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The Atlantic
Molly Ball is a political reporter for The Atlantic.
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Molly Ball
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FROM Molly Ball
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Will a new communications director make Trump stop tweeting? Sean Spicer resigned today after President Trump named hedge fund millionaire Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House Communications Director. Will that change the White House?
Left, Right & Center
Can there be a moment of bipartisan comity in Washington? If Washington isn't a swamp, can it be drained?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Suspicion grows around spies in Washington DC With the Trump administration’s ties to Russia under scrutiny, some Washington DC residents are re-examining their own encounters with foreign diplomats. Those meetings may have seemed friendly at first, but in hindsight were anything but.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Who is on Hillary Clinton's Shortlist for VP? About 99 percent of political journalists are calling Virginia Senator Tim Kaine the winner of Clinton’s Veepstakes. Rumor has it that she will be making the announcement sometime Friday or Saturday. But until the final decision has been made, what are the pros and cons of a few other contenders still in the running?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Clinton’s $40 Million v. Trump’s $1 Million Trump may be rich, but according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, he started this month with just a little more than $1 million in his campaign account. Clinton’s campaign was about $40 million dollars richer. Trump’s campaign staff is made up of about 70 people; there are about 700 people working for the Clinton campaign. What does this mean for the upcoming campaign between the two?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Should The Media Call Trump Racist? Republican Donald Trump has said that the federal judge overseeing the fraud case against Trump University, Gonzalo Curiel, isn’t qualified to hear the case because of his Mexican heritage. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Thursday , Trump said, “I’m building a wall. It’s an inherent conflict of interest.” His position, and his continuous divisive rhetoric, raises the question: at what point is it okay for the media to report his statements as “racist”, rather than using terms like “racially charged” or “controversial”? And how else is Trump challenging conventional campaign coverage?
To the Point
Does the GOP Really Matter? After one of the nastiest primary campaigns in America's political history, Donald Trump claims he can unite Republicans – but he's also said it's not all that important. Trump has questioned the tradition of giving the senior leader, House Speaker Paul Ryan, leadership of the nominating convention. As he looks for a running mate with insider credentials, some GOP veterans are openly dreaming about a Third Party. The billionaire now says he'll need to raise money, but many senior contributors are spending on the House and the Senate. Can new voters bring life to the GOP?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Rubio Wins in Iowa? First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the treasure chest. That old children's’ rhyme certainly rang true last night at the Iowa caucuses. Ted Cruz definitely walked away with the top prize. But Donald Trump and Marco Rubio acted like the big winners, even though they came in at second and third place, respectively. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has been declared the official winner in Iowa. But it was just a narrow win, with analysts and Bernie Sanders himself calling it a "virtual tie." We look at what this means for New Hampshire and the rest of the upcoming caucuses.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Assessing Bernie Sanders President Obama wasn’t the only one to give a policy speech today. Sen. Bernie Sanders did as well. He has broadly attacked Wall Street and corporate greed throughout his campaign, but today he added some specifics. Can Sanders parlay his financial policy speech to wins in Iowa and New Hampshire?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Breaking Down the Final Republican Debate The first two Republican debates between presidential hopefuls this year were the highest rated TV debates ever. And the overnight numbers from last night’s final one are looking good for CNN this time, too -- likely fueled in part by the country’s fascination with the candidacy of Donald Trump. We recap the highlights, lowlights and big takeaways from last night’s debate.
To the Point
"It's the Economy, Stupid…" The economy was the subject of last night's fourth Republican presidential debate, and you could almost hear Bill Clinton's slogan from 1992. But the eight candidates struggled to define their differences, when they were almost unanimous: ‘cut taxes, cut spending; don't raise the minimum wage.' Despite a recovery that's driven unemployment down to 5%, polls show that Republican voters are anxious about the economy. We hear about last night's appeals to the base of the party and how the GOP's economic vision compares to the Democrats'.
To the Point
The Showdown in Simi Valley At the Ronald Reagan Library near Los Angeles last night, CNN moderators were determined to generate conflict. Eleven Republican candidates for president responded with almost three hours of political theater. The big question: could anybody lay a hand on front-runner Donald Trump? What's changed in a campaign that's still just getting started? We hear a range of opinions.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
GOP Roundup Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker became the 15th Republican to enter the presidential race today, selling himself as a Beltway outsider who’s not afraid to fight the establishment. Candidates on both sides are competing over who’s going to do the most for the middle class and push back against society’s elite. But how convincing are they?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
A GOP Takeover? It’s looking pretty good for Republicans in next Tuesday’s election. Experts are not debating whether the GOP will take over the Senate - just by how much. We get the latest.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Florida Gubernatorial Candidates Debate Fans In a bizarre standoff that lasted nearly seven minutes, the Republican governor of Florida, Rick Scott, refused to take the stage for a planned debate with his opponent, Democratic candidate Charlie Crist. At issue...a fan Crist had nestled under his podium.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The Politics Behind Obama’s ISIS Speech President Obama made his case last night for taking on the radical Islamist group ISIS, also known as the Islamic State or ISIL. The President announced a campaign of airstrikes in Syria, an effort to arm moderate rebels in the country and that he’d be sending an additional 475 troops to Iraq. But how much of the speech was really about politics, as opposed to national security?
Recommended
The Business
Revisiting showrunner Steven Bochco on his memoir Steven Bochco, the writer-producer behind record-breaking Emmy winners Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue, fought battles with everyone from out-of-control actors to network censors in his long career. He isn’t afraid to tell those tales in his memoir, Truth Is a Total Defense. This week we revisit the conversation where he shared some of his favorite stories with us.
Bookworm
Morgan Parker: There Are More Beautiful Things than Beyoncé Morgan Parker says that the poems in her book There Are Things More Beautiful than Beyonce take a stand against the clichés of the dominant culture.
The Business
In 'Speechless,' Scott Silveri combines comedy, family & disability Scott Silveri has written and produced sitcoms for more than 20 years. In all that time, he never encountered a TV family that looked anything like the one he grew up in -- with a mom, a dad...and a brother with cerebral palsy. He changed that with his show Speechless on ABC. Silveri tells us about looking to his own past for stories, and why he was determined to make a family comedy and not just a "disability show."