Living in the USA

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Abdul El-Sayed’s first task is winning Black Detroit; next is making inroads in working class white Michigan. Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: A rehearsal for the election protection groups: the California sheriff who seized 650,000 ballots from November’s referendum, claiming he needed to recount them. Zach Roth of Democracy Docket will explain how the Chad Bianco case provides a test of one key Republican strategy for holding on to the House after the midterms.

Plus: From the archives: The Museum of Jurassic Technology is one of Culver City’s hidden treasures – David Wilson explains (originally broadcast 6-19-2001).  8-7-2026

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Trump’s trouble this week is getting the Senate committee to advance his nomination of Todd Blanche as Attorney General. Two key Republican senators are refusing to vote for Blanche unless Trump gives up on his deal that gives him immunity from tax audits – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: An impressive alliance of groups have been preparing for months to counter Trump’s threats to Democrats in the midterms. Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward and a member of The Senate Democrats’ Election Protection Task Force, explains why “we are going to have free and fair elections” in November.

Plus: Elon Musk calls Christopher Nolan’s film “The Odyssey” “part of a left-wing plan” to “destroy Western Civilization.” John Powers has a different view – he’s critic-at-large on NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross.  7-31-2026

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The Dems vs. the GOP in the 2026 Midterms: in the latest Fox News poll, 53% of Americans said they’d vote Democrat; but will that hold until November? “Assuming Donald Trump continues to be Donald Trump… these gaps may grow larger” – in the Dems’ favor – Harold Meyerson comments.

John Nichols on the Senate Candidates in Maine and Nebraska, and the governor’s race in Wisconsin. John of course is executive editor of The Nation.

Plus: It’s the 60th anniversary of Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” – “Everybody Must Get Stoned” “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” and “Visions of Johanna” – we discuss this historic – and literary – album with Alan Minsky.  7-24-2026

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Trump’s TV speech, and his declining situation, politically and mentally: Six years after he lost the 2020 election, Trump is still trying to find someone, anyone, to tell him he won. Trump said that last night’s speech was about the 2020 election but really it was about the 2026 elections – and Trump’s efforts to cause people to doubt the vote counters because he knows Republicans are set to suffer great losses in the upcoming midterms – Harold Meyerson comments on Trump’s bad week leading up to the speech.

Also: Trump believes the teaching of history really matters—that’s why on July 4 he issued a 162-page attack on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Yale historian Beverly Gage comments – her new book is This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip through US History.

Plus: from the archives, “Trump and Golf”: The Saudi-backed LIV golf league returned to Trump’s Doral Resort in April 2025 – an early sign that Trump family business deals using Saudi government financing were going to continue into the new presidency. The legendary sportswriter Robert Lipsyte comments on Trump and golf. (broadcast originally in August 2017)

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The Democrats in Maine have got to pick a new candidate to replace Platner by July 27th. As we’ve learned from Kamala Harris, replacing a candidate this late is hard – but​, Harris carried Maine by 7 points in 2024, the Democratic candidate for governor there leads by 15 points, and Susan Collins’ approval rating is negative. So, what​ chance ​does new Democratic candidate ​have to defeat Collins? Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Jamie Raskin, Democrat from Maryland, talks about Congress reforming the Supreme Court, and the House challenging Trump’s corruption. His article in the current issue of The Nation magazine is “We Must Restore Congress as the Predominant Branch of Government.”

Plus: The Court ended Temporary Protected Status, TPS, for Haitians (and others), but that does not mean deportations will begin immediately. Instead most of those with TPS will be given an opportunity to contest a deportation order or apply for remaining on a different basis. Amy Wilentz comments on the current responses in New York City, Miami, Springfield, Ohio, and in Congress.  7-10-2026

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On the Supreme Court today there is a 6 to 3 majority—I hesitate to call them ‘conservatives’ because they have been ripping apart tradition so drastically—right-wing Republican rule; Harold Meyerson comments on the “week of do this but don’t do it here decisions”.

