The Back Room with Andy Ostroy Radio Free Rhinecliff

Democrat Elissa Slotkin represents Michigan’s 7th Congressional District and serves on the Armed Services and Agriculture Committees. Following grad school after the September 11 attacks, she was recruited by the CIA to be a Middle East analyst, and within a year she was sent on the first of three tours in Iraq alongside the U.S. military. She’s held national security roles in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. For President Obama she helped negotiate some of the Pentagon’s most sensitive national security matters from the fight against ISIS to the U.S. response to Russian aggression. In 2018 she was elected to the House of Representatives, flipping a Trump district. She was reelected in 2020.

The Congresswoman and I discuss her August 6th Senate primary campaign and the recent “far left liberal lunatic” attack by Donald Trump; Marjorie Taylor Greene, her motion-to-vacate debacle and why Democrats helped rescue Speaker Mike Johnson; the November election and RFK Jr; the antisemitism crisis; and the anti-Israel protests on college campuses.

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Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Stephanie Grisham is the New York Times bestselling author of “I’ll Take Your Questions Now, What I Saw in the Trump White House.” During the Trump Administration she served as White House press secretary and director of communications for both the President and First Lady, Melania Trump. She is the only person in history who has held three senior roles at once, while representing both the east and west wings.

Steph's back in THE BACK ROOM to help unpack the first two weeks of Donald Trump's New York election-interference ('hush-money') trial...including his mental state; Melania, Junior and Ivanka's absence; and yes, the snoozing and farting! We also discuss Biden, the election, the impact of abortion, and who she'll be voting for. Don't miss this fun, insightful chat!

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Gershon Baskin is an Israeli writer, columnist, author and one of the most recognizable names in the Middle East Peace process. He is the Middle East Director of ICO…International Communities Organization and is the Director of the Holy Land Bond. Ad he is the co-founder and former co-director of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information. During the Premiership of the late Yitzhak Rabin, he served as a special advisor on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to a secret team of intelligence officers established by Mr. Rabin. In 2011, after five years of negotiation with Hamas, he successfully brokered the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

Gershon shares his thoughts on the pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel protests on college campuses across America, and offers his critical perspective on an extremely complicated, nuanced, volatile situation which predates and includes the barbaric October 7th attack, as well as the actions taken by Israel since. We discuss the hostage negotiations; the current ceasefire offer; the desperate need for peace; and the necessity of a two-state solution. Once again, Gershon provides honest, balanced historical context for this centuries-old conflict in the region

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Susan B. Glasser is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she writes a weekly column on life in Washington. She’s served as the top editor of several Washington publications, including Politico, where she founded the award-winning Politico Magazine, and Foreign Policy, which won three National Magazine Awards, among other honors, during her tenure as editor in chief. Before that, she worked for a decade at the Washington Post, where she was the editor of Outlook and national news. She also oversaw coverage of the impeachment of Bill Clinton, served as a reporter covering the intersection of money and politics, spent four years as the Post’s Moscow co-bureau chief, and covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She edited Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, early in her career. Her books include “Kremlin Rising,” “The Man Who Ran Washington,” and, most recently, “The Divider,” a best-selling history of Donald Trump in the White House, which she co-wrote with her husband, Peter Baker.

Susan and I discuss her terrific new column, "Is 2024 Doomed to Repeat 1968 or 2020—Or Both", how these elections are similar and differ, and how it all portends for November. It's a fascinating look into Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and the institutional failures in the political system that have resulted in the existential threat to American democracy.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Eric J. Segall is a constitutional law scholar, professor, and author of the books Originalism as Faith, and Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court is not a Court and its Justices are not Judges. His articles on constitutional law have appeared in, among others, the Harvard Law Review Forum, the Stanford Law Review On Line, the UCLA Law Review, the George Washington Law Review, the Washington University Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, the Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, and Constitutional Commentary among many others. His op-eds and essays have appeared in the New York Times, the LA Times, The Atlantic, SLATE, Vox, Salon, and the Daily Beast, among others and his television appearances include CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and France 24.

Join us for this compelling conversation about the Supreme Court, its controversial rulings, conflicts of interest, ethics transgressions, and whether Democrats should 'stack' the court; abortion, Roe v Wade, and Dobbs; Donald Trump and last week's SCOTUS immunity hearing; the 2nd Amendment; and more.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

It was a dizzying week in court for Donald Trump, from the Supreme Court's hearing on immunity to the New York election-interference ("hush-money") trial. Criminal defense attorney and MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos makes his first appearance in THE BACK ROOM to help unpack it all and more.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel