Living in the USA

This May Day, there were big demonstrations everywhere – more than 900 cities and towns – participants included Bernie Sanders and many notable unions; and the banner for this organized national protest targeted not just Trump: "For the workers, not the billionaires" – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Donald Trump is "the greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s"—that’s what Princeton’s president Christopher Eisgruber said. Others say that what Trump is doing is worse. Beverly Gage comments – she wrote “G-Man,” the award-winning biography of J. Edgar Hoover.

Plus: Twenty Minutes without Trump: The Museum of Jurassi...

At 100 days, Trump's approval ratings are his worst yet – starting with Pew Research poll 40% approve 59% disapprove. And Trump has the worst ratings of any other president approaching the 100 day mark in history – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: J D Vance said it most clearly: for the Trump people, “The universities are the enemy.” That’s why Trump is cutting billions of federal funding and making impossible demands that threaten dozens of universities. But universities have begun to resist. Michael Roth comments – he's president of Wesleyan, and was the first university president to speak out against Trump’s attacks.

Plus: 62 y...

The Fighting Oligarchy tour of Bernie Sanders and AOC has had amazing turnouts: 36,000 people in Los Angeles, 100,000 people in Coachella, and huge crowds in red districts across the country; followed by big campaign donations as Bernie and AOC become "the personification of the resistance" against the Trump administration. Also, Trump continues to defy court orders, including those issued after the unanimous Supreme Court ruling to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the US from El Salvador after an illegal deportation – the defiance of such a court order by a US president is the first of its kind in history – Harold...

Trump is weaker after caving on tariffs - Harold Meyerson analyzes the new political landscape - and assesses the economic damage.

Also: Trump’s tariffs are not really about trade, they’re a form of blackmail – but the alternative is not a return to the free trade policies introduced by Clinton and Obama. Lori Wallach of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project explains what kind of tariffs we need, combined with government support for reindustrialization.

Plus: A major lawsuit challenging Trump over his efforts to deport pro-Gaza campus activists has been brought...

Last Tuesday, the Democrats made striking gains in districts that were solid red – and Wisconsin's State Supreme Court maintained its liberal majority. Meanwhile, Trump claims that his sweeping tariffs are to restore US manufacturing; but Paul Krugman says it's all based on ridiculous, totally false statistics – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: The Wisconsin Supreme Court election tested the political power of Musk’s money, and voters rejected his candidate. The results have huge implications for the midterms. John Nichols has our analysis.

Plus: A big victory in federal district court: Trump cannot shut down the Consumer Financ...

Thursday night, Trump signed an Executive order abolishing union rights at more than two dozen federal agencies – part of his campaign to destroy the government. Harold Meyerson comments on this "ultimate form of union busting".

Also: Bernie Sanders and AOC are on their “fighting oligarchy” tour, and in Denver last weekend they had the biggest political event there since Obama in 2008. It was also the biggest rally of Bernie’s life – bigger than anything in his presidential campaigns. And the first big election of the year is underway in Wisconsin. John Nichols has our analysis.

Plus: Elie Myst...

A key source of opposition to authoritarian regimes in recent history has come from universities and colleges. Trump has been attacking the independence of American universities, demanding they submit to his requirements and using massive funding cuts as his weapon. David Cole, formerly National Legal Director of the ACLU, has our analysis. 

Also: Mahmoud Khalil is the Palestinian student activist at Columbia arrested and jailed by ICE. The Trump administration intends to revoke his status as a permanent resident—a green-card holder – and deport him – they say, to protect Jewish students on campus. That’s clearly a violation of...

As the Senate prepares to vote on the Republican budget, Harold Meyerson talks about what's at stake for Democrats who join Chuck Schumer in voting with Republicans, and the great majority in the opposition. Plus: unions take Trump to court over firings.

Also: The Supreme Court ruled against Trump last week in the first test of his refusal to release money appropriated by Congress, and more than a dozen more similar cases are likely to come before the court –– probably including a challenge to his withholding hundreds of millions from research universities on the grounds that they have...

Trump's forgettable State of the Union speech shows he remains in campaign mode, rather than governing: Harold Meyerson comments.

Plus: Trump suffered a big loss at The Supreme Court in the first challenge to his unconstitutional seizure of power: an order to release USAID funding appropriated by Congress. The suit was brought by Public Citizen; their co-president, Robert Weissman, will explain.

Also: John Nichols with our protest update for the week. Topics include: includes Tesla dealer showroom picketing; Ukraine support demonstrating; national park protesting, and Town Hall yelling.

"The Coup Has Failed" writes David Dayen in The American Prospect; no president has been less popular than Trump after his first month in office, and "the thing about populism is you have to be popular" – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: House Progressive leader Ro Khanna says “economic empowerment” for the working class should become the Democrats’ “defining cause.” And he comments on this week’s battle in the House over the Republican budget.

