American Politics Audiobooks | Politics

The Oath and the Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents

Can the president launch a nuclear attack without congressional approval? Is it ever a crime to criticize the president? Can states legally resist a president's executive order? Corey Brettschneider takes us on a deep dive into the U.S. Constitution to answer questions that, in our tumultuous era, Americans are asking more than ever before. From the document itself and from history's pivotal court cases, we learn why certain powers were granted to the presidency, how the Bill of Rights limits those powers, and what "we the people" can do to influence the nation's highest public office-including, if need be, removing the person in it. Brettschneider breathes new life into the Constitution's articles and amendments, stressing its key principles and illustrating their relevance to all our lives today. The Oath and the Office empowers readers, voters, and future presidents to read and understand our nation's founding document.

Corey Brettschneider (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

Audiobook

Stop Mass Hysteria: America's Insanity from the Salem Witch Trials to the Trump Witch Hunt

In his new book, STOP MASS HYSTERIA, #1 NYT bestselling author Michael Savage calls out the mass hysteria mongers and their methods, and shows Americans that we must look to history to understand the present and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Since Donald Trump's historic ascendance to the presidency, American politics have reached a boiling point. Social and economic issues, even national security, have become loud, violent flashpoints for political rivals in the government, in the media and on the streets. This collective derangement has a name: mass hysteria. In his new book, STOP MASS HYSTERIA, #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Savage not only deconstructs the Left's unhinged response to traditional American values like borders, language, and culture, but takes the reader on an unprecedented journey through mass hysteria's long history in the United States. From Christopher Columbus to the Salem Witch trials to the so-called "Red Scares" of the 1930s and 40s and much more, Dr. Savage recounts the many times collective insanity has gripped the American public - often prompted by sinister politicians with ulterior motives. Dr. Savage provides vital context for the common elements of dozens of outbreaks of mass hysteria in the past, their causes, their short and long-term effects, and the tactics of the puppet masters who duped gullible masses into fearing threats both real and imagined. By shining a light on the true nature and causes of American mass hysteria in the past, Savage provides an insightful look into who and what is causing dangerous unrest in our lives - and why.

Michael Savage (Author), Barry Baer (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Empty Throne: America's Abdication of Global Leadership

American diplomacy is in shambles, but beneath the daily chaos is an erosion of the postwar order that is even more dangerous. America emerged from the catastrophe of World War II convinced that global engagement and leadership were essential to prevent another global conflict and further economic devastation. That choice was not inevitable, but its success proved monumental. It brought decades of great power peace, underpinned the rise in global prosperity, and defined what it meant to be an American in the eyes of the rest of the world for generations. It was an historic achievement. Now, America has abdicated this vital leadership role. The Empty Throne is an inside portrait of the greatest lurch in US foreign policy since the decision to retreat back into Fortress America after World War I. The whipsawing of US policy has upended all that America's postwar leadership created-strong security alliances, free and open markets, an unquestioned commitment to democracy and human rights. Impulsive, theatrical, ill-informed, backward-looking, bullying, and reckless are the qualities that the American president brings to the table, when he shows up at all. The world has had to absorb the spectacle of an America unmaking the world it made, and the consequences will be with us for years to come.

Ivo H. Daalder, James M. Lindsay (Author), Jamie Renell (Narrator)

Audiobook

Militant Normals: How Regular Americans Are Rebelling Against the Elite to Reclaim Our Democracy

THE MILITANT NORMALS, written by one of the conservative movement's wittiest commentators, is a no-holds-barred takedown of the preening elites who have all but made normalcy a crime in America. Donald Trump is only the beginning of a mighty disruption in American politics and culture, thanks to the rise of the militant Normals in America. They built this country, they make it run, and when called on, they fight for it. They are the heart and soul of the United States of America, They are the Normals, the regular Americans of all races, creeds, preferences, and both sexes who just want to raise their families and live their lives in peace. And they are getting angry... For decades they have seen their cherished beliefs and beloved traditions under attack. They have been told they are racist, sexist, and hateful, but it was all a lie. Their ability to provide for their families has been undermined by globalization with no consideration of the effects on Americans who did not go to Harvard, and who live in that vast forgotten space between New York and Santa Monica. A smug, condescending elite spanning both established parties has gripped the throat of the nation. Convinced of their own exquisite merit while refusing to be held accountable for their myriad failures, these elitists managed to suppress the first rumblings of discontent when they arose in the form of the Tea Party. But they were stunned when the Normals did not simply scurry back to their flyover homes. Instead, the Normals came out in force and elected Donald Trump. Now, as the ruling caste throws everything it can into the fight to depose Donald Trump and reestablish unchallenged control, the Normals face a choice. They can either surrender their country and their sovereignty, or they can become even more militant...

Kurt Schlichter (Author), Author, Kurt Schlichter, Tony Katz (Narrator)

Audiobook

An Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in An Age of Trumpian Disinformation and Thunderdome Polit

The author of the Washington Post’s hugely influential 'Plum Line' sounds the alarm on the subversion of our democracy by self-interested politicians, greedy plutocrats, foreign government hacking, racial prejudice, media propaganda and our own lack of vigilance, and what must be done to save it before it’s too late. The sophistication and ambition of those now eroding American democracy by gaming the rules in their favor is unprecedented, including computer-generated gerrymandering, unreasonable voter ID laws, limitations on voting hours, a lack of convenient polling places, and efforts to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters. This has been accompanied by foreign government intervention and an unprecedented level of political disinformation that threatens to undermine the very possibility of shared agreement on facts and poses profound new challenges to the media’s ability to inform the citizenry. Yet it would be wrong to think that the problem is that Republicans alone have learned how to work the system—our electoral process is undermining itself from within: its dysfunctional rules incentivize vicious partisan efforts to tilt the playing field, combining in a toxic escalation of polarization and a frightening corrosion of basic norms that threaten to totally eradicate fair play in politics. In An Uncivil War, Washington Post journalist Greg Sargent vividly lifts the curtain on the nightmare dynamic that is transforming American politics into little more than a naked power struggle. Yet An Uncivil War is not only a thorough dissection of an ultimately immoral system, but a handbook for turning that around by restoring authentic democracy. Given the incredibly high stakes in 2018 and 2020, Sargent’s book could not be more essential.

Greg Sargent (Author), Adam Verner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Presidents of War

From a preeminent presidential historian comes a groundbreaking and often surprising saga of America's wartime chief executives Ten years in the research and writing, Presidents of War is a fresh, magisterial, intimate look at a procession of American leaders as they took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. It brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any President, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths. From James Madison and the War of 1812 to recent times, we see them struggling with Congress, the courts, the press, their own advisors and antiwar protesters; seeking comfort from their spouses, families and friends; and dropping to their knees in prayer. We come to understand how these Presidents were able to withstand the pressures of war-both physically and emotionally-or were broken by them. Beschloss's interviews with surviving participants in the drama and his findings in original letters, diaries, once-classified national security documents, and other sources help him to tell this story in a way it has not been told before. Presidents of War combines the sense of being there with the overarching context of two centuries of American history. This important book shows how far we have traveled from the time of our Founders, who tried to constrain presidential power, to our modern day, when a single leader has the potential to launch nuclear weapons that can destroy much of the human race.

Michael Beschloss (Author), Fred Sanders (Narrator)

Audiobook

Impeachment: An American History

Four experts on the American presidency examine the three times impeachment has been invoked-against Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton-and explain what it means today. Impeachment is a double-edged sword. Though it was designed to check tyrants, Thomas Jefferson also called impeachment "the most formidable weapon for the purpose of a dominant faction that was ever contrived." On the one hand, it nullifies the will of voters, the basic foundation of all representative democracies. On the other, its absence from the Constitution would leave the country vulnerable to despotic leadership. It is rarely used, and with good reason. Only three times has a president's conduct led to such political disarray as to warrant his potential removal from office, transforming a political crisis into a constitutional one. None has yet succeeded. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 for failing to kowtow to congressional leaders-and, in a large sense, for failing to be Abraham Lincoln-yet survived his Senate trial. Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 after the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against him for lying, obstructing justice, and employing his executive power for personal and political gain. Bill Clinton had an affair with a White House intern, but in 1999 he faced trial in the Senate less for that prurient act than for lying under oath about it. In the first book to consider these three presidents alone-and the one thing they have in common-Jeffrey A. Engel, Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali, and Peter Baker explain that the basis and process of impeachment is more political than legal. The Constitution states that the president "shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors," leaving room for historical precedent and the temperament of the time to weigh heavily on each case. This book reveals the complicated motives behind each impeachment-never entirely limited to the question of a president's guilt-and the risks to all sides. Each case depended on factors beyond the president's behavior: his relationship with Congress, the polarization of the moment, and the power and resilience of the office itself. This is a realist view of impeachment that looks to history for clues about its potential use in the future.

Jeffrey A. Engel, Jon Meacham, Peter Baker, Timothy Naftali (Author), Fred Sanders (Narrator)

Audiobook

Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper

From a 2017 Pulitzer-winning newspaperman, an unsentimental ode to America's heartland as seen in small-town Iowa--a story of reinvention and resilience, environmental and economic struggle, and surprising diversity and hope. When The Storm Lake Times, a tiny Iowa twice-weekly, won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on big corporate agri-industry for poisoning the local rivers and lake, it was a coup on many counts: a strike for the well being of a rural community; a triumph for that endangered species, a family-run rural news weekly; and a salute to the special talents of a fierce and formidable native son, Art Cullen. In this candid and timely book, Cullen describes how the rural prairies have changed dramatically over his career, as seen from the vantage point of a farming and meatpacking town of 15,000 in Northwest Iowa. Politics, agriculture, the environment, and immigration are all themes in Storm Lake, a chronicle of a resilient newspaper, as much a survivor as its town. Storm Lake's people are the book's heart: the family that swam the Mekong River to find Storm Lake; the Latina with a baby who wonders if she'll be deported from the only home she has known; the farmer who watches markets in real time and tries to manage within a relentless agriculture supply chain that seeks efficiency for cheaper pork, prepared foods, and ethanol. Storm Lake may be a community in flux, occasionally in crisis (farming isn't for the faint hearted), but one that's not disappearing--in fact, its population is growing with immigrants from Laos, Mexico, and elsewhere. Thirty languages are now spoken there, and soccer is more popular than football. Iowa plays an outsize role in national politics. Iowa introduced Barack Obama and voted bigly for Donald Trump. Is the state leaning blue, red, or purple in the lead-up to 2020? Is it a bellwether for America? A nostalgic mirage from The Music Man, or a harbinger of America's future? Cullen's answer is complicated and honest--but with optimism and the stubbornness that is still the state's, and his, dominant quality.

Art Cullen (Author), Chris Henry Coffey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy

Donald Trump promised the American people a transformative change in economic policy after eight years of stagnation under Obama. But he didn't adopt a conventional left or right economic agenda. His is a new economic populism that combines some conventional Republican ideas-tax cuts, deregulation, more power to the states-with more traditional Democratic issues such as trade protectionism and infrastructure spending. It also mixes in important populist issues such as immigration reform, pressuring the Europeans to pay for more of their own defense, and keeping America first. In Trumponomics, conservative economists Stephen Moore and Arthur B. Laffer offer a well-informed defense of the president's approach to trade, taxes, employment, infrastructure, and other economic policies. Moore and Laffer worked as senior economic advisors to Donald Trump in 2016. They traveled with him, frequently met with his political and economic teams, worked on his speeches, and represented him as surrogates. They are currently members of the Trump Advisory Council and still meet with him regularly. In Trumponomics, they offer an insider's view on how Trump operates in public and behind closed doors, his priorities and passions, and his greatest attributes and liabilities. Trump is betting his presidency that he can create an economic revival in America's industrial heartland. Can he really bring jobs back to the rust belt? Can he cut taxes and bring the debt down? Above all, does he have the personal discipline, the vision, the right team, and the right strategy to pull off his ambitious economic goals? Moore and Laffer believe that he can pull it off and that Trumponomics will usher in a new era of prosperity for all Americans.

Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore (Author), Adam North (Narrator)

Audiobook

Them: Why We Hate Each Other--and How to Heal

This program is read by the author. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing American Adult, an intimate and urgent assessment of the existential crisis facing our nation. Something is wrong. We all know it. American life expectancy is declining for a third straight year. Birth rates are dropping. Nearly half of us think the other political party isn't just wrong; they're evil. We're the richest country in history, but we've never been more pessimistic. What's causing the despair? In Them, bestselling author and U.S. senator Ben Sasse argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, our crisis isn't really about politics. It's that we're so lonely we can't see straight-and it bubbles out as anger. Local communities are collapsing. Across the nation, little leagues are disappearing, Rotary clubs are dwindling, and in all likelihood, we don't know the neighbor two doors down. Work isn't what we'd hoped: less certainty, few lifelong coworkers, shallow purpose. Stable families and enduring friendships-life's fundamental pillars-are in statistical freefall. As traditional tribes of place evaporate, we rally against common enemies so we can feel part of a team. No institutions command widespread public trust, enabling foreign intelligence agencies to use technology to pick the scabs on our toxic divisions. We're in danger of half of us believing different facts than the other half, and the digital revolution throws gas on the fire. There's a path forward-but reversing our decline requires something radical: a rediscovery of real places and human-to-human relationships. Even as technology nudges us to become rootless, Sasse shows how only a recovery of rootedness can heal our lonely souls. America wants you to be happy, but more urgently, America needs you to love your neighbor and connect with your community. Fixing what's wrong with the country depends on it.

Ben Sasse (Author), Ben Sasse (Narrator)

Audiobook

Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump's Women

New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist, Nina Burleigh, explores Donald Trump's attitudes toward women by providing in-depth analysis and background on the women who have had the most profound influence on his life—the mother and grandmother who raised him, the wives who lived with him, and the daughter who is poised to inherit it all. Has any president in the history of the United States had a more fraught relationship with women than Donald Trump? He flagrantly cheated on all three of his wives, brushed off multiple accusations of sexual assault, publicly ogled his eldest daughter, bought the silence of a porn star and a Playmate, and proclaimed his now-infamous seduction technique: "grab 'em by the pussy." Golden Handcuffs is a comprehensive and provocative account of the women who have been closest to Trump—his German-immigrant grandmother, Elizabeth, the uncredited founder of the Trump Organization; his Scottish-immigrant mother, Mary, who acquired a taste for wealth as a maid in the Andrew Carnegie mansion; his wives—Ivana, Marla, and Melania (the first and third of whom are immigrants); and his eldest daughter, Ivanka, groomed to take over the Trump brand from a young age. Also examined are Trump's two older sisters, one of whom is a prominent federal judge; his often-overlooked younger daughter, Tiffany; his female employees; and those he calls "liars"—the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. Of these women, Burleigh writes, "where they come from and what they do now and in the future matters because they have or have had the ear of the most powerful man on earth."

Nina Burleigh (Author), Jayme Mattler (Narrator)

Audiobook

History of the Supreme Court

What would you like to know about the Supreme Court's evolution, its immense impact, and its crucial role in democracy? Now is your chance to explore the law of the land with an acclaimed expert on the United States Constitution and the Supreme Court. In 24 stimulating lectures, you will survey the history of the Supreme Court from its inception through the present day. Your discussion stays rooted in the historical-not the legal or political. In other words, you do not need a law or political science degree to understand how the nomination and confirmation process has changed, or how the justices have differed in their approaches to the Constitution, or why the Court's decisions matter now more than ever. Likewise, you do not need to put your guard up when discussing controversial decisions. Instead, you will study the evolution of the Court with an eye towards understanding how it has come to play such an important role in American life. As you know, much of American ideology and history appears mired in contradiction. The Supreme Court is no exception. Throughout the course, you will gain an appreciation for the American public's paradoxical attitudes toward the judiciary over the centuries. After examining landmark decisions and key players in the history of the Supreme Court, you will arrive at a fuller understanding of its role in both shaping and responding to larger developments across American society.

Tim Huebner (Author), Tim Huebner (Narrator)

Audiobook

American Politics Audiobooks in Politics