Addressing America鈥檚 Political Amnesia
A found that nearly half of all independent voters in the United States and 15% of Republican voters want Donald Trump to suspend his campaign following his recent felony convictions in a hush-money case. Prior to the verdict, The New York Times studied a and found that most were leaning toward Trump.聽聽
There appears to be a political amnesia about the years 2016 to 2020, and the breakneck speed with which scandals, racist attacks, ethical violations, and outright lies streamed out of the White House on a daily basis鈥攏ot to mention how a violent mob, stoked on by the former president, almost succeeded in carrying out a coup on Jan. 6, 2021.
What role has our media played in enabling Trump? How is the information divide undermining U.S. political literacy? And what needs to happen between now and the election to shore up democracy? Tara McGowan, founder and publisher of the pro-democracy news network and a former political strategist helped answer those questions in a conversation with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali.
Sonali Kolhatkar
joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥 in her 2014聽聽of the same name.
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