Beyond Politics

Possibly the greatest scandal in American intelligence history, and even political history, is unfolding right now. Our guest Craig Unger is the author of a recent article in the New Republic called "Did the FBI's Charles McGonigal help Throw the 2016 Election to Trump?"  It raises the very real possibility that Russia infiltrated the FBI and helped orchestrate a stunning swindle of the New York Times in ways that may have handed the Presidency to Donald Trump. And we're still learning more about it every day. Unger is the widely respected author of New York Times bestselling books like House of Trump, House of Putin, and American Kompromat. 

Biden's bold Ukraine fly-in was historic, but we ask the question that no one is: was it too great a risk? Also, Kevin McCarthy hands over raw insurrection footage exclusively to Tucker Carlson, a known insurrection denier and Russian propegandist.  And Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks America needs a Red-Blue divorce.  The panel wonders: could we just divorce ourselves from Marjorie Taylor Greene?

New revelations about George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan and the Freedom Caucus' demands provide a window into just how off-the-wall the Congress under Republican leadership has become. Matt appears on the radio show hosted by legendary broadcaster Howard Monroe to run down just how bad it's gotten, how Republicans are trying to reverse reality, and what the consequences would be for all of us if this group has their way. 

Bringing you a conversation today that Matt recorded with AJ Kierstead, a libertarian Republican radio host who finds common ground with people across the political spectrum. We put a bow on the state of the union address and what it meant and ask why we can't stand politicians, but still like politics.

We take you inside a classified military briefing like the kind members of Congress got last week about the UFOs we've been shooting down.  What happens? What can you believe? Also, Republicans have an impossible dilemma in front of them that they may not solve.  And, a linguistic analysis: is Donald Trump ACTUALLY a PAB???

Congressman Steve Cohen tells us what's going on inside the right-wing Freedom Caucus-infused Congress, including the dramatic moment that Marjorie Taylor Greene confirmed that she's nuts, what Jim Jordon is doing with his gaslighting investigations, and what does George Santos do with his day?

The military shot down it's fourth object flying over our skies in eight days yesterday.  This raises a ton of questions: what are these things, where do they come from, and why are there so many right now?  Underlying them all is the big one: could it actually be aliens?  That is why we wanted to share our earlier interview with Mick West, who is the preeminent explainer of UFO videos in the world. He's widely cited by journalists, highly respected, and highly respectful. He takes a rational, scientific approach to breaking down incidents like these and providing explanations, and there's a lot we can learn from him about how to approach these questions. 

This is the hidden story of how Russia invaded America -- not with soldiers, but with a mind-bending web of money. They briefly infiltrated and bent the highest levels of our politics, and then seemingly stopped.  Or did they? Dr. Ruth May is a business professor at the University of Dallas, now retired, and an expert on the economies of Russia and Ukraine. She wrote an article for the Dallas Morning News in 2018 called How Putin's Oligarchs Funneled Millions into GOP campaigns, and she joins us to trace the fascinating history, and future, of the great Russian financial invasion that law enforcement and the media seems to have forgotten.

The panel describes what a State of the Union Speech is like behind the scenes, and what do members of Congress and both parties try to achieve on one of the biggest nights in American politics? Also, is the Chinese balloon episode meaningful in some way, or just plain stupid? And Matt admits that he was wrong, and Alicia was right, about one critical issue. 

The past week brought new revelations about Supreme Court conflicts and millions of dollars flowing through right-wing groups and Russian fronts into our politics.  That's why we wanted to bring you this recent interview with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island into what we know -- and dangerously, what we don't know -- about dark money, judicial influence, right-wing activism, and foreign influence including from Russia.