Episode 18: CNN Contributor Sally Kohn on Trump, Progressive Resistance and Oprah (for President?)

With many progressives focused on fighting Donald Trump — exposing collusion with Russia, possible money-laundering, and other misdeeds — and others continuing (as before the election) to focus on fighting broader issues of xenophobia, racial inequity in policing and systemic misogyny, there is an important question to ask: what is the proper balance for the left? How much should we focus on Trump or Trumpism, and how much should we emphasize the larger struggles that we were engaging before he burst on the political scene? On this episode, Tim speaks with CNN contributor, author and longtime activist Sally Kohn about these matters. How will the Democratic Party respond to Trump in 2018 and 2020? Will they make Trump the issue or put forth an agenda that people will vote for, rather than simply voting against a particular individual in the White House? How will they navigate the tensions between those who criticize “identity politics” and claim there is too much focus on issues of race, gender and sexuality, (and not enough on the “working class”), and those who insist it is people of color, women as women and LGBT folks who are the most reliable bases of the Democratic coalition, and thus it is those voters to whom Democrats must principally appeal? Oh, and they’ll also discuss why Sally hates cruise ships and why she penned an essay claiming that Oprah Winfrey would make an exceptional president. And in his weekly commentary, Tim will explain why despite her excellent speech at the Golden Globes, and her general decency as a human being, an Oprah presidency is far from something that progressives should ultimately support.