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At a time when almost everything seems to be going wrong, Bill McKibben sees one thing that is suddenly going right – a really big thing: solar power, and wind, which now provide cheaper electricity than fossil fuels. Bill’s new book has the wonderful title “Here Comes the Sun” – he says solar is “A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for civilization.”

Also: Historian Eric Foner provides some historical perspective on what seems like the unique threat Trump poses to our freedoms. His new book, a collection of almost 60 essays, is titled “Our Fragile Freedoms.”

Plus: ‘Huckleberry Finn’ is America’s great anti-slavery novel, but there’s a secret behind it: Mark Twain, the author, wasn’t always anti-slavery and anti-racist; in fact he fought, briefly, for the Confederacy. Adam Hochschild explains how Twain changed his mind.  9-6-2025

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While Labor Unions are more popular than ever in America, a federal appeals court has ruled the NLRB itself is unconstitutional – which, if upheld, means it’s up to the states to do what the NLRB did. Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: What is Trump’s strategy in deploying the National Guard to LA, then DC, and now probably Chicago and New York? Does he want the military in the streets of blue cities for the midterms next year? They will still elect Democrats to the House. John Nichols comments.

Plus: It’s time to take a step back from the daily barrage of bad news to look at the big picture of the strategy Trump has been following. David Cole explains how he’s exploited the power of the federal government, not just to attack his political opponents in the Democratic Party, but also weaken the institutions of civil society that form the bedrock of democracy.  8-29-2025

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The National Guard, still in DC, bolstered by units from southern Red states, remains overwhelmingly unpopular, especially ICE’s deportation efforts – Harold Meyerson reports.

Also: In The Nation’s interview with Zohran Mamdani, he talks how he won the New York City Democratic primary for mayor, by addressing the city’s affordability crisis—and what the Democrats can learn from his victory. Katrina vanden Heuvel and John Nichols, who conducted the interview, introduce our excerpts and set the stage.

Plus: In WWII, Denmark rescued a larger proportion of their Jewish population than any other country – 95%. How they did it suggests how we can resist Trump’s attacks on undocumented residents. Sarah Sophie Flicker explains – she’s an organizer who’s a co-founder of the Women’s March on Washington.  8-22-2025

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Report from Washington D.C. – where Trump has deployed the National Guard, ICE and FBI agents. He has also federalized the D.C. Police Department​ – this requires them to cooperate with ICE. These operations contrast with Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in LA, which, has a “different political topology”– Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Donald Trump is demanding that UCLA pay a $1 billion fine for antisemitism on campus – in addition to the $584 million in cuts to medical and scientific research already imposed by his administration. But one Billion? Why not one Trillon? David Myers will comment – He’s a distinguished professor at UCLA who teaches Jewish history.

Plus: From the Archives: Adam Hochschild on guns in Trump’s America after the Parkland shootings. He talks about armed militias, about the law in Iowa that permits the carrying of loaded guns in public by people who are blind, and about why the Koch Brothers are major funders of the NRA—even though they are not especially enthusiastic about guns. (Originally recorded April 20, 2018.) 8-15-2025

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Trump’s scheme to maintain control in the House in the midterms? Eliminate Democratic seats in Texas by redistricting. Texas House Democrats have responded by fleeing the state to block the necessary quorum on the proposed district map – now, the FBI might be deployed to arrest those Democrats; but, for what crime? Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Robert Reich says the origin of our troubles with Trump and MAGA go back to the sixties; he says it started with the sixties movements – which created “a giant political void that would eventually be filled by Donald Trump’s angry, bigoted cultural populism.” His new memoir is “Coming Up Short.”

Plus: “From Dictatorship to Democracy” by Gene Sharp, the world’s top scholar on peaceful protest, seems to be all about Trump but was published a decade before Trump appeared on the scene. For example: “Dictatorships are never as strong as they think they are. And people are never as weak as they think they are” – the book is our thank you gift for donations during today’s KPFK fund drive – Alan Minsky comments.  8-8-2025