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.
S02E04 Dr. Erin O’Brien, the Politics of Boston
White men have served as Boston mayors since its founding, but on Tuesday, voters will elect one of two women of color in a city scarred with a national reputation for vehemently fighting busing and housing integration.
“That’s a reputation Boston maintains, but it’s one that the city wants to move away from,” said Dr. Erin O’Brien of the University of Massachusetts Boston political science department.
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,”
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.”
S01E39 David O. Stewart, Politics of George
Though George Washington was America’s first president and Commander, he also stands out as one of the greatest political figures in the nation’s history, winning four key elections without having a single vote cast against him.
“The man was incredibly successful politically, and that’s not how we think of him,” said biographer David O. Stewart, author of the new book: George Washington: The Politic Rise of America’s Founding Father.
“We think of him as the soldier, a farmer, as an all-around upright guy,” Stewart said. “But we don’t think of him as a political actor, and he really was for much of his life.”
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.”
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.
S01E30 Patrick J. Kennedy, Politics of Mental Health
Former U.S. Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy kicks off national Mental Health Awareness Month on the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields, stating that America’s failure to adequately treat mental illness and addiction driving overdose deaths and mass shootings.
The son of former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy discusses his own mental illness and addiction to deadly opiates, leaving Congress to start the Kennedy Forum, advocating for better mental health and addiction treatment.
Kennedy lauded the nation’s commitment to fighting cancer but notes we have spent trillions – with a T – on that battle.
“We’ve spent a fraction of that on mental health,” he said.
S01E29 Linda Chong, Vaccinating Against Hate
Linda Chong, a former China correspondent, blamed the 3,800 reported incidents of assaults and harassment reported since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic on unproven claims that the deadly virus started in China.
“The tensions have been simmering,” Chong said. “Suspicions of the Asian population in the U.S. is kind of something that unfortunately has gone hand in hand with American history...it seemed easier to scapegoat Asians.”
S01E28 Kevin Fogarty, Politics of the U.S. House
The U.S. House of Representatives is paralyzed by growing political factions wielding disruptive power and the lack of bipartisanship that once made the American legislature respected, a longtime Republican House staffer told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields.
“The idea of reaching across the aisle is seen as a weakness now,” said Kevin Fogarty, a longtime chief of staff and legislative director for recently retired U.S. Rep. Peter King of Long Island.
“Unfortunately, a lot of that is leading to things not getting done,” Fogarty said.
S01E26 J. Jioni Palmer, the Politics of Christian Faith
Being a true Christian requires challenging injustice and actively going out of your comfort zone to assist the poor, a former Washington journalist and men’s Christian minister told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields.
As part of a special Easter episode, former Newsday congressional correspondent J. Jioni Palmer, now a men’s minister at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church down the street from the White House, said the Biblical figure Jesus was lynched for challenging government authority.
“If your religion ain’t a revolution, then you’re just getting high,” Palmer said. “I think Jesus was...definitely a political hero. Crucifixion was used to execute political prisoners.”
S01E23 Colm O’Comartun, Politics of Ireland
Great Britain has severed ties with the Economic Union in Europe – known as Brexit – whose impact is washing ashore on the island of Ireland and Northern Ireland, threatening to undermine economic gains that blossomed from the peace, said Colm O’Comartun, former director of the Irish Institute at Boston College.
“It exposed in many ways... how little the British government thinks about Northern Ireland,” O’Comartun told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields. “They entered into the Brexit process without acknowledging or understanding constitutional and international agreements.”
S01E19 Gerry and Brad Celebrate President’s Day By Talking First Ladies
A special President’s Day edition of the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields celebrated the works of the nation’s 45 First Ladies, dubbing Eleanor Roosevelt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's wife, as the gold standard.
S01E08 Kerry Hawk Lessard, Politics of Native America
On a special Thanksgiving edition of the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields reviewing the current state of Native America, Kerry Hawk Lessard said African Americans are inspiring the American Indian.
“On one hand, it’s sad that our voices have not been enough,” said Lessard, executive director of Native American Lifelines, an inner-city Indian health care agency. “We’ve been talking about these issues for decades, but that gave the push needed to get our issues before people.”