Voting rights suffered a defeat in the Senate this week, but really it's just the latest battle in a continuing struggle—and if anything, it clarifies the real problem: the filibuster must go, at least for voting rights legislation. John Nichols says it’s now up to grassroots groups to go to work on reluctant Democrats during the July 4 break. Also, here's an idea: Create a new Federal Writers Project, hiring a thousand out of work writers and journalists to document American lives during the pa...
Jun 23, 2021•29 min
Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are not the only Democrats opposed to filibuster reform—Dianne Feinstein says she won’t vote for it, either. And there are more Democrats in the Senate staying the same thing. But without filibuster reform, the rest of the Democrats’ agenda is dead—starting with protection of voting rights and elections. What’s wrong with these people? Joan Walsh comments. Also: Many people think of Jimmy Carter as a failure as president, the Democrat who opened the door to Reagan,...
Jun 16, 2021•39 min
Republicans are not just making it harder to vote—they’re making it easier for judges and state legislatures to reverse the results of elections they have lost. Congressional action could block these changes—but that requires filibuster reform, and Joe Manchin says he won’t vote for filibuster reform. What does Joe Manchin want? John Nichols comments. Also: Amy Wilentz comments on the earthquake in Israeli politics: the end of Bibi Netanyahu, after 12 years as Prime Minister, and a new governing...
Jun 09, 2021•37 min
Joe Biden went to Tulsa on Tuesday to commemorate the fact that, one hundred years ago this week, in 1921, a white mob attacked an all-Black neighborhood there. It was one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history. Historians think it left 300 dead and 10,000 homeless. David M. Perry comments on the political issues around the historical facts -- he’s a journalist and historian whose work has appeared in The New York Times , The Atlantic , The Guardian , The Washington Post , and ...
Jun 02, 2021•33 min
While Joe Biden has pledged an “ironclad commitment to Israel's security," many Democrats in Congress, and outside of Congress, have been moving away from unquestioning support for Israel since the Israeli attacks on Gaza last week. John Nichols reports. Plus: It’s probably the most radical show that’s ever been on TV: Exterminate All the Brutes , the 4-part, 4-hour documentary about colonialism and genocide, by Raoul Peck, playing now on HBO Max. Historian Robin D.G. Kelley comments. Subscribe ...
May 26, 2021•31 min
Palestinians and Israel: Saree Makdisi talks about what Netanyahu has called “the second front”: Palestinian citizens of Israel, who are increasingly subject to attack by right-wing Jewish mobs, and who are increasingly active in support of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Gaza. Saree is a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA and his work has appeared in the New York Times , the Washington Post , the Guardian , and the London Review of Books , as well as The Nation . Also: T...
May 19, 2021•41 min
Conflict between Israel and Palestine has been escalating this week. For this podcast we have two segments about Palestinians; neither is about the current crisis, which changes daily. Rachel Kushner visited a Palestinian refugee camp in 2016 – Shuafat, the only one inside Jerusalem – alongside a community organizer as he tried to solve massive problems. Her report, published originally in the New York Times Magazine, appears in her new book of nonfiction, “The Hard Crowd.” And Adam Shatz talks ...
May 12, 2021•45 min
Blake Bailey’s new book about Philip Roth was taken out of print by the publisher after Bailey was accused of rape and attempted rape and “grooming” his teenage students for sex with him when they reached 18. Nation columnist Katha Pollitt argues that, while she believes the women—Bailey probably was a rapist, as well as a misogynist and a creep— readers should nevertheless have the chance to buy the book and come to their own conclusions . Also: Literature, art, and the idea of ‘freedom’ during...
May 05, 2021•30 min
Mazie Hirono, Senator from Hawaii: She’s the only immigrant currently serving in the Senate, and she was the first Asian American woman elected to that office, starting in 2013. She talks about the need for filibuster reform and Supreme Court reform, about the storming of the capitol on January 6, and about her vote on Amy Coney Barrett: “Hell No.” Her new autobiography is Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story . Also: Bill Gates, the second richest man in the world, has spent the last 20 ...
Apr 28, 2021•45 min
Guilty, guilty, guilty! The verdicts in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis made history—and came only after millions of people took to the streets, for months, in hundreds of cities across America; and only after a decade of sustained organizing by Black Lives Matter. Jody Armour comments—he’s the Roy Crocker Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, and author of N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law . Also: Earth Day 2021 is the world’s largest civic e...
