Living in the USA

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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

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With tanks rolling down the street in DC on Saturday and troops being deployed to LA, it’s never been more important to come together in nonviolent action to exercise our First Amendment right to peaceful protest. That’s what the organization Indivisible says about Saturday’s National Day of Defiance – the nationwide “No Kings” protests – go to nokings.org to find one near you. Ezra Levin will explain; he’s co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible.

Also: Who, exactly, is being arrested by ICE agents in Los Angeles? Why is the National Guard downtown LA? And What are the 700 marines Trump sent to LA supposed to do? Harold Meyerson will comment – he’s editor at large of The American Prospect.

Plus: Trump is not the worst president when it comes to constitutional rights and civil liberties; Woodrow Wilson was worse. Adam Hochschild explains why – starting with jailing thousands of people whose only crime was speaking out against the president. Adam’s most recent book is ‘American Midnight: The Great War, A Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis.’ (First recorded April 23, 2025.)

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The Musk Report: The world’s richest man and donor of the largest amount of money in the history of the world ever spent by one person on a US presidency. What will the Trump-Musk feud mean for Congress and the future of the GOP? Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Forget the midterms next year, at least for now. The fight against Trump runs through the elections this November—starting with Virginia and New Jersey. The Nation’s national affairs correspondent John Nichols explains.

Plus: J. Hoberman, the long-time film critic for The Village Voice, talks about the happenings, the underground movies, and the radical art and music— from Bob Dylan to Andy Warhol to Yoko Ono. His new book is Everything is Now: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde.  6-6-2025

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Trump claimed that he could bypass Congress to impose tariffs under IEEPA due to a trade deficit emergency over the last 40 years; but, a federal panel blocked him from imposing those tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada and 50 other countries. Now it’s on its way to the Supreme Court – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Rural America is Trump country. Last November Trump carried 93 percent of rural counties.. How can Democrats change that? Anthony Flaccavento and Erica Etelson, co-founders of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, have a strategy to accomplish that.

Plus: After serving 18 years in the Senate, and losing last November, Sherrod Brown analyzes what it will take for Democrats to recover from the defeats of 2024, and comments on his own political future – he could run for senator or for governor in 2026. (Originally recorded May 7, 2025)  5-30-2025