"Worse Than the Tea Party Era." With Congressional expert, Norn Ornstein.
The Bill Press Pod
BP Pods
4.7 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 6 December 2022
⏱️ 43 minutes
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Summary
No one knows Congress like Norm Ornstein. He's been studying and writing about Congress for over 40 years. He is currently an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a mostly conservative think tank. He wrote (along with Thomas E. Mann) It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism. When it came out in paperback, they changed the title to It's Even Worse Than It Looks Was. Now he says, jokingly, if they did another edition, he might call it Run for Your Lives.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello there. Welcome back to the Bill Press Pod. You know, it's not just Democrats, it's Republicans too. Everybody's fed up with Congress. In the latest poll, only 21% of Americans approved of the job Congress is doing, 75% registered their disapproval, |
| 0:26.2 | and it's no doubt why. It's like they're not only not doing anything and getting anything done, |
| 0:32.9 | it's like they don't even want to get anything done. In the Senate, no matter what the issue is or how |
| 0:39.3 | important it is, if Joe Biden's for it, every Republican is against it. That's Mitch McConnell's |
| 0:45.5 | rule. And with Republicans about to take over control of the House, they haven't proposed one |
| 0:51.8 | single new policy or program. |
| 1:00.8 | Instead, all they promise is a string of pointless investigations of Hunter Biden, Dr. Fauci, |
| 1:03.7 | the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, |
| 1:09.1 | and whoever else Marjorie Taylor Green wants to investigate or impeach. |
| 1:12.7 | You know, it's enough to make veteran congressional experts like the American Enterprise Institute's Norm Ornstein shake their heads in disbelief. How bad is it? |
| 1:22.0 | Well, today, we ask Norm Ornstein. We get a chance to talk to him about the state of Congress today. |
| 1:30.8 | Norm Ornstein, so good to connect with you again. Thanks for joining us on the Bill Press Pod. |
| 1:36.5 | And happy holidays to you and Carol, Bill. |
| 1:39.2 | Thanks, Norm. So you and, I mean, look, your career has been following Congress. |
| 1:45.2 | You love it as an institution. |
| 1:47.4 | You've written so much about it, followed it so carefully for so many years. |
| 1:52.0 | Have you ever seen it as bad as it is today? |
| 1:54.8 | No. |
| 1:55.6 | And I've seen bad times, of course, in the past. |
| 1:59.1 | You know, Tom Mann and I wrote this book in 2012. |
| 2:02.8 | It's Even Worse Than It Looks. |
| 2:05.0 | We did a paperback the next year called It's Even Worse Than It Was. |
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