Off The Record With Paul Hodes

***Corrected to remove radio ad at the beginning*** More and more, we see elected officials in the Republican Party ignoring courts, ignoring votes, and setting up self-reinforcing rules to get what they want -- which usually includes keeping themselves in power. So what do we do when a major political party simply ignores our system of law and government?

More and more, we see elected officials in the Republican Party ignoring courts, ignoring votes, and setting up self-reinforcing rules to get what they want -- which usually includes keeping themselves in power. So what do we do when a major political party simply ignores our system of law and government?

Should the Trump trial be televised? Will we see a protective order? Why are Republicans rooting against the Barbie movie and the US World Cup team? And what is up with the Ohio Issue 1 referendum?

We were interviewing Kristy Parker - former federal prosecutor and current attorney at Protect Democracy - about the destruction of protections for our democratic system, when she carefully, methodically, and compellingly dismantled Donald Trump's main defenses in the election fraud/January 6 case. Also: we does it make sense to charge Trump under a statute intended to go after the KKK. And how can we reverse the assault on democracy in the US?

Matt joins legendary West Virginia radio host Howard Monroe on his radio show to talk about the big new set of Trump indictments, especially Matt's new article in Newsweek arguing "No, These Indictments Don't Strengthen Trump. That's Just Media Nonsense." Also, the Trump defenses, and what's the end game here?

Special Prosecutor Jack Smith just dropped four new charges on Donald Trump, indictments for conspiring to overturn American democracy and ultimately causing January 6. Former prosecutor and US Congressman Paul Hodes joins Matt Robison and Republican political consultant Alicia Preston to walk through the three biggest questions from the new charges: how strong are they, can Trump's defense work, and how will all of these mounting legal cases get done before the 2024 election? 0:00 The Charges 1:43 How Strong IS The Case? 4:44 Trump's Defense: Will It Work? 10:11 The Co-Conspirators 11:59 Why No Sedition Charge? 13:41 Republicans' Lame Response 15:50 Trump's Insane Response 18:13 Trump's Other Problem: Money 19:35 Can We Do ALL These Trials? 21:26 Can Trump Still Win?

No one likes money in politics. But the simple truth is, if you want to win and do the things that you believe in, you need to raise campaign cash. And one of the Democratic Party's top experts on how to do it, Josh Handelman, says, we shouldn't feel bad about that. We should embrace it. He also explains how things have changed int he past 17 years in campaigns, what works and what doesn't and Matt and Josh share some of their best secrets for being successful in campaigns.

Following Part One on the Ron DeSantis campaign catastrophe, Kartik Krishnaiyer, one the the nation's leading experts on Florida politics and proprietor of The Florida Squeeze and Matt Robison discuss whether a reboot is possible. ALSO: the biggest Senate race in the country that you probably should be paying more attention to. And another incredible, undemocratic, anti-democracy power grab. And if you want to see Kartik's book, check it out here. And come support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7411781

When top elections analysts are asking whether your campaign is the worst in modern political history, you know things have gone south. And that's where things are for Ron DeSantis after a series of disasters, embarrassments, and acts of stubbornly clinging to insane positions. Kartik Krishnaiyer, one the the nation's leading experts on Florida politics and proprietor of The Florida Squeeze joins to walk through this monumental political disaster and what it means for the presidential race. And if you want to see Kartik's book, check it out here. And come support us on ⁠Patreon⁠ to see PART TWO of the video of this episode! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7411781

It's time for another installment our most fun episode series on space, where we go WAY Beyond Politics. We welcome back UNH Observatory Director John Gianforte to talk about what the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered in it's first year, and run down the top five most mind-blowing images. Find the full video on our Patreon page here, and please support our work! Or if you want to pull up those images yourself, here they are: 5) James Webb Space Telescope time travels billions of years in amazing 3D visualization https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-3d-video-13-billion-year-journey 4) Neptune's rings https://www.planetary.org/space-images/neptunes-rings-2 3) James Webb Space Telescope celebrates 1st year of science with jaw-dropping view of cosmic nursery  https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-new-image-rho-ophiuchi-celebrate-year-science-july-12 2) Webb Detects Water Vapor in Rocky Planet-forming Zone  https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-1

Three under the radar stories from recent days suggest that Republicans are once again about to kneecap each other and leave a wide open path for Donald Trump. Also, disaster in Israel for democracy, an empty trying to get back to the top in New Hampshire, and what's with the death of sports sections?

