© 2026 Blue Ridge Public Radio
Blue Ridge Mountains banner background
Your source for information and inspiration in Western North Carolina.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Political Junkie On The Political Dramas Of December

WUNC News | By Frank Stasio,
Amanda Magnus
Published December 14, 2018 at 1:12 PM EST
In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 file photo, Vice President Mike Pence, center, listens as President Donald Trump argues with House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington.
In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 file photo, Vice President Mike Pence, center, listens as President Donald Trump argues with House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington.

Will there be a government shutdown? President Donald Trump held a televised meeting this week with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to talk about immigration. Trump promised to shut down the government if Democrats do not agree to his demand of $5 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Host Frank Stasio gets an update from the Political Junkie Ken Rudin.

Lawmakers have until midnight on Friday, Dec. 21 to come up with a deal. Pelosi was in another negotiation this week to help secure the votes to become the next speaker of the house.

Also this week, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including making false statements to Congress, tax evasion, and campaign-finance violations related to payments he arranged to silence women who claimed they had affairs with Trump during the 2016 presidential election. Political Junkie Ken Rudin talks to host Frank Stasio about these stories and more.

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus