The Dispatch Podcast The Dispatch

After Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling asked GOP lawmakers to tone down the unsubstantiated claims of vote fraud in his state earlier this week, the Trump campaign shared a 90-second video on Twitter alleging another Georgia related election conspiracy theory. “Video footage from Georgia shows suitcases filled with ballots pulled from under a table AFTER supervisors told poll workers to leave room and 4 people stayed behind to keep counting votes,” the tweet said. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other GOP figures have since demanded a signature audit of the presidential election in the Peach State.

 

Where do we go from here? Sterling joined Sarah and Steve on today’s episode to debunk election conspiracy theories about his state and offer a pathway forward for the GOP. “To me, this is the playbook that was run by Stacey Abrams in 2018 in Georgia,” Sterling tells Steve and Sarah of the Trump campaign’s claim that the election was rigged.


Show Notes:

-90 second clip of Georgia election conspiracy theory shared by the campaign on Thursday and Lin Wood’s rally on Wednesday excoriating Gabriel Sterling.

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During an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, Attorney General Bill Barr said that “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” In what seems to be a clever attempt to appease the president, Barr also said during the interview that he had appointed John Durham as special counsel to investigate the Russia-Trump probe in October. Will news of Durham’s appointment appease Republicans? Is there a legal defect in the Durham appointment? Sarah and the guys give us the breakdown. On today’s episode, our podcast hosts also analyze Trump’s election litigation madness, the ethics of COVID-19 vaccine prioritization, and last week’s killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

 

Show Notes:

-Attorney General Bill Barr’s interview with the Associated Press.

-“As Trump Rages, Voters in a Key County Move On: ‘I’m Not Sweating It’ ” by Elaina Plott in the New York Times.

-Statement from Sen. Ted Cruz urging SCOTUS to hear the Pennsylvania election challenge.

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Charles Koch and Brian Hooks joined Sarah and David to discuss their new book, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World, which is about social entrepreneurship, the principles of human progress, and empowering people to discover their gifts. On today’s show, Koch and Hooks explain how finding common ground with people across the ideological spectrum has helped reorient their approach to public policy reform as it relates to the criminal justice system, education, and more.

 

Show Notes:

-Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World by Charles G. Koch and Brian Hooks.

-Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World's Most Successful Companies by Charles Koch.

-After Life: My Journey from Incarceration to Freedom by Alice Marie Johnson with Nancy French.

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Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg were in the hot seat again on Tuesday, answering questions from Senate Judiciary Committee members about the policing of misinformation and controversial speech on their platforms. The biggest takeaway from the hearing? Both political parties want to regulate Big Tech, but for very different reasons. As David argues, it’s not just that liberals want more censorship and conservatives want less of it. “It’s that liberals want Big Tech censorship in exactly the areas where conservatives want less censorship,” especially as it pertains to hate speech and disinformation. Is there any room for compromise in the war against big tech? Our podcast hosts break it down in layman’s terms. Also on today’s episode: an update on COVID-19’s third wave, Biden’s Cabinet picks, and Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election.

 

Show Notes:

-Reuters poll on Republicans’ perception of election.

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Is the Republican Party in the midst of a policy wasteland? Today’s guest, Ben Ginsberg, surely thinks so. According to Ginsberg, who is perhaps the most prominent Republican election lawyer of our time, the future of the GOP rests on its ability to transform its policy agenda into one that appeals to minorities and women. “If [the GOP] can avoid the circular firing squad and instead concentrate on positive policy ideas to appeal to voters,” Ginsberg warns, then “there is a chance for the resurrection of the party.” Stick around for a conversation about our democracy’s nonexistent voter fraud problem and the GOP’s concerted effort to restrict access to the polls.

 

Show Notes:

-“My party is destroying itself on the altar of Trump,” by Ben Ginsberg in the Washington Post.

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Secretary of Defense Mark Esper got the boot on Monday in a characteristic Twitter announcement from President Trump. Esper’s sudden dismissal was accompanied by a firing spree of numerous other Pentagon officials who were quickly replaced with Trump loyalists, raising a lot of questions and alarm bells in D.C.’s national security bubble. Sarah and the guys break down competing theories that have tried to dissect what the Pentagon purge is all about. According to David, “the moves only really make sense in the context of planning for a second term.” Tune in for a discussion of emerging arguments surrounding the future of the GOP, ongoing election lawsuits, and the conspiratorial trajectory of conservative media.

 

Show Notes:

-The Dispatch Fact Check.

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