Month: June 2018

Background Briefing: June 28, 2018

The Co-Director of Justice Democrats Who Recruited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

We begin with the surprise upset victory in Tuesday’s New York primary election by 28 year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who defeated the fourth most powerful Democrat in the House and will be the youngest member ever to serve in the United States Congress. A Democratic Socialist and a protege of Senator Bernie Sanders, Alexandria was the first candidate recruited to run in this year’s primary by Justice Democrats and the Co-Director of Justice Democrats, Corbin Trent joins us to discuss how his grassroots organization is running 38 congressional candidates who are committed to refusing PAC money and who will fight for progressive change.  We discuss the importance of authenticity and genuine connections to constituents and how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other candidates Justice Democrats hope to get elected to Congress, will not accept the limited horizons of tinkering with Washington at the margins and the need to go along with the system which is only capable of accepting small incremental change, rather than change the entire system to serve the people not the donor class.

 

The CBO Warning About Trump’s Exploding Deficit

Then we speak with Stephanie Kelton,Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Stony Brook University, New York who served as Chief Economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and as Economic Advisor to the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. The author of the forthcoming book “The Deficit Myth”, she joins us to discuss the recent report by the Congressional Budget Office warning that Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and corporation will add close to two trillion more to the federal deficit over the next ten years, adding to the $21 trillion national debt which candidate Trump, citing his brilliant business record, promised he would use to “get rid of” the debt “over a period of eight years”.

 

Examining Retiring Justice Kennedy’s Swing Vote Record

Then finally we examine the record of retiring Supreme Court Justice Kennedy who is being widely praised as a swing vote who sided with the liberal minority of important issues. Lisa Graves, Co-Director of Documented, a watchdog group that investigates how corporations manipulate public policy, harming our environment, communities and democracy, joins us. She served as Chief Counsel for Nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee and we will discuss how a president who is under investigation for possible criminal activity and even treason, should not be able to stack the highest court in the land with judges who could exonerate him.