Trump Watch

Amy Wilentz comments on Jared Kushner’s congressional testimony about that meeting with the Russian promising dirt on Hillary, and 6-year-old Arabella “interrupting” the NY Times interview with Trump in the Oval Office.
Also: Rick Wartzman on the rise and fall of good jobs in America–his new book is The End of Loyalty.
And Harold Meyerson analyzes the latest efforts of Senate Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare–and considers the Jeff Sessions situation. (recorded Thursday evening, before the vote).
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John Nichols of The Nation opens the show with comments on Jeff Sessions‘s past, present, and possible future–Sessions is featured in John’s forthcoming book, Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse.
And Al Franken talks about the dangers of humor in politics, about the voters who supported Trump, and the need for a public option in health care in America. He also answers the question, “Is Jeff Sessions a lying little weasel”? His new book, a numer one bestseller, is Al Franken: Master of the Senate.
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It’s not enough to say “no” to Trump, Naomi Klein argues; we need to transform ourselves and our movement to bring about the change we need.  Her new book is No is Not Enough.
And we revisit our 2003 interview with Al Franken about his number one bestseller, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Now he has a new number=one bestseller: Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.
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Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect proposes concrete programs to win back white working class voters who switched from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016–starting with infrastructure and public works programs that include rural America, where support for Trump was high.  The New Deal provides examples of how government programs like the TVA can stimulate economic growth in poor regions.
plus George Zornick of The Nation talks about the Senate Republicans’ healthcare fiasco–we call it “Trumpcare,” even though Trump probably doesn’t understand much about it.  We also talk about future of Obamacare, and single payer/Medicare-for-all coverage.
and legendary LA activist attorney Carol Sobel makes the case for the rights of homeless people–she’s sued the LAPD and the city of LA dozens of times and won many crucial victories.  She recently received a lifetime achievement award from the ACLU of Southern Califonira.
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Amy Wilentz talks about Jared Kushner, the most trusted man in the Trump White House, as he arrives in Israel seeking peace in the Mideast.  She reviews Jared’s history as a New York real estate maven; as publisher–and destroyer–of the New York Observer; and she comments on his first public speech as a government official, addressed to Silicon Valley tech CEOs assembled at the White House — a pathetic effort.
Also Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments on the fate of Trumpcare in the Senate and the implications for winning single-payer Medicare-for-all coverage; and he looks for lessons for Democrats in the defeat of Jon Ossoff for Congress in suburban Atlanta.
Plus: John Nichols of The Nation makes the case that Trump is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, and thus should be impeached by the House and put on trial in the Senate.
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Every day seems to be a bad news day for the President — today, yesterday, the day before. . . Rick Perlstein comments–and points out the anniversary of the Watergate break-in this week.
plus Jonathan Lethem on Bob Dylan‘s Nobel speech and the new anthology Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock.
and  Larry Tye talks about how Bobby Kennedy brought together the white working class with people of color in 1968–something we need today.  His new book is Bobby Kennedy: The making of a liberal icon.

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As things get worse for Donald Trump, he’s likely to become more irrational and dangerous, says Sasha Abramsky of The Nation.
Also–Trump is NOT like Nixon–that’s what Rick Perlstein says. He wrote the classic Nixonland.

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Harold Meyerson traces parallels–and differences–between Nixon’s efforts to stop the FBI from investigating him, and Trump’s efforts to stop the FBI from investigating him.  The first obviously led toward impeachment and resignation; will the second?
Also: Evangelicals and politics: Frances Fitzgerald comments.

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Amy Wilentz follows Donald Trump on Twitter — we ask her what that’s like, and why she does it. Also, she has a modest proposal: somebody should stop him.
Plus: Harold Meyerson on the Trump impeachment scenario: lessons from the Democrats’ successful effort to remove Nixon, and the Republicans’ failure to remove Bill Clinton.