Trump​’s biggest losses in the Supreme Court rulings announced this week were on birthright citizenship—widely anticipated—and the voting rights case where the majority ruled states could count ballots mailed but not received by election day. His biggest win was abolishing independent agencies except for the Federal Reserve. David Cole has our analysis—he’s the former legal director of the ACLU.

Also: This July 4th, the 250th anniversary of the signing of Declaration of Independence, is an anxious and unhappy holiday for Americans this year; as threats to our democracy have not be this dangerous since the Civil War. The question: “What is to be done?” is visited in “Common Sense 2026″—it’s not a TikTok video, not an instagram post, but a pamphlet, inspired by “Common Sense” by written Thomas Paine in 1776—Alan Minsky, its author, explains.  7-3-2026

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In New York City, Zohran Mamdani’s three candidates for the House all won, showing that Mamdani has “one heck of a lot of clout in New York”. Meanwhile, some point out that Democrats should be focusing NOT on DSA victories in urban areas, but on the districts that voted for Trump – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Election protection: defending Ohio’s biggest voter registration group, and blocking Trump’s attacks on voting by mail: Norm Eisen, co-counsel on the first Trump impeachment, comments.

Plus: How protest pushed ICE to abandon most of its warehouse detention center plans, and pressured Georgia Republicans to abandon their redistricting plans – John Nichols explains.  6-26-2026

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Trump says his memo of understanding is a big win for him because Iran has pledged NOT to develop nuclear weapons and to open the Strait of Hormuz. But, that only “gets us back to what the status quo was before Trump decided to go to war” and “the Iranian pledge not to develop nuclear weapons, that’s a pledge they made 40 or 50 years ago”. Next: News from Ohio, where Trump’s favorable rating has gone from 58% to 42% – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: In his campaign against elite universities as centers of resistance, Trump hasn’t been able to force Harvard to submit. And it seems less likely now that they will settle. Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy has our analysis.

Plus: the essential workers at our supermarkets: Ann Larson talks about poverty wages and worker solidarity. Her new book is Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View From Behind the Supermarket Register.  6-19-2026

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Democratic strength, and Democratic divisions, in primaries from L.A. to Maine—Harold Meyerson has our analysis of the week’s political developments.

Also: Can AI write poetry? Good poetry? Katha Pollitt decided to find out. She’s an award-winning poet herself, and a columnist for The Nation​.

Plus: From the archives: We remember George Harrison with Allan Kozinn; he​ was music critic for The New York Times and wrote of the George Harrison obituary, as well as the book “The Beatles” (originally recorded in December 2001, one week after George Harrison died).  5-12-2026

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California’s next Governor will likely be Xavier Becerra – as a former California Attorney General, he has a record of suing Trump; but is also known to be a corporate-friendly Democrat. Still, ​with California’s notoriously slow count, it is too soon to call. Meanwhile, the 35% Karen Bass has in the LA mayoral race, “reflects the lack of enthusiasm” among LA voters – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Primaries in Iowa, New Jersey and elsewhere tested the strength of progressives in the party. John Nichols has our analysis.

Plus: From the Archives: Girl Groups of the Sixties: Raw emotion, youthful energy, and teenage angst in a 4-CD Rhino box set: One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found. Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote, “to hear all these long-suffering voices is to realize that feminism didn’t arrive an instant too soon.” Gary Stewart, who died in 2019, produced the 120-track collection along with Cheryl Farber, in 2005. PLAYLIST: “Needle in a Haystack,” The Velvelettes (1964); Nobody Knows What’s Going on in my Mind but Me, The Chiffons (1965); Nothing but a Heartache, The Flirtations (1968); I Never Dreamed, The Cookies (1964); “I’m Blue (The Gong-Gong Song),” The Ikettes (1961). (Originally recorded in 2005.)  7-9-2026