Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
@FiringLineShow
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The "Firing Line" tradition revived. @MargaretHoover | @PBS FRIDAY Pod: https://t.co/kVhniMMzHQ Listings: https://t.co/5nNENPjj9t Youtube: https://t.co/N5ahtR8W1j App: https://t.co/8ui4McGWHQ
Joined March 2018
"There's absolutely no evidence," says @beckerdavidj of @elonmusk's claim that Democrats are "importing" migrants to vote illegally. Michigan Sec. of State @JocelynBenson adds Musk is amplifying "unsourced or easily debunkable information" instead of listening to facts.
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"Certainly the United States, with today's condition, you can easily have an authoritarian," says artist and activist Ai Weiwei — @aiww — who challenged China and became a political prisoner. "In many ways, you are already in the authoritarian state. You just don't know it."
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Former #GOP Pennsylvania @RepCharlieDent has announced he voted for @KamalaHarris. Gov. @JoshShapiroPA says Dent's endorsement is "really meaningful.". "I'm seeing more and more Republicans and independents, importantly, begin to line up behind #KamalaHarris."
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In his book, former Mueller prosecutor @AWeissmann_ recounts Paul Manafort meeting with a Putin ally over a proposed deal allowing Russia to take control of part of Ukraine with #Trump's implicit approval. "It was such a clear indication of what Vladimir Putin was trying to do."
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"It's one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted. and I was the U.S. attorney in New Jersey.".@ChrisChristie talks about prosecuting Charles Kushner for tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering. #FiringLineShowPBS
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.@AndrewYang wants to move toward "human capitalism.” He tells @FiringLineShow the problem with a purely capitalistic approach is that we "assumed that human workers would be central to the process of optimizing our capital,” but he says that’s no longer the case.
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.@StephenMoore explains his 2016 joke about Donald Trump moving into the White House and kicking “a black family out of public housing.” Moore says, “That is a joke I always made,” adding he didn’t mean it “like a black person” lived there. “I shouldn’t have said it,” he says.
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.@PeteButtigieg on being on Fox News:. “You're not going to win everybody over” but “you can reach people if you start with some level of good faith.”. “Some of these ideas might…be something that viewers haven't heard” & “someone like me has a responsibility to present” them.
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NEW: @GovChristie says it’s "inexcusable" Mark Meadows didn’t reveal President Trump's positive COVID test during debate prep and "saved it for a book.". So does Christie, who spent a week in intensive care with the virus, believe Trump infected him?. "I think it’s undeniable."
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"She has decided that she is going to put her finger on the scale.". Conservative lawyer @gtconway3d says Trump-appointed Judge Cannon has shown a "very, very disturbing" mix of "incompetence and corruption" in Trump's classified docs case. "Her behavior has been so extreme."
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"I don't want to see the country destroyed." Director @RobReiner talks about channeling his political activism into the 2020 election. He says he hopes the Dems don't pick fights with each other because he wants "the strongest person to emerge. to take on Donald Trump."
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Presidential candidate @AndrewYang warns of a 4th industrial revolution fueled by the rise of robotics and A.I. "Donald Trump is a symptom of this 4th industrial revolution," he tells @FiringLineShow. "The transition is going to be messy almost no matter what we do.”
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The rigged figure skating competition rocked the 2002 Olympics. Andrew McCabe says the Russian gangster behind it also ran a money laundering scheme out of Trump Tower and was at Miss Universe in Moscow. The ex-FBI Deputy adds, “I don’t really believe in coincidence.”
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#DonaldTrump intends to nominate Charles Kushner as ambassador to France. As a U.S. attorney, @GovChristie prosecuted Kushner for tax evasion and witness tampering. Christie told @MargaretHoover Kushner's case was "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he had handled.
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GOP @GovLarryHogan reacts to the Trump campaign’s election lawsuits. “Everyone in America wants a free and fair election, they want every single vote to be counted,” he says but “frivolous lawsuits to drag this out if there's no merit to them absolutely is wrong for the country.”
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Congratulations to @SansuTheCat on correctly guessing that 2020 presidential candidate @AndrewYang is this week's guest on @FiringLineShow!!
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Conservative attorney @gtconway3d defends the Manhattan case against #DonaldTrump. "He's behaved like a criminal his entire life. And I don't think he deserves a pass on anything.". Given Trump's assault on democracy, "whatever they can get him for is fine with me," Conway says.
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GOP candidate @VivekGRamaswamy calls Trump "a very good president" who fell short fulfilling his promises. "The real choice that I think the GOP faces in this primary is do we want reform, incremental reform, or do we want revolution? I stand on the side of revolution," he says.
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What is life like for women under Iran's Islamist regime?. "Like a hell," @AlinejadMasih tells @MargaretHoover as women lead massive protests against the regime. "When you are a woman, you don't have a normal life. You're not a free woman."
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“What you have is a president who is thumbing his nose at the rule of law.” — Director @RobReiner on why he says Donald Trump’s presidency is a threat to democracy.
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"I think I was unfairly punished. unlike anything I have ever seen," Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told @FiringLineShow in February. Today, he sued the DOJ and FBI over his termination, calling his firing "politically motivated" and blaming it on the President.
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“You want to go deeper?” asks artist & former political prisoner Ai Weiwei. Yes!. @aiww then explains how "ideological cleansing" and politically correct extremism in the US make him conclude, "In many ways, you are already in the authoritarian state. You just don't know it."
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Senator @TomCottonAR tells Firing Line if it comes to war with Iran, he is confident the United States would win, and would win swiftly. “Two strikes, the first strike and the last strike,” says the Senator.
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"If I'm a Black man who can have a daughter who looks like this. what do these categories that we all adhere to even really mean?". @thomaschattwill says the birth of his light-skinned daughter led him to confront "the fiction of race.". Follow on Apple:
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"He was fundamentally a man without principle who would then become a champion for politicians without principle.". Former conservative radio host @SykesCharlie assesses Rush Limbaugh's legacy. "We are living in the world Rush created.". Follow on Apple:
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WATCH. @gtconway3d gets emotional explaining he donated nearly $1 million to Biden over worries U.S. constitutional democracy won't survive another Trump term. Passing on a strong country with "freedom and democracy and the rule of law" is paramount. "That's why I did it."
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Why should @BillOReilly have a platform when the women who accused him of sexual harassment don't have that opportunity?. "I don't know anything about what opportunities anybody has," he says. "All I know is that I deliver an honest program and I write books people want to read."
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.@PreetBharara says “good defense lawyers concede things” whereas President Trump wants his allies to call his conduct “perfect.”. "If President Clinton had…said it was beautiful, it was a perfect relationship,” he says, “I think there would've been a lot more votes to convict."
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"This is a man who cares about absolutely nothing but himself. No empathy, no remorse," conservative attorney @gtconway3d says of former President #DonaldTrump. "That extreme kind of narcissist is unfit for any public position.". FULL EPISODE:
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"I think democracy is most under threat by tribalism. I think instead of people identifying any more as American…they identify first and foremost as a Republican or Democrat.". —@RepKinzinger, R-IL, on #Jan6 and America's political divide. FULL EPISODE:
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Justice Gorsuch points out North Korea's Bill of Rights promises a right to free education, free medical care and even relaxation. "But what good are those rights if the power all resides in one person's hands?" Gorsuch says. "It's the separation of powers that keeps us free."
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In a call with lawmakers, a top Cuomo aide called Dr. Michael Osterholm a “chief advisor” who spoke to the governor on a "regular basis.". Osterholm counters this claim on @FiringLineShow:. “I've had one five-minute conversation my entire life with Governor Cuomo," he says.
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"I'm a proud Spaniard but I also know where I belong. I'm super proud to be an American."- @chefjoseandres on becoming a U.S. Citizen. The full interview airs tonight on @PBS at 8:30 p.m ET. Stream the latest from #FiringLineShowPBS. Link in bio.
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.@MikeBloomberg tells @FiringLineShow that China's leader is addressing pollution to satisfy constituents & secure his political future. "The Communist Party wants to stay in power in China and they listen to the public," he says.
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Why is @AndrewYang’s proposed Freedom Dividend $1,000/month?."The poverty line in the US is about $12,800 a year," he says, “So $1000 a month is enough to make a huge difference in the lives of tens of millions of Americans. But it’s not enough so that everyone's sitting pretty.”
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The upside-down flag seen outside Justice Alito's home after #January6th creates a "very damaging" perception, says attorney @gtconway3d, who believes the Alitos are "too smart" to think the 2020 election was stolen. If justices can't stay above politics, "don't take the job."
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Artist and activist Ai Weiwei has long advocated for the release of @WikiLeaks founder #JulianAssange and has visited him in prison, where he’s fighting U.S. extradition. Here @aiww is asked if his support for #Assange would change if he is working with an authoritarian regime:
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Author @dansenor responds to criticism of the IDF's raid last week to free four hostages, an operation that resulted in civilian deaths. "Israel is being held to a standard that no other country or no other people in the world have ever been held to," he tells @MargaretHoover.
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"Many Democrats here when it comes to women's rights in Saudi Arabia, they are loud. But when it comes to Iran, they're hesitating to touch the issue.". @AlinejadMasih accuses western politicians and feminists of failing to advocate strongly for the rights of women in #Iran.
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"Our system is the best in the world.". Amid lies and conspiracy theories about voting in America, GOP Georgia election official @GabrielSterling says, "Our elections are the most secure in the world.". #CountingtheVote Aug. 27 on @PBS. Local listings:
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UPDATE: #DonaldTrump will be sentenced July 11 in Manhattan after being found guilty of 34 felonies. Conservative lawyer @gtconway3d defended the hush money case as "legally sound" and disputed claims that it rests on an "untested" legal theory. WATCH:
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NEW: Russian prosecutors want a 13-year prison term for #Putin critic Alexei Navalny. Garry @Kasparov63 said last year @Navalny may die in prison—and the world wouldn't do much about it. "Nothing will happen because the free world still treats Putin as the legitimate leader."
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"They make me vomit," says @RichardDreyfuss of new cast and crew diversity standards for Best Picture #Oscar eligibility. Plus he praises Laurence Olivier's 1965 performance of Othello in blackface. "Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man?" (1/2)
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Can anything break #DonaldTrump's hold over evangelical voters?. "No," says @TimAlberta, author of "The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory"--not even if prominent evangelical leaders turn against him. "It's the evangelical leaders who created this monster in the first place."
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Attorney @gtconway3d says "we were very lucky" that #DonaldTrump's first term was not more damaging, but a second term would make America "ungovernable.". "He would attempt to do things that were illegal. He would defy court orders. He's a threat to all of our institutions."
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“What happened to Beto O’Rourke?”.Cruz: “He has crashed and burned.”. Sen. @tedcruz believes the media turned on @BetoORourke since the 2018 midterm race, when they “were like groupies at the Beatles concert.” #FiringLineShowPBS
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"I think because people did not always, and still today do not always, take him seriously and literally, they are missing the larger picture," @HillaryClinton says of #DonaldTrump. If he is unrestrained in a second term, she warns, "there's no telling the damage he will do."
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Journalist @TimAlberta says many evangelical voters have allowed the "message of fear" coming from Fox News and talk radio to supplant the message of faith they get from the church. "In many ways, it's oil and water. You have to choose one or the other."
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"Who's going to stop him?". Conservative @amandacarpenter, co-author of @protctdemocracy's "Authoritarian Playbook," warns the guardrails that constrained #DonaldTrump in his first term would be weakened or eliminated in a second. "This is the authoritarian endgame."
