December 16 – Why Trump is Popular With Working Class Republicans; Double Government and the Permanent National Security State; Consumer Protections Stripped in the Omnibus Spending Bill

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the latest Republican presidential debate and the continuing Donald Trump phenomenon that has the reality star-turned populist politician again rewarded for bad behavior as he rises in the polls after childish displays of name-calling insults levelled at his rivals on stage. Thomas Edsall, a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a New York Times columnist on demographic and strategic trends in American politics, joins us to discuss his op-ed in The Times “Can This Really Be Donald Trump’s Republican Party?” and a GOP that is too in tune with the donor class and not connecting with the concerns of regular voters who Trump is appealing to.

Part 2

Then we look into the deep state or the Double Government that runs the daily business of national security rendering those we elect in our faux democracy largely ornamentation which explains why there is little difference between the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Michael Glennon, a Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy who was Legal Counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee joins us to discuss how presidential control, congressional oversight and judicial review of national security is largely illusory as the permanent national security establishment continues to expand its dominance of national priorities and its grip over the treasury.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Lori Wallach the director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch and an expert on the operations and outcomes of trade policies such as NAFTA, WTO and the TPP. We examine the attack on consumer protections in the omnibus spending bill making its way through Congress that eliminates country-of-origin meat labels for pork and beef that consumers rely on to make informed choices about their food