He has shown that a socialist message can win people over. His campaign is a model that should be emulated everywhere. 🗽 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/zohran-mamdanis-victory-is-just-what-the-left-needed 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nath...
Jun 27, 2025•13 min•Ep. 400
The latest Democratic fad sidelines equality and justice in favor of a focus on cutting red tape. This is not the path forward. 🌎 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/abandon-abundance 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/...
Jun 25, 2025•27 min•Ep. 399
Ralph Nader is one of the most important and successful activists in American political history. He played a key role in creating the consumer rights movement in the 1960s and ’70s, and his push for auto safety regulation led to measures that saved countless lives. He has also run multiple insurgent campaigns for president, challenging the two-party system and offering powerful criticisms of corporate power. Nader joins Current Affairs to analyze Donald Trump’s authoritarianism, the Democratic P...
Jun 24, 2025•51 min•Ep. 398
Katrina vanden Heuvel is the publisher and editorial director of The Nation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an advocate for diplomacy, disarmament, and international cooperation. She returns to Current Affairs to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, the erosion of U.S. diplomacy, and the bipartisan consensus around militarism. She outlines the details of the Quincy Institute’s U.S. peace plan, explains why diplomacy is often smeared as appeasement, and explores what a negotiate...
Jun 19, 2025•38 min•Ep. 397
Even by the standards of right-wing rhetoric, Miller’s public statements are uncommonly shameless. He treats his audience as stupid and gullible. 🦎 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-brainless-propaganda-of-stephen-miller 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam...
Jun 15, 2025•20 min•Ep. 396
Andrew Cuomo is not just unfit for office—he’s dangerous. In this interview, Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to publicly speak out about Cuomo’s abusive behavior, explains how his pattern of harassment, retaliation, and intimidation mirrors the authoritarian tactics of Donald Trump. Boylan describes how Cuomo weaponized state resources, silenced critics, and surrounded himself with enablers, all while cultivating a media image of competence and compassion. This interview complements a larger pie...
Jun 06, 2025•20 min•Ep. 395
The former governor is a corrupt abuser of power with a pro-corporate agenda and a proven track record of deadly negligence. He will do nothing to improve New Yorkers’ lives. Why on Earth is he a contender for mayor? Nathan J. Robinson, editor of Current Affairs Magazine, reads his article "Andrew Cuomo Is Worse Than You Even Know" 🗽 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/andrew-cuomo-is-worse-than-you-even-know 0:00–4:37 The Story of Mr. Smalls 4:37–13:23 Abuse of Power & Wo...
Jun 04, 2025•38 min•Ep. 394
🦩 This episode originally aired on May 30, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs Professor Richard Wolff is the host of the weekly program Economic Update, co-founder of Democracy at Work, and the author of numerous books including Understanding Marxism, Understanding Socialism, Capitalism Hits the Fan, and The Sickness Is the System. He joins Current Affairs to explain how economics is deliberately taught in a way that confuses people and obscures the realities of power an...
Jun 03, 2025•56 min•Ep. 393
This panel was recorded on October 16th, 2024 A special event hosted by Current Affairs Magazine at The New School in New York City to celebrate the release of The Myth of American Idealism, the new book co-authored by Noam Chomsky and Nathan J. Robinson. The panel explores Chomsky’s lifelong critique of U.S. foreign policy—from Vietnam and Iraq to Ukraine and Gaza—and examines why his radical analysis of American power remains essential. Joining Nathan are leading journalists, scholars, and clo...
May 28, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 392
🦩 This episode originally aired on May 20, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs John Cassidy, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Capitalism and Its Critics, joins Nathan J. Robinson to explore the history of capitalism. Cassidy examines why capitalism has been criticized from its inception, the diverse range of critiques it has faced, and how these criticisms have evolved over time. Through profiles of both iconic figures and overlooked thinkers, Cassidy unpacks ...
May 27, 2025•32 min•Ep. 391
The Democratic Party is sclerotic. It’s easy to heap blame on Joe Biden now that he is weak and powerless. But that’s a convenient way of avoiding a major reckoning. Nathan J. Robinson, editor of Current Affairs, reads his article "The Problem Goes Well Beyond Biden" 🦚 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-problem-goes-well-beyond-biden 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩TH...
May 25, 2025•27 min•Ep. 390
🦩 This episode originally aired on May 16, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs Chas Freeman is one of the most insightful voices in U.S. foreign policy, with a distinguished career as a diplomat and a deep expertise in U.S.-China relations. In this conversation with Nathan J. Robinson, Freeman offers a searing critique of America's current approach to diplomacy, the global balance of power, and its role in key international conflicts. Freeman challenges the pervasive "Chi...
May 23, 2025•48 min•Ep. 389
🦩 This episode originally aired on May 14, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs Ted Rall is one of the most influential political cartoonists on the left today. In his new book “What’s Left: Radical Solutions for Radical Problems," he presents a manifesto for left-wing politics in 2025, blending incisive analysis with his political cartoons. Rall outlines what it means to be a leftist in an era where the Democratic Party has abandoned progressive ideals. He argues that the...
May 20, 2025•46 min•Ep. 388
🦩 This episode originally aired on April 18, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs America is in crisis, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Around the world, other countries have already solved many of the problems we’re told are unsolvable here: from unaffordable healthcare to lack of parental leave, crumbling infrastructure, climate disaster, and more. So why can’t the U.S. do what other nations have already done? We’re joined by journalist and lecturer Natasha Hakimi Za...
May 16, 2025•44 min•Ep. 387
In “On Democracies and Death Cults,” Murray offers a straightforward “good versus evil” account of the Israel-Palestine conflict. He does this by excluding every piece of information that undercuts his thesis and even spreading outright falsehoods. 🦚 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/douglas-murrays-expertise-is-a-sham 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN...
