Living in the USA

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David Dayen of The American Prospect analyzes all the ways the economic stimulus bill passed by the Senate rewards the big corporations and doesn’t do enough, or won’t work well enough, for the unemployed, small businesses, and everybody hoping to receive a direct payment. David writes “Unsanitized” daily at Prospect.org.
Also: Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist and Nobel-prize winning economist, says that we don’t have an easy way of responding to the economic threats posed by the corona-virus, and that Trump’s preoccupation with the stock market is a big mistake.
And we have 20 minutes without Trump: a conversation with Rebecca Solnit about how she became a writer and a feminist, growing up in San Francisco in the eighties. her new book, a memoir, is called “Recollections of my Nonexistence.”  3/26/20

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Melina Abdullah, a founder of Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles (she’s also Professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State LA), talks about how the coronavirus raises new issues for Black Lives Matter–while the old ones remain vital–and how it also changes the forms for organizing protest. Also: the campaign to defeat Jackie Lacey as District Attorney in LA.   3-19-2020

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Trump’s Oval Office TV address on the coronavirus was followed by the biggest losses in the stock market since 2008. Meanwhile, the House Democrats have proposed a bill that includes paid sick leave, food assistance, and other measures to help wage workers through this pandemic. Will the Republicans pass it? Harold Meyerson comments.
Next up: Can Joe Biden recruit Bernie’s young voters? Also, we need congress to fund a universal vote-by-mail system now: what might the Republican party do about that? Jeet Heer of the Nation magazine comments.
Plus: Fifteen minutes without Trump: Historian Adam Hochschild on his new biography, “Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes”. 3-16-2020

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Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect says “electability” trumped (no pun intended) both the ground games and the air games of the candidates–so that the one without a ground game OR an air game came out on top.
plus: The Nation has endorsed Bernie, AND his movement–D.D. Guttenplan, editor of the magazine, explains.
also: Joan Walsh talks about the significance of Elizabeth Warren’s defeat — and what Bernie should do next.
3/5/20

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Bernie has already won–the ideas primary: That’s what Bob Borosage argues. Bernie sets the agenda for the race and the other candidates define themselves in relations to his positions.
Also: pundits have declared that Elizabeth Warren is finished, but we’re not so sure. While Warren came in third in Iowa and fourth in New Hampshire and Nevada, only a hundred delegates have been selected—while more than 1,900 delegates are necessary to win. Eventually, progressives and moderates in the party will have to come together–Could Warren be the unity candidate? Joan Walsh takes up that question.
Plus: John Sayles has directed two dozen films, including Matewan and Lone Star. Here he talks about his new novel, ‘Yellow Earth’—it’s about what happens when shale oil is discovered underneath an Indian reservation in the North Dakota badlands—and outsiders descend. 2/26/20

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Democrats can win in rural America: Jane Kleeb talks about strategies for fighting Trump in red states. She’s a grassroots organizer based in Hastings, Nebraska, and she put together the coalition of ranchers, farmers, Native Americans, and environmentalists that stopped the Keystone XL Pipeline. She’s chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, and her new book is ‘Harvest the Vote.’
Also: another episode of The Children’s Hour: stories about Ivanka, Jared, Don Junior, and little Eric. Today: Don Junior writes a best-seller! Just like his father, his mother, and his sister: a family of literati. Amy Wilentz reports. 2/20/20

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Bernie emerged from the New Hampshire primary as the Democratic frontrunner; Harold Meyerson says that, as more of the “moderates” drop out, Bernie needs to get some of their supporters–starting with Biden’s.
Also: Democrats are full of anxiety about the November election. Whoever they support, they wake up anxious that somehow Donald Trump will not be defeated on Nov. 3. There are many ways that the voting process could be sabotaged, starting with a cyberattack on the power grid on Election Day. That’s what Rick Hasen says. His hew book is “Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy.” 2/13/20

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It’s been a big week in American politics: Monday: the long awaited Iowa Democratic caucuses failed to give results; Tuesday: Trump gave his State of the Union address; Wednesday: the Senate Republican majority voted NOT to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors or to remove him from office; and today Trump gave a 63-minute victory speech — Harold Meyerson comments.
Next up: February is Black History month — we talk with Taylor Branch about Martin Luther King Jr. from 1965 and the Selma campaign to 1968 and the Memphis sanitation strike. 2/5/20

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As Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate approaches its end, the Democrats continue to come out ahead politically. also, the latest on Bernie on the campaign trail — Harold Meyerson of the American Prospect comments.
Also The W.H.O. declared the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China a global health emergency today — we talk with historian of modern China about China’s handling of the crisis with Jeff Wasserstrom.
Plus: Toxic masculinity — on the football field and in the White House — Robert Lipsyte talks about the Super Bowl and Trump.  1-30-20

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The Senate impeachment trial shows the “ism” the Republicans fear more than socialism or liberalism is empiricism, says Harold Meyerson — as the House Democrats move toward concluding their presentation, and the Senate Republicans refuse to subpoena documents or hear witnesses.
Also: A Report from Haiti: It’s been ten years since Haiti was devastated by the earthquake that killed more than a hundred thousand people. Amy Wilentz, who has been reporting on Haiti for three decades, returned to the island and found the country oddly calm, despite deepening poverty, violence, and corruption. She also found “little sprouts of possibility everywhere.” 1/23/20