2453 - Trump’s McKinley Fixation; Free Mahmoud Khalil w/ David McWilliams, Lily Greenberg-Call

It's an EmMajority Report Thursday! Emma speaks with David McWilliams, Irish economist and writer, to discuss Trump's interest in the presidency of William McKinley. Then, she speaks with Lily Greenberg Call, former political appointee in the Biden administration, to discuss the recent developments in the detention of Mahmoud Khalil. First, Emma runs through updates on the Senate’s vote on cloture and the Continuing Resolution, Trump’s mass layoffs, the gutting of the DOE, Trump’s trade war with Europe, the falling stock market, Trump’s failed nomination for CDC director, Tim Walz’s political tour, the UN’s independent inquiry into Israel’s genocide, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Mayor of Miami’s crackdown on free speech, and the attack on the IRS, before expanding on the ongoing fight within the US Senate to block the GOP’s partisan Continuing Resolution which would effectively neuter Congress amid Trump’s reign, and watching Markwayne Mullin accidentally give away the game on Trump’s tariff war. David McWilliams then dives right into the historical context for Trump’s obsession with William McKinley – 25th President of the United States – highlighting how the election of McKinley in 1896 served as a major turning point in the evolution of the Gilded Age, as a culmination of a populist push against growing economic consolidation amid increasing culture war and a rapidly growing (and changing) working class with an influx of European immigration, and the very clear parallels with how Trump is handling the similarities in this moment, from his alignment with the monopolists and oligarchs of the time, to his obsession with small territorial acquisitions while pushing an isolaitonist economic agenda. After touching on the end to McKinley with his assassination in 1901 and the major role his Vice President Teddy Roosevelt would play in pushing back against the political takeover of robber barons and monopolists, putting a bit of a damper on potential parallels to the Big Tech-backed JD Vance, McWilliams walks Emma through McKinley’s expansive project to bolster the pockets of his wealthy donors, from cementing the shift to a gold standard (crypto reserve anyone?!) and bolstering rail monopoly at the expense of America’s farming majority, to the inception of lobbying with the backing of his 1896 campaign by notorious businessman Mark Hanna (Musk), who would rally the wealthy elite behind McKinley to change the facts on the ground. Having briefly expanded on McKinley’s imperial agenda, and the particular role it plays in creating an atmosphere of chaos to mask the kleptocracy at work, David looks to the extreme lengths Trump has taken McKinley tariff regime, applying them to quite literally every close ally the US has in such a drastic manner it offers little explanation outside of in-group speculation while the economy as a whole collapses. They wrap up the interview by touching on the role McKinleyism and the Gilded Age played in spurring the emergence of the US labor movement under FDR. Lily Greenberg-Call then joins as she and Emma parse through the abduction and detainment of Columbia University activist and Greencard holder/permanent US resident Mahmoud Khalil over his speech in support of a free Palestine, reflecting on the vast distance between the response Chuck Schumer gave – largely defending Israel and denouncing Khalil’s speech – and that of Chris Murphy – who cites the criminalization of speech that goes against Trump’s agenda in contrast with the happy embrace of explicitly Nazi speech. Next, they dissect the particularly disgusting way in which antisemitism has been abused over this fight, from the White House’s explicit references to judaism in their flaunting of this authoritarian overstep, to the fact that the statute they’re using to defend their action is grounded in the antisemitic McCarthyist movement, and the value of seeing Jewish Americans stand up and fight for Mahmoud Khalil’s rights, wrapping up the interview by emphasizing the need to keep that momentum going, showing up in the streets to fight for Khalil and any other victims of the Trump regime.

And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Brandon Sutton and Matt Binder as they unpack dweebs Tim Pool and Russell Brand’s fear of a real punk rock lifestyle (shoutout Against Me!), before talking to Rob from DC about calling our Senators. They also do some side-by-side comparisons of NYC candidates for Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo in their response to the abduction of New Yorker Mahmoud Khalil at the hands of the Trump administration, before listening to Tommy Tuberville explain why its fine to treat protesters this way, actually, and watching economists struggle with explaining Trump’s tariff agenda. They also reflect a little more on Against Me! and trans identity with Ramona Frankenstein, before Mimi from Colorado delivers a plea to save our federal land, plus, your calls and IMs!

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