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We “rethink the week” with David Levinthal, federal politics editor for the Center for Public Integrity; Stephen Pimpare, professor of public policy at UNH Manchester and Fellow at the Carsey Institute of Public Policy; and Dean Spiliotes, Professor at Southern NH University.
We discuss the remarkable rise of Mayor Pete Butigieg as a major voice in the race for the Democratic nomination for president (including his ability to raise a large amount of money in just the first 3 months of this year). We also talk about Joe Biden: we learn that there is no truth to the allegations that he “inappropriately touched” Ash Carter’s wife. Nevertheless, for totally unrelated reasons, we don’t think he would be the best nominee for president at this time.
We attempt to understand why anyone would support president Trump’s latest immigration proposals: totally sealing the border between the U.S. and Mexico; and ending all foreign aid to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Similar to the UK’s Brexit crisis, Trump has stoked his base’s racially-based fears — that brown people from Central America might gain entry to the US and “replace them” — leaving these right-wing voters unable to see the horrible economic consequences that they and their country will suffer if Trump’s policies are implemented.
