Ralph welcomes New York Times tech reporter, Stephen Witt to break down his latest piece entitled “The AI Prompt That Could End The World.” Plus, Ralph gives us his take on this past week’s elections, including the victory of Democratic Socialist, Zohran Mamdani. Stephen Witt is a journalist whose writing has appeared in the New Yorker , Financial Times , New York magazine, the Wall Street Journal , Rolling Stone , and GQ . His first book, How Music Got Free , was a finalist for the Los Angeles ...
Nov 08, 2025•1 hr 25 min
Ralph welcomes infectious disease expert Dr. Michael Osterholm to discuss his new book “The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics.” Then, Ralph shares some quick takes on current events. Dr. Michael Osterholm is a professor and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. In November 2020, Dr. Osterholm was appointed to President-elect Joe Biden’s 13-member Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board. He is the author of Deadliest En...
Nov 01, 2025•1 hr 12 min
We are joined once again by Dr. Bandy Lee, forensic and social psychiatrist and violence expert, who edited the 2017 New York Times bestselling book, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.” We get her latest take on whether someone with Trump’s psychological profile should have the nuclear football and whether he would actually leave office peacefully. Plus, Ralph assesses the latest No Kings rally. Dr. Bandy Lee is a forensic and social psychiatrist, violence expert, president of the World Mental...
Oct 25, 2025•1 hr 15 min
Ralph welcomes Professor Roddey Reid to break down his book “Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying: A Handbook for the Trump Era and Beyond.” Then, we are joined by the original Nader’s Raider, Professor Robert Fellmeth, who enlightens us on how online anonymity and Artificial Intelligence are harming children . Roddey Reid is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where he taught classes on modern cultures and societies in the US, France, and Japan. Since...
Oct 18, 2025•1 hr 36 min
Ralph welcomes Andy Shallal of Busboys and Poets to discuss his new memoir, “A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets.” Then, Ralph speaks to business consultant and activist Bennett Freeman about why Big Business isn’t standing up to the Trump Administration. Andy Shallal is an activist, artist and social entrepreneur. Mr. Shallal is the founder and proprietor of Busboys and Poets restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area, which feature prominent speakers, poets and authors and provi...
Oct 11, 2025•1 hr 55 min
Ralph welcomes Michael Mann, Professor in the “Department of Earth and Environmental Science” at the University of Pennsylvania and author along with Dr. Peter Hotez of “Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World.” Then we are joined by Martin O’Malley, former governor of Maryland and one time Commissioner of the Social Security Administration to refute all the lies being told about the state of Social Security. Dr. Michael E. Mann is Presidential Dis...
Oct 04, 2025•1 hr 30 min
Ralph answers some of your recent questions about the genocide in Gaza, how to jumpstart civic engagement, and more! Your feedback is very important. And the more detailed and factual it is, the better off the impact will be by your initiative and getting back to us. You have to be active in a program like this. Because we’re not just talking to the choir here. We want the choir to sing back—in affirmation or dissent. Ralph Nader I was astonished…how disinterested the American people are in empo...
Sep 27, 2025•1 hr 16 min
Ralph interviews New York Times reporter, David Gelles, about his new book, “Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away.” Then, we welcome back former IRS commissioner, John Koskinen, to update us on how the Trump Administration is dismantling the IRS and stealing your personal information. David Gelles is a reporter on the New York Times climate team and he leads the Times’s “Climate Forward” newsletter and events series. He is the author of Th...
Sep 20, 2025•1 hr 26 min
Ralph welcomes Timothy Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) to speak about how federal workers across all government agencies are being unfairly denigrated and summarily fired by the Trump Administration to clear the way for corporate corruption. Plus, we are joined by Toby Heaps, Editor-in-Chief of “Corporate Knights” magazine to talk about the benefits of the cooperative business model over the corporate shareholder model. Timothy Whitehous...
Sep 13, 2025•1 hr 41 min
Ralph welcomes Palestinian-American writer, activist, and scientist Susan Abulhawa to discuss the ongoing Palestinian genocide and the evidence that supports a vastly higher death toll in Gaza. Susan Abulhawa is a Palestinian-American writer and political activist . She is the author of Mornings in Jenin —translated into thirty languages—and The Blue Between Sky and Water . Born to refugees of the Six Day War of 1967, she moved to the United States as a teenager, graduated in biomedical science,...
Sep 06, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Ralph welcomes constitutional scholar, John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of the group “Free Speech for People,” which has launched the non-partisan campaign “Impeach Trump. Again.” Plus, Ralph, Steve, and David discuss Donld Trump’s servile corporatist agenda and his attempt to rig the midterms by ordering Texas to gerrymander him five more districts. John Bonifaz is a constitutional attorney and the co-founder and president of Free Speech For People . Mr. Bonifaz previously served as the e...
Aug 30, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Ralph welcomes Ben Cohen (anti-war activist and ice cream entrepreneur) to discuss his new campaign, "Up in Arms," which advocates for a common-sense Pentagon budget. Then, Ralph speaks to Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi about her recent piece: "When will we finally admit: the Gaza death toll is higher than we’ve been told." Ben Cohen is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and longtime anti-war activist. He is a co-founder of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's and a prominent supporter of prog...
Aug 23, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Ralph devotes the entire program to challenging the “official” count of 60 thousand fatalities reported so far in the genocide Israel, aided and abetted by the United States, has perpetrated on the Palestinians in Gaza. First, Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who volunteered twice in Gaza hospitals, presents the various studies that revise estimates into the hundreds of thousands. Then weapons expert, Professor Theodore Postol, backs that up with his knowledge of the destructive power of the weapons being use...
Aug 16, 2025•1 hr 36 min
Ralph welcomes labor organizer Chris Townsend to discuss the current state of the labor movement under the second Trump administration. Then, Ralph talks to journalist Mariah Blake about PFAS and her new book “They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals.” Chris Townsend has been a union member and leader for more than 45 years. He was most recently the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) International Union Organizing Director. Previously he was an International Represent...
Aug 09, 2025•1 hr 25 min
Ralph and the crew spend the whole hour with Omer Bartov, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, who grew up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of his life in Israel, served in the I.D.F. as a soldier and officer and is the author a New York Times op-ed entitled “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.” Plus, Ralph pays tribute to legendary Washington Post reporter, Morton Mintz. Omer Bartov is a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown Univers...
Aug 02, 2025•1 hr 15 min
First up, Ralph welcomes the co-founders of Doctors Against Genocide, Dr. Karameh Hawash-Kuemmerle and Dr. Nidal Jboor, to discuss their dedication to succeeding where global governments have failed in confronting genocide—particularly the acute genocide in Gaza. Then, Ralph speaks to Marcus Sims, who turns felled and fallen trees into sustainable-harvested lumber with his company Treincarnation. Finally, Ralph has co-written an open letter to Barack Obama, urging him to step up and do his part ...
Jul 26, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Our resident constitutional expert Bruce Fein joins to make the case for impeaching the Supreme Court AND the President, and what we—as citizens—can do to make it happen. Then we welcome Lori Wallach of Rethink Trade to evaluate Trump’s tariff policy. Are these trade deals bringing manufacturing back to the US? Or is Trump just using tariffs as a cudgel to punish countries that annoy him? Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Att...
Jul 19, 2025•1 hr 32 min
We begin on a positive note by welcoming a “doer,” citizen extraordinaire, Jon Merryman, who couldn’t stand the trash, especially old tires, being dumped in his neighborhood. So, he took it upon himself to clean it up and has now expanded his efforts across the country. Then co-president of Public Citizen, Robert Weissman, joins us to explain how spending in the recent bill passed by the Republican controlled Congress prioritizes the Pentagon and deportation enforcement at the expense of the soc...
Jul 12, 2025•1 hr 18 min
Hassan El-Tayyeb of the Friends Committee on National Legislation returns with an update on the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the growing movement to end U.S. support for the assault. Then, Mackenzie Knight Boyle from the Federation of American Scientists walks us through the scale and secrecy of the U.S. nuclear weapons program — and the risks it poses to the world. Finally, constitutional scholar Bruce Fein joins us to call out the unchecked power and ethical failures of the Suprem...
Jul 05, 2025•1 hr 21 min
In the aftermath of the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, we welcome back Theodore Postol, Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy Emeritus at MIT to give his expert technical assessment on where that assault leaves the Iranian nuclear program. Then, Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, gives us his analysis of the political side of the issue. Theodore Postol is Professor of Science, Technology and National Secu...
