Living in the USA

“Our constitution is not good. It urgently needs to be reimagined if we want justice and equality for all,” That’s what Elie Mystal says–he’s The Nation’s justice correspondent, and his new book is “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.” Also: slavery and its political legacy in Congress: More than 1,700 congressmen owned Black slaves, according to The Washington Post. Even...

Biden chose bipartisanship in his State of the Union speech--but the Republicans show no signs of cooperating, Harold Meyerson says. Also: progressive gains in the Texas midterm primary elections. plus: Katrina vanden Heuvel on what she calls "Putin's War" in Ukraine, and how Russians are responding. Also: The Canadian truckers' protest is over--what are the lessons for American Progressives? Jeet...

Republicans and Ukraine - this segment recorded Wednesday afternoon, before Putin's attack on Thursday. Harold Meyerson comments. Also: news of the class struggle in America. plus: Amy Wilentz on Paul Farmer - he founded Partners in Health, bringing high quality health care to some of the world's poorest people. Also: Biden and the Border: Ahilan Arulanantham of the UCLA Law School comments on Bid...

Bernie Sanders blames both US Policy and Putin for the Ukraine crisis - much smarter than DSA, which barely mentions Putin in its statement, as Harold Meyerson explains. Also: Mitch McConnell thinks Republicans are going to lose the Senate in November if Trump’s candidates and issues dominate the election. Is McConnell right? John Nichols comments.

The Democrats are not doomed to defeat in the midterms, says Ro Khanna. Politics can turn around in the next few months. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in Congress, where he’s a prominent figure in the Progressive Caucus. His new book is Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us. Also: Amy Wilentz discusses Haiti: a country that should be inaugurating a new president. It has done...

Republican strategies in the coming Supreme Court nomination fight: Harold Meyerson comments. Also: A billionaire for mayor in L.A.? also: It's Black History Month, and we feature Isabel Wilkerson and her unforgettable book about the Great Migration, "The Warmth of Other Suns.” Plus: Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, talks about her path from immigrant to organizer to...

Harold Meyerson on The Supreme Court vacancy, and how things could get beter for the Dems. Also: Gustavo Arellano on "A People's Guide to Orange County" Plus Ellen Schrecker on "The Lost Promise: American Universities in the Sixties"

What can the Dems do to dig themselves out of the hole they are now stuck in? Harold Meyerson says they need to pass the most popular parts of Build Back Better - ASAP. Plus: Beto O'Rourke's strategy for winning the governorship of Texas focuses on organizing everywhere to massively boost Democratic voter turnout—the strategy Stacey Abrams has followed in Georgia. Steve Phillips explains how more...

What is to be done about inflation? Harold Meyerson says it's not Joe Biden's fault. Plus: Is Omicron the kinder, gentler covid we could live with? Mike Davis has some criticisms of that view. Also: The 1619 Project examines the consequences of slavery for American history - Martha Jones comments on the 1619 Project's new book.

It looks like Joe Manchin will torpedo filibuster reform, this killing voting rights legislation: Harold Meyerson reports from Washington. Also: Eric Foner and Henry Louis Gates talk about W.E.B. DuBois, the Black historian and activist of the first part of the 20th century, and his book Black Reconstruction 1860-1880—published originally in 1935, and out now in a new edition from the Library of A...

2021, the year in review: Gary Younge on the Insurrection: what was the plan? Mike Davis on the Pandemic: beware of talk about "light at the end of the tunnel" Rick Perlstein on the Republicans' 40-year campaign to ban abortion. plus: we remember Rennie Davis- he died in February.

Trump is going to be indicted for racketeering and fraud, because of his financial crimes, and that will prevent him from being the Republican candidate: that’s what David Cay Johnston says—he’s an award-winning investigative reporter, and his new book is 'The Big Cheat: How Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family.' Also: Revelations about the January 6 insurrection include strik...

Biden’s signature social programs are not going to pass before the New Year, and maybe not at all, because of Joe Manchin’s obstructionism: Harold Meyerson reports. Also: some good news on unions, especially at the University of California. Later in the show, how climate change will transform the coming face-off between the US and China – historian Alfred McCoy says China will be the world’s numbe...

Some really good news from Georgia: Stacey Abrams is running for governor! Alongside Raphael Warnock for reelection as senator. Harold Meyerson comments - also, news from Texas and California. Also: being Black in America, and being Black in France: Gary Younge will talk about Josephine Baker, the Black American dancer who went to Paris in the twenties and later renounced her American citizenship....

Unions are taking up the fight against Amazon - notably the Teamsters, notably in Southern California. Harold Meyerson explains. Also: gerrymandering - and the wild card at the Supreme Court. Plus: The new Omicron variant of Covid-19: Gregg Gonsalves argues that it serves as a reminder of how little we're doing on pandemic prevention. Meanwhile, Republicans are describing Omicron as a Democratic p...

Racial justice and injustice in America today. We are relieved by the guilty verdicts and life sentences for all three men charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick Georgia. But we’re still thinking about the Not Guilty verdict for Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with shooting three people, killing two, during the street protests over the police shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, in Kenosha,...

Our politics commentary with Harold Meyerson starts with the House preparing to pass Biden's Build Back Better bill, then to Glasgow for the climate summit, then Texas where Beto is running for governor. Plus: We’ll talk about politics and pleasure with Rebecca Solnit --she’s probably best known as the author of “Men explain things to me.” Now she has a new book out - it’s called “Orwell’s Roses.”...

The House will pass a Build Back Better bill next week, maybe--Harold Meyerson explains. Plus: A comic novel about Ethel Rosenberg? Francine Prose has written one--"The Vixen"--and it's terrific. Also: EllaTaylor on "Passing," the film about a Black woman passing for white in New York City in the 1920s - playing now on Netflix.

Tuesday was a dark day for Democrats: Republican Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia was not particularly surprising. But how did he manage to present himself both as a Trump supporter and as a more moderate, less crazy kind of country club Republican? Harold Meyerson has our analysis. Plus: how a small group of people challenged an unjust law and changed history: Eric Foner talks about the Under...

Obama spent months negotating with reluctant Dems over his health care bill. The result: massive losses in the midterms. Is Biden making the same mistake with Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: who really runs Haiti: the government, or the gangs? the kidnappings suggest it’s the gangs – and the leader of the gang that kidnapped 16 Americans has openly expressed politic...

The latest on the Democrats’ reconciliation bill: Harold Meyerson reports on the big cuts demanded by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Also: gubernatorial elections threaten Democratic power in Virginia, and Republican power in Texas. Plus: The Nation’s sports editor Dave Zirin talks about what he calls “The Kaepernick Effect” – how an NFL quarterback who had never been an activist made “Taking a k...

What’s the best strategy for the Democrats for 2022, when the odds are against them for holding the House and Senate? Pundits say the Dems should stop talking about climate, immigration, and the police. Harold Meyerson disagrees. Plus: draft resistance in the Vietnam era: there’s a new documentary, “The Boys Who Said NO!" with it’s online launch this weekend, and an online event Sunday at 5pm feat...

Biden backed the Progressive Caucus in insisting that the bipartisan infrastructure bill not be voted separately from the reconciliation bill. But the question remains: What does Kyrsten Sinema want? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: The co-founder of Black Lives Matter LA, Melina Abdullah, will talk about the LAPD showing up in force at her house twice in the week since she filed a lawsuit over las...

How to cut the cost of the Democrats’ “Reconciliation Bill” without eliminating programs? Harold Meyerson says make it a four-year bill program instead of ten. Also: reapportionment in California, and a new mayor for LA. Plus: Civil rights attorney Carol Sobel talks about the LAPD’s dramatic increase in the use of dispersal orders in response to the protests of the last couple of years--declaring...

Our Washington political update starts with the Fox News report, “Democrats tee up filibuster reform by forcing issue on immigration, voting rights.” Harold Meyerson comments on that – and on reports that Dan Quayle saved American democracy on January 6. Also: Amy Wilentz on Haitians and Haiti – and Joe Biden’s disastrous decision to deport those 15,000 Haitian refugees who crossed the border at D...