Facts & Fury w/ Bill Kuhn

Picking up where Part 1 left off, I discuss three points in Part 2: 1. How key religious figures in the self-proclaimed Moral Majority (i.e. Jerry Falwell and Ralph Reed) led the crusade against the “immoral left” and attached themselves to the Republican party. Fast forward to today: their support for a thrice-married conman credibly accused of sexual assault (Trump) and paying off porn stars belies their religious convictions. I'll share a few quotes that are truly remarkable. 2. Desegregation was the Moral Majority's primary concern as they were dead focused on turning back the clock on civil rights, relegating Black people to separate schools and diner counters. But their influence and desires spread much further. I am talking about welfare, climate change, taxes, regulations, equal rights amendment, and of course, abortion and gay marriage. We have them to thank in large part for recent anti-LGBTQ bills. 3. The differences in how the Moral Majority characterized the extramarital affairs of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump could not be starker. It is entirely instructive to listen to the reactions of these so-called pious men to the Clinton sex scandal in the White House with Trump's well-documented adultery and perversion.

Wyatt Montague, an American, has been working and living in Russia for the last 13 years. He has been there throughout the invasion, even as a bunch of his friends and colleagues have fled the country. He is a brave soul – and a little crazy, if you ask me. I met Wyatt while living and working in Russia myself. I talked with him about his unique perspective on the Russian invasion. He is an engaging writer and has been furiously documenting his observations since the start. We discuss a bunch of topics, including... Putin's support amongst Russians, what a "total blackout on Western news" looks like, the similarities between Kremlin and Trump/GOP propaganda and how Tucker Carlson and other right-wing media are shown constantly in state news programs, police searching cell phones in the metro, racism in Russia compared to that in the United States and more. An interesting piece of news we would not read about in the U.S.: cell phone companies in Russia are restricting the purchase of unlimited data plans because the country is running out of storage capacity to warehouse all the bytes of traffic! I hope you enjoy this discussion!

This episode is part 1 of a two-part series on the recent anti-LGBTQ bills, the history of the Christian Right and the Moral Majority and how their massive influence is responsible for that bill along with many similar pieces of legislation and attempts to limit rights of gay people and people of color. They tried very hard (unsuccessfully) to turn back the clock on desegregation, for example.  In part 1 I will discuss three things: 1. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida recently signed the “parental rights bill” or as I and critics like to call “Don't say gay”. Indeed because that is what it does: restrict the discussion, any discussion, of sexual orientation in grades K-3 and other grades if age-inappropriate. The issue with "age-inappropriate" is that no one has written these standards yet, so we can only assume they will be vague and restrictive. Florida is not the only state to do this. 15 other states have similar bills heading to the governor's desk to sign. 2. America has little separation between church and state, though it is the first line of the first clause of the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion…” This recent spate of anti-LGBTQ laws is a direct result of the radical right's influence on our politics. Beginning in the 1970s, as a response to Black people receiving equal rights (with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act) and college campuses becoming more liberal, there was an outgrowth of hardline Christian conservativism, which began to infiltrate Washington D.C. These radical religious reactionaries eventually took control of Republican party, which had similar objectives, and has influenced policy in America for last several decades.  3. Their influence extends far beyond gay and civil rights to every major issue: environment, common-sense gun laws, money in politics, taxes, you name it. But, as a result of their toxic views and strategy, the church has suffered devastating losses in membership. It was/is effectively killing American Christianity. The American church has been declining by nearly every data point since the Moral Majority's formation. Authors Robert Putnam and David Campbell argue in an article in Foreign Affairs, that Americans (especially young Americans) who might otherwise attend religious services say, ‘Well, if religion is just about conservative politics, then I'm outta here.'” You can't be so political and hateful towards gay and Black people while worshipping the cross.  I hope you learn a bunch and recommend the podcast to your friends and family!

This week's episode is a break from regularly scheduled programming. I interview two Ukrainians, Sasha and Nastya, both of whose entire family is in Ukraine and has been there since the start of the invasion. Some of Sasha's family were able to escape to Romania while Nastia's family remains in Kyiv under heavy Russian bombardment. They cannot leave because Russian soldiers are "shooting people who try to go outside the city by car" and the trains are nearly impossible to board due to lack of space. As of this episode, there have been over 3 million refugees who have fled the country, the largest exodus of refugees in Europe since WWII, according to the UN. In this episode, we discuss a range of topics including the constant sheltering from attack by the Russian military, refugee resettlement, President Zelenskyy, conditions at the border (Poland and Moldova), brainwashing of Russians by Putin and state media and how they talk to their children about war. We also discuss how Nastia and Sasha have family members in Russia who don't believe the "lies about Putin", and proclaim that Russia is just "defending itself" from the West (while their own family is under heavy attack). It is shocking to hear how they describe this deadly information war with their own relatives. Please support Ukrainian resistance and refugees. Here are a few places to donate: https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-to-help-ukraine-now?s=r

