
The Nation Podcasts
Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
Latest episodes

Apr 6, 2025 • 56min
The Making of Chuck Schumer w/ David Klion | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
By helping the Republicans pass a spending bill that made no compromises with the Democrats and extend Donald Trump’s power over the government, Chuck Schumer has made himself widely unpopular in his own party. Anger at Schumer is so intense that he had to cancel parts of his tour to promote his new book Antisemitism in America: A Warning. David Klion, Nation columnist and frequent guest on the podcast, reviewed this volume for The Baffler. He joins to podcast to discuss both the book and the making of Chuck Schumer.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Apr 4, 2025 • 39min
US and Iran Inch Toward Conflict, Myanmar Earthquake, Trump Tariffs | American Prestige
This week on American Prestige's news roundup: the US and Iran are making moves risking escalation to a conflict (0:43); Israel rejects another Gaza ceasefire as it plans to carve up the Strip (7:28); the IDF resumes bombing Beirut (11:41); Myanmar suffers a devastating earthquake (13:44); the South Korea supreme court will rule on Yoon’s impeachment today (17:16); the Sudanese military secures the capital, Khartoum (18:38); the African Union sends a mediation team to South Sudan (20:26); the US approves a UK-Mauritius deal on the Chagos Archipelago (22:42); President Trump is now displeased with both Putin and Zelenskyy (24:54); President Bukele of El Salvador is reportedly in direct talks with MS-13 (29:03); the Trump administration admits innocent people were among those deported to El Salvador (31:23); far-right influencer Laura Loomer appears to have influenced Trump into firing members of the National Security Council (33:08); and President Trump announces quite a few tariffs for what he calls “liberation day” (34:49).Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Apr 3, 2025 • 53min
The Dirty Alliance Between Tech and the Oil Industry w/ JS Tan | Tech Won't Save Us
On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by JS Tan to discuss his experience seeing first hand how Microsoft deployed its cloud and machine learning services to help Chevron extract more oil and gas, and the state of tech worker organizing around climate change. JS Tan is a PhD student at MIT, researching cloud computing in the US and China. He’s a a member of Collective Action in Tech and writes the Value Added newsletter.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Apr 2, 2025 • 37min
Winning in Wisconsin, and in the Courts | Start Making Sense
The Wisconsin Supreme Court election tested the political power of Musk’s money, and voters rejected his candidate. The results have huge implications for the midterms. John Nichols has our analysis. Also: A big victory in federal district court: Trump cannot shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Rob Weissman of Public Citizen will explain.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Apr 1, 2025 • 1h 3min
Mobility in America's Past, Present, and Future w/ Yoni Appelbaum | American Prestige
Yoni Appelbaum, a deputy executive editor at The Atlantic, joins the program to talk about his book Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. We discuss mobility in the US and how that might sacrifice community for opportunity, the “frontier” as a way of taking land and easing class antagonism, the birth of American zoning from anti-Chinese practices in 19th century California, the move toward the single-family home and it being a symbol of the American identity, how we can make homes accessible once more for working Americans, and more. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Mar 30, 2025 • 31min
The Real Scandal is Bombing Yemen, Not the Group Chat | Time of Monsters
This week Washington was abuzz with a security scandal over a group chat planning the bombing of Yemen accidentally included magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic. Lost amid the finger pointing about operational security was the fact that the bombing of Yemen is illegal, immoral, and ineffective.To take up the actual scandal of the war, Jeet Heer spoke with Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy. We also discuss the actual contents of the group chat which real important fissures within Trump’s foreign policy team between neo-conservatives who favor fighting as many wars as possible and unilateralists who insist there has to be a prioritizing of conflicts. This fissure opens the path to a much different foreign policy, one that the left can play a role in shaping.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Mar 28, 2025 • 38min
Turkey Protests, Sudan Military Gains, Israel Takes More of Gaza | American Prestige
On this week's news roundup from American Prestige: the IDF seizes more territory in Gaza (1:01) and the Israeli government forms a “voluntary emigration bureau” (5:19), while protests against Hamas break out in the Strip (7:53); there’s unrest in Turkey over the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor (10:27); a court in South Korea overturns the impeachment of PM Han Duck-soo (13:31); in Sudan, the military makes major gains in Khartoum and kills scores in a Darfur airstrike (15:17); South Sudan VP Riek Machar is arrested, stirring up further unrest (18:40); the proposed ceasefire is in limbo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (21:29); in Ukraine-Russia, talks make progress on matters including energy and the Black Sea (23:40); Trump pushes an expanded minerals deal with Ukraine (25:52); Canada schedules an April 28 election (28:20); Greenland is concerned by JD Vance’s visit (30:00); Trump unveils a “sixth generation” fighter, the F-47 (32:15); the Signal leak fallout involving Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg continues (34:37).Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Mar 27, 2025 • 53min
DOGE Is Gutting the US Digital Service w/ Kate Green and Milo | Tech Won't Save Us
Kate Green, a former U.S. Digital Service engineer, joins Milo to critically examine how Elon Musk’s DOGE is shaping the U.S. Digital Service, turning it into the U.S. Doge Service. They discuss the implications this has for government service delivery and the importance of prioritizing public good over profit. The conversation highlights technological innovations like the IRS DirectFile and the challenges of ensuring user accessibility. They also address urgent data privacy concerns and the need for government accountability in handling sensitive information.

Mar 26, 2025 • 39min
An Amazing Week for Resistance Rallies, plus Bad Voter Registration Laws | Start Making Sense
Bernie Sanders and AOC are on their “fighting oligarchy” tour, and in Denver last weekend they had the biggest political event there since Obama in 2008. It was also the biggest rally of Bernie’s life--bigger than anything in his presidential campaigns. And the first big election of the year is underway in Wisconsin. John Nichols has our analysis.Also: Elie Mystal, The Nation’s Justice Correspondent, talks about popular laws that are ruining America – starting with our voter registration requirements. But despite the obstacles and disappointments, he argues that it’s always necessary to vote. His new book is Bad Laws.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Mar 25, 2025 • 57min
The CIA’s Imperial History, Pt 1 w/ Hugh Wilford | American Prestige
Hugh Wilford, professor of history at California State University, Long Beach, is on the program for the first of two episodes on his book The CIA: An Imperial History. In this episode, we explore the historiography of intelligence today, how the CIA fits into an imperial lens of US history, whether the CIA is a liberal way of managing the world, the agency’s origins and shift from intelligence gathering to covert actions, gender relations among officers, their families, and agency partners, individuals like Kim Roosevelt, and whether CIA personnel truly believed in the threat of communism.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy