The Long Game

Jonathan Karl is chief Washington and White House correspondent for ABC News. His new book is "Front Row at the Trump Show." Jonathan writes in his book that Trump's attack on "fake news" are "fake" is that Trump actually loves the press, because it is both a vehicle and a villain for him. It gives him a stage on which to act, to play out the Trump show. And as he plays out this soap opera, Jonathan's point is that he wants the press to go too far in its criticism, to move from holding power accountable to seeking to get him. He wants the press to overstep. And in Karl's view, often they have. Karl uses his long-running relationship with Trump to illustrate how fake the president's behavior and attacks on the press often are. Karl has known Trump since the mid-90's, almost 30 years. He first interviewed him in 1994, when Jonathan was a print reporter at the New York Post. "Donald Trump is aggrieved," Jonathan writes. "And arguably he has reasons to be aggrieved. But his response is to wage a war on truth that I fear may do as much or more lasting damage to America than any of the mistakes made by the presidents who went before him." Outro music: "I Aint Gonna Go to Hell For Anybody" by Bob Dylan Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Adam White is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a law professor at George Mason University. He wrote about how we are focusing too much on the president's role in responding to the coronavirus pandemic and that led into a discussion of how the only thing the president -- and the national press -- should really be talking about is doing the things that will help the country reemerge from its bunker: ramping up testing and tracing and therapeutics. The degree to which we ramp up these three things will determine how much damage is done when we reopen the country. You can read Adam's piece at The Bulwark here, and another piece at the Atlantic here. ----- The DC Dream Center is a wonderful youth facility in southeast DC that is serving 200 free hot meals a day right now to anyone who is in need. They're the only location east of the river in Wards 7 & 8 doing so for all ages. Please consider making a donation to them. You can donate HERE. DC 127 is a group that works to keep families together where the kids are at risk of falling into the foster care system. They provide support networks around these families and help the parents get their feet under them. They are also currently collecting and donating groceries to these families and others in need. You can donate to them HERE. ----- Outro music: "24.19" by Childish Gambino Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Republicans are hammering Democrats for not automatically approving another $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, a fund set up to help small businesses avoid going out of business. The fund received $350 billion a few weeks ago, but has already run out of money. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-MD, helped craft the program with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Cardin explains why he and other Democrats are holding up the next round of funding. He said businesses from poor and underserved communities have not been able to access the fund, and he wants to change that before many of them go out of business. --- The DC Dream Center is a wonderful youth facility in southeast DC that is serving 100 free hot meals a day right now to anyone who is in need. They're the only location east of the river in Wards 7 & 8 doing so for all ages. Please consider making a donation to them. You can donate HERE. DC 127 is a group that works to keep families together where the kids are at risk of falling into the foster care system. They provide support networks around these families and help the parents get their feet under them. They are also currently collecting and donating groceries to these families and others in need. You can donate to them HERE. --- Outro music: "Shelter from the Storm" by Bob Dylan Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Congress authorized $350 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program in its coronavirus rescue package that was passed two weeks ago. Any company with 500 employees or fewer can get a loan of up to $10 million and that loan will be forgiven as long as 75% of the money goes toward keeping employees on payroll. The loans are financed by the U.S. government, but are conducted through private sector banks. But over the first several days since enrollment in the PPP opened, there have been a lot of problems with people saying they cannot enroll. There were technical issues because of the crush of people trying to apply. But the banks also put up obstacles. One of the most common problems people reported was banks saying they couldn't apply unless they already had a business account or a credit card with them, or both. So I spoke with Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the House Financial Services committee, who has been working with the Treasury department to try to fine tune the rollout of the program. McHenry is from North Carolina, a bank-heavy state. He was Republican leadership for several years in the House and moved over to a top committee spot when they became the House minority in 2018. There were two things McHenry said that are noteworthy. First, he said he thinks that there shouldn't be a cap on how much the U.S. government can lend out to small businesses, an idea floated on Wednesday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat. It was noteworthy that McHenry agreed with Warren on this. The point would be to ease the anxiety of people who have had trouble getting access so far and worry they will be shut out all together. Already this week Congress is moving to add another $250 billion to the program, bringing it to a $600 billion total, but McHenry thinks that is not enough. And second, I asked McHenry to address the concerns of a number of people who told me they were not sure how to access the program. McHenry said that banks have a legal obligation to verify that loan applicants are not seeking loans with fraudulent credentials, and so he said if you have a business account with a bank, to go through them. If you don't go through a bank where you have any account. And if you have neither or are having trouble with that approach, create an account with the bank you want to use so that they can verify your financial information. He said that the rollout has been uneven but that the next week will be improved, as will the week after that. --- I told you last week that the DC Dream Center was giving out 100 free hot meals a day in the Anacostia area of DC. That number is now up to 200 meals. I dropped by the Center over the weekend and dropped off a few items. They usually host a ton of programs at their facility just off Pennsylania Avenue on the other side of the Anacostia River, but they've shifted their work to feeding people who need it during this crisis. You can donate to their work HERE. And Pathways to Housing is helping people who are homeless to transition into housing to help them stabilize their lives and work toward getting employed if possible. The donation link for them is HERE. --- Outro Music: "That's the Way that the World Goes Round" by John Prine Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The question of who's to blame for the mess we're in with coronavirus is not a fun one. It's clear that the U.S. response has been pretty terrible on a number of fronts: the testing component has been a disaster, as has the lack of preparation regarding medical equipment, from personal protecting gear to ventilators. And then there's the president, who's public statements have mostly been erratic. As Tom Edsall wrote in the New York Times, Trump "has lurched from complete denial ("One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear") to "I am not responsible" to "We're doing a great job" to "It's going to disappear" to "It will go away" to awarding himself a 10 out of 10 to calling the unavailable tests "PERFECT" to claiming "We have it very well under control" to setting Easter, April 12, as the date to reopen the country "a beautiful time, a beautiful timeline" to boasting of high ratings as death projections soared. On Tuesday, Trump seemed to have come to his senses, at least for now: "This is going to be a very painful, very, very painful two weeks." But the question of how to critique the president is delicate. The instinct for everyone to row in the same direction at this moment of crisis is strong and understandable. At times of emergency, Americans often rally to the president. And that's reflected in the fact that Trump's approval rating has risen recently. However, compared to leaders of other countries, the bump in Trump's approval rating is pretty small: 5 points compared to increases of 18 to 29 points for the leaders of Germany, Canada, Australia and Britain. We've begun to see political ads criticizing the president's response, and that struck me as a rather delicate maneuver. So I spoke with Guy Cecil, who runs Priorities USA, one of the most influential Democratic super PAC's in the country. They spent $190 million in the 2016 presidential election and over the past week spent $7.5 million to run ads critical of the president's response to the pandemic in five key states that will likely decide the 2020 election: Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, and... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I talked with Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has been leading the push with Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to send at least $2 billion to states to help them get ready for a fall election conducted during a second wave of infections. He called the $400 million in last week's rescue package a good start but said he's going to be pushing for much more in the next bill that Congress passes to deal with the outbreak. The president's own science advisers have warned that even if we stabilize coronavirus cases after hitting a peak in the next month, we could see a new wave of infections in the fall. That might require us to think about elections differently. Namely, we might find that many Americans want or need to cast their vote by mail. Please consider supporting these two groups helping people during this pandemic. Covenant House is a national organization that helps young people, ages 18-24, who are "experiencing homelessness, disconnection, and exploitation." You can donate here. Pathways to Housing helps get people out of homelessness. During this crisis, they are continuing to place people in housing, as well as providing services to those still on the streets, from food, to counseling, to collecting supplies to help those in need stay as safe as possible. You can donate here. Outro music: "Blue Pill Blues" by Early James Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I talk with Yuval Levin about his article in the Atlantic about how to come back from the pandemic shutdown we are currently in. He writes: "Along with making the hard pause bearable, we also need to enable a soft return toward normalcy, starting soon. That return will be slow and gradual; it will look different in different places, and it will mean living with the virus, not putting it behind us. The scenario President Trump has fantasized about, that "it's going to disappear; one day—it's like a miracle—it will disappear," is not going to happen. At the same time, however, the pause we are in cannot last, even for the medium term." Here are links to donate to the two organizations I mentioned. The DC Dream Center is a wonderful youth facility in southeast DC that is serving 100 free hot meals a day right now to anyone who is in need. They're the only location east of the river in Wards 7 & 8 doing so for all ages. Please consider making a donation to them. You can donate HERE. DC 127 is a group that works to keep families together where the kids are at risk of falling into the foster care system. They provide support networks around these families and help the parents get their feet under them. They are also currently collecting and donating groceries to these families and others in need. You can donate to them HERE. Outro music: "Stop Pretending" by Deep Sea Diver Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lee Saunders is the head of one of the country's largest unions, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He talks about why union membership has steadily gone down for decades, how an adverse ruling at the Supreme Court rejuvenated his union, and what it takes to lead a large organization effectively. He also talks about the Democratic National Committee process to change the primary rules, and how the Democrats should not change the rules again to help Bernie Sanders avoid a contested convention if he has the most delegates but less than a majority. The outro song is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated in 1968 after marching with the Memphis sanitation workers, who were on strike and attempting to join AFSCME Local 1733. Outro music: "They Killed Him" by Bob Dylan (words by Kris Kristofferson) Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Addisu Demissie ran Cory Booker's presidential campaign and has an expert resume in Democratic campaigns. Right now he's an undecided voter in California. We talked about what's going to happen in the California primary on March 3, how the South Carolina result will impact Super Tuesday, and what happens to Bernie going forward. We also talked about Addisu's thoughts about why Booker's campaign couldn't get the kind of momens that Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren had last year, which vaulted them into frontrunner status in a super-crowded field. We began by discussing the chaotic state of the Democratic primary, and the similarities between Bernie Sanders' path to the nomination and Donald Trump's in the 2016 Republican primary. Just as Trump did, Sanders is winning the most delegates with only 30 percent or so of the vote, because the rest of the field is split among several other candidates. In the past, parties had the ability to limit the number of candidates running so there would be a consensus candidate who represented the majority of the party. But parties don't have that power anymore, leading to what we discussed as a "collective action problem." Everybody knows what needs to happen — the majority of the Democratic Party needs to unite around one candidate — but nobody is able to make it happen. It's a function of our fractured, atomized politics, and of course if you've been listening to this podcast, you know that it's at the very center of why this podcast even exists. I've been looking at this problem for a few years now. Addisu and I talked about why younger black voters support Bernie, and older ones generally don't. I also wrote a piece about this today with my colleague Brittany Shepherd -- which you can read by clicking here. It's interesting to think of young black voters as a lifeline for Bernie that didn't exist so much in 2016, helping him win with around 30% in these primaries, and as a bridge to their older friends and relatives if Bernie is the nominee and needs robust turnout from the African-American community. And we talked about Bernie's chances of beating Trump. I liked Addisu's take on this, which is basically that trying to forecast it right now is probably a fool's errand. Outro music: "Dust Kids" by Andy Shauf Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joe Biden's last stand will be in South Carolina, where he is still expected to retain support from a large number of African-American voters despite his poor showings so far in Iowa and New Hampshire. Black voters make up about 60% of the Democratic primary vote in South Carolina. If Biden can perform well in Nevada, and then win South Carolina — both of those things being tall orders — that may give him a chance of a surge on Super Tuesday on March 3, when 14 states will hold primaries just four days after the South Carolina primary. I spent some time in the Palmetto state this week. I saw Joe Biden's wife, Jill Biden, speak at events in Charleston. And I recorded this episode in the state capitol, Columbia, where I interviewed Bakari Sellers inside the capitol building in an auditorium. The episode ended when a tour group came in to watch a movie. Sellers is a South Carolina Democrat who's been active in state politics here for a while. He is 35 now, which might seem young. But he was elected to the state legislature at only 22 years old. He ran for lieutenant governor in 2014, and lost. But he will run for office again, and soon. Sellers is a frequent political commentator on CNN now, and we talked about the state of the race nationally, and about the South Carolina electorate specifically. He made some interesting predictions about President Trump's chances of winning reelection, of former President Barack Obama's potential role in trying to unite the Democratic Party if the primary becomes too fractious, and explained why African-American voters are expected to stay loyal to Biden. Outro music: "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" by Wilco Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.