The NPR Politics Podcast - Weekly Roundup: July 16th

Episode Date: July 16, 2021

Voting rights activists feel that they have done the work of energizing and organizing voters to care about the issue. Now, they want President Biden to step up the pressure on Congress from the bully pulpit. And Hunter Biden's art sales will be anonymous, which the White House is calling an ethics win. Good governance experts aren't buying it. This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, White House correspondent Tamara Keith, political correspondent Juana Summers, and senior political editor and correspondent Ron Elving.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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Hi, this is Kate from Simi Valley, California. I'm here with my Border Collie prize. This weekend, we're heading to the beach to do a televised dog agility competition. This podcast was recorded at... It is 1146 Eastern on Friday, July 16. Things may have changed by the time you hear it, but I'm still going to be having a blast with my best friend. Okay, here's the show. Hey there, it's the NPR politics podcast. I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the White House. I'm Tamara Keith. I also cover the White House. And I'm Juana Summers. I cover politics and racial justice.

So we talked about this earlier this week, and we're going to talk about it again. President Biden gave a speech this week that a lot of activists had been waiting for for weeks. On Tuesday in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center, he called the fight against restrictive voting laws the most significant test of democracy since the Civil War, and he called for congressional action. As soon as Congress passes the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, I will sign it and let the whole world see it.

That will be an important moment. And yet, there is no sign at all that at this point in time, with a filibuster still in place, that that law will get passed through work. And generally speaking, the reaction has been that there have been a couple of big things missing from the president's speech. All of these activists agree that President Biden made the stakes of the situation with the spate of restrictive voting laws across the country incredibly clear. What they say he didn't do is detail any sort of a legislative plan to move these bills forward. They point out that he actually never once even mentioned the filibuster, and they see that as a critical obstacle. They also didn't hear him describe any future plans for how he or the vice president plan to personally intervene to ensure that the right to vote is protected. One of the organizers

I spoke to was Ezra Levin, who is a co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible. It felt like the president fully understands the threats to our democracy, but seems to be leading the fight to everybody else. And he went on to kind of make some parallels to what we've seen past presidents do. He pointed out to me that, you know, we didn't hear the kind of speech that President Lyndon Baines Johnson gave ahead of the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He felt like the speech was unsatisfying because there was no action plan for these organizers who have been acting in various ways, whether it is putting pressure on public actions across the country or doing other types of organizing or rallying around the cause of protecting the right to vote.

They're hoping the president was going to step up more, and many of them feel like he just didn't do that this week. And Indivisible even protested outside the speech, right? Yeah, that's right. Their local chapters, as well as some other progressive groups, were out there. They wanted to see the president come to their side, and they say that they were frankly alarmed that filibuster reform was not a part of the conversation because they see that as bedrock to protecting the right to vote is making sure that federal legislation can be passed. Tam, Lyndon Johnson had more than 60 Democrats in the Senate in 1965. Joe Biden has 50 Democrats. Two of them aren't even Democrats.

They just caucus with the Democrats. They only have the majority because Vice President Harris can break ties. What is the White House saying about that reality? And what have they been saying about the filibuster this week? Of course, they're asked about the filibuster all the time, but this is a new level of pressure. And from activists, like a sense of desperation that if it doesn't go, these voting bills don't pass and it's a big problem. Yeah, I mean, the White House gets asked about this every single day. As you say, one of the times they were asked about it was the interview that Vice President Harris did with our own Asma Khalid, where Vice President Harris sort of implied that, yes, she is talking to senators about the filibuster. Jen Psaki, the press secretary, was then asked about that.

What does that mean? Are they talking about rolling back the filibuster? The answer was pretty clearly, no, that's not what's happening. The president and the vice president both have conversations with senators where the filibuster comes up, where they talk about how they feel about it. One thing that Psaki also said that that sort of registered and hit my ear a certain way was she said, you know, Joe Manchin, the senator from West Virginia who gets all the attention. Joe Manchin's not the only one here as if to say, hey, hey, hey, it's not like we just have to roll one senator to push this forward. So this seems to be a White House that is looking at political reality and and basically saying. They don't have a lot of options, they don't on this idea of the bully pulpit or of educating voters about how to vote, investing money in getting out and doing sort of the groundwork. But that gets back to the activists that Juana's been talking to. Well, Juana, I want to talk to you about that because, you know, there's an important undercurrent here. And, you know, on one hand, at face value, we need to organize more and we need to do more outreach, we need to educate voters more on face value makes sense. But, but explain,

