Podcasts about centrists

This week on Open Sources Guelph we begin the difficult juggling act of covering two federal ridings at the same time! This week, we'll start by heading not to Guelph, but the new riding of Wellington-Halton Hills North, which includes South Guelph, where we will hear from two of the candidates hoping that a new riding means new opportunities for any candidate not named "Chong". This Thursday, April, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Stuck in the Centre With You. Tired of partisan politics? Wishing people could come together and build consensus more? Then you might be interested in what Ian Smith has to say. The Erin-based businessman is one of several people across Canada running for the new Centrist Party of Canada in the hope that people want more than in-fighting and three-word slogans, and this week he will lean on his experience in housing management to talk about why the missing middle in politics might be the Centrists. A Man of Acton. The last time Andrew Bascombe ran for federal office he was a new transplant to Acton. That was 2019, and six years later he's ready to do what might seem like the impossible on two fronts: Win one for the NDP and beat the long-standing incumbent Michael Chong. Bascombe will join us this week to talk about why this time it's different for both him and Chong, why the NDP have proved their ready to lead, and why no voter should sleep on an Orange Wave at the end of this month. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

America's political divisions seem insurmountable, yet beneath the surface lies a compelling counternarrative: the moderate middle hasn't disappeared—it's just been silenced. In this episode, Dr. Lura Forcum, president of the Independent Center, to discuss the surprising vitality of centrist politics (and centrist voters) in a polarized age.The numbers tell an unexpected story. With 35% of Americans identifying as moderate (compared to 36% conservative and 26% liberal), and nearly half of voters calling themselves independents, the politically homeless constitute a sleeping giant in American politics. Research from the Independent Center reveals these voters often hold nuanced positions that transcend partisan binaries—typically leaning left on social issues while favoring conservative economic approaches.We discuss the psychology driving our political dysfunction and Dr. Forcum explains how we've transformed political parties from governing partners into tribal identities—"in-groups" we cooperate with and "out-groups" we compete against. "Democracy wasn't designed for this kind of outgroup behavior," she says. When we view opposing parties as enemies rather than collaborators, we are attacking democracy's essential foundation.Perhaps most hopeful is Dr. Forcum's observation that local politics still functions because it demands cooperation: "Trash needs collecting, roads need paving—these necessities force us to work together." This pragmatic approach to governance closely resembles what independent voters want nationally. By building a stronger independent identity and embracing political participation beyond partisan warfare, these moderate voters might hold the key to breaking America's political deadlock.-------------------------Follow Deep Dive:BlueskyYouTube Email: deepdivewithshawn@gmail.com Music: Majestic Earth - Joystock

Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov break down Trump's tariff whiplash and the chaos it's causing for businesses. Then, they dig into Rep. Al Green's censure after protesting Trump's Joint Address and what it says about divisions within the Democratic Party. Plus, Governor Gavin Newsom stirs controversy over transgender athletes, and James Carville urges Democrats to sit back and let Republicans self-destruct. Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov.  Follow Prof G, @profgalloway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Austria may finally have a government! After five months of deadlock, the conservative People's Party (ÖVP), center-left Social Democrats (SPÖ), and liberal Neos have agreed on a coalition. This is Austria's first-ever three-party coalition at the federal level and keeps the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) out of power, despite their win in last September's elections. Quite the political experiment! But will it work and when will the new government be in place according to this information?Join us on our journey through the events that shape the European continent and the European Union.Production: By Europod, in co production with Sphera Network.Follow us on:LinkedInInstagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A.M. Edition for Feb. 24. Markets signal relief after conservative Friedrich Merz's victory. WSJ Berlin bureau chief Bertrand Benoit says Merz wants Europe to be more independent from the U.S. Plus, federal agencies push back on Elon Musk's “What did you do last week?” email. And a bundle of Disney+, Hulu and Max seems to have a stronger hold on viewers than Netflix. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jay Michaelson, an award-winning journalist, professor, rabbi, and author, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring centrism and radicalism, misinformation that circulates far and wide on the topic of Israel-Palestine, and how we might strive for a better Jewish collective relationship to this important issue. This episode is the 5th in an ongoing mini-series exploring North American-Jewish discourse about Israel-Palestine.Announcement: New courses are now open for registration, in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- our digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning. Learn more about our classes by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes -- financial aid is available for all courses in the UnYeshiva.Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

Mark Carney is selling himself as a pragmatic outsider who can rescue the Liberals—and maybe even beat the Conservatives. But behind the polished image and steady-hand rhetoric is the same old agenda: cuts, pipelines, and corporate giveaways.Journalist David Moscrop joins host Donya Ziaee to break down how Carney is rebranding failed ideas as fresh solutions—and who stands to benefit.Read Moscrop's article on Mark Carney here: https://breachmedia.ca/mark-carney-says-hes-a-pragmatic-outsider-but-hes-a-banker-selling-yesterdays-failed-ideas/

We read the papers so you don't have to. Today: The Telegraph reckons that centrist dads might just be the root of all evil. We're off on a weekend trip to a magic mushroom spa for yummy mummies in The Times. Plus – The i has another great column from Kate Lister, but we're worried she's using it to throw some shade at one of her brutally honest best mates. Miranda Sawyer is joined by the crème de la crème of the Paper Cuts family – featuring Michael Clarke, Natasha Devon, Jonn Elledge, Jessica Fostekew, Jacob Hawley, Coco Khan, Stu McPherson, Helen Price, and Marjolein Robertson.  Support Paper Cuts and get mugs, t-shirts, extended ad-free editions and access to our exclusive live streams here: back.papercutsshow.com Follow Paper Cuts: • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/papercutsshow.bsky.social • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@papercutsshow • Twitter: https://twitter.com/papercutsshow • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/papercutsshow • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@papercutsshow Illustrations by Modern Toss https://moderntoss.com  Written and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Audio production: Simon Williams. Production. Liam Tait. Design: James Parrett. Music: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Exec Producer: Martin Bojtos. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. PAPER CUTS is a Podmasters Production Podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC. 

Spider-Man 2 gets patches on PC, PSN goes down and up, Warner tries to figure it all out, Football Manager takes an extra year, Eternal Strands, the impact of the Atari Jaguar, Nintendo's shadowy ways, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we sit down with Dominic Cardy, leader of the Future Party of Canada, to discuss his vision for the country's political future. But we also talk pineapple ice-cream, VR headsets and airplanes.All our links:https://bio.to/canboringThis podcast is hosted two idiots and created purely for entertainment purposes. By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the CIB Podcast makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions presented in this Podcast are for general entertainment and humor only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. However, if we get it badly wrong and you wish to suggest a correction, please email canadianpoliticsisboring@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the fifth anniversary of Brexit - is Ed a remoaner, what's gone wrong for the centrists, and is it time for boomers to open their pockets?Ed Vaizey unpacks the politics of the day with Zoe Strimpel and Robin Brant. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm back in your ears this week — testing out an idea. There's a lot of political chat shows out there aimed at slices of the ideological spectrum, but the middle is underserved. Shouldn't we have a show to digest the news, hash out some civil disagreements, talk a little bit about how the right and left are screwing things up, and also have a little fun?Ben Dreyfuss, Megan McArdle, and Mike Pesca join me this week to discuss Trump's first week, the big economic promises he'll have trouble fulfilling, the relative apathy of “the Resistance” compared to 2017, what we're looking forward to about his presidency, the war on DEI, the TikTok ban reprieve, and even the newest unit of measure of time: the “Ramaswamy,” which is negative one days. Let us know what you think: mayo@joshbarro.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joshbarro.com/subscribe

You know what? It's 2025. Time we grew the fuck up! It's time to toss away our childish things, such as good lighting and fun character writing, and watch a show about REAL giant robot war. Thankfully Netflix has just the thing. This ain't your grandpappy's Transformers, kiddos! This is a big important WAR STORY that has discussion of TREATIES and WAR CRIMES in it! Will we tell you what the treaty entails, or what the war crimes are? NO!! Everyone sounds cool and badass and has absolutely no personality beyond "grizzled", just like REAL WAR! Optimus Prime is a gigantic fucking idiot...just like REAL WAR!!! So sit down, shut up, and get ready to LEARN!! Noise Space | Discord

As the Premiers' meeting finishes up big disagreement took place between Danielle Smith and Ford/Trudeau on how to handle Trump's tariffs. Ontario wants to place retaliatory tariffs on Oil and Gas, and Smith does not. Mark Carney and Trudeau weigh in further deepening the Tension in the country. Listen to our Podcast on the go: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elev8podcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elev8podcast X: https://twitter.com/TheElev8Podcast 0:00 - Intro 1:06 - Alberta vs Ontario 5:58 - The Divide in Canada Grows 10:35 - Mark Carney Markets Himself as a Centrist while Attacking Smith 12:30 - Liberals Warn Canada about Carney 17:19 - Wild Card

From the edge of the Great Red Divide, the Blue Island in the middle of America, this is the heartland mamas Podcast with your host, Heidi HenryWho the hell are we as Democrats? Are we the GET STUFF DONE party of FDR, JFK, Johnson, Carter and Biden? Or are we the Centrist party of Clinton and Obama? Democracy, FDR, Jasmine Crockett, JFK, Johnson, Carter, Biden, Clinton, Obama, trump is a dick with ears, trump is a convicted felon, trump, health care, DNC, DPI, Democratic Party, Guns, Safety, armageddon, evangelicals are nuts,

lleague Katrina vanden Heuvel remarks that the Ukraine tragedy is driving out centrist governments in Europe and ushering in the populist right. More later." 1772 Potsdam

Tired of the loud Left and alt. Right crowding out sensible debate? So are we! We're centrists - centre-Left & centre-Right - and we've had enough of this sh*t! Note: Foul language Patreon: patreon.com/edthesock   Todays panel: Ed the Sock (host); Laura Babcock, national news commentator on CTV News, communications strategist and president of Powergroup Communications and host of The O Show. Mark Bourrie is a lawyer and author with a PhD in history and 24-year member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa who is putting the finishing touches on his upcoming book about Pierre Poilievre. Lori King is a Gen Xer with long time love and involvement in politics , political campaigns and community service, former riding association president for the provincial BC Liberals, and founder of the newly-formed King Media Watch.  

