Life of the Party: American Politics in the Trump Era - Fault Lines

It’s been just over a year since Donald Trump shocked the world and won the US presidency. In that time, he’s managed to upend nearly every political convention, throwing both Washington and the country into chaos nearly every day. He’s also left both major political parties in tatters, with their identity blown to pieces. In their trade for power, the Republicans lost control of their party to Trump and the far-right of their base of voters. And the Democrats have yet to fully come to terms with how and why Hillary Clinton lost. In this episode of Fault Lines, we examine the loss of identity of both the GOP and Democrats and look at what their strategies for rebuilding mean for the country’s future.

America’s Missing Moderates: Could a Political Center Spring from the Republican Party?

Oprah Loses the Midas Touch. Has Oprah’s Dalliance with Politcs Cost Her Dear?
Photo of Oprah Winfrey courtesy of Google Images
THE INDEPENDENT: She is the embodiment of the American Dream, a Mississippi girl born into poverty who became the queen of US television. But now viewers are deserting her.

They call it the O-Factor: the power to make or break, to change lives, to sell millions of books, and to exercise a magnetic pull on the hearts, minds and wallets of middle America. For Oprah Winfrey, it is the intangible quality that brought her fame, made her fortune, and turned her into perhaps the most influential woman on the planet.

So it is with a slight sense of disbelief that some in the US have begun to wonder whether the magicO-Factor could be on the wane. How can a country that has embraced Oprah for so long, and turned her into a living embodiment of the American Dream, now explain a slow decline that has apparently begun to tarnish her glittering multimedia empire?

Look at the figures: this week, it emerged that average audiences for The Oprah Winfrey Show have fallen by nearly 7 per cent in 2008, its third straight year of decline. From a peak of nearly nine million in 2004, the afternoon chat show's viewing figures are hovering perilously close to the psychologically-crucial seven million mark.

Then there's the failure of Oprah's Big Give, a prime-time philanthropy show that was launched with huge fanfare before Christmas, only to mislay nearly a third of its audience during an eight-week run. A mooted second series, again on the mass-market channel ABC, has been abandoned.

Or what about the slow decline of O, the Oprah magazine? Its circulation has fallen more than 10 per cent in the past three years, to 2.4 million. At the Chicago headquarters of Harpo, Winfrey's global business (its name is Oprah, spelled backwards), they are now seeking a new editor-in-chief after the departure of the longstanding incumbent, Amy Gross.

Talk of terminal crisis may be premature but one thing's for sure: the universal adulation that turned Oprah into the most popular TV host in history is no more. At 54, her longstanding Midas touch is vanishing, fast. The End of the O-factor? Oprah Loses Her Crown >>> By Guy Adams

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Obama Breaks with Jeremiah Wright
NEW YORK TIMES: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Senator Barack Obama broke forcefully on Tuesday with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in an effort to curtail a drama of race, values, patriotism and betrayal that has enveloped his presidential candidacy at a critical juncture.

At a news conference here, Mr. Obama denounced remarks Mr. Wright made in a series of televised appearances over the last several days. In the appearances, Mr. Wright has suggested that the United States was attacked because it engaged in terrorism on other people and that the government was capable of having used the AIDS virus to commit genocide against minorities. His remarks also cast Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, in a positive light.

In tones sharply different from those Mr. Obama used on Monday, when he blamed the news media and his rivals for focusing on Mr. Wright, and far harsher than those he used in his speech on race in Philadelphia last month, Mr. Obama tried to cut all his ties to — and to discredit — Mr. Wright, the man who presided at Mr. Obama’s wedding and baptized his two daughters.

“His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church,” Mr. Obama said, his voice welling with anger. “They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs.” Obama’s Break With Ex-Pastor Sets Sharp Shift in Tone >>> By Jeff Zeleny and Adam Nagourney | April 30, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
Barack Obama Denounces Rev Jeremiah Wright: Barack Obama has made an impassioned denunciation of his controversial former pastor, calling remarks the Rev Jeremiah Wright made earlier this week “outrageous” and contradictory to “everything I have done in my life”. >>> By Alex Spillius in Washington | April 30, 2008

TIMESONLINE:
Pastor Goes on Attack to Give Barack Obama Fresh Headache >>> By Tom Baldwin and Tim Reid in Washington | April 29, 2008

THE GUARDIAN:
This Time with Anger >>> By Michael Tomasky | April 29, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Is Barack Hussein Obama Really a Risk America Can Take?

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback)