Aliza is on vacation (we miss you, Aliza!), so it was just Karoli and me this week. I thought we would spend a lot of time on California politics (and we did talk some, especially after seeing this Molly Jong-Fast interview with Tom Steyer).
The show notes I put together on Wednesday included a wide range of topics: Trump’s maneuvers to get Bill Pulte into the DNI seat without Senate confirmation, Kash’s cash to FBI loyalists, DOJ’s raid of an Ohio voting rights group and new case against some Minnesota protesters, Elon Musk’s trillion dollar payday and the Ellisons’ approval to gobble up Warner Brothers (and CNN), the police killing of one-year-old Kohen Wiley in Mississippi in a Wal-Mart parking lot (because they suspected someone in the car stole a $39 box of diapers)…
…and - of course - the Memo of Understanding that was being touted as a “deal” to end Donald Trump’s ill-advised, catastrophic war in Iran.
It was shaping up to be another 60 minutes I would be unable to get through without hard liquor.
But a couple of hours before we were set to go live, the text of the MOU was released - and, as usual with the clown car of incompetents that make up this Trump Administration - it was even worse than anyone expected. Karoli agreed to postpone so we could understand the details better (and I could replenish my bourbon supply).
I was ready for another tough hour.
And then Thursday morning, I noticed that the Obama Center opening was being live-streamed at 9 AM Pacific time. I’m so glad I did.
The celebration was an antidote to the toxins that Trump and MAGA have been injecting into the nation’s bloodstream for the last ten years.
It took me back to the heady morning of January 20, 2009 and the joy and hope of Barack Obama’s first inauguration - when it seemed as if this country had turned a huge corner.
Yesterday’s celebration had everything: past presidents of both parties, world dignitaries, members of Congress, ACTUAL celebrities (on stage and in the audience), and thousands of regular people who were there because they love this country and the Obamas’ vision of what it can and should be.
Karoli had also streamed the event yesterday, so we were in remarkably good spirits when we eventually got together for our own live chat.
Michelle Obama reminded us of all that her husband had accomplished in his eight years in the White House, and (unlike the three of us) she continues to go high when rebuking the current regime.
Barack Obama delivered the speech we should be hearing on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I plan on streaming it again on July 4 to counter-program whatever awful circus Trump will be holding in Washington.
In the end, we did manage to talk about most of the bad stuff that was in the show notes. But we did it from a place where we remembered that we can still have nice things if we work for them. And that’s so much healthier than guzzling bourbon.
View this week’s podcast above or listen below.
