
Burn the Boats
Burn the Boats is an award-winning podcast featuring intimate conversations with change-makers from every walk of life. Host Ken Harbaugh interviews politicians, authors, activists, and others about the most important issues of our time.
Latest episodes

Jan 6, 2022 • 50min
BONUS: Reflections on the January 6th Insurrection
On the one year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, we’re sharing clips from six Burn the Boats interviews that delve into the causes and consequences of the attack. Here are the guests featured in this Bonus episode, with links to their full interviews:
Anne Nelson, an award-winning war correspondent and author.
Congressman Jason Crow, who was in the House Gallery during the attack
Christian Picciolini, a former leader in the American white power movement who now works in extremism prevention
Kris Goldsmith, an Army combat veteran who is currently the CEO of an intelligence firm that specializes in the disrupting domestic extremism campaigns
Dr. Kathleen Belew, the nation’s foremost expert on the involvement of military veterans in the white power movement
Fred Wellman, the former Executive Director of the Lincoln Project, a PAC founded by former and present Republicans with the goal of defeating “Trumpism.”
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Dec 29, 2021 • 49min
Lucas Kunce: Populism and Power
Lucas Kunce is a Marine Corps veteran running to fill Missouri's vacant Senate seat in 2022. Lucas served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and eventually went on to become an international negotiations officer at the Pentagon. He's now running a campaign that focuses on taking power out of the hands of corporate monopolies and putting it back in the hands of working people.To learn more about his campaign, visit lucaskunce.comYou can also find him on Twitter at @LucasKunceMO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 15, 2021 • 53min
Heidi Heitkamp: The Democratic Party’s Branding Problem
Heidi Heitkamp is a former Senator who represented North Dakota from 2013 to 2019. She was one of the only Democrats in the Senate representing a state that voted overwhelmingly for President Trump. Now, she helps lead the One Country Project, an organization dedicated to reopening dialogue with rural communities and advancing opportunities for rural Americans.You can find Heidi on Twitter at @HeidiHeitkampFor more information about One Country Project, visit their website, Onecountryproject.com, or follow them on Twitter at @_OneCountry_ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 1, 2021 • 53min
Fred Wellman: The Signs of a Violent America
Fred Wellman is the former Executive Director of the Lincoln Project. He is a Westpoint and Harvard graduate, and served in the Army as an aviator and public affairs officer for 22 years. The Lincoln Project is a political action committee that was founded in 2019 by former and present Republicans, with the goal of preventing the re-election of Donal Trump and defeating ‘Trumpism.’You can find Fred on Twitter at @FPWellman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 17, 2021 • 54min
Tyler Merritt: Before You Call the Cops
Tyler Merritt is an Activist, Author, Actor, and public speaker. His video monologue, “Before You Call the Cops,” garnered national attention after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and has been viewed tens of millions of times. In his new book, I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler talks about his experiences as a black man in America, as well as privilege, religion, multiculturalism, and even musical theater.Follow Tyler on Twitter at @TTMProject, and on instagram at @thetylermerrittproject. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 3, 2021 • 54min
Kareem Crayton: Redistricting & the Problem with Politicization
Kareem Crayton is an attorney, law professor, and academic whose work explores the effects of state-sanctioned racial discrimination on campaigns, elections, and governance. He served as the Executive Director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and is the founder and Managing Partner of Crimcard Consulting, which is now advising the Virginia Redistricting Commission. You can learn more about Kareem and his work at kereemcratyon.comYou can also follow him on Twitter at @KareemCrayton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 20, 2021 • 46min
Chris Harnisch: The ‘Surrender’ of Afghanistan
Chris Harnisch was the Deputy Coordinator for Countering Violent Extremism at the State Department during the Trump Administration. Among other various national security roles, he also was the Director for Transnational Threats and the Director for Afghanistan at the National Security Council.Chris also is a part of the Army reserves. He served for 14 months in Kabul, Afghanistan, and worked for an intelligence task force that focused on corruption, organized crime, and insurgency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 6, 2021 • 40min
Chairwoman Shontel Brown: Bipartisanship and Ohio’s 11th District
Shontel Brown is the Chairwoman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic party, and was both the first woman, and the first African American elected to the position. She recently won a heated primary in Ohio’s 11th congressional district, which gained national attention and has been seen as an indicator for the direction of the Democratic Party.Find Shontel on Twitter at @ShontelMBrownLearn more about her House campaign at shontelbrown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 22, 2021 • 50min
Miles Taylor: Inside the Trump White House
In 2018, Miles Taylor anonymously authored a New York Times op-ed titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration”. At the time, Miles worked in a senior role in the Department of Homeland security. Eventually, after Trump asked him and other officials to break the law, Miles quit. He decided to author a book, again anonymously, titled A Warning, which described in detail the morally gray, and sometimes blatantly illegal orders that came from the President.In the lead up to the 2020 election, Miles felt it was important to reveal himself as the anonymous author of both the op-ed, and the book.Now, he’s created the Renew America Movement, an organization dedicated to giving a voice to the ‘rational’ republicans who won’t subscribe to the right-wing extremism of Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 8, 2021 • 43min
Amy McGrath: The ‘Honor Bound’ Memoir
Amy McGrath talks about her new book, Honor Bound: An American Story of Dreams and Service, which details her groundbreaking time in the military, her tough political campaigns, and the challenges we face as a country.Follow Amy on Twitter at @AmyMcGrathKY Check out her interview from last year hereFor more details about her time in the Marine Corps, listen to her interview on our other podcast, Warriors In Their Own Words, out next Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices