The Nation Podcasts

On this episode of American Prestige, Abby Mullen, assistant professor at the US Naval Academy, joins the program to talk about her book To Fix a National Character: The United States in the First Barbary War, 1800–1805. We explore the conflict, American geopolitics in their infancy, the Barbary States and piracy committed on their behalf at the time, how US naval expeditions in an era without a global network of bases functioned, the myth of the war in "The Marines' Hymn", and more.

On this episode of American Prestige, your weekly news roundup. This week: struggles at the UN COP29 climate change conference (1:48), not the least of which is the incoming climate denier president of the US (5:45); in Israel-Palestine, the US doesn't follow through on its 30-day humanitarian aid deadline (7:57), Trump appointments signal imminent formal annexation of Palestinian territories (12:24), and Qatar withdraws from ceasefire talks (16:48); in Lebanon, Israel is working on a ceasefire as a "gift" for Trump (18:33); Xi and Biden to meet in China (21:35); the Japanese government survives a confirmation vote (23: 45); a new report on horrifying death toll figures in the Sudan war (25:48); in Russia-Ukraine, Russia pushers to retake Kursk (28:01) while Europe and Ukraine show new flexibility to exchange land for a peace deal (30:25); Germany prepares for a snap election in February in the wake of the government coalition collapsing (32:38); in Haiti, the transitional council fires the PM (34:44) while the US bans flights there (36:15); and Trump announces a number of new appointments for his second term (37:35).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the fallout from the US election, what it means for the tech industry, and more importantly, what it might mean for all of us. They also celebrate the show hitting 250 episodes!

Brian Merchant is a longtime tech writer and author of Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech.

Hope does not mean saying ‘this is not bad,’ Rebecca Solnit argues; it just means we will not give up—because we know that what we do matters, and we also know we’ve been surprised by good things we never expected.

Also: The bromance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump cannot last – historian David Nasaw will explain why.

Historian Benji Rolsky speaks with Danny about how others in their profession have thought about the far right, a subset of history which has expanded greatly in the last decade or so. They explore how the study of the far right might be "broken", anti-fundamentalism, Christian nationalism, the episodic nature of this field, and how Trump might have changed the historiography.

Read Benji's piece "Why the Study of the Right is Broken": Part 1 and Part 2.

Also check out his book The Rise and Fall of the Religious Left: Politics, Television, and Popular Culture in the 1970s and Beyond.

On this final episode of The Nation's election coverage podcast, See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by John Nichols and Jeet Heer to discuss lessons learned from the 2024 Presidential races.

On this week's edition of the American Prestige world news roundup: in Palestine-Israel, Netanyahu fires defense minister Gallant (0:57), a leak scandal involving Netanyahu's office (6:36), an update on the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza (8:52), and the IDF appears to admit to committing ethnic cleansing (13:05); in Lebanon, the ceasefire push collapses (15:39), the IDF looks to create a "buffer zone" (17:46), and the Washington Post reports that Israeli evacuation warnings are misleading civilians (19:31); in Iran, Supreme Leader Khamenei threatens an attack on Israel (27:19); a new report details the mistreatment of migrant workers in Arabian Gulf states (30:35); the DPRK/North Korea conducts a new ICBM test (33:09); new RSF massacres in Sudan (36:41); in Russia-Ukraine, North Korean soldiers join combat operations (38:35), future concerns in the US about how the war will be conducted under Trump (41:38), and Russia floats the possibility of ending the war (44:36); the German government collapses (46:59); and in Bolivia, protesters supporting former president Evo Morales pause roadblocks amid clashes with the police (49:54).

On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by tante to discuss troubling developments in the open source world as WordPress goes to war with WP Engine and a new definition of open source AI doesn’t require being open about training data.

tante is a sociotechnologist, writer, speaker, and Luddite working on tech and its social impact.

John Nichols looks at the elections results: how we got here, and what we do next. For starters: Trump got fewer votes than 4 years ago; 55% of voters in the CNN exit poll said he was "too extreme."

On this episode of American Prestige, Derek and Danny are joined by Eli Clifton, senior advisor and investigative journalist at large at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, to talk about the role of foreign policy in US presidential elections (including tomorrow's). They talk about chatter on the ground regarding Gaza/Lebanon, whether the Democrats are capable of "learning lessons" from a loss, how to once again make foreign policy relevant to American voters, the broken discourse around China, how money in politics defines the parameters of FP discussion in Washington, and more.

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by Matt Duss to discuss Trump's anti-war pitch.

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Ettingermentum’s Josh Cohen on how political junkies can get through the next few days.

