Behind the Headlines Podcast · WKNO/The Daily Memphian

1619: Public holds GOP responsible for ongoing government shutdown, Cohen says

·32 min·2 clips

Cohen says voters "hold the Republicans... responsible" for the shutdown and the party is "losing."

This episode opens with a reminder that the show is trying to stay as local as possible even when national politics gets in the way. Steve Cohen talks through federal intervention and the Memphis questions that come with it. The conversation keeps circling back to who has authority and what happens next. That practical frame gives the hour its shape. The discussion then moves into term limits. Cohen argues that limiting legislative terms would leave Congress less experienced and more dependent on lobbyists. He makes the same case from his time in the Tennessee Senate. Longevity, in his telling, is sometimes what makes a difficult vote possible. That point leads into the Tennessee lottery story. Cohen recalls how timing, votes, and a narrow procedural window mattered when the resolution came up on the floor. He describes how a delay of just a few days could have changed the outcome. The account is detailed and procedural rather than grand. The show also lets the conversation drift into broader political judgment. Cohen comments on figures who have left office or remain hard to place in the current national landscape. The tone stays direct and occasionally dry. Even when the subject widens, the focus keeps returning to what a public officeholder actually does and how much experience matters. Because the panel keeps narrowing big political ideas into local consequences, the episode feels rooted in Memphis rather than detached from it. The guest answers at length, then gets pulled back toward specifics. That structure gives the interview its strongest moments. It is a civic conversation built from questions, corrections, and the details that make policy real. The episode ends by looking ahead to more local guests and continuing coverage of Memphis issues. That closing note reinforces the show’s public-affairs purpose. The whole hour treats politics as something you can measure in votes, timing, and operational consequences. It is less about campaign theater than about how decisions actually get made.

As heard by us

A Memphis-focused politics conversation that keeps returning to how Washington lands locally.

Steve Cohen's Memphis-focused hour keeps coming back to a simple question: how national politics lands in daily local life. It is strongest when it stays with power, change on the ground, and the procedural roadblocks that can slow both down.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

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Want a Memphis politics conversation that stays close to the people and procedures behind it?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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