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Mark Halperin, former political director at ABC News and co-anchor of Showtime‘s The Circus, joins PBC for a lively exchange on the 2020 campaigns.Halperin’s new book is How to Beat Trump: America’s Top Political Strategists On What It Will Take ; he blogs occasionally here.
We open with discussion of the Las Vegas debate, with Mike Bloomberg on the stage for the first time, and facing withering attacks led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Halperin tags Sanders the winner, and we discuss the arrogant memo from the Bloomberg campaign that ordered Biden, Buttigieg and Klobuchar to get out of Mike’s way–due to the imminent threat posed by Sanders’ rise in the polls.
We disagree on a number of matters, including corporate influence on Democratic leaders, that Medicare for All would strip millions of their insurance coverage, and that if Sanders is the nominee, Democrats running for House and Senate will disavow their standard bearer on some key issues.
Near the end of our conversation, Halperin candidly addresses his experience as a target of #MeToo accusations. We talk about the fuzzy standards of offensive behavior, how Halperin has been unfairly lumped in with Weinstein and Cosby, and how restorative justice could help repair the damage from his past actions.