PODCAST · news
A Republic, If You Can Keep It
by Michigan Citizens for a Better Tomorrow
Analysis and commentary on Michigan politics from former Democratic Party chair Mark Brewer and former Republican Party executive director Jeff Timmer.
Episodes
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Scaramucci’s Record Was Made To Be Broken (Guest: Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar)
On Our Political Radar This Week… Brand spanking new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia didn’t even last the week before Trump kicked her to the curb. Just more incompetence and chaos from the Trump Administration, proving yet again that they can occasionally take a break from the...
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S.I. (Guest: “The Bulwark” writer Jonathan Cohn)
On Our Political Radar This Week… (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, Pool) This is our 300th episode, dating back to March of 2021. We thank you for making the last 5+ years possible! When we launched, the two state parties had just wrapped up their winter conventions one month after that January 6 Trump-led...
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Stupid on Stilts (Guest: UM Election Law Expert Sam Bagenstos)
On Our Political Radar This Week… “Stupid on Stilts”. That’s how Republican Senator Thom Tillis characterized Donald Trump Jr.’s decision to let a Putin Pal pay for his Gatsby-style wedding reception … but it could serve as the theme for the entire Trump 2nd term. Even ultra-conservative...
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Degenerates and Losers (Guest: Miles Coleman/Sabato Crystal Ball)
On our radar this week… “Degenerates and Losers” – That’s Trump’s description of MS NOW after the network reported the administration is considering adding Trump’s name to Ford’s Theatre, the theatre where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The latest overnight online rant comes hours after a...
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Apocalypse Soon
On our radar this week… The battlelines are drawn in Michigan and across the nation over the tandem futures of data centers and artificial intelligence. Unlike the decades-long warnings over climate change threatening the future of the planet, the lighting speed of A-I development has catapulted...
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Small Potatoes (Live – on tape – at Lakeshore Progressives)
On our radar this week… For the first time in our nearly six years and 295 episodes we’re on the road, delighted to be in Grand Haven with good people of Progressive Lakeshore, a nonpartisan, women-led initiative working to connect, inform & grow the progressive community. Absentee ballots go…
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Heads We Lose, Tails We Still Lose (Guest: Mike Madrid)
On our radar this week… Yes, the Donald Trump one-dollar coin is now in circulation. It’s just a matter of time until the faux gold coin is available in a special gold case exclusively on the website More Trump Crap for Sale Dot Com. The fall campaign is underway in Michigan, with ballots going…
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Canadian Bacon Might Fry Republicans
On our radar this week… Jeff takes a week off and just like that, Trump starts another war! This time with him smack-ass in the middle of it. Jeff and his bride were in Canada’s Maritimes and was attacked with Canadian kindness, poutine, real beef and not diseased Argentinian horse meat, the best...
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Travels with Natalie (Guest: Representative Debbie Dingell)
On our radar this week… Another bad week for the 80-year-old President as he gets roasted by Jon Ossoff with a riff that mentioned Natalie and infuriated Trump, setting off a social media frenzy with attacks on the Georgia senator along with CNN and the reporter who asked Trump about the mention...
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Gaslighting Beats Having Actual Accomplishments (Guests: Con-Con Opponents Mark Fisk and John Sellek)
On our political radar this week… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Republican general election strategy has been launched. It’s a 3-legged stool of misdirection: Gaslight voters on the economy, taxes and Trump’s failed war against Iran Accuse any and all Democrats of wanting to bring…
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Progressives Win, Money Loses!
On our political radar this week... ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In multiple battles on election day, some candidates won despite being heavily outspent. The list includes Abdul El-Sayed prevailing over Haley Stevens’ $60-million campaign GOP Gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson seeing…
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The Home Stretch
On our political radar this week... Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed are in the center of the national political spotlight We’re in the final days of a primary campaign that’s being watched by the nation: will the Democratic Socialist wing of the Democratic Party upset the centrist leadership?…
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Another War With Canada, Eh?
On our political radar this week... Canadian officials cut the ribbon today to herald Monday’s scheduled opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge. Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford spoke directly of the latest Trump assault on America’s number one trading partner, saying " Ontario will be ready to…
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Party Like It’s 2020! (Guest: Jack Cocchiarella)
On our political radar this week... America was treated to still another delusional rant from Donald Trump Thursday night about the issue that’s his singular fixation: imaginary election fraud six years ago. The speech came in a week of bad news from the mad man in the Oval Office: Iran continues...
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McCarthyism 2.0 (Guest: Sam Bagenstos)
On our political radar this week... Demagogue Senator Joe McCarthy's Red Scare tactics of the 1950s are back. The GOP game plan for the 2026 campaign is clear: branding Democrats as soft-on-crime and communists who want to destroy America. Using Hollywood terms, it’s a sequel to what was, for a...
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Donald’s Not So Successful Party
Subscribe to our YouTube channel On our political radar this week... Trump’s heavily hyped Great American State Fair has been labeled the All-American Fyre Festival. Crowds are non-existent. It’s even so bad that Vanilla Ice pulled out at the last minute. Jeff notes that he's had larger crowds in...
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Dead Ducks (Guest: Barbara McQuade)
Subscribe to our YouTube channel On our political radar this week... AI created satire (in case you couldn't figure that out!) There are dead ducks everywhere. In Switzerland, it could well be J.D. Vance’s presidential ambitions as the 60-day pause in Trump’s War is looking shakier by the day. In...
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Unconditional Surrender
Subscribe to our YouTube channel On our political radar this week... In the first days of Donald Trump’s Middle East War, he proclaimed that the only acceptable end was “unconditional surrender.” He didn’t specify WHO needed to surrender. This week, we got the answer. Iran wins permanent control…
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I Love the Inflation (Guest: MIRS Editor Kyle Melinn)
Subscribe to our YouTube channel On our political radar this week... A summer snowflake sighting in Wisconsin: Donald Trump stalked out of an NBC interview when his lies about election fraud were challenged by NBC’s Kristen Welker. While Trump was attacking mainstream media as “crooked”, his…
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War Is Boring. Swimming Pools Are Fun!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel On our political radar this week... Donald Trump says he’s getting bored with his war, doesn’t care about the mid-terms … but is laser focused on what matters: his reflecting pond renovation, diverting money from national parks for his D.C. cleanup, the Arc ‘d...
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Stupid on Stilts
Subscribe to our YouTube channel On our political radar this week... Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan adds to decades of proof that an independent candidate for statewide office is doomed, pulling the plug on what had become a fading Quixotic quest. He was supposed to be the star of the annual...
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Trump’s Corruption Hat Trick
Subscribe to our YouTube channel On our political radar this week... Donald Trump, who has had a lifetime personal wealth-building obsession, set a new standard for corruption this week with three outrageously grubby grifts: The $1.8 billion slush fund, under his total control, that he can use to...
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Lion Bear Giraffe Shark
On our political radar this week... In between Oval Office naps, his costly, tacky fixations on the Reflecting Pool on the National mall and his $1-billion NOW TAXPAYER FUNDED ballroom, misogyny toward female reporters, rage posting on Truth Social, his bizarre, constant bragging about his...
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$1,000,000,000 Ballroom
© Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com On our political radar this week... The $200-million, privately funded Trump desecration of the White House has morphed into a $1-billion project … with taxpayers picking up the tab. While the White House focused on the ballroom, taking over DC Golf...
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Re-Indicted, and It Feels So Good! (guest: Tiffany Muller, End Citizens United)
© Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com On our political radar this week... The Trump Retribution Parade continues as his Department of Payback indicts James Comey for posting a picture of sea shells on social media. If that doesn't work, they could try claiming the 6-foot-8 Comey’s height...
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An Extraordinarily Brilliant Person (Guest: Eli Savit)
© Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com On our political radar this week... Donald Trump, possessor of the self-proclaimed "Big Brain," seems to have fully embraced a bunker mentality: his ever-shifting Iran strategy manages neither to sway Tehran nor steady the global economy, but it does...
