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There’s trouble in Trump world: Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is launching a Third Party to challenge Trump’s Republicans in the midterms and maybe in 2028. Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, explains why Musk will fail – and how Mamdani succeeded at winning the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City.

Also: How does a movement build support when large parts of the country are opposed to its goals? How do you connect with people who disagree with you?  For some answers, we’ll turn to longtime organizer Michael Ansara. His new book is The Hard Work of Hope.  7-25-2025

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A federal court in LA has ordered ICE to stop arresting people because they look Latino—because that’s racial discrimination, and it’s unconstitutional. Mark Rosenbaum of Public Counsel explains.

Also, MAGA has accepted every one of Trump’s lies, until the Jeffrey Epstein files—what makes this one different? Harold Meyerson explains.

Plus: Trump’s executive order abolishing birthright citizenship—guaranteed by the 14th  Amendment—has been blocked for a second time, this time because of a class-action suit.  David Cole explains why Trump will lose this case when it gets to the Supreme Court.  7-18-2025

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Trump’s ICE is attacking undocumented people in LA County because there are a lot of them – maybe a million, out of a total of almost 5 million Latinos, and also because LA is one of the most Democratic counties in the country. And LA has a big and militant alliance of immigrants rights groups that are fighting Trump. Harold Meyerson will explain the deportation battle in Southern California at this point.

Plus: Elon Musk’s obsession with rockets and robots sounds futuristic, but “few figures in public life are more shackled to the past” – that’s what Jill Lepore has found. His ideas at DOGE seem to come from his grandfather, a founder of the anti-democratic Technocracy movement of the 1930s. Jill Lepore teaches history and law at Harvard, and writes for The New Yorker.

Also: Rachel Kushner will talk about the informant and provacateur who infiltrates an anarchist eco-commune in rural France – the central character in her award-winning novel, “Creation Lake” – it’s out now, in paperback.  7-11-2025

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Now that Republicans have done immense damage to working class and poor people, the Democrats are mobilizing to win the House next year and possibly also the Senate – Harold Meyerson comments.

Plus: The surprise victory of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic mayor primary over a well-funded establishment candidate shows that progressive politics, when pursued with discipline, vision and vigor, can win broad support. Bhaskar Sukara, President of The Nation and author of The Socialist Manifesto, has our analysis.

Also: After going to court to challenge Trump’s cut of $2 billion in federal grants, Harvard is now in negotiations with the administration, seeking “common ground” – raising fears that even the most established and wealthy university will submit to his demands. E.J. Dionne argues that authoritarians everywhere target universities, which everywhere are centers of resistance and defenders of democratic freedoms.  7-4-2025

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The Supreme Court has issued a major victory for Trump, ending the ability of judges to issue nationwide injunctions – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Donald Trump, found guilty of sexual assault and defamation, owes E. Jean Carroll $88 million. She explains how she beat him in court, twice, proving that he attacked her in a Bergdorf dressing room and then lied about it. Her new book is Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President.

Plus: The leading autopsies on the 2024 defeat of Democrats are missing two big things, Steve Phillips argues: the centrality of racial hostility and of gender resentment as central organizing forces in American politics.  6-27-2025