Americans — from the largest urban centers to the smallest rural towns — are deeply pessimistic about the state of the nation. And on both sides of the political aisle, there seems to be a disconnect between what people want… and where they feel the country is headed. 

This week, we’re kicking off our special election series, and throughout the year we’ll deep-dive into the issues driving the 2024 Presidential Election. 

In this first episode, we’ll hear from Iowa voter Phil Hemingway about how he’s feeling about this contentious election year. Then, Ray Suarez sits down with Dante Chinni, director of MSU J-School’s American Communities Project (https://www.americancommunities.org/) , to explore how to unite a divided country.

Guests: 

Phil Hemingway, owner, manager and automotive technician at Phil’s Repair, LLC (https://philsrepairllc.com/)

Dante Chinni (  / dchinni  ) , data and political journalist and director of the MSU J-School’s American Communities Project (https://www.americancommunities.org/)

Anne Applebaum (  / anneapplebaum  ) , staff writer for The Atlantic, Pulitzer-prize winning historian and author of “The Twilight of Democracy”

Ian Bremmer (  / ianbremmer  ) , a political scientist, author of “The Power of Crisis,” and professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Political Affairs

Host:  

Ray Suarez (  / raysuareznews  )

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