Beth is joined by guest host Alex McCoy, a progressive organizer focused on holding Big Tech accountable, for a conversation about what breaks trust and how to rebuild it. They start with what the collapse of the Graham Platner campaign reveals about the progressive movement’s relationship with imperfect candidates, then turn to the accountability vacuum around AI — who’s making decisions about our jobs, our data, and our lives, and why almost nobody is calling their member of Congress about it.
Topics discussed:
- Graham Platner’s Senate campaign collapse and what it means for progressive candidate recruitment
- Trust, accountability, and the “the groups are the problem” debate in Democratic politics
- What voters actually want from elected officials
- AI’s growing role in hiring, firing, workplace surveillance, and government decisions
- The AI industry’s political spending and lobbying power
- How to actually get your member of Congress to pay attention to AI
- Alex McCoy’s immersive medieval battle reenactment hobby
Beth talked with Alex about the kind of in-person community his medieval weekends create — that’s exactly what’s waiting in Minneapolis on August 29. Grab tickets here.
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Pantsuit Politics is a podcast for real conversations that help us understand politics, democracy, and the news - while still treating each other like thoughtful human beings. We take a different approach to the news; our political analysis blends hard facts with important social and cultural undercurrents so you don’t miss the big picture. Over years of discussing everything from abortion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we established basic rules of engagement, which we describe in our books, Now What? How to Move Forward When We’re Divided (About Basically Everything) (2022) and I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation (2019). Listeners describe us as “America’s political therapists” and “our trusted, smarter friends who can help us make sense of the world.”
