Biden’s weak responses to the end of abortion rights and the Supreme Court majority’s obstacles to gun control have been disastrous for Democrats. Harold Meyerson comments, and on the Georgia races with Rev. Raphael Warnock and Stacey Abrams. Also: The end of abortion in 26 states will be deadly for many poor women, especially poor women of color. Law professor Michele Goodwin explains, reviewing the history of forced pregnancy under the slave regime in antebellum America, and how it was banned ...
Jul 07, 2022•59 min
Harold Meyerson comments on Tuesday's historic testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson - and on the Supreme Court and abortion. Also: In understanding the January 6 insurrection, much of the focus has been on white nationalist militias like the Proud Boys. But white evangelicals also played a big part on January 6. Sarah Posner, author of Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind, joins the podcast to discuss religion's role in the...
Jul 01, 2022•52 min
This week's hearings of the Jan. 6 committee have been powerful and devastating in laying out the evidence of Trump's crimes, first in pressuring state officials to alter election results, and then in pressuring the Justice Department to declare the elections corrupted. John Nichols comments. Plus: Republicans have opened another front in the culture war with the slogan “parental rights”--not just banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory, whatever that is; now they are campaigning to ban com...
Jun 24, 2022•38 min
Harold Meyerson comments on the most striking revelation of the Jan. 6 hearings thus far, especially the Proud Boys going straight to the capitol instead of to Trump's speech at the 'Stop the Steal' rally. Also: The recall of Chesa Boudin, the progressive prosecutor in San Francisco, has been taken by pundits everywhere to require the Democrats to abandon their efforts to reform the police and the criminal justice system. Peter Dreier explains what's wrong with that conclusion.
Jun 17, 2022•37 min
The results of Tuesday’s primaries in L.A. and San Francisco, according to the New York Times, were “a stark warning to the Democratic Party about the potency of law and order as a political message in 2022.” Harold Meyerson disagrees. Also: our preview of the live TV hearings of the House committee on the January 6 insurrection. Plus: Also: Abortion and its opponents. Do opponents of abortion really believe abortion providers are “baby-killers”? There’s some new research about that that found o...
Jun 09, 2022•50 min
Harold Meyerson comments on the LA Mayoral race, where the police union is spending millions to defeat Karen Bass. Also: the coming end of constitutional protection for abortion gives us a lot of work to do–Katha Pollitt explains. And Lynn Garafola talks about "an Amazon of the Avant-Garde," the ballet dancer who went from revolutionary Russia to Kiev to Hollywood in the 1930s – "La Nijinska," sister of the legendary Nijinsky.
Jun 02, 2022•58 min
Reproductive rights initiatives and referendums on the ballot in November will boost Democratic turnout in swing states including Arizona and Michigan--Harold Meyerson reports. Also: Haiti is back on the front page–at least in the New York Times--and it’s not because of what’s happening there right now. The Times has published the results of a deep investigation into the history of Haiti’s forced payments to France, starting more than 200 years ago–an immense amount of money, Amy Wilentz comment...
May 24, 2022•57 min
Republicans in this week’s primaries: it’s sort like news from another planet. Harold Meyerson reports on Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ohio, on opportunities and challenges now that the Republicans have chosen their candidates. Also: John Nichols on Progressive Democrats in Tuesday’ primaries – and the deluge of money from the Israel lobby paying for ads attacking them—especially in Pittsburgh and in North Carolina. Plus: Chesa Boudin, the elected district attorney of San Francisco, on prog...
May 20, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Repealing Roe v. Wade will be a disaster for women, but a gift to Democrats in the upcoming midterms--an opportunity to win close races in swing states. Harold Meyerson runs down the key races where Dems should be able to win. Also: It’s all up to the states now, where grassroots groups are preparing an enormous logistics operation to move people across entire regions of the country that are about to go dark on abortion access. Amy Littlefield, The Nation’s abortion access correspondent, weighs ...
May 12, 2022•57 min
The Democrats’ chances in the midterms depend on turnout, on door-to-door, face-to-face organizing—and “Democracy Summer” is their plan to join with allies in organizing that kind of effort in the swing states. Harold Meyerson explains. Also: the disgraceful policy of America toward refugees from Ukraine – historian David Nasaw comments. And the wonderful writer Margo Jefferson talks about her new memoir about growing up in a middle-class Black family in Chicago – it’s called “Constructing a Ner...
May 04, 2022•54 min
Progressive Democrats will be challenging incumbent moderate Democrats across America this spring and summer—starting in Ohio as Nina Turner has a rematch with Shontel Brown for Ohio's 11th District on May 3rd, 2022—Alan Minsky comments. Next: The Amazon workers on Staten Island have won a historic victory—but now they must prepare to strike, and to win support for their strike from the community power structure. The Nation’s Strikes Correspondent, Jane McAlevey explains why, and how. Plus: Why ...
Apr 28, 2022•59 min
What the Democrats have done wrong, and what they’ve done right: Michael Kazin on the party’s history, and its future. His new book is “What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party.” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson won’t be seated on the Supreme Court until late June, but we’re still thinking about the significance of her confirmation as America’s first Black female supreme court justice and of that horrible confirmation hearing she endured. We have UC Irvine Law professor and Nation contr...
Apr 21, 2022•58 min
Inflation is a world-wide phenomenon right now- what can Biden do about prices in America? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: the French elections. Plus: The sheriff of LA County: he’s got 10,000 deputies, in America’s biggest county, with 10 million people – and he’s become LA’s biggest political problem as he faces reelection. LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano comments. Also: How could the war in Ukraine end? Anatol Lieven says Russia could gain control of the entire Donbass region and then dec...
Apr 15, 2022•58 min
It’s been a week since workers at the Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island voted to form a union – what’s the next step for the first union ever at the second biggest employer in America, and for the rest of the labor movement? Harold Meyerson has our analysis. Also: What if everybody voted? What if voting was a duty, not just a right; an obligation, something like jury duty? E.J. Dionne and Miles Rapoport will explain; their new book is "100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting." Als...
Apr 07, 2022•58 min
Build Back Better never made it through congress. So, what's in Biden's new budget proposal? Harold Meyerson of The prospect comments. Plus: Monday April 4 is the Day Of Action to Abolish Student Debt, when thousands of young people will gather in Washington D.C. to say "Pick Up the Pen, Joe" -- and abolish student debt via executive action. Astra Taylor will explain; she’s co-founder of the Debt Collective. Also, the dangers (and the benefits) of antidepressants: P.E. Moskowitz talks about the ...
Apr 01, 2022•58 min
Since the demise of Biden’s Build Back Better bill, the Democrats need other achievements to run on in the midterm campaigns. That means Biden should start using executive action. Harold Meyerson talks about the most politically important possibilities: student debt cancellation and action on prescription drug prices. Also: the Senate confirmation hearings for Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson follow a familiar script. Progressives instead should be arguing--inside and outside ...
Mar 24, 2022•58 min
After Zelensky's speech to Congress: Harold Meyerson analyzes the forces at work in Ukraine. Also: news of the class struggle in America. Plus: Bhaskar Sunkara, the new president of The Nation magazine, talks about what independent media should do during wartime. And Katha Pollitt takes up the question, "is there a right to sex?"
Mar 17, 2022•58 min
“Our constitution is not good. It urgently needs to be reimagined if we want justice and equality for all,” That’s what Elie Mystal says–he’s The Nation’s justice correspondent, and his new book is “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.” Also: slavery and its political legacy in Congress: More than 1,700 congressmen owned Black slaves, according to The Washington Post. Even after the abolition of slavery in 1865, hundreds of men who had owned slaves were senators and membe...
Mar 07, 2022•52 min
Biden chose bipartisanship in his State of the Union speech--but the Republicans show no signs of cooperating, Harold Meyerson says. Also: progressive gains in the Texas midterm primary elections. plus: Katrina vanden Heuvel on what she calls "Putin's War" in Ukraine, and how Russians are responding. Also: The Canadian truckers' protest is over--what are the lessons for American Progressives? Jeet Heer comments.
