InfluenceWatch Podcast

Almost everyone can look at the education landscape in America today and see that something has gone very, very wrong. Spending per student has increased, and there is no evidence that this increased spending has improved student performance outcomes. But what if there are factors eating up the budget and keeping the student performance outcomes stagnant? Factors such as the rise of teachers unions in non-right-to-work states, for example?Joining us today is Corey DeAngelis, a school choice evangelist who is a senior fellow at the American Culture Project, to discuss a recently released report he helped author that looks at just that, the administrative bloat in the public school system and how it correlates to increased teacher union influence. Also joining is CRC colleague Mike Watson, our regular host and resident labor union expert. Corey A. DeAngelis is a senior fellow at the American Culture Project. He has been labeled the “school choice evangelist” and called “the most effective school choice advocate since Milton Friedman.” He is a regular on Fox News and frequently appears in The Wall Street Journal. DeAngelis is also the executive director at Educational Freedom Institute, a senior fellow at Reason Foundation, an adjunct scholar at Cato Institute, a board member at Liberty Justice Center, and a senior advisor at Accuracy in Media. He holds a Ph.D. in education policy from the University of Arkansas. He is the national bestselling author of The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools (Center Street, 2024).Links: Educational Bloat and the Role of UnionsCorey DeAngelis - XEducation FirstWhere Is, Repeat Where Is, America’s Political Leadership? The World Wonders.American Culture ProjectFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

The incoming second Trump administration has vowed to take on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies in the federal government and in federally supported programs. In that, the incoming administration is following the model of conservative-led states like Texas, which have adopted policies restricting left-wing racial ideologies and race-conscious practices. Joining us to discuss Texas’s experience in countering DEI is Kate Bierly of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.Links: Grading DEITexas Holding Universities Accountable on DEIWhat Trump’s Second Term Could Mean for DEIAustin area nonprofits say they’re struggling without DEI fundingFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Well, 2025 is here. And while it came in rather tragically in the South – and we do extend our condolences to the victims of the terrorist attack in New Orleans– the new year also brings a new presidential inauguration. This incoming administration promises big changes both in how government functions and how it funds, and these changes could have immediate effects on the world of grantmaking, philanthropy, and how nonprofits operate generally. As such, my colleagues Mike Watson and Robert Stilson and I thought it might be interesting to make a few suggestions about how some of those changes could play out and which ones we, as an organization, are keeping our eyes on moving forward.Links: SF pays big bucks to nonprofits, fails to properly monitor themConservative nonprofit's proposal points to states as best way to reduce foreign influence in higher edSuperfund Shakedown: Part 1, On to Plan CFollow Trump 45 Labor Policy, Not the Teamsters UnionFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

As the incoming second Trump administration prepares to target government waste with the “Department of Government Efficiency” commission and activists hope that Trump’s administration will root divisive left-wing racial ideologies out of government, Parents Defending Education has released a report relevant to both. The advocacy group identified $1 billion in federal grants from the Biden Department of Education to school districts, universities, and other groups for diversity, equity, and inclusion-related hiring and programming and social-emotional learning. Joining us to discuss the findings is Michele Exner, senior advisor at Parents Defending Education.Links: Biden’s Education Department shelled out $1B on DEI since 2021: reportGrantEDFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

