Center Left Radio

Embracing Asymmetry: The Friday Show

CLR Show 1870. Air Date December 1, 2023. As Donald continues to defy every legal restraint, every gag order and every norm of decency, many of us continue to react apoplectically and decry his ability to remain unrepentant and unscathed. This is a wrong headed approach and one that forces us to pit our fears against his. And make no mistake: Donald will always out-fear us and turn his fears, buoyed by our own, into red meat for the MAGA masses. But there is a very effective alternative. If we embrace hope and all that it has always promised for the American people, while contrasting Donald as the antithesis of hope––the Anti-Hope––our chances of long-term success are hugely improved. With Friday Co-Host, David Bach.  

Fascism, Pure and Simple

CLR Show 1869. Air Date November 21, 2023. We no longer have the luxury of simply observing Donald and his sycophantic followers from the comfort of our presumptions about the indestructibility of the American Constitution and our constitutional order. We must assume he means what he says and we must learn from history or find ourselves condemned to repeat it. Democratic messaging from this point forward must be laser focused on the link between Donald's words, the complicity of his sycophants and all the clear parallels to the rise of Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain. We can no longer trust the republicans to 'ultimately' respect the democratic order. We must insure it ourselves.  

’Do The Right Thing’: The Friday Show

CLR Show 1868. Air Date November 17, 2023. 'Do the right thing' is an infamous mob dictum. It's also a paraphrase of the (alleged) Churchill quote, 'Americans will always do the right thing after attempting all other options.' With Nikki Hayley gaining ground on Donald, and the spectacle of massive civil fines, criminal convictions and related sentencing(s) looming, republican donors and cooler republican minds will soon begin to recognize that the critical Independent vote in battleground states will soon begin to wither. Having chosen every other wrong path, perhaps the time is coming when they'll finally do the right thing... and jettison Donald. With Friday Co-Host, David Bach.

Be Prepared

CLR Show 1867. Air Date November 14, 2023. Anyone who imagines the period between now and the November 2024 election will be politically predictable or in any way familiar is living in a delusion. The full force of the lies, fear and hatred underlying the Donald phenomenon will be unleashed upon the country and it will take every bit of the collective strength of our governmental institutions merged with the collective strength of Americans who wish to preserve democracy to actually preserve our democratic form of government.  

’When Will They Ever Learn?’

CLR Show 1866. Air Date November 10, 2023. Based on the results of Tuesday's off-year elections, the republicans are giving every indication that they won't, or more likely can't, learn from their prior political mistakes and will continue to tout the same losing attitudes and behaviors that have sunken them in every race since 2016. And this is before Donald's legal problems and the likelihood of actual convictions and sentencing(s) are factored in. The GOP is, quite literally, trapped in its own demented fantasies.  With Friday Co-Host, David Bach.

(Don’t Panic)

CLR Show 1865. Air Date November 7, 2023. The release of a NY Times/Marist poll yesterday showed Donald with as much as an 11 point lead in key battleground states, and sizable favorability ratings in the areas of the economy, the military and handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict. The findings are upsetting––and not a little irrational given Donald's current legal status. It also helps to remember that republicans have had substantial leads one year before every election since 2018, and have lost every single election since the (unexpected) election of Donald in 2016. This is not the time for democrats to panic. It's the time to revisit and revive proven election strategies and to work all the harder to preserve American Democracy in 2024. 

For One Man’s Selfish Needs: The Friday Show

CLR Show 1864. Air Date November 3, 2023. For all of Israel's rationalization of its military actions, it is rapidly approaching the point where the fears and political needs of its largely unpopular leader, Bibi Natanyahu, will overshadow whatever moral justification it may be able to present to the world. It is what inevitably happens when an extreme politician is allowed to co-opt the levers of government to fulfill personal ends 'in the name of national security.' Americans should be watching very carefully and realizing we are one misguided vote away from a far worse situation under Donald. With Friday Co-Host, David Bach.  

Stopping Donald Now

CLR Show 1863. Air Date October 31, 2023. Too many democrats are making meaningless arguments about delaying the most powerful legal and Constitutional actions against Donald so as not to give him something else to 'turn around' and 'use against us.' Understand this: Donald will never back down. He lives in fear of his freedom and fortune and will fight anyone or anything without fear of legal restriction or contempt proceedings in any Court to regain his hold on the White House, pardon himself for the crimes he can and take revenge on all others. He will destroy the Constitution and the Court System in the process without a second thought. This is not the time to worry about what Donald might say or how The Base will moan. We must focus only on what he would most definitely do ... again.  

Loneliness Weaponized: The Friday Show

CLR Show 1862. Air Date October 27, 2023. In a brilliant article in the Atlantic ('The Weaponization of Loneliness') and an equally brilliant follow-up interview with Christiane Amanpour, Hillary Clinton focuses on the the underlying despair and emptiness effecting a substantial part of the republican party and Donald's demented capacity to exploit it rather than rectify it for his own selfish purposes. In the Trumpian world, emptiness and loneliness present perfect opportunities to insert objects of hatred and fear. MAGA types have reached a point where no position is too extreme if it fills an emotional void, no matter how dangerous of destructive that position might be to an individual or the nation. Democrats can and must confront this ideology of self- and national destruction head on. With Friday Co-Host, David Bach.

Accent The Positive

CLR Show 1861. Air Date October 24, 2023. We can surrender to the clown car madness of the MAGA crowd and, like them, believe that Donald is an impregnable force and will overcome all efforts to be brought to 'deep state' justice. Or we can believe our eyes and ears, the Constitution and laws of this country and the judicial processes that confront him and accept the overwhelming likelihood that his financial and political demise is only weeks away. And having recognized that, we must communicate this reality as vigorously and broadly as we possibly can. Because it is the reality that will collectively save and reinvigorate us as a nation.