Lamar Alexander on Saving Democracy, Standing Up to Trump, and Why Young People Should Run for Office.
The Bill Press Pod
BP Pods
4.7 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Bill interviews former Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander about his memoir, The Education of a Senator: From JFK to Trump, and the Senate’s decline from bipartisan, amendment-driven lawmaking to today’s gridlock. Alexander criticizes Republican senators for failing to check abuses of presidential authority, argues Trump’s purges of GOP incumbents risk costing him a Senate majority, and calls a DOJ compensation fund for January 6 participants “Trump suing Trump” and an outrage, given assaults on Capitol Police. He contrasts Senate pushback in Trump’s first term with silence in the second, including cuts affecting USAID/PEPFAR and NIH research. Alexander says January 6 undermined the Constitution, praises public service as the best way to help people, prefers being governor to senator, and expresses confidence in America’s resilience.
You can buy his book from Bookshop.org here.
Today Bill reminds us that one great way to support the Democratic candidate(s) is through ACTBLUE.org
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, good to see you again, good friends. |
| 0:09.0 | I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend, and thank you for rejoining us here on the Bill Press Plan. |
| 0:16.0 | Of all the politicians I've met in Washington, Republican or Democrat, Tennessee's former Republican |
| 0:22.7 | Senator Lamar Alexander, is one of the most impressive. |
| 0:27.1 | Nobody has a better resume. |
| 0:29.2 | White House and Senate staffer, governor, university president, cabinet secretary, U.S. |
| 0:34.9 | Senator, and while a Republican senator, he also had a strong |
| 0:39.8 | independent street willing to rise above party and work across the aisle to get stuff done. |
| 0:47.0 | One thing for sure, as he makes clear in his new memoir, the education of a senator, |
| 0:52.9 | Lamar Alexander is no big fan of Donald Trump's, |
| 0:56.4 | and he doesn't think too much of today's Republican Senate lineup either, all of whom are afraid |
| 1:02.4 | to stand up to Trump. To his current and former Republican Senate colleagues, Lamar Alexander's |
| 1:09.8 | message is pretty clear. Save democracy, grow a pair. |
| 1:15.2 | And to young people who might be interested in politics, Alexander's message is also clear. |
| 1:22.5 | Run for public office, get elected, serve the public. After several years, it's really good to reconnect today |
| 1:31.2 | on today's podcast with Senator Alexander. Senator Lamar Alexander, I remember some happy days |
| 1:38.3 | barring with you on Crossfire and other shows here in Washington. Senator, you were always a gentleman. |
| 1:45.9 | I have good memories of those days. |
| 1:47.7 | It's very good to reconnect with you. |
| 1:49.8 | And it's an honor to welcome you to the podcast. |
| 1:52.9 | Thank you, Bill. |
| 1:53.7 | I haven't thought about Crossfire in a while, |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 16 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BP Pods, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BP Pods and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.