On this week's American Prestige world news roundup: in Israel-Palestine, a new report of the Biden administration ignoring Israeli war crimes (0:30), the Knesset votes to ban UNRWA (2:43), and yet more ceasefire talks (8:12); in Lebanon, Hezbollah names a new leader (10:32) and a push for a ceasefire there (12:25); regarding Iran, the aftermath of the Israeli strikes (15:36) and reports of an imminent retaliation (19:10); North Korea/DPRK tests an ICBM (22:07); Japan's Liberal Democratic Party loses its parliamentary majority (24:33); in Sudan, a new massacre by the RSF (26:52) and a UN report on sexual violence in the conflict (29:18); Somalia kicks out another diplomat from Ethiopia (30:28); in Russia-Ukraine, North Korean soldiers in Kursk (32:49), Russia makes gains in Donetsk (34:50), and new talks on sparing energy sites (36:56), the results of Georgia's election (37:59); Venezuela withdraws its ambassador from Brazil over BRICS (41:07); and the annual UN General Assembly's vote over the embargo of Cuba (42:43).

On this episode ofTech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss all the money Elon Musk is pouring into the US election and what Silicon Valley’s political influence will mean regardless of who becomes president.

Jacob Silverman is the author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, coming in September 2025 from Bloomsbury. His book Easy Money is now available in paperback.

New research suggests what messages win working class votes in Pennsylvania – strong economic populism, and not Trump’s threat to democracy. Bhaskar Sunkara, the Nation’s president, is on the podcast to discuss.

Also: The ACLU has been preparing for election day threats to voting and vote counting for years. Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s voting rights project, explains.

On this episode of American Prestige, Derek and Danny are joined by Khalid Medani, associate professor of political science, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, and chair of the African Studies Program at McGill University, to talk about the state of play in Sudan's civil war. They delve into the military stalemate between the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the humanitarian crisis reaching 13 million displaced and 26 million on the brink of starvation, involvement from outsider actors including Egypt and the UAE, the strategic importance of the besieged city El Fasher in Darfur, the defection of the RSF’s Gezira commander, Abuagla Keikal, over to the Sudanese military, and more.

Note: After the recording of this episode, the RSF massacred 120 people in eastern Sudan.

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by David Klion to discuss 'The Apprentice' — a movie about Roy Cohn’s mentoring of a future president.

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Jeet Heer and Swing Left’s Yasmin Radjy discuss the importance of getting out the vote.

On this week's American Prestige world news roundup: the 2024 BRICS summit was held, featuring Vladimir Putin pushing for a dollar alternative and potentially alienating some member states (1:36); in Palestine-Israel, an update on Northern Gaza (9:10), Antony Blinken visits (12:31), and a leaked document on Israel's planned counterattack on Iran (16:22); in Lebanon, the IDF targets the Qard al-Hassan banking network (18:22), US special enovy Amos Hochstein visits with special demands (21:13), and the IDF targets Tyre for the first time in this assault (23:45); in Turkey, a terrorist attack interferes with the Kurdish peace process (25:19) and Fethullah Gülen of (of the eponymous movement) dies (28:02); India and China negotiate a border agreement, with Xi and Modi meeting while at the BRICS summit (31:11); in Sudan, an RSF commander defects (34:18); the M23 ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo appears to have failed (36:03); in Ukraine, Russian forces are pressuring several towns (37:57) amid talk of DPRK/North Korean soldiers being deployed (40:18); and finally, a new UN climate report says countries have made no progress in cutting emissions to tackle climate change (43:42).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Ulises A. Mejias and Nick Couldry to discuss how Silicon Valley's extractive data collection regime and the power it grants them resembles a much older form of exploitation: colonialism.

Ulises A. Mejias is a professor of Communication Studies at SUNY Oswego and Nick Couldry is a professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at the London School of Economics. They are the co-authors of Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back and among the co-founders of the network Tierra Común.

Latino and Black voters in swing states, we are told by the New York Times, are “drifting away from the Democrats.” But how good is the evidence here? Steve Phillips has our analysis.

Also: Melania has published a memoir: “Melania,” where she revisits plagiarizing Michelle Obama for her 2016 RNC convention speech, and wearing that jacket that said “I don’t care, do U?” when she visited INS detention camps for children separated from their parents at the border. Amy Wilentz comments on her explanations—and on the rest of the book.

On this episode of American Prestige, Derek speaks with ProPublica's Brett Murphy about recent revelations about the US government continuing to arm Israel despite the State Department's knowledge of Israel preventing humanitarian aid getting into Gaza. They delve into the laws regarding arming countries engaging in such policies, Antony Blinken's denial of knowing Israel's humanitarian aid obstruction in Gaza, America's rationale for an unconditional flow of arms, and more.

Brett's pieces on the matter:

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by Chris Lehmann to discuss the elite denial of presidential candidate’s mental decline.

On this episode of See How They Run, Ben Wikler and John Nichols join D.D. Guttenplan to discuss how the election will turn out in the very particular, very important swing state of Wisconsin.

On this week’s edition of the American Prestige world news roundup: It’s another dose of doom, but we tacked on a relatively feel-good animal story. It appears that Israel has killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (1:32), the IDF’s brutal operation continues in northern Gaza (4:56), and the Biden administration floats withholding arms over the Strip’s humanitarian situation (6:42); an update on Israel’s invasion of Lebanon (13:09); the world continues to await Israel’s response to Iran’s ballistic missile strike (16:07); a diplomatic crisis for India and Canada (19:28); the DPRK/North Korea strikes unused rail lines connecting it with South Korea (21:04); an update on the war in Sudan (22:50); a devastating drought in southern Africa (26:12); in Russia-Ukraine, a Russian counteroffensive in Kursk makes progress (27:44) while Zelenskyy reveals part of his Victory Plan (31:19); stock prices soar for US defense contractors (34:22); and China has sent pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, DC (36:04).

Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss who Curtis Yarvin is and how his anti-democratic, far-right writings have influenced the politics of Silicon Valley and the wider American extreme right.

Julia Black is a features reporter on The Information’s Weekend Team.

One in six voters, pollsters say, are “still unsure of their choice.” What do people mean when they say they are “undecided”? Rick Perlstein says political writers have failed to understand the undecideds—and what Kamala might do to win their votes.

Also: Pennsylvania is the state where this year’s election may well be decided—and where nearly two-thirds of voters don’t have college degrees. Eyal Press went to Pennsylvania to find out what working class people there are thinking about and talking about in this election.

On this episode of American Prestige, we're joined by Rhys Machold, senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Glasgow, to talk about how India tries to achieve homeland security through its relationship with Israel. They talk about the watershed 2008 Mumbai attacks (aka 26/11), the origins of India's relationship with Israel, the latter's security tech industry, post-Mumbai attack ramifications like Modi and Hindutva's rise, and how the concept of homeland security permeates many aspects of the culture.

Buy a copy of Rhys' book Fabricating Homeland Security: Police Entanglements Across India and Palestine/Israel.

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Kate Wagner on the polarizing politics of Megalopolis.

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Jane Kleeb, Anthony Flaccavento, and Sarah Taber to discuss how the party can win in small-town America.

On this week's world news roundup from American Prestige: In Palestine-Israel, the one year anniversary of October 7 (1:45), damning ProPublica and Drop Site reports on US complicity in aid worker deaths (5:10), a new IDF siege in northern Gaza (10:55), and Biden and Netanyahu discuss a retaliation for Iran (13:47); Netanyahu threatens to turn Lebanon into Gaza (17:27) while the IDF invades and orders evacuations of southern Lebanon (19:40), Beirut's airport seems to be the next target (21:50), and more Hezbollah leadership is killed (23:15); the DPRK/North Korea is cutting road and rail ties to South Korea (25:32); Japan has a new PM and snap election (27:51); in Sudan, new fighting in North Darfur state (30:28); escalation in Ethiopia's Amhara region (31:42); several Russian advances in Ukraine (33:43); the UK and Mauritius reach an agreement on the Chagos Islands (39:57); Claudia Sheinbaum takes office as president of Mexico (43:28); and Haitian armed groups kill dozens in Pont Sonde (45:17).

Paris Marx is joined by Spencer Ackerman to discuss the past year of Israel's actions in Palestine and the innovations in war technology being used to carry out what the ICJ has deemed a "plausible" genocide in Gaza.

Spencer Ackerman is a Pulitzer-prize winning author of Reign of Terror. He’s a contributor at Zeteo and publishes the Forever Wars newsletter. He’s also writing a new series of Iron Man comics that come out very soon.

The polls have had disastrous failures for decades, but people continue to focus on them; Rick Perlstein has a better idea: ‘don’t follow polls—organize.’

Also: Democrat Marie Gleusenkamp Perez won a House seat in a Trump district, pointing the way for others. Marc Cooper analyzes her current reelection campaign in southwestern Washington State, starting from the fact that she’s a working class woman in a rural area.

Translating Marx’s Capital might be daunting to some, but Paul North, professor of Germanic languages and literature at Yale, and Paul Reitter, professor of Germanic languages and literature at Ohio State University, felt up to the task. On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek talk to them about their new translation of Capital, what goes into capturing the nuances of the original German text, why they chose the second edition in particular, the cosmopolitanism of the book, Marx’s anger, and what they each brought to the table in taking on this massive project.

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by Matt Duss, a seasoned foreign policy analyst at the Center for International Policy, to discuss how the Biden administration keeps adding fuel to the fire.

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Chris Lehmann and Jeet Heer to discuss the Walz-Vance showdown.

On this episode of American Prestige, Daniel Bessner interviews Derek Davison on whether he sees any way out of the status quo in Western/North Atlantic politics.

Paris Marx is joined by Karl Bode to discuss how Mark Zuckerberg's makeover and the PR campaign that’s accompanied it shouldn’t distract from the ongoing harms of his company.

Karl Bode is a freelance tech journalist and consumer rights reporter.

John Nichols has been driving to places in middle America where Trump has gotten big majorities in the past: Iowa and Nebraska, central and Western Illinois, and southwestern Wisconsin, asking Democrats there about politics in their towns right now.

Also: Kamala’s campaign is challenging the Republican conception of “freedom” as freedom from government regulation, advancing instead a positive conception of the government’s ability to protect and expand freedom. Eric Foner explains the history, and significance, of this conflict.

On this episode of American Prestige, hosts Danny Bessner and Derek Davison welcome Drew McKevitt, the John D. Winters Endowed Professor of History at Louisiana Tech University, to talk bout his new book Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America.

Pick up a copy of Drew's book here.

On this week’s world news roundup from American Prestige: Derek Davison and Danny Bessner bring you the latest in world news:

Israel's latest escalations in Lebanon (1:13), the potential Israeli invasion (4:23), and Israel’s rejection of the US-France ceasefire push (5:57); Israel’s potential besieging of the north of the Gaza strip (8:22), the Biden administration’s forfeiting of a ceasefire (10:06), and ProPublica‘s report on an apparent humanitarian coverup by State Department leadership (13:24); heavy fighting in Al Fashir and Khartoum in Sudan (16:19); US forces in Chad (18:49); Sri Lanka’s election of a leftist president (20:37); Russian negotiations with the Houthis/Ansar Allah over missiles (22:42); Zelenskyy floating a “victory plan” for Ukraine (25:22); in Bolivia, more fighting between Arce and Morales supporters (30:41); a New Cold War update featuring China testing an ICBM (33:06), Biden’s last Quad meeting (34:59) and final United Nations General Assembly address (36:51).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Tamara Kneese to discuss the difficult question of what happens to our digital presence after we die and why some tech billionaires are so desperate to make themselves into chatbots. Tamara Kneese is a researcher, organizer, and author of Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond.

Trump has cancelled his plans to visit Springfield, Ohio, but his lie about Haitian immigrants there eating cats and dogs continues to riccochet around the American political world. Amy Wilentz comments.

Plus: The presidential election is the main political battle in America today, but Trump’s followers have also been fighting, for years, to take over towns across the country. Sasha Abramsky reports on two exemplary battles. His new book is ‘Chaos Comes Calling.’

On this episode of American Prestige, Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said emeritus professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University, is back on the program joining Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison for a discussion of where things stand regarding Palestine, the diaspora, and the Palestinian national movement. We talk about the abysmal state of US politics around the issue, Western and Israeli media coverage, the generational shift in Americans' outlook, Palestinian nationalism in the wake of the past year's onslaught, Fatah, current regional governing structures and the prospect of democracy, and more.

Be sure to check out our series with Dr. Khalidi, A History of Modern Palestine. You can grab a copy of his book The Hundred Years' War on Palestine.

On this week's American Prestige world news roundup: bombings via consumer electronics, likely carried out by Israel, rock Lebanon (0:55); in Palestine-Israel, the US appears to be giving up on a ceasefire (8:08), medical conditions in Gaza sink to 19th century standards (10:21), and a Houthi ballistic missile strikes within Israel (11:48); MBS of Saudi Arabia chills normalization talks with Israel (13:59); Sudan sees “unprecedented” fighting around Al-Fashir (17:28); a Chinese aircraft enters Japanese waters (19:06); a jihadist attacks in Bamako, Mali (20:39); South Sudan once again postpones its elections (23:10); in Russia-Ukraine, the Kursk counteroffensive appears to stall (25:01), Russia advances in Donetsk (27:14), and Biden appears to hold off on long-range strike permission for Ukraine (29:01); in Venezuela, four Americans are arrested in a "plot" against Maduro (32:26); Colombia-ELN ceasefire talks break down (34:30); and in Mexico, AMLO blames the US for rising cartel violence in Sinaloa (36:11).

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Trita Parsi on the dangers of a lame duck president with spiraling crisis.

On this episode of See How They Run,D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Bill Gallegos and Jack Herrera to discuss Latino voters—what kind of power they have, the complex ways they are using that power, and what Democrats need to do to stop Donald Trump's aggressive attempts to win their support.

Gallegos is a longtime Chicano activist, political organizer, and a member of the Nation editorial board. Herrera is a reporter who has covered Latino politics and immigration for just about every major outlet you can think of—including The Nation.

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Rob Larson to discuss the recent ruling that Google is a monopolist, what consequences it might face, and what lessons we can learn from the Microsoft antitrust case in the early 2000s.

Rob Larson is the author of Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More and Professor of Economics at Tacoma Community College.

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.

Also: 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.”

On this episode of American Prestige, Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News, and investigative journalist José Olivares join the show to talk about their recent piece for Drop Site revealing how Ecuador’s US-linked attorney general is using her office to attack the country’s left. The group gives the background of Rafael Correa and his left-wing “Correísmo” movement, how Correa and his successors became targets of “anti-corruption” Attorney General Diana Salazar, leaked messages of Salazar’s obtained by Drop Site leading to explosive allegations, the United States' potential links with assassinated presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, and why the US remains interested in domestic Ecuadorian politics.

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by David Sirota to discuss how the Powell Memo created a plan for corporate domination.

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Jeet Heer to discuss the last presidential debate and where we go from here.