A new presidential administration does not typically mean new management at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but typically the incumbent FBI director did not oversee the FBI when it raided the President-elect’s house. Given that fact and other standing disputes with the Bureau, it is not surprising that President-elect Donald Trump and Senator Chuck Grassley have informed FBI Director Christopher Wray that he does not have the confidence of both the incoming administration and the incoming Senate majority. President-elect Trump has announced his intention to nominate Kash Patel, a former Congressional staffer and national security staffer in the first Trump administration, to replace Wray. Here to discuss how the FBI got here and where it might go in the next administration is our colleague, Ken Braun.Links: Pursuing the FBI’s “Wicked” Russiagate PerpsThe FBI’s Bad Apples: The Bureau’s Worst Days Are Worth RememberingMatt Taibbi: Kash Patel was totally vindicatedFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)Follow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Donald Trump has made quick work of nominating potential cabinet members, and many of those picks – while controversial – are being met with nods – albeit sometimes lukewarm nods -- by both conservative voters and Republican legislators.One pick, however, stands out as being not only controversial but downright anti-conservative. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s choice for Secretary of Labor, is a nominal Republican but supports legislation like the pro-unionboss PRO Act, and during her single term in Congress, co-sponsored the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which National Review recently argued “would force the blue-state model of government unions onto red states.”Here to discuss this confusing nomination, why Trump may have chosen her, and what her chances are for confirmation are my colleague and labor expert Mike Watson and Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Committee.Links: Lori Chavez-DeRemer Wants to Ban the Red-State ModelPRO Act Just Gives Unions More PowerNational Right To Work CommitteeFollow Trump 45 Labor Policy, Not the Teamsters UnionFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

For us at the Capital Research Center, Christmas comes in mid-November. Not because of election results or an inability to read the calendar, but because of the Internal Revenue Service’s deadline for filing nonprofit tax returns after exhausting the automatic extensions. This means we get new insight into how the left-wing dark money networks that we track every mid-November, and no left-wing dark money network is more important than the Arabella Advisors network of nonprofit funding groups. Joining me to discuss their findings from the Arabella sister nonprofits’ latest tax returns are my colleagues Robert Stilson and Parker Thayer.Links: New Venture Fund 990Sixteen Thirty Fund 990North Fund 990Hopewell Fund 990Windward Fund 990Telescope Fund 990Follow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

The Wall Street Journal called it the “sleeper issue” of the 2024 election—“progressive transgender coercion.” But our guest today argues that it wasn’t the “sleeper issue”—it was the central issue. Now that the election is behind us, May Mailman, director of the Independent Women’s Law Center, joins us to discuss how the left-wing push on transgender issues has drawn public blowback.Links: How Radical Gender Ideology Became The Central Issue Of 2024 ElectionTransgender Sports Is a 2024 Sleeper IssueThe Democrats’ Insanity DefenseCrystal’s Story | Female Inmate Says Washington’s Trans Prison Policy Has Robbed Her of Her Religious FreedomBiden Administration Gives Universities and Children’s Hospitals $100 Million to Prop Up TransgenderismFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

As the nation awaits the final results in a few dozen House races, the subject of gerrymandering has once again reared its head. This little understood – and often misunderstood – process of drawing congressional maps has been a subject of discussion in state legislatures and activist enclaves since the practice began in the early 1800s. Both right and left routinely accuse each other of manipulating the process even while both sides openly try to make it work in their interest. Now, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a dispute in Louisiana over the question of racial gerrymandering and a citizen-led gerrymandering proposal fails in Ohio, the question of gerrymandering is once again in the news. Here to shed light on this most confusing American political process – or tactic, depending on your perspective -- are my colleagues Mike Watson and Ken Braun.Links: Supreme Court takes up Louisiana racial gerrymandering disputeThe Myth of Non-Partisan Districts: An Experiment in Redistricting ReformIssue 1 fails big in Ohio despite massive money advantageMichigan’s Racist Redistricting “Reform”Chesapeake Bay BridgeFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

As political parties, candidates, and the increasingly relevant party-aligned but technically independent activist groups that have come to dominate the post-McCain-Feingold world work to draw Americans out to the polls, new innovations have raised the hackles of observers and left citizens asking, “Can they actually do that?” Joining us to make sense of some of the more prominent innovations is Brad Smith, former Chair of the Federal Election Commission, professor of law at Ohio’s Capital University, and chairman of the Institute for Free Speech.Links: Institute for Free SpeechThe new dark money: How influencers get paid big bucks to court your voteElon Musk case over $1 million voter giveaway moved to federal courtFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter