Make It Plain with Mark Thompson

Confederate Cindy is not just another clever Internet meme -- it's the nickname for Mike Espy's opponent; you might remember her for saying she'd attend a public hanging if invited. Mike Espy, the former Secretary of Agriculture and Representative of Mississippi's 2nd District, is now the Democratic nominee to take the Senate seat away from the Trump sycophant who considers the Confederacy to be the "best part of Mississippi's history." But in addition to opposing Cindy Hyde-Smith's blatant racism, Mike Espy has plans to nurse Mississippi back to health from coronavirus, where cases are currently spiking as the pandemic shines a spotlight on the state's already-broken healthcare system. He also wants to expand food stamps, get more money into school districts, and oh yeah, he believes in SCIENCE. Hear his plans for Mississippi's future and the stories that helped shape them in today's episode. DONATE: espyforsenate.com Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Bri

The mission of the Black Voters Matter Fund (BVMF) is to increase power in communities, and they know that starts with voters. Co-Founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright join Mark today to discuss mobilizing and organizing for 2020, what the priorities and targets are, and what we're up against in the more challenging southern races like Amy McGrath in Kentucky, Lucy McBath in Florida, Mike Espy in Mississippi, and Senator Doug Jones in Alabama. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Nabilah Islam ran for the Democratic nomination in Georgia’s 7th District and earned the endorsement of AOC’s Courage to Change PAC, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and Congressman Ro Khanna, to name a few. Despite her strong backing, she didn’t win her primary, but that did not stop her quest for justice. She’s just launched her own PAC called The Progressive List to ensure future candidates don’t fall to the same fate she did, and she’s on today's episode to tell us about it. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

With vivid details, Bernard Lafayette shares three of the seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement he shared with John Lewis. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Trump campaign and the RNC once had a massive fundraising advantage over Biden and the DNC--that was just three months ago. But now, that advantage is no more. Not only did BIden's fundraising close the gap, but the Trump campaign made some specific mistakes to boost his own efforts, but have now left Republican House members without a penny (and some, without a fighting chance to win re-election). Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos and Civiqs, joins the show to break down some of those foolish mistakes, and also touches on the topic of the canceled Republican Convention and where we stand with the Biden VP pick. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Majority Whip Clyburn met Congressman John Lewis back when they were just John and Jim, marking the beginning of 60 years of friendship and activism that eventually propelled them both to Capitol Hill. Whip Clyburn recalls the day they met in 1960, not surprisingly brought together while organizing for action, as well as "one of the most memorable weekends" of his entire life that happened with John at his side. Hear their stories and Clyburn's dedication of this election year to John in today's episode. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Teachers, parents, and kids all have the DESIRE to go back to school, but only one thing matters: is it SAFE? Randi Weingarten is the President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and her team has been working on a slew of back-to-school scenarios since April, and they have identified the three key things that need to happen BEFORE we can consider putting students, teachers, and administrators at risk. She outlines these important items and also gives us an update on what the Trump administration, and more specifically Betsy DeVos, has NOT done to prepare schools, budgets, or the people who rely on both. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

There are 99 days until Election Day, and as Mark states plainly, "this is it." The Democratic Party is set to assemble virtually to officially nominate Joe Biden, and Chairman Tom Perez joins Mark to discuss strategy and what the convention will look like in this unprecedented format. As for the election itself, the Chairman says there is "no overconfidence" on the democratic side, as he thinks we took too much for granted in 2016 and does not want to see a repeat. He also touches on our chances of winning the Senate majority, and how the troubling events in Portland are a preview of "Trump's America" taking full form. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Dr. Brittney Cooper is an Associate Professor of Women, Gender, and Africana studies at Rutgers University, as well as the author of two books, "Beyond Respectability" and "Eloquent Rage." She's recently brought attention to the term "necropolitics," but it's more than just a buzzword, and that's what she's on the show to discuss today. Did you know that one in every 1,450 Black people have died from COVID-19? Not just the ones that contracted COVID-19, but out of ALL Black people living in the United States. Dr. Cooper says that's necropolitics in action--a system designed to bring Black people to premature deaths. Hear her incredible insight on this topic and more, including the things that are giving her hope right now, thoughts on Biden's VP pick and if he can afford to NOT pick a black woman, and how she hopes we'll reorganize the way we live in a post-coronavirus world. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entert

If you've listened to #ThursdayKos before then you know that Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos and Civiqs, was once gung-ho for Elizabeth Warren getting on the Biden ticket. But now he's changed his mind, and there's a strategic reason for it. So, who should the VP pick be? He discusses that, the strategy behind it, and why the tactic that pushed Trump to success throughout his entire life is absolutely failing him now. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Eugene Jarecki is an award-winning director and filmmaker and he is also the creator of the Trump Death Clock. What's the Trump Death Clock, you ask? It's a real-time tally of the cost of human lives to coronavirus, aimed directly at Trump and his administration's reckless handling of the pandemic. Eugene believes that the American people need to demand more responsible leadership and this traveling clock draws direct attention to the consequences of Trump's inaction. In today's episode Eugene explains his initial motivation for the clock (hint: it's in Times Square in New York City), the history of presidential accountability, and what city the Trump Death Clock might end up in next. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Rev. Robert R.A. Turner describes being attacked by anti mask protesters last Wednesday during his weekly Repentance & Reparations Rally at Tulsa City Hall. The Pastor of Historic Vernon Chapel AME Church explains why he is demanding reparations for the Greenwood Massacre--the 1921 bombing of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Editor: Andrew Marshello Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

At the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee in 2006, Rev. Mark mic'd John Lewis, so he could describe what happened every step of the way on Bloody Sunday. From Brown Chapel, where the March 7, 1965 march began to the other side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, here is raw audio of John Lewis describing the 1965 March during the 2006 March. You will hear the voices of Martin Luther King, III and the SNCC Freedom Singers. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Editor: Ryan Woodhall Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Leshia Townsend, McDonald's worker AND agitator for a union at McD's, describes the company's war on its own workers and joins Allyn Umel of fightfor15.org to make the case for the Monday, July 20 Strike For Black Lives. j20strikeforblacklives.org Charisma Troiano of democracyforward.org reacts to Pompeo's July 16 speech, and updates on several lawsuits that have Trump hemmed up. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Rev. Jackson recounts the experience of his first act of civil disobedience as a part of the Greenville Eight at the Greenville, SC whites-only public library on July 16, 1960. Daily Kos Founder Markos Moulitstas talks Trump's dwindling numbers, Biden's ad buy in Texas, Sen. Doug Jones chances after Tuesday's primary and he urges Sen. Lisa Murkowski to leave the GOP. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Associate Producer: Ryan Woodhall Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What kind of power does your boss have over you? What does it mean, in this pandemic world, to think about the conditions under which we work? Are we even conscious of these conditions? This is what Mark explores today with Professor of Sociology and Author Erin Hatton. While researching her book, “Coerced: Work Under the Threat of Punishment,” Dr. Hatton interviewed four groups of people: prisoners, student athletes, welfare recipients, and graduate students. These groups are extremely different from one another, but they have a similar type of coercion, and that is what Dr. Hatton calls “status coercion,” where their bosses have punitive power over them if they refuse to comply with an order. And as our country is gripped by coronavirus, those people in power have even greater control over their workers, and it is becoming apparent just how many types of workers fall victim to status coercion. Is your boss coercing you? Listen to today’s episode and decide. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Britta

Eric Boehlert of pressrun.media is holding the press accountable every week as he scans the coverage of Trump and points directly to their lies--whether in the form of omissions or outright misinformation. “It’s a fantasy that the press wants to advance, that [Trump] is a rational person with our interests at heart, and if he can just focus, we’ll be okay. No. He’s not going to focus and he doesn’t want to help us, and that’s the bottom line,” says Eric, and he outlines the specific moments that show how the federal government is literally done helping the public with coronavirus. All the while, Trump is proudly displaying his racism, and yet the press hasn’t called it what it is: racism, white supremacy, and white nationalism. And why is it important that they DO call him out? Eric explains that in today’s episode. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advert

The veteran journalist and publisher of prorev.com on the importance of people with differences finding things in common to work together for real change--unity in diversity. He also believes that we must confront the strong and convert the weak. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Editor: Ryan Woodhall Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Tucker Carlson hasn’t explicitly said that he wants to run for president, but he’s also not denying it, or taking an opportunity to humiliate the reporter who asked about a 2024 run. So, is he really considering it? Angelo Carusone, President of MediaMatters.org, says Carlson is grasping for power as his show's advertising dollars dwindle to nothing, save for MyPillow (remember their CEO at the Trump rally?). Fox insists it doesn’t hurt their bottom line, but Angelo notes some changes in how the network has been promoting the show itself that indicates otherwise. Speaking of presidential runs, Angelo and Mark also get into the whole Kanye West discussion and how Fox is approaching it on-air (spoiler alert: it's a mess). Also covered in today's episode is what’s happening with advertisers over at Facebook, and Angelo clues us in on who is making the decisions and rules around what the platform will mark as false information (hint: he’s a buddy of Brett Kavanaugh). Executive Producer: Adell Coleman

On this week’s Thursday Kos, Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas talks with Mark about Trump’s recent losses including suburban white women and battleground states’ voters dissatisfied with his pandemic response. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy