Background Briefing: June 21, 2022

 

More Powerful Testimony From Republican Witnesses Demolish Trump’s Election Lies

We begin an analysis of today’s hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection and speak with Dr. Michael McDonald, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. He is a principal investigator on the Public Mapping Project, a project to encourage public participation in redistricting, and also is the Director of the United States Election Project. His new book, out soon, is From Pandemic to Insurrection: Voting in the 2020 US Presidential Election and he joins us to discuss how although Republicans in the House refused to participate in the joint committee, almost all of the witnesses testifying are Republicans and today’s testimony from the Republican Speaker of the Arizona legislature who stood up to Trump’s “stop the steal” lies was particularly effective.

 

The Supreme Court Decision to Fund Religious Schools With Taxpayer Money

Then we examine today’s 6 to 3 Supreme Court decision to fund religious schools with taxpayer money which weakens the separation of Church and State, chipping away at what Thomas Jefferson described as “the wall of separation.” Joining us is Diane Ravitch, a professor in New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education, and one of America’s best-known education experts. She was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board by President Bill Clinton and served as Assistant Secretary of Education under George H. W. Bush. Her most recent book is Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.

 

A Former Guerrilla and Domestic Servant Elected to Lead Colombia

Then finally we go to Colombia to examine the results of Sunday’s election that brought a former guerrilla Gustavo Petro to the presidency along with a vice president Francia Marquez, an Afro-Colombian environmentalist who was once a domestic servant who cleaned houses. Joining us is Forrest Hylton, a professor of political science at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the author of Evil Hour in Colombia. He is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books where he just wrote the piece “Fiesta Democrática.”