Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ protests, with 5 million people at 2100 events, was the largest single day of protest in American history. Leah Greenberg of Indivisible will talk about how the event was organized, and what comes next. Also: The Medicaid cuts provide a lifetime opportunity for us to reach the 70 million people who did not vote and the 60 per cent of Trump voters who are not MAGA -- that's what Ai-jen Poo says. She's director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and President of Care i...
Jun 18, 2025•38 min
And now for something a little different: American Prestige has released the first two episodes of their standalone miniseries with the crew from We're Not So Different . Get the rest of the episodes here . Our journey through the First Crusade starts where the Crusaders themselves did: in western Europe with Pope Urban II and the Council of Clermont. We’ll discuss conditions in Latin Christendom in the late 11th century, what prompted the Pope’s call for Crusade, and how it was receiv...
Jun 17, 2025•1 hr 16 min
A hotel for Thatcher’s fallen soldiers in the Falkland Islands. A hospital for Rikers inmates. A home for workers in the offshore fossil fuel industry. These are just a few of the past lives of “Jascon 27” – a Scandinavian ship that is the subject of writer Ian Kumekawa’s new book, Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge . The Vessel is, of course, a ship that transports people and goods. But, as journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian notes, and Kumekawa’s book reveals, it is als...
Jun 16, 2025•27 min
Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have reported that Elon Musk, currently trying to mend a feud with his quondam political ally Donald Trump, is a heavy user of mind alternating substances ranging from Ketamine to LSD to mushrooms to cocaine. While this story has been treated as one about the foibles of one increasingly erratic powerful man, it has wider implications. The financial journalist Jacob Silverman, author of an upcoming book about Musk, notes that there is a wider dr...
Jun 15, 2025•43 min
NOTE: This episode was recorded before Israel's attack on Iran. Danny and Derek are everyday people who still believe in you . This week: the AUKUS security partnership is under review at the Pentagon (1:47); the IAEA rebukes Iran, nuclear negotiations are going nowhere, and Trump is evacuating nonessential personnel from the Middle East (5:14); in Israel-Palestine, Israeli soldiers continue to gun down people at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites as Hamas kills several GHF workers (10:24), the ...
Jun 13, 2025•38 min
Paris Marx is joined by Karen Hao to discuss how Sam Altman’s goal of scale at all costs has spawned a new empire founded on exploitation of people and the environment, resulting in not only the loss of valuable research into more inventive AI systems, but also exacerbated data privacy issues, intellectual property erosion, and the perpetuation of surveillance capitalism. Karen Hao is an award-winning journalist and the author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI . Adver...
Jun 12, 2025•51 min
With tanks rolling down the street in DC on Saturday and troops being deployed to LA, it’s never been more important to come together in nonviolent action to exercise our First Amendment right to peaceful protest. That’s what the organization Indivisible says about Saturday’s National Day of Defiance – the nationwide “No Kings” protests. Ezra Levin will explain; he’s co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible. Also: Who, exactly, is being arrested by ICE agents in Los Angeles? Why is th...
Jun 11, 2025•38 min
In this week’s episode, Danny speaks with journalist Ross Benes about his book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times . They discuss the connection between the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and “trash culture”, what makes the instantiation of reality TV in 1999 unique and how early reality shows foreshadowed modern politics, how Beanie Babies were akin to “stock investments” for working class and lower middle class people, Pokémon as a pure distillation o...
Jun 10, 2025•54 min
Across the country, Democratic leaders and voters are beginning to push back against Trump’s cruelty and chaos. Some are cautiously optimistic that a few key state races could serve as a crucial odd-year referendum—with major implications for voters, donors, and even Republican politicians who may reconsider their allegiances after significant MAGA defeats. Joining us today is our own national affairs correspondent, John Nichols, who, in our July issue, turned his focus to two potential bellweth...
