Letters from an American – Details, episodes & analysis

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Letters from an American

Heather Cox Richardson

News

History

Frequency: 1 episode/2d. Total Eps: 923

Heather Cox Richardson's narrated newsletter about the history behind today's politics.

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

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🇺🇸 USA - news
28/10/2026
#50
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🇺🇸 USA - news
27/10/2026
#49
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🇺🇸 USA - news
26/10/2026
#50
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🇺🇸 USA - news
25/10/2026
#50
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🇺🇸 USA - news
24/10/2026
#48
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🇺🇸 USA - news
23/10/2026
#48
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🇺🇸 USA - news
22/10/2026
#48
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🇺🇸 USA - news
21/10/2026
#47
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🇺🇸 USA - news
20/10/2026
#49
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🇺🇸 USA - news
19/10/2026
#50
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Score global : 38%

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Manipulating the Media

Thursday, October 29, 2026 • Duration 10:37

October 27, 2026

After a student-led democratic movement ousted Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić from power, Serbian TV apologized to viewers for failing to report what had been happening under his regime, In Brazil, Flávio Bolsonaro lost the race for the presidency to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in spite of what appears to have been Meta's intentional restriction of accounts supporting him, Lula’s supporters used social media to override Meta’s restrictions, Bolsonaro had the support of Trump and MAGA insiders, but when Trump suggested he would not intervene in the election, Bolsonaro effectively conceded, Brazilian authorities ordered Bolsonaro to remain in the country, but he went missing, only to turn up in the US where the State Department indicated it would offer him and his family visas, Issues of vote suppression in the US have led House members to demand that Meta explain why the main Instagram account of No Kings was suspended during the organization's October 17th get out the vote rally, Disinformation, driven by AI, is rampant on social media in advance of the midterms, Trump’s allegiance to Putin continues as the administration considers lifting sanctions on Russia's government investment fund, Democratic candidate for senate from Florida, Angie Nixon, has posted to Meta that her campaign’s Instagram page was taken down, with just seven days to the election.

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Erratic and Corrupt

Tuesday, October 27, 2026 • Duration 13:32

October 26, 2026

Trump posted his longest-ever social media post last night, Giant turnout for rallies by Obama illustrate the changing mood of the country, Images of the packed venues for Obama, compared to the dwindling crowds for Trump, circulated on social media, Trump’s determination to keep Republicans in control of Congress reflects concern that Democrats will impeach him and worry over what such hearings might reveal, The administration is trying to hide documents related to the Kennedy Center, A shareholder of a publicly traded US crypto company sued Trump and World Liberty Financial, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released a report saying that a growing body of evidence demonstrates that Trump was an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women, Trump and his allies are trying to tip the scales in the election, by spending vast amounts of money, suing the state of Alaska, pressuring states to release voter files, trying to use the US Postal Service to screen ballots, and sending ICE agents to ask residents about their immigration status, The transparent attempts to steal the election could sow confusion and lay the groundwork for challenging a Democratic victory.

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Momentum

Monday, October 26, 2026 • Duration 14:18

October 25, 2026

In the last days of the 2026 midterm campaign, Democrats are picking up momentum, MAGA is pursuing what has worked in the past: a false narrative undergirded by cruelty, That narrative does not seem to be attracting voters, Republicans are avoiding any mention of tariffs, Trump is insisting that the economy is booming, and that rising oil prices are a good thing. He is attacking Muslim Democrats Abdul E-Sayed and Ilhan Omar, Attacks on El-Sayed are not going well, Vivek Ramaswamy’s decision to run an attack ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother is backfiring, The choice to run the ad is revealing that Ramaswamy and the ad’s supporters (among them JD Vance and Trump) are willing to weaponize the rape of a child if it helps them win power, Trump’s erratic behavior isn’t helping Republicans and his repeated praise of Jon Husted’s physique makes for a strange message as midterm campaigns wind down, Meanwhile, in elections in Serbia and Brazil, nationalist strongmen were defeated.

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A New Approach

Sunday, October 25, 2026 • Duration 10:53

October 24, 2026

The election of 1920 gave the Republicans control of the White House and Congress, Republicans rejected the Progressive Era’s idea that government should regulate business and protect workers and consumers, and turned the government over to businessmen, At first industrial production took off and profits rose, As standards of living improved, consumers rushed to buy new products, and presidential candidate Herbert Hoover promised that the economic policies favoring business would banish poverty, Americans invested in the stock market and prices rose and rose, There was a rush to speculate and any warnings that the stock prices were a bubble were dismissed, On October 24, the tide turned as brokers began to sell off shares, and by the end of the day on October 29, an extraordinary number of shares had traded hands and the market had lost $14 billion. Manufacturing output fell and commodity prices tumbled, and by 1933 the number of unemployed across the country rose to 13 million - one out of every four American workers, Republicans blamed workers, and Hoover rejected calls for public works programs that would provide jobs, In 1932 Americans - looking for a new approach - elected New York governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who promised to use the federal government to provide jobs and a safety net to Americans, His New Deal protected workers’ rights, provided jobs, regulated business and banking and provided a basic social safety net. The new system enabled the US to defend democracy when WWII broke out.

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Bluesky

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Oil Deals

Saturday, October 24, 2026 • Duration 06:57

October 23, 2026

The restrictions that have been crippling Ukraine’s ability to protect itself from Russia continue in spite of Trump’s statement to the contrary, Oil deals explain Trump’s rush to normalize relations with Russia, The Polar LNG project, designed to liquefy natural gas in Alaska, will be funded with money from Novatek, a Russian company currently under US sanctions, Trump lifted new sanctions against Novatek that had been put into place in the recently passed Graham Act, The CEO of Polar LNG resigned when he learned funding will come from Russia, Trump, Putin, and their allies in the administration are pushing to carve the world up into spheres of influence as quickly as possible before the midterms, The deal to capture Venezuela’s oil sets up a partnership between the US and Alejandro Betancourt who has been accused of money laundering, The US is looking at taking a stake in Betancourt’s firm, buying shares in a parent company based in Barbados which enables investors to remain hidden, The deal appears to violate Venezuelan law, The administration is also suggesting it will take steps to control Cuba.

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Out of Whack

Thursday, October 22, 2026 • Duration 13:38

October 21, 2026

The president’s behavior is becoming more and more erratic, He has abandoned the traditional allies of the US to align with Vladimir Putin and Russia, Trump claims he had nothing to do with the slowing of Starlink over Ukraine, but Congress members have vowed to hold whoever was responsible for the cuts accountable, Musk is threatening Congress, but is also worried about the move of Europeans and Canadians to develop their own satellite communications systems and if Congress were to do the same, Musk could be in real trouble, Nearly 12 million Americans have lost healthcare coverage under Trump and enrollment in SNAP had fallen by more than 5 million people since the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, The budget deficit for the fiscal year that ended on September 30 was about $2 trillion, $160 billion higher than during Biden’s last year as president, The cost of the Iran war is about $45 billion according to the administration but other costs drive it even higher, Republicans are peddling fear, warning of dire results if the Democrats win the majority in Congress, Right wing groups are sharing inflammatory flyers and Vivek Ramaswamy released an attack ad against Amy Acton that has created a storm of protest, although JD Vance has defended it, Some Republicans are speaking up about the direction in which the party is headed.

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The White House Betrays Ukraine

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 • Duration 10:47

October 20, 2026

Elon Musk ordered SpaceX to slow down its Starlink service in Ukraine, It is unclear if Musk operated with or without input from White House officials, The slowdown caused a public uproar, whereupon representatives from SpaceX and the White House coordinated their messaging, Musk’s decision to take it upon himself to reverse US foreign policy for the benefit of Vladimir Putin is reminiscent of Revolutionary War general Benedict Arnold’s betrayal, The White House was happy to endorse Musk’s decision until it blew up in their faces, Venezuelan billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini, who wanted, and received, a pardon from Trump, had hired former Trump lawyer Alina Habba, for a reported $50 million, Trump is considering restoring the press briefing room to its original form as a swimming pool, Trump is attempting to shore up support from farmers by promising $8 billion in aid, but the fund that he plans to use for payments doesn’t have sufficient funds, After a call with Ukraine president Zelensky, Rep Jim Himes is pressing Congress to pass veto-proof legislation that will provide assistance to Ukraine, saying that “[W]e’re going to act as a Congress and override this president’s desire to see Vladimir Putin win."

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Two Observations

Tuesday, October 20, 2026 • Duration 09:27

October 19, 2026

Ten years ago, Hillary Clinton, who was running for president against Donald Trump, warned that Vladimir Putin hoped to have a “puppet” in the White House, and that Trump was that puppet, Trump protested, but ten years later he is openly embracing Putin and working to destroy the strongest and most successful alliance in human history, Meanwhile, support for Republicans has fallen to historic lows, Tariffs, the war in Iran, soaring costs of gasoline and diesel, and blatant corruption have meant that firm Republican districts are now up for grabs, Republicans are refusing to hold town halls or debate their Democratic challengers, In Texas, Kansas, North Carolina and South Carolina, and Maine, Republican candidates are being revealed as extremely weak, The Republican Party acts like a dying party that is no longer bothering to compete and is facing a rising one whose candidates are ready and willing to work, It is not unlike the 1850s, when the Democrats were so confident that they assumed they were entitled to their seats, The Democrats were trounced by the Republicans, who would dominate the political system for the next 70 years.

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Things Have Changed

Monday, October 19, 2026 • Duration 09:08

October 18, 2026

Putin has proposed a meeting with Trump and Xi Jinping to decide the fate of Ukraine, Such a summit would formally acknowledge that the US has broken from Europe and allied with Russia, In just over a week, Trump has lifted sanctions on the sale of Russian oil, i which will send desperately needed money to fund Russia’s war on Ukraine, Additional sanctions that Congress demanded in a recent law named for Lindsey Graham were waived just before they were to go into effect, Outrage over Trump’s actions has come from across the political spectrum, In response, Trump posted a screed on social media suggesting that Ukraine was to blame for the high costs of diesel, and claiming that Ukrainian president Zelensky doesn’t want to end the war, Tom Nichols wrote that a world in which the US was allied with the Kremlin was the “stuff of paranoid fiction…” The Framers of the Constitution thought they had designed a system that would prevent the rise of a tyrant, The Framers didn’t anticipate that senators would put party over country and stand aside as a president captured its prerogatives, And yet, here we are.

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No Kings: Vote Early

Monday, October 19, 2026 • Duration 05:55

October 17, 2026

People around the US and the world gathered at more than 3,000 No Kings:Vote Early events, Events were designed to encourage people to vote early, Republican dominated state legislatures have restricted access to the vote since 2020, Since the 2024 election, 22 states have passed laws that make voting more difficult, Just at the height of the pre-voting events, Meta took down the No Kings organizing page on Instagram for about 4 hours, Meta claimed the issue was technical, but a report out of Brazil claims that in internal communications, Meta employees acknowledged that the company had restricted the Instagram accounts of Brazilian president Lula da Silva during the country’s recent election while recommending accounts related to his challenger, No Kings organizer Ezra Levin said the shutdown will not stop early voting, and that “No Kings means no kings in the White House,” he wrote, “or in Silicon Valley.”

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