Claim OwnershipThe Assignment with Audie Cornish
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Every Thursday on The Assignment, host Audie Cornish explores the animating forces of this extraordinary American political moment. It’s not about the horse race, it’s about the larger cultural ideas driving the conversation: the role of online influencers on the electorate, the intersection of pop culture and politics, and discussions with primary voices and thinkers who are shaping the political conversation.
148 Episodes
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Elections officials across the country are preparing for a potentially bumpy election night. Audie travels to Arizona to talk with one of those officials: Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates. He is a lifelong Republican who faced death threats and harassment from election deniers after he certified the results of the 2020 election. They discuss why election centers now look like forts – surrounded by barbed wire and shatterproof glass – all in the name of protecting election integrity.
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Is it really possible to fight conspiracy theories? Robbie Parker says yes. After his daughter Emilie was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012, Parker became the target of conspiracy theories -- amplified and monetized by Alex Jones. Audie talks with Parker about how he helped sue Alex Jones’ Infowars and won, and what he thinks of gun politics in an election where candidates brag about being gun owners.
Robbie Parker’s new book is called, “A Father's Fight: Taking on Alex Jones and Reclaiming the Truth About Sandy Hook.”
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1Vice President Kamala Harris’ goal in Georgia is to turn out the coalition that barely tipped the newly purple state to Joe Biden in 2020. That means firing up the base, convincing the unconvinced, and driving turnout as high as possible. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is hoping Georgians think the shift left was a mistake. There's no question that women of color are a huge part of the Georgia equation. John sits down with two who show it would be a mistake to think they’re voting as a bloc.
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Owning a home is the cornerstone of the American dream, but an affordability crisis is making it a distant fantasy for many. The presidential candidates are taking notice. Sonja Trauss is a key activist in the YIMBY movement (“Yes in My Backyard”), and says the solution is pretty simple: Build more homes. Getting that done isn’t so easy. Audie sits down with Trauss in Southern California — ground zero for the housing shortage — to talk about the origins of the problem and potential solutions.
Watch a version of our conversation here.
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This week, Audie steps into the cage, literally, to learn why mixed martial arts is America's latest political battleground. As young men and women drift further apart politically, mixed martial arts has proven fertile ground for a changed GOP looking for fresh supporters. Retired Ultimate Fighting Championship star Jorge Masvidal is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, as are many other fighters and UFC CEO Dana White. Audie talks with him and journalist Luke Thomas to learn about the growing connection between fight fans and the former president.
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Nevada — especially Clark County, home to Vegas and almost 75 percent of the state’s population — is a political bellwether in a very specific way. The pandemic gutted the tourism-based economy, and the recovery has been slow. John King speaks with two voters in Las Vegas with centrist political views who show us why Nevada is very much up for grabs in this election.
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“I vividly remember Donald Trump winning the election and waking up shocked the next day because I was told by everyone...this was impossible.” For Lakshya Jain, 2016 was a major wake-up call, and he decided to use his skills to address the gaps in understanding left by traditional political media. Together with a group of fellow Gen Z engineers and political enthusiasts, he founded Split-Ticket.org, a nonpartisan website that uses creative framing and interactive games to tell a new kind of political story.
You Be The Campaign Manager game
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The historically Black sororities and fraternities known as the Divine 9 have a long legacy of political activism, though it’s traditionally been nonpartisan. Now that Vice President Kamala Harris — a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country’s oldest Black sorority — is at the top of the Democratic ticket, the organizations are mobilizing in a whole new way. And nowhere is that more evident or more consequential than in Georgia. Audie Cornish travels to Atlanta to sit down with two other AKA members: Democratic Congresswoman Nikema Williams and Maisha Land, creator of the viral Stroll to the Polls campaign.
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In a presidential race destined to come down to a handful of swing states, Arizona is a political puzzle: a Sun Belt state that’s historically gone red, but went for Biden in 2020. Do the changing demographics prime it for Harris, or will it turn back to Trump? John King talks with two swing voters who exemplify how Arizona defies stereotypes — and represent exactly who the parties are trying to win over.
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Colleges and universities are still dealing with the political fallout of last spring’s campus protests and encampments. It’s a political fight that’s led to the ouster of high-profile university presidents and generated national debate and even Congressional hearings. Audie talks with Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, about how campus protests over Gaza offer a lens on wider arguments about academic freedom. And we hear the perspective of Sam Hilton, a Wesleyan student and executive editor of the student newspaper.
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Audie talks with actor and producer LeVar Burton about the political events that shaped his life and informed the way he guided younger generations, especially as they grappled with the political and cultural events of their own time.
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Kamala Harris has “Freedom.” Donald Trump has “God Bless the USA” (and a lot of cease-and-desist letters). What makes for a good campaign song? And why do we respond so viscerally to the ones that work? Audie talks with DJ Cassidy, who DJ'd the DNC Roll Call. And Dana Gorzelany-Mostak, who studies the use of music in political campaigns.
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We've watched Democratic leaders hand the reins to the next generation at their surprisingly lit convention in Chicago this week. Audie sits down in with CNN’s Van Jones and Evan McMorris-Santoro of the nonprofit news site NOTUS (News of the United States) to talk about who’s taking the stage and changing the party.
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Audie talks with journalist Kara Swisher about the rise of Silicon Valley’s big donors and how Trump won some of them over. Plus, how Kamala Harris’ California roots have worked to her advantage with tech donors.
Kara is the author of “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.”
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CNN’s Elle Reeve did her best-known reporting during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when she followed neo-Nazis over a weekend of violent protests. Seven years later, her new book looks at how that movement — born in online communities of mostly white men — gave rise to extremist thinking that is now threaded through today’s political discourse.
Audie talks with Reeve about reporting on Nazis, the mainstreaming of their ideology, and why she started “Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics” with a story about a dead cat.
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How will Donald Trump and Republicans talk about Kamala Harris without walking into a buzzsaw of accusations and potential backlash over attacks on her race and gender? This week Audie talks with two people with some answers: Kevin Madden is a CNN Political Commentator and was a senior advisor to Mitt Romney on his presidential campaigns, and Doug Heye was the head of communications for the RNC and for the House Majority Leader.
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Every presidential campaign eventually finds ways to take advantage of the cultural moment. Vice President Harris’s current moment in the viral sun happened as soon as she became the frontrunner of the Democratic ticket. How and why did it happen? Audie talks with two observers: researcher Nina Jankowicz, who studied online gendered abuse and disinformation against women in political life. And Deja Foxx, who worked on Harris's 2019 campaign when she was just 19 years old, leading the digital team’s influencer and surrogate strategy.
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After three weeks of battling an intense debate from within his own party, President Joe Biden made a surprise announcement on Sunday, ending his re-election campaign. Shortly after, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. Audie talks with Phil Mattingly, CNN’s Chief Domestic Correspondent. He takes us inside Biden’s historic decision and tells us what to expect from here.
CNN: Inside Biden’s unprecedented exit from the presidential race
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Former President Donald Trump thrilled the Republican National Convention by entering the arena with a bandage on his right ear, evidence of the assassination attempt from two days prior. With fervor running high, Trump announced that his running mate would be bestselling author and Senator JD Vance from Ohio. Meredith McGraw covers the Trump campaign for POLITICO and she’s here to explain how this choice impacts the presidential race. Her book, out in August, is titled “Trump in Exile.”
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America was shaken on Saturday as former president Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It’s an event of historical significance that’s already re-shaping the presidential race. Kristen Holmes is here to explain how. She’s the CNN correspondent assigned to the Trump campaign, and Kristen and Audie met up on Monday at the CNN-POLITICO Grill on day one of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
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Deer Lawrd. This broke my brain. He has no ability to think constructively. He took the exact wrong lessons from his grandparents and aunties and uncles. There is no critical thinking here at all.
You have very exciting and unexpected topics. I have coins that have been sitting in jars for years. I am going to do my part, take them to the store coin machine and buy a lottery ticket from the proceeds. I will let you know when I win the big prize!
This was really fascinating and enlightening.
Informative and personal interview. To me, I could hear from all that it was a difficult, uncomfortable discussion. And how their thought process was working on how to answer straight forward questions without saying what was really to be said.
Don Lemon is the only bigger piece of shit than Juicy Smollett.
this was an amazing episode. The fact that the over hate, racism, and strain put on minority people so bad that they leave to live somewhere else and still lament the decision and miss family is sad. Those who tell people to leave if they don't like this country win when this happens and the fact that these people are the victims is sad. We are less strong when we lose so many strong people and talent.
we are asking if Donald Trump can produce a negative test but what no one is talking about is where is the positive test show me that you tested positive
I would love to know where is the first lady thought this pandemic if we are rounding the corner not only that where is Young trump don't know his name but he was infected to
To answer your question Mr. Lemon...yes your/our vote will create change in America.
We need Police reform, not defunding but new training and vetting officers with the right Psychological blue print to be a PEACE officer. Dallas Texas, Wolfe City, Texas...White Police officer charged with the murder of 31 year old Johnathan Price, personal trainer, and a Black man. Price was breaking up a fight between a couple at a gas station, Sheriff Shaun Lucas arrives and immediately confronts Price, tases him then fatally shoots him...big mistake!
I have been dealing with this issue for 55 years, the times have changed and progress (some); however, I have never seen so many white people engaged in a movement, BLM, for progress in those 55 years! Bless you all!
I love this podcast
Don, this is the best season finale. You had a powerful and rich conversation with Dr. Tatum. I hope you will be back soon.
Remember Anthony Huber! because race matters!
Great information.
Even as we think about today, looking at Baseball, Football, Basketball, Track, Golf, Tennis...etc. The dynamic of Slavery exists in the format of: Managers, HeadCoaches, Owners, predominated by white men/women. Black players, paid; and in some cases years back, free Labor!
As you get older, Baseball, Basketball, Football and many other sports take on a different "hue". As an African/Indian American male in my 60's, sports changes over decades or half centuries. What we thought was important at the time is not so important now! Race, the upcoming election, BLM movement, financial security threats from this administration with payroll tax cuts which will affect Social Security. If my check is being affected by partisan politics; I don't have time to watch football. Been dealing with Race since the '50s...we tried to separate in this country and when we did, we built (freed African Americans from slavery), 15 townships across America and they were burned to the ground and murdered our ancestors, by vigilante whites. One day in THIS country hopefully white folk will be willing to share the spoils of their victory in stealing this land called America.
I don't see the link to the survey that was referenced. Really enjoying the conversations though.
I will never understand why individuals on these Podcasts condemn Don Lemon for introducing dialogue to stimulate conversations and ideology...non of us know everything about all the issues before us. Let's stop the name calling and foul language and just communicate with each other. Thanks Don Lemon.
Wow...thank you the speaker from the Jewish community, I knew something happened after WWII, now I know, and I am a part of that history, my father was in the Navy in 1945 when the explosion in Port Chicago, California happened, we then moved to a city named Pittsburg, California and lived in an all Black community. Thank you Don and Kareem for the history lesson about Black folk and Jewish community and " The Brothers at Arms, the 716th".