The trump indictment three-peat is looming, and there are huge questions involved. Will this one matter politically and start to peal away Republicans? Can DeSantis make a surge off this? Is there a "David" strategy in this primary? AND, what does New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu declaring he won't run for re-election mean? IS he reconsidering challenging for the nomination?

Lying. Hypnotizing. Gaslighting. Did Texas’ “serial killer whisperer” and his questionable tactics ensnare an innocent man? An amazing new podcast from journalist Maurice Chammah and the Marshall Project called "Just Say You’re Sorry" poses all of those questions and ultimately asks, what’s the price that we pay for a sense that we’ve closed the books, when we might be closing them on the wrong page? Maurice Chammah is a staff writer and the author of "Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty," which won the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Work-In-Progress Book Award. His work has been published by The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New York Times.

It's our July mailbag! Your questions and comments answered, including: Why won't the media report more on the DeSantis Guantanamo Bay story? What's about to happen with the Trump case in Georgia? Does Jack Smith have a major ace up his sleeve against Trump? Is Jim Jordan going to be sued for his role in the Ohio State scandal? Who are the top five Dems who could be replacement White House contenders? Are Trump voters...hiding?

The panel discusses the eerie parallels on a day when Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu both made new legal maneuvers to stay out of prison and regain (or regain) power. Also, what does a new grand jury empaneling mean in Georgia. And is Biden crushing it when it comes to our alliances?

As we record this on the morning of July 11, Israel has once against broken out in massive protests after an overnight vote in their Parliament that pushed forward the far-right governing coalition’s plan to limit their judiciary. Protestors see the plan as nothing less that a more stealthy version of the overt power grab that Prime Minister Netanyahu announced in January and that led to a shutdown of the country in March. One of co-founders of the pro-democracy protest movement is Gilead Sher. He is a former Chief of Staff and Policy Coordinator to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and a senior peace negotiator. He joins us with an update on what is happening and why. Further Reading: subscribe to former AP lead Mideast reporter Dan Perry's substack. See Gilead Sher's Times of Israel article.

Every so often, the political guru that the Washington insiders listen to delivers one of his deep dive analysis memos on what’s going on under the surface in politics. And everyone drops everything to see what he had to say. So when Doug Sosnik delivered his newest analysis -- explaining what the 2024 election will come down to and what four key voting blocs would decide the outcome -- we knew we wanted to bring all of our listeners and viewers the voice that the pros listen to. Doug served as a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton for 6 years, including as the White House Political Director, and he’s gone on to advise over 50 U.S. Senators and governors. Fortune 100 corporations, foundations and universities for 35 years, including the National Basketball Association, the Motion Picture Association of America, CNBC. And he Doug co-authored a New York Times bestseller, Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community.

The Supreme Court wrapped its term with a rush of rulings, including in a pivotal case that pitted issues of free speech against anti-discrimination laws. Except, the case was built on a fantasy: a web designer who had never designed a website, and a request from a gay couple that never existed. So was the Supreme Court duped? And is the Court veering outside the mainstream of public opinion, or reflecting it? Also, is Ron DeSantis flailing with a bizarre new ad as his poll numbers tank?

When the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful, rejecting affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation, it created more questions than it answered about the future of racial diversity in elite college admissions. Dr. Stephanie Hall is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a leading expert on college accountability, and she joins us to describe what the impact of this decision could be in practical terms.

A major new poll has good news for Donald Trump. But somehow, it has even better news for President Biden. Strangely, it also brings unsettling news about how Americans view our system and the choice that they are determined to make, yet seem to hate.