August 26 - "Why Trump Could Win the GOP Nomination";Behind the Buzz About Biden's Run for the Presidency; What is Behind the Riots in India?

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the growing political phenomenon that is dominating the headlines and causing the GOP establishment serious heartburn, and that is the continuing rise of Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary race where the latest PPP poll in New Hampshire has Trump at 35%, with Bush trailing at 7%, Walker at 7% and Rubio at 6%, meaning that all three of them combined are trailing Trump by 15%. Robert Creamer, a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of “Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win” joins us to discuss his article at The Huffington Post “Why Trump Could Win the GOP Nomination” and why the unbridled egotism of Trump and his right wing populist demagoguery is striking a cord with Republican primary voters.

Part 2

Then we investigate the burgeoning rumors that Vice President Joe Biden is considering a run for the presidency in 2016, thus challenging Hillary Clinton who already has a serious challenge on her left from Bernie Sanders. Ed Kilgore, the principal writer for the Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog and the Managing Editor of The Democratic Strategist joins us to discuss what substance there might be behind the buzz about Biden and what the consequences for the Democrats holding onto the White House might be for whichever candidate emerges from a bruising primary.

Part 3

Then finally we look into the riots in India and speak with Sumit Ganguly, the Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana University in Bloomington. We discuss the violence that has taken Prime Minister Modi’s home state by storm, perpetrated by the affluent and powerful Patel clan who curiously want to benefit from India’s affirmative action program that gives government jobs and university placements to members of the OBC (Other Backwards Classes) in a quota system designed to help the country’s historically lower castes.