As Promised, the FULL Episode has been unlocked thanks to your podcast reviews and Patreon Subscriptions which help make the show possible. A look at Sam Harris's post-election transphobic meltdown. _____ Links: Woking Up Miniseries Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1caIpbHnvDjKu0Ph4DA0Nb?si=mVwmALDdQnG1w4TgBsu-eg&pi=u-1R3kJWRIR0Om More about the Centrists at Blueprint Polling: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/blueprint-polling-reid-hoffman-biden-trump.html https://x.com/blueprint_2024/status/1857464633365508479?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw On the Rise of the Latino far right: https://bsky.app/profile/therightpodcast.bsky.social/post/3lba5o5ls5s2p Majority of ‘news influencers' are conservative men: https://www.usermag.co/p/the-majority-of-news-influencers ‘Your body, my choice': Attacks on women surge on social media following election https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/11/business/your-body-my-choice-movement-election/index.html Mass arrests after pro-Israel inciter shouts ‘ki!! The J*ws' https://x.com/thedailybeast/status/1784261533771464849?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw Pro-Israel protestors doing N@zi salute to intimidate anti-Zionist Jewish protestors https://x.com/michaelsoftinc/status/1784254756656939386?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw IOC calls tests that sparked vitriol targeting boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting impossibly flawed https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-imane-khelif-lin-yuting-boxing-13e9529195585404c7b03c96f97dd634 https://abcnews.go.com/International/olympic-boxer-imane-khelifs-gender-center-ioc-iba/story?id=112509303 The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, has a female passport," the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a press conference on Friday. Gender-affirming surgeries rarely performed on transgender youth https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/gender-affirming-surgeries-rarely-performed-on-transgender-youth/ On day 1 - Biden signed an executive order making it clear that his administration interprets the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. https://www.politico.com/interactives/2021/interactive_biden-first-day-executive-orders/ Sex Redefined https://www.nature.com/articles/518288a

While the resignation of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has kicked off a race within the Liberal Party for a new leader, it also points to a larger trend—collective downfall of Left & Centrist parties in democracies, and rise of far-Right. In Episode 1584 of #CutTheClutter Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta examines reasons that led to Trudeau's fall, a new face for Canada & how the Left is losing ground in democracies around the world.----more----Read Financial Time Ilya Gridneff's article here: https://www.ft.com/content/0dbce05b-32ad-4aaa-aef6-db00de497840----more----Read Financial Time John Burn-Murdoch's article here: https://www.ft.com/content/350ba985-bb07-4aa3-aa5e-38eda7c525dd----more----Read The Washington Pos Fareed Zakaria's article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/04/new-york-florida-liberal-failure/----more----Read The wall Street Journal article here: https://www.wsj.com/world/global-politics-conservative-right-shift-ea0e8d05----more----Read The Globe And Mail Tony Keller's article here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-trudeau-stayed-too-long-thats-what-narcissistic-procrastinators-do/----more----Watch Cut The Clutter episode 1547 here: https://youtu.be/sCjr-jBJ0LQ

Happy New Year! Join us as we nurse our hangovers and take a ride through 2024's greatest hits—economic and otherwise. From the explosive surge of Swiftonomics (yes, Taylor Swift boosted Ireland's GDP!) to the surprising resilience of the Centrist Dad Economy, we unpack the stories that defined the year. Did Apple's €13 billion tax debacle teach us anything? Are we more Boston or Berlin as we outpace Europe in growth? And how did a housing market on the brink coexist with 160,000 fans belting out Anti-Hero in Croke Park? It's Ireland's year of contradictions, featuring corporate tax quirks, and the existential debate about whether we're Connecticut with bad weather or the EU's cheekiest tax haven. We're diving deep into the economics of everything that happened this year.  Join the gang! https://plus.acast.com/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Looking for a Google and ChatGPT alternative that's built specifically for conservatives? Don't miss out on TUSK - the ultimate two-in-one combo! Find out more at: https://tuskbrowser.com/search/ TUSK City: Santa Barbara Address: 5383 Hollister Ave., Suite 120 Website: https://tuskbrowser.com/ Email: jeff@tuskbrowser.com

• Our Black Friday sale is still on! Get 20% off annual Patreon support for The Bunker. Beige against the machine – Mocked by left and right in the 2010s, Centrist Dad had the last laugh. Now he bestrides our politics like gilet-clad colossus – he's even Prime Minister. But what makes him tick? How is he adjusting to power? What is Centrist Mum like? Authors of The Centrist Dad Handbook, friend of the pod Jason Hazeley and pal Nico Tatarowicz, talk to Andrew Harrison about the man at the centre of it all.  • Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more - www.patreon.com/bunkercast • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.   Presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams and Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports French President Emmanuel Macron has named his new prime minister, after a historic parliamentary vote ousted the previous government last week.

BLACK FRIDAY SALE: 50% OFF ANNUAL MEANS TV SUBSCRIPTIONS. GO TO FUCKNETFLIX.NET TO TAKE ADVANTAGE BEFORE THE SALE ENDS -Ceasefire in Lebanon hangs by a thread after repeated Israeli violations -GOP Senators unbothered by allegations against DefSec nominee -Joe pardons Hunter, leaves tens of thousands languishing -Centrists put French government on the verge of collapse

Eric Adams seems to think so, and that Trump's victory proves the left has lost its way. FAQ hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss the mayor's solid political instincts and his dubious press strategy, why he's still talking about Andrew Yang, and much more.

Here's an in-depth look at Sam Harris's post-election transphobic meltdown. Which hasn't changed much from his 2016 post-election meltdown. _____ Links: Woking Up Miniseries Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1caIpbHnvDjKu0Ph4DA0Nb?si=mVwmALDdQnG1w4TgBsu-eg&pi=u-1R3kJWRIR0Om Find me on Bluesky at: nicemangos@bsky.social /Instagram @nicemangosart More about the Centrists at Blueprint Polling: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/blueprint-polling-reid-hoffman-biden-trump.html https://x.com/blueprint_2024/status/1857464633365508479?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw On the Rise of the Latino far right: https://bsky.app/profile/therightpodcast.bsky.social/post/3lba5o5ls5s2p Majority of ‘news influencers' are conservative men: https://www.usermag.co/p/the-majority-of-news-influencers ‘Your body, my choice': Attacks on women surge on social media following election https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/11/business/your-body-my-choice-movement-election/index.html Mass arrests after pro-Israel inciter shouts ‘ki!! The J*ws' https://x.com/thedailybeast/status/1784261533771464849?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw World court finds Israel responsible for Apartheid https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/19/world-court-finds-israel-responsible-apartheid Angela Carini apologizes to Imane Khelif https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/articles/c2j3jg51rg4o IOC calls tests that sparked vitriol targeting boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting impossibly flawed https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-imane-khelif-lin-yuting-boxing-13e9529195585404c7b03c96f97dd634 Emane's father shares document with Reuters that states her gender https://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics/father-algerian-boxer-khelif-says-he-is-honoured-by-his-daughter-2024-08-03/ Inside the tough childhood of Emane Khelif https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/imane-khelif-olympics-boxer-trans-debate-gender-xy-chromosome-b2594067.html Tenured Jewish professor fired for criticism of Israel https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2024/09/27/tenured-jewish-prof-says-shes-fired-pro-palestine Gender-affirming surgeries rarely performed on transgender youth https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/gender-affirming-surgeries-rarely-performed-on-transgender-youth/ Biden' s day 1 executive orders https://www.politico.com/interactives/2021/interactive_biden-first-day-executive-orders/ Sex Redefined https://www.nature.com/articles/518288a https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/kamala-harris-trans-rights-platform/ In a 2019 ACLU survey, Kamala Harris said she supported gender-affirming care for all trans adults, even those who were incarcerated in prisons or ICE facilities.

We take a closer look at the council's tie vote on Cathy Moore's proposal to tax the rich. Does the vote foreshadow more progressive things to come? We debate that and other juicy budget tidbits.  Note: this episode taped on Wednesday Nov 20th before the full council vote on Moore's proposed capital gains tax.   Quinn Waller is our editor.  Thanks to Uncle Ike's pot shop for sponsoring this week's episode! If you want to advertise please contact us at realseattlenice@gmail.comSend us a text! but we can only respond to emails realseattlenice@gmail.comSupport the showYour support on Patreon helps pay for editing, production, live events and the unique, hard-hitting local journalism and commentary you hear weekly on Seattle Nice.

On this episode... Leaving Twitter, who says marmalade and let's be real for a second.Get show tickets now: https://up-the-creek.com/events/kae-kurd-marcus-bronzy-aint-got-a-clue-27-11-2024/Send in your "Clueless questions" to aintgotacluepodcast@gmail.comFor early add free access to all episodes and bonus bits:1 - Apple Podcasts - Click here or Tap Try Free on the Apple Podcasts app for a three day free trial.2 - Via Patreon by clicking herehttps://www.patreon.com/aintgotaclue/Follow AGAC on...Tik Tok- https://www.tiktok.com/@aintgotacluepodYouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYz3U9CDm_xhBpmRWN3I9TwInstagram- https://instagram.com/aintgotacluepodMentioned in this episode:Live show november 27th 2024 at up the creek comedy club london uk! get your tickets here https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/kae-kurd-marcus-bronzy-aint-up-the-creek-tickets/13920553

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Nov. 19, 2024, we talk to local “small C” conservatives about the recent election and their advice for those on both sides of the aisle.

On this edition of Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michae, journalist and political commentator Jeet Heer of The Nation returns for a deep dive into the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the failings of centrist Democrats, and the implications of a potential second Trump administration. Key topics discussed include: Bernie Sanders' Warning: Jeet Heer echoes Bernie Sanders' critique that Democrats have abandoned the working-class vote. The conversation explores how the party's failure to promote antitrust actions, like those spearheaded by Lina Khan, and Kamala Harris's outreach to billionaires such as Mark Cuban, have alienated voters. Trump's Anti-System Appeal: Heer analyzes Donald Trump's resonance with anti-system politics in contrast to Democrats' status-quo messaging, which he argues doomed Harris's campaign. We also discuss the Harris campaign going after the votes of moderate Republicans and cozying up to Liz Cheney (and getting an endorsement from Dick Cheney). Shock-and-Awe Nominations: The discussion examines Trump's picks for key positions—Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, Tulsi Gabbard as DNI, Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, and RFK Jr. at HHS—and their potential to destabilize the political landscape. Jeet also gives his view on the strategy undergirding Trump's picks Mafia Governance and NATO: Jeet predicts that a second Trump term would involve a governance style favoring loyalists, with significant repercussions for NATO and European allies. Freedom of Speech Under Siege: Heer warns that free speech could be the first casualty of a second Trump term, with centrists potentially supporting crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protesters. The MAGA Antiwar Mirage: Trump's antiwar rhetoric is dissected as a façade, with Heer pointing out hawkish tendencies toward Mexico and Ukraine within MAGA ranks. The episode opens with a reflection on Antonio Gramsci's famous quote about living in "a time of monsters," setting the tone for a discussion on the political chaos of the present moment. Jeet also provides a historical perspective, linking Trumpism to the conspiratorial tendencies of the 20th-century Old Right and groups like the John Birch Society. This thought-provoking conversation unpacks the stakes of 2024, from systemic political failures to the looming threats of authoritarianism and international instability under a second Trump administration.

Dive into an inspiring journey with Daniel Puder, undefeated MMA Fighter, WWE $1M Tough Enough Champion turned social entrepreneur. Discover how he's reshaping education for the younger generation through tech-savvy, state-funded private schools to create future-ready leaders. From fighting in the ring to fighting for a better future, hear his takes on nutrition, AI's transformative power, and the mission to put America and it's children of the future first. With endorsements from Dr. Oz, collaborations with Mike Tyson and Tony Robbins, this is a must-listen! 00:00 Introduction 03:56 Daniel's beginnings to becoming a fighter 12:40 Daniel's artist son / Art Basel 17:40 Nutrition + Positive Shifts 20:35 American vs. European Diets 22:00 The Fighter 31:15 WWE: early support from my hometown Rockford, IL 34:30 Boxers, MMA Fighters some of the toughest athletes 38:24 What a Fighter thinks right before a fight 45:30 Educating Youth: My Life My Power, MLPI 44:32 AI changing the World 55:20 The Most Influential Leaders in the World 1:01:01 Shaping the Youth, Shaping our Future 1:03:45 PSA for both sides: be more Centrist and put America First. 1:12:30 SYSK: DanielPuder.com Forgive the poor audio quality in certain spots on this episode. Keep listening though because it's great content! This episode is part of the ‘Prof P' series on the Whiskey Hue Stream. Recorded in part for my Business of Sports Media students. Please Rate, Review, Subscribe and Share with a Friend! Means a lot to us - thank YOU! For more info on Venture, Tech, Sports and Investing, visit: ⁠⁠Atul Prashar | LinkedIn

It was a dreary election night for the left, but Seattle progressives celebrated city council candidate Alexis Mercedes Rinck's decisive victory over incumbent Tanya Woo. By Thursday afternoon Rinck's lead had grown to around 16 percentage points. Are voters sending a message to the centrist city council majority, led by Sara Nelson?  Erica and Sandeep debate and discuss.  Quinn Waller is our editor. Send us a textThanks to Uncle Ike's pot shop for sponsoring this week's episode! If you want to advertise please contact us at realseattlenice@gmail.comSupport the showYour support on Patreon helps pay for editing, production, live events and the unique, hard-hitting local journalism and commentary you hear weekly on Seattle Nice.

Tired of ChatGPT and want an alternative that has a bit of character? Gippr AI from TUSK is the best tool on the market for conservative AI content! Find out more at: https://tuskbrowser.com/gippr/ TUSK City: Santa Barbara Address: 5383 Hollister Ave., Suite 120 Website: https://tuskbrowser.com/ Email: jeff@tuskbrowser.com

Earlier this week, Trump pollster Scott Rasmussen said that former Democratic President Bill Clinton's border remarks were more centrist, which could cause problems for Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign. Bill Clinton referred to earlier this year when illegal alien from Venezuela was charged with the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. Clinton remarked, “They made an ad about a young woman who had been killed by an immigrant. Yeah, well, if they'd all been properly vetted that probably wouldn't have happened.” Rasmussen commented on the former President's comments, that “[Bill Clinton] always had a better sense of some of the more centrist issues," "He was much more centrist of a politician. So he spoke the truth in a way that may hurt the Harris campaign."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dust off your illegal VHS tapes and be prepared to write a strongly worded letter to Points of View because we're back with the second part of our ‘Banned by the Beeb' two-parter looking at three more episodes of Star Trek that suffered the wrath of British censorship. We're back with three episodes, the final two banned TOS episodes, starting with ‘The Empath' where William Shatner has to do some Dark Place style slow-motion running and McCoy definitely violates some medical practices as our latest butt-headed aliens the Vians pull out the chains and then with ‘Whom Gods Destroy' where Kirk and Spock are repeatedly taken in and out of rooms and forced to ask chess questions by a mad-man in mismatched boots. Which episode is more controversial- SHOOT THEM BOTH, SPOCK! But after that, the fun and hijinks go away with ‘The High Ground,' a TNG episode banned due to a line about Irish Reunification and Miles and Charlie find themselves having to ponder the age old question, can a show written, produced and made by Americans talk about how fighting for independence against oppressive colonialist Imperialism and somehow seem to conclude that it's a bad thing, actually. Or, as Miles' wife Reanna said as she watched the episode with him ‘Gosh, this has aged well.' There are some things we can try to make fun, not everything. Episodes discussed: ‘The Empath' (11:37), ‘Whom Gods Destroy' (42:59) and ‘The High Ground (01:08:30) Talking Points Include: THEY PUT BABY SUPERMAN IN A MICROWAVE?!?!, Judge Dredd killing the Jolly Green Giant, dialogue censorship in American comics, Miles' 12th Wedding Anniversary is a good excuse to go off on how amazing the film ‘Lifeforce' is, Alex Garland's ‘Annihilation,' Patrick Stewart's first movie kiss, Charlie has a physical subscript to 2000 AD (Lucky Bugger, Miles has to do digital), 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine, SHIFT Magazine that Charlie has a story in, Alan Moore's ‘The March of the Sinister Ducks,' Miles tries his empathic powers, the three different alien physicalities of Star Trek, DeForest Kelley's favourite episode, Hurt/Comfort fanfic, sometimes you can tell that the cast know the show's getting cancelled soon, the Cenobites would hate dealing with Starfleet, old make-up techniques, how the characters have become less real over the first three seasons, William Shatner doing his slow-mo running, the British hatred of Morris Men and all they stand for, how a lot of modern comedy lacks actual stakes, The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones, Jeff knows what he's done, Yvonne Craig (TV's Batgirl) as a dancing girl, Mental Health doesn't work how Star Trek thinks it works, lots of shouting, oh God more Am-Dram, Legion of Super-Heroes, did Wayne's World ruin the name ‘Garth?' Double-Nerve Pinch, ‘Pointy-Eared Bum Head!'Garth's really bad Glam-Rock band, did the BBC have a point? Power-Mad-Starbucks Supervisors, padding, Kylie Minogue, Michael Bolton, where do Americans know Kylie Monogue from? the Troubles, the IRA's attempt to assassinate Thatcher in the 80s (in Miles and Charlie's hometown no less!), Picard is unable to answer the important question ‘What is terrorism?' and ‘but doesn't terrorism occasionally work for good outcomes?', does Magneto have a point? Imperialism, Colonialism, Centrists are the worst, it really stops being fun talking points for The High Ground, the actor playing Finn seems to be going for a Jack Nicholson-esque drawl to sound dangerous, but he just sounds utterly checked out. And sometimes Star Trek. Pedants Corner: ‘Neighbours' was a long running Australian soap-opera that would air in the 5:30 timeslot Monday-Friday evening BBC 1 slot after the kids' programming ended and before the 6 o'Clock News. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Miles' blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com  Charlie's blog: http://www.fakedtales.com 

