The Nation Podcasts

One last news roundup without Derek, but Danny and Alex Jordan of the Quincy Institute are on the case!This week: the RSF announces plans to form a parallel government in Sudan (1:33); US-Iran nuclear negotiations continue in Oman (7:21); the US and Saudi Arabia discuss giving the Kingdom access to nuclear technology (14:19); the Trump trade war continues despite him dialing back certain tariffs (18:40); Xi Jinping tours Southeast Asia (22:44); President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador visits the White House amid the controversy of Kilmar Ábrego García’s deportation (27:15); ICE is ramping up the arrest of pro-Palestine voices in the US (31:14); center-right candidate Daniel Noboa wins the presidential election in Ecuador (32:56); American envoy Steve Witkoff says a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia is imminent (34:36) and President Vladimir Zelenskyy appears on 60 Minutes (40:42); and the Israeli government announces that it will escalate its attack on Gaza (43:13). Danny then speaks with Afeef Nessouli, a volunteer currently in Gaza working with Glia, a medical organization that “empowers low-resource communities to build sustainable, locally-driven healthcare projects.”Please consider donating to Glia to help Afeef and Palestinians doing medical work in Gaza. Afeef also works with Shabab Gaza, a local project that provides food and sometimes produce for victims of the genocide. I have personally backed boxes of rice for families. You can donate if you DM them @shababgaza1 on Instagram.And Catch Alex Jordan on X/Twitter @alexjordanatl and on the Quincy Institute’s upcoming YouTube program “Always at War,  which he will co-host with Courtney Rawlings.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Paris Marx is doing a solo episode this week to bring together some important issues that have been on his mind lately. This is a recording of a talk Paris gave in Auckland, New Zealand on how Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump forces us to reassess the politics of the internet and challenge our collective dependence on US tech as it embraces the project of American empire.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

While Trump’s attacks on the universities have broadened, and while Columbia is submitting to his requirements, Harvard’s president has declared that Harvard will not comply with the Trump’s demands in exchange for keeping its federal funding. David Cole comments - he recently stepped down as National Legal Director of the ACLU to return to teaching law at Georgetown.Also: 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.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Please listen to our Sino-Soviet primer episode for some background!On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome back Jeremy Friedman, assistant professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy at Harvard, to talk about the Sino-Soviet Split. They lay out the state of play in the mid-1950s, the potential for détente, how the two powers are reconciling with their increasingly competing interests, the implications for the Soviet Union’s image among other communists in the wake of Khrushchev’s “secret speech”, theoretical transformations in what communism means during this period, how decolonization plays into the split, why Khrushchev pulled Soviet aid when China needed it most, and more through the mid-1960s.Grab a copy of Jeremy’s book Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of The Nation Podcast, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Bryce Covert to discuss her investigation in the May 2025 issue of The Nation, “McDonald’s Still Has a Real Sexual Harassment Problem That’s Not Going Away.”Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of American Prestige, We reluctantly approved Derek’s vacation time, but the news marches on, so Danny welcomes back to the show Alex Jordan of the Quincy Institute to help bring you headlines from around the world. They first take some time to catch up about where things stand with Trump 2.0 and critique what they see as premature analyses of this administration before getting into the news.This week: Trump goes back and forth on massive tariffs (16:47); US and Iranian officials are set to meet in Oman for direct nuclear talks (24:22); the US appears to be considering a ground invasion of Yemen (29:51); the Israeli government and military seem to be moving on to a new stage in preparation for annexing Gaza (34:43); the US and the Philippines carry out military exercises in the South China Sea (40:47); South Korea’s Yoon leaves office as the country prepares for a snap election (44:30); Trump might be considering using drones against Mexican drug cartels (48:48); and Ukrainian president Zelenskyy has accused Russia of recruiting Chinese nationals to fight (52:26) as negotiators visit DC to discuss the so-called “mineral deal” (56:36).  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 Aline Blankertz to discuss whether Europe is going to finally make a serious push to end its dependence on US tech and how different European interests are trying to take advantage of those debates.Aline Blankertz is an economist working on digital policy. She currently works with Rebalance Now and was previously at Wikimedia Germany.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Trump’s tariffs are not really about trade, they’re a form of blackmail – but the alternative is not a return to the free trade policies introduced by Clinton and Obama. Lori Wallach of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project explains what kind of tariffs we need, combined with government support for reindustrialization.Also on this episode: A major lawsuit challenging Trump over his efforts to deport pro-Gaza campus activists has been brought by faculty members at their universities. Jameel Jaffer reports on the AAUP case; he's executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and a former deputy legal director of the ACLU.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome to the show Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation, for a wide-ranging discussion on this moment in politics. They delve into the radicalization that led to Trump, the Democrats’ devotion to the Third Way, the need for a coherent leftwing media structure, Ukraine, NATO, the “Pivot to Asia”, the US empire, and what comes next.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of The Nation Podcast, Vincent Bevins joins D.D. Guttenplan to talk about his reporting on the MST.Read Vincent's story here.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy