Shows
The Great Purple State"A Better World Is Possible": An interview with Samantha Harrington, climate journalistIn a far-reaching interview with the redoubtable climate journalist Samantha Harrington of Yale Climate Connections, Conall and Emerson talk with Sam about how climate change is transforming Wisconsin and other parts of the country, how the climate crisis is being successfully fought by Native American communities, along with the Trump administration's latest threats to FEMA and how this threatens disaster response across the US. We cover all of that and more in this hopeful, edifying interview with someone who is an expert in her field.Sam's author page at Yale Climate Connections: https://yaleclimateconnections.org/author/sam/
2025-07-031h 06The Great Purple StateWisconsin’s message to the world: Don’t give up the shipConall and Emerson discuss the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election that saw Susan Crawford defeat Elon Musk’s millions in a landslide, alongside other recent events here and in America. We speak about hope, resistance, and the importance of not listening to those who would tell us that what we do doesn’t matter.
2025-05-0544 minThe Great Purple StateAn interview with Christian Phelps, Wisconsin state representativeIn The Great Purple State's first-ever interview, Conall and Emerson speak with Christian Phelps, a Wisconsin state representative for Assembly District 93 (Eau Claire and the rural areas around it). We cover a wide array of topics, from the Trump administration's illegal funding freeze's impact on farmers in western Wisconsin, our upcoming state Supreme Court race and Elon Musk's attempt to buy it, to the importance of education funding and public schools for all communities, regardless of their political lean. Vote for Susan Crawford and Jill Underly on or before Tuesday, April 1st!
2025-02-2445 minThe Great Purple StatePresident Musk, and the calm before the stormIn this pre-inauguration episode, Conall and Emerson discuss the presidential transition, Elon Musk's attempt to buy the American government, and how to stay calm and collected in a time of political crisis.
2025-01-1858 minThe Great Purple StateThe ReturnDonald Trump has won the 2024 presidential election. He is set to return to Washington more empowered and vengeful than ever. Conall and Emerson give their election retrospectives and more in the Great Purple State's return episode in order to answer that vexing question: "what now?"
2024-11-1450 minThe Great Purple StateOf politics and purple states: Is Wisconsin a future red state?In this brief episode, Conall and Emerson discuss broader political trends in the state of Wisconsin and ask ourselves what the future holds for our podcast's titular state. Op-ed Conall cites about rural American political trends: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/opinion/rural-voters-republican-realignment.html
2023-08-0228 minThe Great Purple StateOne (state supreme court) election to rule them all: Wisconsin's Supreme Court election battleIn this episode, Conall and Emerson discuss the upcoming high stakes supreme court election that will determine the fate of things like Wisconsin's abortion ban, voting rights, and fair maps in the state. We explain our endorsement of Janet Protasiewicz and encourage others to vote for her!
2023-03-2719 minThe Great Purple StateDamn Derrick, Back At It Again: Assault on the Capitol (FINALE)In this final episode of our episode on Derrick Van Orden, the Republican congressional candidate for Wisconsin's Third District , Conall and Emerson make our case for why he represents a threat to Wisconsin's democracy. From his embrace of Trump's election lies to his attendance at the January 6th rally, these render him unfit to serve the people of Wisconsin's Third. We also analyze the state of Wisconsin's democracy and how other Republicans like Tim Michels and Ron Johnson also represent a threat to it - and why it's important for us to vote on November 8th to u...
2022-11-0634 minThe Great Purple State"Damn Derrick, Back At It Again": The Gay Bunny Book Cometh (Part 2)In this episode, Emerson and Conall dive into the culture wars the right has been waging against LGBTQ content, and how Derrick Van Orden's harassment of a teenage library page in Prairie du Chien proves his unfitness for office. We also discuss the extensive issues facing a district like WI-03, including agricultural monopolies, soil depletion, underfunding for rural hospitals, lack of access to healthcare and population loss - and why the Wisconsin GOP's policies have made these problems worse.We hope you enjoy the masterful intro by Emerson. And yes, we soon learned after we made this...
2022-10-2939 minThe Great Purple State"Damn Derrick, Back At It Again": Dispatches from Wisconsin's Most Heated House Race (Part 1)In this first episode of a mini-series on Wisconsin's 3rd House district, Conall and Emerson dive into the political dynamics of Wisconsin's 3rd district, a mostly rural district in western and central Wisconsin, and how the political winds in the district have shifted as of late.We also spend time recapping some highlights from Derrick Van Orden, the 2020 Republican candidate for the district running again in 2022, for all to know within Wisconsin and without it. Including his attendance at the January 6th conspiracy theorist rally that led to an attack on the Capitol! We will be letting...
2022-09-1519 minThe Great Purple StateOptimism of the Will: Thoughts on Persisting in Times of StruggleIn this emergency pod, Conall and Emerson discuss recent negative events in the world - such as the highly likely overturning of Roe v Wade, the Russian attack on Ukraine, or recent shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York. We discuss peoples' feelings of hopelessness and helplessness in times like these, and how we can work through these feelings while also orienting ourselves toward action for a better future. We also look back at the Sandy Hook shooting and what did - and didn't - change after it. Persistence is difficult in these circumstances, but both n...
2022-06-0653 minThe Great Purple StateBattle for the Badger State 2020: Darkness in Kenosha (Part 3)Conall's note: The reverend I quote from at the end of the podcast about trauma is Roy Peeples, pastor of Turning Point Life Church. In this 3rd installment of a 4 part series about the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin, Conall and Emerson dive into the tumult experienced by Kenosha after Jacob Blake was shot by a Kenosha police officer. Centering the accounts of those most impacted, we discuss the broader political fallout from the the killings of 2 protesters by an armed vigilante and the rioting that roiled the city for several days. Among other things, we analyze w...
2021-11-1827 minThe Great Purple StateBattle for the Badger State 2020: Summer of Rage (Part 2)In this second part of a 4 part mini series on the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin, we discuss the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and how that rippled through the country - and how it changed the presidential race. And how Wisconsin - a state with stark racial disparities between Black and white residents - would soon be forced to once again confront racism in its own backyard in Kenosha, all amid the backdrop of racist rhetoric and incitement by President Trump.
2021-10-2146 minThe Great Purple StateBattle for the Badger State 2020: Harsh Realities (Part 1)In this first episode of a 4 part series, Emerson and Conall recount the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin. Remembering our experiences on that fateful election night back in November, we segue into a broader discussion of the dynamics of the election as they played out in Wisconsin (hopefully you like the general silliness in Emerson's masterful introduction). We go over the contentious 2020 Democratic primary leading up to Wisconsin's Democratic primary and the anxieties felt by many opponents of Trump over winning back the Midwest, including the pivotal tipping point state of Wisconsin - and with it the path b...
2021-07-121h 04The Great Purple StateDonald Trump's Neofascist InsurrectionIn this episode, we discuss the insurrection and attempted coup at Capitol Hill by neofascist Trump supporters witnessed on January 6, 2021. It's a date which will live in infamy, but it was not at all unforeseeable - we discuss why antifascist warnings of this type of thing were not taken seriously and what sort of consequences there needs to be for Trump and his enablers in the GOP. Factual correction: If the President is convicted in the Senate, he is not barred from holding public office ever again - the Senate would need to pass a separate resolution f...
2021-01-1137 minThe Great Purple StateWhere Are We Now: Silent Majorities, Loud Departures, And Floated Coups (Part 2)In this episode, Conall and Emerson conclude (for now) their discussion of the 2020 presidential election and the lasting damage that President Trump has done to constitutional government in the United States by lying about the election's integrity. We also examine the broader role that the Republican Party has played in facilitating these conspiracy theories, and discuss more generally the importance in a democracy of losing parties seeing their losses as fundamentally fair and legitimate. We end the episode on a more hopeful note, reaffirming that the anti-Trump forces in this country are formidable when organized, and that t...
2020-12-1252 minThe Great Purple StateWhere Are We Now: Silent Majorities, Loud Departures, And Floated Coups (Part 1)In this episode, Conall and Emerson discuss the recent 2020 presidential election and the fallout from it. We discuss why former Vice President Biden was able to defeat incumbent President Trump and why Trump has been lying about the election's integrity and launching scores of groundless lawsuits instead of accepting his electoral loss and conceding. We also discuss the greater implications of this for the long term health and integrity for any sort of democratic government in America going forward. Sources cited and other useful sources: 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decision, conservative judge categorically rejecting Trump cam...
2020-12-061h 09The Great Purple StateWhy Bernie Sanders is the Best ChoiceIn this episode (originally meant to be a shorter blurb, ended up being more of a standard podcast), we make the case as to why Bernie Sanders is a better choice than Joe Biden to not only defeat Donald Trump, but address the structural issues in American society that helped him rise to power. From healthcare to climate, we make the case as to why Bernie best fits the precarious moment we find ourselves in.
2020-03-0653 minThe Great Purple State"OK, Bloomberg" - Why Bloomberg is BadIn this blurb (a shorter podcast on a topic of interest), Conall and Emerson discuss the presidential candidacy of mega billionaire and former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg. We explain how we think he's trying to buy an election by saturating the airwaves and internet with hundreds of millions in ad buys, alongside doing things like *literally* paying social media influencers to post pro-Bloomberg content. We also note many of his policy positions like his support of the racial profiling of stop-and-frisk while he was Mayor of NYC, along with his opposition to a minimum wage increase and h...
2020-02-2544 minThe Great Purple State"A Scene from a Zombie Apocalypse Movie": CBP and the Border (Part 2)In this second episode to a two part mini series, Conall and Emerson discuss the role played by Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol in enforcing President Trump's immigration policies, and the squalid conditions in the CBP detention centers at the border that made such large headlines back in the summer. Among other things, we explore why conditions had deteriorated to such an extent at these facilities, and whether or not the phrase "concentration camp" can be said to apply. We use extensive accounts of Border Patrol agents and the Department of Homeland Security itself to corroborate...
2020-02-081h 12The Great Purple StateWar Powers... Who Has 'Em?In the Great Purple State's first ever blurb - a shorter and punchier podcast on a topic of interest - Conall and Emerson discuss the power to wage and declare war and how this power is divided between Congress and the President. We analyze some notable moments in the history of the struggle for war power between the legislature and the executive, such as President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the War Powers Act of 1973. We also examine the prospect of war between the US and Iran in the aftermath of Qasem Soliemani's assassination, and the serious life...
2020-01-1644 minThe Great Purple StateICE Ain't Nice: Trump's Immigration Policies (Part 1)(Note: At one point Conall refers to CBP as Customs and Border Patrol. I misspoke - it's Customs and Border Protection, of which Border Patrol is a subagency)In this episode, Conall and Emerson analyze the Trump administration's embrace of hard line, xenophobic immigration policies and the controversial agency (ICE) tasked with enforcing many of them. We also note the intellectual architect of these policies, Stephen Miller, and the role he's played in pushing for all of Trump's signature immigration policies, including family separation. This is the first episode in a two part series discussing T...
2019-12-0953 minThe Great Purple StateCan He Win Again? (yes)In this episode, Conall and Emerson do a deep dive into Trump’s 2020 re-election bid, while also analyzing the state of the 2020 Democratic primary. Conall explains the electoral strategy of Trump's 2020 campaign, and we also discuss the shifting demographics that we so often hear of - and what their political implications are. We emphasize that because of that wonderfully undemocratic institution known as the Electoral College, the election will center on 6 states in particular - Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and of course... Wisconsin. Conall also articulates his view that anti-Trump sentiment is an underrated force, whi...
2019-11-111h 10The Great Purple StateLies, Damned Lies, and the Electoral College(Factual correction from Conall: I misspoke and said the census is taken every year. I meant to say every decade!) In this episode, Emerson and Conall discuss the history and function of that much-discussed institution, the Electoral College. We analyze why it was adopted as a compromise measure by the Constitutional Convention of 1787 (and how the most important author of the Constitution, James Madison, favored a popular vote for electing the president). We also note that the Electoral College does not, in fact, protect small states and that it incentivizes presidential campaigns to narrowly focus on...
2019-09-2358 minThe Great Purple StateThe Shoah: The Nazi Genocide of the Jews (Part 3)CORRECTION: Conall misspeaks and says the Nazi T4 program targeting disabled people ended in 1949. He meant to say 1941. However, the program did continue in less centralized fashion until the end of the war until 1945.In this final episode of a 3 part series on the history of concentration camps and the Holocaust (also known as the Shoah in Hebrew, meaning “catastrophe”), Conall and Emerson analyze why the Nazis adopted a policy of total genocide against Europe’s Jews. From the cruel methods used to the conference that led to the finalization of the Holocaust, we explore why the Holocau...
2019-09-011h 17The Great Purple StateNight and Fog: The Early Years of Hitler's Camps (Part 2)Conall and Emerson break down the initial years of the Nazi camp system. We discuss at length the political trajectory and worldview of Adolf Hitler, the first 8 or so years of Hitler being in power, and how the Nazi regime he oversaw expanded the usage and purposes of the concentration camp system as the years passed. We also analyze how the agenda of the Nazi state morphed from persecuting the Jews to outright murdering them, especially with the outbreak of the Second World War. Another important thing we look at is the POW camp system ran by t...
2019-08-131h 04The Great Purple StateLong Night’s Beginning: The History of Concentration Camps (Part 1)In the first episode of a two part series on concentration camps, Emerson and Conall discuss the history of concentration camps from their origins in Spanish-ruled Cuba during the 1890s to their adaptation by various European states over the next several decades, including the British in the Boer War (1899-1902) and the Ottoman Empire in the Armenian Genocide of 1915. We emphasize that concentration camps can take many forms and that they were used for various purposes in their early history. We also briefly analyze the historical legacy of Nazi Germany’s camp system and how it has influenced the pu...
2019-07-2948 minThe Great Purple StateBalancing on a Knife's Edge - Wisconsin in 2020In this episode, Emerson and Conall discuss the decisive role Wisconsin will play in the 2020 presidential election, along with Wisconsin's storied political history, both recent and not so recent. In particular, we discuss the electoral and political legacy of former governor Scott Walker, and we dive into the numbers behind why Wisconsin is likely to be the tipping point state in 2020. We have a special guest outro as well! FACTUAL CORRECTIONS: Doug La Follette is not Robert La Follette’s great great great grandson, but rather a great grandfather of his was Robert’s uncle. The...
2019-07-2257 minThe Great Purple StateA Threat from Within: White Nationalism and the Alt RightCONTENT NOTE: discussions of racist language and ideas, extremist violence In this episode, Conall and Emerson discuss the upsurge of white nationalist - that is, white supremacist - extremism and how the alt right uses memes and “irony” to spread their message and radicalize people. In addition, we discuss white nationalism in the context of American history to see where it falls (hint: it’s well within the historical norms of the US). Recent events of extremist violence such as the attacks on Charlottesville and Christchurch are analyzed as well. Finally, we talk about ways to counter the alt...
2019-07-161h 07The Great Purple StateThe Ongoing Struggle for Trans RightsConall and Emerson discuss the issues that trans people encounter as a result of the abuse and discrimination they face, at both individual and institutional levels. We also talk about the political reasons as to why the Republican Party and the Trump administration have been attacking trans people so aggressively. Finally, we emphasize actions that can be taken to support the trans people in your life and the trans community at large. NOTE FROM CONALL: There were many things we didn’t touch upon in the video - we primarily focused on trans women and the oppression the...
2019-07-0857 minThe Great Purple StateWar and Peace: The Iran Nuclear Deal and US-Iran RelationsConall and Emerson dive into the relationship (or lack thereof) between Iran and the United States and its tense history. We explore why the Obama admin ultimately decided to seek a nuclear arms control agreement with Iran, and why this was so controversial. Finally, we explore the future of the agreement in light of recent hostilities between Iran and the US and President Trump’s withdrawal from the accord in May of 2018. We also discuss the possibility of war with Iran. Note from Conall: I was very tired when this was recorded, so we hope you will for...
2019-07-011h 09The Great Purple StateThe Sun Will Rise (Finale) - The 2016 Presidential Election (Part 3)Conall and Emerson FINALLY wrap up the 2016 Presidential Election... like.... FINALLY. We discuss how Trump was able to defeat Hillary Clinton in an upset. Although we also observe that the polling in 2016 was not nearly as off as the media portrayed it and that Trump had a significant chance of winning the election. **Guest appearance from "Bernie Sanders"**Minor fact check: Brazil and Argentina were not signatories of the TPP.
2019-06-251h 23The Great Purple StateInsurgency On the Left Flank - The 2016 Presidential Election (Part 2)Conall and Emerson discuss the 2016 Democratic primary between Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. We cover the rifts that were developing within the Democratic Party that allowed Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, to mount such a strong challenge to establishment favorite Hillary Clinton. We also explore the growing anger in the American electorate in 2015 going into 2016 and the populist mood that was taking hold on both the right and the left. We hope you enjoy the moderately cringeworthy introduction (and VERY special outro). This is part 2 of a very fun series on...
2019-06-1754 minThe Great Purple StateThe Outsider - The 2016 Presidential Election (Part 1)Conall and Emerson discuss the 2016 Republican primary and the forces and rifts within America that allowed outsider Donald Trump to seize the Republican nomination for president. We explore his history around things like race and racism, including his promotion of the birther conspiracy theory about Obama's citizenship and his aggressive stance against the Central Park Five. We also explore the rise of movements like Black Lives Matter and how that fed a cultural rift which Trump capitalized on. Special easter egg at the very end that we're sure you'll love ;) This is the first part of a three...
2019-06-0856 minThe Great Purple StateGerrymanderingConall and Emerson discuss gerrymandering - the history, what it is, what it looks like, the first "gerrymanderer," modern-day gerrymandering, and potential solutions. Emerson forgets the name of the Three-Fifths Compromise and Conall says a salty goodbye.
2019-05-2848 minThe Great Purple StateVoting Rights Act of 1965Conall and Emerson dive into the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the history that led to its creation, as well as modern-day implications. Not using the best mic. Some background noise. And our friend Cvikota drops in. FACTUAL CORRECTION: Lynching is STILL not, as of writing this correction in 2020, a federal hate crime. The bills mentioned in the podcast to make it so have gotten stalled in Congress - in particular by Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Ain't that some shit?
2019-05-251h 16