The Hartmann Report

Latest Episodes:

CONGRESS IN THE DIGITAL AGE May 08, 2020

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Progressive Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan joins Thom for a national town hall of listener questions ranging from the next Congressional relief package to the ways representatives can participate digitally in the dangerous times of the pandemic.

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UNDERSTANDING THE CULT OF TRUMP May 07, 2020

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Steve Hassan, author of 'The Cult of Trump' considers the psychology of the devotees of Donald Trump. What are they likely to do if Trump does not win reelection?

Trump's valet has tested positive for Covid. But what is up with a man who tests everyone around him, but won't help the rest of America have access to testing? Maybe we shouldn't be surprised this is how grifters do things. Why can't much of America recognize Trump's sociopathy and respond accordingly? Are we even in a Manchurian candidate situation, but can't recognize it? Or will America join Trump's call for us all to become warriors, and risk our lives going back to work to get the money machine running again for the billionaires?

What can we do? Let's all be infectious and help spread Progressive media!

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WHAT IS THE FUTURE COOKING UP BELOW THE SURFACE? May 06, 2020

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How do we quantify the cost of slowing the economy to protect our vulnerable people from the disease? Does it have to be a choice between harming the economy and killing people? Or is there a third way already demonstrated in other places? And as to the harm to the economy, will we see substantial inflation, or a deflationary spiral?

And how can we manage feelings of rage and powerlessness as this all develops? What are the roots of the so-called libertarianism that really supports a corporate plutocracy? And from road rage to spitting conservatives- as anger flares, what could be the future of the partisan divide in this country?

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IS THIS HOW DEMOCRACY DIES? May 05, 2020

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Alex Lawson from Social Security Works joins Thom, to ask if Medicare should be paying for everything.

We are in the endgame of the billionaires takeover of the Republican Party and the subsequent destruction of America. As Steve Bannon said, their goal is to “deconstruct the administrative state,“ and taking down Social Security under the guise of helping the states is perhaps their biggest shot at that.

For the Book Club Thom reads from "When the Tea Party Came to Town: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives' Most Combative, Dysfunctional, and Infuriating Term in Modern History" by Robert Draper.

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RACE TO THE BOTTOM May 04, 2020

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Who has been the worst president of the United States? Has Trump's incompetence, xenophobia, and law breaking eclipsed the damage done by G.W. Bush by killing at least 15,000 Americans by invading Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing back torture, and taking away many of our civil liberties?

And can compacts between the states fill the gap in leadership and responsibly re-open the country without soaring death rates? Or will Trump's bias against the blue states start to take its own toll?

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IS PEOPLE POWER ENOUGH? May 03, 2020

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How can we harness people-power to defend Democracy against the naked greed and lies of Trump and the Republicans? Ezra Levin of Indivisible joins Thom to talk Progressive strategy in the time of Covid.

And House Progressive Caucus leader Mark Pocan takes listener calls on questions ranging from the CARES-2 package... forgiving student loans... programs saving food from being dumped for food pantries... families with an immigrant denied the $1200 payments... Nancy Pelosi's love of ice cream and what she has already done for the common person... and Progressive legislative priorities for CARES-2-- when is it likely to be passed?

Plus - remembering the human cost of the 1918 pandemic... learning from history... rolling back workplace law... and training kids to be resilient.

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AND THE BAND PLAYED ON... May 02, 2020

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As the Fed loans hundreds of billions of dollars to major US corporations, has the performance of the stock market largely decoupled from the American economy? Economist Richard Wolff shares his views with Thom. Would it have been better to have given the same money to the people to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars each, or will trickle-down economics work this time? Or can we find leaders who are capable of admitting to our economic failures and correcting them?

Meanwhile, could it be for the sake of their financial interests that the billionaires are using their propaganda groups like so-called "Freedom Works" to push people to protest public health lockdowns? And would the Michigan police have allowed a crowd of black people with guns to storm the statehouse? (hint: no)

Plus- Pinning the numbers to Trump... When did it become almost impossible to opt-out of the internet?.. How is Trump coercing the slaughterhouse workers back to the kill floor?.. What are the Swedes up to?..

Plus!- astrology, aliens, and a virus creation conspiracy...

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GETTING BACK TO MAKING A KILLING May 01, 2020

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Is rushing to reopen the states the latest Republican scam to save fat cat corporations having to pay for unemployment? But if it really isn't safe to return to your job then aren't Republicans forcing workers to choose between risking their lives and poverty? And as Trump tries to send slaughterhouse employees back into their virus-infested workplace, is meat really a necessity in the first place- or would you, the animals, and the world be better off the less we eat of it? But are Republicans willing to essentially kill to get the money flowing again?

Plus Thom reads from 'Animal Kind', a book by Ingrid Newkirk.

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TRUMP WASTED OUR BEST DEFENSE Apr 30, 2020

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Richard Clarke, former chief anti-terrorism advisor to the National Security Council- How Trump Wasted the Best Tool He Had to Fight the Coronavirus.

Sylvia Albert of Common Cause examines what you need to know about mail in voting?

This deadly virus is here, now, among us and Americans want our government to provide widespread infection and antibody testing so we can get it under control. In this, Trump continues to fail. He was able to walk away from blame for all his many business failures through bankruptcy, and now he’s bankrupting America to try to avoid blame for his incompetence killing so many of us. This time, it’s not gonna work. Or will it?

For the Book Club Thom reads portions from "The Fifth Risk" by Michael Lewis, "The Hermit King: The Dangerous Game of Kim Jong Un" by Chung Min Lee, and "Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College" by Jesse Wegman.

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THE ESSENTIAL STIMULUS Apr 29, 2020

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California progressive Congressman Ro Khanna joins Thom for a national town hall to examine the recent relief package. The congressman explains how to improve the stimulus to struggling citizens and resist the greedy grifters trying to line their pockets as the nation gropes through the Corona crisis.

Vote by Mail in Oregon and the rest of the US, may be the only safe way to vote nationally in 2020. Does it favor one party over the other? Jefferson Smith joined Thom about vote by mail and whether it is workable for the 2020 presidential election.

For the Book Club Thom reads portions from "In Hitler's Bunker: A Boy Soldier's Eyewitness Account of the Führer's Last Days" by

Armin Dieter Lehmann & Tim Carroll, "Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America" by Nancy MacLean.

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