Will Trump’s candidates lose in November? John Nichols; Hunter S. Thompson: Peter Richardson

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Mitch McConnell thinks Republicans are going to lose the Senate in November if Trump’s candidates and issues dominate the election. Is McConnell right? Our national affairs correspondent John Nichols weighs in.

Also this week, Peter Richardson discusses Hunter S. Thompson, the writer credited for inventing “Gonzo Journalism.” Thompson wrote a classic book about Richard Nixon, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, ‘72. Richardson, author of Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson, explains how he did it.  2-17-2022

Princeton in the Sixties–and After: Tiger Talk

The class of 1966 started out at college with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and then the Kennedy Assassination the next year – followed by Mississippi Freedom Summer, the first anti-war march on Washington — April, 1965, organized by SDS –  and our Princeton years ended with LBJ coming to the campus in May ’66, officially to dedicate the new Woodrow Wilson School building, but he used the occasion to defend the war and we used it to protest the war.  He never visited a college or university campus after that.  This was a talk organized by the Princeton class of 1966.  Feb. 9, 2022
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Biden and the Border: Ahilan Arulanantham, plus Amy Wilentz on Haiti

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When Biden took office, progressives looked forward to a dramatic transformation of Trump’s anti-immigrant policies—and Biden’s initial moves were promising. But since then, many people have been disappointed. Ahilan Arulanantham, a professor at UCLA Law School and co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy comments on the topic. Before working at UCLA, Arulanantham litigated a number of cases involving immigrants’ rights at the ACLU of Southern California.

Also this week, Amy Wilentz discusses Haiti: a country that should be inaugurating a new president. It has done so every five years on February 7—except for glitches, coups, and postponements—ever since Baby Doc Duvalier fled the island 37 years ago. But not this year. Wilentz explains why it’s struggling to get the new beginning in needs, and how it might make it there.  2-10-2022

Hope for Democrats: Ro Khanna; Amy Wilentz on Haiti & John Nichols on Trump & the Virus

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The Democrats are not doomed to defeat in the midterms, says Ro Khanna. Politics can turn around in the next few months. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in Congress, where he’s a prominent figure in the Progressive Caucus. His new book is Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us.
Also: Amy Wilentz discusses Haiti: a country that should be inaugurating a new president. It has done so every five years on February 7—except for glitches, coups, and postponements—ever since Baby Doc Duvalier fled the island 37 years ago. But not this year. Wilentz explains why it’s struggling to get the new beginning in needs, and how it might make it there.
One more thing: Donald Trump is responsible for about 100,000 unnecessary deaths from Covid-19 during his presidency, according to scientists at The Lancet. John Nichols explains who in his administration made which of the deadly decisions, and who made money off of the pandemic: a topic he delves into in his new book, Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers.  2-10-2022

The Progressives’ Agenda: What’s Left? Ro Khanna, plus Katha Pollitt on Sex

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The Democrats are not doomed to defeat in the midterms, says Ro Khanna. Politics can turn around in the next few months. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in Congress, where he’s a prominent figure in the Progressive Caucus. His new book is Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us.

Additionally, Katha Pollitt comments on The Right to Sex, a provocative title by the feminist philosopher Amia Srinivasan. Does anyone have a right to sex? Who does? Who doesn’t?  2-3-2022

Biden’s Pick for the Supremes: Meyerson; Great Migration: Wilkerson; on Organizing: Jayapal

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Republican strategies in the coming Supreme Court nomination fight: Harold Meyerson comments. Also: A billionaire for mayor in L.A.?
also: It’s Black History Month, and we feature Isabel Wilkerson and her unforgettable book about the Great Migration, “The Warmth of Other Suns.”
Plus: Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, talks about her path from immigrant to organizer to member of Congress. Her book is “Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Political Change.”  2-3-2022

Our Coronavirus Criminals: John Nichols; plus Eric Foner on Slaveholders in Congress

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Donald Trump is responsible for about 100,000 unnecessary deaths from Covid-19 during his presidency, according to scientists at The Lancet. John Nichols explains who in his administration made which of the deadly decisions, and who made money off of the pandemic: a topic he delves into in his new book, Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers.

This episode also covers slavery and its political legacy in Congress: More than 1,700 congressmen owned Black slaves, according to The Washington Post. Even after the abolition of slavery in 1865, hundreds of men who had owned slaves were senators and members of the House of Representatives. The last senator who had owned slaves served in 1922. Eric Foner comments on the political power of slavery in America’s past.  1-27-2022

California Dems’ Big Moves on Health Care: Sasha Abramsky; Ellen Schrecker on the ’60s

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The paralysis of politics in Congress leads us to turn away from Washington and look at the states: What can the Democrats do when they control a state government? Like California? Democrats there are proposing dramatic changes in health care, expanding coverage to everyone below the federal poverty line–regardless of immigration status. Sasha Abramsky reports on that—and on the more radical proposal, also before the California legislature, to create a single-payer health-care system for all residents of California.

Also: American universities in the ’60s: Was that a golden age destroyed by student radicals who were protesting the war in Vietnam and racism in America? For some answers we turn to historian Ellen Schrecker—her new book is The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s.  1-20-2022