Jun 09, 2025•40 min
We’re sorry to say that we’re professionals, and Danny and Derek’s falling out will be behind closed doors. In this week’s news: in Russia-Ukraine, Ukraine launches a massive drone strike and bombs several bridges (0:41), peace talks in Istanbul make little progress (5:43), and Donald Trump speaks to Vladimir Putin (7:51); in Israel-Palestine, more massacres are carried out at aid centers as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation suspends operations (13:04), the US vetoes another UN ceasefire resoluti...
Jun 06, 2025•44 min
Paris Marx is joined by Sam Biddle to discuss how Silicon Valley is shamelessly courting government military contracts, using tactics to silence employee dissent and normalize the situation to the public, and what it all means for the future of military geopolitics. Sam Biddle is a senior technology reporter at The Intercept . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Jun 05, 2025•57 min
Forget the midterms next year, at least for now. The fight against Trump runs through the elections this November—starting with Virginia and New Jersey. The Nation 's national affairs correspondent John Nichols explains. Also: J. Hoberman, the long-time film critic for The Village Voice , talks about the happenings, the underground movies, and the radical art and music— from Bob Dylan to Andy Warhol to Yoko Ono. His new book is Everything is Now: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde. Advertising Inqui...
Jun 04, 2025•37 min
Danny and Derek welcome to the program author Eva Payne to talk about her book Empire of Purity: The History of Americans’ Global War on Prostitution . They discuss American sexual exceptionalism, the legal definition of “prostitution” vs modern conceptions of sex work, the late 19th century new abolition movement and racial hierarchies therein, how Americans interfaced with state-regulated prostitution systems in places like India and the Philippines, the sexual imagery used in justifying US ai...
Jun 03, 2025•53 min
On this episode of The Nation Podcast , editor D.D. Guttenplan talks to veteran journalist and broadcaster Ray Suarez about the gap between Donald Trump’s maximalist immigration rhetoric and his actual enforcement policy. Ray's article appears in our June issue. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Jun 02, 2025•32 min
Michael Ledeen, who died on May 17 at age 83, was a prominent figure on the American right since the 1970s. He is most famous, or notorious, as one of the instigators of the Iran/Contra scandal, helping to connect the Reagan administration with an Iranian arms dealer. Beyond that, he was active not just as a writer but also as an activists who often promoted disinformation, most notably the lie about the “weapons of mass destruction” the was used to sell George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. On thi...
Jun 01, 2025•46 min
In this week’s American Prestige news roundup: US-Iran negotiations might be making progress (1:02); in Israel-Palestine, a new aid program implemented gets people killed (6:30), the US proposes framework for a new peace deal* (11:01), and Israel creates 22 new West Bank settlements (15:54); cases of cholera are spiking in Sudan (17:35); Libya’s eastern-based government may cut off its oil supply (19:23); Salva Kiir appoints a potential successor in South Sudan (21:51); jihadist activity appears...
May 30, 2025•53 min
On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us , Paris Marx is joined by Casey Johnston to discuss why she pared back on social media, made her smartphone much dumber, and what she learned about how bodies are treated online through her fitness journey. Casey Johnston is the creator of the She’s A Beast newsletter and author of A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/...
May 29, 2025•55 min
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 Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, have a strategy to accomplish that. Also: 20 minutes without Trump: We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. In this episode from the archives, Historian Beverly Gage will explain. Her award-winning book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoo...
May 28, 2025•49 min
On this episode of American Prestige , Writer and researcher Joshua Craze returns to the program to talk about the situation in South Sudan. They cover the collapsed 2018 “peace deal,” the elite forces vying for power, the Nuer White Army, figures like Salva Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar, how South Sudan’s troubles have been impacted by the war in Sudan, external actors like the United Arab Emirates and Uganda, and the humanitarian crisis in the fragmented country. Advertising Inquiries: https...