In this News Brief, we discuss the Democratic nominee's overt embrace of conservative policy and politicians and the widespread, unchecked assumption that tracking right has zero electoral trade-offs.

This week on Here's What We Know, we have a groundbreaking conversation with two esteemed guests, Hunter Walker, an investigative journalist and former White House correspondent, and Luppe B. Luppen, a lawyer and a prominent social media presence and writer. Together they discuss their book, The Truce: Progressive, Centrist, and the Future of the Democratic Party, offering listeners an insider's account of political dynamics within the Democratic Party.In This Episode:Access to Insider StoriesThe Relationship Between Barrack Obama and Joe BidenObama's Role in the 2020 ElectionThe Standard Bearer of the Democratic PartyKamala Harris & MisstepsLikability and Sexism in PoliticsAttacks and Double Standards in PoliticsTension Over US Support for Israel's Campaign in GazaFractures with the Progressive and Centrist CoalitionThe Importance of Key Voters Groups of BidenThe High School Drama of PoliticsWriting a Book TogetherUnvarnished Understanding of Political PlayersElection InsightsThe Goal for Biden and Trump: Just Win, BabyThis episode is sponsored by:Bison Junk RemovalSterling Oak CabinetryBio:Luppe B. Luppen is a lawyer and a writer in New York City. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he graduated from Stanford University (2005) and Washington & Lee School of Law (2008).Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nycsouthpaw/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@nycsouthpawX: https://x.com/nycsouthpawHunter Walker is an investigative reporter and author based in Brooklyn, New York. He has written for notable publications such as Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic. Walker spent five years as a White House Correspondent for Yahoo! News during the Trump administration and has covered politics for outlets like Business Insider and the New York Observer. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrhunterwalker/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunterwalker/Connect with Gary: Gary's Website Follow Gary on Instagram Gary's Tiktok Gary's Facebook Watch the episodes on YouTube Advertise on the Podcast Thank you for listening. Let us know what you think about this episode. Leave us a review!

Longtime listeners will know how tinfoil hat we were about tech before the mossad pager terrorist attack, but now we’re straight up ready to go terrestrial radio, so keep an eye out for that equipment gofundme! Does the new Trump shooter speak for all liberal boomers? Conner O’Malley is a visionary. We’re divesting from flagship … Continue reading "207 – Radical Centrists"

This week, new reporting from Propublica shows Judge Aileen Cannon's failure to disclose gifts and trips; Donald Trump files his omnibus reply in support of additional discovery in the DC case; and Dahlia Lithwick joins to discuss the latest revelations about SCOTUS.Plus, listener questions. Questions for the pod Submit questions for the pod here https://formfacade.com/sm/PTk_BSogJFollow Dahlia Lithwickhttps://twitter.com/DahlialithwickGet Lady Justice by Dahlia Lithwickhttps://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610577/lady-justice-by-dahlia-lithwick/Slate's Amicus Podcasthttps://slate.com/podcasts/amicusWe Helped John Roberts Construct His Image as a Centrist. We Were So Wrong.We Helped John Roberts Construct His Image as a Centrist. We Were So Wrong.How Roberts Shaped Trump's Supreme Court Winning StreakHow Chief Justice Roberts Shaped Trump's Supreme Court Winning Streak - The New York TimesJudge Aileen Cannon Failed to Disclose a Right-Wing JunketJudge Aileen Cannon Failed to Disclose a Right-Wing Junket — ProPublicaCREW Amicushttps://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/25-1-2024-09-03-Attachment-1.pdfSeligman Amicushttps://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=25091493-seligman-aQuestions for the pod Submit questions for the pod here https://formfacade.com/sm/PTk_BSogJGood to know:The Presidential Records ActThe Presidential Records Act | National ArchivesAMICI CURIAE to the District Court of DC https://democracy21.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Attachment-Brief-of-Amici-Curiae-in-Support-of-Governments-Proposed-Trial-Date.pdfRule 403bhttps://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_40318 U.S. Code § 1512https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512Prior RestraintPrior Restraint | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information InstituteBrady MaterialBrady Rule | US Law |Cornell Law School | Legal Information Institutehttps://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brady_rule#:~:text=Brady%20material%2C%20or%20the%20evidence,infer%20against%20the%20defendant's%20guiltJenksJencks Material | Thomson Reuters Practical Law Glossaryhttps://content.next.westlaw.com/Glossary/PracticalLaw/I87bcf994d05a11e598dc8b09b4f043e0?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)Gigliohttps://definitions.uslegal.com/g/giglio-information/Statutes:18 U.S.C. § 241 | Conspiracy Against Rights18 U.S.C. § 371 | Conspiracy to Defraud the United States | JM | Department of Justice18 U.S.C.  § 1512 | Tampering With Victims, Witnesses, Or Informants Check out other MSW Media podcastshttps://mswmedia.com/shows/Follow AGMueller, She Wrote Substackhttps://twitter.com/allisongillhttps://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrotehttps://twitter.com/dailybeanspodAndrew McCabe isn't on social media, but you can buy his book The ThreatThe Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and TrumpWe would like to know more about our listeners. Please participate in this brief surveyListener Survey and CommentsThis Show is Available Ad-Free And Early For Patreon and Supercast Supporters at the Justice Enforcers level and above:https://dailybeans.supercast.techOrhttps://patreon.com/thedailybeansOr when you subscribe on Apple Podcastshttps://apple.co/3YNpW3P Questions for the pod Submit questions for the pod here https://formfacade.com/sm/PTk_BSogJ AMICI CURIAE to the District Court of DC https://democracy21.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Attachment-Brief-of-Amici-Curiae-in-Support-of-Governments-Proposed-Trial-Date.pdfGood to know:Rule 403bhttps://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_40318 U.S. Code § 1512https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512 Prior RestraintPrior Restraint | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information InstituteBrady MaterialBrady Rule | US Law |Cornell Law School | Legal Information Institutehttps://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brady_rule#:~:text=Brady%20material%2C%20or%20the%20evidence,infer%20against%20the%20defendant's%20guiltJenksJencks Material | Thomson Reuters Practical Law Glossaryhttps://content.next.westlaw.com/Glossary/PracticalLaw/I87bcf994d05a11e598dc8b09b4f043e0?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)Gigliohttps://definitions.uslegal.com/g/giglio-information/Statutes:18 U.S.C. § 241 | Conspiracy Against Rights18 U.S.C. § 371 | Conspiracy to Defraud the United States | JM | Department of Justice18 U.S.C. § 1512 | Tampering With Victims, Witnesses, Or Informants Questions for the pod Submit questions for the pod here https://formfacade.com/sm/PTk_BSogJCheck out other MSW Media podcastshttps://mswmedia.com/shows/Follow AGFollow Mueller, She Wrote on Posthttps://twitter.com/allisongillhttps://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrotehttps://twitter.com/dailybeanspodAndrew McCabe isn't on social media, but you can buy his book The ThreatThe Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and TrumpWe would like to know more about our listeners. Please participate in this brief surveyListener Survey and CommentsThis Show is Available Ad-Free And Early For Patreon and Supercast Supporters at the Justice Enforcers level and above:https://dailybeans.supercast.techOrhttps://patreon.com/thedailybeansOr when you subscribe on Apple Podcastshttps://apple.co/3YNpW3P

