Start Making Sense Clips

In February 1968, Harry Belafonte hosted the Tonight Show, for an entire week - and his guests included Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.  Also: Aretha Franklin.  Joan Walsh, National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation, talks about the new documentary, “Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show” – it’s streaming now on Peacock.   Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Priva...

There’s a huge movement in Europe supporting Black Lives Matter.  Gary Younge describes some key examples and comments on the effort to address racism in Britain, France, and elsewhere in Europe – and on the English falling back on the argument that racism there is “better” than in the US. Gary lives in London and is a member of the Editorial Board of The Nation. Advertising Inquiries: https://red...

Pramila Jayapal, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus--she represents Seattle in the House--talks about how she went from being an investment banker as a young immigrant to a lifelong organizer.  Her new book is "Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Political Change.”    Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircl...

Changing our broken criminal justice system-radically: Jody Armour, who teaches law at USC and is a prominent defender of Black Lives Matter has a new book out, with the provocative title “N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law.” Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Katie Porter, the new member of Congress who flipped a longtime Republican district in California’s Orange County, talks about the defending the postal service and about ending student loan debt.  (Watch her full conversation with Katrina vanden Heuvel HERE: https://www.thenation.com/events/katie-porter-covid-politics/ )  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https...

 Tom Frank, author of the classic “What’s the Matter with Kansas,” talks about Trump’s phony populist appeal – and whether Joe Biden, the guy from working-class Scranton, can win back the working-class white men who turned to Trump last time around.  Tom’s new book is “The People, NO: A Brief History of Anti-Populism.  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://...

David Cole, national legal director of the ACLU, says we need less punishment and more justice from the police and the courts.  One key way to achieve that is to reduce enforcement of misdemeanors, which currently leads to millions of avoidable arrests, especially of people of color – and many cases of police violence against them.  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt...

Trump’s unfortunate childhood: Amy Wilentz talks about Donald, Fred Junior, Marianne, Elizabeth, and little Robert - described in the new blockbuster bestseller by Mary Trump, daughter of Donald’s brother Fred Jr., “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”     Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/priva...

Zoë Carpenter reports from Portland on the ominous developments there involving federal agents in camouflage in the streets attacking protesters—over the objections of local and state officials—which Trump says he will take to other Democratic cities. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

How Roy Cohn gave us Donald Trump: Ivy Meeropol talks about her new documentary on Roy Cohn, “Bully. Coward. Victim.” It’s playing now on HBO on demand.  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On July 31 the direct cash payments of the CARES act expire and right now Republicans in Congress are not renewing it or anything like it.  That means millions of people won’t be able to pay their rent on August 1.  Meagan Day comments -- she’s coauthor of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism .   Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy...

Another episode of The Children’s Hour—Amy Wilentz with stories about Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr., and little Eric.  This week, Ivanka is in trouble for wearing a mask—and Don Jr.’s girlfriend tests positive.  An another Trump publishes a book: the president's niece, Mary. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Black Lives Matter, and Sandra Bland’s was one of them. This week is the fifth anniversary of the death of Sandra Bland  n a Texas jail—July 13, 2015. What happened to Sandra Bland?  To understand that, you have to begin way before she died.  Debbie Nathan reports on the life, as well as the death, of Sandra Bland.  (originally broadcast in April, 2016).   Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle....

Black Lives Matter protests are everywhere, even the most unlikely places: for example, Laramie, Wyoming;  Florence, Alabama; and even Vidor, Texas --it’s  a former Ku Klux Klan haven that Texas Monthly described as the state’s “most hate-filled town.” Nation contributing writer Zoe Carpenter reports. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/priv...

It’s time to disarm the police. They didn’t always carry guns, and there are other big cities in the world where most cops are NOT armed – like London.  D.D. Guttenplan, editor of The Nation, explains. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In the current mobilization around Black lives, everyone can do something, even if it’s not marching in the streets--Mia Birdsong explains.  Her TED talk has been viewed almost two million times; now she has a new book out – it’s called “How We Show Up--Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community.” Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privac...

The best thing about the protests of the past month is not just that they have been so massive, so sustained, so diverse, so inspiring--the best thing is that they are NOT about Trump. That’s what Dahlia Lithwick says--she hosts Slate’s podcast “Amicus.”     Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Trump’s disastrous walk across Layfayette Square for that bible photo-op outside St. John's Episcopal Church apparently was Ivanka’s idea – she’s also been tweeting Bible verses.  Amy Wilentz, our Chief Ivanka Correspondent, has a report. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

John Nichols has been speaking with Minnesota’s attorney general Keith Ellison about what has been happening in Minneapolis, and what is to be done about unending police violence against people of color.  Ellison represented south Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed, in Congress before he was elected the state Attorney General in 2018. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Pri...

Christopher Shay talks about The Nation’s special issue on thinking big about the political requirements, and political opportunities, of this historic moment.  He’s a senior editor at The Nation. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

A new episode of The Children’s Hour, stories about Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr. and little Eric, told by Amy Wilentz – today, Jared’s failed effort to procure PPE for FEMA, and some outrageous remarks from Don Jr. and Eric – while Ivanka celebrates “exciting platforms the private sector has created to upskill our workforce!” (her exclamation point)  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands P...

What to watch, and read, while the stay-at-home orders are in effect: John Powers recommends “The Sleepers,” a Czech spy thriller, on HBO GO, and the 1950s Hollywood noir novels of the amazing Alfred Hayes, from New York Review Classics.  John is Critic at Large on Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privac...

We’ve never forgotten that, in 2016, exit polls showed that 53 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton.  Now there’s a TV miniseries about beginnings of the political organizing of right-wing women: it stars Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schafly, and it’s called “Mrs. America.”  Katha Pollitt comments.     Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy &...

a new episode of “The Children’s Hour” with Amy Wilenz, stories about Ivanka, Jared, Don Junior, and little Eric--boy are those kids in trouble this week!  Amy of course is our Chief Jared Correspondent—and was just awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

John Powers, critic-at-large for Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, recommends “The Good Fight” and “The Bureau” for virus-time TV watching.  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy