September 27 - The Strongman Exposed as Weak and Childish; Hacking the Votes of the 7.6 Million Overseas Americans; Will McConnell Shutdown the Government to Protect Secret Corporate Political Spending

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of the first presidential debate and speak with Tom Rosshirt, who served as a national security speechwriter for President Clinton and wrote a prescient article about Donald Trump, whose weakness was on display in last night, in Politico back in July warning that, “nothing is more dangerous than a weak man with power, and Trump is weak. Very weak. He can’t take the pain of arguments and evidence that contradict his self-image”.  We discuss the wilting of Trump before the eyes of 80 million viewers as his bluster increasingly rang hollow, and he resorted to campaign slogans with meandering responses that became more and more childish when challenged on his “birther” crusade and hyped-up record as a businessman. We also try to assess whether in our poisonous, polarized and tribal political climate, minds can be changed by such an obvious exhibition of an empty suit barking at a composed and accomplished woman.

Part 2

Then we examine the impact of the 7.6 million overseas votes in this election that are vulnerable to hacking and speak with John-Paul Bernbach, who was spokesperson for Democrats Abroad and the Democratic Party in Europe in the 2008 presidential campaign. The author of a new book “Beyond Reason: Debunking Conservative Lies, Delusions, and Falsehoods and What You Really Need to Know Before You Vote”, he joins us to discuss how far American politics have moved to the Right compared to Europe, with no representative for the political Left, except for Bernie Sanders, as the center right and the far right candidates battle it out for leader of the free world.    

Part 3

Then finally, we look into whether the government will run out of money on Friday with the Continuing Resolution stalled in the Senate because Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has excluded funds for Flint, Michigan while including emergency help for flood victims in Louisiana. As he insists on a rider that would block the Securities Exchange Commission’s new rule to require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending. Rachel Curley, a Democracy Associate at Public Citizen, joins us to discuss the Republican priority of keeping corporate political spending secret from the voters while holding up $220 million of water infrastructure for Flint where citizens have been exposed to lead poisoning from drinking the water.