The Middle with Anthony Weiner

If you thought the show was going to be wall-to-wall Stormy this week, you mostly dodged a bullet. Anthony was more interested in the impossibly bad situation that Joe Biden has put himself in with his latest joust with Bibi. We start out with the quiet electoral strength of a person who isn’t even running for President anymore. A shotgun marriage for Donald Trump and…Nikki Haley? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doesn’t anyone around here understand this whole Free Speech thing?! We are a radio station for (expletive deleted) sake!! Anthony is no First Amendment scholar or anything, but he tries to at least explain the basic mistakes being made by both the right and left this week. Want to protest on campus? Knock yourself out. Want to complain about your day in court? Have at it. But we have rules around these things and the “experts” know this. But lying on the radio is also a right…up to a point. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love”. Ok, maybe Tennyson hadn’t met the young people on who have made a home on the lawns of colleges all over the country and most notably at Columbia in upper Manhattan. Those folks seem bent on protest. Anthony considers how we should look at these demonstrations and makes some distinctions that seem to be getting lost. Former Congressman Steve Israel who spends a lot of time on college campuses nowadays has some tough questions for the in sitters and chanters. Also, this week a lot of Trump related legal news and a Supreme Court that seems totally ok with Joe Biden arresting Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No doubt about it, this was a week like few others in American history. A really famous guy goes on trial and totally normal court stuff happens. Congress has important things to do so they ignore the crazies and just do them. And the neighborhood bully in the Middle East is shown to be impotent by a coalition of just about everybody. Anthony takes some time to appreciate these historic but actually pretty good developments in our American civic life and on the global stage. Oh, its also 4/20. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump keeps digging himself deeper on abortion. He’s proud he “broke” Roe but begs Arizona to be a pro choice state for him. For his next act he promises not to sign a national abortion ban…well, “promise” is a strong word. It’s chaos. In the meantime, Joe Biden keeps chipping away at a signature issue : debt forgiveness. Republicans are shocked, shocked! You mean Middle Class Joe is delivering for the Middle Class? Anthony defends the plan against some pretty upset callers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Freaking out about immigration and the “less than human” humans coming in to our country, is looking more and more like a desperate gambit by Trump and his minions in Congress and in the media. It got overshadowed by real news this week. Anthony looks at yet another sizzling jobs report and snickers at the rhetorical gymnastics necessary to not acknowledge how well we are doing. And, in another edition of “ways Trump screwed Republicans” Florida’s highest court paved the way for voters in the Orange Man’s mostly Red state to vote on whether citizens there are happy with a 6 week (!) abortion ban. A vote that will be happening in a lot of states this fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony joins in memorializing fallen NYPD officer Jonathan Diller who did a dangerous job with valor and now leaves a 1-year-old son and a grieving family. As inevitable as it was that it would become an opportunity for opportunists, it was still pretty jarring to see it in action this week. Trump showed up for the wake and addressed the media while not addressing his spotty record on defending law enforcement and laws for that matter. Also this week, was the hiring and firing of the former head of the RNC by NBC a sign of what is right or what is wrong with the way that the media is covering Trump? And is there a Roona / Weiner analogy here? Nah. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump didn’t remove his cap for the national anthem at his rally this week. Maybe that’s because it was a weird cult mash up of the song. This week Anthony does that thing where he imagines the freak out if Joe Biden took a knee for our actual national hymn and instead substituted some words. And for his next round of “Top This”, Trump returns to his old standby – naked antisemitism. In less aggravating news, Biden leans into the EV debate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the highest ranking Jewish American in our history, gave a clear eyed assessment of the situation that Israel faces and predictably no one liked what they heard. But Anthony looks at the whole speech and wonders if maybe Chuck Schumer was just saying out loud what so many Israel supporters have been saying quietly for months. Also, on this week’s show, another Republican quits and TikTok is on the ropes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony loves him a good State of the Union address. The old, forgetful and frail Joe Biden decided to skip the event and sent instead a fella who talked fast, yelled a bit and spit facts. The Republicans are shocked – shocked! – that the speech was so political. We look closer at the night and the orange haired elephant in the room. Also, this week, the Republicans in Congress want to defund the police. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maybe, just maybe, Americans would like to know if Donald Trump is guilty of crimes before they go to the polls. Anthony looks at this novel idea and tries to square it with the decision by the Supreme Court to hear a rather preposterous legal theory on a rather, uh, unambitious schedule. Also, this week we finally heard from Hunter Biden...sort of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who's the pro-life party now? With a ruling from an Alabama court that should have been obvious, red state families are suddenly not sure if invitro fertilization will be legal. Anthony looks at how the Dobbs decision that so many Republicans cheered may now have them in a box. Also this week, the Hunter case has truly jumped the shark and a look at the jumbled politics of Israel and Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 100 – Weiner’s Stil at It A cake? Celebrity cameos? Nope. Just the normal stuff : Trump committing fraud; Joe Biden’s accusers committing perjury, and; prosecutors in Georgia committing…uh, hanky panky. 100 episodes later and whoever thought this was a good idea might have just been right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you were hoping that suddenly the Republicans would become competent; Trump would become immune from prosecution or that Biden would defeat father time, you and Anthony both had a disappointing week. A bit of groundhog day with failure of the immigration bill and more talk about how old our next president will be. The Supreme Court did hint at something novel – consensus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate finally has a bipartisan deal to improve the situation at the border. And there was much rejoicing! Or was there? Anthony resists the urge to say “I told you so” but he really did. A lot of Republicans show their hands by choosing politics over problem solving. In the meantime, lots of polls show Trump is winning and lots of polls show Biden is winning. But if the economy - the most important issue of Election ’24 – is booming. You have to figure that is good for Joe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not exactly the art of the deal. This week Donald Trump turned a $5 million judgement and into $83 million. Anthony looks at the former President’s expensive temper tantrums. Far from going slowly into the night after her non-winning performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, Nikki Haley is doing everything she can to get under Donald’s skin. Also, this week, in the life and death debate in Congress over aid to Ukraine and Israel, lawmakers are getting close to a deal on immigration. But wait, could it be that Republicans would rather not actually want to fix the problem? We all have to listen to Anthony say “I told you so”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The votes are finally being cast and the dislike for the guy with 91 indictment counts is not popular with Republicans. Who would have guessed that?! Anthony bids DeSantis goodbye and wonders when Nikki Haley will wake up and try to win. The Vice President auditions are in full bloom, but didn’t Trump try to have his last VP actually and literally and for real…murdered? In other news, Uvalde was even worse than we knew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Its fair to say that this was a head scratching week in Washington. Hunter Biden shows up on Capitol Hill and Donald Trump shows up at United States District Court. Anthony explains why this was a case of the sublime and the ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous, can someone please explain how a Shia terror group firing at a Swedish ship on the way to Japan is good for the Palestinians? But, there was a very serious question being raised about US action against the Houthis, who voted for this? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's one of those dates that become shorthand. January 6th was a day we said we would never forget. Three years later and we know what has happened. Or do we? Anthony looks at the national reckoning and sees two different ways to interpret the aftermath. A helluva lot of accountability has been doled out but are the lessons learned? Also, this week, Anthony has his first on-air feud. He took some blows early, but won by TKO. We think you’ll agree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last show of 2023, Anthony takes stock. Crime is down and the economy is way up. Can you believe it? Well, actually a lot of listeners are saying no, they don’t believe it. Could the problem possibly be that whole alternative facts thing? Also this week, Anthony goes to the tape and reviews his predictions for the year. How did he do? Not terrible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices