In the Struggle With Trump, Does the Congress Matter?
New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast
05/01/25
•53m
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Normally, that's a simple question with a simple answer: of course, the Congress matters; after all, its powers are enthroned in the American Constitution. However, as the Trump presidency unfolds, nothing is simple anymore. President Trump obviously has an expansive view of presidential power and is clearly intent on exercising it at the expense of the Congress and of the courts.
So does Congress matter, is becoming a huge question, potentially the stuff of constitutional crisis.
Tom O’Donnell is an insider's insider when it comes to understanding how the Congress works. He was a longtime colleague of Congressman Dick Gephardt, former Democrat leader, and a key player in Democratic Party politics for years. If anyone understands how the Congress—even one with narrow Republican majorities in both houses—might react to White House overreach, Tom does.
Listen as O’Donnell and host Alan Stoga explore the growing confrontation between the President and the Congress. Then tell us: who do you think will win?
Previous Episode
Best New Thinking: Doctor, Doctor Give Me the News
April 10, 2025
•34m
Healthcare is intensely personal. Even when national statistics show improvement—which has been the case for most countries over recent decades—what matters is whether my baby in rural Uganda is having trouble breathing or whether my aging father in New York who went into the hospital with a broken hip will now die from the MERS he contracted there or whether why my wife in Buenos Aries can access the drugs she needs to survive cancer.
In our hi-tech age, it seems like much of what ails us and our loved ones should be erasable using innovative technology.
Dr. Kristian Olson agrees. He's an American internist and pediatrician, based at Harvard, who practices globally, as well as a designer who helped create the Center for Affordable Medical Technology. CAMTech designs solutions—high-tech and not-so-high-tech—that produce better, affordable health outcomes.
Dr. Olson is also a winner of the 2024 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize recognized by the jury for his unwavering commitment to transforming healthcare especially in low and middle-income countries through human-centered design, pioneering solutions that improve lives across diverse communities.
Tell us what you think: Can smart use of technology make us—all of us—healthier?
This episode was originally published on November 27, 2024.
Next Episode
Has the Amazon Run Out of Chances?
May 8, 2025
•33m
In 2019, Carlos Nobre, a leading Brazilian scientist, published an open letter entitled "Amazon tipping point: Last chance for action.” If that article were published today, it might have to be titled, “No more chances” because the past five years have seen record-breaking drought throughout the region as well as record-breaking forest fires.
Indeed, from a distance it looks like large parts of the rainforest are now tipping towards grasslands, with potentially devastating consequences for regional and global rain and weather patterns. Can what is still left—essentially the northern slice from the Atlantic to the Andes—be saved?
Francisco von Hildebrand (Pacho) thinks it can. As someone who essentially grew up in the Amazon and now as leader of Gaia Amazonas, he has a key role to play in the struggle to support the Indigenous people living in the Amazon who have the best chance to keep what’s left of the rainforest intact.
Listen as Pacho explains why he believes the Amazon can still be saved. Tell us what you think.
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