Polilogue
261 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 99 ratingsPolilogue dives into the conversations that dominate the Sunday morning political shows. We look at the policymaker, the politician, and the journalist—because each is critical and each demands criticism. With extensive audio clips from the Sunday shows, Polilogue is released in time for your Monday commute.
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Episodes
Episode 44: Two explosive conversations
April 23, 2018 09:10 - 71.1 MBTwo conversations stood out on the Sunday talk shows. First: three legal experts on ABC’s This Week discuss the Southern District of New York’s (SDNY) investigation into Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney. The panel included Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School; ABC chief legal analyst Dan Abrams; and Mimi Rocah, former federal SDNY prosecutor. We question the value of having a voice like Alan Dershowitz on the shows— and the effectiveness of counter per...
Episode 43: Comey Lights the Fuse
April 16, 2018 10:36 - 59 minutes - 69.5 MBNews agencies were not short for content last week. In a single week: criticism against EPA Director Scott Pruitt grew, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of Congress, Speaker Paul Ryan announced he was not going to run for reelection, snippets from Former FBI Director Jim Comey’s new book was released, the offices of President Trump’s personal attorney were raided by the FBI, and America launched a limited military strike against President Bashar Hafez al-Assad in response ...
Episode 42: One Party, Split Perspectives
April 09, 2018 08:37 - 1 hour - 82.4 MBLast month, President Trump imposed unpopular steel and aluminum tariff threats. At 24 and 7.7 percent respectively, the steel and aluminum tariffs left Americans nervous and global markets holding their breath. However, economic anxiety over a possible trade war between the US and China significantly increased in the last week. China announced $53 billion in tariffs, with a special focus on American agriculture like soybeans and pork. President Trump announced $150 in tariffs as well. Thi...
Episode 41: Host Preferences Front and Center
April 02, 2018 09:49 - 1 hour - 74.5 MBOn most weeks, the Sunday talk shows struggle to fully cover the deluge of political news stories. However, this weekend of Easter and Passover: there was only one big story: the firing of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin with Dr. Ronny Jackson. The Sunday shows chose to fill the remaining time in very different ways: meandering panel conversations, shallow book reviews, foreign affairs deep dives, and many other ways. This week on Polilogue, we explore how the hosts chose evergreen...
Episode 40: Young Marchers Take Washington
March 26, 2018 12:59 - 1 hour - 73.2 MBThis week on the Sunday talk shows, there was dichotomy of conversations with domestic and foreign implications. On the domestic side, after weeks of buildup, we saw hundreds of thousands students, parents, educators, and other activists march the streets of Washington DC. They were motivated and passionate and united on one cause: to address American gun violence. There were also almost 900 marches around the world. It was extremely moving to see— and frustrating to see the effort undervalu...
Episode 39: Firings, Hackings, And Consistent Chaos
March 20, 2018 12:48 - 1 hour - 85.6 MBFifteen months into his presidency, Donald J. Trump has made it clear that he prefers perpetual chaos—when it is his own doing. After months of speculation, he fired Rex Tillerson via tweet and appointed two Iraq War hawks to lead the State Department and the CIA. Some in Congress, including Republican Senator Rand Paul, are determined to halt the confirmations, even if it means filibustering. Trump also fired the Deputy Director of the FBI two days before Andrew McCabe would have been eligi...
Episode 38: A New Anchor Shines
March 13, 2018 12:51 - 57 minutes - 68 MBMore often than not, ABC’s This Week, takes the #1 slot in Polilogue’s show rankings. That's still true, but this time for a different reason. On the latest episode of This Week, Jonathan Karl hosted. Karl is a the Chief White House Correspondent for ABC. He doesn’t normally fill in, because if George Stephanopoulos can’t host, usually Martha Raddatz can. But this time, Karl hosted— and he was great! Karl brought the richness of his career and a new tone to each interview. For the first ...
Episode 37: Tempting A Trade War
March 06, 2018 12:00 - 55 minutes - 66.3 MBLast week President Trump announced that he was going to impose tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent for steel and aluminum, respectively. While these tariffs are designed to address China’s steel dumping, the tariffs are broad and affect every nation that trades with the United States: thus raising the likelihood for an ill-advised trade war. Two economic advisors of the White House who have previously never been on the Sunday talk shows came on to defend the President’s new and unvetted ...
Episode 36: Tapper Goes Too Far
February 27, 2018 12:00 - 1 hour - 108 MBIn this extended episode of Polilogue, we dive deep into Jake Tapper’s interview with Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. According to Twitter and other immediate media hot takes, Tapper was on fire. He demanded that Sheriff Israel explain to him and the audience how the Parkland shooter slipped through the cracks. Much of the praise online noted Tapper’s tough and hostile interview approach. But we found that Tapper’s interview was also extremely unfair and prosecutorial. We explore this d...
Episode 35: Transforming Tragedy Into Action
February 20, 2018 12:00 - 59 minutes - 70.2 MBThis week, Polilogue looks at how the political landscape is being redrawn by the brave and articulate student survivors of the latest mass shooting—this time at a high school in Parkland, Florida. The students were on all four of the Sunday morning political shows—speaking out and demanding a reset to a conversation that has become stale and predictable. We also spend a few minutes looking at how political leaders from both sides of the aisle are reacting to the latest indictment released...
Episode 34: Abusers In The White House
February 13, 2018 12:10 - 53 minutes - 63.3 MBAfter a few weeks of policy discussions, the Sunday talk shows were back to a familiar topic of conversation from President Trump’s first six months in office: personnel issues. This time, the situation was more egregious as it became public that the White House Staff Secretary, Rob Porter had domestic abuse allegations against him from both of his ex-wives. This was a known issue among the FBI and key leadership in the White House— so why was he allowed to stay in a such a sensitive and pow...