explain why that message turns off so many of the activists you're talking to. Yeah, I've talked to a number of activists who say they describe it, frankly, and I'm paraphrasing here a little bit as sort of a slap in the face, because that is what they've been doing for weeks and weeks and months for months. And that is what they did that elected President Biden and Vice President Harris and gave Democrats control of the Senate and help them maintain control of the House. They feel like they've been doing all of this work. And you know, I was talking to Latasha Brown of Black Voters Matter earlier today, she is headed to the White House today, actually, for a meeting with Vice President Harris on voting rights. And she told me that she doesn't think this is an issue that Democrats can organize their way out of. While organizing work is really meaningful, that's not

the solution here, and that it is critical, given just how much of an assault that she and other activists see on the right to vote, that this actually be codified into law. And so she says the White House needs to take, you know, any tools at its disposal, whether that is the bully ball pit, whether it is reform of the filibuster, and to weigh in here, they believe that frankly, just the urgency of the rhetoric has not been met with the same urgency in terms of action. And Juana, just to be blunt, there's a racial dynamic here as well, right? This idea that many activists feel like the White House is saying, hey, Black activists, Black organizers, can you do the work for us, please?

Yeah, Scott, that came up in so many of my conversations, particularly as it relates to what we heard from President Biden, where he called for kind of this big, broad coalition of Americans to come together and to work on voter mobilization and voter education and to protect democracy, essentially. And many of the activists I talked to said this is another example of this persistent cycle in politics where Black activists do the work and are asked to do more and more and more. I talked with Stephanie Spaulding, who is a spokesperson for Just Democracy, and we got into that a lot in our conversation. We have full hope and faith in a functioning democracy. But when it comes to the reality of that playing out, the burden rests upon us as Black and brown voters, as Black and brown activists to actually

move the ball across the line. And she made it really clear to me that she believes that the coalition is there. It's waiting for Biden to step up and lead it. And if not, I really think that a lot of these activists are figuring out what this could mean for the future politically. We're not too far away from an election year, and there are already elections happening this year, in fact. And I guess, Tam, that's a good way to frame it because, you know, Joe Biden would not be president if it wasn't for this coalition, especially in states like Georgia and Wisconsin,

showing up and giving him those bare bones margins that he got in those swing states to give him the electoral votes he needed. A lot of these voters have been particularly targeted by the new laws in place and in places like Georgia. There's that bill in Texas that we talked about earlier this week. There are a lot of danger zones for the White House going forward and how they navigate this and not offending key allies and also getting something done that they all agree on that that is an existential problem for the Democratic Party. Well, and certainly voters in those states, those key states, especially Georgia, they were galvanized around voting rights about feeling like that Republicans in the state were coming for their right to vote or making it harder to vote. That activism around voting rights

helped build the coalitions that helped those Democratic senators win and helped President Biden become President Biden. And for this White House and for Democrats in Congress, they absolutely need these voters to stay energized, galvanized and fighting, even as there are these defeats that have come at the state level. And people don't just stay organized, galvanized and ready to vote. The activists that that one has been talking to are absolutely critical in in getting people to the polls. All right, Juana, we're gonna say goodbye to you. Tam, you're gonna stick around. Juana, have a good weekend. You too. We'll talk to you soon. We're gonna take a break. And when we come back, Ron Elving is joining us and we're going to talk about White House ethics,

specifically the fact that Hunter Biden is now selling a lot of artwork, what that means for the Biden administration. Investigations into police use of force and misconduct were secret in California until now. We've sifted through hours of interrogation tape to find out who does the system of police accountability really serve and who does it protect? Listen now to every episode of the new podcast on our watch from NPR and KQED. And we're back. Ron Elving's with us now. Hello, Ron. Good to be with you. It is always nice to talk to you. We're going to start with Tam, though you reported a story this week and it is about Hunter Biden and artwork that he is now selling and the fact that this creates a huge ethical problem for the White House.

What's going on? So Hunter Biden, who is notorious for the consulting work he did when his father was vice president, has thrown himself into art. And he is a painter making fine works of art that could be sold later this year. He's been working with a gallerist named George Burgess, who has a gallery in New York. The gallerist plans to put these paintings on display and try to sell them. They say that there's demand for them and that people want the paintings and that they will pay a very high price. This gallerist, who is not particularly well known in the art world, at least among people I've spoken to, says that the paintings could fetch between $75,000 and $500,000. That is a lot of money for a first-time artist.

Anything. It is a lot of money for a first time artist. What I've been told is that a first time artist with their very first gallery showing, if they were to list their paintings for $10,000 each, that would be ambitious. This is multitudes more than that. Ron, there's a lot of context and history to get into when it comes to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden and the ethical ramifications and the political ramifications of this. Absolutely. This is the last surviving member of Joe Biden's first family. His first wife and their daughter were killed in a car wreck. His two sons were injured in that wreck. Beau Biden, the older of those sons, died of cancer. Hunter is 51 years old now and has been a controversial figure for years because of his drug and alcohol dependencies and because his business associations have attracted attention from critics and from Republican operatives and from

particularly Rudy Giuliani, a name everyone knows. And he, because he had dealings in Ukraine, was kind of the target that led to the first impeachment of President Trump. He was then, of course, an issue in the 2020 election. So this is a name that is so much more associated with politics and the back and forth at the most partisan levels of our politics than he is with art, that it, I think, is going to, well, it's going to prompt some people to roll their eyes when they hear this whole story. So, Tam, what specifically is the White House doing, though, around these paintings? anonymous, keeping Hunter Biden in the dark, keeping the White House in the dark. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki described it at a recent briefing. All interactions regarding the selling of art and the setting of prices

will be handled by a professional gallerist adhering to the highest industry standards, and any offer out of the normal course would be rejected out of hand. And the gallerists will not share information about buyers or prospective buyers, including their identities with Hunter Biden or the administration. So basically, this George Burgess will hold all of the keys and will decide if an offer is reasonable. But what critics say is that this does nothing about the idea of the unseemliness of Hunter Biden essentially selling the Biden name along with the artwork. I mean, just to push back, though, isn't he an adult like. Yes. Who needs to make money? Absolutely. Whether or not his his paintings are valued in the right way, which it seems like there's a lot of skepticism about that? You know, I think to be fair, you have to say that he needs to make a living somehow.

And anything that he's going to do, whether as a lawyer or an artist or anything else he would do, he would do with his actual name. And therefore, you are going to have this opportunity for at least the appearance of somebody doing business with him in order to get access to his father or curry favor. That's just unavoidable. So the question becomes how you go about this. And I don't see how they think they can keep this anonymous. If somebody buys one of these paintings and wants people to know they have it, how are they going to keep them from doing so? Yeah, I will say that in this case, one suggestion that came from Walter Schaub, who was in the Office of Government Ethics in the Obama administration, was, no, Hunter Biden doesn't have to stop making a living. But he feels that this setup with really no transparency at all is really problematic and could be misused by a future president, he argues a better way to do it

would be to go for full transparency. You know, if somebody wants to spend $500,000 on a Hunter Biden painting, put their name out there and then we'll know if they come visit the White House or if their interests are being, you know, pushed forward by the by the Biden White House. I think this is a good point to just say this pretty clearly. We are coming out of an administration where President Trump never divested himself from his businesses. The Trump organization rolled on. His sons played a leading role in it.

We know for a fact that lots of dignitaries from other countries would make a point to book hotel rooms in Trump-owned hotels. And it was pretty clear that there was a direct attempt to curry favor that way. There are many, many, many more examples, Tam. You covered most of them. Yes.

So going from that to this, on one hand, you could say there's just no comparison. But, Tam, a lot of ethics reform folks have said coming out of the Trump administration, there needs to be a higher bar going forward. Absolutely. do the bare minimum, not just to do better than Trump, but to put in place an ethics regimen. And I'm talking about not just related to Hunter Biden, but up and down the administration to really go much further than they've gone. All right, we're going to take a quick break now. When we come back, it is time for Can't Let It Go. In the meantime, we are still looking for feedback on this podcast. What do you like?

What do you not like? What can you not let go about us? Go to npr.org slash podcast survey. It only takes a few minutes and it is a huge help. Thank you so much. We'll be right back. We are back and it's time to end the show like we do every Friday with Can't Let It Go, the part of the show where we talk about the things from the week that we cannot stop talking about,

politics or otherwise. I'll go first. There's a new Space Jam that came out today. This is kind of a remake of the classic to some. Apparently, some people didn't like it. I don't know who those people are because I loved this movie in the 90s. Space Jam starring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. The reviews for this new Space Jam are not kind.

And I will just read the LA Times headline. Review. Space Jam, a new legacy, strands LeBron James in a swirling CGI garbage tornado. Aw. Aw, that's harsh. But you know what? I don't care. Oh, that's harsh. But you know what? I don't care.

I'm watching it tonight. I am planning my day around Space Jam. I'm going to watch this CGI garbage tornado, and I'm probably going to love it, and I don't care what the reviewers say. Are you going to a real movie theater, or are you going to do it at home? No, I'm going to do it at home,

but I'm still going to watch it. I guess I'm the perfect age to have loved Space Jam when it first came out. And one reason, like, I got a new attachment to this movie, and I think I'm not the only one. It came on Netflix last year in March, right when the world was melting and horrifying. And I just found myself one night, like, turning on Space Jam, and I ended up sitting on the floor watching Space Jam. And it was just this very comforting thing in a moment of like what the hell is happening. So even if Space Jam A New Legacy is a CGI garbage

tornado, it's one that I will be spending it is also apparently two hours long I will be spending two hours of my life watching Space Jam tonight and I cannot wait. That seems like a big investment. I did not realize it was two hours. That was the one troubling sign from the review. I seems like a big investment. I did not realize it was two hours. That was the one troubling sign from the review.

