A Q&A with Todd Gitlin, who says the 16-hour Ken Burns history of the Vietnam War is an extraordinary portrayal of the people who lived through the war—both Americans and Vietnamese.
Read at TheNation.com, HERE.
Journalism
Robert Mueller’s Brilliant Move Against Trump’s Pardon Power: Elizabeth Holtzman Q&A
Elizabeth Holtzman, who served on the House Judiciary Committee that drafted the Watergate articles of impeachment, talks about Robert Mueller and his investigations of Donald Trump–and emphasizes that impeachable offenses do not have to also qualify as indictable criminal offenses.
Read HERE
The Political Roots of Houston’s Flooding
A Q&A with The Nation’s Managing Editor, Roane Carey, who spent the week trapped in Houston — studying the history of 100-year floods, and developers’ fight against local groups seeking limits of development of prairie flood plains.
At TheNation.com, HERE
Erwin Chemerinsky: Trump’s Terrible Pardon of Sherriff Joe Arpaio
Q&A with the dean of the law school at Berkeley, who explains why Trump’s move violates basic tenets of the separation of powers–and how the Supreme Court might review the pardon.
at TheNation.com: READ HERE
Trump Without Bannon: The Emptiness at the Center–Amy Wilentz on What Jared Wants
Jon Wiener: We heard for months about the hostility between Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. Now Jared has won the battle. But why was this battle being fought, in the first place?
Amy Wilentz: There’s an emptiness at the center of Donald Trump. He doesn’t like policy, doesn’t want to read about policy, doesn’t want to think about policy. What he does is take advice. If you have then two warring factions who disagree on policy and also disagree on final goals, you’re going to have huge problems.
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE
It Was 50 Years Ago Today: Abbie Hoffman Threw Money at the New York Stock Exchange
On August 24, 1967, fifty years ago today, Abbie Hoffman and a group of friends invaded the heart of American capitalism, the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. They threw money from the visitors’ gallery onto the floor, and the brokers and traders there leapt into the air to grab the dollar bills floating down. Trading was interrupted, briefly. News coverage was massive. . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE
Why Steve Bannon Calls White Supremacists ‘Clowns’ and ‘Losers’
In Steve Bannon’s now-famous call to Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect the day before he was fired, Bannon described the white supremacists who had marched in Charlottesville as “losers” and “a collection of clowns.” Of course, those are the same sorts of people Bannon mobilized to vote for Trump, the most loyal part of his base. I asked Joshua Green about that . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE
White Nationalists, Neo-Confederates, and Donald Trump: Q&A with Eric Foner
JW: The Confederate statue that was ostensibly the focus of the events in Charlottesville was of Robert E. Lee, who surrendered at Appomattox in 1865. What can you tell us about this statue?
Eric Foner: The key thing to remember about this statue, and most of these statues, is that they have very little to do with the Civil War. This statute was erected in 1924, almost 70 years after the end of the Civil War. It was erected at height of Jim Crow, the height of the era of segregation, disenfranchisement, and lynching.
continued HERE
Frank Rich: Wallowing in Watergate–Will the Trump Presidency End Like Nixon’s?
“Wallowing in Watergate” is a phrase that Nixon used after two months of brutal Senate Watergate hearings in July, 1973—the “what did he know and when did he know it” part of Watergate. With his typical faux-piety, Nixon said, “Let others wallow in Watergate, we are going to do our job.” That’s the sort of thing we’ve heard other presidents say when they’re under attack for scandal, including the current one.
… continued at TheNation.com, HERE
What Power Does Trump Have to Stop the Russia Investigation? David Cole Q&A
David Cole, Legal Director of the ACLU and legal correspondent for The Nation, discusses the ways Trump could fire Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller. All the ways, he argues, would be acts of desperation based on what the Russia investigations would uncover.
Read HERE