Welcome back to the Just Ask the Question newsletter where we share insights on the White House and politics in general through podcast interviews, original articles and commentary.
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Dumbass nation: Our biggest national security problem is America's "vast and militant ignorance"
“Millions of Americans embrace vapid lies and conspiracy theories — and the proudly moronic leader who spreads them”
With apologies to Paul Simon, and despite all of the information available to the mortal man, there are still millions of Americans who currently believe they're gliding down the highway when in fact they're slip slidin' away.
As President Biden prepares to travel to Europe to meet with the Pope and our NATO allies next week, there remains a huge national security problem for him to grapple with, one that hasn't been addressed in any meaningful fashion for many years.
It is the root cause of our problems with China. It's why some people don't want to get vaccinated. It's why some people still gleefully follow Donald Trump. It explains why Congress can't get together in a bipartisan fashion to deal with infrastructure, health care and gun control. It's why we have problems understanding climate change. It explains voter suppression. It's why "critical race theory" has become controversial, why elements of our population on the left and right are at war with each other and why some believe the earth is flat and the Holocaust didn't occur. It's why some of us believe we're still the "No. 1" nation in the world when — other than having the largest military — we clearly lag behind other major nations in many critical factors. More than anything else it explains why we fail.
Why I don't care about the "pee tape" — and you shouldn't either
“Did Trump watch Moscow hookers urinate? Even the question is an example of everything that's wrong with media”
I might be in the minority here: I don't care where Moscow hookers micturate while Donald Trump watches.
Plenty of my brethren in the world of journalism, however, are interested. That became obvious this week when former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele made the rounds. He was featured in a segment on ABC News last weekend and mentioned in dozens of articles promoting the new documentary "Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind the Steele Dossier." In the news coverage, Steele said there are "probably" videotapes out there showing the aforementioned prostitutes delivering a golden shower on a hotel bed while Trump smiled and watched.
These allegations have been around since the dubious "Steele dossier" surfaced four years ago. I didn't care then, and don't care now. In fact I am curious — outside of the prurient and salacious childlike snickering that inevitably takes place — why anyone would care. Trump is a proven misogynist, a racist and a ball of pestilent, narcissistic slime. His is a lifetime of using and abusing others. I need no more proof of that.
Episode 113: Michael Zeldin - What's next with prosecuting Steve Bannon in Congress?
Long time friend, former federal prosecutor Michael Zeldin is the guest and this week he answers the important question, "What's next with prosecuting Steve Bannon in Congress?
We also quiz him on his vast Rock n' Roll knowledge!
Episode 112: Dr. Timothy Snyder - On Tyranny, how do citizens participate and uphold their democracy?
Timothy David Snyder is an American author and historian specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Holocaust. He is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He joins us today to talk about the new graphic edition of "On Tyranny"