Rag Radio: Populist Legend Jim Hightower on the Bernie Sanders Revolution, Donnie Trump, Corporate Ethics

Jim Hightower, who may be the country’s most prominent and influential progressive populist writer and radio commentator, and who is serving as a surrogate for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, is Thorne Dreyer’s guest on Rag Radio.

We talk about the latest twists and turns in the bizarre presidential primary politics, including the special danger posed by the ascendance of the far right in the Republican Party, represented not only by Donald Trump, but by Ted Cruz – perhaps the most dangerous – and by Marco Rubio as well. We discuss the Sanders campaign and the growing left populist movement in this country — and Hightower also talks about corporate “ethics,” which he addressed in a recent issue of the Hightower Lowdown: “How corporate honchos gave themselves cover to be as rapacious as they wanna be.” He talks about “shareholder hegemony,” “a doctrine asserting that the first, foremost, and only moral obligation of corporate executives is to maximize the profits of their shareholders.” And, Jim will tell us why the “GOP’s fence fantasy is a farce.”

Jim Hightower, who was twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, has for years been a major force on the populist left. Jim, who believes that the true political spectrum is not right to left but top to bottom, broadcasts daily radio commentaries, publishes the Hightower Lowdown, and is a New York Times best-selling author whose books include Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow and Thieves in High Places.

Listen to more of Thorne Dreyer’s interviews with Jim Hightower, here.

This show was originally broadcast during KOOP Radio’s Spring Membership Drive, and fundraising pitching has been removed this podcast.

Rag Radio is produced in the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, an all-volunteer, cooperatively-run community radio station in Austin, Texas, in association with The Rag Blog and the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The host and producer of Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, is a prominent Austin-based activist and writer who was a pioneer of the ’60s underground press movement. The show’s engineer and co-producer is Tracey Schulz and the staff photographer is Roger Baker. The syndicated show is broadcast (and streamed) live Fridays, 2-3 p.m. (Central) on KOOP in Austin, and is later rebroadcast and streamed on WFTE-FM in Mt. Cobb and Scranton, PA., on Houston Pacifica’s KPFT HD-3 90.1-FM, and by KKRN, 88.5-FM in Round Mountain, CA — and is a featured podcast at VT. All Rag Radio podcasts can be found at the Internet Archive. Contact: ragradio@koop.org

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Rag Radio with Thorne Dreyer

Rag Radio is produced in the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, an all-volunteer, cooperatively-run, solar-powered community radio station in Austin, Texas, in association with The Rag Blog and the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The host and producer of Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, is a prominent Austin-based activist and writer who was a pioneer of the ’60s underground press movement. Visit the Rag Radio Archives.

Contact:ragradio@koop.org

www.theragblog.com/rag-radio