Joe Biden joined a UAW picket line on Tuesday – the first president ever to do so. Harold Meyerson comments. Plus: the right-wing supermajority on the Supreme Court has returned to a case about racial gerrymandering in Alabama, where Republicans have defied the Court’s order. Dahlia Lithwick will comment about that, and about her book Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America —it’s out now in paperback. Also: Adam Hochschild reports on visiting a gun show, and explains why the...
Sep 28, 2023•57 min
The UAW is being criticized by the corporate-Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party for seeking ‘too much’ in their current strike. Harold Meyerson responds. Plus: We face two kinds of insecurity in our lives today, Astra Taylor argues: existential insecurity, the unavoidable issues of life and death, and manufactured insecurity—intended to make workers more submissive to authority. Communal action can do a lot to reduce the second kind. Astra's new book is “The Age of Insecurity: Coming Toget...
Sep 21, 2023•57 min
Harold Meyerson reports on a major victory in the California state legislature that will raise pay for fast food workers from $15.50 to $20. Also: those Trump polls. Plus: the news from Haiti, where the UN, with US support, is authorizing a new security force. Made up of mostly Kenyan troops, it's supposed to restore “law and order” in Port-au-Prince. The Nation's Amy Wilentz reports. Also: Gary Younge, the award-winning former columnist for The Guardian , talks about Black writing and Black wri...
Sep 14, 2023•58 min
Harold Meyerson analyzes Biden’s weak poll numbers, and our historic upsurge in labor activism. Plus: September 11th is the 50th anniversary of the coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in Chile, ending 150 years of democracy there and putting the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Power. Marc Cooper will comment. Also: Every night, more than a million people read Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter about the day’s political events. We’ll talk with her about her new book, “Democracy Awa...
Sep 07, 2023•58 min
The Biggest news from the NLRB in decades: Harold Meyerson reports - also: the auto workers prepare to strike. Also: Harvard's first woman president, Drew Faust, talks about how she became a civil rights and anti-war activist in the sixties: her new book is "Necessary Trouble."
Aug 31, 2023•41 min
There seems to be progress toward a settlement of the strikes by Hollywood writers and actors--Harold Meyerson reports. Also: if it was a good strategy for Special Prosecutor Jack Smith to charge Trump with four felonies, is it also a good idea for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to charge Trump and 18 other people with a total of 41 felonies? Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at UC Berkeley, explains.
Aug 24, 2023•56 min
Public Libraries are often wonderful places, but they have become targets of right-wing attack in the culture war. Sasha Abramsky reports on the battle in one small town in Eastern Washington state. Also: Cornel West should not run as a 3rd party candidate, but in the Democratic Primaries--that’s what D.D. Guttenplan says – he’s editor of The Nation. Plus: A comic novel about Ethel and Julius Rosenberg? Who’d have thought that was possible? Francine Prose has written one: it’s called “The Vixen,...
Aug 17, 2023•50 min
Ohio voted on a referendum that would make it harder to amend the state constitution – including the addition of the right to abortion. The amendment lost, abortion rights won – Harold Meyerson comments. Next: Should Trump have been charged with incitement of insurrection, or at least violence? What’s the line between free speech and incitement? If Trump sincerely believed he’d won the election, can he still be prosecuted for conspiracy? Erwin Chemerinsky explains – he’s dean of the law school a...
Aug 10, 2023•57 min
Finally we have Trump's indictment for his crimes around January 6. Harold Meyerson comments; also; Trump's continued support among voters. Also: A conversation with John Powers about the two hit movies of the summer, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer." John is critic at large on the NPR show "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross.
Aug 03, 2023•43 min
The Teamsters won a historic victory in the new contract with UPS, setting the stage to take on Amazon. Harold Meyerson reports. Also: where is Melania? Plus: Hollywood actors and writers have been on strike–the Writers Guild of America since May, and the Screen Actors Guild since July 14. The studios are showing no signs of settling. WGA member and Nation writer Ben Schwartz joins the show. He argues that the studios and streamers are likely to fracture before the unions do. Also: Fintan O’Tool...
Jul 27, 2023•59 min
At last Trump will face charges for his real crimes - insurrection on Jan. 6. Harold Meyerson comments. Also, an update on the Hollywood strikes. Plus: Florida's war on Black Studies- historian Robin Kelley talks about the resistance. And Joan Walsh recalls her experience of RFK Jr. a decade ago at Salon.
Jul 20, 2023•57 min
130,000 actors are joining 12,500 screenwriters in the biggest Hollywood strike since 1960. Harold Meyerson reports. Also: the Supreme Court in 2023 wasn't all bad -- David Cole explains. Plus: D.D. Guttenplan argues that Cornel West should run, not as the Green Party candidate, but in the Democratic primaries.
Jul 13, 2023•59 min
The Summer of Strikes in Los Angeles continues, with hotel workers picketing hotels from Santa Monica to downtown on July 4 weekend, plus Teamsters preparing to strike UPS and Actors in negotiations with the studios. Harold Meyerson reports. Also: After affirmative action: what should progressives do to help people of color and other working class students attend college, and pay for it? John Nichols comments. Plus: what does it mean to be a politically committed writer? That’s the central quest...
Jul 06, 2023•1 hr 5 min
There are two big strikes in the works in L.A. right now: hotel workers and actors. 15,000 hotel workers are preparing to strike; and 200 people – including City Council and State Assembly members – were arrested during a UNITE HERE local 11 protest. Also, 160,000 actors are on the verge of joining the 11,500 writers already on strike. Harold Meyerson comments. Next: Crossing the abortion borderland from Texas to New Mexico: Amy Littlefield describes the heroic work being done in both states to ...
Jun 29, 2023•49 min
How can Democrats win back at least some white working class swing voters? We have some striking new research about that. Katie Rader discusses the issues that are most likely to mobilize them. Next: Doctors these days are caught between caught between the Hippocratic oath – “first, do no harm” – and “the realities of making a profit from people at their sickest and most vulnerable.” Eyal Press reports on the ways doctors are fighting back. Plus: When Joe Biden announced the theme of his reelect...
Jun 22, 2023•53 min
Cornel West is running for president - he can only help Trump win, argues Joan Walsh, National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation. also: You might think Republicans would take a breather after banning abortion in the states they control, but no! Instead, they’ve set their sights on a new target: no-fault divorce. The Nation ‘s Katha Pollitt reports. Also: historian Brenda Stevenson talks about the Black family under slavery and after. Her book, a history of the enslaved family in America. is “...
Jun 15, 2023•53 min
On Strike: An Actors strike looms as the Writers in LA and New York enter the sixth week of their strike. Meanwhile, 12,000 dock workers walked off the job in Southern California after contract talks deteriorated in recent days; they also shutdown operations in Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma. Also, Biden's achievements include infrastructure, economic recovery from the pandemic, investment in high-tech, investment in climate. . . how come other people, even the Democrats, have trouble remembering t...
Jun 08, 2023•50 min
Biden's debt limit deal has left progressives unhappy--Harold Meyerson says it's the best we could have expected under the circumstances. Also: The ideological roots of the January 6 insurrection go back decades before Trump entered politics — back to the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. Jeffrey Toobin will explain. His new book is ‘Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism.’ Also: a conversation with Margo Jefferson about her memoir, “Constructing a N...
Jun 01, 2023•58 min
The Minnesota legislature has passed a sweeping pro-worker labor bill that will require paid sick days, ban captive audience meetings during union drives, and more – Harold Meyerson reports. Also: Has Planned Parenthood gotten too cautious and too corporate? Are the risk managers running the organization? Eyal Press reports on the courage of independent abortion services, and the failures of Planned Parenthood. Plus: The secret history of the Koch Brothers: how the key to their empire, and their...
May 25, 2023•59 min
Workers won union recognition is some significant places in the past week. Harold Meyerson reports on interns and residents in Philadelphia joining the SEIU, a bus factory—in Georgia!—joining the Steelworkers, and dancers at a strip club in LA joining Actors Equity. Plus: Progressives and Biden: what is to be done—about the 2024 election? Bhaskar Sunkara, president of The Nation , comments. Also: Ron DeSantis is campaigning for president promising to “stop woke history.” That is, to stop teachin...
May 18, 2023•58 min
The latest polls indicate voters think Biden is too old. Should the Democrats nominate someone else? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: an update on the Writers’ Guild strike against the hollywood studios, with Josh Gondelman – he’s an Emmy-award winning writer for his work on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, on HBO. He’s also a regular on NPR’s news quiz show, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. Also: one of the Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2024 is Sherrod Brown of Ohio, one of our heroes --we sp...
May 11, 2023•57 min
At midnight on Monday, 11,500 Writers' Guild of America writers went on strike seeking a new film and TV contract. The writers voted for the strike by a historic margin: 98% in favor; 2% opposed. Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments. Also: Anatol Lieven is back after three weeks in Ukraine, where he found soldiers determined to win, and Russian bombardment doing surprisingly little damage. Plus: D.D. Guttenplan argues that it’s time to impeach Clarence Thomas, on the grounds of misc...
May 04, 2023•58 min
Tucker Carlson's audience, 3.5 million, is a lot smaller than his pioneering predecessors in right-wing media; Harold Meyerson comments. Also: recent labor victories in LA. Plus: A neighborhood in Port-au-Prince fights back against the gangs. Amy Wilentz comments on the news from Haiti. Also: Anatol Lieven is back after three weeks in Ukraine, where he found soldiers determined to win, and Russian bombardment doing surprisingly little damage.
Apr 27, 2023•56 min
Fox News created a frankenstein - and the story isn't over yet: Harold Meyerson comments on the Dominion Voting Systems settlement. Also: Afghan girls who escaped from the Taliban: the boarding school that evacuated its students from Kabul during the chaotic withdrawal of the Americans. SOLA, the School of Leadership Afghanistan is the place where Afghan girls study to become members of the generation that will one day lead a peaceful and united Afghanistan. The founder, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, wi...
Apr 20, 2023•57 min
The latest move by a Republican judge to ban the abortion drug Mefipristone is likely to turn out more Democratic voters, says Harold Meyerson. Also: Trump's Easter Sunday tweet. Plus: We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. Historian Beverly Gage joins the podcast to explain. Her new book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of the American Century" -- it's been nominated for an LA Times Book Prize, which will be awarded next...
Apr 13, 2023•52 min
Progressive Brandon Johnson won the Chicago mayoral election: Harold Meyerson explains how he did it, and the lessons for progressives. Also: The landslide victory of the progressive candidate in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, Janet Protaisewicz, ten times bigger than Biden's, shows how abortion wins elections--John Nichols explains. plus: Will Trump's indictment on 34 felonies change anything in the 2024 election? Or had everybody already decided what they think about Donald Trump? Chris Lehma...
Apr 06, 2023•58 min
Last week's 3-day strike in LA by public school custodians, food service workers, teachers' aides and bus drivers won a 30% pay increase--Harold Meyerson reports. Also: How minor league baseball players organized a union for the first time in history: Kelley Candaele and Peter Dreier report. And Dahlia Lithwick talks about some of the heroes of the Trump years: the women lawyers who fought him on the big issues—the Muslim ban, neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, and voting rights. Her book is “Lady Ju...
Mar 30, 2023•58 min
Harold Meyerson comments on the fed, the banks, and the billionaires; also, the coming indictment of Donald Trump. Plus: American women in 2023: the news is bad, but it’s not all bad. Katha Pollitt explains. Also: the largest anti-war demonstrations in American history were protests in the fall of 1969--with more than two million people in the streets demanding “End the War in Vietnam.” But did those demonstrations help end the war? Historian Chris Appy comments on the new documentary, “The Move...
Mar 23, 2023•57 min
Harold Meyerson reports on the Democrats who supported reducing regulation of mid-sized banks like Silicon Valley Bank – and on the Democrats who are taking a stand against Netanyahu’s moves against democracy for Israeli Jews. Also: John Nichols reports on the promising situation in the most important election before the 2024 presidential race: the Wisconsin Supreme Court election coming up on April 4, which could switch the court from conservative to liberal control, legalizing abortion and end...
Mar 16, 2023•58 min
Kamala Harris is not a popular figure in American politics, and the vice presidential candidate for Biden's reelection campaign in 2024 is unusually important because of his age. What to do? Harold Meyerson comments. Plus: COVID remains the number 3 cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer, with almost 3,000 deaths every week. But Biden and the Democrats are ending the federal COVID emergency. Is that really a good idea? Greg Gonsalves doesn’t think so -- he’s the Nation’s public...
Mar 09, 2023•58 min
