The Nation Podcasts

Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona senator who quit the Democratic Party in December, is up for reelection next year, and will be challenged by progressive Democrat Ruben Gallego. Steve Phillips points to evidence that her chances of reelection are poor. His new book, “How We Win the Civil War,” has a chapter on Arizona politics. Also: What if government provided a basic income to all residents?  Somethi...

Abortion rights voters are reshaping politics in the coming political season—starting with a special election to the Virginia State Senate. Also: the most important election of 2023 is for the open seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. John Nichols explains. Also: Walmart is the biggest employer in America, and the Walton family, the children of Walmart founder Sam Walton, is the richest fami...

If you were planning a future coup, what could you learn from the failure of Trump’s efforts on January 6? Fintan O’Toole says it would need a better story – not attacking Congress, but “defending democracy.” He teaches at Princeton, and is the author most recently of We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland. Also: Who’d want to see a movie about Harvey Weinstein? But the film...

Teaching Assistants and other grad student employees at the University of California won a historic victory in their strike last month. What does that mean for other universities and other union organizing campaigns? Nelson Lichtenstein joins the show to comment.  Also this week, Andrew Bacevich talks about our “very long war” going back to the sixties, and the relative insignificance of Donald Tr...

For our end-of year show, we are featuring a couple of our favorite book segments from 2022. First, a Black guy’s guide to the Constitution: Elie Mystal explains why “our constitution is not good.” He’s The Nation ’s justice correspondent and author of Allow Me to Retort . Also: “Bad Mexicans”—that’s what the revolutionaries of 1910 were called as they fought on both sides of the US-Mexico border...

The biggest strike in the country this year, and the biggest in the history of American universities, may be over. After five weeks of picketing and protests, the union representing 48,000 graduate student employees at the University of California announced a settlement. The university made an offer, and union members are voting this week. Nelson Lichtenstein has the analysis. He teaches History a...

The Democrats triumphed in Arizona this November, electing the governor and the secretary of state, and reelecting senator Mark Kelly --in what used to be a red state. But then Senator Kyrsten Sinema quit the Democratic Party, and Progressives moved towards a primary election to challenge her. On this week's podcast, Steve Phillips explains how the victories happened, and what's to be done...

On this episode of the Start Making Sense podcast,  Nation correspondent, Joan Walsh, comments on Democratic incumbent, Senator Raphael Warnock beating Herschel Walker in the Georgia runoff, and what that means for the future of American politics. Also on this episode, the largest strike in the country this year, and the largest in the history of higher education, entered its fourth week at the Un...

We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. Historian Beverly Gage joins the podcast to explain. Her new book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of the American Century.” Also: Should the Supreme Court base its decision on what it can discern about the original intent of the framers? That’s what the “originalists” say – and they d...

Hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought here by their undocumented parents since 2007 are not eligible for DACA. But now they may be eligible for jobs--at the University of California. UCLA law professor Ahilan Arulanantham explains. Also: the fight against pollution in LA’s port communities, where 300,000 people, mostly Latino, live next door to oil refineries, chemical facilities, and...

The Georgia Senate runoff campaign has begun--Joan Walsh has just returned from Atlanta, and explains why Trump’s candidate Herschel Walker seems likely to lose. Also: comment on what happened in Stacey Abrams’ tragic loss. Plus: in Los Angeles the terrible sheriff has lost his re-election campaign. Gustavo Arellano, the LA Times columnist, comments, and reports on how the billionaire developer ru...

The Nation's political writers analyze the good, the bad, and the ugly in the midterms, and find keys to building a winning coalition for 2024. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

How can we save democracy from white nationalism and right-wing authoritarianism? Steve Phillips argues we need to organize and turn out the millions of non-voters – people of color and young people – with a long-term, data-based strategy. Steve’s new book is “How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good.” Also: a story about Black landownership, s...

Stacey Abrams, running for governor in Georgia, is behind in the polls of likely voters, which the pollsters define as people who vote regularly, especially in the last midterms, four years ago. But her whole strategy is to organize and mobilize people who do NOT vote regularly – to expand the electorate with young people, people of color, and those the political scientists call “low-propensity vo...

What will Republicans do if they win control of the House in the midterms? Now they’ve said something about that, officially: they call it their “Commitment to America.” Chris Lehmann calls it “a grab bag of cultural resentments papering over an anemic policy wish list.” Also: The Trump years are not the only time American democracy has been threatened; the World War One years, when Democrat Woodr...

Joe Biden has just made marijuana legalization a campaign issue--the Democrats should run with it, says John Nichols. Also: Greil Marcus talks about Bob Dylan, from "Blowin' in the Wind" to "Murder Most Foul." He has a new book out, it's called "Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in 7 Songs." Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: http...

Nurses have taken the lead in the wave of this year’s labor activism. The largest private-sector nurses’ strike in American history took place recently in Minnesota – 15,000 nurses walked off the job for three days in the Twin Cities and the Twin Ports. Other nurses threatened strikes in half a dozen other places. Bryce Covert reports a key front in the fight for better health care in America . Pl...

Can Republicans win control of the Senate? Trump’s candidates are the GOP's biggest problem, starting in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin. The Nation 's National Affairs Correspondent, John Nichols has our analysis. Also on this week's episode of the Start Making Sense podcast, a discussion about Ken Burns' new documentary on PBS, “The US and the Holocaust.” Historian...

Should Bernie Sanders run in the Democratic primaries in 2024? President of The Nation, Bhaskar Sunkara says “yes” IF Biden doesn’t. Sanders transformed American politics and, Bhaskar argues, he remains a uniquely important figure for Democrats and the left. Also: 20 years before the January 6 attack on the capitol, a Republican mob attacked a central hub of government operations claiming the vote...

The transformation of the Southern Baptist Convention into a powerful right wing political force developed over the last 50 years. Before 1973, when abortion became a constitutional right, the Southern Baptists did not have a political position on abortion. Then came what they call the “conservative resurgence”—we call it the “fundamentalist takeover.” Sarah Posner explains that history. Her book...

Remember how Kansas was the first state to vote directly on abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, and how Kansans surprised everyone by voting to keep abortion rights in the constitution, 59%-41%? Amy Littlefield went to Kansas to report on the election for The Nation and see how the victory had been organized and won. Also on this week's episode, we’re still thinking about Barbara...

Republicans are making plans if they win control of the House in November--Chris Lehmann reports that their top targets include the NLRB and the Department of Labor. Chris is The Nation’s new D.C. Bureau Chief. Also: Patrick Leahy of Vermont has been a senator for almost 50 years. He describes how, on January 6, when senators took refuge from the mob attacking the capitol, they prepared to complet...

The Mar-a-Lago raid by the FBI put Donald Trump back at the center of American politics, just before the midterms. Is that good for the Democrats? John Nichols comments. Also: Dirty work—and the people who do it: the low-income workers who do our most ethically troubled jobs. What does that have to do with the rest of us? Eyal Press explains—his book “Dirty Work” is out now in paperback. Advertisi...

Ever since the Supreme Court abolished the constitutional protection for abortion, activists have been fighting in the states -- to protect abortion rights where possible, and to expand them where that’s possible. They’ve had some remarkable success, at least in the short run. Katha Pollitt reports. Also: the attack on Salman Rushdie. Plus: The Organization of American States released a statement...

Liz Cheney is way behind in the polls leading up to next week’s Wyoming primary. John Nichols went to Wyoming to see her in action, and reports that she’s “fighting to outlast and replace Trump as the manager of the right-wing franchise in American politics.” Also on this week's show, a deep dive into Orange County, California. Ronald Reagan once called it “the place all good Republicans go to...