September 13 – Predicting the Unpredictable First Presidential Debate; Clinton is Losing Sanders’ Voters to the Libertarian; A Survivor of the Guatemalan Genocide

Full Program

Part 1

With less than two weeks before the first presidential debate on September 26 moderated by Lester Holt of NBC News, we will examine whether it will follow the example of the recent candidate’s forum where the moderator Matt Lauer wasted Hillary Clinton’s time rehashing her use of a private email server then was steamrollered by Donald Trump whose ridiculous assertions about national security and the state of the military were left unchallenged. James Fallows, an award-winning author and national correspondent for The Atlantic joins us to discuss his latest article in The Atlantic “When Donald Meets Hillary” and what might happen in a debate between someone who can give in-depth answers on a wide range of issues and someone who knows very little beyond slogans and does not answer questions but is skilled at personal attacks and delivering insults.   

Part 2

Then we speak with Travis Ridout who is a Distinguished Professor of Government and Public Policy in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at Washington State University. He is the co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project which tracks political advertising and we will discuss how much Donald Trump has broken the mold of traditional campaigning with his ability to attract free media while spending a fraction of what Hillary Clinton is paying for political advertising. With Trump having managed to pull even with Clinton in some polls, we will look into how Bernie Sanders’ voters are abandoning Clinton for the Libertarian Gary Johnson, which as the race tightens, could enable a Trump victory.

Part 3

Then finally we are joined in the studio by Victoria Sanford, a cultural anthropologist who has spent years uncovering evidence of genocide in Guatemala and Dr. Marvyn Perez, who was 14 when he was disappeared by the Guatemalan Military and tortured along with 15 other kids, 3 of whom were never seen again. They discuss the International Conference on the Guatemalan Genocide organized by the USC Shoah Foundation which is underway that Victoria Sanford organized along with Wolf Gruner the founding director of USC’s Center for Advanced Genocide Research.