“I am a proud guardian of gridlock. I think gridlock is making a big comeback in the country." —Mitch McConnell in 1994 “They won't even be voted on. So think of me as the Grim Reaper.” —McConnell in 2019 (so much has changed) PARTISAN GRIDLOCK: A primary reason people do not have faith in government and there is an all-time low approval of Congress. The GOP's deliberate attempts—beginning in the 1980s—to obstruct Congress and prevent it from passing bills has morphed, naturally, into total fucking chaos (as you can easily observe by picking up any newspaper today). Their mission was to create total dysfunction and ruin in their paths, and they've succeeded. What was once a great deliberative body has devolved into a muddled mess where it's all zinger one-liners and sound bites, and little of substance occurs. It's become a ratings show. Congress doesn't solve problems. It bickers, then raises money, then campaigns. In a cycle just like that. No wonder it's hard to find people who want to run for office. This was all part of their plan. Here's an all-encompassing, one-sentence description of the GOP agenda: If Congress does not function properly, it can't pass any meaningful legislation. Why? Because dysfunction benefits private industry, particularly congressional Republican financial supporters (the radical rich), who want the government to play as small and insignificant a role as possible in their lives, both professionally and personally. That and more on this week's episode

“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” - Barry Goldwater If you don't know the name Barry Goldwater, you should. In 1964, a fifty-three-year-old Republican senator from Arizona absolutely burst onto the national political scene and ran for president against Nelson Rockefeller in the primaries and then Lyndon Johnson in the general election. Goldwater captivated conservatives. It wasn't so much his personality (as was the case with Trump) but his platform: antitax, antigovernment, anti-anything that smacked of socialism! And Goldwater benefited enormously from the backlash against the Civil Rights Movement. Even though he lost, his words and ideas started nothing short of a revolution in the Republican Party, and particularly its elected representatives, who ever since have been pursuing the extremes of his agenda. By strictly adhering to his immortal words, no amount of cutting social programs, dismantling civil rights law, or privatization was too much for a Goldwater conservative. What can also be described as a streak of anarchy (my way or burn it all down) played well in the segregationist and radical rich circles. The White backlash voter of the 1960s finally had a candidate who would reverse desegregation. And immoderate conservatives finally had an ideologue who believed that government should be gutted and destroyed from the inside. This episode will discuss 1. Who is Barry Goldwater? What is Goldwaterism and why did it come about? I will discuss this wildly popular Republican figure and the significance he has within today's GOP. He is one of the most influential figures in the party and his legacy is still felt today. 2. The tenets of Goldwaterism and how, taken to their extremes, they make for an ungovernable country. It is not possible for our two parties to co-exist thanks to this kind of radical extremism. How Goldwater played to the worst instincts of the base: unabashed racism. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, there were a lot of scared white people irrationally wondering if they should fear newly emancipated Black citizens and Goldwater riled them up a coach and a high school football team before the state championships 3. Libertarianism and how it appeals to rich white guys – the "haves" of society. Appeals through procedurally neutral language about free markets and every man for himself make their beliefs sound principled, but don't be fooled, they are used as a way to eradicate all protections afforded to the poor and middle class. 

Former president and Republican icon, Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.” Reagan wrapped these otherwise fringe ideological beliefs in his general affable demeanor. But the sentiment behind this quip remains one of the most destructive forces in our politics. On this episode I will discuss: 1. The conservative war on government. What is it and why do they do it. How they enact their fiercely anti-government agenda, which is incredibly unpopular. 2. Who are these Republicans leading the charge on government destruction. Over the last 40 years, there are those who stand out, namely the famous and powerful ones at the federal level like Reagan. I produce plenty of quotes and data to convince you of what they trying to accomplish. 3. Elected Republicans weren't always this way, meaning at one point they believed in government for good. And government to protect the middle class, the poor and vulnerable among us. You have to go back to before the 60s, but there are plenty of them. The point is elected Republicans didn't always have incredibly toxic views on the place where they work.

Welcome to the facts and fury podcast. This is a podcast about politics. Specifically, it is about the modern Republican party, particularly its leadership, and the destruction they've visited on our democracy over the last 4 decades.  If you care about a well-functioning government, you should care that the elected GOP representatives are trying their best to destroy it. Now I don't mean they are literally burning the place down as Pablo Escobar did to that courthouse in Colombia, they are trying to render it limp and ineffective, like overcooked pasta. Though given what happened on January 6th, the Escobar analogy is not that far off. More to the point, beginning in earnest in the 1980s, the leadership of the Republican Party has devoted itself to waging war on government, where they've deployed a whole range of tactics to weaken public institutions and erode the public's trust in them. They've in fact committed themselves to breaking our government, then condemning its brokenness, and then claiming that only they can fix the problems that they've created. It's quite the grift, isn't it? On today's episode, I will discuss 3 things: 1. What this podcast is about and how it's structured. A lot of the material is based on my upcoming book to be published on Memorial Day of this year and more. How the leadership of the Republican party has been quietly destroying our democracy for the last 40 years 2. How Trump, right-wing media and congressional Republicans have intentionally hijacked our attention in order to distract us from this point and push through a wildly unpopular agenda 3. What we can do to reclaim our focus. I'll discuss data-driven learning strategies so that you can remember more of what you listen to and be more conscious and deliberate with your media choices.