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Matt Mackowiak's Mack On Politics

Smart political talk every week from Austin, Texas political consultant Matt Mackowiak, who has served in senior roles for two U.S. Senators and the Bush administration.
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Now displaying: March, 2018
Mar 26, 2018

The hottest nonfiction book in publishing right now is the newly released, “Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends”) by New York Times bestselling author Peter Schweizer and he is our guest.

He is the author of several other bestsellers, including “Clinton Cash” and “Throw Them All Out”, which revealed insider trading by members of Congress.

His new book reveals how some of the most prominent names in national politics have earned tremendous wealth personally and for their friends and family, including the Bidens, the McConnells, the Obamas, the Kerrys and the Kushners.

In this conversation, we explore the goal of the book, whether this ties into recent revelations from the Panama Papers, whether any of what he found is illegal, how this problem can be fixed and whether it will, what effect his previous books have had, what his next project is, and how his nonprofit advances its mission.

Mar 22, 2018

Our subject for the 75th episode is Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.

Our guest is Sasha Issenberg, who has followed the use of data and digital targeting in campaigns for many years, culminating in his groundbreaking book, “The Victory Lab”, which was published in 2013 and updated in 2016.

In this fascinating conversation, we delve into what Cambridge Analytica is, how the use of data and digital strategy have been converging since at least 2004, how addressable TV may be the next innovation, how these technologies may be used in the 2020 presidential campaign, whether corporate ad campaigns are more advanced than political ones, how the Obama, Clinton and Trump digital efforts were unique, to what extent truly fake news effected the 2016 campaign, and where this story is going for both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.

Mar 15, 2018

Jonah Goldberg is our guest for episode 74. 

He’s a senior editor for The National Review, a syndicated columnist, a Fox News contributor and a New York Times best-selling author whose new book, “Suicide of the West,” is available for preorder and will be released on April 24. 

In this conversation we examine the Trump staff shakeup, how cable news is affecting his presidency, where the Mueller inquiry may be headed, how Trump’s first year went, what the PA-18 special election tells us, whether Trump can be reelected, and whether ideas matter anymore.

Mar 9, 2018

North Korea is the subject of the 73rd episode.

The stunning news that President Trump will meet with the North Korean leader before May to discuss denuclearization made international news.

Our guest is Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

We discuss the importance of the meeting, whether preconditions are necessary, whether South Korea would likely be included, how the maximum pressure campaign and the credible threat of military force contributed to this development, how sanctions relief and independent verification might work, and whether Kim Jong-Un may be stalling for time.

Then we turned our discussion toward his experiences dealing with the Trump White House, what the Congress should do for the rest of 2018, and how we views the midterm elections.

Mar 2, 2018

Phillip Stutts is our guest for the 72nd episode.

He’s a fascinating interview for two reasons.

First, he just wrote a best-selling book, “Fire Them All: The 7 Lies Digital Marketers Sell…”, which reveals much about how digital strategy works in politics and business.

Second, he has been battling a rare disease for several years. About a year ago he made a startling and deeply personal decision.

His story will inspire you.

 

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