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OFF-KILTER with Rebecca Vallas


Jul 2, 2018

Last week, SCOTUS wrapped up its term, and its last round of decisions was a doozy. But the horror show wasn’t limited to the final batch of cases it decided, from Janus to the Muslim Ban and more. It was capped off by the sudden announcement that Justice Anthony Kennedy is stepping down, leaving Donald Trump to name his replacement. To unpack what this means for… basically everything, Rebecca sat down with Ian Millhiser, justice editor at ThinkProgress and Off-Kilter’s SCOTUS correspondent (and Will had to bleep out roughly a third of what they said).

And later on the show, since the 2016 election, when white working class voters swept Donald Trump into office in the hopes that he’d save or bring back their jobs, the president has broken essentially every campaign promise he made to the so-called forgotten man and forgotten woman, instead focusing on passing tax cuts for millionaires paid for by cuts to the programs that support working people. It’s no secret that the American people want the opposite of this: an increase in the poverty-level minimum wage, universal healthcare, paid leave and childcare, and so many other central planks of the progressive agenda. Rebecca’s theory, as listeners of this show know, is that this is precisely what’s driving the GOP focus on so-called “work requirements” – as an attempt to distract the American people from an unpopular agenda through age-old divide and conquer tactics. To discuss how Democrats can move from fighting harmful cuts to reframing the entire conversation on how the economy is only working for the wealthy few, Rebecca spoke with Congressman Joe Kennedy, a Democrat representing the 4th district of Massachusetts.

Sorry folks, no ICYMI news roundup this week with folks out for July 4th. (Hey, you’re lucky you’re getting an episode this week at all!) But don’t worry, Jeremy and ICYMI will both be back next week.