America Trends Podcast

<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2598" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/pkh_headshot-2966928284-210x300.jpeg" alt="" width="91" height="130" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/pkh_headshot-2966928284-210x300.jpeg 210w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/pkh_headshot-2966928284-189x270.jpeg 189w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/pkh_headshot-2966928284.jpeg 434w" sizes="(max-width: 91px) 100vw, 91px" /> Frustration with government is widespread, but neither party has a vision for making things work sensibly, according to our guest, Philip K. Howard, the chair of Common Good, a nonpartisan organization aimed at simplifying government procedures and practices and the author of his new book, &#8220;Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America.&#8221;  Hidebound rules delay projects and add costs which then keep important supports from government from getting to the people who need them.  For years, Howard has described the reforms that are needed to empower people in government to use their good judgment and put aside the rulebook.  He has classic examples of well-intended legislation never actually moving from good policy to timely practice and implementation, particularly in the sphere of infrastructure enhancements.  In many ways, we are living off the good public works of our great grandfathers.  And shouldn&#8217;t the reams of paperwork in health care be shredded to afford doctors more time to focus on patient care?  DOGE wasn&#8217;t the answer, he says.  Nor is the Democrat response to protect the status quo.  He offers a way forward in his book and on this podcast.</p>

<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2594" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/es-cobalt-conference.jpg" alt="" width="56" height="88" /> Rare earth minerals may be a misnomer.  While they are critical minerals to our modern, digital life, they are not that rare.  The problem is finding them in concentrated places where it is economically and environmentally responsible to mine them.  This group of 17 metallic elements is crucial for modern technologies due to their magnetic and electrical properties.  They can be found in products as diverse as F-35 fighter jets, iPhones, wind turbines, televisions and night-vision goggles. While there are various ways of extracting them, mining is the primary method, though repurposing them from older digital devices is another approach.  With all that said, their value to modern economies cannot be overstated.  And given China&#8217;s stranglehold on the global market and the fact that America only has one functioning mine to date, has been a point of great friction in relations between the two nations.  We explore all of these topics on today&#8217;s podcast with Ernest Scheyder, the author of &#8220;The War Below:  Lithium, Copper and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives.&#8221;</p>

<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2591" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ben-bogardus___08145315520-3672125475-207x300.jpg" alt="" width="97" height="140" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ben-bogardus___08145315520-3672125475-207x300.jpg 207w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ben-bogardus___08145315520-3672125475-186x270.jpg 186w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ben-bogardus___08145315520-3672125475.jpg 510w" sizes="(max-width: 97px) 100vw, 97px" />  I&#8217;m old enough to remember when ABC, NBC and CBS dominated our television viewing and our consumption of electronic news, and that the viewer had to be in front of the television set at an appointed time to receive the information.  Today, the gatekeeper, who once decided when and what type of news content you would see or hear, is a relic.  News on your phone, social media, podcasts and all manner of sources put you in control of what you will read, see and hear. Newspapers, television and radio have become almost quaint and rarely utilized by anyone under a certain age.  If you want to get lost in a fever swamp of biased coverage, it&#8217;s yours to consume.  This portends that attracting large audiences will continue to become more difficult over time and, thus, the business model to maintain, say, CNN, will become more difficult, too.  You will have to be a sophisticated consumer of information to determine the value of these new sources as old, traditional brands continue to eviscerate, replaced by, well, who really knows.  In addition to these changes, the headwinds from the Trump Administration and its longstanding vendetta against &#8216;fake news&#8217; continues unabated.  These are changing times.  To discuss it all with us is Ben Bogardus, Professor of Journalism and Chair of the Department at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.</p>

<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2588" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/will_potter_headshot-556622843-203x300.jpg" alt="" width="104" height="153" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/will_potter_headshot-556622843-203x300.jpg 203w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/will_potter_headshot-556622843-694x1024.jpg 694w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/will_potter_headshot-556622843-768x1134.jpg 768w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/will_potter_headshot-556622843-183x270.jpg 183w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/will_potter_headshot-556622843.jpg 777w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 104px) 100vw, 104px" /> Where did &#8220;The Little House on the Prairie&#8221; go?  It&#8217;s probably in foreclosure and will be sold to a private equity company to build nondescript condominiums.  In its place has grown up a powerful factory farming industry which has no particular affinity for the welfare of the farm animals they sell, the workers they often import or the environment they are wreaking havoc with.  Our guest, author Will Potter, spent ten years researching the subject and he documents in his powerful book &#8220;Little Red Barns: Hiding the Truth from Farm to Fable,&#8221; a secret world of disinformation, corporate corruption and social control.  Big Ag has made it difficult for us to see how the animals whose products we consume are treated, despite efforts by animal activists to show us the horrible conditions.  Perhaps we don&#8217;t want to see and know why food is plentiful and by some standards more affordable in this modern era. If you&#8217;re one of the people who wants to know about the cultural shift in how we come about the food supply that makes its way into our homes, take a listen.</p>

<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2584" src="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/laura_k_field-4000350659-233x300.jpg" alt="" width="97" height="125" srcset="https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/laura_k_field-4000350659-233x300.jpg 233w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/laura_k_field-4000350659-210x270.jpg 210w, https://www.americatrendspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/laura_k_field-4000350659.jpg 341w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 97px) 100vw, 97px" /> How has the MAGA movement in Trump 2.0 been so resolute in meeting its objectives, as stated in Project 2025, despite the President&#8217;s own disavowal of the document?  The ideas of the unitary executive, the politization of the federal bureaucracy and the dismantlement of federal programs, such as USAID, has been so stark in contrast to Donald Trump&#8217;s first term.  In her new book, &#8220;The Furious Right: The Making of the MAGA Right,&#8221; political theorist, Laura K. Field, describes the movement as a clustered and networked assemblage of three distinct but overlapping camps: The Claremonters, the Postliberals, and the National Conservatives.  Whereas the old GOP establishment stood for free trade, social conservatism, and internationalism (rooted in anticommunism), today&#8217;s New Right stands for nationalist economics, social conservatism, isolationism, and anti-immigration.  Can this coalition hand together and achieve its objectives?  That&#8217;s the discussion we will have with the author today.</p>