I Saw How Epstein Literally Made People Into Pawns

No one knows what the future holds for Donald Trump and this indictment, but The Bulwark’s Amanda Carpenter has a few ideas and came on the latest episode of The New Abnormal politics podcast—along with MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner—to share them. And there’s good and bad news. Kirschner takes the opportunity to go in on the Department of Justice for its failure to hold Trump accountable for, well, everything, and leaving it up to the states instead. And in true lawyer fashion, he pinpoints the moment that Trump revealed his motive for keeping those classified documents on Sean Hannity. Plus! TNA hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie issue a warning about MAGA Trump defense money scams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 Apr 20231h 6min

Betsy DeVos is no longer wreaking havoc as former President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, but even without the title, the Republican donor is still actively making moves to “destroy” the public school system. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, came on this bonus episode of The New Abnormal podcast to share exactly how DeVos, “one of Michigan’s least popular people,” is doing so as well as her take on mass shootings in schools (“They’ll ban a book before they’ll even talk about what to do with assault weapons.“) and the state of teaching in America because of it all. Plus! Hosts Danielle Moodie and Andy Levy listen to clips of Lauren Boebert getting owned over “public urination” and Trump saying truly dumb things, including that he may not love his children. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2 Apr 202330min

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie discuss the latest in Donald Trump’s New York indictment. Plus! The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer stops by to talk about what Republicans really mean when they say the word woke and Hunter College’s Basil Smikle talks all about gun violence in America and what it’ll take for something to change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

31 Mar 20231h 5min

Will Ron DeSantis be as popular among the rest of the country as he is in Florida? Charlie Sykes, editor at large at The Bulwark, thinks not. But that isn’t stopping the governor for going for it anyway, it being the 2024 presidency. He tells New Abnormal co-host Andy Levy why in this episode, including a few things that he believes DeSantis is banking on to win. (And why this won’t work). Also in this episode: Jared Yates Sexton, host of The Muckrake Podcast and author of The Midnight Kingdom, has proof that Trump’s religious pandering will lead to violence and tells co-host Danielle Moodie why liberal white Democrats in media are embarrassed of Trump, but just won’t quit him. Plus! Andy and Danielle reflect on Trump’s rally in Waco, and how Trump has gone full “vengeful” old testament. They also discuss the state state of the country after the latest school shooting in Nashville and reminisce on the very recent time Republicans swapped the American flag pins for ones of AR-15s. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 Mar 20231h 5min

The world of pro wrestling used to be sold as real. Viewers were told that the fights, the rivalries, and the storylines were all real-life, otherwise known as a phenomenon called kayfabe. Then, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon turned that on its head. In this episode, author Abraham Josephine Riesman, who recently wrote a biography on McMahon titled Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, tells The New Abnormal co-host Andy Levy how a manipulation strategy McMahon used made WWE what it is today (and help to deregulate it) and how Trump came to use that same technique to keep his fanbase coming back. Also in this episode: Riesman goes deeper into how McMahon’s strategy was able to leak into the world of politics, the history of McMahon and Trump’s friendship, and if there’s truth behind one of the biggest quote from her book: “Vince McMahon is the closest thing to a friend Trump has.” Plus! Andy and co-host Danielle Moodie talk about the Republican war on oat and almond milk and make the case that if TikTok goes down, Meta and Twitter should go with it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

26 Mar 202334min

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moddie discuss the latest in Donald Trump’s possible indictment. Plus! The Daily Beast’s Senior Media Reporter, Justin Baragona, joins the show along with Jade Magnus Ogunnaike, the Vice President of Corporate Power at Color of Change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

24 Mar 20231h 1min

MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang joins the show and gives co-host Danielle Moodie insight into why Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment against Trump for a Stormy Daniels case, and not Jan. 6, is the first one to catch up to him. She also shares why this indictment is the “beginning of the fall” and her prediction for what’s next, or in her words, the indictment that will really “break the dam.” Also on this episode, co-host Andy Levy predicts whether or not Trump will have a perp walk and surmises whether House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in love with Trump, or afraid of him. Plus! Jeff Sharlet, author of The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, tells Andy what he learned while writing about the post-Trump world—like how right-wing grandmas have nasty things to say about Hillary Clinton—and why he doesn’t actually care about Trump like other Trump-era writers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

21 Mar 20231h 9min

The right and the left seemed to have gotten super worked up about the classified documents found in the private homes of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, but NSA and surveillance writer Kerry Howley, also the author of Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State, saw the findings differently. She joins Andy Levy on this bonus episode of The New Abnormal to talk about what classified docs really mean—the bad and the-not-so-bad but still bad. Plus! She shares with Andy what whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning have in common and shares the story of a whistleblower named “Reality Winner,” a woman not a horse, whose story will infuriate you. And, as always, Danielle Moodie and Andy listen and make fun of clips of “racist” and really dumb Republicans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

19 Mar 202327min