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...

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...

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

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

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...

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

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...

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

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." Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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...

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by Matt Duss to discuss Trump's anti-war pitch. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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

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...

On this episode of Tech 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. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy...

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

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...

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

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

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),...

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...

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...

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...

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

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