This week on Here’s What We Know, we have a groundbreaking conversation with two esteemed guests, Hunter Walker, an investigative journalist and former White House correspondent, and Luppe B. Luppen, a lawyer and a prominent social media presence and writer. Together they discuss their book, The Truce: Progressive, Centrist, and the Future of the Democratic Party, offering listeners an insider’s account of political dynamics within the Democratic Party.
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In this Episode:
- Access to Insider Stories
- The Relationship Between Barrack Obama and Joe Biden
- Obama’s Role in the 2020 Election
- The Standard Bearer of the Democratic Party
- Kamala Harris & Missteps
- Likability and Sexism in Politics
- Attacks and Double Standards in Politics
- Tension Over US Support for Israel’s Campaign in Gaza
- Fractures with the Progressive and Centrist Coalition
- The Importance of Key Voters Groups of Biden
- The High School Drama of Politics
- Writing a Book Together
- Unvarnished Understanding of Political Players
- Election Insights
- The Goal for Biden and Trump: Just Win, Baby
Quotations:
“Democrats recognize these questions. They know that the central thing we confront in The Truce, which is who’s going to lead this party after Biden and how are they going to do it, is in dispute. And they are, I think, eager to litigate that conversation.” ~ Hunter Walker
“One of the most interesting conversations we were able to report in the book was that late in the wee hours after Trump’s election, at 1:30 in the morning, Biden was in the Naval Observatory, the vice president’s residence, and he called the White House and we spoke to people in the room who heard him say to Obama, we told you, boss, people just don’t like her right, and referring to Hillary Clinton. And essentially, Biden was participating in what may be history’s greatest I-told-you-so moment with his former boss. So Obama was clearly haunted by that.” ~ Hunter Walker
“I think that of Obama fundamentally as a pragmatist, as much as he has the real ability to inspire his audience to tap into those sort of loftier rhetorical notes of idealism as a politician and as someone who is an operator within democratic politics, I think he is very pragmatic and calculating.” ~ Luppe B. Luppen
“Democrats have won the popular vote, right? If you look at issue after issue, whether it be abortion, gun control, public education, or health care, the values of the public are progressive. And that becomes more and more true as Generation Z takes the stage and as the country becomes more diverse. And yet our electoral result doesn’t always go that way. Right? And so that’s one of the questions we confront in this book.” ~ Hunter Walker
“The salience of this compromise that was forged with progressives is that you do not see a progressive challenger in this Democratic presidential primary where Joe Biden is weakened, where there is a foreign policy crisis that is almost designed to put strains on the coalition he built and make progressives feel like they need another option.” ~ Luppe B. Luppen
“I tend to think that as a woman of color going into politics, you have to know how much better you’re going to have to be and how much more intense the opposition that you’re going to have to face is.” ~ Hunter Walker
“Unfortunately, in the world we live in, it’s impossible to pull apart questions of likability and political promise from sexism and racial attitudes.” ~ Luppe B. Luppen
Bio:
Luppe B. Luppen is a lawyer and a writer in New York City. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he graduated from Stanford University (2005) and Washington & Lee School of Law (2008).
Hunter Walker is an investigative reporter and author based in Brooklyn, New York. He has written for notable publications such as Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic. Walker spent five years as a White House Correspondent for Yahoo! News during the Trump administration and has covered politics for outlets like Business Insider and the New York Observer. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Guest Contact Info:
Luppe B. Luppen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nycsouthpaw/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@nycsouthpaw
Hunter Walker
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrhunterwalker/