The Ron Show

Ron Roberts
  • 4.7 (11)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED DAILY

Welcome to the Ron Show - Atlanta's only progressive audio platform airing five days a week on Georgia Now, M-F 4-6pm (replaying 8-10am the next weekday). Host Ron Roberts covers Atlanta, metro Atlanta, Georgia and national politics from a pretty unique lens ... he's just your run-of-the-mill Georgia-born gay progressive cat-dad realtor & talk show host. Dime a dozen, right?

  1. 2D AGO

    Before hitting the road to Selma, former NAACP GA leader Gerald Griggs sounds off

    Gerald Griggs, Atlanta-based attorney, advocate and activist - and former NAACP Georgia chapter President, joined me Friday morning to weigh in on the landscape in a post-'Callais' U.S. and Georgia. He and I discussed the near-immediate aftermath of fever-pitch GOP redistricting to dilute Black voter power in Congress and even at the state level. Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, this week announced he, too, is reconvening the state legislature to further gerrymander the state. He and I also previewed what to expect in Selma on Saturday.

    40 min

  2. 3D AGO

    Kemp calls to redraw a Georgia already gerrymandered

    Also, Democrats need to present an alternative to GOP and their own 'status quo' & is there a pattern of campaign finance ethics issues with Bottoms' campaigns? Not only did Brian Kemp call a special session of the General Assembly back to the Gold Dome to address a mess of its own making (mandating the elimination of QR codes from voter ballots), but the already-and-disproportionately gerrymandered state - in his mind - needs another redraw. So what are Democrats to do? Well, for starters, they need to understand that they, as a party, aren't much more popular than the historically unpopular President they're trying to mitigate by retaking the House the November. My goodness, if they could provide clarity by way of a slate of candidates backing a populist message that's centered on the working class, eschewing 'Third Way' "baby steps pragmatism" for a bold visionary agenda, the places they could ascend to! That agenda starts with fixing the way we govern and elect leaders. They include: Uncapping the House. New England California Republicans would love this because they'd finally have representation, and a nation whose voice in the House has been diluted by 1/3 since the 1930s gets its clout back.Eliminate partisan gerrymandering. Racial gerrymandering's supposedly gone, so get rid of partisan gerrymandering to ensure that, and do it before we've drawn ourselves into a civil war. By doing those two things you've already fixed the electoral college, but because it's broken, you have to also uncap the Supreme Court. Grow it to 13 to match the number of US court circuits. Oh, and Set term limits on that court.You can't tell me the American people wouldn't be solidly behind that. Call it "Project 2032" if you need to - so they know it can't be done overnight and that they (we) the voter have to stay on task to ensure we do our part to meet that date to see those accomplishments come to fruition. As Democrats, there'll be some self-inflicted pains in some "blue states," but gains to be made in others. So be it. This is how you grow your brand in places you aren't winning in. - - - I spent most of my show going off on that tangent, but closer to home, there are concerns - and now a filed campaign finance ethics complaint - shedding light on the Keisha Lance Bottoms' gubernatorial campaign. I highlighted a lot of those concerns before the complaint was filed, but this information's readily available for anyone to gather and use against her - including Burt Jones and Rick Jackson. Heck, I got it from a Republican campaign finance wonk. Is this "more baggage" to consider when deciding who Democrats in Georgia should back to be their gubernaotiral nominee? It bears mentioning this isn't the first time such allegations have come up. Then councilwoman Bottoms, when pivoting to a mayoral run, was hit with a $37,000 fine for campaign ethics violations.

    45 min

  3. 4D AGO

    Kemp's weaponized pen attacks homeless vets | Is Richard the 'Wright' choice for LG?

    Governor Brian Kemp's last hurrah with the veto pen (and the 'sign into law' pen, too) is akin to burying landmines on property just before abandoning it for someone else to step all over. Income & property tax relief measures passed by the GOP-led General Assembly will shift tax burden onto consumption taxes everyone will pay - disproportionately impacting the poor and working class - to give the better-and-well-of a break. Meanwhile, those revenue cuts also created a budget shortfall his vetoes don't measure to. So with those 'tough decisions' to make he chose curbing funds to combat veteran homelessness and money earmarked for K-12 student transportation needs. Wouldn't those buses help get students-of-need to those private schools their vouchers were supposed to bridge the gap for? - -- There's been so much attention paid to who ought to represent each party in the gubernatorial race that Georgia voters have no idea who ought to be lieutenant governor, with each party's candidates failing to gather enough support to overcome 'undecided' on either side. One of the three Democratic options - Richard Wright, a certified public account and not a career politician - joined the show today to make his case.

    44 min

  4. 5D AGO

    A 'new civil rights movement' has to be built: it'll begin (again) in Selma

    Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo (who's now been called to testify before a state Senate panel investigating the now-defunct New Georgia Project) joined me to vent over the state of civil rights & marginalized voter rights in a post-'Callais' environment. Lauren spoke of the need for a "new civil rights movement." Well, that new coalition is assembling Saturday in Selma - first at the Edmun Pettis bridge - with nearly a hundred organizations gathering to re-invigorate a civil rights movement that's seen a century of gains almost entirely wiped away in the last sixteen months. - - - Make no mistake: this isn't just about silencing Black voters. There's also been the targeted effort to eviscerate the Black middle class - starting with DOGE disproportionately terminating Black women from career federal jobs that, for generations, had been a 'safe haven' of sorts from hiring bias & pay discrepancies. It's not enough they want to dilute a Black family's voting power; they'd also taken aim at a Black woman's purchasing power, too. - - - It's no wonder, then, why Southern-born, Southern-raised Bakari Sellers 'lost his cool' as the smug Kevin O'Leary insisted Black people need to simply "get over it." Personally, I think Bakari showed great restraint. - - - Lastly, having recently binged 'Mad Men' and being - as many of you are - engulfed in 'The Handmaids' Tale' and it's spin-off, 'The Testaments,' I feel like both franchises provide some insights into what MAGA is taking women and minority women back to, but also the sort of Dystopian dream world the conservative patriarchy seems more closely aligned to than the diverse, expressive nation they currently live in.

    44 min

  5. 6D AGO

    After Callais & Virginia, Democrats don't need to cut corners

    After the 'Callais' decision by the US Supreme Court, Democrats were already bracing for 'confederate' states to hastily re-draw Congressional maps to eliminate majority black districts, clearly showing southern conservatives having moved on from 'racism' (note: sarcasm). Then came the Virginia Supreme Court deciding that state's hasty left-leaning gerrymander ran afoul of state law (by a 10-1 vote - not even close). So naturally, Democrats initially started grasping at an 'audacious and far-fetched' idea to salvage at least the Virginia gerrymander. To that I say "no. Stop. Don't do this in a fit of desperation." Why? Well it isn't just to take the "high road" that's cost Democrats ground the last few decades. No, it's about seeing an issue a vast majority of Americans agree on: gerrymandering just needs to go away, period. Democrats have tried legislating it away and watched as the Roberts' Supreme Court punted on its opportunity to get rid of it, too. It's a campaign issue. Use it. Use it in 2026. In 2028. In 2030 if necessary. Keep hammering at it until Republicans realize how much the American people are behind it or are so outnumbered they can't stop it. Any chance Democrats have at taking the House this cycle won't improve greatly by "far-fetched" scheming that'll only make them look as conniving as Republicans. Fine; maybe we don't win the House. I mean, maybe thanks to GOP 'dummymandering,' and Democrats overperforming this and last year anyway, you still do win it. There is that theory that this push to gerrymander is just putting 'safe GOP' districts within reach for insurgent Democratic candidates. Also, the Senate is in play and MAGA can't re-draw state lines. So you'll have to use gerrymandering again in 2028. Perhaps again in 2030. Plus, any gains the GOP made with black voters will be washed away. Trump's (and Stephen Miller's) overplaying their hand using ICE to demonize Hispanic people will do damage to the party's prospects with that bloc, too. "The ads write themselves." - - - Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was in Atlanta last weekend and took the podium at Reverand Senator Ralphael Warnock's home church - New Ebenezer Baptist. I'm unsure if she's putting presidential feelers, but she's definitely striking a chord with soon-to-be-again marginalized black voters. - - - Lastly, while Virginia's Supreme Court is on folks' minds, it's not hard for us to forget that Georgia's 9-body high court is supposed to be filled with non-partisan candidates, but that former Governor Nathan Deal and current Governor Brian Kemp have seated eight of the nine due to maneuvering early retirements out of jurists to seat fresher bodies. So the (air quotes) "non-partisan" candidates Miracle Rankin and Jen Jordan have the full-throated support of former President Barack Obama, who makes the valid point that "state supreme court justices play a critical role in defending your rights and freedoms, which is why the election happening in Georgia right now is so important." In case we weren't already patently aware.

    44 min

  6. MAY 8

    Did Fani dispatch 'revenge tour' candidates? | Remembering Ted

    PLUS: A Democrat governor in GA having to work w/a GOP legislature & 'Friday Funnies' Thursday's conversation with former Fulton prosecutor Will Wooten, running for a Georgia Appeals Court seat, dropped just before the AJC's Bill Torpy penned his op/ed where he somewhat insinuates that perhaps Fulton DA Fani Willis may have dispatched candidates for a 'revenge tour' of sorts. Georgia Recorder columnist Jay Bookman offered more perspective on the Georgia Democratic gubernatorial race, noting that it's highly likely if a Democrat does win, they'll have to "work with" a GOP-led general assembly, and wonders which of the Democrats vying for the seat are best-suited to handle that task. - - - The passing of Atlanta media icon Ted Turner - who bought and transformed local station WTBS into the "SuperStation" that also introduced us to his other passion projects: the Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Braves, then launched CNN and CNN Headline News, thrusting Atlanta into international prominence the likes of which it never before saw - is quite notable. For one, I grew up wanting to BE like Ted, but for another, his passing reminds me that he lived the sort of libera/progressive life of success that should serve as an example in this Musk/Trump/Bezos era of self-gratification and excess. And, as I do each Friday, I seek out some mental wellness and laughs with my good friend, comedian Sterling Thrill as we glance over the highlights and lowlights of another Trump presidency week "gone by."

    1h 30m

  7. MAY 7

    'Justice for all' fuels Will Wooten's post-Fulton / Trump bench run

    His Georgia Court of Appeals judicial candidacy garners enough attention for Will Wooten because he is who he is on two fronts: he's an out gay man in the South, and a former Fulton County prosecutor, having worked with Fani Willis' office to prosecute Donald Trump and his band of co-conspirators for attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential election results here in Georgia. While AJC op/ed writer Bill Torpy likens his attempted ascent to part of a 'Fani Willis revenge tour,' Will comes with a kind of value set his upbringing and his insight into marginalization that not many white men in the legal profession have insight into. Hear our discussion and see if you can pick up on that foundation coming through with his words and deeds.

    45 min

  8. MAY 7

    Trump 'lawfare' coming for Fulton election works & volunteers now

    PLUS: Reparations for white voters? Republicans want to draw inner city voters towards their suburban 'white saviors' & Geoff Duncan's new TV ad is out The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) has roughly 700 boxes of Fulton County's 2020 general election ballots and now they want names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of all the Fulton County election workers and volunteers from the 2020 cycle, too. Uhm, why? As Rudy Giuliani clings to life, it was just 14 months ago he was done paying two Fulton elections workers upwards of $100 million (or more) and now the DOJ wants to serve up other employees for potential MAGA "retribution? - - - As if that's not enough, MAGA podcasting nutjob Benny Johnson and The Article III Project founder/president Mike Davis are salivating at the prospect of getting white voters in Democratic-led states reparations (yes, reparations) for their being oh-so "wronged" by racially-based gerrymandering. The stones on these two white nationalist gasbags. - - - Remember all that GOP talk about black voters being on the "Democratic plantation?" Yet now they want to redraw maps to have their "white savior" representatives - who've shown no interest in doing right by inner city Americans when not representing city dwellers - represent everyone in these newly drawn districts except us. - - - It's encouraging then, that Georgia Democrats are taking some fight back to the right. Out gay Fulton County prosecutor Will Wooten is featured in a 30-second ad touting his record having helped build the election interference case against Trump as he seeks to challenge Georgia Court of Appeals Judge E. Trenton Brown III. - - - Okay, I have no opinion on cellphone bans in schools, honestly. I believe teachers when they say it makes their jobs easier, so on that front, I'm for the bans; but results show the real sales pitch - improved test scores - doesn't show itself in studies, just yet. - - - Lastly, Geoff Duncan has (finally) interested the TV ad game with a mostly cable and online ad buy, utilizing minority endorsees. The 30-second spot is good. It's effective. But it actually raised questions with me, still. Also, former gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Ruwa Romman, hasn't endorsed in that race since leaving it, but she did share her "sample ballot," with the #anybodybutGeoff hashtag and Mike Thurmond below it. On her personal Facebook, however, she did say of Duncan "I believe he’s sincere. I don’t think he’s just making up that he changed his mind. But he’s objectively the weakest candidate. We lose too many of our own for the mythical swing voter."

    45 min
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4.7
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Welcome to the Ron Show - Atlanta's only progressive audio platform airing five days a week on Georgia Now, M-F 4-6pm (replaying 8-10am the next weekday). Host Ron Roberts covers Atlanta, metro Atlanta, Georgia and national politics from a pretty unique lens ... he's just your run-of-the-mill Georgia-born gay progressive cat-dad realtor & talk show host. Dime a dozen, right?

Information

  • Creator
    Ron Roberts
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    744
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Ron Roberts
  • Show Website
    The Ron Show

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