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The Mother Jones Podcast

Dan Pfeiffer Tries to Save America

The Mother Jones Podcast

Mother Jones

Politics, News, Scoops, Elections, Investigations, Journalism

4.51.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2018

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dan Pfeiffer, one of the most influential political voices from the Obama White House, has a plan to fight back. In this week's episode, the former White House communications chief talks about his new book, "Yes We (Still) Can," which elaborates on the lessons he learned about the far right during the Obama years, and how progressives can get their message out in today’s fractured media environment. He should know: As one of the hosts of the popular podcast, "Pod Save America," Pfeiffer offers insights, humor, and some measure of solace during these dark political times. Here, he talks with MoJo's DC Bureau Chief David Corn about how Obama can’t save us, what we can do now to fight disinformation, and how mainstream Republicans aided Trump’s rise.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Mother Jones podcast.

0:02.0

I'm Jamila King in New York.

0:04.0

On this week's show,

0:12.0

on this week's show, President Obama's former communications director asks,

0:16.4

was Obama elected too soon?

0:18.3

He turns to the handful of his senior staff who were there and says,

0:22.3

maybe I was elected 10 years too soon.

0:24.5

A plan to beat Trump in 2020.

0:26.5

We need to show people a better way that America can be better than this.

0:30.7

The stories behind the turmoil and turmoil in the Obama White House.

0:33.8

The Obama administration wanted to do that in a bipartisan fashion and it was Mitch McConnell,

0:38.1

a bottlenous well of cynicism and hackery who refused a sign said letter so that that did not happen.

0:44.0

I'm going to hand the reins over to my colleague, Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn,

0:49.3

who spent some time recently sitting down with Dan Fyfer.

0:53.0

Fyfer takes us behind the scenes during the Obama years,

0:56.0

including when the threat from Russia ramped up.

0:58.5

And he has some ideas about how to counter all that disinformation in the air.

1:02.2

We live in a world where it's incredibly hard to convince people

1:06.5

inside their own bubbles from outside their bubbles.

1:09.5

David Corn.

1:13.0

Today we have a very special guest, Dan Fyfer.

1:17.8

He is now the co-host of the popular podcast called Pod Save America.

...

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