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This week’s popular outrage over Trump’s stopping funding of all social programs forced him to throw in the towel after just a few hours – demonstrating how weak he is, and how powerful the opposition can be. John Nichols comments.
Also: The battle to get us to pay attention: Chris Hayes explains–His new book is “The Siren’s Call.”
Plus: Your Minnesota Moment – Trump attacks small town sanctuaries for undocumented residents. 1-31-2025
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How Trump ‘won’: In 2024, 244 million Americans were eligible to vote. 31.5% voted for Trump, 30.6 % voted for Harris, 38% did not vote. Trump won the same share of the eligible voters as he did four years ago (32%), But Harris’s share of eligible voters fell by 3.5 points compared to Biden. Why did 7 million Democratic voters stay home? Harold Meyerson has our analysis—he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.
Also: now that Trump is preparing to round up and deport undocumented residents, we want to thank them for everything they’ve done to make America good. It’s a sentiment they don’t hear nearly enough—especially the “unaccompanied minors,” who have “shown more bravery in their young lives than anyone in Trump’s administration could ever dream of.” Gustavo Arellano will explain—he’s a columnist for the LA Times whose father came to the US in the 1960s in the trunk of a Chevy. Transcript HERE 1-22-2025
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How did we get here, with Trump returning to the White House? Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments on the 93 million people who could have voted – but didn’t –and on Trump’s Day One executive orders.
Also: Now that Trump is preparing to round up and deport undocumented residents, we want to thank them for everything they’ve done to make America good. Gustavo Arellano will explain – he’s a columnist for the LA Times whose father came to the US in the 1960s in the trunk of a Chevy.
Plus: Twenty Minutes without Trump. Today: J. Edgar Hoover: We know a lot about the bad things he did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. Historian Beverly Gage will explain. Her award-winning book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of the American Century.” (originally broadcast in December, 2022.) 1-24-2025
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As we prepare for Trump to take office next week, we’re getting ready to challenge him and his people in the upcoming elections later this year. But before that, we have an important election in the next few weeks: the Democratic National Committee will elect a new chair on February 1 to prepare for the battles and the campaigns to come. For our analysis we turn to John Nichols.
Also: Trump promises to deport millions of undocumented residents, while Republicans in Congress threaten a nationwide abortion ban. Meanwhile parts of the mainstream media are caving in to Trump. How can individuals help at this point? Katha Pollit has some suggestions about groups that deserve support.
Transcript HERE 1-15-2025
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As we prepare for Trump to take office next week, we’re getting ready to challenge him and his people in the upcoming elections later this year. But before that, we have an important election in the next few weeks: the Democratic National Committee will elect a new chair on February 1 to prepare for the battles and the campaigns to come – John Nichols comments.
Also: Trump promises to deport millions of undocumented residents, while Republicans in Congress threaten a nationwide abortion ban. Meanwhile parts of the mainstream media are caving in to Trump. How can individuals help at this point? Katha Pollit has some suggestions about groups that deserve support.
Plus: Not everything is about Donald Trump. The Geneva Freeport, for example – where it doesn’t matter who is president of the US. The Freeport is a place where the world’s richest people hide art, jewelry, and other wealth from tax officials, creditors, and sometimes spouses. Atossa Araxia Abrahamian discusses her new book: “The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World.” 1-17-2025
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On this episode of Start Making Sense: Trump’s ‘dictatorship on day one’ will feature executive orders to deport undocumented residents. Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law & Policy at UCLA Law School, will explain the legal strategy to be deployed by the sanctuary states and cities,
Also: Not everything is about Donald Trump. The Geneva Freeport, for example – where it doesn’t matter who is president of the US. The Freeport is a place where the world’s richest people hide art, jewelry, and other wealth from tax officials, creditors, and sometimes spouses. Atossa Araxia Abrahamian has our analysis–her new book is “The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World.”
Transcript HERE 1-10-2025
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Trump has come out in favor of combining many of his biggest priorities into one big budget reconciliation bill – because the budget reconciliation impacts the economy, this bill is not subject to filibuster by the Democrats; so, it could pass the Senate with 50 Republican votes. But some Republicans are likely to resist – Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: Trump’s “dictatorship on day one” will feature executive orders to deport undocumented residents. Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law & Policy at UCLA Law School, explains the legal strategy to be deployed by the sanctuary states and cities to challenge Trump’s orders.
Plus: Trump & Golf: The Saudi-backed LIV golf league will return to Trump’s Doral Resort in April 2025 – the clearest sign yet that Trump family business deals using Saudi government financing will continue into the new presidency. The legendary sportswriter Robert Lipsyte comments on Trump and golf. (broadcast originally in August 2017) 1-10-2025
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A fight has broken out between Elon Musk and the MAGA activists and base about immigration – specifically, over H-1B visas. But what exactly IS an H-1B visa; and why is there so much heat around the issue? Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s famous 900 page book, is partly “too dumb to accomplish anything at all”– the rest, can be read as a useful catalog of how we should focus our resistance – Rick Perlstein explains.
Plus: The ever-elusive Bob Dylan seems an unlikely candidate for a Hollywood biopic. John Powers, a critic-at-large on NPR’s Fresh Air, talks about how the new movie “A Complete Unknown” captures a defining moment in his career and in American culture. 1-3-2025
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The endlessly elusive Bob Dylan seems an unlikely candidate for a Hollywood biopic. John Powers, Critic-at-Large on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” talks about how the new movie “A Complete Unknown” captures a defining moment in his career — and in American culture .
Also: Our holiday reading guide: Dozens of books about Trump were published at the end of his first term, some selling millions of copies. Now that he’s coming back, it’s time to look at what some of those books had to say about him. Host Jon Wiener presents his list, including the one with the best title: “A Very Stable Genius.”
Transcript HERE 1-1-2025
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Donald Trump has been bad for America but good for American book publishers. Now that Trump is coming back we look at what the best of those books had to say about him, also, the worst: Also, Melania has published a memoir: “Melania,” where she revisits plagiarizing Michelle Obama for her 2016 RNC convention speech, and wearing that jacket that said “I don’t care, do U?” when she visited INS detention camps for children separated from their parents at the border. Amy Wilentz comments on her explanations—and on the rest of the book. (Originally recorded 10-26-2024.)
Next: Kamala Harris lost not because Democratic voters switched to Trump, Steve Phillips shows, but because of a massive failure of the Democrats to turn out their base. (Originally recorded 12-11-2024.)
Plus: Joshua Holland explains why people in Denmark are so much happier than people in the USA. (Originally recorded 1-19-2023.) 12-27-2024
“Start Making Sense” is The Nation magazine’s weekly podcast, hosted by Jon Wiener. It’s political talk without the boring parts.
New episodes posted every Wednesday morning. More info at https://www.thenation.com/content/start-making-sense/.
