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The Nation Podcasts
Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
Episodes
The Nation PodcastsHow Racism Works in a Liberal Democratic City: Michele Goodwin, plus Mia Birdsong on abolishing the police
Michele Goodwin talks about her experiences of racism in daily life in Minneapolis—before she became Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of…
The Nation PodcastsThe Protests, the Police, and Juneteenth: Robin Kelley, plus Dahlia Lithwick on Trump
Juneteenth, a day of celebration and reflection for African Americans, is particularly significant in this season of protest and demands for change by Black…
The Nation PodcastsThe Police vs. the People: Jody Armour, plus Amy Wilentz on Ivanka and that Bible
Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation to reform police practices nationwide and hold bad cops responsible—while LA has spent decades trying to…
The Nation PodcastsAmerica in Revolt: Elie Mystal, plus John Nichols with Keith Ellison
Across America, protests against police violence are met with more police violence. Elie Mystal talks about the failure of Democratic mayors in deep blue…
The Nation PodcastsThinking Big about politics and the virus: Mike Davis, plus Christopher Shay on the crisis, and Amy Wilentz on Jared and Ivanka
It’s time to think big about the coronavirus crisis and the 40 million workers who have lost their jobs—while the rest struggle to hold on to what they’ve got…
The Nation PodcastsDoes the Evidence Support Joe Biden, or Tara Reade? Katha Pollitt; plus John Powers on TV during the pandemic
Did Joe Biden sexually assault Tara Reade in 1993? Katha Pollitt examines the evidence—and concludes that it supports Biden’s denial. Especially significant…
The Nation PodcastsThe fight for universal vote-by-mail: David Cole, plus Katha Pollitt on right-wing women
Universal vote-by-mail: it’s obviously necessary for our Nov. 3 election, but Trump, of course, is against it. He said that if we were to adopt voting by mail…
The Nation PodcastsFighting for the Soul of the Democratic Party: John Nichols, plus Amy Wilentz on Jared and Ivanka
Before Bernie and AOC, before Jesse Jackson and George McGovern, there was Henry Wallace, FDR’s vice president, who fought for the soul of the Democratic party…
The Nation PodcastsMike Davis: Back to Work in the Covid-19 Economy? Plus John Powers on Virus Time TV
Minnesota’s back-to-work plan is a lot better than Georgia’s, Mike Davis says – it requires employers to provide PPE and bans face-to-face activity—i.e. the…
The Nation PodcastsJoseph Stiglitz: What Workers Need Right Now; plus Katrina Vanden Heuvel on Solidarity
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says the US has “one of the poorest systems of unemployment insurance in the world”—and that our number one…
The Nation PodcastsMike Davis: Is Coronavirus Ushering in a New World Order? plus Barbara Ehrenreich on low-wage work
Mike Davis talks about the fragmentation of Europe, the marginalization of the WHO, the danger to Africa, and whether China will emerge less powerful in the…
The Nation PodcastsWhat the Pentagon Knew about the Coronavirus—in 2017: Ken Klippenstein, plus Amy Wilentz on Jared and Laila Lalami on “The Other Americans”
The Military Knew Years Ago That a Coronavirus Was Coming. The Pentagon warned the White House about a shortage of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds…
The Nation PodcastsMike Davis: The Coronavirus--Politics vs. Science; plus Rebecca Solnit on Becoming a Feminist
Mike Davis talks about who gets forgotten in a pandemic—and about the political, and economic, obstacles to making faster progress on effective anti-viral…
The Nation PodcastsE.J. Dionne: The Coronavirus and the election; plus Melina Abdullah on Black Lives Matter and Katha Pollitt on "Contagion"
What’s our strategy for beating Trump in November? Is the Coronavirus making that easier, or harder? E.J. Dionne analyzes the effect of the virus on politics –…
The Nation PodcastsPaul Krugman: The Coronavirus and the Economic Crisis; plus John Nichols on elections and Amy Wilentz on the Kushners and the Coronavirus
Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winning economist, says we don’t have an easy way of responding to the economic threats posed by the…
The Nation PodcastsBernie's Next Steps: John Nichols; plus Steve Phillips on Big Data and Adam Hochschild on a Forgotten Radical
Despite Bernie's big losses in Michigan and elsewhere on Tuesday, he's staying in the race to challenge Biden on the issues which Democratic voters support…
The Nation PodcastsSuper Tuesday: The Earthquake--John Nichols and Joan Walsh, plus D.D. Guttenplan with The Nation's Endorsement of Bernie Sanders
John Nichols analyzes the bad night for Bernie--and the tasks that remain if Biden is going to be defeated in the primaries. Plus: Joan Walsh covered the South…
The Nation PodcastsNominating Bloomberg Would Destroy the Democratic Party: Jeet Heer on politics, plus Rick Perlstein on Bernie and Robert Edelman on Sports
Bloomberg can’t win the primaries, but he might try to get the nomination if Bernie doesn’t go to the convention with a majority of delegates. Jeet Heer argues…
The Nation PodcastsElizabeth Warren: Unity Candidate? Joan Walsh, plus Bob Borosage on Bernie and John Sayles on 'Yellow Earth'
Pundits have declared that Elizabeth Warren is finished, but we’re not so sure. Joan Walsh points out that, while Warren came in third in Iowa and fourth in…
The Nation PodcastsAfter New Hampshire: John Nichols on politics, plus Jane Kleeb on rural America and Amy Wilentz on Don Jr.
New Hampshire’s primary has reshaped the Democratic race: Progressives are coalescing around Bernie, and moderates are abandoning Biden in favor of Mayor Pete…
The Nation PodcastsMeltdown in Iowa: Winners and Losers—John Nichols on Politics, Rick Hasen on Elections, plus John Powers on the Oscars
The problem in reporting the results in Iowa isn’t just a delay; it’s a disaster—that’s what John Nichols says—for the Democrats, and especially for Bernie…
The Nation PodcastsDefending Trump Now—and Losing the Senate in November: Joan Walsh on Impeachment Politics, plus Robert Lipsyte on the Superbowl and Morley Musick on the Border Patrol
Republican Senators in swing states are falling in their approval ratings back home as the Senate impeachment trial unfolds. In Maine, Arizona, Colorado, and…
The Nation PodcastsImpeachment Has Already Succeeded: John Nichols, plus Andrew Bacevich on the End of the Cold War and Michael Klare on Climate
51 per cent of Americans now think Trump should be removed from office, according to the new CNN poll (and 45 per cent think he shouldn’t). That, John Nichols…
The Nation PodcastsHunger and Hope in Haiti: Amy Wilentz, plus Mia Birdsong on poverty and Kate Aronoff and Michael Kazin on socialism
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…
The Nation PodcastsThe Failure of Trump’s Iran Strike: Andrew Bacevich, plus Henry Louis Gates on American slavery and Jelani Cobb on Joe McCarthy
Trump’s Iran strike continues a long, failed history of American actions based on the idea that the U.S. military can shape the mideast in accord with our…
The Nation PodcastsTrump Will Lose in 2020: Stan Greenberg, plus Naomi Klein on the Green New Deal and J. Hoberman on Reagan and the Movies
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…
The Nation PodcastsSocialism is on the Agenda for 2020: Katrina vanden Heuvel, plus Kathleen Belew on White Nationalism and Rick Perlstein on Impeachment
Capitalism is broken – that's why socialism is on the agenda for 2020. Katrina vanden Heuvel explains - she's publisher and editorial director of The Nation…
The Nation PodcastsDoes Boris Johnson’s victory in the UK mean Trump will win in the US? D.D. Guttenplan, plus John Nichols with the Progressive Honor Roll and Arundati Roy on India
The British Labour Party suffered a historic defeat last week—working class people who voted Labour their entire lives have now switched sides. Centrists in…
The Nation PodcastsProgressives and White Working-Class Voters: Joshua Holland, plus Katha Pollitt on Fetal Personhood and Ruth Marcus on Brett Kavanaugh
Some analysts criticize progressives who urge Democrats to focus on turning out their core base—people of color, unmarried women, and younger voters—they say…
The Nation PodcastsHow the Dems Can Win in 2020: Lessons of the Virginia Victories--Joan Walsh, plus Jeet Heer on Trump and War Crimes and Bryce Covert on Strikes
Democrats need to learn the lessons of their historic victory last month, when Virginia became the first Southern state in the post–civil-rights-movement era…
The Nation Podcasts‘It Can’t All Be Bernie’: The Candidate with John Nichols, plus Adam Hochschild on deportation and John Powers on “The Irishman”
Bernie Sanders says it will take a movement to change America: “It can’t all be Bernie.” John Nichols comments on his interview with the candidate, who is now…
The Nation PodcastsGail Collins: Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the Complicated Story of Women and Aging in America; plus Rick Perlstein on Impeachment and Eric Foner on The 1619 Project
The adventures of older women in America: Ruth Bader Ginsburg for example is 86,and Nancy Pelosi just turned 80. But where are the prominent Republican women…
The Nation PodcastsSherrod Brown: How to Beat Trump; plus D.D. Guttenplan on Joe Biden and Thom Hartmann on the Supreme Court
Sherrod Brown, the senior senator from Ohio, was re-elected in 2018. He won by 7 points—in a state Hillary Clinton had lost—by 8 points—just 2 years earlier…
