Trump claimed that he could bypass Congress to impose tariffs under IEEPA due to a trade deficit emergency over the last 40 years; but, a federal panel blocked him from imposing those tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada and 50 other countries. Now it's on its way to the Supreme Court – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Rural America is Trump country. Last November Trump carried 93 percent of rural counties.. How can Democrats change that? Anthony Flaccavento and Erica Etelson, co-founders of the Rura...
May 30, 2025•58 min
Harold Meyerson comments on the GOP's "grotesquely cruel" budget – starting with the impossible work requirements for Medicaid, and then Trump's broken campaign promise NOT to cut Medicare. Also: “A rally a day keeps the fascists away” – that’s what Jamie Raskin says. He’s the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and he talks about Trump’s “world historical grift,” and why we shouldn’t be pessimistic about defeating his efforts. Plus: 20 minutes without Trump: 1925 is being celebra...
May 23, 2025•58 min
What obligations do colleges and universities have to protect students from anti-Semitism and Islamophobia? What obligations do they have to let students speak freely about issues they care about? David Cole just testified before Congress about that—he’s the former National Legal Director of the ACLU, and The Nation’s legal affairs correspondent. Also: Trump’s partnership in Washington with his biggest donor, Elon Musk, is coming to an end. The richest man in the world, who made the biggest cam...
May 16, 2025•58 min
So much good news in the last few days – first up: in North Carolina, a Trump-appointed federal judge ruled on the contested state supreme court race that "you don't change voter qualifications AFTER the election" and so, the winner of the state supreme court race, a Democrat, must be certified – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Dahlia Lithwick explains three key court cases where Trump suffered major defeats, which, she argues, are likely to have an “exponential effect” on other judges. Meanwhil...
May 09, 2025•51 min
This May Day, there were big demonstrations everywhere – more than 900 cities and towns – participants included Bernie Sanders and many notable unions; and the banner for this organized national protest targeted not just Trump: "For the workers, not the billionaires" – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Donald Trump is "the greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s"—that’s what Princeton’s president Christopher Eisgruber said. Others say that what Trump is doing is w...
May 02, 2025•52 min
At 100 days, Trump's approval ratings are his worst yet – starting with Pew Research poll 40% approve 59% disapprove. And Trump has the worst ratings of any other president approaching the 100 day mark in history – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: J D Vance said it most clearly: for the Trump people, “The universities are the enemy.” That’s why Trump is cutting billions of federal funding and making impossible demands that threaten dozens of universities. But universities have begun to resis...
Apr 25, 2025•51 min
The Fighting Oligarchy tour of Bernie Sanders and AOC has had amazing turnouts: 36,000 people in Los Angeles, 100,000 people in Coachella, and huge crowds in red districts across the country; followed by big campaign donations as Bernie and AOC become "the personification of the resistance" against the Trump administration. Also, Trump continues to defy court orders, including those issued after the unanimous Supreme Court ruling to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the US from El Salvador ...
Apr 18, 2025•57 min
Trump is weaker after caving on tariffs - Harold Meyerson analyzes the new political landscape - and assesses the economic damage. Also: Trump’s tariffs are not really about trade, they’re a form of blackmail – but the alternative is not a return to the free trade policies introduced by Clinton and Obama. Lori Wallach of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project explains what kind of tariffs we need, combined with government support for reindustrialization. Plus: ...
Apr 11, 2025•58 min
Last Tuesday, the Democrats made striking gains in districts that were solid red – and Wisconsin's State Supreme Court maintained its liberal majority. Meanwhile, Trump claims that his sweeping tariffs are to restore US manufacturing; but Paul Krugman says it's all based on ridiculous, totally false statistics – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: The Wisconsin Supreme Court election tested the political power of Musk’s money, and voters rejected his candidate. The results have huge implications for...
Apr 03, 2025•57 min
Thursday night, Trump signed an Executive order abolishing union rights at more than two dozen federal agencies – part of his campaign to destroy the government. Harold Meyerson comments on this "ultimate form of union busting". Also: Bernie Sanders and AOC are on their “fighting oligarchy” tour, and in Denver last weekend they had the biggest political event there since Obama in 2008. It was also the biggest rally of Bernie’s life – bigger than anything in his presidential campaigns.&...