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"Presidents should be held to higher standards than the rest of us," @gtconway3d says as jury deliberations loom in #DonaldTrump's Manhattan trial. "This was an act of sleaziness beyond compare," Conway says of the alleged hush money scheme. At 14:48:
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The co-president of the @womensmarch refuses to affirm Israel’s right to exist— saying “everyone has a right to exist. I just don’t feel that everyone has a right to exist at the disposal of another group."
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"Are you telegraphing here that the FBI opened an investigation into Attorney General Sessions?" @MargaretHoover to #AndrewMcCabe on #JeffSessions. Andrew McCabe: "You can conclude whatever you'd like. "
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When @MargaretHoover confronts @BillOReilly about the sexual harassment claims that led to his firing at @FoxNews, he refuses to comment. "I'd be a fool to dredge that up.". Asked about a law ending forced arbitration in similar cases, he says, "I don't care about any of that."
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"It is the most egregious betrayal of the American Constitution by a senator in our history.". Independent @EvanMcMullin challenges @SenMikeLee's defense of his role in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET. @PBS listings:
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“I think the country would become ungovernable if he became president again.". @MargaretHoover and conservative attorney @gtconway3d discuss #DonaldTrump's Manhattan trial and what a second Trump term would mean for America. FRIDAY @PBS. Local listings:
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“There is no equivalent. to what happened on January 6th.”. GOP @RepKinzinger disagrees with Republicans who equate violence in the wake of George Floyd’s death to the riot on the Capitol. “That was a direct attack on democracy.”. @PBS @ThirteenWNET
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As women stand up to oppression in Iran, @AlinejadMasih compares life there to the dystopia of @MargaretAtwood's #TheHandmaidsTale. "In the West, maybe people just eat their popcorn and watch [the series] as an entertainment. But this is the reality in Iran, in Afghanistan.”
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#DonaldTrump recently taunted former supporter @gtconway3d on social media after seeing him in the courtroom. "Dude, you're on trial here and you're worried about who you see in the audience," Conway says, calling it "narcissistic behavior.". At 16:16:
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Former VP @Mike_Pence is reportedly planning a run for president branding himself as a Reagan conservative. "No matter how much you admire Reagan Republicanism, there's going to be no revival of zombie Reaganism," says @sykescharlie. Follow on Spotify:
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.@MeghanMcCain calls herself the "sacrificial Republican” co-host on @TheView. “There just aren't that many conservative women—real ones—in mainstream media,” says McCain, “and I think that's disingenuous to what's going on.”
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Trumpism could evolve into a "civil religion where violence and mass conflict becomes justified in the name of fighting evil," warns journalist @TimAlberta. "It's the sort of thing that would have sounded totally insane eight years ago. I don't think it's insane anymore."
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@TomBevanRCP Here’s the clip. You can see @MargaretHoover’s interview with @gtconway3d on @YouTube or listen on @ApplePodcasts and @Spotify.
Conservative attorney @gtconway3d defends the Manhattan case against #DonaldTrump. "He's behaved like a criminal his entire life. And I don't think he deserves a pass on anything.". Given Trump's assault on democracy, "whatever they can get him for is fine with me," Conway says.
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It’s very important for @JoeBiden to pick an African-American woman as his running mate says @Bakari_Sellers & his mother illustrates why. She’ll “be on the phone with all of her sorority sisters and the base will be activated.”.“That’s the difference between winning and losing.”
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"I will own that I'm a part of this problem.". Sen. @ChrisCoons acknowledges that his vote against Justice Neil Gorsuch, an "eminently qualified" Supreme Court nominee put forward by President #Trump, contributed to the increased polarization of the confirmation process.
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"I do think we have to have an impeachment inquiry," @GovLarryHogan (R-MD) tells @FiringLineShow, publicly supporting the impeachment inquiry for the first time. He’s concerned about whether it can be “fair and objective” but says, "I don't see any other way to get to the facts.”
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"I think it's a parody," @TheJuanWilliams says of #DonaldTrump filling his Cabinet with fellow @FoxNews personalities like @PeteHegseth. "They're fine TV people," he adds. "But are you able, really, to run the Defense Department?. I just think it's a different ball of wax."
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Is the policy of providing health insurance to unauthorized immigrants "one that can win for a general election?". @JulianCastro, supporter of that policy, responds: "Is the policy of threatening nuclear war to another country on Twitter a policy that can win a general election?"
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"He's a narcissistic sociopath. And that is someone who is unfit for office.". Conservative attorney @gtconway3d talks about #DonaldTrump's criminal cases, the 2024 election, and the future of American democracy. TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET. @PBS listings:
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.@AndrewYang says that the freedom dividend would be paid for by a value-added tax to ensure that money from big tech companies would go into the pockets of Americans. “Our data right now is worth more than oil,” he says.
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Bulwark co-founder @SykesCharlie describes the "soul-crushing" experience of splitting with the #GOP after the party was taken over by #DonaldTrump. "I am politically homeless and politically agnostic on many things.". Follow on Apple:
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Will the 2024 election be secure and accurate?. Join @MargaretHoover as she investigates how votes are cast and counted across the U.S.—including in six battleground states. #CountingtheVote premieres Aug. 27 on @PBS. Local listings:
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NOW: #DonaldTrump has been convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Conservative lawyer @gtconway3d rejected Trump's complaints that this was a political prosecution. "He's behaved like a criminal his entire life. And I don't think he deserves a pass on anything."
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"To me, it's proof positive that the solution here is to keep these guns out of the hands of bad guys rather than to think you're going to solve the problem by giving good guys a lot more guns.". Sen. @ChrisMurphyCT reacts to surveillance video showing police inaction at #Uvalde.
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2024 #GOP candidate @WillHurd is running as a "modern Republican.". He tells @MargaretHoover what that means. "A modern Republican is someone who's more interested in fighting war criminals like #VladimirPutin than discriminating against our friends in the #LGBTQ community."
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The extremely low interest rates set by the Fed are disproportionately benefitting people with "appreciable assets," says @mcuban. "What we've got right now is effectively UBI for rich people," he says, whereas "nobody's buying anything from" the people who are struggling.
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Conservative @gtconway3d says federal authorities should have charged #DonaldTrump with campaign finance crimes like they did Democrat John Edwards. "Edwards got a hung jury," he acknowledges, "but the evidence there was much, much shakier.". At 05:20:
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The @January6thCmte holds its first primetime hearing tonight. @RepKinzinger, one of two Republicans serving, called the investigation into #January6th "eye-opening" in December and said it goes far beyond exposing who’s responsible. "It’s about the preservation of #democracy."
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.@RobReiner's first tweet was a scathing critique of @realDonaldTrump, and he’s done it many hundreds of times since. But does he think he's changing anybody’s opinion of the President?
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This week on #FiringLineShowPBS: Women’s rights activist and former member of Dutch Parliament @Ayaan discusses honor violence against young girls with @MargaretHoover
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"We value white life in this country more than Black life…We have decided that when Black men are killed in our cities, it just doesn't matter as much as when white people are killed," Sen. @ChrisMurphyCT says. "That's heartbreaking. That should be unacceptable to all of us."
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“The biggest enemy of the Islamic Republic is not America and Israel. It's women inside Iran.”. Exiled Iranian journalist @AlinejadMasih tells @MargaretHoover why the latest protests could be the beginning of the end for the regime. FULL EPISODE:
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In his new book ‘American Carnage,’ @TimAlberta quotes Senator @tedcruz as saying: “I think it was Roger’s dying wish to elect Donald Trump president.”. Now Senator @tedcruz tells @FiringLineShow: “I think Fox News went all in for Trump. That was the decision they made.”
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How are mail-in ballots verified?. #GOP Maricopa County Recorder @stephen_richer explains what happens when a ballot is received in Arizona--and why it takes the state an average of 13 days to count them all after Election Day. Watch #CountingtheVote:
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Conservative lawyer @gtconway3d explains why he sees a second #Trump term as "a threat to all of our institutions.". "He's in a much worse psychological state than he was four years ago and he knows more about how to get his way in government.". At 23:24:
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How will your vote be counted this November?. @MargaretHoover examines voting systems across the U.S.--including in six battleground states--and what it takes to increase trust in elections. #CountingtheVote premieres Aug. 27 on @PBS. Local listings:
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#MeToo overreach? @ChelseaHandler says women with 'non-stories' diminish stories of assault victims. Handler, who has defended Joe Biden and Al Franken, says, "we're kind of now going after each other in a way that feels like a bunch of sharks in the ocean." What do you think?
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.@CornelWest supports Medicare for All. @Mccormickprof does not. But when it comes to health care, the two “overlap” at “the moral level,” says West. "At the level of policy, then you say, oh, well, let's see which way is the best way of going about doing this kind of thing."
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"If they make you have a baby, they should pay for your food, your lodging, your clothing, your medical care," @MargaretAtwood said of a possible post-Roe v. Wade America, adding failure to provide that care would be a "dereliction of duty.". FULL EPISODE:
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Former conservative radio host @sykescharlie recalls recognizing that he was "out of sync" with his audience after #Republicans backed #DonaldTrump in 2016. "The Republican Party changed and the conservative movement changed into something that was almost unrecognizable for me."
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"My goal is that by the end of 2025, our assumptions, our norms about childhood will be different," says @JonHaidt as he launches his #freetheanxiousgeneration movement. "And it will come to be common sense that you just don't give a smartphone to a kid before high school."
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“Food can be a great uniter. even if you put people with different points of view. a table and a meal brings people closer,” says @chefjoseandres. @FiringLineShow wishes you a happy, safe, and civil Thanksgiving.
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"Whenever we have change…the Voting Rights Act or the Civil Rights Act or the Fair Housing Act, whenever we have the Confederate flag come down or whenever we have policing reform, it's always because of black blood that's been spilled in the streets.". @Bakari_Sellers
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"I anticipate there will be a full-court press in October," @HillaryClinton says, warning of both domestic and foreign disinformation. "There will be concerted efforts to distort and pervert @KamalaHarris, who she is, what she stands for, what she's done."
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One-time #Trump supporter @gtconway3d calls the former president a "narcissistic sociopath" and likens him to authoritarians like #Putin and Hitler. "All the bad, dangerous people who are a threat to democracy are malignant narcissists who rise to a position of power."
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.@JulianCastro, who is more than 30 years younger than some of the candidates, says voters tell him "people want a new generation of leadership. There's this sense that people want new blood." He adds "judgment," not age, is the most important thing for voters to sort out.
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"You cannot distribute wealth if you stop creating wealth.". Colombia's new president @petrogustavo has proposed massive tax increases on the wealthy and corporations. Former President @IvanDuque tells @MargaretHoover why he fears higher taxes could harm the country's economy.
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Twenty years ago today, Congress voted to impeach Bill Clinton on charges of perjury & obstruction of justice. Just a few months earlier, #WilliamFBuckleyJr had a discussion with @AnnCoulter on the Constitution’s impeachment clause (@HooverInst @hooverarchives)
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Senator @tedcruz handicaps the 2020 race, predicting Harris, Warren or Sanders will win the nomination over Biden. “[The Democrats’] energy, their passion, their anger is on the extreme left,” Cruz says. #FiringLineShowPBS
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"I fear that there's enough in the Electoral Count Act that people truly focused on undermining democracy can find a way to do it.". —@RepKinzinger, R-IL, on why Congress must reform the election law to make it harder to "steal an election.". #Podcast:
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