Start Making Sense

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Kate Wagner on the polarizing politics of Megalopolis.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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).Ad

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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).Advertising Inquirie

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.’Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Trita Parsi on the dangers of a lame duck president with spiraling crisis.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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 Sinalo