Apr 21, 2021•35 min
The union organizing campaign at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, was defeated by a vote of 1798 against and 738 in favor. Jane McAlevey argues that the biggest factor in the vote was the laws that give tremendous advantages to the corporate side—but the union itself made a series of tactical and strategic errors. Jane is The Nation ’s strikes correspondent. Also: Hunter Biden was the target of a massive Republican attack campaign for more than a year leading up to the electio...
Apr 14, 2021•37 min
There’s one political prediction that always comes true: record turnout in one election will be followed by a tidal wave of voter suppression efforts before the next one. So it’s not surprising that, after 2020 had record turnout, 2021 is seeing voting rights under attack nationwide by Republican-controlled state legislatures. Georgia has taken the lead—and Georgia is being challenged in court by the ACLU, along with the LDF (the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund) and the Southern Poverty Law Center. D...
Apr 07, 2021•28 min
The political transformation of Kyrsten Sinema, the new senator from Arizona: She’s one of the two most conservative Democrats in the Senate—but Aida Chavez explains that she started out to the left of the Party . Also: Should Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retire? He’s 82, and apparently healthy and competent—but his retirement would give Biden a chance to nominate a younger person—he’s promised a Black woman—while the Democrats control the Senate. Joan Walsh comments. Subscribe to The Na...
Mar 31, 2021•27 min
The arrival of multiple vaccines against Covid-19 in less than a year after the virus’s emergence is sort of a miracle—but there’s nothing miraculous about the failure of donor nations, along with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, to prepare for, and mount, a global vaccination campaign. Gregg Gonsalves comments. Also: now that Trump is gone, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson has become the leading Republican voice of conspiracy theories and the leading defender of the attack on the capitol on J...
Mar 24, 2021•37 min
One of the senate seats being abandoned by a Republican incumbent is in Ohio. Can Democrats win that seat? It’s going to be hard. Unlike North Carolina, which will also have an open Republican seat, Ohio has not been divided 50-50 recently. For the last decade it has elected only one Democrat to statewide office--one of our heroes, Senator Sherrod Brown. Steve Phillips thinks they can send a second Democrat to the Senate from Ohio next year—by following the Georgia playbook and focusing on turni...
Mar 17, 2021•36 min
It’s been almost exactly a year since the covid lockdown began – 220 million Americans have died of Covid-19, and now 90 million Americans have gotten at least one shot of the covid vaccine. We could have herd immunity in July. But Mike Davis points to the proliferation of variants of the virus and says “beware the light at the end of the covid tunnel.” Also: Michelle Obama’s memoir is out now in paperback - It’s called “Becoming,” and it has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide in hardcov...
Mar 10, 2021•39 min
Chesa Boudin , the recently elected district attorney of San Francisco, talks about prisoners as parents—he grew up with parents in prison (David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin), and wrote about it for The Nation . Also: Amy Wilentz reports on the huge protests in Port-au-Prince last Sunday, the biggest in decades, and asks: Why is the Biden administration following Trump when it comes to US policies in Haiti ? Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe . Ad...
Mar 03, 2021•37 min
What are we going to do about the 74 million people who voted for Trump? Katha Pollitt has been thinking about that—and about proposals that we should try to find common ground with the 75 percent who have told pollsters they think Trump “definitely” or “probably” won the election. Also: Historian Eric Foner talks about Will Smith’s 6-part series on Netflix on the 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, which established birthright citizenship and guaranteed equal protection to all “person...
Feb 24, 2021•33 min
The Republicans after the second impeachment: As Mitch McConnell takes the lead in trying to purge Trump from the party, how divided are they? And how much weaker as a result? Rick Perlstein comments—he’s the author of the new book Reaganland: America's Right Turn, 1976-1980 —widely regarded as the best political book of last year. Also: Biden and the Democrats still have to succeed at changing things enough to win new supporters—and now that impeachment is finished, his $1.9 trillion pandemic r...
Feb 17, 2021•39 min
John Nichols considers the arguments made by Trump’s lawyers, and by Republican Senators, that Trump is not guilty of inciting the insurrection of January 6, that he did not incite his followers to storm the capitol and attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the electoral college. Also: the implications of finding Trump not guilty. Plus: we take a step back from this week’s politics and look forward to 2022 and future elections—the Democrats’ victories in Georgia wer...