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JD’s Very Bad Week
The Trump Economy On our political radar this week... J.D. Vance went 0-for-2 on his European trip. Victor Orban, campaigning with Vance at his side, got dumped as President of Hungary…despite ringing endorsements from Donald Trump and his BFF Vladimir Putin. Then Vance led negotiations with Iran...
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Another TACO Tuesday (Guest: Representative Ranjeev Puri)
On our political radar this week... Pam Bondi joins Meat Loaf, Joan Rivers, Dennis Rodman, Sinbad, Dionne Warwick, Andrew Dice Clay, Omarosa … and Kristi Noem: "You're fired!" VIDEO: Bye Bye Bondi (A Tribute) Senator Elissa Slotkin – speaking in Iowa – confirms what we’ve been saying for weeks:...
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It’s Not a War … It just looks like one (Guest: Jack Ebling)
On our political radar this week... Michigan Republicans have turned their backs on the craziest of the MAGA crazies with hopes of at least one upset in November. But the leader in their race for Governor had a bad weekend. John James had some of the delegates booing him as he was introduced for...
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Every Day is TACO Day (Guest: Todd Spangler – Detroit Free Press)
i On our political radar this week... As Donald Trump’s polling numbers continue to plummet to record-setting lows, he’s constantly shifting positions on Iran, NATO, DHS funding and ICE messaging on a daily basis. About the only constants: his efforts to shift the blame for everything bad to…
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March Madness (Guest: Lauren Gibbons/Bridge Michigan)
iIt’s not just college basketball Madness - the bracket busters extend into the halls of Congress where two of Donald Trump’s legion of incompetents got busted over the administration’s war on Iran … and on the American people. Michigan’s two Senators took part in the Homeland Security…
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A Little Excursion
i On our radar this week... © Clay Jones - claytoonz.substack.com In the last week, the list of Donald Trump’s broken campaign promises was seemingly endless: beginning with starting a Middle East War and increasing gas prices to go up 60-cents-a-gallon (with the prospect of Four Dollar per…
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Operation Epstein Diversion
i On our radar this week... Trump’s “Wag the Dog” tactic has started a war that’s quickly engulfing the entire Middle East, is costing taxpayers tens-of-billions of dollars. It has been an expensive and largely unsuccessful diversion tactic, made even worse with the combative testimony of the...
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State of Delusion (Guests: Trygve Olson, Erin Dobson – Democracy Investment Fund)
Reps. David Scott (D-GA) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) appeared to “doze off” during Donald Trump’s SOTU address. On our radar this week... “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” - George Orwell, "1984" We opened last week’s podcast...
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1984
On our radar this week... “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” George Orwell wrote those words 76 years ago in “1984” – seemingly the operating manual for Donald Trump’s administration. In fact, Trump used those exact words...
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Unredacted (Guest: Ambassador/Governor Jim Blanchard)
On our radar this week... A World Without Exploitation - Release the Epstein Files The 2017 Donald Trump lavished praise on the multi-billion-dollar plan crafted by Michigan and Canada to build the much-needed connector for our two economies. The 2026 Donald Trump sees the bridge as nothing more...
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This Job Sucks!
This week's episode is inspired by Homeland Security immigration attorney Julie Li who let it all hang out at a Minneapolis immigration hearing, telling the judge “The system sucks. This job sucks. I wish you could hold me in contempt so that I could get 24 hours of sleep.” On our radar this...
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World War Trump (Guest: Norm Ornstein)
On our radar this week... The first-ever recipient of a previously owned Nobel Peace Prize apparently wants to be the Genghis Khan of the 21st Century. In the last week, Trump has Threatened to invade Venezuela if his hand-picked government doesn’t do his bidding; Stationed an armada near Iran in...
