Addressing America’s Political Amnesia
A found that nearly half of all independent voters in the United States and 15% of Republican voters want Donald Trump to suspend his campaign following his recent felony convictions in a hush-money case. Prior to the verdict, The New York Times studied a and found that most were leaning toward Trump.
There appears to be a political amnesia about the years 2016 to 2020, and the breakneck speed with which scandals, racist attacks, ethical violations, and outright lies streamed out of the White House on a daily basis—not to mention how a violent mob, stoked on by the former president, almost succeeded in carrying out a coup on Jan. 6, 2021.
What role has our media played in enabling Trump? How is the information divide undermining U.S. political literacy? And what needs to happen between now and the election to shore up democracy? Tara McGowan, founder and publisher of the pro-democracy news network and a former political strategist helped answer those questions in a conversation with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali.
Sonali Kolhatkar
joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Ƶ Institute’s Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (2023) and Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (2005). Her forthcoming book is called Talking About Abolition (Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women’s Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host” in her 2014 of the same name.
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