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 This week on the Al Franken Podcast, Chris Rock discusses key moments in his life, including the one where I saved his career.  Which is really more about Chris realizing that HE had to CREATE his career. Rock talks about his early influences, including his grandfather, a philandering preacher who killed a guy and spent time in prison. During Chris’s Wonder Years – he spent a lot of time with Grandpa, who in addition to being a murderer, a womanizer, and a preacher, drove taxi around Brooklyn – often with young Chris in tow. See, Grandpa wrote his sermons … Read More…

Sometimes I like to say that The Al Franken Podcast is just like The Daily, only without the resources of The New York Times. This episode I have the jump on The Times – because of my friendship with Jason Kander, former MO Sec. of State. Kander is an Afghanistan War vet who nearly pulled off a miracle in the 2016 race for MO Senate, losing by just 3 pts. (Thanks Comey!) In a state where Hillary lost by 18%, Jason ran an inspired, almost perfect race. (Jason’s the guy who did the pro-gun-control ad, assembling an AR-15 assault weapon … Read More…

 Old enough to remember record players? Then you’ll probably remember Bob Kerrey’s extraordinary service to our nation, which continues to this day. Medal of Honor recipient for valor in Vietnam. Don’t remember Vietnam? It’s a war we won in SE Asia. How’d he get his Medal of Honor? Oh, it’s one of those blah, blah, blah stories involving leading his team of Naval Seals up a sheer 350 ft. cliff, getting his lower leg blown off, but still leading his team while going in and out of consciousness, some brilliant military move, saving his men, and capturing Viet Cong … Read More…

This week The Al Franken Podcast reveals that there is corruption within the Trump Administration. You heard me – corruption! And lots of it! Veteran DC watchdog Melanie Sloan takes us through the shocking details. It seems that Trump, his family, and the lowlife grifters populating his administration are not just incompetent, they’re crooked too! Venal, lazy, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. Unless you’re a Trump, a Kushner, or a Trump administration official. Fascinating, disgusting, and kid friendly! It’s the Al Franken Podcast.

Austan Goolsbee, former Obama chief economist, explains that “in a crisis, the president’s credibility is all he has.” So, someday soon, The New York Times headline may read, “World in Crisis, Turns Its Eyes to Donald Trump.” And other scary stuff.

Why did the Senate work in the 60’s and 70’s, but can’t get anything done now (except ruin the federal judiciary for thirty-five years?) Because after the civil rights laws were passed, the asshole (read Southern) Democrats became Republicans and the good (Northeastern) Republicans became Democrats. Vice President Walter Mondale and I discuss this and a million other things on The Al Franken Podcast. Can a president order American companies to leave a another country? No. Is Trump the worst person ever to be President? Very likely. How long does it take to recover from a humiliating setback? Depends.

A wise man once said, “Trust, but verify.” That wise man was quoting Ronald Reagan. This week The Al Franken Podcast takes a dark but hilarious look at last week’s missile explosion in Russia. Nuke expert Joe Cirincione explains why it means we’re in a new nuclear arms race. See, what exploded was the nuclear ENGINE for a cruise missile designed to carry a nuclear payload. A nuclear engine doesn’t burn out so the cruise missile can just fly around until the Ruskys decide to hit your city! It’s just part of the nifty but EXPENSIVE new technology that’s going … Read More…

 The Founding Members of the Senate’s now defunct “Oh Ya! Caucus,” former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp and I discuss Heidi’s new organization, One Country. How do Democrats get more votes in rural America? Show up. Listen. Keep coming back. Listen to the podcast. Heidi lost her re-elect in a state that has turned solidly red over the past ten years. I won both of my races in a purplish-blue state by winning big in the Twin Cities and Duluth. But I did better all-around and in rural Minnesota in my second race (2014, a bad year for Dems) … Read More…

Andy Slavitt returns to discuss the health care proposals of the Democratic candidates for POTUS. Al and Andy agree that it’s important for every contender to lay out their plans to get to universal coverage, but exhort them not to squander the enormous advantage we have over Trump and Republicans on an issue of such importance to every American.

How awful do you think Mitch McConnell is? Well, he’s worse than that. This week on The Al Franken Podcast, Howard Fineman, winner of eleven journalism awards, (two of which were cufflinks*), tells us all about The Cynic. Fineman, who began his 46-year career at the Louisville Courier Journal, has been covering McConnell for decades and decades. Fineman’s McConnell relishes being a big prick. When coal miners with black lung disease travel from Kentucky to ask Congress to restore the tiny tax on each ton of coal that funds their treatment, McConnell gives them all of thirty seconds. Hell – the miners aren’t going to vote for him; the … Read More…

Former Sec. of Energy Ernest Moniz and I discuss putting pragmatic meat on the bones of the Green New Deal. We coin a new Kennedy-esque slogan, “We choose to go to zero-carbon not because it is easy, but because otherwise WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!” Moniz, who was the chairman of MIT’s physics department, negotiated the technical nuclear parts of the Iran Deal with his Iranian counterpart. Because Trump has repeatedly called the US negotiators of the Iran Nuclear Deal “very stupid people,” I try to determine throughout just how stupid Moniz is. Not very, it turns out. And I open … Read More…

This week, author and Atlantic Monthly staff writer, Franklin Foer joins me to discuss Big Tech. Are filter bubbles dividing us? Is Facebook deliberately keeping us angry and upset? Is everyone’s attention span dwindling? Is Google selling records of all your searches? Is the Big One coming? You know – the day everyone who’s ever watched pornography will be revealed to everyone else who’s ever watched pornography? Listen, starting today at 2pm. It’s addictive!