Episodes
![11/8/21 - The Congressional MLM Caucus [w/ guest Laura Packard]](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog456765/IMG_0920_300x300.jpg)
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
11/8/21 - The Congressional MLM Caucus [w/ guest Laura Packard]
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. Laura Packard is here to talk healthcare and Build Back Better!
2. To the surprise of zero hosts of this podcast, Terry McAuliffe was not the best candidate for Virginia governor
3. The BIF passed, the BBB needs the CBO. Is it DOA?
4. Nobody saw Australia emerging as the supervillan of this week’s climate summit
5. Last month's jobs numbers are great or terrible, depending on whether you’re Brent or Lila
6. Nothing has ever made more sense than Krysten Sinema’s ties to MLM
Learn More About Laura:
Follow Laura on Twitter: @lpackard
Follow Laura on Instagram: @laurapackardactivist
Follow Healthcare Voter on Twitter: @HealthCareVoter
Check Out Laura's Recent Op-Ed in Business Insider
Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

Sunday Oct 31, 2021
11/1/21 - When Dad Bods Take Europe
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. Your kids can finally get microchipped
2. Biden’s plan to brag to Europeans about his fifth rate social safety net proposals are dashed
3. What’s left in BBB? We’ll go over the very short list
4. Terry McAuliffe is not using his prodigious fundraising skills to buy good ideas in Virginia
5. Redistricting is upon us, so expect a bunch of Congresspeople to suddenly leave office for “principled” reasons
6. In the year of our lord 2021, “dad bod” has finally made it into the dictionary
Get a vaccine so you too can record a podcast in the same room as your co-host!
Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!
![10/25/21 - Zebras on the Loose [w/ guest Tatenda Musapatike]](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog456765/IMG_0920_300x300.jpg)
Sunday Oct 24, 2021
10/25/21 - Zebras on the Loose [w/ guest Tatenda Musapatike]
Sunday Oct 24, 2021
Sunday Oct 24, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. Tatenda Musapatike talks voting, Real Housewives, and Dem strategy
2. Infrastructure Update: Just…what?
3. Voting rights is filibuster reform. Everything is filibuster reform.
4. Joe Biden wants you to want to pay your student loans
5. A sentence we never thought would be necessary to say: India Walton is not David Duke
6. Apparently the solution to zebras on the loose is…more zebras on the loose
Follow Tatenda on Twitter and Instagram: @TatendaCheryl
Follow Voter Formation Project: @VoterFormation
Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
7/14/21 - Did We Bomb Somewhere Recently?
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
This week on the podcast...we’re blindly reacting to news headlines because we didn’t do our homework. Hold onto your hats!
Get a vaccine so you too can record a podcast in the same room as your co-host!
Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

Sunday Jun 06, 2021
6/7/21 - Robert Byrd's Hostage
Sunday Jun 06, 2021
Sunday Jun 06, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. Joe Manchin’s brain is being held hostage by the ghost of Robert Byrd
2. Giving people money stops them from starving: an expose
3. Dem soul searching leads to exact answers we gave them before they started soul searching
4. Surprising that Andrew Yang, after participating in the democratic presidential primary, admitted publicly to wanting to be more like Michael Bloomberg.
5. In effort to undermine the meat industry, vegans find natural ally in Vladimir Putin
6. Donald Trump will be back in August according to the pillow industry
Also:
Get a vaccine so you too can record a podcast in the same room as your co-host!
Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

Monday May 31, 2021
6/1/21 - The News From A Single Room
Monday May 31, 2021
Monday May 31, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. Biden administration hellbent on up to one year of big structural change, which is actually the opposite of structural change
2. Biden debuts infrastructure month, which is exactly like infrastructure week in that nothing gets accomplished, it’s just longer.
3. Someone is about to have to take four months off work to to decide a question with a simple answer: Is Donald Trump a criminal? Yes.
4. The battle of the working class origin stories is coming to a Florida Senate primary near you.
5. There’s no one who wants Donald Trump to die more than Matt Gaetz. Pass it on.
6. Tom Perez is joining Jay Carney in union-busting hell.
Also:
Get a vaccine so you too can record a podcast in the same room as your co-host!
Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

Monday May 24, 2021
5/24/21 - 400th Episode Extravaganza
Monday May 24, 2021
Monday May 24, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. Having proved himself a terrible senator, we’re now seeing why Rand Paul didn’t hack it in the medical field either.
2. Joe Biden loves to compromise so much, he’s decided to do it with himself
3. The squad is finally coordinating with each other! Just maybe not in the way you’d hope
4. Turns out one way to end a war is for everybody to declare victory at once and avoid specifics.
5. Abortions: Men and Amy Coney Barrett don’t want you to have them.
6. In further proof that the space/time continuum is busted, it’s time to start talking about elections again!
Congrats to the winners of our anniversary trivia game, The Buttons!
Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

Sunday May 16, 2021
5/17/21 - Embrace the Chaos
Sunday May 16, 2021
Sunday May 16, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. CDC’s new mask guidance is to just embrace the chaos. We all have to die sometime.
2. It’s finally okay to work in DC and not want to kill Palestinians! Baby steps.
3. NYC Mayoral Debate season is upon us! Lots of 2020 vibes.
4. Let the one lesson we learn from the pandemic be that you can extract more from your governors if you threaten to fire them.
5. Message to Joe Biden: Success isn’t measured by how many meetings you take with asshat Kevin McCarthy. It’s measured by whether you actually pass a bill.
6. Horse junkies are sweeping the horse races!
Also:
CALL YOUR REPS. ABOUT EVERYTHING. Make this number your profile picture. Tweet it every day. Add it to your phonebook:
Capitol Hill Main Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

Sunday Apr 18, 2021
4/19/21 - Resident Public Health Experts
Sunday Apr 18, 2021
Sunday Apr 18, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. Afghanistan! We won in 2002. We’re finally leaving in 2021. Maybe…
2. We’ll tell you about some of the mass shootings this week, but not all of them because we lost track.
3. Rule #1 of the America First caucus is don’t talk about the America First caucus.
4. Biden tried his own hand at America First politics. Went as well as it did for Marjorie Taylor Greene.
5. Your resident public health experts are here with a creative list of how best to use the J&J vaccine.
Also:
CALL YOUR REPS. ABOUT EVERYTHING. Make this number your profile picture. Tweet it every day. Add it to your phonebook:
Capitol Hill Main Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

Monday Apr 05, 2021
4/5/21 - The BTL Easter Spectacular
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Monday Apr 05, 2021
In Which We Discuss:
1. The BTL Easter story tradition continues...with a twist!
2. Attacking the Capitol is now more regular than perhaps we’d want
3. In a surprising turn of events, infrastructure week actually yields something of an infrastructure plan
4. The Matt Gaetz revelations are somehow both the most mind boggling, and least shocking things we’ve heard in ages
5. Quick! Get more progressive legislation in front of Andrew Cuomo while he’s still scandal-ridden
6. Turns out Amazon knew about the bottle peeing all along
Other than that, Happy Easter!
Also:
CALL YOUR REPS. ABOUT EVERYTHING. Make this number your profile picture. Tweet it every day. Add it to your phonebook:
Capitol Hill Main Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL! Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!