Living in the USA

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Gary Younge traveled from Maine to Mississippi interviewing Trump’s white working-class supporters. He found anxiety, pain, and a loss of hope. For many, he concludes, “Whiteness is all they’ve got.”
Plus, Amy Wilentz talks about Ivana Trump’s new memoir, ‘Raising Trump’—stories about Don Jr., Ivanka, and little Eric, and their mom and dad. It’s like a reality show about “Real Housewives of Trump Tower.”

Trump’s not on the ballot this year, but that’s not stopping Democratic women from running against him in races across the country. John Nichols reports on recent Democratic victories where female candidates in special elections in state races flipped formerly Republican seats—they show how to do it in the mid-term elections in November.
Also: Fortress America is crumbling—the rise of China started long before Trump, but he’s alienated allies and abandoned alliances in a way that may now make the process irreversible. Alfred McCoy explains.
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Since Trump took office a year ago, Katha Pollitt says, women have been unleashing decades of pent-up anger: starting with the Women’s March, then in some amazing political victories, and in the #MeToo movement. But Trump has also shown how terrible the loss of the White House has been.
Also: David Bromwich says there are no surprises with Trump: he’s been the same for decades, a “wounded monster” with a history of racism and a contempt for people he considers “losers.” But defeating him requires more than an issue—it has to be a cause.
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Trump has targeted California, the biggest blue state, with his tax and immigration policies, but the state has been resisting—and some vulnerable Republican House members have been withdrawing from their reelection races. Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments.
Plus: Father Greg Boyle of Los Angeles talks about his amazing work with former gang members—he’s the founder and head of Homeboy Industries, the biggest and best job training and reentry program in America for previously incarcerated men and women. His new book is Barking to the Choir.
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Historian Linda Gordon talks about the KKK of the 1920s, and the arrest of Fred Trump, father of the president, at a Klan march in New York City in 1927. her new book is “The Second Coming of the KKK.”
Also, historian Nancy MacLean talks about the roots of the right’s stealth plan for America, a bringing together of libertarian economic theory and segregationist opposition to civil rights. Her new book is “Democracy in Chains” – it was named the “most valuable political book of 2017” on The Nation’s progressive honor roll.
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Our year-in-review show opens with Katha Pollitt on #MeToo in 2017. The year began with the resignation of Bill O’Reilly and ended with the resignation of Al Franken. Along the way we had Harvey Weinstein and Roy Moore. But what about sexual harassment by men who aren’t in high profile media or politics positions?
Plus: the state with the most remarkable political year was Alabama: starting with the appointment of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General and ending with Doug Jones winning the election for Sessions’s seat, the first Democrat to win an Alabama senate seat in 27 years. Legendary Alabama journalist Howell Raines reviews the many surprises along the way and assesses their significance.

For our year-in-review show, we turn to John Nichols, The Nation magazine’s National Affairs Correspondent, who highlights the Resistance in 2017. His Progressive Honor Roll for the year appears at TheNation.com.
At the top of the list: Senator Elizabeth Warren.
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Two ways to interview a Nazi: on the one hand, The New York Times recently did a profile of “the Nazi next door,” portraying him as an ordinary guy; on the other, Gary Younge confronted Richard Spencer, America’s leading white supremacist, on video. With Gary’s help, we compare and contrast the two approaches.
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Jane Mayer of The New Yorker reports on Mike Pence’s family (she interviewed his mother), his youth, his politics, and his lifelong ambition to be president.
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“Raising Trump” is Ivana’s new book about Don Jr., Ivanka, Jared and little Eric—Amy Wilentz says it’s not your typical child-raising advice book.
Plus: The GOP tax bill in the Senate: Harold Meyerson brings us the bad news.
And historian Linda Gordon on the arrest of Fred Trump (Donald Trump’s Father) at a KKK rally in 1927, and, her new book: “The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition.”
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