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Podcast: Breaking down the 2024 election

Republican elephant and Democratic donkey
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In the latest episode of The Bully Pulpit podcast, Democrats, Republicans and the media come together for a lively discussion breaking down the 2024 primary contests, the general election, and the presidential campaigns as hosts Bob Shrum and Mike Murphy continue their work toward political solutions that overcome partisan divides.

Shrum, a Democratic strategist, and Murphy, a Republican consultant, are co-directors of the USC Center for the Political Future. For this episode, they spoke to:


  • Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian and the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities at Rice University. Jane Coaston: “The Argument” Podcast Host, The New York Times; Spring 2024 Fellow, USC Center for the Political Future.
  • Ron Galperin, former controller and CFO for the City of Los Angeles.
  • Tim Miller: political consultant, writer for The Bulwark and campaign director for Jeb Bush’s 2016 White House run.

Each of the guests is a spring 2024 fellow at Center for the Political Future.

Remember to check out The Democracy Group Podcast Fellowship, where passionate individuals, especially college and high school students, can learn to launch their podcasts. Apply at democracygroup.org/fellowship. The fellowship is sponsored by the Bridge Alliance, which operates The Fulcrum.

You can explore more featured podcasts here.

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The NFL Playoffs Are Prime Time for Digital Piracy

Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates during the first half of the AFC Divisional playoff game against the Houston Texans at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on January 18, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri.

(Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)

The NFL Playoffs Are Prime Time for Digital Piracy

The NFL playoffs are an exciting time for football fans to watch the chase for the Super Bowl. It was a uniquely American obsession that has increasingly captured the attention of live sports fans worldwide.

It’s also prime time for live sports piracy, and American lawmakers must enact measures to protect these live broadcasts.

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To help heal divides, we must cut “the media” some slack

Newspaper headline cuttings.

Getty Images / Sean Gladwell

To help heal divides, we must cut “the media” some slack

A few days ago, Donald Trump was inaugurated. In his second term, just as in his first, he’ll likely spark passionate disagreements about news media: what is “fake news” and what isn’t, which media sources should be trusted and which should be doubted.

We know we have a media distrust problem. Recently it hit an all-time low: the percentage of Americans with "not very much" trust in the media has risen from 27% in 2020 to 33% in 2024.

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King's Birmingham Jail Letter in Our Digital Times

Civil Rights Ldr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking into mike after being released fr. prison for leading boycott.

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King's Birmingham Jail Letter in Our Digital Times

Sixty-two years after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s pen touches paper in a Birmingham jail cell, I contemplate the walls that still divide us. Walls constructed in concrete to enclose Alabama jails, but in Silicon Valley, designed code, algorithms, and newsfeeds. King's legacy and prophetic words from that jail cell pierce our digital age with renewed urgency.

The words of that infamous letter burned with holy discontent – not just anger at injustice, but a more profound spiritual yearning for a beloved community. Witnessing our social fabric fray in digital spaces, I, too, feel that same holy discontent in my spirit. King wrote to white clergymen who called his methods "unwise and untimely." When I scroll through my social media feeds, I see modern versions of King's "white moderate" – those who prefer the absence of tension to the presence of truth. These are the people who click "like" on posts about racial harmony while scrolling past videos of police brutality. They share MLK quotes about dreams while sleeping through our contemporary nightmares.

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Trump Must Take Proactive Approach to AI and Jobs

Build a Software Development Team to Running Your Business Growth. Software Engineers on the project discuss a database design workflow and technical issues in a tech business office.

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Trump Must Take Proactive Approach to AI and Jobs


Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly disrupting America’s job market. Within the next decade, positions such as administrative assistants, cashiers, postal clerks, and data entry workers could be fully automated. Although the World Economic Forum expects a net increase of 78 million jobs, significant policy efforts will be required to support millions of displaced workers. The Trump administration should craft a comprehensive plan to tackle AI-driven job losses and ensure a fair transition for all.

As AI is expected to reshape nearly 40% of workers’ skills over the next five years, investing in workforce development is crucial. To be proactive, the administration should establish partnerships to provide subsidized retraining programs in high-demand fields like cybersecurity, healthcare, and renewable energy. Providing tax incentives for companies that implement in-house reskilling initiatives could further accelerate this transition.

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