Texas Republicans: Harold Meyerson; Suing Trump: Rob Weissman; Elmore Leonard's Rules
About this episode
The episode discusses the current state of national politics, focusing on Trump's unpopularity and corruption, along with a reflection on Elmore Leonard's literary contributions.
The big picture of national politics: Trump is not just sinking in the polls, he's accelerating into the most unpopular and toxic parts of his presidency. People are focused on the economy, they want the war in Iran finished – instead, Trump is pushing his billion-dollar ballroom and his slush fund to pay-off the white-supremacist insurrectionists – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Trump’s Billion-Dollar Ballroom is a familiar kind of corruption, but his slush fund to pay the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name is an unprecedented attack on democracy. Rob Weissman of Public Citizen explains, and also talks about the immense, and immensely unpopular, proposed Arc d’Trump. Plus: I met Elmore Leonard, who died on August 20, 2013 at age 87, only a couple of times, but he was a memorable guy, totally unpretentious about his massive accomplishments: 45 novels, including many best-sellers, almost a dozen made into movies and TV shows, and a reputation among the literati as one of the great writers of dialogue in our time. When I spoke with him in 2000, he had just published Pagan Babies , a comic novel on the unlikely subject of genocide in Rwanda…
People in this episode
Guests: Harold Meyerson, Rob Weissman
Topics covered
- national politics
- Trump
- economy
- corruption
- democracy
- literature
Keywords
- Trump
- politics
- economy
- corruption
- Elmore Leonard
- Pagan Babies
- insurrection
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Public Citizen
Books & works: Pagan Babies
Places: Iran
More episodes of Living in the USA
- The Primaries and Us: Harold Meyerson and John Nichols; Girl Groups: Gary Stewart
- The Billion Dollar Ballroom: Harold Meyerson; The States Project: Daniel Squadron; Minneapolis vs. ICE
- A rough week: Harold Meyerson; Jews against Zionism: Adam Hochschild; Historians vs. Tennessee
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