The truest things that are said today are said by comedians.

Sean’s Monologue: Where’s the Democracy?

Today on Coup Save America, Sean has a conversation with Paul Greenberg, author of seven books, including the New York Times bestseller Four Fish. Paul’s most recent book, A Third Term is a work of satirical fiction, in which Paul explores what might happen if a sitting president were to finagle an extra four years from the American people – and could this problem be solved by resurrecting George Washington and bringing him to the 21st century?

Paul starts by sharing his childhood passion for the environment, which moved him to become an author. His disgust for the theatrics of politics inspired him to make a shift from non-fiction and pen a novel based on the ultimate theatrical president (guess who?). Paul answers the question of why satire is an effective method of making a point. He tells us about his friendship with his cover designer, Barry Blitt, artist of The New Yorker fame.

Paul goes on to explain why he chose not to use Trump’s name in A Third Term, although the book’s antagonist is blatantly based on our current president. How does Hollywood contribute to public awareness and opinion? Was the movie Jaws a political allegory?

Without revealing the twist ending, Sean and Paul discuss whether the events of A Third Term are really so absurd as to be impossible – aside from resurrecting dead presidents, of course. Paul disagrees with Sean’s belief that America was intentionally built and designed to disenfranchise the poor, and he shares his opinions on the founding father’s potential motives. And what would George Washington have thought about Donald Trump? Is there anything about “the tyrant” that may have impressed him? What’s the deal with presidents who have served in the military vs. those who did not?

Paul shares personal stories about other podcast appearances and his work with a non-profit in Russia. He and Sean wonder if Al Franken could have defeated Trump – and was that why he got cancelled? – and they discuss the hypocrisy of the Epstein files controversy. They talk about how politicians use distraction to cover up what really going on (with RFK being one of those distractions), then Paul turns the tables and asks Sean to answer a few questions about his own belief system.

Paul tells us what he’s found to be the most surprising thing about the first six months of the second Trump administration, and he shares some interesting ideas about making it illegal to be a lawyer and designing “MAGA goggles.” Then he talks about how autocracies work, using examples from his time in Russia, the book 1984, Croatia, and South Park.

Sean and Paul then focus on the story elements of A Third Term. Paul tells us how term limits began in the first place and explains a workaround used in Serbia to bypass term limit laws. He tells a story about bumping in Chuck Schumer one Christmas Eve.

Paul asks the question, “Why must our politicians be so darn old?” He and Sean talk about how Zohran Mamdani is actually seeing problems and proposing solutions, and they look again at the debacle of Boomers vs. Millennials and how the latter get a bad rap simply for growing up in a society that worked differently from previous decades.

Finally, we listen to an excerpt from A Third Term, and we find out something that Sean has in common with George Washington. Paul talks about how America is in literal physical pain, and what that does to a nation. He discusses the historical and scientific accuracy of his book, and he tells us how AI helped him with the 2024 rewrite. Paul concludes with a brief overview of his previous works, and he promises to come back on the show to discuss other important matters he’s studied.

You can learn about Paul and his many books by visiting:

www.paulgreenberg.org

You can connect with Paul at:

https://bsky.app/profile/4fishgreenberg.bsky.social

“We need human contact to help people succeed.”

Sean’s Monologue: Epstein, Espionage, and Inconvenient Truths

Today, Coup Save America has a conversation with Lance Hillslinger, a veteran social worker and author of the advocacy books: Build a Better Bridge: Social Policy for the 21st Century and In Place of the Parent: Inside Child Protective Services.

The episode begins as Lance describes his career as a Child Protective Services agent in the state of California and shares a bit about how the system works. He talks about how his experiences inspired him to write books that will educate and advocate for change. Lance briefly addresses the Jeffrey Epstein controversy and asks the question, “Where were the parents of the girls on Epstein’s island?”

Lance and Sean discuss the correlations between poverty and our country’s various social problems, talk about the governmental standards that define poverty, and decide that the War on Poverty has only made things worse. Lance tells us that the most common reason why children are removed from homes is because their parents neglect to care for them because of drug use. He expresses empathy toward these parents, pointing out the underlying causes of drug addiction, how drugs can alter a parents’ perception of what a child needs, and the roadblocks these parents face while living in poverty, such as the difficulty of securing things like affordable dental care for their children. Do poor people have more children? Why has poverty increased? And is homelessness a gender inequality issue?

