#1349 A Deep Dive on the Dysfunction of Trump and his Followers (Coronavirus)
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2020
⏱️ 134 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 5/3/2020
Today we take a look at the unique, profound dysfunction at the heart of the train wreck that is Trump's response to the Coronavirus. Plus, we explore the death cult that is the group of people still supporting the president.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Memory Hole - On the Media - Air Date 4-18-20
McKay Coppins [@mckaycoppins], staff writer at The Atlantic, on the latest pivots in the Trump administration's ever-evolving "disinformation architecture."
Mehdi talks with Glenn Kirschner about Trump's inaction and misinformation that is leading to deaths.
We look at how President Trump led the country to this point with Eric Lipton, lead author of The New York Times’s explosive new exposé, “He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus.”
Ch. 4: Warnings To The White House - Frontline - Air Date 4-10-20
Trump and the government's response to the Pandemic are explored.
Ch. 5: Explaining why he can't do that but just did anyway - The Bugle - Air Date 4-18-20
The answer to everything strange in America is slavery.
In The Fifth Risk, Lewis portrayed Donald Trump as a man totally ignorant of and disinterested in the actually functioning of the federal government.
President Donald Trump says he will cut U.S. support for the World Health Organization. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet medical journal, called it a “crime against humanity.”
Ch. 8: Bleach? Nevermind - The Bugle - Air Date 4-25-20
Andy, Nish and Hari attempt to make sense of another week of transatlantic buffoonery.
Ch. 9: Is the Trump Cult a Death Cult? - Deconstructed with Mehdi Hasan - Air Date 3-25-20
The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer joins Mehdi Hasan to discuss the President’s continuing refusal to take the Covid-19 pandemic seriously.
Jared Yates Sexton reflects on his childhood and life in Trumplandia and the power that Trump’s cult holds over so many white right-wing so-called “Christians.”
Tim Wise reflects on how only white men such as Donald Trump and his cabal could still be viewed as competent given their gross and willful negligence in how they chose to (not) respond to the pandemic.
Joshua Kahn Russell joins us to analyze the reopen America protests.
Kurt Andersen, the author of Fantasyland, explains what happens when the departure from empirical, reality-based thought plays out during a global pandemic.
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 14: Final comments on my use of The Al Franken Show
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Haena - Cloud Harbor
- Arizona Moon - Cholate
- Decompression - Rayling
- Waterbourne - Algea Fields
- Molly Molly - Barstool
- Take a Tiny Train - Ray Catcher
- 7.1 The Spinnet - Castle Danger
- Tar and Spackle - Plaster
- Denzel Sprak - CloudCover
- Feather on the Crest - Wax Museum
- Interlude - The Nocturne
- Tripoli - Pecan Grove
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award winning best of a left podcast in which we shall learn |
| 0:07.2 | about the unique profound dysfunction at the heart of the train wreck that is the Trump |
| 0:12.4 | administration in general and in particular their response to the coronavirus. |
| 0:17.6 | Plus, we explore the death cult that is the group of people still supporting the president. |
| 0:24.5 | Now as we've been doing, we've sort of been checking in at the beginning of episodes. |
| 0:31.0 | I, you know, things are the same. |
| 0:34.7 | Everything's the same as it has been when I've checked in before. |
| 0:39.4 | What is wearing on me is my inability to maintain a schedule. |
| 0:45.4 | Not just day to day, but I mean like the show has been suffering from just an irregular schedule |
| 0:51.7 | and my hope is that you don't mind. |
| 0:54.8 | For me, it just makes it hard to try to get a grasp on my day to day. |
| 1:01.7 | So, you know, what I, what I hope I've been doing is making up for the lack of consistency |
| 1:07.6 | in the schedule with sheer volume and density of interesting content. |
| 1:14.8 | And that is absolutely what I have for you today. |
| 1:17.4 | This episode is not just enormous, but incredibly dense. |
| 1:23.0 | This is basically a special, you know, a double album episode. |
| 1:28.5 | And it's not like the B side, you know, could be thrown away or that, you know, J.A. |
| 1:35.0 | just got lazy doing his curation and should have paired it down more. |
| 1:39.7 | No, no, no. |
| 1:40.7 | This is an enormous dense, interesting show. |
| 1:44.4 | So strap in, I think you're going to like it. |
| 1:47.4 | So, today come from on the media, deconstructed democracy now, front line, the bugle, the Al Franken show, |
... |
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