Episode 427: Advocacy in the Age of Trump

Defender Radio and The Switch

On January 10, 2017, Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States of America. While I do have my personal feelings about the man that I cannot in good conscience share on this family-friendly podcast, it cannot be said that he is a friend of the animals. Immediately upon his winning of the 2016 election, animal advocates began scrambling – and within the first weeks of his presidency, their nightmares started coming true. Massive cuts to environmental and animal-related federal budgets, the reversal of protection laws, and censoring of both science and advocacy within federal agencies.

In this Age of Trump, animal advocacy in the United States has taken on a new urgency, and how that will eventually impact wildlife and our environment is yet to be seen. But that will not halt the work of groups like the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The ALDF’s campaigns focus on a variety of animal-related issues, including the worrisome case of Tony the Tiger, who lives in a roadside cage, fighting against cruel puppy mills, and the onslaught of so-called ag-gag laws. To discuss these campaigns, and how this new, unpredictable age of Presidential politics will impact them, Defender Radio was joined by ALDF senior attorney Anthony Eliseuson.