Twenty-four years ago, I was living in Washington D.C. while studying at the University of Maryland. I came back to America in August of 2016, this time with my family. It was just a few months before Trump's election. As I settled in the US and tried to understand why Trump got elected, I noticed how much the country had changed.
I believe that two major crises have determined the shape of what the country is today: the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the subprime economic crisis in 2008.
Then came Trump. A man loved by half the country for being anti-elite, playing tough, and speaking his mind and hated by the other half for pretty much the same reasons. Trump has polarized America and the world at large, pushing what we thought was politically possible. Lies and mediocrity became the new normal.
For a year now, with this podcast, Back in America, I have been exploring and questioning America's culture, values, and identity. In every episode, I ask my guests “What is America?”. Quite often, they say that America is a story, an idea in the making.
By many standards, the 2020 election is historical and will once again help define what America is. The pandemic, the foreign interferences, the mistrust in the democratic voting process, and now the legal attacks against Biden's victory.
I have asked Americans what they thought of the outcome of the election.
Here they are:Jake Hoffman, the president of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans.
Mark Charles, an independent candidate who ran in the 2020 Presidential Election who holds dual citizenship to the United States and the Navajo Nation.
https://twitter.com/wirelesshogan
Previous episode https://pod.fo/e/a048d and https://pod.fo/e/a048e
Richard Heinberg, a Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, and one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels.
https://twitter.com/richardheinberg
Live Interview
David Treibs, a Constitutionalist, Christian, and gun-rights activists from Fredericksburg, Texas.
Previous episode https://pod.fo/e/a2f78
Live Interview
Chivona Renee Newsome, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Greater NY.
https://twitter.com/newyorkvonni
Live Interview
Majid Padellan, social justice warrior, social media expert, Twitter celebrity, an author, a digital designer, and a proud father of 5. His Twitter handle is BrooklynDad_Defiant.
https://twitter.com/mmpadellan
Previous episode https://pod.fo/e/9f4f2
Live Interview
Read the Transcript
Listen again: Divers from the EPIX/ BBC Docuseries “Enslaved”: Diving on Shipwrecked Slave Ships
SETI – Dr. Seth Shostak – Searching for E.T.
Poetism Part 7: Can you describe it all? Scott Stevens on the Cocteau Twins & Brigit Pegeen Kelly
Poetism Part 6: Can you experience? Michael Leon Thomas on Whitehead and Pharoah Sanders
Poetism Part 5: Can you speak for others? Lorenzo Bartolucci on Seamus Heaney and Hozier
Poetism 4: Can you break a word? Gabriel Ellis on SOPHIE and Jos Charles
Poetism 3: Can You Feel It? Johnnie Hobbs on D’Angelo and Amiri Baraka
Poetism Part 2: Are we numb yet? Lisa Robertson and the Airborne Toxic Event with Mitch Therieau
Poetism Part 1: Patrick Rosal and The Doors with Fang Liu
Doug Steinel: Cancel Culture in Classroom
Cargo-Sailboats are Back-at-Sea, Creating a Greener Supply Chain
Bruno Sarda: “Climate change poses a systemic, existential risk to the future viability of your system”
Students Becoming Pro: the Interns Behind the Mic
Navi Radjou: Is Frugal Economy a Viable Alternative to Capitalism and Could it Save our Planet?
How would you go to Zoom School as a homeless youth? We asked Bridging Tech, a charity devoted to overcoming the digital divide
Listen Again: Guns, God & the 2nd Amendment in America - David Treibs Christian & Guns Activist - Prof. Robert Spitzer Constitution and Gun Control Expert, SUNY Cortland
Derrick Jensen: Are We at the End of the World or just the End of our Civilization?
International Women's Day - Listen Again - Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings: Black Feminism, Civil Rights…
Who should get the vaccine first? We didn’t know so we asked a philosopher
Listen again: Eric Marsh - Being a Black man today in America
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