I was like ready for it. I asked my husband if we should take this kids to see Space Jam, but he was just like, they're not vaccinated. And I think that was a nice way of saying, no, I don't want to see Space Jam. Vaccinated against what? Against the light of Looney Tunes teaming up in a zany, high-stakes game of basketball. What else do you want? What is the

problem with this? There's really no problem with it. It's just a question of how you like to take your basketball and whether or not you get the humor of that film. I'm with you, Scott. I think you should stick by your guns. Alright, so it's clear. I'll report back, Scott. I think you should stick by your guns. All right. So it's clear. I'll report back on how disappointed I am next week, I guess. But in the meantime, Ron, what can you not let go of?

Well, I'll stick with basketball. I think the NBA finals are wonderful. It's the first time in a while that a major sporting event has really felt like it did back before COVID, where everything seems right. You've got two great teams. They're from small markets. It's not the coasts against each other. It's Milwaukee against Phoenix. And so these are teams with genuine Hall of Fame, future Hall of Fame superstars. Chris Paul, of course, for the Suns.

Giannis Antetokounmpo for the Bucs. And they're great. Their supporting casts are great. The games have been great. We've had four. It's two to two. They're going back to Phoenix on Saturday. And this is just, it feels like sports are back.

Yeah. It's a great series in real life. Even though there are no Looney Tunes involved, I will concede it's very good basketball. Great basketball. The last thing I'll say, though, is the NBA bubble from last year is one of the few things that I already feel nostalgic for in the pandemic. It worked. Nobody got sick.

And it was just this quirky one-time thing that could never be repeated and also had good basketball. But yes, the normalcy is great. Salute to that as well. Tam, what can you let now let go of? So I was in the White House press briefing room earlier this week when none other than Olivia Rodrigo walked right into the briefing room. So I have a special guest with me today. Joining us in the briefing room is actress and multi-platinum recording singer-songwriter

Olivia Rodrigo, who traversed red lights and stopped times to see us. If you know her music, you'll get that dad jokes there. Yeah, definitely a dad joke. So Olivia Rodrigo is a Disney star, now has this album called Sour that is like really good and incredibly depressing because it's just sort of all about being betrayed by a guy, as far as I can tell. But great album. There was this whole outbreak of political reporters being like, who's Olivia Rodrigo? Oh, no, not really. I think some of them were earnestly being uncool. But she is

terrific. She, of course, came to the White House press briefing room as part of a visit to the White House where she made a video with Dr. Anthony Fauci. And she's 18 years old. She's trying to help the White House reach people who are part of a demographic they've had a hard time getting to with vaccines, which is people under the age of 26 who feel invincible. In this video, they read a bunch of tweets that were like nice tweets about them related to vaccines. Happy Man Crush Monday to this hero. Thank you, Dr. Fauci, for all your hard work.

We appreciate your intelligence, honest, brave, re-compassion. We love you. Well, that's very nice to say that. What do you know what Man Crush Monday means? No idea. Man Crush Monday is just like on Mondays, people like post a picture of their boyfriends and they'll be like, oh, Man Crush Monday, this is why I love you. So, big comment. All right. Well, whatever it takes. If Man Crush Monday makes you get vaccinated,

go for it. I don't know if Man Crush Monday, Dr. Fauci, is going to make people go get vaccinated. But, you know, she does have a big following on social media and among people under the age of 26. Do we think he knew who she was before he sat down with her? I personally, however, was a little disappointed because she did not stick around to take questions. I had several questions on stick around to take questions. I had several questions on my list to ask her. I raised my hand and no one, as she was like walking out of the room and everybody laughed at me like, you silly, silly girl.

There's no way she's going to talk to you. Hey, we're NPR. We've got questions. What were your questions? What were your questions? What were your questions? Oh, well, my questions were not about her writing process or any of that, but when she got vaccinated and what her thought process was like, whether she had any concerns initially with the vaccine. Like I had legitimate questions related to the topic she came to discuss. But alas, I do not have answers to those questions. All right. That that is it for us today. Our executive producer is Shirley Henry. Our editors are Mathani Maturne and Eric McDaniel. Our producers are Barton Girdwood,

Lexi Schapittle, and Elena Moore, thanks to Brandon Carter. And our intern is Mya Sel Spotted Elk. I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the White House. I'm Tamara Keith. I also cover the White House. And I'm Ron Elving, editor correspondent. Thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast and have a great weekend.