Austan Goolsbee on Virus Economics

Austan Goolsbee

The former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama speaks with clarity and common sense about how virus economics are different than normal economics.

Andy Slavitt on the Pandemic

Andy Slavitt

This week on The Al Franken Podcast, one of the earliest and most outspoken critics of Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic, Andy Slavitt, reviews its tragic consequences and where we go from here.

Intelligence Expert Malcolm Nance Makes the Convincing Case that Trump is a Russian Asset

Al Franken and Malcolm Nance

Career Intel Officer Malcolm Nance, who first disclosed that Russia hacked the 2016 election, makes the case that Donald Trump has been a Russian asset for decades.  Scary, but fun! With a cast of characters that include such lowlifes as Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, Nance tells us how Putin, Russian Intelligence, and Billionaire Oligarchs captured Donald Trump and warns that this may be our nation’s last election.

A Conversation with Jimmy Kimmel

Al Franken and Jimmy Kimmel

Jimmy and I discuss his radio days, Jimmy Kimmel Live’s rough start, then success, bad guests, his emotional appearance after his son’s birth, and his passionate support of universal health care.

John Mayer on Playing Guitar and Singing at the Same Time

John Mayer

John Mayer talks about how he transitioned from pop star/tabloid fodder (recurrent Sexiest Man Alive) to the impossible challenge of filling Jerry Garcia’s gigantic shoes with Dead and Company, the current iteration of the Grateful Dead. (If you guessed I’m a big Dead Head, you might be right).

How We Got Here. Norm Ornstein on the Erosion of Norms from Gingrich to McConnell to Trump.

Al Franken and Norm Ornstein

Veteran Washington observer Norm Ornstein tracks the erosion of norms that once allowed Washington to work. From Newt Gingrich instructing Republicans to demonize Democrats as “sick, corrupt, traitors” to Mitch McConnell denying Merrick Garland a hearing. The abandonment of fact-based evidence, shutting down the government, using the filibuster to grind the Senate to a halt, to a pathological President attacking the media as “enemies of the people.”