Living in the USA

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The National Guard, still in DC, bolstered by units from southern Red states, remains overwhelmingly unpopular, especially ICE’s deportation efforts – Harold Meyerson reports.

Also: In The Nation’s interview with Zohran Mamdani, he talks how he won the New York City Democratic primary for mayor, by addressing the city’s affordability crisis—and what the Democrats can learn from his victory. Katrina vanden Heuvel and John Nichols, who conducted the interview, introduce our excerpts and set the stage.

Plus: In WWII, Denmark rescued a larger proportion of their Jewish population than any other country – 95%. How they did it suggests how we can resist Trump’s attacks on undocumented residents. Sarah Sophie Flicker explains – she’s an organizer who’s a co-founder of the Women’s March on Washington.  8-22-2025

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Report from Washington D.C. – where Trump has deployed the National Guard, ICE and FBI agents. He has also federalized the D.C. Police Department​ – this requires them to cooperate with ICE. These operations contrast with Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in LA, which, has a “different political topology”– Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Donald Trump is demanding that UCLA pay a $1 billion fine for antisemitism on campus – in addition to the $584 million in cuts to medical and scientific research already imposed by his administration. But one Billion? Why not one Trillon? David Myers will comment – He’s a distinguished professor at UCLA who teaches Jewish history.

Plus: From the Archives: Adam Hochschild on guns in Trump’s America after the Parkland shootings. He talks about armed militias, about the law in Iowa that permits the carrying of loaded guns in public by people who are blind, and about why the Koch Brothers are major funders of the NRA—even though they are not especially enthusiastic about guns. (Originally recorded April 20, 2018.) 8-15-2025

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Trump’s scheme to maintain control in the House in the midterms? Eliminate Democratic seats in Texas by redistricting. Texas House Democrats have responded by fleeing the state to block the necessary quorum on the proposed district map – now, the FBI might be deployed to arrest those Democrats; but, for what crime? Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Robert Reich says the origin of our troubles with Trump and MAGA go back to the sixties; he says it started with the sixties movements – which created “a giant political void that would eventually be filled by Donald Trump’s angry, bigoted cultural populism.” His new memoir is “Coming Up Short.”

Plus: “From Dictatorship to Democracy” by Gene Sharp, the world’s top scholar on peaceful protest, seems to be all about Trump but was published a decade before Trump appeared on the scene. For example: “Dictatorships are never as strong as they think they are. And people are never as weak as they think they are” – the book is our thank you gift for donations during today’s KPFK fund drive – Alan Minsky comments.  8-8-2025

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Six million Democrats who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 did not vote in 2024. What’s wrong with them? Pollster and strategist Celinda Lake explains who they are, and what it would take to get them back to the polls in the 2026 midterms – and in 2028.

Also: a suggestion for summer reading: M: Son of the Century is a 750-page historical novel about the rise of Mussolini, by Antonio Scurati. John Powers, critic-at-large for NPR’s Fresh Air, says the book suggests some parallels between 1920s Italy and Trump’s America. The book is out now in paperback.

Plus: “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.” – Bruce Springsteen, May 14, 2025, during his European tour – Alan Minsky comments.  8-1-2025

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There’s trouble in Trump world: Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is launching a Third Party to challenge Trump’s Republicans in the midterms and maybe in 2028. Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, explains why Musk will fail – and how Mamdani succeeded at winning the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City.

Also: How does a movement build support when large parts of the country are opposed to its goals? How do you connect with people who disagree with you?  For some answers, we’ll turn to longtime organizer Michael Ansara. His new book is The Hard Work of Hope.  7-25-2025

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A federal court in LA has ordered ICE to stop arresting people because they look Latino—because that’s racial discrimination, and it’s unconstitutional. Mark Rosenbaum of Public Counsel explains.

Also, MAGA has accepted every one of Trump’s lies, until the Jeffrey Epstein files—what makes this one different? Harold Meyerson explains.

Plus: Trump’s executive order abolishing birthright citizenship—guaranteed by the 14th  Amendment—has been blocked for a second time, this time because of a class-action suit.  David Cole explains why Trump will lose this case when it gets to the Supreme Court.  7-18-2025

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Trump’s ICE is attacking undocumented people in LA County because there are a lot of them – maybe a million, out of a total of almost 5 million Latinos, and also because LA is one of the most Democratic counties in the country. And LA has a big and militant alliance of immigrants rights groups that are fighting Trump. Harold Meyerson will explain the deportation battle in Southern California at this point.

Plus: Elon Musk’s obsession with rockets and robots sounds futuristic, but “few figures in public life are more shackled to the past” – that’s what Jill Lepore has found. His ideas at DOGE seem to come from his grandfather, a founder of the anti-democratic Technocracy movement of the 1930s. Jill Lepore teaches history and law at Harvard, and writes for The New Yorker.

Also: Rachel Kushner will talk about the informant and provacateur who infiltrates an anarchist eco-commune in rural France – the central character in her award-winning novel, “Creation Lake” – it’s out now, in paperback.  7-11-2025

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Now that Republicans have done immense damage to working class and poor people, the Democrats are mobilizing to win the House next year and possibly also the Senate – Harold Meyerson comments.

Plus: The surprise victory of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic mayor primary over a well-funded establishment candidate shows that progressive politics, when pursued with discipline, vision and vigor, can win broad support. Bhaskar Sukara, President of The Nation and author of The Socialist Manifesto, has our analysis.

Also: After going to court to challenge Trump’s cut of $2 billion in federal grants, Harvard is now in negotiations with the administration, seeking “common ground” – raising fears that even the most established and wealthy university will submit to his demands. E.J. Dionne argues that authoritarians everywhere target universities, which everywhere are centers of resistance and defenders of democratic freedoms.  7-4-2025

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The Supreme Court has issued a major victory for Trump, ending the ability of judges to issue nationwide injunctions – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Donald Trump, found guilty of sexual assault and defamation, owes E. Jean Carroll $88 million. She explains how she beat him in court, twice, proving that he attacked her in a Bergdorf dressing room and then lied about it. Her new book is Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President.

Plus: The leading autopsies on the 2024 defeat of Democrats are missing two big things, Steve Phillips argues: the centrality of racial hostility and of gender resentment as central organizing forces in American politics.  6-27-2025

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Trump’s deportation plans have always faced a contradiction: he couldn’t deport millions of immigrants without crippling essential industries and Republican business whose owners supported him. So Trump started granting exceptions; but that was before Saturday, the biggest one-day political protest in American history, protesting against him. On that same day, nobody came to his birthday parade, and in the middle of that night, Trump made an announcement on Truth Social, targeting blue cities – Harold Meyerson explains.

Also: Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ protests, with 5 million people at 2100 events, was the largest single day of protest in American history. Leah Greenberg of Indivisible will talk about how the event was organized, and what comes next.

Plus: The Medicaid cuts provide a lifetime opportunity for us to reach the 70 million people who did not vote and the 60 per cent of Trump voters who are not MAGA — that’s what Ai-jen Poo says. She’s director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and President of Care in Action, and a key labor organizer and strategist.  6-20-2025