Living in the USA

Reproductive rights initiatives and referendums on the ballot in November will boost Democratic turnout in swing states including Arizona and Michigan--Harold Meyerson reports. Also: Haiti is back on the front page–at least in the New York Times--and it’s not because of what’s happening there right now. The Times has published the results of a deep investigation into the history of Haiti’s forced...

Republicans in this week’s primaries: it’s sort like news from another planet. Harold Meyerson reports on Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ohio, on opportunities and challenges now that the Republicans have chosen their candidates. Also: John Nichols on Progressive Democrats in Tuesday’ primaries – and the deluge of money from the Israel lobby paying for ads attacking them—especially in Pittsburg...

Repealing Roe v. Wade will be a disaster for women, but a gift to Democrats in the upcoming midterms--an opportunity to win close races in swing states. Harold Meyerson runs down the key races where Dems should be able to win. Also: It’s all up to the states now, where grassroots groups are preparing an enormous logistics operation to move people across entire regions of the country that are about...

The Democrats’ chances in the midterms depend on turnout, on door-to-door, face-to-face organizing—and “Democracy Summer” is their plan to join with allies in organizing that kind of effort in the swing states. Harold Meyerson explains. Also: the disgraceful policy of America toward refugees from Ukraine – historian David Nasaw comments. And the wonderful writer Margo Jefferson talks about her new...

Progressive Democrats will be challenging incumbent moderate Democrats across America this spring and summer—starting in Ohio as Nina Turner has a rematch with Shontel Brown for Ohio's 11th District on May 3rd, 2022—Alan Minsky comments. Next: The Amazon workers on Staten Island have won a historic victory—but now they must prepare to strike, and to win support for their strike from the community...

What the Democrats have done wrong, and what they’ve done right: Michael Kazin on the party’s history, and its future. His new book is “What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party.” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson won’t be seated on the Supreme Court until late June, but we’re still thinking about the significance of her confirmation as America’s first Black female supreme court justice and...

Inflation is a world-wide phenomenon right now- what can Biden do about prices in America? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: the French elections. Plus: The sheriff of LA County: he’s got 10,000 deputies, in America’s biggest county, with 10 million people – and he’s become LA’s biggest political problem as he faces reelection. LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano comments. Also: How could the war in...

It’s been a week since workers at the Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island voted to form a union – what’s the next step for the first union ever at the second biggest employer in America, and for the rest of the labor movement? Harold Meyerson has our analysis. Also: What if everybody voted? What if voting was a duty, not just a right; an obligation, something like jury duty? E.J. Dionne and...

Build Back Better never made it through congress. So, what's in Biden's new budget proposal? Harold Meyerson of The prospect comments. Plus: Monday April 4 is the Day Of Action to Abolish Student Debt, when thousands of young people will gather in Washington D.C. to say "Pick Up the Pen, Joe" -- and abolish student debt via executive action. Astra Taylor will explain; she’s co-founder of the Debt...

Since the demise of Biden’s Build Back Better bill, the Democrats need other achievements to run on in the midterm campaigns. That means Biden should start using executive action. Harold Meyerson talks about the most politically important possibilities: student debt cancellation and action on prescription drug prices. Also: the Senate confirmation hearings for Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji...

After Zelensky's speech to Congress: Harold Meyerson analyzes the forces at work in Ukraine. Also: news of the class struggle in America. Plus: Bhaskar Sunkara, the new president of The Nation magazine, talks about what independent media should do during wartime. And Katha Pollitt takes up the question, "is there a right to sex?"

“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....