Jun 28, 2025•1 hr 16 min
To give us the benefit of his vast experience as a diplomat, former Ambassador Chas Freeman, helps us sort through the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. Then Christian Sorenson, military analyst from the Eisenhower Media Network, explains just how the military industrial complex works. Ambassador Chas Freeman is a retired career diplomat who has negotiated on behalf of the United States with over 100 foreign governments in East and South Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, a...
Jun 21, 2025•1 hr 46 min
First up, Georgetown law professor and former national legal director at the ACLU, David Cole, joins us to discuss the legal response to the Trump Administration’s serial violations of the Constitution. Then Mike Ferner of Veterans for Peace checks in to update us halfway through his Fast for Gaza, 40 days of living on 250 calories per day, which is the average caloric intake of Palestinian survivors in Gaza. Finally, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Joe Holley, stops by to pay tribute to his ...
Jun 14, 2025•1 hr 41 min
Ralph welcomes Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, to break down the budget bill passing through Congress that is the largest transfer of wealth from the poor and working-class to the wealthy in United States history. Then, insurance expert, Robert Hunter returns to discuss the recent rise in auto insurance rates. Heidi Shierholz is the president of the Economic Policy Institute , a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that uses the power of its research on economic trends ...
Jun 07, 2025•1 hr 31 min
We hear from citizen activist, Diana Kastenbaum, who organized a town meeting in her congressional district in Western New York State filled with both Democrats and Republicans airing their concerns. How did the district’s representative respond? We’ll hear the whole story. Then, Ralph welcomes back Washington Post tech reporter, Geoffrey Fowler, to discuss his latest report about how Meta promised parents it would automatically shield teens from harmful content. Find out what happened when Mr. ...
May 31, 2025•1 hr 42 min
In the midst of the terrible Trump tax bill moving through Congress, Ralph invites Sarah Anderson who directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies to discuss the massive tax loopholes huge companies like Amazon get that allow them to pay far less in taxes than ordinary working people. Then, Greg LeRoy from Good Jobs First joins us to discuss how state taxpayers are footing the bill for these massive data centers companies like Google are building all over the country. P...
May 24, 2025•1 hr 15 min
We spend the whole program with Nadav Wieman, a former IDF sniper and now executive director of Breaking the Silence, an organization of Israeli veterans who expose the reality of life in the Occupied Territories and work to end the occupation. He and Ralph discuss Nadav’s experience in the IDF and his work trying to turn the tide of sentiment in Israel against the ongoing genocide. Nadav Weiman is the executive director of Breaking the Silence , an organization of Israeli veterans who expose th...
May 17, 2025•1 hr 20 min
This week is mainly devoted to listener questions and feedback. First, Ralph answers some of the questions you have submitted over the past few weeks. Then we invite back last week’s guest, Erica Payne, of Patriotic Millionaires, to respond to your very thoughtful comments on the interview we did with that group's plan for preserving democracy by taxing the rich. Plus, Ralph highlights the outrages of the Trump/Musk assault on government programs that help ordinary people. Erica Payne is the fou...
May 10, 2025•1 hr 15 min
Ralph welcomes back Erica Payne, founder of Patriotic Millionaires, to update us on that group’s latest efforts to save American democracy by lobbying to raise wages for workers and tax the rich. Plus, according to our resident constitutional expert, Bruce Fein, the count of Trump’s impeachable offenses is now up to twenty-two and rising faster than a Space X rocket. Erica Payne is the founder and president of Patriotic Millionaires , an organization of high-net-worth individuals that aims to re...
May 03, 2025•1 hr 19 min
First, Ralph welcomes Washington Post tech journalist Faiz Siddiqui to discuss his new book "Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk." Then, our resident legal expert Bruce Fein stops by to explain how Elon Musk and DOGE are breaking the law. Finally, David picks up our interview with Ralph about Ralph's new book "Civic Self-Respect." Faiz Siddiqui is a technology journalist who writes for the Washington Post and has covered companies such as Tesla, Uber, and Twitter (now X) for the Business...
Apr 26, 2025•1 hr 16 min
Ralph talks about his new book, “Civic Self Respect” which reminds us that our civic lives have different primary roles—not only voter, but also worker, taxpayer, consumer, sometimes soldier and sometimes parent—and how each one offers special opportunities for people to organize to make change. Plus, we welcome back former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, John Koskinen, who tells us exactly how the Trump/Musk cabal is both gutting and weaponizing the IRS. John Koskinen served as th...
Apr 19, 2025•1 hr 23 min
