Show Notes
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, the subject and hero of the new film The Social Reckoning, joins Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang for an in-depth conversation about Facebook’s responsibility for January 6. How did its systems help fuel the attack? Could the company have prevented it? And how did that day shape her decision to blow the whistle? Corey also shares his reaction to the film and a story about Hillary Clinton at Brown University that raises questions about political belonging and why she lost to Trump.
Before that, Corey and John discuss the misogyny of Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump, and whether Obama’s “Cheesecake Factory” mockery offers an effective response to a politics where extremism has become mainstream. They also examine the Trump administration’s California election crackdown, including arrests over alleged voting-related offenses and an effort to block the counting of ballots from roughly 20,000 voters whose citizenship it disputes.
More from The Oath and The Office
Can writing an article put you at risk of deportation? The Stanford Daily editor George Porteous joins Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang to explain how deportation fears are silencing student journalists—and why his newspaper took the Trump administration to court. After a major district-court victory, the administration is appealing. At stake: freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of noncitizens.
Congress has the power to impeach Trump. Will it use it?
Jack Smith turns the tables on his congressional questioners and doubles down on why he indicted Donald Trump. Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang break down the fiery hearing, the threats of prosecution against Smith, and what this battle over accountability reveals about the upcoming midterms. Plus: Can Democrats win in red states, and what would taking back Congress actually accomplish?
What if the government sends you to a country you've never known—where you fear persecution or torture—and you never get a real chance to challenge it?
Can a president shut out reporters because he doesn’t like their coverage? Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang take on Donald Trump’s sudden ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. They explore the constitutional stakes of revoking press credentials, why press freedom protects the public as well as journalists, and whether federal courts will hold the line against a president determined to punish his critics.