Feb 10, 2021•34 min
Eight hundred people stormed the Capitol building on January 6, but fewer than 200 have been charged with crimes. Why so few? Elie Mystal , The Nation ’s Justice correspondent, says every one of the 800 committed crimes that day and should be prosecuted . Also: For Black History Month, Gary Younge talks about Barack Obama and his memoir A Promised Land— and the refusal of many liberals to critique his policies and decisions. Finally: we remember Rennie Davis--he died on Feb. 2. Subscribe to The ...
Feb 03, 2021•40 min
The national death toll from covid-19 will reach half a million next month, and new strains of the virus are threatening. Joe Biden has called for what he calls “full-scale wartime effort,” including $350 million in direct funding, and now he’s aiming for 150 million vaccine doses in is first 100 days. Gregg Gonsalves comments on what Biden and Congress need to do now. Also: Faced by the pandemic and economic collapse, Biden knows he has to work harder and faster than any president since Frankli...
Jan 27, 2021•33 min
Biden’s inauguration marked a triumph of hope over fear, says Joan Walsh . First we celebrate, and then we go to work debating what is possible and what is necessary—all the things that real people really need. The next four years will bring progressives some political frustration and some disappointments, but that will be so much better than what we’ve had for the last four yers. Plus: In Joe Biden’s first speech as president-elect, he promised Black America that he would have their backs. Now ...
Jan 20, 2021•43 min
As the House moves to impeach Trump—a second time—for “incitement of insurrection,” Republican support for Trump is wavering. John Nichols comments on the historic moment that is at hand. Also: Biden’s first 100 days begin January 20, and his first acts should include an executive order cancelling student debt—that’s what Astra Taylor says, she’s co-founder of the Debt Collective and has published widely. Other forms of debt cancellation can follow—medical debt, consumer debt, the coming bills f...
Jan 13, 2021•41 min
Wednesday was one of the worst days in the history of American democracy—Joan Walsh comments on the Trump mob that stormed the capitol, the capitol police who didn't arrest them, the Republicans who continue to stand by Trump—and the Republicans who don't. Also: Eric Foner provides historical context for Wednesday's events in Washington, and also the victories in the Georgia Senate races. Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe . Advertising Inquiri...
Jan 07, 2021•35 min
Vaccine priorities: political and ethical questions about who comes first, after health care workers. Gregg Gonsalves considers the arguments—the choice is between reducing the death toll—which means giving priority to the oldest people—and keeping society functioning—which means giving priority to essential workers. And the Global South must be included in all vaccine distribution plans—because “the virus doesn’t care where you live.” Also: 2020 in review: the political year began with Bernie w...
Dec 30, 2020•37 min
A year, and a decade, of political challenges: Joan Walsh reviews the fall and rise of Kamala Harris, the return of Joe Biden, and the deepening problem posed over the last decade by white voters who now support Trump. And Amy Wilentz reviews what happened in 2020 to Ivanka, Jared, Don Junior and Eric Trump—boy did those kids get into trouble this year! Jared was put in charge of pandemic response, Ivanka carried the bible for that disastrous photo-op, and Don Junior and Eric tried to outdo thei...
Dec 23, 2020•34 min
Obama’s memoir of his political rise and his first two years in office, A Promised Land , reminds us of a time when Donald Trump barely existed on our political landscape and in our consciousness. Eric Foner comments on what’s in the book—and what Obama leaves out. Also: John le Carré died on Saturday—he was 89, and one of the greats, author of two dozen books people called “spy novels,” although they were much more than that. John Powers comments—he’s critic-at-large on Fresh Air with Terry Gro...
Dec 16, 2020•36 min
This week, as the UK began vaccinating people against Covid 19, we consider proposals here in the US to establish a coronavirus commission, empowered to investigate the many failures in the fight against the virus: Mike Davis says that is something progressives should fight for—and insist on subpoena powers. Also: Will Donald Trump pardon Ivanka and Jared—and Don Junior and Eric? What exactly are their crimes? It sounds like it's time for another episode of The Children’s Hour—with Amy Wilentz ....
Dec 09, 2020•33 min
Georgia is the center of the political universe right now. On January 5, Georgia votes for two senators, a runoff election that will determine which party controls the Senate and thus the fate of any Democratic initiatives after Biden becomes president on January 20. Joan Walsh comments on the campaigns of Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock as they challenge incumbent Republicans Kelley Loeffler and David Purdue—and on Trump, who once again is eager to make it all about himself. Also: On Mo...
Dec 02, 2020•35 min