Plus: Thomas Geoghegan argues that, to win back the working class, Democrats need to “promise something big – and keep it simple.” His suggestions: a bigger a...

The House budget plan could see deep cuts to Medicaid but, "the political basis for cutting Medicaid because 'this can only hurt the Democrats' is really no longer the case;" also, on Kash Patel's confirmation as the new director of the FBI: "there's nothing like reconfiguring the FBI so it carries out whatever Donald Trump wants, which is what Kash Patel would do" – Harold Meyerson has our political update.

Plus: The first big election of 2025 will be in Wisconsin, which elects a new Supreme Court Justice on April 1. Elon Musk is spending hundreds of millions in that race...

Churches are coming together to fight Trump – the lawsuit filed challenges ICE raids in places of worship on First Amendment Freedom of Religion grounds. Also, what does it tell us that both Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted 'Yes' for two terrible Trump nominees (Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr.) when they didn't have to? Harold Meyerson comments.

Plus: Trump has lost a series of major legal battles in the last week, where courts have ruled that key executive orders of his are unconstitutional. But what happens if Trump defies the courts? David Cole comments—he recently stepped down a...

The Democrats have become more active in trying to stop the worst of Trump - and Musk - Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments on Senate and House leaders - and on the recent administration attacks on the NLRB.

Also: Trump’s strategy of flooding the zone with executive actions is intended to paralyze the opposition. But there’s lots of grassroots mobilization underway right now, and one of the biggest organizers of that mobilization is Indivisible. Leah Greenberg will explain the group’s strategy and tactics -- and this week’s work assignments -- to get four...

This week's popular outrage over Trump's stopping funding of all social programs forced him to throw in the towel after just a few hours - demonstrating how weak he is, and how powerful the opposition can be. John Nichols comments.

Also: The battle to get us to pay attention: Chris Hayes explains--His new book is "The Siren's Call."

Plus: Your Minnesota Moment - Trump attacks small town sanctuaries for undocumented residents.

How did we get here, with Trump returning to the White House?  Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments on the 93 million people who could have voted – but didn’t –and on Trump’s Day One executive orders.

Also: Now that Trump is preparing to round up and deport undocumented residents, we want to thank them for everything they’ve done to make America good. Gustavo Arellano will explain – he’s a columnist for the LA Times whose father came to the US in the 1960s in the trunk of a Chevy.

Plus: Twenty Minutes without Trump. T...

As we prepare for Trump to take office next week, we're getting ready to challenge him and his people in the upcoming elections later this year. But before that, we have an important election in the next few weeks: the Democratic National Committee will elect a new chair on February 1 to prepare for the battles and the campaigns to come – John Nichols comments.

Also: Trump promises to deport millions of undocumented residents, while Republicans in Congress threaten a nationwide abortion ban. Meanwhile parts of the mainstream media are caving in to Trump. How can individuals help at th...

Trump has come out in favor of combining many of his biggest priorities into one big budget reconciliation bill – because the budget reconciliation impacts the economy, this bill is not subject to filibuster by the Democrats; so, it could pass the Senate with 50 Republican votes. But some Republicans are likely to resist – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Trump’s “dictatorship on day one” will feature executive orders to deport undocumented residents. Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law & Policy at UCLA Law School, explains the legal strategy to be deployed by the sanctuary states and cities to challeng...

A fight has broken out between Elon Musk and the MAGA activists and base about immigration – specifically, over H-1B visas. But what exactly IS an H-1B visa; and why is there so much heat around the issue? Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s famous 900 page book, is partly “too dumb to accomplish anything at all”– the rest, can be read as a useful catalog of how we should focus our resistance – Rick Perlstein explains.

Plus: The ever-elusive Bob Dylan seems an unlikely candidate for a Hollywood biopic. John Powers, a critic-at-la...

Donald Trump has been bad for America but good for American book publishers. Now that Trump is coming back we look at what the best of those books had to say about him, also, the worst: Also, Melania has published a memoir: “Melania,” where she revisits plagiarizing Michelle Obama for her 2016 RNC convention speech, and wearing that jacket that said “I don’t care, do U?” when she visited INS detention camps for children separated from their parents at the border. Amy Wilentz comments on her explanations—and on the rest of the book. (Originally recorded 10-26-2024.)

Next: Kamal...

Disney unions won the biggest ever back pay settlement, and Amazon drivers in the Southland are going on strike this week - Harold Meyerson reports on the class struggle in Southern California.

Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turn to Sean Wilentz. He’s the official historian at BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton. (Originally recorded in January, 2005.)​ 

Workers in Los Angeles and Wisconsin made major gains this week, while the NLRB is falling into Trump's hands, thanks to Joe Manchin & Kyrsten Sinema -- Harold Meyerson reports.