Mar 28, 2025•59 min
A key source of opposition to authoritarian regimes in recent history has come from universities and colleges. Trump has been attacking the independence of American universities, demanding they submit to his requirements and using massive funding cuts as his weapon. David Cole, formerly National Legal Director of the ACLU, has our analysis. Also: Mahmoud Khalil is the Palestinian student activist at Columbia arrested and jailed by ICE. The Trump administration intends to rev...
Mar 21, 2025•58 min
As the Senate prepares to vote on the Republican budget, Harold Meyerson talks about what's at stake for Democrats who join Chuck Schumer in voting with Republicans, and the great majority in the opposition. Plus: unions take Trump to court over firings. Also: The Supreme Court ruled against Trump last week in the first test of his refusal to release money appropriated by Congress, and more than a dozen more similar cases are likely to come before the court –– probably including a challenge to h...
Mar 14, 2025•59 min
Trump's forgettable State of the Union speech shows he remains in campaign mode, rather than governing: Harold Meyerson comments. Plus: Trump suffered a big loss at The Supreme Court in the first challenge to his unconstitutional seizure of power: an order to release USAID funding appropriated by Congress. The suit was brought by Public Citizen; their co-president, Robert Weissman, will explain. Also: John Nichols with our protest update for the week. Topics include: includes Tesla dea...
Mar 07, 2025•58 min
"The Coup Has Failed" writes David Dayen in The American Prospect; no president has been less popular than Trump after his first month in office, and "the thing about populism is you have to be popular" – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: House Progressive leader Ro Khanna says “economic empowerment” for the working class should become the Democrats’ “defining cause.” And he comments on this week’s battle in the House over the Republican budget. Plus: Thomas Geoghegan argues that, to win...
Feb 28, 2025•47 min
The House budget plan could see deep cuts to Medicaid but, "the political basis for cutting Medicaid because 'this can only hurt the Democrats' is really no longer the case;" also, on Kash Patel's confirmation as the new director of the FBI: "there's nothing like reconfiguring the FBI so it carries out whatever Donald Trump wants, which is what Kash Patel would do" – Harold Meyerson has our political update. Plus: The first big election of 2025 will be in Wisconsin, which elects a new ...
Feb 21, 2025•39 min
Churches are coming together to fight Trump – the lawsuit filed challenges ICE raids in places of worship on First Amendment Freedom of Religion grounds. Also, what does it tell us that both Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted 'Yes' for two terrible Trump nominees (Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr.) when they didn't have to? Harold Meyerson comments. Plus: Trump has lost a series of major legal battles in the last week, where courts have ruled that key executive orders of his are unconstitutional.&nb...
Feb 14, 2025•48 min
The Democrats have become more active in trying to stop the worst of Trump - and Musk - Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments on Senate and House leaders - and on the recent administration attacks on the NLRB. Also: Trump’s strategy of flooding the zone with executive actions is intended to paralyze the opposition. But there’s lots of grassroots mobilization underway right now, and one of the biggest organizers of that mobilization is Indivisible. Leah Greenberg will explain the...
Feb 07, 2025•46 min
This week's popular outrage over Trump's stopping funding of all social programs forced him to throw in the towel after just a few hours - demonstrating how weak he is, and how powerful the opposition can be. John Nichols comments. Also: The battle to get us to pay attention: Chris Hayes explains--His new book is "The Siren's Call." Plus: Your Minnesota Moment - Trump attacks small town sanctuaries for undocumented residents.
Jan 31, 2025•57 min
How did we get here, with Trump returning to the White House? Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments on the 93 million people who could have voted – but didn’t –and on Trump’s Day One executive orders. Also: Now that Trump is preparing to round up and deport undocumented residents, we want to thank them for everything they’ve done to make America good. Gustavo Arellano will explain – he’s a columnist for the LA Times whose father came to the US in the 1960s in the trunk of ...
Jan 24, 2025•58 min
As we prepare for Trump to take office next week, we're getting ready to challenge him and his people in the upcoming elections later this year. But before that, we have an important election in the next few weeks: the Democratic National Committee will elect a new chair on February 1 to prepare for the battles and the campaigns to come – John Nichols comments. Also: Trump promises to deport millions of undocumented residents, while Republicans in Congress threaten a nationwide abortion ban. Mea...