 A new federal political party, the Canadian Future Party, is pitching itself as a centrist alternative for voters disillusioned with the Conservatives and Liberals.It's already announced candidates for two upcoming byelections.Front Burner host Jayme Poisson spoke with the party's interim leader, Dominic Cardy, about why he believes voters are so dissatisfied with the major parties, how he says there's a “drive towards more and more extremism” among the Liberals and Conservatives, and why he thinks centrism can satisfy Canadians looking for change.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

“We live in a complicated world . . . We have to balance those tensions, and the way that we do that is not by running away from them and looking for simplistic answers, but actually by embracing that complexity.” In his new book of essays, “The Center Must Hold,” Yair Zivan, Foreign Policy Advisor to Israel's Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who heads Israel's largest centrist political party, argues for a return to centrist politics as an antidote to the extremism and polarized politics proliferating around the globe today. The essays, by authors including Israel's former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, American political commentator Jennifer Rubin, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and philanthropist Catherine Murdoch, call populism fatally flawed and prescribe centrism as the solution to political ire around the globe.  *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC. Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Yair Zivan Show Notes: Listen – People of the Pod: What the Unprecedented Assassinations of Terror Leaders Means for Israel and the Middle East Aviva Klompas is Fighting the Normalization of Antisemitism on Social Media On the Ground at the Republican National Convention: What's at Stake for Israel and the Middle East? Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Transcript of Interview with Yair Zivan: Manya Brachear Pashman:   Yair Zivan has served as an advisor to Israel's Foreign Minister, Prime Minister and President. Most recently, he has edited a series of essays that argue for a return to centrist politics as an antidote to the extremism and polarized politics we see proliferating around the globe today. The title of that book: “The Center Must Hold”. The essays by authors including Israel's former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, American political commentator Jennifer Rubin, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and philanthropist Catherine Murdoch, call out populism as fatally flawed and prescribe centrism as the solution to political ire around the globe. Yair, welcome to People of the Pod. Yair Zivan:     Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So let's start with the title of this essay collection, which is a spin, your spin on the line from the Yates poem The Second Coming. And that poem was written more than a century ago, also during a time of worldwide angst after World War One and the flu pandemic and the poem's opening line is, things fall apart, the center cannot hold. Why do you argue the center must hold? Yair Zivan:     So I think that the play on words there is about a kind of a fatalism that says it can't and saying, Well, we don't really have that luxury if we believe, as I do, that the center is the answer to the polarization and the populism and the extremism that's tearing us apart, then it simply has to hold.  Now that's not to say that it will automatically or by default. It means we have to go out and fight for it, and that's what I've been trying to do with the book and with the events around it, is to make the case that the center can hold if we go out and make that happen. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So what is centrism anyway? Yair Zivan:     It's a good place to start. I'll start with what centrism isn't. Centrism is not the middle. It's not a search for some point on a map between where the left and the right happen to be at any given time. That just leaves you getting dragged around from place to place by whatever the political winds are. It's not useful as a political idea. It's also not successful as a political idea.  Centrism says, here are a set of core values that we believe should be at the center of politics. They should be the things that are at the heart of our democratic political tradition, our political instinct. And you can trace it back to the early '90s, to Clinton and to Blair and the third way movement. You can trace it back much further, Oliver Wendell Holmes is often cited as a good example of a centrist political philosophy.  But at its core, what centrism says is we live in a complicated world, and we have to manage that complexity. We have to balance those tensions, and the way that we do that is not by running away from them and looking for simplistic answers, but actually by embracing that complexity. And by saying when we find the best balance between these competing tensions, and that's not to say split the difference and find the middle. There are times when we go more one way and more another, it's to say that is the way that we can best hold within us the complexities of running a country today. And there are some very core values at the heart of that liberal patriotism, this idea that it's good to love your country. It's good to be a patriot without being a nationalist, without hating others, without having to degrade other people in order to affirm your sense of love for your own country.  We talk about equality of opportunity, the idea that the role of government is to give everybody the best possible chance to succeed. It's not to guarantee an equality of outcome at the end, but it's to say we're going to make sure that children have a good education system and that their health care system gives them a chance to succeed, and they have a hot meal every day, and then people that want to work hard and take those opportunities and be innovative will be able to succeed in society.  It talks about the politics of hope, as opposed to the politics of fear and division, so creating a national story that people can rally around, rather than one that divides us inevitably into camps and separates us, which is what I think populists and extremists try to do.  So there's a whole host of them, and I would say one of the core ones, and maybe why it's so important and so relevant now, is that centrism is the place where you defend liberal democracy. It's fashionable today to talk about the death of liberalism and why liberalism can't possibly survive, and liberal democracy is an aberration in human history, and really we're meant to be ruled by kings and autocrats. And I say no, liberal democracy is good. It's actually the best system of government we've ever had, and we should work really hard to defend it and to protect it.  And the only place you can do that is in the political center. You can't trust the political right and the political left to defend the institutions of liberal democracy, because they only do it up until the point when it's uncomfortable for them. The right has taken on itself the mantle of free speech, and the right is really great at protecting free speech right up until the point that it's speech they don't like and then they're banning books in libraries.  And the left loves talking about protecting the institutions of liberal democracy until it disagrees with them, and then it's happy to start bending around the edges. The Center is the place where we say the institutions, the ideas, the culture of liberal democracy, is something that's worth defending and worth defending passionately and strongly. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So I'm curious, are these core values universal to centrism, or are they really up to individual communities? Is it, in other words, is it up to communities, nations to decide what centrism is in their region, in their neck of the woods, if you will?  Yair Zivan:     So there is always variety in any political idea, in any political approach, where people adapt it to their own systems, but the core principles have to be the same core principles. And one of the things I set out to do in this book is to say, actually, centrism is something that works across the globe. So Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian Prime Minister, and Andreas Velasco, a former presidential candidate in Latin America, and we have Argentinians, and we have a Japanese contributor, and the idea is to say centrism as the principles that I laid out as the core idea is the antidote to the extremism and polarization that we're seeing works everywhere, and that's actually a really important part.  Now, sure, there are different issues that you deal with in different countries. Also say the threat is different in different countries, if part of what we're doing is an alternative to extremism and polarization. Then in Latin America, people are more worried today about the rise of a populist far left, whereas in Europe, they might be more worried about the rise of a populist far right. And so the challenge is different and the response is different, but the core principles, I think, are the same and they are consistent. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So do you believe that this philosophy is eroding? I mean, it seems to be happening at the same time around the world, in various democracies, Europe, United States, Israel. But do you agree? I mean, is this eroding, or is that too strong a word? Yair Zivan:     Look, I think one of the problems with centrist is we're often not very good at talking about our successes and pretty down on ourselves, rather than actually taking pride in really good things that we've done and in places where we win and places where we do well, the test of a political idea is not if it wins every election. No one wins every election, right? That's part of politics as a pendulum. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but the more important thing is not whether you win every election. And don't get me wrong, I work in politics. I like to win. I like to get votes. I like to be in government so that we can do the things that we care about, right? That's why we're in politics. But the test of the idea is whether it can also survive, defeat, an opposition and a time when you're not in power and come back from that stronger. And I think centrism has done that, and can continue to do that. But part of the reason for the book is we haven't always been articulate enough, confident enough and coherent enough in the way that we present our case, and that's something that I hope this book will have some kind of role in changing. That is to say we need to be proud of our successes and our achievements. What happens when you have a successful centrist government, the next people in the political party that come along disavow it and move away from it. You saw it in Tony Blair's Labor Party. I would argue that new labor was an incredibly successful political project, and the thing that came next was a labor party that did everything it could to run away from that rather than embrace that legacy.  And as the Labor Party reembrace that legacy, not coincidentally, it also came to power again in the UK, and you see that across the world. I think there are places clearly where we're struggling and places where we need to do a better job, but I also think there are enough examples to show that centrism can work, and the kind of politics that we're pushing for can work and can be successful. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So where is it struggling and where is it succeeding the most?  Yair Zivan:     So look, I'll talk about something that is maybe close to our heart on this podcast, and that's the situation in Israel today, Israel is going through the most difficult time, I think, as a country that certainly in our lifetimes, if not since 1948 we October 7 was was the darkest day that any of us lived through. I'm a little reticent to talk about the political response to that, but one of the things that's interesting from a centrist perspective, is the response of the Israeli public has not been to move to the right. It's been to move to the political center. And if you look at opinion polls in Israel today, the next government, if elections were held today, would be a center center right government. And I'm confident that that will hold all the way through to whenever we have the next election. And I think that's because there is a sense in Israel that actually people want that type of governance. They want people who understand that you need to embrace compromise and moderation and pragmatism as values, rather than looking at them as kind of a political slur, as a vice, as something that we need to talk down about. And so I look at Israel as a place where, actually we lost the election.  In November '22 we elected a government that was, to my mind, very right wing. And populist and incredibly problematic. I think we've paid a very high price for that in the last 18 months or so, and now there is a move back towards the political center. Look, I think Emmanuel Macron has been an example of the success of political centrism. The fact that he struggled in the parliament in the most recent parliamentary elections is not an indictment of the fact that he managed to build a political center in France that wasn't really there before. And the test, I guess, will be whether in two years, there is a successor from his party or not. So there are plenty of places I think that I can look out for being successful and where centrism does well. I think there's been some really good examples of political centrism in the US as well, despite the popular media narrative that everything is polarized. You look at groups like the problem solvers caucus in Congress, and you say, here is a group of members of Congress who are determined to work together, who are determined to cooperate and to find solutions to complicated problems and approach it in a really centrist way. Would I like to see centrists winning more in bigger majorities everywhere? Absolutely. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Can you give an example of an issue, pick a country, any country, but an issue that would really benefit from that pragmatic approach, that pragmatic centrist approach, sir Yair Zivan:     Arne Duncan, who was President Obama's Secretary of Education, who writes about a willingness to take on teachers unions and a willingness to demand standards and a sense of what is the focus of education, right? Where the focus of education should be providing the best possible education to children, something we should all be able to rally around, and yet, something that we seem to have lost along the way. And I think education comes back again and again as a core centrist focus. That's one. The other one that I think is really interesting is the essay by Rachel Pritzker. Rachel writes about climate change and about environment, and in it, she makes what I think is a really compelling case that says we can't fight back against the need for energy abundance, because, particularly in the developing world, people need energy in order to improve their quality of life, and they need a lot more energy than they have now. And the idea that the solution to climate change is turning off the lights every so often for a bit longer, is just not practical. Now it comes from a perspective that says climate change is real and is a problem and it's something we need to address, but it kind of pushes away from, I think, most of the orthodoxies of much of the kind of climate change movement and the environmental protection movement, and says we need something different. And that thing is a focus on technology and on innovation that will allow people to create the energy that they need in order to raise their quality of life, rather than demanding that they use less. That is, I think, a really great centrist approach. It's not a splitting of the difference. It's clearly coming down on the side that says climate change is real and it's a problem and it's something we have to address. But it's rejecting orthodoxies and offering something I think that's different. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And this seems like such a no brainer, right? I mean, it seems like these are our values, our principles that everyone should be able to agree upon, maybe not the methodology, right? Maybe that's what's up for debate. But it seems like these are just not points of contention. Yair Zivan:     I think we're going against the grain of politics. I think today, people don't subscribe to a real full throated defense of liberal democracy, and people aren't really willing to defend free speech, including speech that they don't like. And people are taking advantage of feelings of patriotism and dragging them to a pretty ugly nationalism or rejecting patriotism altogether. And so I think a lot of the ideas are not the most natural grain of where politics is. I was on a panel a few days ago, and one of the panelists turned to me, looked at me deeply, and said, I don't think I've ever met a centrist before.  And I thought, I think you probably have, right? And if not, then, nice to meet you, hi, I'm a centrist. But the idea that actually it's going against the trend in politics is one that troubles me. Part of what I'm trying to do is to say to people, if you are a centrist, then speak up. And it's difficult when you're a centrist, you are the biggest threat today. The fight in politics today is not between left and right, it's between the center and the extremes.  And so what happens when you come out and say, I'm a centrist? This is what I believe, is you find yourself attacked by the extremes, and that's sometimes a difficult place to be. When I put the first tweet out about my book within half an hour, I was called every name under the sun. I was a communist and a Nazi all at once, depending on who was attacking me, right? You have to be able to withstand that too often. Centrists have been shy and have kind of hidden back and said, I don't really mean it, and actually, I don't want to have this fight. Or actually, let's not talk about politics now, rather than saying, here's a set of values I believe in, and I'm passionate about and I'm willing to fight for them, and you know what, I am as committed to them, I am as passionate about them, and I'm as willing to fight for them as the extremes are about theirs. And because I think the majority of people are centrist and are looking for that motivation, I think that allows us to win the political argument, because if we're proud enough, then people will line up behind us who already do agree with the principles, but maybe feel like they're alone or there aren't enough people that share their views. Manya Brachear Pashman:   In other words, they're kind of anti confrontational. They avoid confrontation, or perhaps too many centrists don't want to sound too passionate about their values, because. As perhaps passion equates to extreme.  Yair Zivan:     You should be able to be a passionate centrist. You should be passionate about defending liberal democracy. You should be passionate about being a liberal patriot. You should be passionate about trying to give children equality of opportunity, right? Those things are things that it's good to be passionate about, and you should care about them.  I just don't recognize in the centrism that I see being successful, this perception of timidity, or this perception of being scared, but what you have, I think, is too many centrists who have taken that path, and you have kind of backed off and backed away from being passionate about those arguments, and that's where we lose.  So my call to centrists is to be loud and to be proud and to be passionate about the things that we really care about and where there are places where people might feel a little bit uncomfortable with it and not want to be confrontational, because maybe it goes with the more moderate and pragmatic mindset. Is to say we have to overcome it because the issues are too important for us not to. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Do I also want to clarify, being a centrist is not at the exclusion of the right or the left, right? It's more a conversation between both, or a consensus or a compromise of both, whatever works right, whatever works best for the greater good?  Yair Zivan:     There is an element of a rejection of the left and the right, to some extent, right, particularly of the fringes, and I'm incredibly critical of even some of the more moderate left and moderate right, because they're too willing to appease the extremes on their side. They're very good at calling out extremism and populism from the other camp, but not always good enough for calling out on their own side, which I think is where the challenge really lies. The idea is not to find a compromise.  The idea is not to split the difference between old ideas. It is about saying we should be focusing on what works. And I write a line in the book, slightly glibly, that, if it works, and if it makes people's lives better, does it really matter if it comes from Marx or from Hayek, right?  The political philosophy behind it certainly matters less than if it works the way that compromise can be a successful political tool. And I think we all compromise in our lives all the time, and suddenly when we get to politics, we see it as a sign of weakness or non-committal-ness or something like that, whereas in our everyday lives, we see it as a part of being able to function as an adult in society. I think the goal of that, the way that you do that successfully, the way you compromise successfully, is by being really clear about what your values are and what your ideals are and what you believe. And only then can you go to a compromise. If I try to compromise with people without being very firm about what I believe and what's important to me, I'll just get dragged to wherever they are because they're passionate and I'm not. They're committed and I'm not. So you have to be really clear about what your values are.  And I actually think the real test about compromise is whether you do it when you're in a position of power, not in a position of weakness. In politics, people compromise because they have to. I say you should compromise because you want to. And I'll give a kind of an example, I guess. If I had 51% of the votes in Parliament, and I could pass anything I wanted, and I had a belief, a reform that I passionately believed and wanted to get through, and I could pass it 100% the way that I wanted, or I could take it down to 80% of what I want, and take 20% from other people and increase my majority from 51% to 75% I would do that because I think it's right, because I think building consensus builds more sustainable policy, because I think it creates a healthier democracy and a healthier political culture.  Because I have enough humility to say that maybe I don't know everything, and I'm not right about everything, and the other side has something useful to contribute, even to something that I'm really passionate about. That's the test of compromise. Do you do it when you don't have to, but because you think it's the right thing to do? And again, it's dependent on knowing what your values are and dependent on knowing what you're not willing to compromise on, because if you don't have that, then you don't have the anchor from which you take your political beliefs. Manya Brachear Pashman:   In other words, kind of seeding a little bit to the other side, not because you have to, but because you need that little percentage bump to pass your legislation, but because you'll just build more of a consensus and more support on both sides of the aisle, or both sides of eight aisles, whatever, however it works. But yeah, I mean, it's really about building a consensus among lawmakers for the greater good, rather than just claiming that slim victory.  Yair Zivan:     Yeah, it creates better policy and more sustainable policy. But there's also limits to it. You very rarely in politics get 100% support for anything. And often, if you've got to the place where everyone supports it, then you've probably gone too far with the compromise, right, and you've probably watered it down too much.  There are very rare moments in politics when everybody agrees about something, and there are cases, and there are cases when we can do that, but on the really big issues, it's rare for us to get to that level of consensus, and I don't think that's necessarily desirable either. But being able to build a little bit beyond your political comfort zone, a little bit beyond your camp, I think, is a really useful thing in politics, and there are models where it works really well.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   So let me ask you more specifically. Okay, what is eroding centrism? What forces really are working against it and in the places where the center is maintaining its hold, are those forces in reverse? In other words, have they found a way to conquer those particular forces, or have they found a way to conquer what works against centrism, or has it just not reached them yet? Yair Zivan:     So I'll start by flipping the question, I don't think it's about, does centrism work when other people aren't strong enough to attack it and to take it apart? Centrism works when it's strong enough, in and of itself, and it's defining the political agenda. The goal of what I'm trying to do with the book and with the arguments that I'm making is to say, we define what is at the core of democratic politics. Now everybody else is going to have to respond to us. So that's the first thing. Is that switch in mindset away from Are we able to withstand, where the extremes are, to a place where we say, actually, we're the solid anchor, and now we are the ones that are defining the political moment and the political issues. Where is it that we do well? Is where we're confident, right?  When we're able to stand up and be proud of ourselves, and then you're more easily able to rebuff some of those forces. Where do I think centrism struggles? One of the places where it struggles, and this is my criticism of my own camp, which I think is always important to have that kind of, I think, a little bit of self awareness. We're often not good enough at really connecting with people's fears and grievances and concerns that are genuine, right? People really are worried about technological innovation and the pace of automation, and people are worried about immigration. And you can be worried about immigration without being a racist and without being a person that should be shunned or that we should criticize.  There is a genuine reason why people are worried about these things, and we have to be better at really connecting to those grievances and fears that people have to really understand them, to really empathize with them. That is the cost of entry, to be able to suggest different policies to them. If I want to convince someone that populist politics aren't going to work, I have to show that I care about them as much as the Populists do, and not seed that ground. And I don't think we're always really good enough at doing that. Where we are good at doing that, there's a huge reward.  And ultimately, I believe that on every issue, the solutions that we offer from the political center are more successful than the solutions that are offered by the populists and by the extremists, but we have to be able to convince the public of that you can't disregard people who vote for somebody you find distasteful, even if you think that the candidate they're voting for is somebody that you have real problems with, and even if the candidate they're voting for is actually a racist or is actually illiberal and undemocratic. That doesn't mean all the people voting for them are and it doesn't mean you can afford to dismiss those people. It means you need to do a better job of listening to them and connecting with them and bringing them back to our political camp. When politicians fail to get their message across because they're not doing a good enough job, it's not because of the public. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Yair, thank you so much for joining us and for giving us a little bit of a pathway to expressing these kinds of views that aren't heard of a whole lot. Yair Zivan:     Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Manya Brachear Pashman:   If you missed last week's episode, be sure to tune in for a conversation between my colleague Julie Fishman Rayman, AJC's Managing Director of Policy and Political Affairs, and Ron Kampeas, the Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.  

[00:00:00] Gov. Kristi Noem [00:18:25] Rich Lowry [00:36:47] Salena Zito [01:13:31] Michael Shellenberger [01:31:54] Julia Coleman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 5 AM Hour: Larry O'Connor and Julie Gunlock discussed the latest 2024 news about Walz added to Kamala's ticket. Where to find more about WMAL's morning show:  Follow the Show Podcasts on Apple podcasts, Audible and Spotify. Follow WMAL's "O'Connor and Company" on X: @WMALDC, @LarryOConnor,  @Jgunlock, @patricepinkfile, and @heatherhunterdc.  Facebook: WMALDC and Larry O'Connor Instagram: WMALDC Show Website: https://www.wmal.com/oconnor-company/ How to listen live weekdays from 5 to 9 AM: https://www.wmal.com/listenlive/ Episode: Wednesday, August 7, 2024 / 5 AM Hour  O'Connor and Company is proudly presented by Veritas AcademySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this edition of Parallax Views, New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study's Prof. Alejandro Velasco, author of Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of  Modern Venezuela, joins the show to discuss the controversial Venezuela elections and the ways in which analysis of the elections and the modern history of Venezuela from U.S. commentators of the Left, the Rigth, and the Center has proven facile. Prof. Velasco, argues that the picture is more complex than either those on the Right who believe Maduro is being couped by an orchestrated color revolution, those on the Right who believe Biden's easing of sanctions has led Nicolás Maduro to consolidate more power in Venezuela, and Centrists who argue all Venezuela's problems are contingent on the legacy of Hugo Chavez. The recent Venezuelan election resulted in much controversy, with even Chavistas being upset with Maduro and footage of resident of the Venezuelan barrios, the urban streets from which Chavismo have traditionally garnered much support from ordinary people, dissenting after the election results were announced. The election results which led to Maduro being declared victorious are believed by a number of different parties. The Carter Center, for example, has said that the elections "cannot be considered democratic". Protest have erupted in the streets of Venezuela's capitol, Caracas.  Given the history of coup attempts in Venezuela, many Leftists in the U.S. and internationally the controversy around this election is actually just U.S.-directed dirty tricks. Prof. Velasco offers a different analysis while also directly addressing the problems with the virulently anti-Chavista elements that lay the blame for all of this on the deceased Chavez. We'll discuss all of this as well as the effect of U.S. sanctions in Venezuela, how Maduro ignored warnings from left-wing economists about how his policies would cause inflation in Venezuela, why Prof. Velasco takes issue with historian and pundit Anne Applebaum's analysis of Venezuela and Hugo Chavez, how this year's election in Venezuela is different than previous elections, the National Electoral Council and the lack of precinct-by-precinct data released in the aftermath of this election, Hugo Chavez's concept of a "socialism for the 21st century", misperceptions about private property in Venezuela, Venezuela's economy and oil, Chavez vs. Maduro, the continuities between Chavez and Maduro and the even more important differences between Chavez and Maduro, material incentives for the Maduro government clinging to power, police raids and discontent in Venezuela, and much, much more.

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the results of the French election that have sent shockwaves throughout the world economy and world politics as the far right scored a first round victory. With President Macron's party sidelined, it is up to a new alliance of left wing parties to stop the far right candidates when the second round takes place this weekend. Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join and submit questions to the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

France heads to the polls this weekend, and the far right looks set to come out on top. President Emmanuel Macron threw the dice with this snap election after his Centrist party was trounced by Marine Le Pen's National Rally in recent European Parliament elections. Correspondent Melissa Bell has more on how Le Pen has reshaped the party's dark origins into an apparently palatable mainstream alternative.  Also on today's show: Legal analyst Carrie Cordero on today's US Supreme Court abortion ruling; Simon Kuper, author of Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century; singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc; Civil rights leader Carmen Perez-Jordan; Imara Jones, Founder, TransLash Media  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's New York primary elections, voters in the state's 16th Congressional District will decide what's become the most expensive House primary race in American history. It pits incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman against Westchester County Executive George Latimer, and it epitomizes the divisions within the Democratic Party between the progressive left and the centrist mainstream. Politico's chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza breaks down that race and others worth keeping an eye on tonight.And in headlines: A top official with the World Health Organization says the U.S.-built pier off the coast of Gaza is not bringing in enough aid for Palestinians, the Supreme Court announced that it will weigh in on whether states can ban gender-affirming care for trans youth, and federal prosecutors have told the Justice Department that Boeing should face criminal charges over safety issues surrounding its 737 Max airplanes.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

This week we talk about the National Rally, Macron, and the European Union.We also discuss Marine Le Pen, elections, and the French National Assembly.Recommended Book: Pockets by Hannah CarlsonTranscriptThe first week of June 2024, the EU held its parliamentary election, the tenth since it began holding such elections in 1979, and this one was notable in part because the number of MEPs—Members of European Parliament—increased from 705 to 720, due to population changes in the bloc, those new seats given to growing countries, one apiece to Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Latvia, Austria, Poland, Finland, Slovenia, and Slovakia, and two apiece to Spain, France, and the Netherlands—though that figure still a far cry from where it was before the UK left as part of its Brexit withdrawal from the union, which culminated in 2020.These elections happen every five years, so this was the first EU election since the UK left, which means we got to see how things would shake out, post-British-presence in the bloc, a bit of a power vacuum beginning to be filled by those that remain, alliances adjusting somewhat to account for that change.Those few structural items aside though, this election was also notable in its outcome, as, while centrist parties like the European People's Party, or EPP, which is center-right, and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, or S&D, which is center-left, each claimed substantially more seats than any other party—about 190 and 136, respectively, as of the day I'm recording this, though the final votes are still being counted, so some of these numbers are prone to changing a bit in the coming days—and Renew Europe—a fairly center-aligned party—coming in at a distant third with about 80 seats, the Identity and Democracy Group, which is made up of mostly far-right parties, looks to have achieved a strong fifth place; again, the numbers are still being tallied as I record this, so these numbers are still provisional, but it looks like they grabbed about 58 seats, which is 9 more than they had, pre-vote.While centrist politicians and parties still hold the reins, then, their collective majority is shrinking, Identity and Democracy, and a slew of smaller, also further-right parties scooping up quite a few seats in this election, these groups attracting a lot more support from certain demographics, especially young men under 30, and especially in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, and Finland.This shift in ideology is being attributed to many things, including but not limited to the rise in so-called identity politics, which some data suggest is causing young men, in particular, to feel excluded from some aspects of modern social life, the success of far-right groups in spreading their messages on social networks, heightened levels of immigration, which far-right groups seem to have successfully tied to all manner of societal ills, and the general tendency of whatever group is in power to spark discontent, tipping the scale toward their opposition simply because they've been governing, and you can't really govern without upsetting someone about something, and without taking the blame for things that are beyond your control, as well.This surge in votes for far-right groups isn't expected to substantially change the direction of the EU, as a lot of policies, including aspects of the bloc's regulatory apparatus, their pivot toward net zero efforts and renewable energy, and their general position on foreign antagonists like Russia, and by some estimates, China, as well, are basically locked in for the next few voting periods, at the minimum.But there is a chance specific elements of these goals, and other, less central pursuits, will be more difficult to pass and support over the long-haul, and policies that centralize power with the EU, rather than individual countries, will likely have a harder time getting passed, as most of these far-right groups are also quite Euro-skeptical and nationalist.What I'd like to talk about today is the outcome of this election in one EU nation—France—and why French President Macron decided to call a snap vote following the tallying of the ballots.—In 2022, the liberal coalition Ensemble, which includes French President Macron's party, Renaissance, lost the absolute majority it had previously enjoyed in France's National Assembly, its lower house of government, which marked the first time since 1997 the French President hadn't also held an absolute majority in that parliamentary body.That same year, the nationalist, far-right National Rally party gained a bunch of seats, as did the left-wing to far-left New Ecological and Social People's Union. This resulted in a hung parliament, which hadn't happened since 1988, and among other consequences, that meant passing laws and other sorts of governance became a lot trickier, as Macron had to make deals with people and groups he didn't typically ally with, and with whom his party had a lot of disagreements.This sort of setup often leads to creative approaches to collaboration, including, at times, the formation of new coalitions, alongside alliances between existing coalitions—that's the general European model for this sort of thing, and that's why centrist parties tend to do the best, most of the time, because they're often made up of parties that would otherwise be at each others' throats; sharing power tends to result in better outcomes, basically, at least over the long-haul, even if they are simultaneously frustrating and sluggishness-inducing.Some parties are more primed for collaboration than others, though, and Macron's Renaissance and the National Rally, the latter of which is led by former presidential candidate in the country's 2012, 2017, and 2022 elections, Marine Le Pen, have long been at odds, the Renaissance party claiming a broad spectrum of stances across the French political center, while Le Pen's party has scooped up the religious, conservative right, promoting, especially, causes related to anti-immigration, protectionism, and nationalism, in recent years trying to temper her party's reputation for racism, anti-homosexuality, and anti-abortion stances and scandals, among other issues that have made attracting a wider base of votes difficult for her party and party leaders, in the past.The Christian Democrats, which are part of the leading European coalition, shifted some of their platform policies to the right, seemingly to great effect, to stave-off the worst of the attacks they faced related to immigration and climate, leading up to the most recent EU election, but the National Rally managed to attain around 32% of the total vote in that election, crushing Macron's Renaissance party, which only attracted something like 15%.In response, Macron announced what's being seen as a bit of a desperate gambit: he dissolved parliament, which means he's announced a snap national election—so for French parliamentary seats, rather than EU seats—3 years ahead of the next scheduled vote, which will result in the election of a brand new batch of parliamentarians; that vote will begin on June 30, and that initial vote will determine who makes it to the second ballot on July 7 of this year.Macron is framing this dissolution and election as an effort to fight what he calls "unnatural alliances" between far left groups on one side, and far right groups on the other, accusing enemies of teaming up to take out him and his centrist allies, basically. And his argument is that voters need to use this opportunity to preserve the governance of centrist parties in the country, because if his party and allies don't hold onto the reins of power, those who take over will tear France apart, pushing things to greater and greater extremes, left and right, and casting everyday life, and the basic functions of government—which is imperfect but relatively stable—into chaos.Folks may have cast protest votes in the EU elections, in other words—which is a fairly common thing for folks to do across Europe, as many citizens don't pay particularly close attention to the machinations of politics at the Union scale—but at the local level, his argument goes, this is important. And it's important enough that he's willing to risk his position at the top of some aspects of governance, and his party's seats in the Assembly, in order to make that point; vote smart, not angry, essentially.There's a chance this pitch and gamble will work, that voters will rally behind the center, more people coming out to do more than just protest vote, and that things will go back to something like the normalcy of the past decade.But there's also a chance votes will accumulate primarily with far-right and far-left parties, as they did in the EU election that triggered this gambit, which would likely mean Macron would lose a lot of the power he currently wields—France's president is elected separately from parliamentarians, so he would exist in a state of what's called "cohabitation," where he would wield some powers, and the prime minister, put into their position by the dominant group in the Assembly, would wield others—would struggle against each other while a grand realignment of the country's economy, politics, and society, and in turn, that of the EU as a whole, France being one of the most vital and powerful states in that bloc, would play out over the course of the next several years.There are concerns from the currently governing centrists that a victory for Le Pen and her allies might also mean renewed vigor for far-right groups throughout the EU, as while typically those in charge experience a degradation of support eventually, after they've had the chance to govern and fumble things for a while, taking the blame for all the bad stuff that happens, that usually takes years, and the number of bastions for far-right thinking and support throughout the bloc right now indicates that side of the political spectrum has been out of power long enough that folks might support them—even people who wouldn't usually opt for their politics—just to get something different. And it could be a while before they, once more, become the parties folks are scrambling to move away from; they're the underdog rebels right now, and it will take time before they're the unpopular establishment.Polls from just after the snap election was announced suggest that Le Pen's National Rally could win up to 265 seats, just shy of the around 290 required for an absolute majority in France's National Assembly.The dominant further-left alliance, New Popular Front, is in second place, with Macron's party languishing in third; in percentage terms, one of those polls gave the far-right National Rally 35% of all seats, the further-left New Popular Front about 26%, and Macron's left-ish-centrist Renaissance party just 19%.Even lacking an absolute majority, though, the National Rally, which is loaded with young, social media-savvy politicians, in contrast to the aging power players in most of the centrist parties in the region, could set itself up for a series of near-future wins, carving out space as chief-antagonist during Macron's remaining days in office, however long that ends up being, which in turn would give them the chance to make authoritative decisions with fewer perceptual consequences: the bad stuff will still often land on Macron's shoulders, regardless of who made what happen, or disallowed what from happening, but they could still nudge things across the country, and the bloc, to their liking in a variety of less headline-grabbing ways.Macron could of course establish new alliances, as is the European way, though the closer the National Rally gets to that absolute majority, the more desperate and discordant those alliances would have to be, and that would put more power in the hands of non-centrist entities, potentially shoving France to new ideological extremes, even if it's still technically guided by the same, centrist hands; they would have to cater to the desires of those less-than-ideal, from their perspective, allies, basically.At the moment, markets in the country are tumbling on concerns about what might happen if France has something like a Brexit-moment, pulled apart by more extreme parties after a long period of centrism, and there's a larger concern about the EU as a whole, as these sorts of successes for far-right parties in even a handful of countries may portend a wave of anti-immigration, anti-gay rights, anti-abortion, and anti-renewable energy policies, among other policies that tend to make nationalists and harder-core religious folks happy, but which often come with dire consequences for everything from foreign investments to cultural exports, in countries where those sorts of policies are deployed, en masse; great for the folks votes for these sorts of efforts, in other words, but not great for economics and soft-power, cultural influence.On the other hand, some of the policies these groups have supported, including somewhat popular ones, like those related to cutting prices on fundamentals like energy and food, and less popular in practice, but somewhat popular in promotion efforts, like cutting public spending, might find their way into governance across the EU, whomever ends up in power, as any outcome will almost certainly rely on new or edited coalition arrangements, plus some bending on the part of centrist parties—similar to what we saw by the Christian Democrats at the bloc-level. Centrists might lean further right in order to avoid being beaten by further right parties, and that could sway things rightward, even without those further-right parties taking the reins, officially.Which means, through some lenses at least, this aggregation of victories for far-right parties in France and across the EU may have already tallied some practical outcomes, nudging governance toward something more aligned with their preferences, even if further success is limited.It could also have the politically opposite effect, though, pushing centrists toward also burgeoning further-left parties, creating new coalitions on that side of the spectrum to counter the growing ranks of those on the right.France may provide a bellwether for what happens across the rest of the bloc over the course of the next several election periods, though, so what happens on June 30th and July 7th could portend what happens elsewhere in the coming years.Show Noteshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/14/french-leftwing-parties-popular-front-contest-snap-electionhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/cohabitationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_European_Parliament_electionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Le_Penhttps://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/french-finance-minister-warns-financial-crisis-yields-surge-snap-elections-2024-06-14/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_and_Democracy_Partyhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/14/far-right-seduced-young-voters-europe-electionshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/15/macron-gamble-marine-le-pen-france-polls-far-righthttps://results.elections.europa.eu/en/european-results/2024-2029/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/why-you-should-care-about-european-parliament-election-2024-04-24/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/how-far-right-gained-traction-with-europes-youth-2024-06-13/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_to_the_European_Parliamenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_French_legislative_electionhttps://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240612-france-fighting-two-fronts-macron-flags-extremist-fever-right-left-electionhttps://www.npr.org/2024/06/09/nx-s1-4997712/far-right-europe-elections-france-macron-germany-scholzhttps://www.politico.eu/article/eu-european-election-results-2024-emmanuel-macron-dissolve-parliament-france/https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-european-commission-president-european-election-2024/https://sg.news.yahoo.com/frances-far-national-rally-finally-162408806.html?guccounter=1 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe