The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

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Alec MacGillis on Trump, DOGE, Musk and the Assault on Data Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

Alec MacGillis worked for six newspapers, including The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post, before transitioning to magazines in 2011, at The New Republic before eventually joining ProPublica in 2015. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine, among others. He won the 2016 Robin Toner Prize for Excellence in Political reporting, the 2017 Polk Award for National Reporting and the 2017 Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award. He is the author of “The Cynic: The Political Education of Mitch McConnell” and “Fulfillment: America in the Shadow of Amazon.”

Alec joins me for a conversation about his recent ProPublica essay on the government’s assault on data: “Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More”

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Elie Honig on Tariffs, Trade Wars, Harvard, Deportations, Cuomo, P. Diddy, and Springsteen! May 31, 2025

Show notes

Elie Honig is an attorney and CNN senior legal analyst and the bestselling author of Hatchet Man and last year's Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It. He’s a former assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. He also hosts podcasts, writes for CAFE, Vox Media and writes a weekly column for New York Magazine.

Eli's back in THE BACK ROOM discussing the latest legal cases and court decisions relating to Trump's tariffs, deportations, Harvard, Cuomo, P. Diddy and, yes, Bruce Springsteen!

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Deja Foxx on her Campaign for the Open Seat in Arizona 7th Congressional District May 29, 2025

Show notes

Deja Foxx was raised by a single mom in Tucson, Arizona. As a free lunch kid in public schools, her family relied on SNAP benefits, Section 8 housing, and Medicaid to make ends meet. Having experienced homelessness because of her mother’s struggles with substance abuse, she balanced high school classes with long nights working at a gas station. Deja found her first fight advocating for better sex education in Tucson schools where she organized a campaign of student storytellers, delivering a win for tens of thousands of students who until then had been learning a curriculum last updated in the 1980s. She later went viral for confronting then-Senator Jeff Flake after he voted to strip her and millions of other women of their access to essential birth control funding.

Teen Vogue selected her as a member of their 21 Under 21 class of 2018, and Forbes named her to the 30 under 30 list in 2024. She also received Planned Parenthood’s Catalyst for Change Award, a United Nations Global Impact Award, the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award, Gloria Steinem's Woman of Vision Award, and a Global Citizen Prize all before turning 25. After graduating from Columbia University as the first in her family to receive a college degree, Deja moved back to Tucson to continue the fight for women, youth, and underserved communities in the heart of Southern Arizona.

On April 2, 2025 Deja announced her candidacy to become the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress, running in the open seat in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District. And she's with me in THE BACK ROOM discussing her campaign.

Got somethin' to say? ! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Deborah Archer on the ACLU, Trump 2.0 and her Terrific New Book on Transportation Infrastructure and Racial Inequality May 27, 2025

Show notes

Deborah Archer is a tenured professor and Associate Dean at New York University School of Law. She is also the president of the ACLU and a nationally recognized expert on civil liberties, civil rights, and racial justice. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute, and an award-winning teacher and legal scholar. Before full-time teaching, she worked as an attorney with the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., where she litigated voting rights, employment discrimination, and school desegregation. She previously served as chair of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, the nation’s oldest and largest police oversight agency. Deborah is the author of the new book Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality.

Deborah and I discuss her new book and how the ACLU is addressing unconstitutional actions of Trump 2.0.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Rep. Jake Auchincloss on Trump 2.0 Corruption, DOJ Weaponization, Harvard, the Budget Bill, Tarrifs, and More May 24, 2025

Show notes

Rep. Jake Auchincloss is serving his third term representing Massachusetts 4th Congressional District. In addition to his work on the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, his areas of focus include healthcare, clean energy, gun violence, and building a strong middle class. He’s a former Marine who commanded infantry in Afghanistan and special operations in Panama. Following his military service, he continued his service as a three-term city councilor in Newton. While working at City Hall on nights and weekends, Jake built a career in business, running product development at both a Fortune 100 insurance company and a cybersecurity startup. He has degrees in Economics and Finance from Harvard University and MIT Sloan.

Rep. Auchincloss has one of the strongest and most unique voices in Congress right now. Join us for this insightful discussion on Trump 2.0's blatant corruption, the budget bill, healthcare and RFK Jr., Harvard, the economy and tariffs, GOP fealty to Trump, the Democrats' challenges, SignalGate, DOJ weaponization and the attacks on democracy, and the murder of the Israeli Embassy staffers.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Chely Wright on Corporate Social Responsibility, DEI, Trump, and the Real-Estate/Lesbian-Themed Country Song We're Gonna Write Together! May 22, 2025

Show notes

Chely Wright is country-music artist, author and LGBTQ+ activist. Named "Top New Female Vocalist" by The Academy of Country Music, she rose to fame as a commercial country singer in the '90s, and has since released 9 studio albums and charted more than 17 singles on the Billboard charts, including "Shut Up and Drive," "Single White Female," and "The Bumper of My S.U.V." She made history by being the first country music star to publicly come out as gay, which she wrote about in her 2010 memoir Like Me. The documentary film about her coming out process, "Wish Me Away" was nominated for an Emmy Award.

Subsequently, her life’s has changed to include advocacy and corporate engagement around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and she’s just been appointed Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at $10-billion global facilities management company ISS. She is also Vice-Chair of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network Board of Directors, which is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. She was also recognized as a 2023 Crain's New York Business Notable LGBTQ Leader. Her latest book is 2022’s My Moment: 106 Women on Fighting for Themselves.

Join us for this important, insightful chat. And, you'll also hear about the super-groovy real-estate/lesbian-themed country song we're gonna write together. Gonna be a #1 hit!

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Steven Levitsky on Trump 2.0 and Whether U.S. Democracy Is Dying May 19, 2025

Show notes

Steven Levitsky is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government and Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard. His research focuses on democratization and authoritarianism, political parties, and weak and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America. He is co-author of How Democracies Die, which was a New York Times Best-Seller and was published in 30 languages, and Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point. He has written or edited 11 other books, including Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective, Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War, and Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism. He is currently working on a book on democratic resilience across the world.

I asked Steven if our democracy is dying. Don't miss this insightful conversation where he answers this critical question and so much more.

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Dr. Fiona Hill on Russia, Putin, Ukraine, and Trump 2.0's Dangerous Foreign Policy May 17, 2025

Show notes

Dr. Fiona Hill CMG is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and Chancellor of Durham University. She served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the U.S. National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, as well as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Intelligence Council from 2006 to 2009. Dr. Hill has researched and published extensively on issues related to Russia, the Caucasus, regional conflicts, and strategic issues, as well as the link between deindustrialization and political populism. She is the author of the bestselling memoir "There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century" and co-author of "Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin." In December 2023, she was recognized by the United Kingdom as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, for services to international relations and in July 2024, she was appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be an external reviewer for a Strategic Defense Review for the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom.

Join us for this compelling conversation as Dr. Hill shares her keen insights into Trump 2.0's erratic, dangerous foreign policy on matters including Russia, Putin, and Ukraine and the president's autocratic threats to democracy.

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Dr. Alexander Vindman on his New Book, Donald Trump and U.S. Foreign Policy, the Attacks on Due Process and More! May 15, 2025

Show notes

Alexander Vindman is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and was the director for European Affairs on the National Security Council. Before that, he served as the Political-Military Affairs Officer for Russia for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as an attaché at the US Embassies in Moscow and Kyiv. While on the Joint Staff, he authored the National Military Strategy for Russia. He earned an MA from Harvard University, where he served as a Hauser Leader, and an MA and PhD from Johns Hopkins, where he is a senior fellow. Dr. Vindman leads the national security think tank Institute for Informed American Leadership, is the president of the non-profit Here Right Matters Foundation, an executive board member for the Renew Democracy Initiative, a senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation, and a senior advisor to VoteVets. And he’s the author of the Why It Matters Substack and the New York Times bestselling books Here, Right Matters and The Folly of Realism.

My chats with Alex are always quite insightful and compelling given his distinguished career in both the military and the government and the vast experience he's amassed over the last three decades. Join us as he discusses his new book and shares his thoughts on Trump 2.0 foreign policy, Ukraine/Russia, SignalGate, Iran negotiations, the tension with Israel/Netanyahu, Tulsi Gabbard's NIC firings, the Qatar plane fiasco, the SCOTUS hearing on Birthright Citizenship and jurisdiction, and the threats to habeas corpus and due process.

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

David Hogg on the DNC, Democrats and Shakin' Shit Up! May 13, 2025

Show notes

After surviving the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, David Hogg turned his grief into action, co-founding March For Our Lives, one of the largest youth movements in our country’s history. Last year, Hogg co-founded Leaders We Deserve, a grassroots organization dedicated to electing young people at the local and state level. Through his work, David campaigned across the country and raised over $11 million dollars for candidates nationwide. He was elected as a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2025.

David is a passionate, resolute young man with a clear mission: to change the Democratic Party from within. And he doesn't care if he pisses off the establishment in the process. He joins me for a pull-no-punches chat about his controversial plan to primary "less effective" democrats in safe blue districts.

Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

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