Harold Meyerson: How the Comey Firing Takes Us toward Impeachment

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Trump firing FBI Director James Comey, and the Republican loyalty to the president — make it more likely the Dems will retake the House in the 2018 elections–and launch an impeachment investigation: that’s what Harold Meyerson argues.

Also, Laura Poitras talks about her film about Julian Assange, “Risk.”

 Rick Perlstein: What We Didn’t Understand About Trump

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The leading histories of the conservative movement don’t account for the Klan enthusiasts and the “tribunes of white rage” that Trump mobilized and that he represents—that’s what Rick Perlstein argues in a mea culpa on behalf of historians of American politics.
Also: the rock-star appeal of Modern Monetary Theory for the Sanders generation. Atossa Araxia Abrahamian says that, if money is understood correctly, “debt is not the end.”
And Heather Ann Thompson talks about the Attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy—her book Blood in the Water won The Nation Institute’s Ridenhour award.

Laura Poitras on Julian Assange: ‘Admirable, Brilliant, and Flawed’

JW:  In Citizenfour, you quote from your production diaries, “I thought I could ignore the contradictions. I was wrong. They are becoming the story.” How did you decide to do it that way?
Laura Poitras: I wanted to present a narrative that had complexity and contradictions, and tell the audience about some of the contradictions I was feeling when I was filming: What’s the story about? What am I filming? What’s going on?
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Laura Poitras: The Many Contradictions of Julian Assange

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Risk is the new film by Laura Poitras, about Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. Poitras, who won the Oscar for best documentary for her film about Edward Snowden, Citizenfour, calls Assange “admirable, brilliant, and flawed.”
Also: Stephen Cohen says a new cold war is threatening world peace, and a new McCarthyism is undermining American politics.
And Eric Foner says it might be possible to impeach Donald Trump—but having Mike Pence as president would probably be worse.

John Nichols: The House GOP Vote on Obamacare is Indefensible

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John Nichols on the House Republicans’ vote to repeal and replace Obamacare–he says the Democrats have an obligation to resist.
Plus Margaret Atwood on the shocking relevance of “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu;
and Katha Pollitt says “It’s not McCarthyism to demand an investigation of Trump.”

 Margaret Atwood: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ in the Age of Trump

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The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel about the United States after a right-wing coup has installed a theocratic regime, is now a 10-part series on Hulu.  The TV version is shocking, scary, and surprisingly relevant in Trump’s America.  In this interview, she recalls how and why she wrote the book—in 1984—and what in the TV version seems most resonant today.

Also: Katha Pollitt says “It’s not ‘McCarthyism’ to demand answers on Trump, Russia, and the election.”

And for our Ivanka Watch segment, Amy Wilentz comments on Ivanka’s debut on the world stage with her first official foreign trip—to the W20 in Germany, where she was booed.

Why We Were Wrong about Trump: Rick Perlstein

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RICK PERLSTEIN says “I thought I understood the American right. Trump proved me Wrong.”

And the great BILL McKIBBEN talks about the People’s Climate March, coming up in Washington this Saturday. We’ll have a rundown of all the sister marches in southern California – from Santa Barbara and Ventura to Riverside to Irvine– and also the LA Sister March in Wilmington, in the LA Harbor area.

Also, our favorite county supervisor, SHEILA KUEHL, talks about the “Resist Los Angeles” march on Monday May 1 – starting in MacArthur Park at 11. says “I thought I understood the American right. Trump Proved Me Wrong.”