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Iceland, Greenland, Whatever… (Guest: UM Regent Jordan Acker)
Adobe Images On our radar this week... Taco Trump went to Davos intent on taking over Greenland or Iceland (depending on the moment) … calls our allies stupid and worthless … and comes home with the “concept of a framework for a future agreement” that amounts to little more than total surrender…
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Up Yours and FU🖕 (Guest: Senator Sam Singh)
On our radar this week... Donald Trump’s reaction to a heckler at his Detroit Economic Club speech was symbolic of his administration: flipping the bird to all of us as he simultaneously destroys the economy, government services and NATO. The irony: his target, who was suspended by Ford, has...
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The Minneapolis Coverup Begins (Guest: 4th District Congressional Candidate Sean McCann)
We're now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. On our radar this week... There is a lot on our radar along with Santa’s sleigh… It was inevitable from the day Donald Trump sent his masked, unqualified, undertrained stormtroopers into American cities. An American citizen was summarily...
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2025: Seemed like a Decade (Guest: Politico’s Adam Wren)
We're now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. On our radar this week... There is a lot on our radar along with Santa’s sleigh… The Justice Department is dipping into the National Black Toner Cartridge Strategic Reserve as it redacts tens-of-thousands of pages of the Epstein files.…
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Blame It on Biden (Guest: Representative Debbie Dingell)
On our radar this week... Dozing Donald woke up from his nap long enough to shout out an 18-minute campaign speech, laden with lies and blaming everything on Joe Biden. It was the centerpiece of a truly horrific week politically for Trump and Republicans. The ACA tax credits are going, going and...
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Raging Dementia …
Clay Jones/claytoonz.com On our radar this week... Tomorrow ... You're only a day away! President Donald Trump took his show back on the road this week in a desperate attempt to rekindle his “rally magic” and tell voters not to believe their eyes, ears, brains, wallets, or increasingly harder to...
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I Could Shoot Somebody… (Guest: Jocelyn Benson)
Clay Jones-claytoonz.com It's Show #250! On our radar this week... Trump and onetime Fox couch potato Pete Hegseth are putting that shoot-em-on-5th-Avenue theory to the test … but instead, his real-life murders have generated bipartisan talk of War Crimes, even without an actual war. A special...
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You Can’t Handle the Truth!
VIDEO: Senator Elissa Slotkin responds to Donald Trump's outrageous threats against her, Senator Kelly and four House members. On our radar this week... Donald Trump says it’s criminal to post a video quoting federal law – with the Pentagon looking to court-martial Senator Mark Kelly, and the FBI...
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Quiet, Piggy! (Guest: Mike Musheinesh, Detroit Axle Co.)
On this week's show... Democrats: Our military's oath - defend the Constitution. Republicans: That's sedition! Donald Trump thinks Elissa Slotkin should be executed. Trump sees the Epstein documents parade going in the other direction and runs to lead it…but launches Phase Two for keeping the...
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The Cave-In Caucus (Guest: Ben Solis – Michigan Advance)
John Darkow - PoliticalCartoons.com On this week's show... The federal government shutdown is over for now, but the debate on healthcare rages on. Michigan Democrats, led by Senators Peters and Slotkin, have harsh words for the 7 Democrats who voted with Republicans to end the 41-day shutdown...
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Half a Loaf (Guest: Jennifer Palmieri)
Nick Anderson/Raw Story On this week's show... The Donald Trump Hunger Games begin with the administration doing as little as possible to comply with a court-ordered continuation of SNAP Benefits. For millions of Americans, it means going hungry … just not quite as hungry as Trump had wanted. The...
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A Perfect MRI
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 drewsheneman.substack.com On this week's show... Donald Trump’s medical path seems to be tracking alongside his poll ratings: going down. Six months after his “annual” physical exam…
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does A Republic, If You Can Keep It have?
A Republic, If You Can Keep It currently has 286 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is A Republic, If You Can Keep It about?
Analysis and commentary on Michigan politics from former Democratic Party chair Mark Brewer and former Republican Party executive director Jeff Timmer.
How often does A Republic, If You Can Keep It release new episodes?
A Republic, If You Can Keep It publishes regularly with 286 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to A Republic, If You Can Keep It on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts A Republic, If You Can Keep It?
A Republic, If You Can Keep It is created and hosted by Michigan Citizens for a Better Tomorrow.
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