Day: August 14, 2025

Trump’s Performative Takeover of the Streets of Washington DC as Its Residents Cry “Fascists”, “Pigs” and “Go Home” 

We begin with the arrest of a Justice Department employee in Washington, D.C. charged with assaulting a federal officer with a sandwich after calling him and other agents “fascists.” With 1,650 federal officers on the streets having made 45 arrests last night while the DC police arrested 74, we examine the performative nature of the latest example of Trump’s government by stunt which is designed to take the Epstein/Maxwell story off the headlines and whether Democrats should work with the Republicans at all since the GOP make a mockery of democracy as they undo deals on Trump’s orders while enabling a fascist takeover of America. Joining us is Harold Meyerson, one of the nation’s best-known progressive columnists and editor-at-large of The American Prospect where his latest article is“Trump: Now the Cops Can ‘Do Whatever the Hell They Want’.”

What Can Democrats Do To Be Proactive, Not Reactive to Trump

Then, as Trump continues to dominate the news cycles, we speak with a Democratic strategist to assess what Democrats can do to get ahead of being reactive and bring the Epstein/Maxwell story back to the headlines. Joining us is Julie Roginsky, a political consultant and co-founder of Lift Our Voices, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending the silencing mechanisms that prevent survivors of workplace toxicity from coming forward. She is the author of the Salty Politics newsletter on Substack, where she co-hosts the Pax Americana podcast and co-hosts the Over It! show on YouTube. Previously, she was a contributor at CNBC and the Fox News Channel, where she was a frequent co-host of “Outnumbered” and “The Five.” In early 2017, she became one of the first women to file a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against the Fox News Channel and its chairman, helping to ignite the most recent iteration of the #metoo movement.

California Governor Newsom’s Announcement of a November 4 Special Election to Counter the Texas Gerrymander

Then finally, following Governor Newsom’s announcement today of a November 4th special election in California to counter the Texas gerrymandering plan to pick up 5 extra Republican seats for Trump in the midterms, we speak with Robert Stern, the past President of the Center for Governmental Studies. He began drafting and analyzing political reform laws as a staff attorney for the California Legislature’s Assembly Elections Committee; he then served as the Elections Counsel to the California Secretary of State’s office. He has drafted numerous state initiatives, was the principal co-author of California’s 1974 Political Reform Act, adopted by 70% of California’s voters. Prior to joining the Center for Governmental Studies he served as the first general counsel of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission and currently teaches political science courses at the University of California Los Angeles.