Jan 17, 2025•58 min
Trump has come out in favor of combining many of his biggest priorities into one big budget reconciliation bill – because the budget reconciliation impacts the economy, this bill is not subject to filibuster by the Democrats; so, it could pass the Senate with 50 Republican votes. But some Republicans are likely to resist – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Trump’s “dictatorship on day one” will feature executive orders to deport undocumented residents. Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the ...
Jan 10, 2025•58 min
A fight has broken out between Elon Musk and the MAGA activists and base about immigration – specifically, over H-1B visas. But what exactly IS an H-1B visa; and why is there so much heat around the issue? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s famous 900 page book, is partly “too dumb to accomplish anything at all”– the rest, can be read as a useful catalog of how we should focus our resistance – Rick Perlstein explains. Plus: The ever-elusive Bob Dylan seems an...
Jan 03, 2025•58 min
Donald Trump has been bad for America but good for American book publishers. Now that Trump is coming back we look at what the best of those books had to say about him, also, the worst: Also, Melania has published a memoir: “Melania,” where she revisits plagiarizing Michelle Obama for her 2016 RNC convention speech, and wearing that jacket that said “I don’t care, do U?” when she visited INS detention camps for children separated from their parents at the border. Amy Wilentz comments on her...
Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Disney unions won the biggest ever back pay settlement, and Amazon drivers in the Southland are going on strike this week - Harold Meyerson reports on the class struggle in Southern California. Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turn to Sean Wilentz. He’s the official historian at BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton. (Originally recorded in January, 2005.)&nb...
Dec 20, 2024•40 min
Workers in Los Angeles and Wisconsin made major gains this week, while the NLRB is falling into Trump's hands, thanks to Joe Manchin & Kyrsten Sinema -- Harold Meyerson reports. Also: a new episode of “The Children’s Hour,” Amy Wilentz reports on “Lives of the In-Laws”—Ivanka’s father-in-law, and Tiffany’s -- and comments also on the rise of Trump's daughter-in-law Lara, the wife of Eric.
Dec 13, 2024•41 min
The GOP majority in the House will be 217-to 215 Dems – for months, until special elections in April bring it up to 220. What are the odds odds that House Republicans will be 100% united when Trump sends them his key legislation? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: “Our worst enemy right now is not Trump himself, but fatalism about our ability to stop him.” That’s what David Cole says – he recently stepped down as National Legal Director of the ACLU, after 8 years and hundreds of lawsuits ...
Dec 06, 2024•46 min
Trump's terrible cabinet picks – what if the Democrats use these remaining two months to hold their own confirmation hirings? Also, are Democrats out of touch with the American people? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: A lot of people who voted for abortion rights referenda this year also voted for Trump. What were they thinking? How do they understand politics? Amy Littlefield spent election day in Amarillo, Texas, trying to find out. Plus: From the archives: Bob Dylan in 1964, when he was 23; Se...
Nov 21, 2024•59 min
Trump's initial nominees include Matt Gaetz for Attorney General – "the group that is probably most elated by this are his fellow Republican House members who hate his guts" – Harold Meyerson discusses Trump's crazy cabinet. Also: Hope does not mean saying ‘this is not bad,’ Rebecca Solnit argues; it just means we will not give up—because we know that what we do matters, and we also know we’ve been surprised by good things we never expected. Plus: Melania has been absent from Trump's side; ...
Nov 14, 2024•58 min
Big Picture: Trump won a landslide in the electoral college and control of the Senate; control of the House is unclear at this point. So much good work went into fighting Trump; but, a majority of voters know who Trump is and chose him. So, how did we get here? And, what do we do next? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: John Nichols looks at the elections results: For starters: Trump got fewer votes than 4 years ago; 55% of voters in the CNN exit poll said he was “too extreme.” Plus: Harriet Tubman...
Nov 07, 2024•57 min
If Harris wins Pennsylvania – a predominately working-class state – she probably wins the election; so, what could be the most effective closing argument to convince working-class voters there to vote for Harris? New research by The Center for Working-Class Politics tested messages and found that the strongest one singles out corporations for raising prices — Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Melania has published a memoir, Melania , where she revisits plagiarizing Michelle Obama for her 201...
Oct 31, 2024•54 min
