A New Day in France, Russian Ripples, The Red State Paradox

Coming up on today’s show:

• French voters went to the polls on Sunday and elected Emmanuel Macron as their new president. At 39 years old, Macron is the youngest French leader since Napoleon, and his victory comes after a wild, angry, and unpredictable election season. James McAuley, Paris correspondent, discusses the results and looks at the future of France. 

• On Monday afternoon, a Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its investigation into the Russian interference in the U.S. election, and will hear testimony from James Clapper and Sally Yates. Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, a columnist for The Washington Post, and author of “Gulag: A History,” weighs in.

• On Saturday, a pitch given to potential Chinese investors by Jared Kushner’s sister is bringing renewed scrutiny to a controversial visa program, and to Kushner’s conflicts of interests. Noah Bookbinder is the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, and a former trial attorney for the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section from 1999 to 2005. He joins The Takeaway to break down the ethical conflicts at play in the Kushner family’s business strategy. 

• A U.S. Navy Seal was killed in combat with the Al Shabaab terrorist group last week. It was the first time an American service member has been killed in Somalia since 1993. Katharine Houreld, East Africa bureau chief for Reuters, explores the U.S. military presence in Somalia, and the threat of Al Shabaab in an increasingly unstable region.

• On Sunday, 82 girls who were kidnapped in 2014 from the Nigerian town of Chibok were released by the militant group Boko Haram. Some 113 Chibok girls still remain unaccounted for. What’s next for the 82 newly released women, and for those still in captivity? Michael Clyne, a political risk analyst who specializes in African affairs, answers. 

• Orange County has the highest number of juvenile arrests in the state of Florida, and black boys make up the majority of these arrests. WMFE Reporter Renata Sago analyzed the problem in a new five-part series, and says much of it has to do with Florida’s “direct file” statute, which allows prosecutors discretion to move a wide range of juvenile cases to adult court.

• Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild spent five years getting to know people in the Louisiana Bayou. In the lead up to the 2016 election, Hochschild said she found exaggerated evidence of what she calls the “Red State Paradox.” She describes the “deep story” in her new book: “Strangers in their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right – A Journey to the heart of Our Political Divide.”