Living in the USA – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The Republican Party and the Trump Campaign have no field operations of their own doing door-to-door work - for the first time all of that has been outsourced to PACs with independent funding, and the largest, run by Elon Musk, has just fired the company doing its canvassing in Nevada and Arizona. Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Trump has made it clear he won't accept the results of the 2024 election if he loses, and Republicans are doing everything they can make it harder for Democrats to vote. But it will be harder for Trump to challenge this year's election, because of changes in the law--that's what Rick Hasen says. He's professor of law at UCLA, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate and The New York Times.

Plus: Trump supporters in Appalachia: Arlie Hochschild has spent years talking with them about how they understand their lives, and how Donald Trump helps overcome their shame. Her new book is “Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right.”

Presidential Debate 2024: Harold Meyerson on how, in dealing with Trump, "Kamala hit it out of the park"; and then, "the Republicans immediately seized upon 'Well, the moderators were hard on Trump'; but that's what happens when what you say is constructed entirely of lies."

Also: Homeless vets have been trying for years to get the VA to build housing for them in LA on land dedicated to that purpose. Now, a federal judge has finally ruled: The vets win, and the VA loses. Mark Rosenbaum, lead attorney in the vets’ class action suit, explains.

Plus: Democracy in America is being undermined by the Electoral College, the Senate filibuster, the gerrymandering of the House, and the corruption of the Supreme Court. It’s time to write, and ratify, a new constitution: that’s what Erwin Chemerinsky says. His new book is “No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.”

Where do we stand with Joe Biden – today? More Democrats are saying Biden needs to step down – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: During the Supreme Court term that just ended, the conservative majority granted new constitutional rights to hedge fund managers, big business—and Donald Trump. David Cole explains the shocking decisions that have transformed our government.

Plus: 1974, the new memoir by Francine Prose, recalls the year when “the ’60s” came to a definitive end, when it became clear that the changes we’d wanted, the changes we’d fought for, were not going to happen. She spent that year in San Francisco, where she got to know Tony Russo of the Pentagon Papers case.

Latino voters hold the keys to Democratic victories in the swing states of Arizona and Nevada, Harold Meyerson argues. New polling data highlights the possibilities - and the problems.

plus: Joe Biden has just made marijuana legalization a campaign issue–the Democrats should run with it, says John Nichols.

Also: Greil Marcus talks about Bob Dylan, from “Blowin’ in the Wind” in 1962 to “Murder Most Foul” in 2020. Greil has a new book out, it’s called “Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in 7 Songs.”

LA's political scandal is about the racism of some Latino politicians. Harold Meyerson has the big picture: Ethnic succession is the history of urban politics in the US. In America today, progressives need ethnic and racial alliances, and the participants in this taped conversation have to go.

Also: Nurses have taken the lead in the wave of this year’s labor activism. The largest private-sector nurses’ strike in American history took place recently in Minnesota. Bryce Covert reports a key front in the fight for better health care in America.

Plus: There’s a novel, which is sort of about the murder of Emmett Till in Money Mississippi in 1955, written by a professor at USC, that’s been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The author is Percival Everett, and the book is called “The Trees.” John Powers comments. (originally broadcast in October 2021).

Should Bernie Sanders run in the Democratic primaries in 2024? Bhaskar Sunkara, President of The Nation, says “yes” IF Biden doesn’t. Sanders transformed American politics and, Bhaskar argues, he remains a uniquely important figure for Democrats and the left.

Plus: can Republicans win control of the Senate? Trump’s candidates are the GOP’s biggest problem, starting in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin. The Nation’s National Affairs Correspondent, John Nichols has our analysis.

Also: 20 years before the January 6 attack on the capitol, a Republican mob attacked a central hub of government operations claiming the vote count in the presidential election that year was fraudulent, trying to reverse the results. That was the “Brooks Brothers Riot” in Miami, a Republican effort long before Trump. The Nation’s DC Bureau Chief, Chris Lehmann reviews that history.

To increase young voters' turnout, we need to appeal not only to abortion rights but also to economic issues, Harold Meyerson concludes after reading the polls.

Also: Ken Burns’ new documentary on PBS, “The US and the Holocaust,” searches for heroes and happy endings - but there aren't any, Historian David Nasaw argues.

Plus: "Bad Mexicans”—that's what the revolutionaries of 1910 were called as they fought on both sides of the US-Mexico border against the robber barons and their political allies. UCLA historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez tells that story, which is the subject of her new book--it's been long-listed for the National Book Award.

We’re still thinking about LA County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva ordering a raid on the home of Sheila Kuehl last Wednesday--she’s one of the county supervisors who has called for his resignation. He says she’s the target of an investigation of corruption in the award of contracts by the supervisors - but he says all kinds of things, many of which are lies. Gustavo Arellano reports - he's a columnist for the LA Times.

Plus: Dirty work—and the people who do it: the low-income workers who do our most ethically troubled jobs. What does that have to do with the rest of us? Eyal Press will explain—his book “Dirty Work” is out now in paperback.  

Also:Historian Eric Foner comments on the ways Republicans have made the teaching of American history a key battleground in their culture war against Democrats in the upcoming elections —especially the history of the American revolution.

And we’ll also have Your Minnesota Moment: the Pillow Guy and the FBI.

Republican moves on abortion continue to strengthen Democratic candidates, says Harold Meyerson--especially in Michigan. Also: Amazon workers organize in the Inland Empire, and nurses are on strike in Minnesota.

Plus: The transformation of the Southern Baptist Convention into a powerful right wing political force developed over the last 50 years. Before 1973, when abortion became a constitutional right, the Southern Baptists did not have a political position on abortion. Then came what they call the “conservative resurgence”—we call it the “fundamentalist takeover.” Sarah Posner explains that history.

Also: a new installment of The Children’s Hour: stories about Ivanka, Jared, Don Junior and Little Eric. This week: Jared writes a book! He called it “Breaking History.” We have comment from our Chief Jared Correspondent, Amy Wilentz.