The Nation PodcastsThe Election, One Year Away: John Nichols on the Polls, plus Paul Adler on Socialism and John Powers on John Le Carré
Where do we stand one year out from the election? The best polls this week show Trump losing the popular vote by around 15 points—but also show that he’s still…
The Nation PodcastsJoe Biden’s Zombie Campaign: Jeet Heer on Moderate Dems, plus Elie Mystal on Senate Republicans and Amy Wilentz on Haiti
Joe Biden may be the frontrunner, but he’s slipping, and it seems doubtful that he will get better at this. Big donors are pulling away from him. But do the…
The Nation PodcastsHow TV Made Trump: Tom Carson, plus David Perry on Ilhan Omar and Pico Iyer on Japan
We all know Trump got famous on TV with The Apprentice – but how many of us ever watched The Apprentice? Reality TV was a key force in making Trump president…
The Nation PodcastsThe Deepening Desperation of Donald Trump: Sasha Abramsky on the President, plus Corey Robin on Clarence Thomas and Katha Pollitt on Abortion
Trump’s increasingly reckless efforts at intimidation reveal the increasingly desperate situation he has created for himself, where even Fox News has become an…
The Nation PodcastsThe new Supreme Court term will be worse than the last one—a lot worse: Elie Mystal, plus Amy Wilentz on Ivanka and Jeet Heer on impeachment
The Supreme Court term began its fall term this week--and even though Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed at the start of last year’s court term, this year the…
The Nation PodcastsRepublicans and Impeachment: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly--Joan Walsh, plus Andrew Bacevich on Afghanistan and Azadeh Moaveni on ISIS Women
The big question about impeachment is not the House -- there now seem to be enough votes there to pass at least one article of impeachment--the big question is…
The Nation PodcastsImpeachment at Last: Jeet Heer on Trump, plus Eric Foner on voting rights and Jane McElevey on the UAW strike
Trump finally went too far, even for Nancy Pelosi: he used money appropriated by Congress for foreign aid to pressure the president of Ukraine to come up with…
The Nation Podcasts2020 will Bring a Historic Defeat for the Republicans: Stan Greenberg on the Election, plus D.D. Guttenplan on Edward Snowden and Sasha Abramsky on Trump
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…
The Nation PodcastsWhy Doesn’t the GOP Resist Trump the Way Tories Resist Boris Johnson? D.D. Guttenplan on Britian and America, plus Katha Pollitt on Trump and John Nichols on Republican Resignations
Last week Tory rebels in parliament staged a dramatic insurrection against their own Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, blocking his plans for a “no-deal Brexit.”…
The Nation PodcastsWhy the Koch Brothers Don’t Support Trump: Christopher Leonard on “Kochland,” plus Joan Walsh on Indivisible
How the Koch brothers transformed an obscure oil company based in Wichita into a $110 billion colossus, and reshaped the Republican Party—but failed to prevent…
The Nation PodcastsThe White Power Movement after El Paso: Kathleen Belew on domestic terrorism, plus Davis Maraniss on HUAC
We’re still thinking about the terrorist attack in El Paso, where 22 people were killed at a Walmart and two dozen more were injured. Like almost all of these…
The Nation PodcastsTrump’s Terrible Poll Numbers: Jeet Heer on the campaign, plus J. Hoberman on Reagan and the movies
The latest polls—including the highly respected Fox poll—show Trump in terrible shape at this point: Among registered voters he trails Biden 50-38, Bernie…
The Nation PodcastsBernie or Bust? Harold Meyerson on DSA, plus Katha Pollitt on Jeffrey Epstein and John Nichols on White Nationalism
If Bernie does NOT get the nomination, the Democratic Socialists of America will not endorse the Democrat who does. “Bernie or Bust” was what they decided at…
The Nation PodcastsAmerica After El Paso: Joan Walsh on Trump, plus Katha Pollitt on Protest and D.D. Guttenplan on the Green New Deal