On this week's American Prestige news roundup: a Gaza ceasefire talks update (1:15) while the IDF kills American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi (5:18); Iraq is negotiating a deal for the US to withdraw its forces (11:43); the US gives Egypt a full military aid allotment (13:47); in Sudan, new Rapid Support Forces (RSF) activity in the country’s south (15:22); the Pentagon is trying to reconstitute a presence in West Africa (16:29); in Russia-Ukraine, the Russian counteroffensive in Kursk (19:24), claims of Iran supplying missiles to Russia (21:02), and Biden might be on the cusp of allowing Ukraine to strike inside Russia (23:00); Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo González flees the country (25:46); the Mexican Senate passes AMLO’s judicial reform (27:50); and a New Cold War update featuring US and Chinese theater commanders speaking for the first time since 2022 (30:02) and fears over a possible Chinese naval base (31:16).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Matt Pearce to discuss how Google sidestepped two California bills aimed at funding journalism and how major tech companies are transforming the web to make hyperlinks less relevant.

Matt Pearce is the President of Media Guild of the West and a former reporter at the Los Angeles Times.

Tuesday night’s debate showed what Kamala can do – and what Trump can’t. John Nichols has our analysis.

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, explain.

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek called an emergency pod crossover with Chapo Trap House to break down the new Reagan film, where Dennis Quaid—supported by the likes of addled Hollywood heavy-hitter Jon Voight and Creed crooner Scott Stapp—takes his stab at portraying the man who brought us Morning in America.

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by Joshua A. Cohen a.k.a. Ettingermentum to discuss the state of the presidential race.

On this episode of See How They Run, DD Guttenplan is joined by Sasha Abramsky and Amy Littlefield to discuss the chaotic, complicated, high-drama prize of the Southwest.

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Taylor Welling and Kathryn Friesen to discuss how they formed wall-to-wall unions in the video game industry and their thoughts on broader challenges like layoffs and corporate consolidation.

Taylor Welling is a producer and union member at OneBGS and Kathryn Friesen is quest designer and member of the World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild.

Donald Trump announced Friday that he would be voting against a abortion rights ballot measure in his home state of Florida. Amy Littlefield reports on the crucial battle in the state that had been the South’s last refuge for abortion access.

Plus: Rachel Kushner talks about the informant and provacateur who infiltrates an anarchist eco-commune in rural France – the central character in her new novel, “Creation Lake.”

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome back AP mega-guest Spencer Ackerman, author of theForever Wars newsletter and soon-to-be-published issues of Marvel Comics’ Iron Man. The group explores Spencer’s inspiration to pursue more work in the world of comic books, writing for a character who is a defense contractor, bringing left-wing messaging into the medium, the sand box of Marvel Comics vs. the behemoth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plus Spencer’s impressions on some major current events.

NOTE: This interview was recorded on 8/30/24, prior to reports that the Israeli military had recovered the bodies of six hostages inside Gaza.

Click hear to learn how to pre-order Iron Man & get free merch!

More of Spencer’s work:

Further Reading:

So on today's See How They're Run, we're talking all things Pennsylvania. Where does the race stand there? What are the currents that could shift voters in one direction or another?

To discuss all of this, host D.D. Guttenplan is joined by two of the sharpest Pennsylvanians around: Will Bunch, longtime opinion columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Carrie Santoro, executive director of progressive advocacy group Pennsylvania Stands Up

On this week's American Prestige news roundup: Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire (0:29), an IDF operation in the West Bank (8:31), in Gaza, the IDF attacks Deir al-Balah and shrinks more protected zones (11:06) while Palestinians in Gaza also struggle to obtain a polio vaccine amid an outbreak (14:07); Yemen’s Houthi/Ansar Allah forces allow the recovery of a damaged oil tanker (17:15); Jake Sullivan is in Beijing and meets with Xi (19:14); Sudan ceasefire talks end without an agreement (21:23); Libya’s Government of National Unity (or “Eastern Government”) shuts down oil facilities (23:41); in Russia-Ukraine, concerns over the Kursk nuclear plant while Russia bombards Ukraine again (26:11); in France, Emmanuel Macron blocks the leftist prime minister from taking power (30:12); in Mexico, President AMLO “freezes” contact with the American and Canadian embassies (33:30); Honduras pulls out of its extradition treaty with the US (35:50); and the police intervention in Haiti is off to a shaky start (37:32).

On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, we’re joined by Mohammad Khatami and Gabi Schubiner to discuss the complicity of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and how tech workers are organizing to stop it.

Mohammad Khatami and Gabi Schubiner are former Google software engineers and organizers with No Tech for Apartheid.

We’ve had a series of surprises in the last several weeks, but none have been more surprising than Kamala emerging as a great candidate. Harold Meyerson explains: it’s not so much that she has changed, it’s that the Democratic Party has changed.

Also: 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.”

On this week's episode of American Prestige, Derek and Danny speak with Séamus Malekafzali, a Beirut-based journalist focusing on the Middle East, about his recent piece for The Nation, “The Rotten Partnership Between the US Media and the Israeli Military.” They check in about the current atmosphere in Beirut amid exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah, the Biden administration and US media’s current narrative around Hamas and Iran, the violence Israel has inflicted on Palestinian journalists, the double standards of their portrayal in the US media, and whether there might be any meaningful difference in a Trump or Harris presidency with regards to America’s support for Israel.

Recorded Tuesday, August 20, 2024

The Nation is back from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago—and, judging from what we saw this week, most Democrats couldn't be happier with Kamala Harris or the state of their party.

Most, but not all. Even as Harris and a string of top Democrats rode the waves of jubilation coming off the floor of the United Center, activists and delegates from the Uncommitted movement were doing everything they could to keep the issue of Gaza on the agenda.

So what did the convention say about how Democrats see the race ahead? Did Harris pull off her reintroduction to the American people?

On this episode of See How They Run, we're joined by Nation national affairs correspondent John Nichols to discuss all that and more.

On this week'sAmerican Prestigenews roundup: in Russia-Ukraine, an update on Ukraine’s Kursk invasion (0:29), reports of cancelled peace talks (3:57), and a continued Russian advance in Donbas (6:32); in Palestine-Israel, an update on Gaza ceasefire talks (9:34), the IDF is moving into the last Gaza “safe zones” (15:14), an Israeli strike kills a Fatah commander in Lebanon (17:04), and the status of the long-anticipated Iranian retaliation (18:52); Afghanistan sends its ambassador the to United Arab Emirates (20:43); a new Philippine-Chinese confrontation in the South China Sea (22:29); failed ceasefire talks in Sudan plus a cholera outbreak (24:39); troubles for the Central Bank of Libya suggest a further deteriorating political situation (26:56); and the Biden administration prepares new sanctions for Venezuela (29:58).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss why the crypto industry is spending millions on this election cycle and Coinbase’s potential breach of election finance law.

Molly White writes the Citation Needed newsletter. She is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and Follow the Crypto.

As the Democrats meet to celebrate Kamala, Trump seems disoriented and unsure what to do next. Nevertheless he’s holding on to 44% of the electorate. How come? Marc Cooper has our analysis.

Also: Kamala may be rising in the polls, but the Number One nonfiction bestseller in America is still “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance. Luckily for us, Becca Rothfeld has read it, so we don’t have to. She’s nonfiction book critic for the Washington Post.

On this episode ofAmerican Prestige, champion Stephen Wertheim, senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, returns for a discussion of his recent piece for Carnegie, “Strategic Change in U.S. Foreign Policy.” The group muses on the difficulty of altering established foreign policy paradigms before delving into several case studies such as NSC-68, Nixon's Vietnam Withdrawal, Carter's Failed Korea Withdrawal, NATO Enlargement, and the Global War on Terror, emphasizing the need for foresight, strategic planning, and a willingness to incur political costs to make such change possible.

On this episode of See How They Run, Regina Mahone on how the Democrats' approach to reproductive freedom has changed post-Biden—and how it hasn't.

This week on the American Prestige news roundup: conditions in Gaza continue to worsen under Israel (1:14), “ceasefire talks” continue to amble along (7:58), the US again to send massive amounts of weapons to Israel (12:59), and the IDF is again reported to be using Palestinians as human shields (17:18); the US lifts its ban on “offensive weapons” sales to Saudi Arabia (19:57); new attacks on Myanmar’s Rohingya people (22:51); a surprise resignation from Japan’s PM Kishida Fumio (24:29); ceasefire talks begin for Sudan’s conflict (26:08); trouble in South Sudan’s political transition (29:14); an update on Ukraine’s invasion into Russia while Russia continues its advance toward Pokrovsk (31:02); the Wall Street Journal makes a big claim about the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabatoge (35:49); and the Biden administration offers Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro “amnesty” (38:42).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Hussein Kesvani to discuss the far-right attacks that happened after the Southport stabbing in the UK and how larger structural issues in media, politics, and tech laid the groundwork for violence against visible minorities.

Hussein Kesvani is a co-host of Trashfuture and Ten Thousand Posts.

What is happening with the Trump campaign? He seems to be losing his grip, while Kamala gets big crowds and dominates the news. Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Sherrod Brown is up for reelection to the Senate in Ohio, where Biden got only 45% four years ago. He explains is political philosophy, which has enabled him to win reelection twice before. (originally broadcast in 2020).

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek are back with Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and visiting scholar of history at Emory University, for the second part of our discussion on the history of policing in New York City.

We delve further into the NYPD’s efforts at “ethnic policing,” exploring the Italian squads of the early 20th century, how tackling the Mafia anticipated modern-day police efforts at tackling transnational crime, how World War I challenged the idea of police squads recruited from immigrant and minority communities, the NYPD’s relationship with the nascent FBI, and how these past efforts at reform inform contemporary debates.

Listen to the first episode here!

You can find Matthew’s book Police and the Empire City: Race and the Origins of Modern Policing in New York.

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Alyssa Oursler and Chris Lehmann to talk about Kamala Harris’s pick for VP and the bid for the White House.

On this week's episode of American Prestige's news roundup: Danny and Derek bring you an update on the horror in Gaza (0:32), Hamas names Sinwar as overall leader (7:07), more ceasefire efforts (9:43), and the wait for a retaliation from Iran continues (13:44); protests in Bangaldesh force Sheikh Hasina’s resignation (18:43); rebels in Myanmar make gains in Shan State (23:56); Mali and Niger cut diplomatic relations with Ukraine (25:39); the US withdrawal process continues in Niger (28:12); a Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast (29:21) and European countries are buying more Russian natural gas (33:02); the Colombia/ELN ceasefire expires (35:35); the Pentagon rescinds the plea deal it offered three Guantanamo Bay detainees (37:44); and July 2024 breaks the streak of “hottest month ever” despite being abnormally above average (40:21).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx isjoined by Luke LeBrun and Rachel Gilmore to discuss Shopify's connection to right-wing politics, through its connection to a far-right news outlet and its reluctance to enforce its content policy on users selling hateful merchandise through their platform.

