Start Making Sense

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

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:

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

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

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

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

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 nu

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

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

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:Michael Blaakman – Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary

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 s

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

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

This week on American Prestige, hosts Derek Davison and Danny Bessner welcome back to the program Aziz Rana, the incoming J. Donald Monan, S.J., professor of law and government at Boston College, for a multi-part discussion about how Americans came to revere the Constitution and the worldwide implications.In this episode, the group discusses the latest Supreme Court ruling as of the recording date (Trump v. Anderson), how America’s treatment of its constitution compares with those of other nations, the Constitution’s development in the country’s first century, debates around the document in the Civil War and Reconstruction, and more through the end of the 19th century.You can grab a copy of the book inspiring this series, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

For American Prestige this week, in the first of two consecutive non-news Friday releases, Danny sits down for another rigorous academic exchange, this time with David Austin Walsh, historian at Yale’s program for the study of antisemitism and author of Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right. The two dig into the big issues broached by the book, including the “right-wing popular front” opposed to socialism, communism, and New Deal liberalism, the nature of conservatism vs fascism, figures from Pat Buchanan to Richard Spencer to Donald Trump, the advent of the left-right divide, and what, if anything, American liberals and leftists can do to defeat American fascism/semi-fascism/fascistish-ism.Also check out David’s May op-ed in the New York Times, “Do You Want a ‘Unified Reich’ Mind-Set in the White House?” and see him at the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 29 to talk about the 2024 election.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircl

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Nation political correspondents, Jeet Heer and John Nichols to discuss President Biden’s post-debate crisis and where the Democratic party goes from here.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Jason Koebler, co-host of the 404 Media Podcast, to discuss the AI-generated spam filling Facebook, how the platform seems to have given up trying to stop it, and where the internet goes from here.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Marc Cooper argues that the narrative for Joe Biden’s presidency has now been set – he’s “too old.” And the Supreme Court decision on immunity for Trump makes it essential that he be defeated. Kamala Harris would be the choice of the Party establishment, if he agreed to step aside; at the convention, she might be nominated by acclamation, without a vote among alternative choices.Also: Harold Meyerson analyzes what it would take to get Biden to decline the nomination: polls about the opinion of the Democratic rank-and-file; the views of Democratic senators and House members-- those in danger of losing their seats and political careers; and Biden’s own circle--the crucial factor for them will be their assessment of Biden’s legacy.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek speak welcome to the program Marc-William Palen, senior lecturer in history at the University of Exeter, for a discussion on his book Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World. They delve into 19th century liberal radicalism and anti-slavery trade policies, how Marx and early socialists approached free trade, the role of consumption, where feminists and christian pacifists fell on the matter, the advent of neoliberalism, “free” vs “preferrred” trade, and more.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of See How They Run, Micah Sifry and Peter Beinart join D.D. Guttenplan for a discussion about 2024's most divisive congressional primary.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy