Living in the USA

Trump has stopped hinting about firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating him and his campaign – - maybe because Mueller has a growing number of supporters among Republicans. Robert Dreyfuss reports -- plus the news about the FBI raiding Paul Manafort's house. Also: Bernie has been busy: Ben Wallace-Wells has been travelling with Bernie Sanders, who has done rallies in more than a dozen states over the last few weeks. And Katha Pollitt has some advice for the anxious and the depressed among us on how to survive the coming months of the the Age of Trump.

David Cole, legal director of the ACLU, talks about different ways Trump could end the work of the special counsel -- and what that would mean politically. plus Nancy MacLean, author of "Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America" and Bob Dreyfuss of The Nation on the Russia investigations and the Trump family businesses.

Amy Wilentz comments on Jared Kushner's congressional testimony about that meeting with the Russian promising dirt on Hillary, and 6-year-old Arabella "interrupting" the NY Times interview with Trump in the Oval Office. Also: Rick Wartzman on the rise and fall of good jobs in America--his new book is "The End of Loyalty." And Harold Meyerson analyzes the latest efforts of Senate Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare.

John Nichols of The Nation opens the show with comment on Jeff Sessions's past, present, and possible future--Sessions is featured in John's forthcoming book, "Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse." And Al Franken talks about the dangers of humor in politics, about the voters who supported Trump, and the need for a public option in health care in America. He also answers the question, "Is Jeff Sessions a lying little weasel"? His new book, a numer one bestseller, is "Al Franken: Master of the Senate."

It’s not enough to say “no” to Trump, Naomi Klein argues; we need to transform ourselves and our movement to bring about the change we need. And we revisit our 2003 interview with Al Franken about his number one bestseller, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Now he has a new number=one bestseller: Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.

45 out of 50 of the state governments are resisting Trump’s voting commission – even the red states. And the five others are not complying; they simply haven't decided yet. It’s pretty amazing -- John Nichols comments. Also: The LA Times series of editorials about Trump, titled “Our Dishonest President,” was published as a book on July 4. When they first appeared online they got more than seven million page views. Nick Goldberg, editor of the paper’s editorial pages, explains what the series argued, and why it was such a success. Plus: young people are voting – for old socialists – in many countries. Why is that? Sarah Leonard has some answers; she wrote about it for the New York Times op-ed page.

Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect proposes concrete programs to win back white working class voters who switched from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016. plus George Zornick of The Nation talks about the Senate healthcare fiasco-- and legendary LA Activist attorney Carol Sobel makes the case for the rights of homeless people.

Amy Wilentz comments on the latest news about Jared Kushner, the most trusted man in the Trump White House, as he arrives in Israel seeking peace in the mideast. Also Harold Meyerson comments on the Republicans' impending fiasco in the Senate with Trumpcare, and looks for lessons in the defeat of Jon Ossoff for Congress in suburban Atlanta. and John Nichols makes the case for impeachment, arguing that Trump is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Every day seems to be a bad news day for the President -- today, yesterday, the day before. . . Rick Perlstein comments. plus Jonathan Lethem on Bob Dylan's Nobel speech and "Great American Writing on Rock" and Larry Tye on "Bobby Kennedy: The making of a liberal icon"

As things get worse for Donald Trump, he's likely to become more irrational and dangerous, says Sasha Abramsky of The Nation. Also--Trump is NOT like Nixon--that's what Rick Perlstein says. He wrote the classic "Nixonland."