Lance talks about how our government is “pennywise and pound foolish” when it comes to funding social services. He shares how child support works when the non-custodial parent is low income, goes through the history of social services, then describes the shortages of resources and how the decline in home ownership rates is detrimental to future generations.

Lance and Sean go on to discuss the importance of education. What can be done to increase the graduation rate for boys? Would adjusting our methods of teaching English be helpful? Lance shares a couple of cost-free changes that California has made in their school systems to increase attendance and academic success.

Sean asks Lance about the intent of the War on Poverty and why it didn’t succeed. They discuss issues such as age-adjusted food stamp benefits, public transportation, job availability, and metrics to measure the success of anti-poverty programs. Lance stresses the importance of the government supporting outdoor recreation and schools doing a better job of encouraging music and sports. Are men being left behind in current society? Gender disparities in education and the work force seem to suggest so.

Lance opines on the importance of a social network for parenting, developing morality in kids, and the strengths/weaknesses of Child Protective Services. As always, Sean brings up the Nordic model of social safety, and he and Lance discuss why politicians demonize any systems – working or not – that suggest any level of “socialism.” Could a Universal Basic Income make a difference? Lance points out the misunderstandings and misinformation about welfare programs, and then shares ideas about how to combat chronic unemployment.

You can find Lance’s books at:

http://lancehillisnger.net

For every book purchased, Lance donates money to Razom, a humanitarian program in Ukraine.

“Voters are looking for an economy that works. From anyone…even an orange-haired reality host.”

Sean’s Monologue: An Empire in Peril

Today Sean talks with Cameron Cowan of The Cameron Journal. Cameron is joining us to promote his new book America’s Lost Generation and to discuss various current events. He launches right with telling us how there really is no hope for Millennials, the Americans born between 1980 and 1996. Sean and Cameron discuss the possibility of Social Security collapsing in 2035, micro-transition generations, and how Millennials don’t deserve the bad reputation that the media likes to promote. What will our country look like when all of our politicians are Millennials?

Cameron points out that progressives urgently need better PR. As time passes, will they return to center or go for broke? He uses the example of fascist Italy to explain how the right-wing is realigning itself with the economic populist message. Cameron goes on to answer questions about what AI could do to our workforce and whether we can still use the old paradigm to build an economy that works for everyone. He talks about how young men are being left behind in current society…and what the heck is happening now in Japan?

Cameron explains how WE are the ones paying the cost of tariffs and tells the story of how America lost its manufacturing power. Could massive government subsidies restore our working force and economy? Learn how the Boomer generation benefited from an older system and how our country accidentally destroyed its own steel industry.

Cameron uses the universal healthcare debacle as an example of how we can’t make major changes because just enough Americans are doing okay, so there’s not enough push to upset the apple cart. Just wait until a few more of us hit bottom. Cameron tells us how and why inflation became the biggest issue for the last election, then he talks about the need for progressives to find the right message to make people who are not affected care about social problems. The concept of individual exceptionalism makes it necessary to keep your message “personal and local.”

Sean and Cameron discuss the ever-popular topic of corporate influence on elections. Listen to learn what quietly happened during Trump’s first term to help the rich get richer while keeping the poor down in the muck. And how did Joe Biden help facilitate the 2008 financial crisis? Cameron talks about going around state capitals to get things done, how owning assets gets you ahead while labor no longer can, and that crypto currency is a Ponzi scheme that our society embraces out of desperation. Is there anything we can do to save the middle class? Cameron says, “Well, disenfranchise the rich -but good luck with that!”

This leads to remembering the revolutions in Russia and France. Cameron tells us about the acute devastation that had to occur before suffering people rose up against the wealthy and reiterates that our system “still works enough” to keep revolution at bay. “The collapse has to get a whole lot more collapse-y,” he explains, but it will happen very soon. Maybe by 2032, the 100th anniversary of America’s last economic upheaval – which was heartbreaking but left us with a functional society in the end.

Who will be our next FDR? Could it be Zohran Mamdani? Would the democrats allow that now that the whole party is so gun shy? Cameron talks about the importance of securing the black vote and how leftist progressives should start hobby podcasts so they can slip in political topics. Finally, he ends the episode by sharing his own life story.

Hear and connect with Cameron Cowan:

http://cameronjournal.com

http://cameronjournal.com/podcast

http://instagram.com/cameroncowan

http://tiktik.com/cameronjournal

http://twitter.com/cameroncowan

https://linkedin.com/in/cameroncowan