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Laura Poitras on Julian Assange: ‘Admirable, Brilliant, and Flawed’

JW:  In Citizenfour, you quote from your production diaries, “I thought I could ignore the contradictions. I was wrong. They are becoming the story.” How did you decide to do it that way?
Laura Poitras: I wanted to present a narrative that had complexity and contradictions, and tell the audience about some of the contradictions I was feeling when I was filming: What’s the story about? What am I filming? What’s going on?
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Laura Poitras: The Many Contradictions of Julian Assange

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Risk is the new film by Laura Poitras, about Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. Poitras, who won the Oscar for best documentary for her film about Edward Snowden, Citizenfour, calls Assange “admirable, brilliant, and flawed.”
Also: Stephen Cohen says a new cold war is threatening world peace, and a new McCarthyism is undermining American politics.
And Eric Foner says it might be possible to impeach Donald Trump—but having Mike Pence as president would probably be worse.

John Nichols: The House GOP Vote on Obamacare is Indefensible

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John Nichols on the House Republicans’ vote to repeal and replace Obamacare–he says the Democrats have an obligation to resist.
Plus Margaret Atwood on the shocking relevance of “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu;
and Katha Pollitt says “It’s not McCarthyism to demand an investigation of Trump.”

 Margaret Atwood: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ in the Age of Trump

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The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel about the United States after a right-wing coup has installed a theocratic regime, is now a 10-part series on Hulu.  The TV version is shocking, scary, and surprisingly relevant in Trump’s America.  In this interview, she recalls how and why she wrote the book—in 1984—and what in the TV version seems most resonant today.

Also: Katha Pollitt says “It’s not ‘McCarthyism’ to demand answers on Trump, Russia, and the election.”

And for our Ivanka Watch segment, Amy Wilentz comments on Ivanka’s debut on the world stage with her first official foreign trip—to the W20 in Germany, where she was booed.

Why We Were Wrong about Trump: Rick Perlstein

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RICK PERLSTEIN says “I thought I understood the American right. Trump proved me Wrong.”

And the great BILL McKIBBEN talks about the People’s Climate March, coming up in Washington this Saturday. We’ll have a rundown of all the sister marches in southern California – from Santa Barbara and Ventura to Riverside to Irvine– and also the LA Sister March in Wilmington, in the LA Harbor area.

Also, our favorite county supervisor, SHEILA KUEHL, talks about the “Resist Los Angeles” march on Monday May 1 – starting in MacArthur Park at 11. says “I thought I understood the American right. Trump Proved Me Wrong.”

 Bill McKibben: This Is Our Last Chance to Save the Planet

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“We’ll either save, or doom, the planet, during the Trump administration.” That’s what Bill McKibben says—he’s an organizer of the Climate March in Washington on Sunday, April 29.

Also: 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump, despite his obvious failings as a Christian. Frances Fitzgerald examines evangelicals’ earlier history in politics, including their support for a Democrat—the “born-again” Jimmy Carter. Her new book is The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America.

Plus: Andrew Bacevich looks at America’s longest war. Our fight in Afghanistan, which began 15 years ago, shows no sign of ending, despite the recent dropping of “the mother of all bombs.”

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The Fall of O’Reilly–and the Rise of Goldman Sachs

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TOM FRANK has been on the road in the Red States with his book Listen Liberal – we ask whether he thinks Bernie could have beaten Trump.
Also, JOHN NICHOLS comments on Fox News firing the horrible Bill O’Reilly—and on Democratic candidates for the House in Georgia and Montana.
Plus: Steve Bannon, the fascist maniac, is out of the big economic decision-making at the White House, and the calm bankers from Goldman Sachs are in: DAVID DAYEN will talk about what that means for tax reform, and for our future.

 Tom Frank: On the Road in Trump Country

How Trump won, and why Clinton lost: a Q&SA with Tom Frank, who has been touring red states to talk about the new paperback edition of his book Listen, Liberal, or Whatever Happened to the Party of the People? 
Two highlights: people hated Hillary Clinton — and they liked Bernie.
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