March 1 – The Difference Between Performing and Governing; The Difference Between Trump’s Actions and Words; Assisting Trump’s Speech and the Democratic Rebuttal

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the positive reviews coming from media pundits and across the country praising Donald Trump’s first “presidential” moment in last night’s address to Congress when he managed to follow the teleprompter and control his impulse to go off script and lash out at enemies real or imagined. Michael Kruse, a senior staff writer at POLITICO joins us to discuss his latest article at Politico “He’s a Performance Artist Pretending to be a Great Manager: Donald Trump sits at the top of the biggest org chart in the world. Why does he look so uncomfortable in the job?” We discuss the difference between performance and policy, grandstanding and governing, and whether Trump can maintain the discipline necessary to live up to the glowing praise he is now getting from conservative and liberal commentators on both Fox News and CNN.

Part 2

Then we look further into the gap between Trump’s actions and words and speak with Eric Liu, the founder of Citizen University and author of the forthcoming book “You’re More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Change Happen”. He joins us to discuss his article at CNN ”A Master of Symbols Over Substance”, and we will discuss what citizens can do to hold Trump and other politician’s feet to the fire so that their populist promises withstand the demands of their plutocratic patrons.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with a former White House speechwriter to get an assessment of Trump’s speech and the Democratic rebuttal that seemed peculiar and off-key, especially considering the explosion of activism with massive and sustained demonstrations and boisterous Town Hall meetings where citizens at the grassroots appear to be way out ahead of their political parties.  Paul Glastris, the editor-in-chief of The Washington Monthly who was a special assistant and senior speechwriter to President Bill Clinton, joins us.