Hosted by Gerry Shields
Gerry is a former longtime Washington correspondent and political writer for The New York Post, Baltimore Sun, and Philadelphia Inquirer and author of the new book: The Front Row: My Jagged Journey Recording American History from Reagan to Trump.
Episodes
Welcome to the Retail Politics Podcast. Without enough hand sanitizer for candidates to shake hands, let alone kiss voter babies, we redefine Retail Politics for the digital world, reaching you one download at a time. We’ll speak weekly for 30 minutes to politicians, academics, and reporters on the front lines of American political issues to help you choose best how your government should function.
S01E52 Charlie Cook, The Politics of Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being held up as the leading Republican candidate for president should Donald Trump not run in 2024. And DeSantis is pushing all the right policy buttons to sway Trump supporters.
“Would DeSantis be the best guess today?” said veteran political prognosticator Charlie Cook. “Absolutely.”
S01E51 Paul Kane, Politics of Joe Manchin
West Virginia Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin serves a state that former Republican President Donald Trump won by 39 percent. That puts the former governor’s political life at risk when voting on every piece of legislation.
“He’s described as a centrist or conservative Democrat, “ The Washington Post’s Paul Kane said. “He can be best described as a Joe Manchin Democrat.”
S01E50 Gary Maynard, Politics of Prisons
Why does the United States have five percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of its prisoners, with two out of three returning to jail after being released?
“It’s complicated,” veteran national Corrections Administrator Gary Maynard said. “We are a second amendment nation and a prosperous nation and that attracts drugs and organized crime.”
S01E49 Jessica Wehrman, Politics of Infrastucture
The U.S. Congress is ready to spend $1 trillion on American highways, bridges, railways, wastewater treatment plants, and the national electric grid. Is it enough?
“This is something presidents have wanted to do for some time,” CQ Roll Call Reporter Jessica Wehrman said. “But the needs are really, really vast...There are wastewater systems that date to the 1800s.”
S01E48 Steven Greenhouse, Politics of America’s Labor
A new survey shows six in 10 Americans prefer labor unions. So why is the movement still struggling to survive?
“I think people are very hopeful this Labor Day,” said Steven Greenhouse, former New York Times labor reporter. “But also very frustrated,”
S01E47 Carl Hulse, Politics of House Democrats
Despite a perilous two-vote margin, U.S. House Democrats are squabbling as the chamber loss to Republicans seems inevitable.
“I think a lot of Democrats are looking at this moment and saying we have to get everything we can right now,” said Chief New York Times Washington Correspondent Carl Hulse.
S01E46 Jeffrey Fleishman, Politics of Leaving Afghanistan
The Taliban’s swift Afghanistan conquer showed the tenuous American hold on the nation despite 20 years of war.
“It was ultimately going to happen because the American mission failed,” Los Angeles Times Foreign Editor Jeffrey Fleishman said. “They don’t call Afghanistan the Graveyard of Empires for nothing.”
S01E45 Carol Leonnig, The Politics of the Secret Service
In her new book, “Zero Fail,” Washington Post Pulitzer prize-winning report Carol Leonnig exposes failures of America’s elite agency.
“It was a culture, the service had partied hard for decades,” Leonnig said. “They had worked hard and partied hard.”
S01E44 Dr. James Lopez, The Politics of Cuba
Recent Protests in Cuba continue a history of turmoil from Columbus to Castro. And once again eyes are on the United States to respond.
“The Cuban economy is in free fall,” said Dr. James Lopez, co-director of the Center for Jose Marti Studies at the University of Tampa. “There is great economic hardship, food shortages, the collapse of the medical system, COVID cases are on the rise.”
S01E43 Leo Raymond, Politics of the Post Office
The nation’s foremost postal service expert believes Congress has an opportunity to right the financially struggling agency established in 1775 by adopting a business model that separates its tasks.
“You’ve got something that is expected to do things that are service-oriented but not necessarily profitable, while at the same time keeping yourself reasonably balanced financially,” Leo Raymond said. “You’re going to end up in a self-conflicting situation.”
S01E42 Dr. Edna Greene Medford, Politics of the Presidency
Howard University history professor, Dr. Edna Greene Medford, discusses the best and worst presidents in American history. Trump detractors thought finish last in the C-SPAN poll. Guess again.
“When we’re looking at them, we are looking at more than just what is happening in the four years or eight years that they’re leading the country,” Greene says. “We’re also looking at what they did when they got into the presidency and certainly what they do when they leave.”
S01E41 Bill Cowles, The Politics of Voting Rights
New voting rights laws in several conservative states combined with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding them has thrown the American voting system into disarray, a Florida Supervisor of Elections said.
“The irony is that the 2020 election was the highest turnout in our country,” said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles. “As an elections administrator who is trying to figure out how to run the election in 2022, we’re trying to figure out what the norm is going to be.”
S01E40 John Fritze, Politics of the Highest Court
Despite the hue and cry over Donald Trump creating a 6-3 conservative U.S. Supreme Court majority, the justices ruled more moderate than detractors and supporters anticipated.
“For the vast majority of the term, that’s right,” said USA Today Supreme Court reporter, John Fritze. “That definitely didn’t happen.”
S01E38 Gary McLinney, Politics of Violent Crime
Murders across the nation have reached their highest in a half-century, and many blame the demoralization of American policing in the wake of the George Floyd killing a year ago.
“They’re doing the job that elected officials and some communities want them to do,” Gary McLhinney, former president of the Baltimore Fraternal of Police, told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields.
“They don’t want them engaging with criminals,” McLhinney said.
S01E37 Jon Allen, Politics of Ransomware
“There really seems to be no solution,” Jon Allen said. “Our government has not figured them out, our corporations have not figured them out, and other organizations have not figured out how to stop this from happening,”
Allen, an award-winning former congressional reporter and author of the new book, Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency, discusses how the president is faring and the road potholes ahead.
S01E36 Former Congressman Charlie Dent, Politics of Ethics
The former Republican chairman of the U.S. House Ethics Committee found most members honest but recalls a greatest hits list of our generation’s most ridiculous congressional scandals.
Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania also admonished House Trump supporters for blocking the establishment of a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and Trump’s attempt to overthrow the government.
“I thought Congress should have enacted an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6 that led up it, the day of the event, including the actions of the president,” Dent said. “I think it was a mistake that one was not established.”
S01E35 Howard Mortman, Politics of Congressional Prayer
As C-SPAN spokesman, Howard Mortman watched much congressional footage before one daily tradition caught his eye: the prayer before each session.
Mortman has written the definitive history of congressional prayers with his book When Rabbis Bless Congress.
“The very first thing that Congress does, both chambers, is open with a prayer,” Mortman tells the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields. “It’s like nothing else that happens during the day. There’s no acrimony; there’s no hatred, there’s no debate, there are no votes.”
S01E34 Essay by Gerry Shields, Politics of Sacrifice
Remembering Those Who Died – And Those Who Survived
Many Silently Carry Physical and Psychological War Wounds
May 30, 2021 – Though Memorial Day honors those lost in the war, the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields took time to remember and reflect on the wounded who survived.
“It isn’t just the 378,000 Americans who died in wars over the last 80 years,” Shields said. “But, also, the one million wounded, many who came home crippled without limbs carrying emotional and psychological scars.”
And what is your most memorable war movie? We discuss.
S01E33 Jane Friedman, Politics of Publishing
Despite more books published in the 5,000-year history of the printed word, America’s five largest publishing companies continue to dominate the market, an industry expert told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields.
“These big New York houses account for a large majority of what gets published in the U.S.,” said Jane Friedman, publisher of The Hot Sheet newsletter, an essential guide to the publishing industry.
S01E32 Steve Lopez, Politics of California
Los Angeles Times Columnist Steve Lopez discusses the bizarre election to recall and replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom. One candidate is touring the state with a bear, calling himself the “beast” who will rein in California spending.
“I’m not embarrassed to say, I was rooting for the bear to break free and turn on him and maybe take a bite out of his rear end,” Lopez said.