Episode 39: Firings, Hackings, And Consistent Chaos

Fifteen months into his presidency, Donald J. Trump has made it clear that he prefers perpetual chaos—when it is his own doing. After months of speculation, he fired Rex Tillerson via tweet and appointed two Iraq War hawks to lead the State Department and the CIA. Some in Congress, including Republican Senator Rand Paul, are determined to halt the confirmations, even if it means filibustering. Trump also fired the Deputy Director of the FBI two days before Andrew McCabe would have been eligible for his full retirement.

The President, however, seems less inclined to appreciate the political chaos that lingers from his 2016 presidential campaign. In the last few days, both Trump and his personal lawyer demanded for the Mueller investigation to end. And lastly, The Guardian and the New York Times released explosive reports about Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica was the digital arm of the Trump campaign and was reported to have used hacked Facebook data from more than 50 million users to define Trump’s winning digital strategy. Cambridge Analytica was funded by one of Trump’s biggest supporters: the Mercers, and led by campaign strategist: Stephen Bannon. 

  • Introduction
  • Highlight/lowlight
  • Firing Spree 
  • Cambridge Analytica   
  • The blue wave builds
  • Rankings
  • Closing

Email us at polilogue.podcast@gmail.com or you can send us your feedback on Twitter: @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Want to stalk us some more? Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com 
Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

A few resources that helped us understand North Korea. 

The Sunday political shows discussed this week:  

 

Naomi Soto