Background Briefing: June 16, 2019
A Better Way to Stage the Democratic Presidential Campaign Debates
We begin with the lineups for the Democratic presidential candidates’ debates scheduled on two nights on NBC with the “orange” group first on Wednesday, June 26 featuring Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Julian Castro, Tim Ryan, Bill de Blasio and Jay Inslee, then the “purple group” on Thursday, June 27 with Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Michael Bennet, Eric Swalwell, Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang. John Nichols, The Nation magazine’s Washington correspondent who has an article at The Nation, “The First Democratic Debates Shape Up as Unfair and Unfocused Spectacles”, joins us to discuss his ideas for better ways to organize big multi-candidate debates going forward instead of 10 candidates on one stage over two nights trying to be heard over five moderators for two hours. He suggests a series of two-hour debates that put all of the candidates who meet a fair threshold on one stage where they are required to address issues such as climate change, immigration, reproductive rights, economic inequality and criminal justice reform. Instead of the DNC format, he advocates for fair and functional discussions where good ideas will matter more than bad formatting.
Who Believes the Serial Liar Trump That He Doesn’t Want War with Iran?
Then, with Secretary of State Pompeo today appearing on the Trump Administration’s Pravda, Fox News, signaling Iran saying “President Trump has done everything he can to avoid war. We don’t want war”, we will speak with Nader Hashemi, the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and the author of The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future. He joins us to discuss how we got to the current crisis because of Trump’s obsession with Obama and his tearing up on the P5+1 agreement with Iran which has led to the current state of economic warfare with Iran that is unlikely to lead to a diplomatic solution since Iran will retaliate asymmetrically with sneak attacks to drive up the price of oil which Trump wants to avoid heading into the 2020 elections.
Trump’s 2020 Campaign Again Steals a March on the Democrats in Digital Advertising
Then finally, with the Trump Administration again stealing a march on the Democrats in digital advertising for the 2020 elections as they did in 2016, we speak with Mark Bartholomew, a professor of law at the University of Buffalo School of Law where he specializes in Advertising Law, Cyberlaw and Intellectual Property. The author of Adcreep: The Case Against Modern Marketing, he joins us to discuss the political advantages of digital advertising which gives campaigns more bang for the buck along with providing valuable data for micro-targeting issues aimed at key demographic groups.