The Nation Podcasts

In a scandalous rejection of holiday spirit, Jo and Charlotte reflect on the dark, elegant pleasures of Gabrielle Wittkopf’s The Necrophiliac alongside contemporary novel conventions as deployed in Rebecca Novack’s Murder Bimbo. The hosts are then joined by dear friend Clio Chang, who outlines the timeless, charming, annoying allure of Cheryl Strayed’s hit memoir Wild (2012). Also discussed in thi...

Danny and Derek return from their holiday retreat at Bohemian Grove to bring you news from around the world. This week: Delcy Rodríguez assumes Venezuela’s presidency following Nicolás Maduro’s U.S. rendition (1:31), as questions mount over the indictment (3:51) and Washington moves toward de facto control of Venezuelan oil exports (6:36); Saudi-backed forces push back Southern Transitional Counci...

Trump’s attack on Venezuela is likely to weaken his political support even further, because it does nothing about affordability or health care. And it’s not at all clear the big oil companies want to spend billions restoring Venezuelan production. John Nichols comments. Also: the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the VA to provide housing for disabled vets on its land in Los Angeles, some...

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek are joined by historian Greg Grandin to go in depth on the recent U.S. operation in Venezuela. They talk about the removal of Nicolás Maduro while leaving the existing state structure intact, implying America’s preference for coercion over governance; the role of oil in U.S. rhetoric; internal divisions within the Trump adm...

Danny and Derek are joined by journalist Seth Harp to discuss his book The Fort Bragg Cartel , which covers murder and drug trafficking around the North Carolina military installation. They talk about the rise and institutionalization of U.S. special operations after 9/11, how JSOC and related units expanded their role, permanent war reshaping military culture, special forces’ role in assassinatio...

The year in politics: Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments on Trump’s collapsing support in 2025, and the rise of the resistance—in both the unprecedented national mobilizations culminating in the second No Kings Day, and the Democratic triumph in virtually all elections in 2025. Also: the year in court: David Cole, who stepped down this year as national legal director of the ACLU, re...

Danny and Derek speak with journalist and cultural critic Daniel Waite Penny to discuss the relationship between masculinity, the manosphere, and climate politics, as explored in the new season of Drilled , Carbon Bros . They talk about the “manosphere,” libertarians promoting techno-fixes, and Silicon Valley elites pushing solutions like space colonization; how gendered ideas about strength, auto...

In June, Trump sent more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to occupy Los Angeles and terrorize the immigrant population. But by the end of July, almost all the Guard and the Marines were gone. Bill Gallegos explains how that happened and what other cities can learn from it.  Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009....

Norman Podhoretz, one of the founding fathers of neoconservatism, died on December 16 at age 95. His legacy is a complex one, since in recent decades neoconservatism has been supplanted in many ways by American First conservatism. But many aspects of Podhoretz’s influence still play a shaping role on right. I take up Podhoretz’s career with David Klion (who wrote an obituary for the pundit for The...

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Use the holiday discount code XMAS2025 for a $45 annual subscription (offer valid through 1/1/26)!  Jolly Saint Nick is giving the U.S. government lots of coal this year, a boon to fossil fuel companies. In this week’s news: Thailand–Cambodia fighting resumes despite Trump’s ceasefire claim (1:52); an Israeli airstrike in Gaza threatens wh...

Paris Marx is joined by Cam Wilson to discuss the new social media age limit in Australia, including how successful the rollout has been so far and the missed opportunities of taking a more nuanced regulatory approach. Cam Wilson is an associate editor at  ⁠Crikey⁠  and writes  ⁠The Sizzle⁠  newsletter. He’s a co-author of  ⁠ Conspiracy Nation ⁠ : Exposing the Dangerous World of Australian Conspir...

Ths coming Friday is the deadline for the Justice Department to turn over the Epstein files to Congress. But we already know the key fact about Epstein’s famous friends--they didn’t care that he had hired a 14-year-old girl for sex—and gone to jail for it. But why was that? Katha Pollitt comments. Also: the hidden politics of the New York Times crossword puzzle: Natan Last explains; his new book i...

Danny and Derek welcome to the show Julia Gledhill and Van Jackson, co-hosts of the Un-Diplomatic podcast, to talk about the Trump administration’s newly released National Security Strategy. They discuss how the document leans on civilizational framing, portrays competition as existential conflict, omits diplomacy and institutions in favor of coercion and deal-making, and deemphasizes democracy pr...

In its heyday, the Bush Terminal industrial complex spanned several city blocks along Brooklyn’s waterfront and employed more than 35,000 people. Built by Irving Bush in the late nineteenth century, it was an "early intermodal shipping hub." Goods arrived by water and left by rail. Bananas, coffee, and cotton came in through doors on one side of the warehouses and were loaded onto trains o...

The Trump administration has released a new National Security Strategy that is a marked shift not only from earlier administrations but also Trump’s first term in office. While the new policy statement eschews the goal of global hegemony, it promotes culture war in Europe by promising support of anti-immigration political parties, economic rivalry in Asia with China, and a renewal of US military h...

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Listen to our Chinese Prestige miniseries ! Danny and Derek will sadly not be doing a CBS News town hall event. This week in the news: the Thailand–Cambodia conflict resumes (1:47); the DRC–M23 conflict also resumes as M23 makes new advances (7:05); in Gaza, questions remain over the “second phase” of the ceasefire as a winter storm hits (...

Paris Marx is joined by Ben Wray to discuss Europe’s capitulation to pressure from the United States on Nexperia, as well as on digital protections and labor rights that could have big implications for the future of work. Ben Wray is a researcher specializing in the platform economy. He writes the Gig Economy Project newsletter and his most recent report for the ETUC is called Uberisation . Advert...

Republicans are about to end Obamcare subsidies, driving up premiums for 20 million people during the year of the midterm elections. How have they managed to end up after all these years with no health insurance plan of their own? John Nichols comments. Also: Bob Dylan’s earliest recordings have just been released—the first is from 1956 when he was 15 years old—on the 8-CD set ‘Through the Open Wi...

Derek and journalist Mat Nashed assess the state of Sudan’s ongoing civil war, particularly the fall of Al-Fasher and the Rapid Support Forces’ consolidation of control across much of Darfur. They discuss the throughline from the 2003 genocide to today; the wider humanitarian catastrophe; the shifting battlefield in Kordofan; the growing role of drones; the RSF’s political gambits; the internation...

On one side of the world, a major corporate landlord is evicting tenants by jacking up rents by hundreds of dollars. On the other, its parent company is linked to Israeli bombs, genocide, and illegal settlements. This is the multibillion-dollar story of American Landmark — one of the country’s most eviction-happy landlords — and Elco, a corporate powerhouse whose subsidiaries are tied to the Israe...

Only a few years ago, European elites were patting themselves on the back for fending off the tide of right-wing anti-system parties (often styled as populists). But recent polls in France, Germany and the United Kingdom show that that the far right is once again gaining traction, thanks in no small part centrist governments that have demoralized the population and legitimized xenophobia. David Br...

Charlotte delves into Ecclesiastes through the work of liberation theologist Elsa Támez (When the Horizons Close) before Jo shares some of Pierre Guyotat’s horny, rapturous literary memoir, Idiocy. Icon of many RW conversations past, the thoughtful Jackie Ess then joins to discuss Tolstoy’s crank-inflected final novel, Resurrection. Jackie Ess is the author of a novel called Darryl, and more recen...

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get more content. Don’t forget to download our Chinese Prestige miniseries, currently on sale for $5. Annual subscribers get the series free!  Despite sitting on a large surplus of Labubus, Danny and Derek work hard to bring you the news. This week: in Russia-Ukraine, new US diplomacy goes nowhere (1:08), Ukraine is now attacking Russian commercial ships (5:55), a...

Paris Marx is joined by Aline Blankertz to discuss how right-wing governments and international corporations in the European Union are pushing to gut tech regulations with the goal of boosting AI development in hope of improving economic growth and geopolitical standing. Aline Blankertz is a cofounder of Structural Integrity. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: h...

Zorhan Mamdani takes office in four weeks as the first socialist mayor of New York City. How should we understand the constraints he faces, without accepting those constraints? Bhaskar Sunkara has our analysis; he’s president of The Nation and author of ‘The Socialist Manifesto.’ Plus: Sports Talk on The Nation podcast! Of course Thanksgiving was a big weekend for football on TV - a weekend where...