Evening Roundup, April 22: A Day of Courage
Featuring Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen LIVE from abroad about today's breaking news; plus Marvin Kalb, Liz Shuler (interview), Michael de Adder, Josh Levs, and Robert T. Jones (interview)
Good evening, Contrarians! As we heard from Jen and Norm (Live from the streets of his beloved Prague), Americans did Democracy proud today. To learn more about how, watch their lively and spontaneous discussion in its entirety—kicking off our evening roundup.
Breaking News with Jen & Norm: Free Press
As the free press continues to face threats in America, Norm is fighting for democracy around the world — and winning. Norm, live from the streets of historic Prague, connected with Jen Rubin to discuss the endurance of democracy, the hard-won triumph of Contrarians, and the rising value of independent journalism.
A War Worth Winning
By Marvin Kalb
An impetuous Donald Trump has declared war on Harvard University, a distinguished American institution older than the country itself. He did so without a formal declaration of war, or even a letter of explanation, which, if sent, the White House would have considered a “mistake.”
Stronger Together: Liz Shuler on the Power of Labor Unions
Since Trump took office in January, his administration has been aggressively anti-worker. In late March, an executive order ending collective bargaining in federal agencies was signed under the guise of national security. Liz Shuler joins Jen to discuss the importance of labor unions, and more!
Signaling secrets
Michael de Adder is an award-winning editorial cartoonist. You can find him on Substack here.
Note to media: For heaven’s sake, fact check Trump’s team
When the big TV news networks book Trump officials and surrogates for their flagship Sunday political talk shows, there's one thing they can count on: Those guests will absolutely, definitely lie.
Banned books and white Christian nationalism: Robert P. Jones in discussion with Jen Rubin
Six in ten white evangelical Protestants agree “God ordained Donald Trump to be the winner of the 2024 presidential election. How do the Christian teachings of faith, grace, and mercy reconcile with Trump’s dogma of cruelty? Dr. Robert Jones joins Jen Rubin to discuss the politics of white Evangelical Christians and its link to white nationalism.
The 99th day of our existence was an amazing one in the fight for Democracy: we saw the backing off on Executive Decrees (or Orders); Universities refusing to be complicit; Bill Owens of Sixty Minutes taking a stand; Norm and his colleagues getting a massive Voice of America ruling with their temporary injunction—thanks in part to all of you! So thank you and congratulations, friends. We’ll see you tomorrow morning to keep the conversations going at 9:15 ET for Coffee with the Contrarians.
The BIG news is that Don Bacon, R NE, is the first Republican member of Congress to ask for Hegseth's removal from office.Bacon is the chair of a House Armed Services subcommittee and one of just a handful of House Republicans in districts that Kamala Harris carried last year. He first made his comments to Politico. https://www.axios.com/2025/04/21/don-bacon-pete-hegseth-signal
Hopefully, this is the start of the Feathers of Hope scenario. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
Where do the others on the committees stand? Meanwhile there is pushback on tariffs, on Musk and his Muskovites, by Congressional Republicans.
Woo hoo!