After Trump’s tweets about the El Paso killings, Beto’s response was the one of the best: “He’s not tolerating violence, he’s inciting racism and violence in…
The Nation PodcastsTrump’s Escalating Racism: A Sign of Political Desperation? Harold Meyerson, plus Jeet Heer on Al Franken and Paul Krassner remembered
Are Trump’s recent racist tweets part of a political strategy, or an uncontrollable personal impulse? Harold Meyerson comments – and also proposes ways to end…
The Nation PodcastsIs Trump Crazy? Would Pence be Worse? Amy Wilentz & Jane Mayer, plus EJ Dionne: America After Trump
Amy Wilentz comments on the mental and emotional status of the president, as analyzed by 27 psychiatrists in ‘The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,’ a book…
The Nation PodcastsDemocracy Is Not Well: Astra Taylor, plus Katha Pollitt on Travel to Mars
Democracy is not doing well these days – we have Trump, and Brexit, and a host of other examples. Astra Taylor has been thinking about that: she talks about…
The Nation PodcastsJoy-Ann Reid: How Trump Happened; plus Amy Wilentz on Jared’s Mid-East Peace Plan
Racial anxiety was more important than economic anxiety in motivating Trump’s voters, Joy Reid of MSNBC argues. A key factor in Trump’s victory was nostalgia…
The Nation PodcastsJoe Biden has No Place to Go Except Down: Robert Borosage on politics, plus Martin Duberman on the lost world of gay liberation
It’s an extraordinary victory: the first round of Democratic debates shows that all the major candidates are working within a progressive framework. Robert…
The Nation PodcastsElizabeth Warren’s American Story: Joan Walsh on the senator, plus Jeet Heer on Joe Biden and Andrew Bacevich on Mideast Wars
Campaigning in Iowa, Elizabeth Warren has made her story an American story, Joan Walsh says, and thereby found a good way to connect her policy proposals to…
The Nation PodcastsElizabeth Warren is Leading in the Ideas Primary: Katrina vanden Heuvel, plus John Nichols on Bernie and Socialism and Sasha Abramsky on Florida
Elizabeth Warren may be running third in the Democratic polls, after Biden and Bernie, but she seems to be the clear leader in what we call “the ideas…
The Nation PodcastsTrump or Brexit: Which is Worse? DD Guttenplan on politics, plus John Nichols with Rashida Tlaib and Katha Pollitt on abortion and men
For most Americans, the question “Which is worse: Trump or Brexit?” has an easy answer: of course it’s Trump! But D. D. Guttenplan, The Nation’s new Editor…
The Nation PodcastsThe Missing Candidate in California: Joe Biden--David Dayen on the Primaries, plus Bruce Shapiro on Assange and Ezra Levin on the Indivisible Pledge
Joe Biden was the only leading Democratic candidate who did NOT come to the California state Democratic convention last weekend in San Francisco – David Dayen…
The Nation PodcastsDaniel Ellsberg: Espionage and Julian Assange; plus Robert Pollin on Medicare for All and Alyssa Battistoni on Climate Politics
The indictment of Julian Assange on espionage charges is an attack on freedom of the press—that’s what Daniel Ellsberg argues. Ellsberg too was indicted under…
The Nation PodcastsThe New York Times vs. Bernie: Amy Wilentz on media bias, plus John Nichols on Ilhan Omar and Karen Greenberg on government secrecy
Bernie is back on Page One of the New York Times, but their report last weekend was not about his new plan to save public schools–the most progressive…
The Nation PodcastsWhat Joe Biden Has In Common with Donald Trump: Harold Meyerson, plus Michael Ames on Bowe Bergdahl and Laila Lalami on ‘The Other Americans’
Joe Biden has one thing in common with Donald Trump: a campaign promising “restoration” of a lost past, rather than the kind of transformation we need to deal…
The Nation PodcastsThe New Voters of 2020 and the Democrats: Steve Phillips, plus Ben Ehrenreich on Climate and Commerce and Amy Wilentz on Haiti’s Notre Dame
For the 2020 election, we’ve been focusing mostly on the candidates who want to challenge Trump – but we also need to consider the voters, and the changes in…