Living in the USA

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 sanctuarie...

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 e...

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 milli...

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 feat...

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...

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...

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...

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 r...

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...

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 bee...

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...

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: Melani...

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 t...

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...

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 p...

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...

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 el...

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 elect...

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 purpo...

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: Rache...

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 Pow...

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...

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...

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 stak...