Conflict of Interest

Conflict of Interest

Conflict of Interest is a podcast about the world, through a discerning lens of journalism, politics and above all Vermont. Kevin Ellis goes against the grain of today’s politics and celebrity culture to talk about the massive change all around us and how the world actually works. You will hear from Kevin’s Vermont neighbors AND national voices on difficult issues. Vermont is becoming, or always has been, a place, a real place. We are not interested in the Vermont of the tourist guides. We are not going to talk to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. We will talk to them about what it is like to sell the company and do something new - and the frustrations, fear and uncertainty that comes with changing your life. Part interview, part history lesson about stuff you won’t see or hear on CNN or NPR.

Episodes

March 6, 2026 48 mins
Gates, Summers, Prince Andrew and the rest of them thought they were untouchable, that the rules didn't apply to them. How did we get here - to a system of rules for some and none for everyone else? And why didn't anyone in real power do anything? Dr. Felicia Kornbluh - who specializes in the histories of feminism, gender, social welfare, and reproductive politics - explains.
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Andrew Luger was the top cop in Minnesota under Obama and Biden.  He says the ICE surge was a failure because it violates what law enforcement should be about.   Note: Luger predicted that Trump would recognize defeat and pull out, which it did shortly after we talked.  
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How did we get here? Buckley had a lot to do with it and writer Sam Tanenhaus lays it all bare in his fabulous biography of the conservative writer and provocateur who planted the seeds for Goldwater to Reagan to Trump. What would he say today?
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January 18, 2026 39 mins
Why does a former Lt. Governor of Vermont lose a race for Congress and then return to run again for her old office. Welcome to the "Pain Cave.''
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December 29, 2025 33 mins
There is a book that tells you how to be an activist. Tools to Save our Home Planet tells you how to start, how to stay at it over the long term. Everyone has their own way. But the folks at Patagonia never disappoint.
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Freed from mainstream media, John Harwood is right there to correct every lie on Twitter with a mix of old-school journalism experience and acerbic comment. Refreshing!
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November 10, 2025 35 mins
How the Dems victories affect shutdown, presidential aspirations and everything else.
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October 27, 2025 38 mins
My federal judge classmate tells Trump he cannot send national guard troops to Portland. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Richard Read explains Judge Karin Imergut’s ruling.
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September 29, 2025 34 mins
A Senate veteran and former chief of staff says the shutdown is high-risk for Democrats because of Russell Vought is hiding in the tall grass.
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September 22, 2025 45 mins
Few embody the rules of accurate and fair journalism more than Balz, who covered presidential campaigns for 40-plus years and understands why voters went to Trump better than anyone. Why? Because he talks to them all the time, on the ground, with a reporter’s eye and ear. We may not see the likes of him again. So I had to talk to him!
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August 25, 2025 42 mins
Journalist Nina Burleigh dissects the strange world of two sexual predators.
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July 10, 2025 49 mins
You win wars with armies. Bombs don’t work. And they only piss off the people you bomb for another generation. (Iran) Nuclear weapons scholar Ward Wilson joins me. 
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June 19, 2025 38 mins
Who do you talk to when you have just watched the best tennis match in history? Your local tennis pro of course. Breaking down Sinner vs. Alcaraz at the French Open with Daron Forohar.
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As Trump attacks Harvard, small liberal arts colleges reassess their purpose. The president of Amherst College says this reckoning has been coming for a long time. The answer is a return to core values of critical thinking and hard truths. Amherst President Michael Elliott is one of the leaders and breaks it down.
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May 29, 2025 47 mins
How does an ancient game with sticks tell us about ourselves? The story of how we stole the game from the native people and then stopped them from playing teaches us a deep and abiding lesson about ourselves and our crimes. Thanks to some champions of a cause, native people might play in the Olympics. The wrong can never be righted. But we can learn our history and move in a better direction. Author S.L. Price from Sports Illustrat...
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Call it what you will. The new book FIGHT - Inside the Wildest battle for the White House - has the first draft of history on why Biden ran again and how his handlers kept the truth about his age from getting out and handing the election to Trump. It is a decision we will be living with for a generation. Co-Author Amie Parnes joins Kevin for the details. ⁠Amie's book, FIGHT, available now.
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April 24, 2025 39 mins
You don’t have to love basketball to appreciate what Morgan Valley has done in her playing and coaching career. But you need to listen closely or you’ll miss it.
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The top political advisor to Bernie Sanders says Chuck Schumer was wrong on the budget bill and wrong on the way forward. It’s not about Left vs. Right. It's about Top vs. Bottom. Will anyone listen?
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March 13, 2025 37 mins
The Jan. 6 effort to overturn an election and KILL the vice president and speaker the House seems so long ago. And Trump has effectively made us forget. But Mark Bowden has not forgotten. The author of Blackhawk Down and many other deeply reported books put Jan. 6 and its aftermath into one comprehensive book. It has all the receipts. To understand what’s happening now when the entire leadership of th government believes the Biden ...
Mark as Played
March 7, 2025 41 mins
The award-winning documentary filmmaker has faith (some) that the system can withstand Trump and Musk. That’s a lot for a a guy who makes a living examining the abuse of power by powerful people - Trump, Lance Armstrong, ENRON, Elizabeth Holmes and Scientology. Next up? Elon Musk.
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