Off The Record With Paul Hodes

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. 

New prosecutions on the cusp for Donald Trump, but is this Lucy and the football all over again, and will anything actually bring him down.  The answer is...yes, quite possibly, but it won't be a prosecution.  Also, will anything change with police killings in the wake of Tyre Nichols' murder?

Russia has infiltrated American politics, mostly through the Republican Party, largely through Donald Trump.  We know this,  and yet we’ve somehow all been gaslighted, exhausted, or tricked into sending it down the memory hole. Today, a reminder of how the KGB begin recruiting Donald Trump in the early 1980s and about how all of his behavior since confirms that, whether he’s aware of it or not, he is very much an asset of Russia and has created a conduit for Russia to manipulate and control senior Republicans. Our guest is author Greg Olear who writes Prevail on Substack and hosts the Prevail podcast.

Republicans are fighting over what direction they should take, with a big vote coming this week.  But the panel discusses how they are blaming all the wrong things for their problems.  Also, another drip falls in the Biden classified documents story. And the Republican "debt ceiling" crisis gets re-branded as the Republican "stupidity bomb."

The "debt ceiling" is actually a stupidity bomb: a dumb way for politicians to wreck our economy and send us into a recession. Celebrated economist Mark Zandi is often on television and in Congress explaining economics as clearly and directly as he can to decision-makers, and he joins us to explain why the debt ceiling standoff is so perilous, and why the underlying argument is merely a setup for disaster.

There are some suspicious ties (see the 60 second YouTube summary here). Plus, more Biden classified documents emerge, so is there more to this story now? And, Chris Sununu is gearing up for a Presidential run, along with other Republicans.  WHY?  Is it realistic? Does it matter?

Last month, one of America's most celebrated pollsters put together the most comprehensive, detailed explanation of what actually happened in the 2022 elections that anyone had done, and shared it with a group of campaign insiders.  We wanted all of our listeners and viewers to get access to the same expert insights, so we were delighted when our old friend Jef Pollock agreed to come onto the show to talk about it. Jef is the founding Partner and President of Global Strategy Group, counting a who's who of elected Democrats among his clients. And after looking at all of the data at his disposal, here's what he found out.

2022 was the year of the crypto crash, when hundreds of billions of dollars in investor savings suddenly evaporated. For years, cryptocurrencies, NFTs and the technology they are built on have been sold by true believers as game-changers that will revolutionize the world and solve everything from banking to health care to law.  Those evangelists still believe. But the question many of have been wondering is: is this all bullshit? A few years back, that exact question was on actually on the mind of one of the most powerful business leaders on earth. In 2016 Andy Jassy, then the CEO of Amazon Web Services, now CEO of all of Amazon, approached our guest, and asked him to answer it. As for what happened next, that’s what Tim Bray is here to tell us all about.

Does the Biden classified document revelation matter, or is a nothingburger? Also, why we're in for a world of hurt after the MAGA nutjob deal that Kevin McCarthy struck to get the Speaker job, and how it could fracture DC on defense spending and fracture America's economy altogether.  Plus, a special bonus for audio listeners of our Blue Amp channel SDE ad.

The ongoing Kevin McCarthy Speaker saga seemed to make a little progress on Friday, as McCarthy lost a 13th round by a little less.  But actually, he's walked right into a trap where the far-right band of nihilists in Congress is only gaining power, and McCarthy's future in the Republican Party is getting hazier by the hour.  Matt Robison and former Biden admaker Cliff Schecter of the Blue Amp channel run through why things have gotten so dicey not just for McCarthy, but for all of us. 

Democrat and former Congressional staffer Matt Robison and conservative political consultant Alicia Preston unpack one of the wildest days in Congressional history and what it means. We hit questions like: what’s the scene usually like Congress on swearing in day? What is driving House Republicans' bizarre tantrums? Why the difference between McCarthy and McConnell? Do actually have a Congress right now? What does all this say about the Republican Party?And what’s going to happen next?

The Democrat who used to Represent George Santos's district tells the inside story of how a lying con man could fool Democrats, the oblivious media, and even Republicans to win a seat in Congress. Steve Israel wrote an inside account in The Atlantic and he joins the Beyond Politics podcast, also available on video on YouTube.

What was the best news story of the year? The biggest innovation? Who was the biggest idiot?  And who won the year?

Who was the MVP for Republicans...for Democrats?  What new bill or law was the biggest deal? What did we learn about ourselves this year? Part One of an action-packed two part year end episode. 

You're going to hear a lot of Russian disinformation from House Republicans in the next few months.  As they gear up to rehash the Hunter Biden laptop story, Republicans are preparing to spread what they know full well to be a noxious mix of salacious personal detail, mixed with invented Russian intelligence material. Veteran reporter Lindsay Beyerstein provides  definitive rundown of the distortions, tall tales, and outright lies that are coming, and why legitimate media was right to be so skeptical of this story. For the video version, check out the Blue Amp channel part one here.

Chris Hill of Motley Fool Money hits the things going DOWN right now: inflation, the reputation of cryptocurrencies, and Twitter's business model. Also: CEO of the year award, and the government steps in to block Microsoft.

No, really, we talked about all of those things.  Also, crypto is evil, beating deplorables, and marriage equality.

Matt joins legendary West Virginia radio host Howard Monroe to examine why Sinema bolted, why Trump despite being such a disaster is still politically viable, and why Herschel Walker came so darn close in Georgia.