Susan Rice and I discuss how immensely consequential decisions are made in real time. Sometimes you get it right. Sometimes you don’t. And how you deal with tragic mistakes but have to keep on going.
Foreign service veteran Peter Galbraith talks about his 35 year history with the Kurds and how Trump’s rash decision to sell them out in Syria will undermine America’s standing and security in the world for years to come.
Al talks to his former senior education counsel Sherry Lachman about her great organization, Foster America. She helped with a piece of legislation that is one of Al’s greatest achievements as Senator. In the process of getting it passed, Sherry broke a cardinal rule of the Senate and got in a heated conversation with a sitting Senator, much to Al’s delight. Plus, Al has some thoughts on the first day of the impeachment hearings. It turns out that the Republicans are acting as protectors for Donald Trump! Learn more about Foster America at www.foster-america.org
This week, The New Yorker’s Hendrick Hertzberg and I discuss how the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will guarantee that the winner of the popular vote will become POTUS. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is a compact to award member states’ electors to the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide It will take effect when states with 270 electors adopt it. So far, 14 states and DC (representing 187 electoral votes) have compact. Colorado’s legislature and governor have approved it (9 more electors) and nervous Conservatives have put it on the ballot as a Referendum in 2020. Hertzberg explains … Read More…
Jeffrey Toobin and Dahlia Lithwick examine the potential legal issues that may take center stage between now and the day the Senate decides whether Trump is guilty or not guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Writer, director, producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The Larry Sanders Show, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Girls, Anchorman, Trainwreck) discusses comedy, mental health and politics. I laugh and get depressed.
One of my heroes, Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone, talks about transforming the lives of some of our poorest, most disadvantaged kids and how we can replicate that across the country.
I talk impeachment with veteran journalist Elizabeth Drew, whose heralded dissection of the Nixon and Clinton sagas makes her the go-to on the pending Trump impeachment.
I travelled to Leader Reid’s home in Henderson, Nevada, to discuss his life and career, with a special focus on our relationship during the years he and I overlapped in Senate.
This week on the Al Franken Podcast, Chris Rock discusses key moments in his life, including the one where I saved his career. Which is really more about Chris realizing that HE had to CREATE his career. Rock talks about his early influences, including his grandfather, a philandering preacher who killed a guy and spent time in prison. During Chris’s Wonder Years – he spent a lot of time with Grandpa, who in addition to being a murderer, a womanizer, and a preacher, drove taxi around Brooklyn – often with young Chris in tow. See, Grandpa wrote his sermons … Read More…
Sometimes I like to say that The Al Franken Podcast is just like The Daily, only without the resources of The New York Times. This episode I have the jump on The Times – because of my friendship with Jason Kander, former MO Sec. of State. Kander is an Afghanistan War vet who nearly pulled off a miracle in the 2016 race for MO Senate, losing by just 3 pts. (Thanks Comey!) In a state where Hillary lost by 18%, Jason ran an inspired, almost perfect race. (Jason’s the guy who did the pro-gun-control ad, assembling an AR-15 assault weapon … Read More…
Old enough to remember record players? Then you’ll probably remember Bob Kerrey’s extraordinary service to our nation, which continues to this day. Medal of Honor recipient for valor in Vietnam. Don’t remember Vietnam? It’s a war we won in SE Asia. How’d he get his Medal of Honor? Oh, it’s one of those blah, blah, blah stories involving leading his team of Naval Seals up a sheer 350 ft. cliff, getting his lower leg blown off, but still leading his team while going in and out of consciousness, some brilliant military move, saving his men, and capturing Viet Cong … Read More…