Also: a new episode of “The Children’s Hour,” Amy Wilentz reports on “Lives of the In-Laws”—Ivanka’s father-in-law, and Tiffany’s -- and comments also on the rise of Trump's daughter-in-law Lara, the wife of Eric.

The GOP majority in the House will be 217-to 215 Dems – for months, until special elections in April bring it up to 220. What are the odds odds that House Republicans will be 100% united when Trump sends them his key legislation? Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: “Our worst enemy right now is not Trump himself, but fatalism about our ability to stop him.” That’s what David Cole says – he recently stepped down as National Legal Director of the ACLU, after 8 years and hundreds of lawsuits against the first Trump administration.

Trump's terrible cabinet picks – what if the Democrats use these remaining two months to hold their own confirmation hirings? Also, are Democrats out of touch with the American people? Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: A lot of people who voted for abortion rights referenda this year also voted for Trump. What were they thinking? How do they understand politics? Amy Littlefield spent election day in Amarillo, Texas, trying to find out.

Plus: From the archives: Bob Dylan in 1964, when he was 23; Sean Wilentz, historian and author of a Grammy-nominated essay about Bob Dylan, comments (originally recorded in...

Trump's initial nominees include Matt Gaetz for Attorney General – "the group that is probably most elated by this are his fellow Republican House members who hate his guts" – Harold Meyerson discusses Trump's crazy cabinet.

Also: Hope does not mean saying ‘this is not bad,’ Rebecca Solnit argues; it just means we will not give up—because we know that what we do matters, and we also know we’ve been surprised by good things we never expected.

Plus: Melania has been absent from Trump's side; and, is reported to have no intention of living in the White Hou...

Big Picture: Trump won a landslide in the electoral college and control of the Senate; control of the House is unclear at this point. So much good work went into fighting Trump; but, a majority of voters know who Trump is and chose him. So, how did we get here? And, what do we do next? Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: John Nichols looks at the elections results: For starters: Trump got fewer votes than 4 years ago; 55% of voters in the CNN exit poll said he was “too extreme.”

Plus: Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery and retu...

If Harris wins Pennsylvania – a predominately working-class state – she probably wins the election; so, what could be the most effective closing argument to convince working-class voters there to vote for Harris? New research by The Center for Working-Class Politics tested messages and found that the strongest one singles out corporations for raising prices — Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Melania has published a memoir, Melania, where she revisits plagiarizing Michelle Obama for her 2016 RNC convention speech, and wearing that jacket that said “I don’t care, do U?” when she visited INS detention camps for children separated from their parents at the...

World famous gambling and entertainment hub Las Vegas, Nevada is also home to one of the "the most politically potent" unions in the United States, representing hotel casino workers there: Culinary Union Local 226 -- Harold Meyerson traveled to Las Vegas to find out what this powerful union is doing to help "push Kamala over the top".

Also: Latino and Black voters in swing states, we are told by the New York Times, are “drifting away from the Democrats.” But how good is the evidence here? Steve Phillips has our analysis.

Plus: From the Archives: The fina...

One in six voters, pollsters say, are “still unsure of their choice.” What do people mean when they say they are “undecided”? Rick Perlstein says political writers have failed to understand the undecideds—and what Kamala might do to win their votes.

Also: Democrat Marie Gleusenkamp Perez won a House seat in a Trump district, pointing the way for others. Marc Cooper analyzes her current reelection campaign in southwestern Washington State, starting from the fact that she’s a working class woman in a rural area.

Plus: Kamala’s campaign is challenging the Republican conception of “freedom” as fr...

Kamala has been showing up: from "Call Her Daddy" – a podcast popular among young woman, to "The Howard Stern Show" – popular among young men; to "The View" and "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" – Harold Meyerson comments on Kamala's media blitz.

Also: The polls have had disastrous failures for decades, but people continue to focus on them; Rick Perlstein has a better idea: ‘don’t follow polls—organize.’

Plus: From the archives: The great Gail Collins of The New York Times op-ed page talks about the adventures of older women – and her book, “No Stopping Us Now” (first record...

If the election were to happen today, polls point to 276 for Kamala; 262 for Trump. Also: The vice presidential debate – "Walz, who was plainly unaccustomed to dealing with such adept obfuscation, particularly when couched in Vance’s one-night-only dulcet tones" writes Harold Meyerson in The Prospect; so, what did Walz win? Harold Meyerson comments.

Next: John Nichols has been driving to places in Middle America where Trump has gotten big majorities in the past: Iowa and Nebraska, central and western Illinois, and southwestern Wisconsin, asking Democrats there about politics in their towns right now. He’s on the podcas...

The polls right now show Kamala would win the electoral college if the election were held today--Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Trump Media stock - it's sinking fast.

Plus: Trump has canceled his plan to visit Springfield, Ohio, but his lie about Haitian immigrants there eating cats and dogs continues to ricochet around the American political world. Amy Wilentz comments.

Also: The presidential election is the main political battle in America today, but Trump’s followers have also been fighting for years to take over towns across the country. Sasha Abramsky reports on two exemplary battles. Hi...

The Republican Party and the Trump Campaign have no field operations of their own doing door-to-door work - for the first time all of that has been outsourced to PACs with independent funding, and the largest, run by Elon Musk, has just fired the company doing its canvassing in Nevada and Arizona. Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Trump has made it clear he won't accept the results of the 2024 election if he loses, and Republicans are doing everything they can make it harder for Democrats to vote. But it will be harder for Trump to challenge this year's...

Presidential Debate 2024: Harold Meyerson on how, in dealing with Trump, "Kamala hit it out of the park"; and then, "the Republicans immediately seized upon 'Well, the moderators were hard on Trump'; but that's what happens when what you say is constructed entirely of lies."

Also: Homeless vets have been trying for years to get the VA to build housing for them in LA on land dedicated to that purpose. Now, a federal judge has finally ruled: The vets win, and the VA loses. Mark Rosenbaum, lead attorney in the vets’ class action suit, explains.

Plus: Dem...

Bibi is keeping the war in Gaza going not only for his own political survival but to help Trump defeat Kamala - Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Trump announced Friday that he would be voting against a abortion rights ballot measure in his home state of Florida. Amy Littlefield reports on the crucial referendum in the state that had been the South’s last refuge for abortion access.

Plus: Rachel Kushner talks about an informant and provocateur who infiltrates an anarchist eco-commune in rural France—the central character in her new novel, Creation Lake.

With ten weeks to go until election day, we'll look at where we've been in the last several weeks – most surprising: Kamala Harris emerging as a great candidate. Harold Meyerson explains that it’s not so much that Harris has changed but that the Democratic Party has.

Also: Summer Reading: M: Son of the Century is a 750-page historical novel about the rise of Mussolini by Antonio Scurati – John Powers, critic-at-large for NPR's Fresh Air draws parallels between 1920s Italy and Trump's America.

Plus: The Warmth of Other Suns, about the great migration of Black people...

The Trump campaign – it's not going well right now. Marc Cooper has our analysis, and advises, rather than follow the two-or-three-point difference in polling, that we should instead look at the trend lines. Also, he reminds us that at the end of July in 1988, Michael Dukakis was leading George Bush by 14 points.

It’s still August — and time for more summer beach reading. While the Democrats hold their convention in Chicago, the number one nonfiction bestseller in America is “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance. Luckily for us, Becca Rothfeld, author of “All Things Are Too Small” and the nonfic...

Trump mostly stays home at Mar-a-Lago while Kamala and Tim Walz meet huge crowds in the swing states. Harold Meyerson comments on the current asymmetrical state of the campaign.

Plus: Talking politics, and history, with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown - he’s up for reelection this year, in a state where Biden got only 45%.  (originally recorded in October 2020)

Also: Elon Musk has been a leader in the transition to renewable energy, and has made Twitter into a threat to democracy. He has become the face of 21st-century capitalism. David Nasaw has our analysis. (recorded in Oct...

Tim Walz was a great choice for Kamala's VP - Harold Meyerson explains -- and takes up the question, what's happening to the Trump campaign?

Also: JD Vance’s remark about “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable” continues to reverberate in the news. Katha Pollitt has our analysis, and rebuts Vance’s argument that people who don’t have children don’t have a stake in the country’s future.

Plus: Your Minnesota Moment: David Carr was a great New York Times media columnist; here he talks about his days as a drug...

Kamala's first 10 days have been "what any candidate would dream of" – and have given the Democrats an "energy jolt". Also, Donald's bad day with the largest annual gathering of Black journalists –Harold Meyerson comments.

Next: Every four years, people die, people turn 18 and the electorate changes. Steve Philips reports on the new electorate.

Plus: The phrase "homeless veterans" should be an American oxymoron – instead, administration after administration, including that of Biden, has fought against disabled veterans' right to housing. Public Counsel lead attorney Mark Rosenbaum discusses the class action lawsuit set for trial on August 6th.

America ready to elect a Black woman president? Harold Meyerson examines the opportunities facing Kamala Harris, and the obstacles to be overcome.

Also: Democrats in Arizona are engaged in massive organizing to win an abortion rights referendum, elect a senator, and flip a House seat. And they are facing an Arizona Republican Party that is pretty crazy, to say the least. The Nation‘s Sasha Abramsky has our report.

Plus: from the archives: Barbara Ehrenreich on the wellness industry, starting with those pink ribbons. Her book is "Bright-Sided." (originally broadcast November 2009)