Luke LeBrun is the editor of PressProgress and Rachel Gilmore is an independent journalist.

J.D. Vance’s remark about “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable” continues to reverberate in the news. Katha Pollitt has our analysis of Vance and his opponent Tim Walz, and takes up Vance’s argument that people who don’t have children don’t have a stake in the country’s future.

Also: It’s August and that means it’s time for summer beach reading. We asked John Powers, critic at large for “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, for suggestions. His pick is Antonio Scurati’s “M: Son of the Century,” a 750 page novel about the rise of Mussolini.

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek are joined by Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and visiting scholar of history at Emory University, for a two-part discussion on the history of policing in New York City. They explore NY policing as a case study for how the state studies people in order to inform policy, its initial function in the mid-19th century, the largely Irish and German makeup of the force at the time, the force’s interaction with different communities, how gender and race informed the force during the Progressive Era, the NYPD’s international presence and colonial aspects, the formation of “ethnic squads,” and more through the early 20th century.

Matthew's book is Police and the Empire: Race and the Origins of Modern Policing in New York.

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Elie Mystal and John Nichols discuss the chance to reform the court under Kamala Harris—and the dangers that await under Donald Trump.

This week on the American Prestige news roundup: Israel’s assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and Fuad Shukr of Hezbollah (1:02); a mini-New Cold War update featuring Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin in East Asia (9:31); Sudan coming close to engaging in ceasefire talks before collapsing at the last minute (12:30); a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s conflict with M23 (14:58); a large prisoner swap between Russia and the US (17:10); fallout from this week’s presidential election in Venezuela (19:31); and the US striking a plea deal with three detainees accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks (24:11).

Be sure to also check out our specials on Israel’s assassinations and the Venezuela election.

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Chris Carlsson to discuss Processed World, a tech-critical, anti-capitalist magazine that satirized the absurdity of work in its publishing run between 1981 and 2005. 

Chris Carlsson is the author of many books, including most recently When Shells Crumble. He’s the director of Shaping SF and a cofounder of Critical Mass. He was also one of the people behind Processed World.

Kamala Harris is likely to be the next president of the United States—that’s what Steve Phillips says. He's on this episode of Start Making Sense analyzing changes in the electorate and suggests what the Democrats need to do to create majorities in the swing states.

Also on this episode: Los Angeles has 4,000 homeless vets, living on the streets. Now, a class action suit demanding the VA fulfill its pledge to provide housing for them is going to trial in federal court. The lead attorney for the homeless vets, Mark Rosenbaum, explains the arguments and the evidence.

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome to the pod Maria Sengovaya, senior fellow at the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, to talk about her book When Left Moves Right: The Decline of the Left and the Rise of the Populist Right in Postcommunist Europe. The explore what changed for the working class in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism, cases of the Left moving Right in Hungary and Poland, the role of austerity, the characterization of right wing parties vs. the reality, how left wing and centrist parties can offer meaningful alternatives to the Right, and more.

More of Maria’s work:

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by The Nation's Joan Walsh and Jeet Heer to discuss a week that changed everything about the 2024 election.

On the eve of the XXXIII Olympiad, the world remains complicated.

This week on American Prestige's news roundup: Joe Biden suspends his 2024 presidential campaign (0:32); in Palestine/Israel news, Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a fawning US Congress (2:26), the ICJ rules on the legality of Israel’s occupation (6:13), the IDF shrinks the “protected zone” around Khan Younis in Gaza (9:13), China brokers a Palestinian “national unity” agreement (11:19); Houthi/Ansar Allah carry out a drone strike on Tel Aviv (13:48); in Bangladesh, a pause for the protests primarily aimed against a government job quota system (17:21); the US opens an embassy in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu (20:01); a new round of ceasefire talks are scheduled for Sudan (21:18); in Russia, the Gershkovich and Kurmasheva trials are wrapped up quickly (23:09); in another diplomatic move, China hosts Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba in a prelude to potential peace talks (25:03); a preview of Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela (26:54); and the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that Sunday was the hottest recorded day ever, a record only to be broken on Monday (28:48).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss why tech billionaires have become more supportive of Donald Trump in the upcoming US election and whether Kamala Harris’ candidacy will disrupt their plans.

Jacob Silverman is the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud and is working on a new book called Gilded Rage that is scheduled for Fall 2025.

John Nichols examines the tasks facing Kamala Harris – the opportunities, and the obstacles to be overcome. 

Also: Democrats in Arizona are engaged in massive organizing to win an abortion rights referendum, elect a senator and flip a House Seat--and they are facing an Arizona Republican party that is pretty crazy. Sasha Abramsky has our report.

On this episode of American Prestige, Natasha Wheatley, assistant professor of history at Princeton, sits down with our hosts, Danny and Derek, to talk about the transformation of the Habsburg Empire from a multinational collection of polities to discrete nation-states and how this century of radical change informs our ideas of sovereignty and the subsequent international order. The discussion explores the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, how the Empire navigated emerging nationalisms in the late 19th century compared with the Ottoman Empire, problems of post-Habsburg states after WWI and how they helped engender WWII, and more.

Grab a copy of Natasha’s book The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty.

What a week. In just the past seven days, an assassin’s bullet almost killed Donald Trump, Joe Biden got Covid, Democrats continued to melt down over whether to replace Biden at the top of their ticket, and Republicans gathered in Milwaukee to crown Trump as their party’s nominee. It’s been an overwhelming, unprecedented period in our political history. But it’s this podcast’s job to try to make sense of this chaos for you. So today on See How They Run, Nation editor D.D. Guttenplan and national affairs correspondent John Nichols do just that.

On this episode of American Prestige, we are back with a news update after two weeks.

This week: in Gaza, another round of fledgling ceasefire talks (0:35), the Knesset officially rejects Palestinian statehood (6:05), The Lancet journal publishes a study on the likely number of Palestinian casualties thus far (10:30), Haaretz publishes a piece about the Hannibal Doctrine’s use on 10/7 (14:07), and Biden’s “aid pier” is officially kaput (17:27); the results of Iran’s presidential election (20:49); violence in Bangladesh over government job quotas (24:06); a new UN report on civilian displacement within Sudan (26:37); the respective junta governments of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso form a “confederation” (28:29); the Ukrainian military is losing its foothold on the eastern side of the Dnipro River (30:46); the results of the French election (34:37); the results of the UK election (38:32); Kenyan police begin arriving in Haiti as an intervention force (40:35); a New Cold War update featuring China suspending nuclear talks with the US (42:34), Russia and the US starting up a new arms race in Europe (44:21), and accused spy Evan Gershkovich’s trial moved up in Russia amid negotiations with the US (46:23).

Enjoy the full rendition of the New Cold War theme song.

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Sasha Luccioni to discuss the impacts of AI on climate change.

Will the assassination attempt change Trump’s campaign—make it more a call for unity and less a demand for retribution? Harold Meyerson reports on the evidence from the Republican National Convention.

Also: The Nation’s Joan Walsh has been following Kamala Harris for months, as she campaigns for Biden -- but also provides evidence of her own potential as a presidential candidate.

On this episode of American Prestige, Emily Conroy-Krutz on the global history of the early American republic.

On this episode of American Prestige, we sit down with Emily Conroy-Krutz, historian of nineteenth-century America specializing in the global history of the early American republic, to talk about the volume she co-edited with Michael Blaakman and Noelani Arista, The Early Imperial Republic: From the American Revolution to the U.S.–Mexican War. They explore the delineation of empire vs. republic vs. nation-state, challenging the narrative of 1898 being America’s imperial turn, settler colonialism and the dispossession of Indigenous Americans, shifting notions of imperialism over time, and how the framing of America as an imperial project from the beginning can better help us understand its history.

You can also grab a copy of Emily’s book Missionary Diplomacy: Religion and Nineteenth-Century American Foreign Relations.

Further Reading:

On this episode of See How They Run, a wide-ranging conversation with Christina Greer, Steve Phillips, and Adolph Reed Jr.

If there's one thing everyone knows about American politics, it's that there is no way for a Democrat to win the presidency without Black voters. That's one of the reasons why, as Joe Biden fights desperately to stay in the 2024 election, he's made an aggressive effort to shore up Black support. In recent days, Biden has spoken at Black churches, given interviews to Black radio hosts, and leaned on the powerful Congressional Black Caucus to help bolster his political defenses.

But there are signs that Black voters may not be ready to turn out for Biden as fervently as he needs them to. in the past few months, polls have shown Black support for Biden slipping to levels Democrats have not seen in generations. So can Biden overcome doubts about his fitness, reverse these trends, and hold the White House? Should we even believe the polls? And are we in the middle of a historic shift in the relationship between Black voters and the Democratic Party?

To discuss all of this, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by a powerhouse trio of guests: Christina Greer, Associate Professor of Political Science at Fordham University; Steve Phillips, political strategist, Nation contributor, and author most recently of How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good; and Adolph Reed Jr., Nation columnist and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by David Gerard to discuss Jack Dorsey’s decision to leave Bluesky, his obsession with Bitcoin, and his contributions (or lack thereof) to modern technology.

David Gerard is the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and Libra Shrugged. He also makes Pivot to AI with Amy Castor.

On this episode of Start Making Sense, John Nichols on Biden, and David Cole on the Court’s big 6-3 decisions. Biden’s efforts to renew his candidacy are “risk-averse, uninspired, and dangerously misguided” – that’s what John Nichols says, as we review the efforts to persuade him to drop out of the race.

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.

Finally, Jane McAlevey died Sunday--she was The Nation's strikes correspondent, and one of our best.