Episodit
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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 the New York Times, are “drifting away from the Democrats.” But how good is the evidence here? Steve Phillips has our analysis.
Plus: From the Archives: The final years of Martin Luther King Jr. -- Taylor Branch discusses his book At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 (originally recorded in March 2006).
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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 current reelection campaign in southwestern Washington State, starting from the fact that she’s a working class woman in a rural area.
Plus: Kamala’s campaign is challenging the Republican conception of “freedom” as freedom from government regulation, advancing instead a positive conception of the government’s ability to protect and expand freedom. Eric Foner explains the history, and significance, of this conflict.
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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 polls—organize.’
Plus: From the archives: The great Gail Collins of The New York Times op-ed page talks about the adventures of older women – and her book, “No Stopping Us Now” (first recorded in November 2019).
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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 Middle America where Trump has gotten big majorities in the past: Iowa and Nebraska, central and western Illinois, and southwestern Wisconsin, asking Democrats there about politics in their towns right now. He’s on the podcast this week to discuss.
Plus: Your Minnesota Moment – from the archives: Our interview with Al Franken, when Fox News sued him for the title of his book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" (first recorded in 2003).
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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 election is the main political battle in America today, but Trump’s followers have also been fighting for years to take over towns across the country. Sasha Abramsky reports on two exemplary battles. His new book is Chaos Comes Calling.
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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 election if he loses, and Republicans are doing everything they can make it harder for Democrats to vote. But it will be harder for Trump to challenge this year's election, because of changes in the law--that's what Rick Hasen says. He's professor of law at UCLA, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate and The New York Times.
Plus: Trump supporters in Appalachia: Arlie Hochschild has spent years talking with them about how they understand their lives, and how Donald Trump helps overcome their shame. Her new book is “Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right.”
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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 purpose. Now, a federal judge has finally ruled: The vets win, and the VA loses. Mark Rosenbaum, lead attorney in the vets’ class action suit, explains.
Plus: Democracy in America is being undermined by the Electoral College, the Senate filibuster, the gerrymandering of the House, and the corruption of the Supreme Court. It’s time to write, and ratify, a new constitution: that’s what Erwin Chemerinsky says. His new book is “No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.”
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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: Rachel Kushner talks about an informant and provocateur who infiltrates an anarchist eco-commune in rural France—the central character in her new novel, Creation Lake.
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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 Powers, critic-at-large for NPR's Fresh Air draws parallels between 1920s Italy and Trump's America.
Plus: The Warmth of Other Suns, about the great migration of Black people out of the South, has made The New York Times 100 Best Books of the Century list; from the archives, my discussion with its author, Isabel Wilkerson (originally recorded in 2010).
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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 their convention in Chicago, the number one nonfiction bestseller in America is “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance. Luckily for us, Becca Rothfeld, author of “All Things Are Too Small” and the nonfiction book critic of The Washington Post, has read it, so we don't have to.
From the archives: The legendary Father Greg Boyle, Jesuit pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights starting in 1986, has made it his mission to help gang members who want to quit. He founded Homeboy Industries in 1988. We spoke about his wonderful book "Tattoos on the Heart: Stories of Hope and Compassion" (Originally broadcast Jan., 2012)
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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 the transition to renewable energy, and has made Twitter into a threat to democracy. He has become the face of 21st-century capitalism. David Nasaw has our analysis. (recorded in October, 2023.)
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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 stake in the country’s future.
Plus: Your Minnesota Moment: David Carr was a great New York Times media columnist; here he talks about his days as a drug addict in Minneapolis. His book is Night of the Gun. (originally broadcast 9/10/08)
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Kamala's first 10 days have been "what any candidate would dream of" – and have given the Democrats an "energy jolt". Also, Donald's bad day with the largest annual gathering of Black journalists –Harold Meyerson comments.
Next: Every four years, people die, people turn 18 and the electorate changes. Steve Philips reports on the new electorate.
Plus: The phrase "homeless veterans" should be an American oxymoron – instead, administration after administration, including that of Biden, has fought against disabled veterans' right to housing. Public Counsel lead attorney Mark Rosenbaum discusses the class action lawsuit set for trial on August 6th.
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America ready to elect a Black woman president? Harold Meyerson examines the opportunities facing Kamala Harris, and the obstacles to be overcome.
Also: Democrats in Arizona are engaged in massive organizing to win an abortion rights referendum, elect a senator, and flip a House seat. And they are facing an Arizona Republican Party that is pretty crazy, to say the least. The Nation‘s Sasha Abramsky has our report.
Plus: from the archives: Barbara Ehrenreich on the wellness industry, starting with those pink ribbons. Her book is "Bright-Sided." (originally broadcast November 2009)
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After surviving the assassination attempt: Is Trump capable of sticking with his new feeling of gratitude, calm, and unity, or are anger and megalomania built into his DNA? Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: Kamala Harris – could she replace Biden on the ticket? Should she? Joan Walsh has our report.
Plus, from the archives: the song “Mack the Knife” from Berthold Brecht in 1928, to the Off Broadway revival of Threepenny Opera in 1955, to Sonny Rollins in 1956, to Bobby Darrin in 1960: we will listen, and Will Friedwald will explain.
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Where do we stand with Joe Biden – today? More Democrats are saying Biden needs to step down – Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: During the Supreme Court term that just ended, the conservative majority granted new constitutional rights to hedge fund managers, big business—and Donald Trump. David Cole explains the shocking decisions that have transformed our government.
Plus: 1974, the new memoir by Francine Prose, recalls the year when “the ’60s” came to a definitive end, when it became clear that the changes we’d wanted, the changes we’d fought for, were not going to happen. She spent that year in San Francisco, where she got to know Tony Russo of the Pentagon Papers case.
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What would it take to get Biden to decline the nomination? Polls about the opinion of the Democratic rank-and-file; the views of Democratic senators and House members–those in danger of losing their seats and political careers—and Biden’s own circle, for whom the crucial factor will be their assessment of his legacy. Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: Marc Cooper argues that the narrative for Joe Biden’s campaign has now been set: he’s “too old.” And the Supreme Court decision on immunity for Trump makes it essential that he be defeated. Kamala Harris would be the choice of the party establishment, if Biden agreed to step aside; at the convention, she might be nominated by acclamation, without a vote among alternative choices.
Plus: UCLA historian Robin Kelley talks about the music of Thelonious Monk – and his book: "Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original" – PLAYLIST: “‘Round Midnight,” “Well You Needn’t,” “Straight No Chaser,” “Sweet and Lovely” – 1947 Blue Note sessions. (originally broadcast 10-21-09)
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Trump v. Biden 2024 – before the debate: Biden cannot look old or confused, BUT – in a way, Trump's constant ridiculing of Biden for looking old and confused actually gives Biden his biggest and best opportunity. Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: What should the Democrats do about white voters? Most of them have voted for Trump, twice. How much of that can be changed? Steve Phillips reports on new research that should reshape Democratic strategy.
Plus: On throwing cards into watermelons, how to run a flea circus, the art of dental performance and much more – remembering master magician Ricky Jay (first recorded in 2002; he died in 2018).
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It's not just AIPAC that's after Squad member and incumbent representative running for New York's 16th congressional district, Jamaal Bowman – Hillary Clinton has just endorsed his opponent, George Latimer – Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: On May 31, Joe Biden declared, “It is time for this war to end.” But the leaders of both Israel and Hamas seem content for the war in Gaza to grind on into the indefinite future. Hussein Ibish explains why.
Plus: From the archives: The Holocaust was not just murder on a mass-scale, it was a huge organizational undertaking that required vast amounts of information. IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation, documents the technology services rendered by US-based multinational corporation International Business Machines (IBM) and its German and other European subsidiaries for the government of Adolf Hitler – author, investigative journalist and historian Edwin Black discusses this history (first recorded May, 2001).
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Male Trump voters tend to have what researches call 'precarious manhood' – determined by the frequency of their search terms for things such as: "penis enlargement" "Viagra" and "hair restoration" – Harold Meyerson comments
Also: The Israel lobby AIPAC is spending millions to defeat Representative Jamaal Bowman in the New York state Democratic primary. That’s because he called for a permanent ceasefire back in October, and describes what’s happening in Gaza now as “an ongoing genocide.” Alan Minsky has our analysis of the campaign – he’s Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America.
Plus: The Trump verdict and women voters: Exit polls have consistently shown women voting Democratic, and men voting Republican – especially with Trump. How much wider will the Gender Gap get, now that Trump has been found guilty-of lying about having had sex with a porn star? Katha Pollitt will comment.
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