Start Making Sense

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After almost a year of Trump stonewalling about the Epstein files, Republicans in the House finally took a stand against him. More than a hundred Republican members were prepared to vote for releasing the files. Facing a dramatic defeat, on Sunday night Trump caved, and Tuesday the vote in the House was nearly unanimous. John Nichols has our analysis.

Also: The Americans who fought in World War II have been called “the greatest generation,” but historian David Nasaw argues that it’s more appropriate to regard them as “the wounded generation.” That’s the title of his new book about vets coming home after WWII.

Transcript HERE  11-19-2025

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As mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani will be the first socialist in American history to hold significant power. It’s a huge opportunity, and a huge responsibility. Bhaskar Sunkara, president of The Nation and author of “The Socialist Manifesto,” will comment.

Also: How a band of visionaries and a million dollars upended America – in the 1920s, which had some remarkable similarities to our own era. Award winning historian John Fabian Witt will explain; his new book is ‘The Radical Fund.’

Transcript HERE  11-14-2025

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Democratic candidates won everywhere they ran on Tuesday – Abagail Spanberger and a Democratic state legislature in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, Gavin Newsom’s redistricting proposition in California, and of course Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Trump didn’t even campaign against any them. John Nichols has our analysis.

Also: Greil Marcus comments on the new film about Bruce Springsteen writing the songs for his 1982 album “Nebraska”, starring starring Jeremy Allen White of ‘The Bear.” The movie misses the context: working class decline in Reagan’s America. Greil Marcus is the author of two dozen books, including “Mystery Train,” which has just been reissued in a special 50th anniversary edition.

Transcript HERE  11-5-2025

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Voters can take a stand against Trump’s candidates in next Tuesday’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, and New York City – and move toward redistricting that favors Democrats. Harold Meyerson explains.

Also: a new art exhibit in Los Angeles, called ‘Monuments,’ displays ten decommissioned Confederate monuments alongside the work of 19 artists responding or relating to them. It’s at MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and at the Brick, an arts nonprofit. Christopher Knight comments — he’s art critic for the LA Times and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.

Transcript HERE  10-30-2025

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No Kings Day on Oct. 18 was the largest peaceful protest in American history. Rebecca Solnit comments, and refutes Republican statements about violence on the left. Her most recent book is “Orwell’s Roses.”

Also: the fight to control the LA police: a decades long effort that culminated in 1992, after the Rodney King riots, when longtime police chief Darryl Gates was forced out. Danny Goldberg comments – at the time he was board chair of the ACLU of Southern California Foundation, and his new book is “Liberals With Attitude.”

Transcript HERE  10-22-2025

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Saturday is the second No Kings Day – it should be the biggest single day of protest in American history, with more than 2,500 events planned. Leah Greenberg will explain the preparations – she’s co-founder of Indivisible, the group that called the first No Kings day, June 14 – five million people participated in that one, held the same day as Trump’s birthday parade – the one no one came to.

Also: there’s “a forthrightly antifascist film” that critics call “wild and thrilling” — of course, that’s “One Battle After Another,” the Paul Thomas Anderson movie starring Leonardo di Caprio as a burnt out left wing bomber, targeted by an ICE captain played by Sean Penn. John Powers will comment—he’s critic at large on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

Transcript HERE  10-15-2025

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As the Supreme Court begins its new term, Trump lost six different cases in district courts just last week, ranging from bans on deploying the National Guard, to defending freedom of speech for noncitizens, to yet another court rejecting his executive order abolishing birthright citizenship. At the same time, Trump is claiming an illegitimate legal basis for ordering the murder of civilians he claims are trafficing in drugs. David Cole will comment—he’s former national legal director of the ACLU.

Also, There’s a wonderful new history of New York City from the Depression thru WWII, out now – It’s called “Gotham at War,” written by Mike Wallace. He won the Pulitzer Prize in History for the first volume in his “Gotham” series. To talk about ‘Gotham at War,’ we’ll turn to Brenda Wineapple, who writes for the New York Review and the New York Times Book Review; her most recent book is the Scopes trial–it’s called ‘Keeping the Faith.’

Transcript HERE  10-8-2025

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For the Senate Democrats this is a big week for defiance. At last they are making popular demands as part of a deal to pass a budget and avoid a government shutdown. But Trump still holds a lot of cards. Harold Meyerson will comment.

Also: None of us were prepared for the double whammy of last week’s White House press conference, where Trump made false claims not only about vaccines, but also about Tylenol causing autism. We’ll have analysis from Gregg Gonsalves. He teaches at the Yale School of Public Health; he’s been an AIDS activist for 30 years; and he’s also a MacArthur Fellow — class of 2018. And he’s The Nation’s public health correspondent.

Transcript HERE  10-2-2025

Trump is trying to stop speech that criticizes him and his administration. Last week began with JD Vance complaining about an article in The Nation that criticized the ideas of Charlie Kirk. Two days after that, ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel. And a few days after that, a protest movement forced ABC to put him back on the air. Bhaskar Sunkara comments on the fight over freedom of speech—he’s president of The Nation magazine.

Also: Attacking Harvard is not unique to Trump. For decades, indeed for centuries, American politicians have made hay by going after Harvard. Historian Beverely Gage talks about what’s familiar, and what’s new, in Trump’s efforts—based on a reconsideration of Richard Hofstadter’s classic 1963 book, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.
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In suburban DC, southern Pennsylvania and Iowa, Democrats have won special elections by significant margins – and the polls for this year’s upcoming elections for mayor in New York City, governor in Virginia, and redistricting in California show Democrats well ahead. Also: J.D. Vance attacks The Nation. John Nichols comments.
Also: Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT and one of our leading progressives, explains “Why Fascists Fear Teachers” – the title of her new book.