Living in the USA

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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

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Harold Meyerson talks about how to get past the fight between Bernie and Elizabeth Warren– and about the upcoming trial in the Senate.
Next up — a report from Hong Kong: historian Jeff Wasserstrom talks about the months of demonstrations there and what they mean for the future.
Plus: Tom Lutz, founding editor of the LA Review of Books, has a novel out: “Born Slippy” from Repeater Books.  1/16/20

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The House voted on the war powers resolution and we are NOT at war with Iran today — for comment and analysis we turn to John Nichols, who emphasizes that the world finds itself in the tenuous circumstance of counting on an unstable Iran to act rationally when Trump keeps making irrational pronouncements.
Also: progressive politics in the red, purple and blue districts of Orange County — Gustavo Arellano reports on the county which not long ago was the bedrock of Reagan Republicanism.
Plus: Fires continue to devastate Australia; Lizzie O’Shea reports from Melbourne. Also, we talk about her new book, ‘Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology’  1/9/20

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The 2020 election will liberate us from Donald Trump and Republican hegemony. A sweeping Democratic victory will make it possible at last for us to address our most serious problems. That’s what Stan Greenberg says – he’s a longtime pollster and adviser to Democratic presidents from Clinton to Obama. He’s also a bestselling author, with a new book out – it has the wonderful title R.I.P. G.O.P.: how the New America is Dooming the Republicans.
Plus: Stacey Abrams probably would be governor of Georgia right now if the vote count had been fair and the vote suppression stopped – she’s a remarkable person and a fighter for the right to vote. Her new book is “Lead from the Outside”–it was Number Three on the New York Times bestseller list.
Also: We look back at some of the big events of 2019, and some of our favorite interviews, starting with the terrorist attacks by white nationalists,
in El Paso and elsewhere. Historian Kathleen Belew says they are NOT isolated events carried out by loners; in fact they are connected, the work of a movement, with tens of thousands of active members. 12/26/19