May 27, 2025•50 min
For sports fans in the US, betting has never been more common, or more accessible. But beneath the surface of this booming pastime, a darker story is unfolding. Writer John Semley joins the podcast to examine the implications of all this access, not just in American sports, but across global betting markets, and how our era of gambling reflects a new world order some economists are calling "casino capitalism." Semley’s feature, “ Casino Capitalism 2.0 ,” appears in the June issue of The Nation ....
May 26, 2025•39 min
The late David Horowitz, who died in April at age 86, was often dismissed as a fringe figure not just by liberals and leftists but even many on the right. Horowitz would often complain that his books — crude polemics with titles such as BLITZ: Trump Will Smash the Left and Win (2020) and The Enemy Within: How a Totalitarian Movement Is Destroying America (2021) — were ignored by respectable conservative publications such as National Review and Commentary. Horowitz got one thing right: that both ...
May 25, 2025•52 min
This week in the American Prestige news roundup: the Ukraine peace talks collapse (3:30) as Trump stuns European allies with his sudden pivot back to positions beneficial to Russia (7:21); in EU elections, a Romanian centrist wins the presidency (11:06), a Polish centrist wins the first round of the presidential election leading to a runoff (13:27), and the Portuguese center-right wins that country’s parliamentary election (14:46); India continues to threaten Pakistani water levels (17:05); Sout...
May 23, 2025•48 min
On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us , Paris Marx is joined by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna to discuss some of the harms caused by generative AI, address the industry's ploys to keep the public invested while companies flounder under the weight of unmet promises, and what folks can do to push back. Emily M. Bender is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at University of Washington. Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Institute. They are the authors of The AI Con: ...
May 22, 2025•53 min
“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. Also: 20 minutes without Trump: 1925 is being celebrated this year as the centenary of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzerald -- but we’re interested in some of the other books published that year. So we turn to Tom Lutz – his new book is titled “19...
May 21, 2025•42 min
On this episode of American Prestige , Danny and Derek welcome Emily Herring, a writer based in Paris, to the program. They discuss her new book, Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People . The conversation delves into Henri Bergson's philosophy and its enduring relevance, particularly concerning contemporary anxieties surrounding the mechanization of the world, the dehumanizing potential of algorithms and artificial intelligence, the dangers of quantificatio...
May 20, 2025•59 min
On this episode of The Nation Podcast , Jacob Silverman joins the show to discuss how the cryptocurrency industry has long evaded regulation, and how it’s now deeply enmeshed with the Trump administration’s most corrupt dealings. Silverman's feature, “ Coin-Operated: The Crypto Industry’s Takeover of American Politics ,” appears in the June issue of The Nation . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
May 19, 2025•35 min
On his latest trip to the Middle East, Donald Trump is making big news. He’s indicating a receptiveness to making a deal with Iran trading normalization for nuclear non-proliferation. He ended the bombing campaign against Yemen and is also pushing for normalization with Syria. Further, the White House has sidestepped Israel in order to have direct talks with Hamas. These moves have angered some hawks in the GOP as well as the Israeli government. But will Trump’s attempt to shift America’s policy...
May 18, 2025•43 min
Alex Jordan rejoins the show to see if he can impersonate Danny as well as he impersonated Derek a couple of weeks ago. He and Derek discuss the India-Pakistan ceasefire, Donald Trump’s big Persian Gulf tour (filled with Deals, Bribes, and announcements about Syrian sanctions and Iranian nuclear talks), the latest developments in Gaza, the US-China tariff pause, the PKK’s major disarmament announcement, a new round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks, major clashes between militias in Libya, the arriv...
May 16, 2025•53 min
On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us , Paris Marx is joined by Tim Fernholz to discuss how Elon Musk’s influence in the White House is shaping the US Space Program, why he’s pushing NASA toward Mars instead of the Moon, and whether the Starship rocket is in trouble. Tim Fernholz is a senior reporter at Payload Space and the author of Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.co...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 1 min
What obligations do colleges and universities have to protect students from antisemitism 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 campa...
May 14, 2025•38 min
