Part One:
SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT ANY ELECTIONS OTHER THAN THE PRESIDENCY? THE STATE OF THE GOVERNORS.
We speak with Louis Jacobson, a senior correspondent with PolitiFact and senior author of the “Almanac of American Politics 2020.” There are lots of other political races in addition to the Presidency. In just a week, voters in Mississippi, Louisisana, and Kentucky will decide who their new governor will be. The latter two are very close, and the Democratic candidates have a real chance to upset the Republicans in these two very red states.
The results will have important impacts not only on those particular states but also on a variety of other races, up and down the ballot, including next year’s presidential contest and also Sen. Mitch McConnell’s own reelection bid.
Part Two:
IMPEACHMENT: CORRUPTION, LIES & AUDIOTAPE.
BETRAYAL, FOREIGN MEDDLING, & DEMONIZING DISSENT.
We chat again with “Dr. Politics,” Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science at Iowa State University. The House is voting today to open a formal public impeachment hearing, which could lead to one or more articles charging the President with “high crimes and misdemeanors.” This follows weeks of confidential hearings where Democratic and Republican members of Congress have heard testimony from — and asked their own questions of — a parade of government officials. Some of those officials, during the course of their official duties, witnessed what they believed to be wrongdoing and complained about it to their superiors. Other witnesses were appointees of President Trump who testified pursuant to Congressional subpoenas even after Trump “ordered” them not to comply.
Interestingly, the testimony was quite consistent with the complaint filed by the original whistleblower, and was inconsistent with the stories being promoted by Trump and his Republican supporters. Now the American public will hear all this testimony live, including answers to whatever questions are asked by Congressmembers from both political parties.
We also discuss the decision by Twitter to prohibit any political ads. Twitter was concerned with the way such ads had been using the company’s platform to abuse our electoral process in 2016 — by Russians and others publishing information that was totally false and defamatory. The volume of the ads makes it impossible for Twitter to fact-check all the allegations that would be communicated in the ads.
Facebook, on the other hand, refused to change its policy at all. This platform will continue to accept any political ads from anyone who can pay for them. Facebook will not fact-check the ads, nor consider whether the ads violate any U.S. laws prohibiting foreign entities from interfering with U.S. elections. We discussed how we should balance Facebook’s claims of corporate free speech against the fundamental integrity of the American democratic process and our constitutional right to free and fair elections.
