Ep. 34: David Maraniss on What Does It Mean to be a "Real American"....And Who Gets to Decide?

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The Truth Report with Chauncey DeVega

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David Maraniss is an associate editor at the Washington Post and the author of many books, including bestselling biographies of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Roberto Clemente and Vince Lombardi. Maraniss's new book, A Good American Family, is clearly his most personal. It explores the life and experiences of his father, the journalist Elliott Maraniss, who stood up for civil liberties and human rights against the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and its agents during the McCarthy period of the 1950s. David Maraniss has won the the Pulitzer Prize for journalism twice and was a finalist on three other occasions. In this conversation, David Maraniss reflects on Donald Trump and the threat he represents to the American presidency as an institution. Maraniss also explains how Barack Obama's idealism and assumptions about the reasonableness and intelligence of other people left him unprepared for the rise of Trump and for the way Republicans have jettisoned norms of political civility and respect for the Constitution and the rule of law. And Maraniss also shares what he learned from his father's life of principle and courage and its lessons for a United States where truth itself is being assaulted by Fox News and the right-wing disinformation machine. WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: chaunceydevega@gmail.com Leave a voicemail for The Truth Report: (262) 864-0154 HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE TRUTH REPORT? Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com Music at the end of this week's episode of The Truth Report is by JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound. You can listen to some of their great music on Spotify.