Jen Rubin's Green Room Politicon

Jen welcomes ADL vice president Yael Eisenstat to discuss her experience fighting against the growing extremism on social platforms.  Drawing on Yael’s time at Facebook, they explore the complicity of companies willing to harness bigotry and partisanship for views, the danger of political lies and vote manipulation on the social platforms, and how companies are hiding behind claims that they can’t moderate speech and that the viewers are getting what they’re looking for.  However; they go on to expose the manipulative and partisan nature of bad algorithms and the risks of reproducing this effect in A.I., before looking at possible solutions across the corporate, government, and individual levels.

Get More From This Week’s Guest:

Yael Eisenstat:
Twitter | Website | ADL | TED | Statement on A.I. to the Senate

Get More From Jennifer Rubin:
Twitter | WaPo | Author of “Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy From Donald Trump”

Jen welcomes historian and author Heather Cox Richardson to explore the historical continuum of the Right’s war on freedom and equality from before the Civil War through the rise of MAGA. They discuss how the Southern oligarchy of the Bleeding Kansas era used race to push the average citizen to vote against their interests, and lay out  how that authoritarian legacy continues to drive limitations on voting rights, sustain racism and misogyny, and undergird our politics with violence.  Will we be able to overcome the forces still conspiring against our rights to continue perfecting our democracy?

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Get More From This Week’s Guest:

Heather Cox Richardson:
Twitter | Boston College | Substack | Facebook | Author of “Democracy Awakening” & Many Other Books

Get More From Jennifer Rubin:
Twitter | WaPo | Author of “Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy From Donald Trump”

Jen welcomes Rep. Eric Swalwell to examine the MAGA takeover of the Republican Party and its effect on our politics.  They lay out how their party believes in ruling rather than governance and is undermining our democracy with attacks on our voting rights, using gerrymandering and lobbying to maintain power.  They also break down how the Right has abandoned our allies and weakened our national security by cozying up to Russia, its capitulation to Trump, and their pursuit of farcical impeachments against the Biden Administration.  Critically, they pivot to the role young people play in restoring our values and ensuring good governance.

Get More From This Week’s Guest:

Rep. Eric Swalwell:
Twitter | Website | House.gov | Author of “End Game”

Get More From Jennifer Rubin:
Twitter | WaPo | Author of “Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy From Donald Trump”

Jen welcomes historian and democracy activist Thomas Zimmer to investigate the Right’s descent into ethno-religious authoritarianism and how to defeat it.  They break down how media bubbles have allowed the lies driving radicalism to flourish, and the ways the white christian nationalist minority is trying to gain control by using raw power to subvert our institutions.  Critically, they pivot to the steps that the Biden administration has taken to build a broad and diverse coalition around the defense of democracy, the need to resist fractures on other issues, and what can energize voters to create a vibrant pluralist majority capable of moving us forward.

Get More From This Week’s Guest:

Thomas Zimmer:
Twitter | The Guardian | Substack | Georgetown | Is This Democracy Podcast

Get More From Jennifer Rubin:
Twitter | WaPo | Author of “Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy From Donald Trump”

Jen is joined by author and veteran political consultant Stuart Stevens to take a journey through the evolution of the Republican party towards authoritarianism under Trump.  They explain how it became dominated by white grievance and the religious right by forgoing policy solutions that could attract minorities, women, and young people in favor of conspiracy and control.  Jen and Stuart believe it was possible because Republican party leaders capitulated to the MAGA movement for power and the hope of getting their preferred policies without compromise– eroding our democracy.  To save it, they lay out what it will take to reclaim the principles essential to freedom, and make the argument that restoring democracy is the only issue that should decide elections when the alternative is conceding to one party rule.  Will 2024 be the turning point? 

Get More From This Week’s Guest:

Stuart Stevens:
Twitter | The Lincoln Project | Website | Author of “The Conspiracy To End America” & Other Books

Get More From Jennifer Rubin:
Twitter | WaPo | Author of “Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy From Donald Trump”

Jen is joined by the co-founder of Protect Democracy Ian Bassin to explore the growing threat of authoritarianism at home and abroad by laying out the cultural, institutional, and personal forces that Trump and the MAGA Right are exploiting to undermine our democracy.  They examine how times of uncertainty allow the siren song of the strong man to encourage voters to compromise on our national values, how the politicization of the SCOTUS is weakening the independence of the justice system, and why our institutions are essential to fighting back.  In addition to reform, they emphasize the role we all play in becoming single issue voters against tyranny and participating in communities that bind us together in the democratic experiment.  Will it be enough to save us?

HelloFresh: 
Enjoy 50% off plus free shipping with delicious HelloFresh meals delivered right to your door when you go to hellofresh.com/50greenroom and use promo code: 50GREENROOM


Get More From This Week’s Guest:

Ian Bassin:
Twitter | Protect Democracy | MacArthur Foundation

Get More From Jennifer Rubin:
Twitter | WaPo | Author of “Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy From Donald Trump”