The Middle - UNPLUGGED with Anthony Weiner

Donald Trump sat for interviews with Time Magazine and this week, Anthony tried to bring us a line-by-line analysis. Tried, as in didn’t really pull it off. He explains a few things we did learn (besides the surprising fact that Time Magazine still exists) and wraps up some loose ends. In Ask Anthony Anything, our least favorite dog shooting governor digs herself a deeper hole. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How should we think about the campus debate/protests/politics around Israel's war with Hamas? There are a lot of ideas and even more perspectives. This week, Anthony checks in with a fellow who has worn a few relevant hats - former Representative and current university “professor” Steve Israel. They talk about the often narrow scope of our education around these things and those who are operating in good faith and others who aren't. In Ask Anthony Anything, maybe Christie Noem isn’t gonna be VP pick afterall. Enter JD Vance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let's call it the fifth Passover question, how did they finally do their jobs? Anthony looks at the historically incompetent 118th Congress and gives kudos for the week of action. Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan all finally had urgent needs funded. How did it happen? Was it a sea change? Maybe. Also this week, a look at the early tells from the Trump trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Perhaps it's unexpected given his history with the criminal justice system, but Anthony has been a cheerleader for the idea that “the system" will hold and Donald Trump will be held accountable…if he's guilty. But, there are reasonable questions that reasonable people can have about the ability of an infamous politician to get a fair trial. Anthony asks them and tries to answer. And, in Ask Anthony Anything, a look at the Trump tax cuts and the Biden response. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats have some PTSD around third party candidates. You can imagine why. Is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the newest version of Ralph Nader or Jill Stein? Anthony takes a look at what we know about the guy with the iconic Democratic name and decides that we may not have that much to fear. RFK Jr. said more words this week and his Dance of the Seven Veils shows him to be nakedly MAGA. In Ask Anthony Anything, a minor correction about a major 2024 issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wait, wait! Before the Rhona McDaniel tempest fades from memory, Anthony would like a word. He explains what it takes to be considered an election denying conspiracy theorist worthy of the scarlet letter. Spoiler alert, being pissed about the Electoral College or money in politics isn't enough. But being a dangerous liar maybe is just what we need on TV right now, if they do it right. What if Rhona had done this differently and pursued a path of rigorous honesty about her sins? Nobody asked Anthony in advance, but he has a counterfactual for us to consider. And, speaking of Asking Anthony Anything, the Jewish boy from Brooklyn dives into the controversy over the war on Easter (eggs). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It has the longest name of any committee in Congress (maybe ever) : The House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. But what they lack in punchy, they made up for in actually working. Anthony looks at what seems like a true national consensus around our rivalry with China and what we (and he) got wrong at the turn of this century. In Ask Anthony Anything, we go long form. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another week and another sign that Donald Trump is super desperate for cash. He can’t raise the money or find a bond for one of his many expensive legal verdicts. This all got Anthony wondering about whether a fellow with the former president’s record would even pass a routine background check to be eligible for the security clearance that so many in Washington and the military get. A not-so deep dive into the federal regulations governing access to government secrets. Spoiler alert, one of the 13 guidelines talks about “untreated mental illness. In Ask Anthony Anything, a slow clap for Mike Pence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden had a lot of words to say in his amped up State of the Union this week. More than a few of them were about the “greatest story never told”, the amazing recovery our economy has seen under his watch. Anthony looks at the comparison between the Trump economy and this one and unpacks the “yes, but Covid” explanation that comes from the MAGA world. If not for the pandemic, then Trump would have done better, they say. So do we not even count his final year? It started out as a numbers question, but Anthony got sucked into a vortex of the Trump words. Join us as we remember 2020. And in Ask Anthony Anything, looking at the future of Trump and the vaccine he is so, uh, proud of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buying, selling and consuming cannabis is legal all over the place. So why is there so much chaos around it? Anthony looks at the odd mish-mash of federal laws, state programs and local enforcement that has left citizens bewildered and policymakers returning to the drawing board. Howie Miller of Two Buds Dispensary in the Bronx may be the poster boy for how New York intended its legalization program to work, but even he is struggling to navigate the rules. Anthony visits with Howie this week and they have their first chat since their days in prison together. In Ask Anthony Anything, is there more crime in Blue or Red states? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's officially a trend. Trump “wins” a primary and looks weaker for doing it. Anthony takes a look at a gathering body of evidence that every time Americans do that voting thing, they reveal that the Republicans and their leader are unpopular. They've shown it in three presidential primaries, a bunch of special elections and in 7 statewide referenda. In Ask Anthony Anything, the Republican phony meter goes to 11 with Dominic Carter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been so long, we sort of forgot about the Trump/Stormy Daniels hush money case. Anthony is here for us with an explainer about what makes the case unusual; what makes the case very usual and why the main witness is unusually suspect. Why now? Because finally, at long last, one of the criminal cases and 34 of the indictments is going to go to trial in just over a month. We are so ready! In Ask Anthony Anything, Andrew Giuliani gets a friendly but stern clap back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bit of an ongoing series here. Let's call it a serial perhaps. Or is that name taken? Anthony returns to things that the former President said and treats them like something uttered by a maybe future president. Inviting Russia to attack NATO? A tax on everything imported into our country? Not jokes and not joking matters. Taking Donald Trump seriously and literally again…still. Also, in Ask Anthony Anything, it’s time for a correction and a special cameo by a guy in a red beret. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know Anthony wasn’t a lawyer? Did you know that was a story? That’s how we start this week but it leads us into a conversation about the competing imperatives that the criminal justice system has - don’t delay but follow the rules which create delays. Donald Trump, with the help of $76 million his supporters have given him, is doing everything possible to delay the many legal cases he faces. But what about the voters? Don’t they have a right to know if one of the candidates for President is guilty of a crime before they go to the polls. Anthony has a thought about this. In Ask Anthony Anything, it’s Rep. Salazar’s turn in the barrel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maybe it happens every election cycle, but this year there seems to be so much idle chatter about who “the real” candidates for president will be. Michelle Obama? Oprah? Dick Cheney? Ok, that last one maybe no one is really saying, but with one candidate a step away from prison and the other a misstep away from the Emergency Room, there has been more than a little speculation that maybe we won’t have a Trump v. Biden rematch after all. Anthony takes a look at how a candidate could be replaced and interviews the foremost expert on election law in America - Jerry Goldfeder, the Director of the Fordham Law School Voting Rights and Democracy Program. Follow him @JerryGoldfeder. In Ask Anthony Anything, Trump’s running mate in waiting gets a history lesson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony starts with breaking news from New Hampshire this week and then looks at what’s ahead in 2024’s two big stories : Who will be Trump’s running mate and when will Trump stand trial? We have some guesses, both educated ones and the other kind. In Ask Anthony Anything it's time for a correction/clarification. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some cold weather, cold calculations and cold facts this week as Anthony updates the unsurprising Iowa caucus and some shocking news about the haves and the have nots in Iowa and globally. Children in Iowa will be hungry this summer. And they won't be alone. Also this week, Ask someone else about Anthony? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Republicans cast their first votes for President this week in the Iowa Caucus. Anthony thinks the Democrats had a better idea – just cancel it. From a novel idea, to an influential moment on the political calendar, recently the obsession with the “first in the nation” contest has now become a near laughing stock. The preview of what will happen on Monday only takes a moment, so Anthony takes the rest of the time to explain why its time to finally bury the Iowa Caucus once and for all. In Ask Anthony Anything – it’s host-on-host violence! Anthony has his first feud with another talent at WABC Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There will be plenty of time to talk about the top of the ticket in the year to come, so Anthony starts the us off with a look at the fight for the United States Senate. Things look bleak for the Democrats but not hopeless. You can always hope for a miracle! In Ask Anthony Anything, a sober look at that wacky 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We learned again this year that we can fight about anything. We’re looking at you Taylor Swift. But Anthony is puzzled that those fancy new electric cars and trucks became political fodder in 2023. Don't we all sort of want, uh, progress? Why can't we just all get along? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices