassau County In last night's town hall , they circled like prizefighters, pointed their fingers and interrupted each other -- while ignoring the moderator — and trading accusations of lying. It was presidential campaigning as prime-time political drama: as intensely personal as any such confrontation in memory. The President and the Governor touched on what seemed like dozens of issues, from contraception to immigration to the deadly attack on the Libyan consulate. President Obama won the early opinion polls because of the contrast to last week's performance, but Governor Romney held his own. We hear some examples and sample a variety of opinions on the possible impact of last night's battle of the candidates.
Can Barack Obama Top Bill Clinton? For almost an hour, former President Bill Clinton had the delegates on their feet last night, mixing details about policy with warnings about a potential Republican victory. It was vintage Clinton — blistering Mitt Romney 's Republicans at the same time he was advocating cooperation. Even when he got wonkish, it was clear that both the audience and Clinton were having fun. Reporters, commentators and delegates all agree that he'll be a tough act to follow. We hear excerpts, informed analysis and predictions of what to expect tonight when the nominee for re-election finally takes the stage. We also ask delegates from several states to describe the convention experience. To the Point is broadcasting live from the Democratic convention all week. You can find extended interviews, pictures and more at KCRW.org/election2012 .
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.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.
