Plain Talk: NY Times reporter previews new book, and a discussion of the political implications of ending Roe

MINOT, N.D. — On Jan. 6, 2021, as rioters were infiltrating the U.S. Capitol building, New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin was in the building with many of our national leaders, such as Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Kevin Cramer.

He and co-author Alexander Burns tell that story in a new book, just released this week, called “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future.”

Martin spoke with me and co-host Chad Oban about what it was like to watch some of our nation’s most recognizable political figures react to the riot in real-time as part of a larger narrative about the transition from the Trump era to Biden’s current presidency.

I wrote about an excerpt from Martin’s book, describing Cramer’s response to the riots, in a column earlier this week .

Also on this episode, Chad and I discuss the political implications over the U.S. Supreme Court’s likely overturning the Roe v. Wade precedent. The debate over abortion is one thing, but the shift of that debate from the judiciary and back into the arena of democracy, where it would be settled by governors and state legislatures across the country has the potential to be one of the most profound turn of events in a generation or two of American politics.

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