Electoral politics
A Wealth Tax: Boost the Economy and Democracy
It’s a long term necessity, but tragically, short term policy-makers put off a solution essential to a strong economy and restoration of our republican form of government. As of today, both the economy and democracy are in a downward spiral.
Why Did Trump Try to Kill the American Auto Industry?
Why would an American president stab Americas signature industry in the back? Our guest today, Ryan Cooper senior editor of The American Prospect argues that it makes no actual economic sense but that Trump is dragging his obsessive anti-green agenda
Risings All Over The Country Against Data Centers
You’ve seen the ads on network TV:Huge data centers bringing life to hollowed out communities. But the reality is these huge projects suck electricity and water and provide virtually no lasting jobs. Not just people on the left but people
Freer Kids and Safer Streets
After decades of having to look “Tough on Crime”by jailing teenagers, notably people of color, at last we’re seeing the end of adult prisons housing kids. Forty four states have dialed back the sequestering of kids in medieval fortresses where
Why is There So Much Fear in the Strongest Country in the World?
Fear of the other. Fear of woke, of LGBTQ+, of Black liberation, and of course the old big fear: Communism. In the age of the Cold War, right after WWII, Americans believed the Soviet Union was bankrolling worldwide liberation movements,
Gavin Newsom: Democrats Savior ’28?
The far right got a major boost with the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk. What used to be the Republican party is no more. The young man’s appeal to other young men is a major hurdle for traditional patriotic Americans. And
Historian Michael Kazin on America’s Enduring Actual Greatness
There is in fact a lush garden of American greatness and it is not MAGA. Though less well known, there is a proud history of successful dissent which does make America great. Military power and straight white male domination is
Why Mamdani May Revitalize the Democratic Party: 1911 CA Precedent
After 2024, the mainstream of the Democratic Party is in the wilderness, but Zohran Mamdani may lead a way out. This week’s guest Fred Glass, talks about what early 20th century California history can teach us about the 2025 New
How The Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back
What mainstream Democrats don’t understand is that anti-elites are economically progressive, while the elites are economically conservative. NYCs Mamdani won the primary by building an economic coalition. On this show, Joan C. Williams talks about her important new book, Outclassed.
Democrats Can Win Again: If…
In the 90s, the party took a turn to the right, taking the working and middle class base for granted. Instead they went for Trump in 2024. Clinton hurt this former base with austerity, and poorly thought out welfare reform
Under Water Now, Democrats Have to Become the Party of Change
There’s a reason the same voters were undecided between Bernie and Trump in 2016. People wanted real change. And in 2024, Democrats walked into a trap. As bad as it looks today, writing in Newsweek, today’s guest Matt Robison argues
Trade Peace Beats Trade War: Where Are the Democrats?
Starting a trade war is just stupid. But maybe Trump simply doesn’t really care about tanking the economy. On this show, Washington Monthly politics editor Bill Scher points out that the current president appears to be trying to steer America
The Time is Now. Left-Populists: Unshackle Your Imaginations
You may have noticed a continuing trend of Democratic candidates sheepishly rushing to some imaginary center, and how well that hasn’t worked! On this show, Richard Eskow, former head writer for the Bernie 2016 campaign explains how it seems candidates
Time for Democrats to Post a Clear Agenda for America
No question, it’s all about re-connecting with the working class: People without a college degree, lowering the cost of health care, championing the self-employed, addressing the transportation problems of the heartland. Our guest today Paul Glastris Washington Monthly editor in
The Trashing of Tastes: When Did It Begin?
When did politics and trash TV become one in the same? According to author Ross Benes, no question: it was the 1990s. As one reviewer said: “this book helps to explain the election of Donald Trump in ways that most
Republicans Got It: Bottom Up Works. Wake Up, Democrats!
Democrats seem to always pay attention to the top, the federal races. But what worked for the right wing in 2010 can work for us: Our guest Eric Schmeltzer writes, in The New Republic, that to take power away from