May 14, 2025•29 min•Ep. 386
🦩 This episode originally aired on May 6, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs Lorne Michaels might be the most powerful figure in American comedy — and yet, most people barely know who he is. In this episode, New Yorker editor Susan Morrison joins us to discuss her new book Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, a deeply reported, wildly entertaining biography of the man behind SNL. We explore how Michaels built a cultural institution from scratch, reinvented th...
May 14, 2025•42 min•Ep. 385
🦩 This episode originally aired on April 29, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Liberalism and socialism are often treated as opposites — but what if they’re actually part of the same fight for freedom, equality, and democracy? We’re joined by political theorist Matt McManus, author of The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism, a new book that challenges conventional narratives about liberalism, socialism, and the history of political philosophy. McManus explains how th...
May 06, 2025•46 min•Ep. 384
🦩 This episode originally aired on April 22, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs Most people never think twice about shrimp. But as it turns out, these creatures make up the majority of animals alive on farms at any given time—hundreds of billions every year. And the conditions they endure are often horrifying: overcrowding, eye mutilation, and inhumane slaughter methods are all standard practice. So why don’t we care? We’re joined by Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla, chairman of ...
Apr 29, 2025•30 min•Ep. 383
A bit of a change of pace for the CA podcast today: We're going to be doing SCIENCE instead of politics. We're joined by one of the world's leading popular science writers, physics professor Sean Carroll , whose bestselling books include The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself and Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime . His latest book is The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Quanta and Fields . Sean is here today to discuss how our...
Apr 22, 2025•41 min•Ep. 382
🦩 This episode originally aired on April 4, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Sophia Rosenfeld is a distinguished historian and the author of Common Sense: A Political History. She joins Nathan to discuss how the idea of “common sense” has been used as a political weapon—from Thomas Paine to Donald Trump. Rosenfeld explains how appeals to common sense can both empower ordinary people and shut down dissent, why the term has become central to right-wing populism, and how...
Apr 18, 2025•43 min•Ep. 381
🦩 This episode originally aired on April 8, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Zohran Mamdani represents the 36th District in the New York State Assembly. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he is currently running for mayor of New York City, hoping to unseat the controversial Eric Adams, who recently escaped federal corruption charges after signaling a willingness to help the Trump administration crackdown on immigrants. Mamdani is running on a platform o...
Apr 15, 2025•29 min•Ep. 380
🦩 This episode originally aired on February 21, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Joe Biden is gone, but we are now living with the consequences of Biden's presidency, and it's important in this moment to look back over the last four years and try to understand what exactly happened to get us to this point. Was Biden's presidency doomed from the start? Which of the many competing narratives about it is true? Was it an America-wrecking catastrophe, as Trump says, or an ...
Apr 11, 2025•56 min•Ep. 379
🦩 This episode originally aired on February 26, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland of The Majority Report have spent years tracking the rise of the far right, the decay of liberal institutions, and the Democratic Party's refusal to meet the moment. They join Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to talk about what Trump and the conservative movement are really planning, why most Democrats still don’t understand the threat, and ho...
Apr 08, 2025•48 min•Ep. 378
🦩 This episode originally aired on March 18, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Peter Beinart is one of the most important Jewish intellectuals writing about Israel today. A professor, journalist, and former liberal Zionist, Beinart has undergone a profound personal and political transformation over the course of his career. In this episode, he joins Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss his new book Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A ...
Apr 04, 2025•21 min•Ep. 377
🦩 This episode originally aired on March 5, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Dr. Cornel West is one of the most electric and morally serious voices in American public life. A philosopher, theologian, activist, and jazzman of the intellect, West fuses the prophetic traditions of Black Christianity with a ferocious critique of capitalism, empire, and nihilism. His books—from Race Matters to Democracy Matters to The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought —confront the spi...
Apr 01, 2025•43 min•Ep. 376
🦩 This episode originally aired on March 14, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Francesca Fiorentini is a comedian, journalist, and host of The Bitchuation Room. She joins Nathan to discuss her viral showdowns on Piers Morgan Uncensored, why compromising with the right is a losing strategy, and why the left-wing resistance should be bold and aggressive—but also fun. 0:00–12:32 Piers Morgan 12:32-22:27 Why we can't meet the right halfway 22:27-25:57 James Carville and th...
Mar 28, 2025•44 min•Ep. 375
🦩 This episode originally aired on March 11th. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/Current Affairs! Dr. Omar Suleiman is a distinguished Islamic scholar, civil rights activist, and President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. He joins Nathan to discuss the deep roots of Islamophobia in American politics and the moral consequences of U.S. foreign policy—particularly the genocide in Gaza. Dr. Suleiman explains how systemic dehumanization shapes American policy and what can be done to...
Mar 18, 2025•44 min•Ep. 374
This episode originally aired on February 10, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Eric Blanc is the author of We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big , which covers the recent wave of unionization drives in America and summarizes the lessons we can learn from them. Eric shows that today's new unions have succeeded against incredible odds through bottom-up organizing: the workers themselves decide to organize a union, rather...
Mar 11, 2025•47 min•Ep. 373
This episode originally aired on February 6, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Dr. Genevieve Guenther, the founding director of End Climate Silence, thinks a lot about one of the most important questions of our time: How we can combat climate change denial and actually bring about the transformations to our energy systems that will halt runaway climate catastrophe. She has written a book, The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It , th...
Mar 08, 2025•44 min•Ep. 372
This episode originally aired on February 3, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Rob Larson is Current Affairs' In-House Economist. He is also the author of Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More . Rob covers the grotesque contrast between the lives of the rich and poor in this country, and the outsized power that the super-rich have over our lives. He shows how our country's w...
Mar 01, 2025•49 min•Ep. 371
