October 21 – Paul Ryan: The Earnest Wonk or an Ayn Rand Zealot?; Ayn Rand’s Enduring Influence Over the American Right; “The Kill Chain: The Lethal Bureaucracy Behind Obama’s Drone War”

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with a profile of Paul Ryan who is being depicted in the press as a moderate who can bridge the divide between the Republican establishment and the Tea Party’s “Freedom Caucus”, the man on the white horse who is riding to the rescue of the Republicans who can’t find someone to replace the House Speaker and the Speaker designate.  Jonathan Chait, a writer for New York magazine who was previously a senior editor at the New Republic who has extensively profiled Paul Ryan, joins us to discuss his latest article at New York magazine “Paul Ryan Says He Will Serve As House Speaker, Maybe” and how Ryan is being portrayed as, quoting Jonathan Chait, “an earnest, fiscally responsible wonk who wants to make government more efficient, as opposed to a devotee of Ayn Rand determined to stop government from taking rich people’s money”.  

Part 2

Then we examine further the enduring influence of Ayn Rand over right wing politics in America with Gary Weiss, a journalist and the author of two books probing the underside of finances, “Wall Street Versus America” and “Born to Steal”. He was an award-winning investigative reporter for Business Week and his latest book is “Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America’s Soul”.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Cora Currier, a reporter at The Intercept who focuses on national security, foreign affairs and human rights. She is a lead author of The Intercept’s just-released investigative report “The Drone Papers” where she wrote the article “The Kill Chain: The Lethal Bureaucracy Behind Obama’s Drone War” and we discuss the findings in the study by the Pentagon’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Task Force that The Intercept obtained.