Questions for Al Franken, and answers, about Trump voters, Bernie voters, and Russians. Our Q&A for “Start Making Sense,” The Nation’s weekly podcast, edited and condensed for print. His new book is Al Franken: Giant of the Senate.
(His answer to the question, “Is Jeff Sessions a Lying Little Weasel?”: “That’s not how I would characterize the attorney general of the United States.”
Read HERE
Journalism
Amy Wilentz: Does Jared Kushner Know Anything About the Countries He’s Supposed to Be Doing Diplomacy With?
Q. Jared Kushner, the most trusted man in the Trump White House, has been on page one of the Los Angeles Times recently. One story was headlined, “Nations feel cut off from the Trump White House.” What was that about?
Amy Wilentz: Trump has a problem, especially at the State Department: He has not made appointments or filled ambassadorships throughout the world. So foreign ministries don’t know how to communicate. They’re used to dealing with the desk and the ambassador from the United States, who know about their area or their specific country, and that doesn’t exist right now. So they’re calling Jared. It’s kind of frightening, because he doesn’t really know anything about these places.
… continued HERE
The British Ruling Class is in Full Panic Mode: Paul Mason
Paul Mason of The Guardian comments on the triumph of Jeremy Corbyn and Labour in a Q&A on the recent general election in the UK, and points to lessons for the left in the US.
… continued HERE
Norman Lear: From Archie Bunker to Donald Trump
The creator of seventies TV classic All in the Family reflects on how 2016 was about Americans’ rejecting decades of ethically devoid leadership. And he takes up the question, could there be an Archie Bunker on TV in the Age of Trump?
… continued HERE
Rick Perlstein: Trump Has Exposed the Dark Underbelly of American Conservatism
How historians missed the angry, violent, racist side of the conservative movement: A Q&A with the author of “Nixonland” and “The Invisible Bridge.”
at TheNation.com, HERE.
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?
continued HERE
Margaret Atwood: The Shocking Relevance of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Jon Wiener: The Handmaid’s Tale is the first work of feminist dystopian fiction ever featured in a Super Bowl ad—congratulations!
Margaret Atwood: I think it’s the first work of fiction period that was ever featured in a Super Bowl ad.
… Continued HERE
Frances Fitzgerald: Why Did White Evangelicals Vote For Our Immoral President? TheNation.com
Jon Wiener: Some basic facts: How many people in the United States today call themselves Evangelical?
Frances Fitzgerald: I think it’s about 20 percent.
JW: And how many of the white evangelicals voted for Trump?
FF: 81 percent.
JW: Trump does not go to church. Do evangelicals care about that?
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE
Tom Frank: On the Road in Trump Country
How Trump won, and why Clinton lost: 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.
Continued HERE
What Would Jesus Do–About Trump? Sarah Posner Q&A: TheNation.com, 4/7
Evangelicals and politics, before–and after–the election: Sarah Posner of The Nation Institute reports on Evangelical leaders’ opposition to Trump at the beginning of the primary season — and the deal they made with him in exchange for their endorsement:
first of all, his Supreme Court picks.
continued HERE