It may be April Fools Day, but its no joke that we are back on today’s BradCast after a half-planned, half-doctor-advised Spring Break week off! [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
Before we left, it seemed like last week might prove to be a slow news week, with Congress on vacation, no primary elections last Tuesday and Trump’s New York felony hush-money trial postponed a few weeks until this month.
Boy were we wrong about that. Last week was anything but a slow news week, and we’ve got the headlines today to prove it! To add some actual context, depth and insight to those headlines — and to hold my hand after I’d been trying to look away for the past week — we’re joined by two old friends, though only one who you may have heard on this program before.
Our friend known mostly as ‘DRIFTGLASS’ is back with us again today. He is co-host, along with his wife, of The Professional Left podcast recorded each week from “Flyover Country, Illinois.” He is also, today, celebrating his 19th blogiversary at the Driftglass blog, so we’re honored he agreed to spend it with us!
And, as if that’s not swell enough, his Pro Left Pod co-hosting wife, FRANCES LANGUM, who is also a longtime Associate Editor over at the Crooks & Liars blog, joins us as well today for a romping, rollicking, breathless review of much that we missed last week and why most of it still matters this week!
Among the huge number of topics from last week covered on today’s program…
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)’s vow to call for removing House Speaker Mike Johnson for his daring to work with Democrats to keep the government from shutting down by passing a long-delayed 2024 spending bill just over a week ago.
- The failed attempted conspiracy theories forwarded by Russia and its supporters following the horrific massacre by ISIS-K at a concert venue in Moscow a week ago Sunday.
- Donald Trump‘s failure to cough up a $454 million bond during the appeal of his New York civil fraud case and the various lifelines thrown to him (for now) by the Appeals Court in NY.
- Trump‘s scammy, just-in-time merger of his failing social media site with a public company that could result in billions of dollars — including “straight-up bribery” as Driftglass describes it — for the disgraced former President.
- Trump‘s New York criminal trial on 34 felony charges related to hush-money payments to porn-star Stormy Daniels to help him win the 2016 Presidential election is now set to begin on April 15. And, as Fran believes, Trump “will do anything to make the evidence that’s going to appear in this case not come to trial.” Including, she argues, even if he must “spend two or three nights in jail, violating the gag orders, in order to make this case not happen.”
- What the Biden Administration‘s decision last week to abstain from a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza may mean for Israel and for some on the Left in the U.S. And why, if you don’t like what Israel is doing, Fran advises: “Don’t elect Bibi Netanyahu President of the United States — which is what Trump is.”
- Why NBC News‘ ill-considered hiring and then firing of former RNC Chair and attempted election thief Ronna Romney McDaniel matters.
- What Arizona‘s failed 2022 Republican Gubernatorial candidate and election liar turned 2024 Senate candidate Kari Lake‘s decision not to contest the claims in an election fraud defamation lawsuit filed against her by Maricopa County‘s Republican County Recorder (and chief election official) Stephen Richer means and how Lake is hoping to be saved — somehow — by a victorious Trump this year. (We wish her the best of luck with that.)
- The remarkable, 25-point Special Election victory last week by Democrat Marilyn Lands in Alabama who focused her campaign on reproductive rights and subsequently flipped a state legislative seat from “red” to “blue” after losing her race for that same seat by 7 points in the 2022 general election. What will a post-Dobbs, post-IVF general election look like in supposedly “deep red” AL and elsewhere this November?
- The desperate-for-quick-cash former President and huckster-in-chief is now selling bibles for $59.99 a piece. Though, to be fair, this version also includes the U.S. Constitution. Has Donald Trump ever read either of them? Says Driftglass today: “Good thing he did this to raise money to pay for the court costs of paying off a [porn star] that he was sleeping with while his wife was nursing their child. So the circle of absolute blasphemy is now complete.”
- Joe Lieberman died last week.
- Independent 2024 Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., currently on the ballot in 8 states, thrilled dozens with his announcement of his running mate last week, the former wife of one of Google’s founders, Nicole Shanahan. Or, as Driftglass describes her, “a big bag of money who is as crazy as he is”.
That’s just some of the firehose of news from both last week and this that we cover in today’s very lively BradCast…
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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