WE DECIDE: America at the Crossroads with Jenna Flanagan
The shooting of two National Guard troops stationed in Washington, DC on Wednesday allegedly by Rahmanullah Lakanwa, an Afghan immigrant who had worked for the CIA in Afghanistan, was used by President Trump as a pretext to order 500 more troops into the nation's capital.
U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom from West Virginia's National Guard died from her wounds.
Trump's escalation came as U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell struck down President Trump's declaration of a crime emergency aimed at taking over Washington D.C.'s municipal police force and troop deployment, ruling it an unconstitutional overreach.
We check in with our regular current events panel: Washington DC correspondent David Levinthal, political reporter Laura Jedeed, and Egberto Willes, host of KPFT's Politics Done Right.
Right after President Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 election, there was speculation about what Trump 2.0 would mean for the justice system. It had already struggled to hold him accountable for alleged crimes both before and during his first term.
While President Trump was not charged in relation to the violent events on Jan. 6th, hundreds of his supporters were arrested and convicted on various felony counts.
On May 30th of last year, before assuming office, Trump became the first U.S. President convicted of a felony related to the way he paid hush money intended to influence the 2016 presidential election.
One of his first actions after re-election was to grant clemency to nearly 1,600 Jan. 6th rioters, stating that the justice system had been politicized.
In this episode of We Decide: America at the Crossroads we take an in-depth look at how the courts are handling Trump's view of the rule of law and his effort to expand the power of the executive branch.
We spoke with Dr. Jamie Rowen, University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science and Director of the Center for Justice, Law and Societies. She was joined by Norman Siegel, civil rights attorney and former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
In the C Block, we look at how Americans are perceiving U.S. foreign policy in the Trump era with Jonathan Guyer, program director at the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group, and Peter Woolley, director of the School of Public and Global Affairs at Fairleigh Dickinson University and founding director of PublicMind.
A 2024 study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that more than 70 percent of Americans failed a basic civic literacy quiz. One in three did not know that the government has three branches. As public education increasingly reduces attention to civics, how do we return to being a country of informed voters?
For Brian Beihl, founding station manager at Pacifica affiliate WNHN in Concord, New Hampshire, the solution was a series of one-minute audio lessons about government and elections titled the American Democracy Minute. The project now airs on more than 70 stations.
Brian joined us for a sampling of these engaging spots.
And in our D Block today, we speak with Brian Beihl about the Open Democracy Minute, a project that offers sixty-second explainers on national issues to over 70 stations across several networks.
As always, there is a lot to get to. We will jump right in after this report from the Public News Service.
A 2024 study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that more than 70 percent of Americans failed a basic civic literacy quiz; one in three respondents did not know there are three branches of government. As public education continues to reduce civics instruction, how do we become a nation of informed voters again? For Brian Beihl, the answer came in one-minute lessons about government and elections titled Open Democracy Minute. The project now airs on more than 70 stations. Hello Brian.
