A few months into his presidency, President Trump has, for the most part, failed to advance his agenda — from repealing Obamacare to enforcing his travel ban to reforming U.S. tax code. Does today’s swearing in ceremony of justice Neil Gorsuch and the favorable response he’s getting for taking action against Syria signify a turning point for Donald Trump and unity among the GOP? Or is this an aberration in what has been an aberrant presidency? Charlie Chieppo is principal of Chieppo Strategies and senior fellow at both the Governing and Pioneer Institute. Shannon O’Brien is former state treasurer and Democratic nominee for governor. Chieppo and O’Brien joined Jim and Margery to take on these political headlines and more.
Did President Trump reverse his America First doctrine last week by launching a missile strike on Syria? Did he send a clear message to other nations about where the US draws the line, or did we just learn that his foreign policies are no different than his domestic ones: Impulsive and ideologically fluid? News analyst and GroundTruth Projectco-founder Charles Sennott joined us to discuss.
President Trump campaigned on being an isolationist, on ‘America First’, on not trying to fix other country’s conflicts. But did that change last Thursday when he ordered airstrikes on Syria? The political elite and the public think it was the right response, with 57 percent of Americans favoring the military move. We opened the lines to ask you — are you among them? Are you concerned that his foreign policy seems as improvisatory as everything else that he does? Do you want this to be a one-off intervention? Do you want us to be fully committed to toppling Syrian President Bashir Al-Assad?
TV Guru Bob Thompson is the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the Newhouse School of Public communications at Syracuse. He joined us to chat about his best and worst of the week, what to watch, and everything in-between.
The Reverends behind All Revved Up joined BPR to take on the moral dilemmas of the day. Irene Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist. Emmett Price is a professor and Founding Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
In her memoir, "Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman," author Lindy West wrote, “Being fat and happy and in love in public is still a radical act.” West joined BPR to chat about her experience with body image, accepting herself and living in the world as a fat feminist, all detailed in her book.
Americans live in a nation that is largely overweight, and yet we freak out in the media when someone like Amy Schumer, (who looks very representative of an average American) graces the cover of a magazine in a swimsuit. We opened the lines to ask you, what’s going on here? Are we a nation that, when it comes to food, weight and body image, can’t figure out what’s normal and what isn’t?
