I’ve taken it upon myself to change the name of Thomas Frank’s iconic book, What’s the Matter With Kansas? It’s now asking the same question about all of America, because the right-wing craziness that infected the heart of the nation has spread, like a nasty virus with seemingly no cure!
I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Frank a few times, including this morning. We never seem to have enough time, and today was no exception. Check out his work at Harpers (if you’re a subscriber), at the resurrected The Baffler, and his two more recent books The Wrecking Crew and Pity the Billionaire.
Today’s show began with a conversation with cartoonist/columnist/author Ted Rall. I last spoke with him upon the publication of his book The Anti-American Manifesto, a pretty clear call to revolution if we have any hope of fixing this country’s ills. Today we spoke in advance of his new book, out in May, The Book of O(bama): From Hope and Change to the Age of Revolt. Another fascinating conversation!
In the middle, we checked in with Joy-Ann Reid, proprietor of The Reid Report, managing editor of The Grio, Miami Herald columnist and MSNBC contributor about the latest on the Trayvon Martin killing.