Mar 03, 2022•56 min
Republicans and Ukraine - this segment recorded Wednesday afternoon, before Putin's attack on Thursday. Harold Meyerson comments. Also: news of the class struggle in America. plus: Amy Wilentz on Paul Farmer - he founded Partners in Health, bringing high quality health care to some of the world's poorest people. Also: Biden and the Border: Ahilan Arulanantham of the UCLA Law School comments on Biden's broken promises about immigration and asylum.
Feb 24, 2022•55 min
Bernie Sanders blames both US Policy and Putin for the Ukraine crisis - much smarter than DSA, which barely mentions Putin in its statement, as Harold Meyerson explains. Also: Mitch McConnell thinks Republicans are going to lose the Senate in November if Trump’s candidates and issues dominate the election. Is McConnell right? John Nichols comments.
Feb 18, 2022•47 min
The Democrats are not doomed to defeat in the midterms, says Ro Khanna. Politics can turn around in the next few months. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in Congress, where he’s a prominent figure in the Progressive Caucus. His new book is Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us. Also: Amy Wilentz discusses Haiti: a country that should be inaugurating a new president. It has done so every five years on February 7—except for glitches, coups, and postponements—ever since Baby Doc ...
Feb 11, 2022•52 min
Republican strategies in the coming Supreme Court nomination fight: Harold Meyerson comments. Also: A billionaire for mayor in L.A.? also: It's Black History Month, and we feature Isabel Wilkerson and her unforgettable book about the Great Migration, "The Warmth of Other Suns.” Plus: Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, talks about her path from immigrant to organizer to member of Congress. Her book is "Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Polit...
Feb 04, 2022•58 min
Harold Meyerson on The Supreme Court vacancy, and how things could get beter for the Dems. Also: Gustavo Arellano on "A People's Guide to Orange County" Plus Ellen Schrecker on "The Lost Promise: American Universities in the Sixties"
Jan 28, 2022•57 min
What can the Dems do to dig themselves out of the hole they are now stuck in? Harold Meyerson says they need to pass the most popular parts of Build Back Better - ASAP. Plus: Beto O'Rourke's strategy for winning the governorship of Texas focuses on organizing everywhere to massively boost Democratic voter turnout—the strategy Stacey Abrams has followed in Georgia. Steve Phillips explains how more than a million young voters of color will be eligible to vote in 2022 who were not old enough four y...
Jan 21, 2022•59 min
What is to be done about inflation? Harold Meyerson says it's not Joe Biden's fault. Plus: Is Omicron the kinder, gentler covid we could live with? Mike Davis has some criticisms of that view. Also: The 1619 Project examines the consequences of slavery for American history - Martha Jones comments on the 1619 Project's new book.
Jan 14, 2022•58 min
It looks like Joe Manchin will torpedo filibuster reform, this killing voting rights legislation: Harold Meyerson reports from Washington. Also: Eric Foner and Henry Louis Gates talk about W.E.B. DuBois, the Black historian and activist of the first part of the 20th century, and his book Black Reconstruction 1860-1880—published originally in 1935, and out now in a new edition from the Library of America, edited by Foner and Gates. Plus: Adam Hochschild on his book "Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to...
Jan 07, 2022•59 min
2021, the year in review: Gary Younge on the Insurrection: what was the plan? Mike Davis on the Pandemic: beware of talk about "light at the end of the tunnel" Rick Perlstein on the Republicans' 40-year campaign to ban abortion. plus: we remember Rennie Davis- he died in February.
Dec 31, 2021•56 min
Trump is going to be indicted for racketeering and fraud, because of his financial crimes, and that will prevent him from being the Republican candidate: that’s what David Cay Johnston says—he’s an award-winning investigative reporter, and his new book is 'The Big Cheat: How Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family.' Also: Revelations about the January 6 insurrection include striking new information about the Trump kids that day: Who did what, and also who didn’t do anything. Am...
Dec 24, 2021•57 min
Biden’s signature social programs are not going to pass before the New Year, and maybe not at all, because of Joe Manchin’s obstructionism: Harold Meyerson reports. Also: some good news on unions, especially at the University of California. Later in the show, how climate change will transform the coming face-off between the US and China – historian Alfred McCoy says China will be the world’s number one military & economic power by 2030 but Chinese domination will last for only 20 years, because ...
Dec 17, 2021•54 min
