Ira Shapiro On The Betrayal
According to Ira Shapiro, the Founding Fathers gave the US Senate many functions, but one fundamental responsibility was to provide the check against a dangerous president who threatened our democracy. Two hundred and thirty years later, when Donald Trump, a potential authoritarian, finally reached the White House, the Senate should have served as both America\u2019s first and last lines of defense.\n\nIra Shapiro the author of The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America, forty-five-year Washington career has focused on American politics and international trade. Shapiro has served twelve years in senior staff positions in the U.S. Senate. \n\nJoin us when Ira Shapiro examines the pivotal challenges the Senate underwent during the Trump administration, arguing that the body\u2019s failure to provide leadership represented the most catastrophic failure of government in American history. As well as the Senate\u2019s performance during President Biden\u2019s first year in office, the 2022 Senate elections and beyond, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.