Utah Politics
68 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 52 ratingsVeteran political journalist Bryan Schott brings you conversations with Utah newsmakers, national political experts and authors. He also discusses the latest Utah political news with local reporters and other political figures.
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Episodes
Anthony Scaramucci on tangling with Trump and what could have been with Romney
October 16, 2020 18:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBFormer White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci frequently begins his day with President Donald Trump attacking him on Twitter. That’s what happened Friday morning shortly before he appeared as a guest on the “Utah Politics” podcast. “I have to be totally candid. It was unnerving the first time it happened,” said Saramucci to host Bryan Schott. “The second time he did it, I actually enjoyed it. And now, it puts me in a terrifically good mood because it means I’m being effectiv...
Ronald Reagan, Orrin Hatch and America's turn to the right
October 13, 2020 19:00 - 21 minutes - 14.8 MBWhen Sen. Orrin Hatch was first elected to the Senate in 1976, his name was such an oddity that New Yorkers threw “Orrin Hatch” themed cocktail parties following the election according to Rick Perlstein, author of the new book “Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980.” “Hatch was introduced to the nation through a comedy article in the New York Times Magazine,” says Perlstein. “Everyone was throwing Jimmy Carter themed parties. This couple looked in the newspaper and they saw this guy wo...
Veep debate wrap-up with McKay Coppins
October 08, 2020 18:00 - 32 minutes - 22 MBWednesday’s historic vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris at the University of Utah was remarkable if for only being the polar opposite of last week's chaotic, interruption-filled presidential debate. “It almost felt like a throwback to the pre-Trump normal period of politics,” says McKay Coppins, a writer for The Atlantic. “You had two candidates who spoke in complete sentences. Who, for the most part, abided by the rules and didn’t cut each other off that much. “...
Rev. Al Sharpton on the vice presidential debate and America at a crossroads
October 06, 2020 19:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBFollowing last week’s bombastic presidential debate, Americans might be hoping for a more sedate event when Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris meet on the debate stage Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. “I think it will be a more substantive debate than what we saw in last week’s debacle,” says Rev. Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC’s “Politics Nation.” “I don’t think it will devolve into fisticuffs,” he added. Sharpton was a guest on the most recent episode of the “Utah Politics” ...
COVID makes a (White) House call, debate wrap-up and Republican Voters Against Trump
October 02, 2020 16:00 - 1 hour - 50 MBNews broke late Thursday that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump both tested positive for the coronavirus. How might this affect the presidential race going forward? Salt Lake County Councilperson Aimee Winder Newton joins host Bryan Schott to discuss the top political stories from the past week including the presidential and gubernatorial debate, the backlash from Republicans against Utah's state of emergency because of the coronavirus and Sen. Mike Lee testing positive fo...
Debating the first presidential debate with Jason Chaffetz
September 30, 2020 17:00 - 26 minutes - 18.6 MBTuesday night’s off-the-rails first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden was widely panned by pundits and observers after the participants talked over each other and moderator Chris Wallace. Former Utah Congressman and current Fox News Channel pundit Jason Chaffetz says he believes the debate turned off a lot of people, especially those few Americans who are undecided at this point in the 2020 election cycle. “I think the debate was sort ...
Understanding why the GOP went from Reagan to Trump, and how to moderate a presidential debate
September 29, 2020 22:00 - 22 minutes - 15.4 MBIn less than four decades the Republican party went from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. How did that happen? Gerald Seib, the executive Washington editor for the Wall Street Journal, says it’s not too surprising at all. “There was always a kind of populist national sentiment working up from the grassroots, especially in the Republican Party. Donald Trump walked through an open door in 2016,” he says. Seib was a guest on the “Utah Politics” podcast. He charts the factors that led to the p...
Coronavirus skyrockets, Supreme Court fight and college football returns to Utah
September 25, 2020 16:00 - 38 minutes - 26.5 MBUtah’s coronavirus cases are spiking, especially in Utah County. Gov. Gary Herbert moves Provo and Orem back to the “orange” risk level in response while Utah County imposes a mask mandate. Mitt Romney breaks the hearts of Democrats and liberals everywhere when he agreed to move ahead with the process to name a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg who died last week. President Donald Trump alarmed many when he would not commit to a peaceful transfer of power should h...
How the Supreme Court fight could change the 2020 election?
September 22, 2020 19:00 - 22 minutes - 15.8 MBOn Tuesday, Sen. Mitt Romney ended any hope that Democrats had they would be able to stop President Donald Trump from appointing a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg who died last week. S.V. Date, a senior White House correspondent for Huffington Post says he’s not surprised Romney decided to join with other Republicans in pushing to allow President Donald Trump to appoint a replacement for Justice Ginsberg. “Everybody is wondering how Mitt Romney could do this. Thi...
News Roundup: Coronavirus spike, 4th District race turns nasty, and the latest polling in Utah
September 18, 2020 20:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MBBryan Schott is joined by political and communications consultant Taylor Morgan to discuss the latest Utah political news. Coronavirus cases in Utah are spiking. Can Gov. Gary Herbert find an effective response to the increase? Attorney General Sean Reyes attends a rally for President Donald Trump in Nevada and is photographed not wearing a mask. Will he pay a political price for that, or standing next to the Pawn Stars guy in the photo? The race between Democrat Ben McAdams and Republic...
A Republican strategist laments his party’s impending ‘death sentence’
September 15, 2020 17:00 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBThe nation’s ongoing demographic changes signal a “death sentence” for the Republican Party, according to longtime GOP strategist Stuart Stevens. Mitt Romney’s chief strategist for his 2012 presidential campaign, Stevens worked on four other presidential campaigns. He now says the GOP is looking at a demographic tsunami that threatens to wipe out the party and that the current president is making it worse. “I had to sit down when I read that a majority of those who are 15-years-old and und...
News roundup: Negative advertising, Mike Lee for Supreme Court and waiting for the COVID spending audit
September 11, 2020 22:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBSpencer Stokes of Stokes Strategies joins host Bryan Schott to discuss and bring perspective to the top Utah political news from the last week. Ads both for and against Republican Burgess Owens start airing in the 4th Congressional District race. We discuss how outside groups are working to define who Owens is in the minds of voters. Sen. Mike Lee remains on President Donald Trump’s list of possible Supreme Court Nominees. Lee also tees off on KSL.com for being too liberal and suggesting...
Rachel Bitecofer on forecasting the 2020 election and Mitt Romney vs. Donald Trump
September 08, 2020 18:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBElection forecaster Rachel Bitecofer joins Bryan Schott to discuss what she thinks is going to happen in 2020 and how Sen. Mitt Romney's criticism of President Trump shapes political attitudes in Utah. Bitecofer shocked many American political observers when she predicted the “blue wave” in 2018 that ushered Democrats into the majority in the House of Representatives. Her theory was that Democrats were motivated to vote AGAINST Republicans and Donald Trump more than they were motivated by ...
News roundup: Owens vs. McAdams, Cox on the coronavirus and the Bagley controversy
September 04, 2020 20:00 - 39 minutes - 27 MBSalt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Gehrke joins host Bryan Schott to dissect the latest Utah political headlines. There’s a lot going on in the congressional race between Democrat Ben McAdams and Republican Burgess Owens. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy makes a trip to Utah to fundraise for Owens. A multi-million dollar advertising blitz is set to get underway. Does it matter that neither Owens and McAdams live in the district they’re vying to represent? And Owens trashes Mitt Romney o...
Matthew Lysiak on the Drudge revolution
August 31, 2020 23:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBJanuary 17, 1998 was the day that everything changed for the news business and American politics. That's the day The Drudge Report broke the blockbuster story that President Bill Clinton had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. From that point on, Matt Drudge became one of the most influential voices in American politics. But who is Matt Drudge, and how did he become one of the most powerful, and wealthy, journalists in America? Matthew Lysiak digs into that question and u...
John Dean on Trump and authoritarianism
August 26, 2020 23:00 - 21 minutes - 15.4 MBFormer White House counsel John Dean knows what an authoritarian leader looks like. After all, he was a member of the Nixon administration where he played a central role in the Watergate scandal. He says he wrote his new book to help him, and us, understand why President Trump's supporters are not bothered by his authoritarian tendencies. His latest book is called “Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and his Followers.” In the book, he and his co-author psychologist Bob Altemeyer, dig into Tru...
Rick Wilson on how Democrats can beat Trump in November
August 19, 2020 22:00 - 25 minutes - 18.1 MBPolitical strategist Rick Wilson has found a new life as part of a group of "never Trump" former Republicans who are working to deny President Donald Trump another term in office. Wilson is one of the founders of The Lincoln Project, the group behind a series of television and internet ads that are targeting Trump and his Republican allies in the Senate ahead of the November election. Wilson is also the author of the New York Times bestseller "Running Against the Devil. A Plot to Save Ame...
Forecasting the 2020 election with Nathan Gonzales of InsideElections.com
August 06, 2020 10:00 - 25 minutes - 18.2 MBWe’re less than three months toward election day, and some of the trends that will shape the November vote are coming into focus. To map out what the next three months could look like, we speak with Nathan Gonzales of InsideElections.com. He speaks with Managing Editor Bryan Schott about Democrat Joe Biden's lead over Republican Donald Trump, and whether that lead will hold until November. Will the distaste for Trump among many Utah voters loosen the GOP’s grip on the state? Can Democrat Be...