The.Ink

Anand was on “Morning Joe” earlier today, digging into the causes and lessons of Zohran Mamdani’s surprise victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York.Watch above, and read his notes on the result here: Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe

We talked today with Terry Moran, the veteran journalist let go by ABC News under White House pressure after a tweet calling out Donald Trump and Stephen Miller as “world-class haters.” Which, according to The Ink’s fact-checking department, they are. We spoke about the media’s handling of the second Trump term, the importance of reclaiming patriotism from far-right nationalists, what happened to the American social order, and why Moran still has hope in the basic normalcy of most people. We also talked about what it means to be a journalist today, how traditional training left the press unprepared for Trump’s hijacking of its own tools and grammar, and what a new media can do differently to recapture not just eyeballs but the meaning-making function of great reporting at its best.We are opening this video to all. But we’re also asking candidly that you support the work that goes into bringing you The Ink by becoming a paying subscriber.Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people. Join us today, or if you are already a member, give a gift or group subscription.And for more insight into the state of the media today and more stories to come, subscribe to Terry Moran’s new Substack newsletter, Real Patriotism.How to participate in the Book ClubThe Ink Book Club is open to all paying subscribers of The Ink. We’ll choose a new book each month, and we’ll post questions — our discussion guide — every Sunday, and each Wednesday we’ll meet for a discussion with the Club or a visit from an author or other special guest. Look out for posts with further details. We’ll also host chat threads to get your insight on key questions in advance of our meetings.For our Substack Live author talks, you can watch on desktop at The Ink or join us from your phone or tablet with the Substack app. Most Wednesdays, Book Club meetings will take place on Zoom (and we’ll post a link in this space). Book Club meetings are open to paid subscribers to The Ink. Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe

When New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested at immigration court on Monday while escorting an immigrant, then threatened with assault charges despite video evidence to the contrary, he became the latest victim of the Trump regime’s effort to “liberate” Americans from their local elected officials.At the time of his arrest, Lander was working with the group Immigrant ARC to help immigrants resist DHS’s latest strategy to deny them due process: “dismissing” their deportation cases and thus stripping them of their status as asylum seekers — making them eligible for immediate arrest by waiting ICE agents. We talked to Lander about this cynical legal innovation by the Trump regime to purge immigrants without due process, what he learned talking to his jailers, and how he would fight on as mayor.“These are gestapo tactics,” Lander told us.We are opening this video to all. But we’re also asking candidly that you support the work that goes into bringing you The Ink by becoming a paying subscriber.Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people. Join us today, or if you are already a member, give a gift or group subscription.More Live conversation today!Come back at 12:30 p.m. Eastern today, when we’ll be speaking with journalist, former ABC News anchor, and new Substacker Terry Moran. You won’t want to miss either of these conversations!To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert once we’re live, and you can watch, chat, and even participate in the conversation during our Book Club meetings from your iOS or Android mobile device. If you’re using a computer, you can also watch (and ask questions in the text chat) on our homepage.How to participate in the Book ClubWe’ll post questions — our discussion guide — every Sunday, and each Wednesday we’ll meet for a discussion with the Club or a visit from an author or other special guest. Look out for posts with further details. We’ll also host chat threads to get your insight on key questions in advance of our meetings.For our Substack Live author talks, you can watch on desktop at The Ink or join us from your phone or tablet with the Substack app. Most Wednesdays, Book Club meetings will take place on Zoom (and we’ll post a link in this space). Book Club meetings are open to paid subscribers to The Ink. Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit the.inkToday, we were joined by Adam Met, musician, activist, Ph.D. in human rights law, and now author. Met has a new book — Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World — which explores the connections between music and politics, and how storytelling is at the heart of the emotional appeal — “collective effervescence,” as it’s known in sociology — that builds both audiences and social movements.We talked to Met about how the skills musicians use to build a connection with fans are the same ones progressive politicians should be using to build community, why they so often aren’t, and how they can learn.Thank you for being part of this. As always, these Live conversations are open to all who join. Later, we post the full videos for our supporting subscribers to rewatch and share.Above, a short preview is open to all. If you want to watch the whole thing, subscribe. That’s how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve.Stand up for media that bows to no tyrant or billionaire. Join us today.

Today, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, scholar of authoritarian regimes, joined 3,000 Ink and Lucid readers to discuss the weekend’s dueling events: the huge turnout all over the country for No Kings rallies, and the much smaller crowds that turned out for Donald Trump’s limp military spectacle in Washington, D.C.Trump may have big authoritarian pretensions, but why was it so hard for him to get the military parade he dreamed of? We discuss.We are opening this video to all. But we’re also asking candidly that you support the work that goes into bringing you The Ink by becoming a paying subscriber.Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people. Join us today, or if you are already a member, give a gift or group subscription.And for more of Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s thinking on authoritarianism, its history, and its future, make sure to subscribe to her newsletter, Lucid. Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe

To coin a proverb, one fascism scholar is an expert; two is an unlawful gathering. So today we talked with scholars of fascism Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Jason Stanley (and 4,100 readers) about whether Donald Trump’s disproportionate response to anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles puts the United States further down the path towards a police state — or opens up possibilities for an effective and sustained mass response.Both suggest that Trump is over-responding to the Los Angeles protests as “insurance” — he’s not concerned these protests specifically; like the military parade planned for next week, it’s about habituating Americans to seeing force on the streets, to pressure people not to protect their neighbors and communities, because the regime is weak, not strong. And as benefits stop and the economy contracts, Ruth suggests, a reckoning — and a real mass movement — is on the way.What does that look like? As Jason told us, it’s going to require something new. “Fascism is a revolution,” he says, “and you cannot defeat a revolution by returning to the status quo.” “When we resist,” says Ruth, “we’re modeling a different ethos — becoming part of something bigger.”We’re keeping this video open to all. If you appreciate the work that goes into The Ink and haven’t already done so, we hope you’ll become a supporting subscriber.Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. And when you subscribe, you help us reach more people.Join us today, or if you are already a member, give a gift or group subscription.And if you haven’t yet, make sure to subscribe to Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s newsletter, Lucid. Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe

Elon Musk is leaving Washington this week. Bye, Ketamine Felicia!What does his departure tell us?One thing is that, in some very important ways, democracy is still working, Anand told the “Morning Joe” crew earlier today. But the human damage Musk has done far outweighs any economic damage #Teslatakedown has done to his personal wealth. How much? Boston University health economist Brooke Nichols has crunched the numbers, and they’re sobering: as of this writing, DOGE cuts have led to 300,000 deaths — five times the death toll of U.S. service members in the Vietnam War.DOGE teams remain in place, so it’s not yet time to relax. But as Anand said today:The courts work still, not perfectly, there's problems, but courts work, lawsuits work, and pressure works, and people raising their voice works. And it's not just that Washington always wins. I think the people always win.The Ink is powered by readers, not billionaires. Help us stand up for independent media that isn’t afraid to tell the truth by joining us today. Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe

We just got off a call with the technology journalist Karen Hao, the keenest chronicler of the technology that’s promising — or threatening — to reshape the world, who has a new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.The book talks not just about artificial intelligence and what it might be, or its most visible spokesperson and what he might believe, but also about the way the tech industry titans resemble more and more the empires of old in their relentless resource extraction and exploitation of labor around the world, their take-no-prisoners competitiveness against supposedly “evil” pretenders, and their religious fervor for progress and even salvation. She also told us about what the future might look like if we get A.I. right, and the people who produce the data, the resources, and control the labor power can reassert their ownership and push back against these new empires to build a more humane and human future.You won’t want to miss this, so check out the full conversation above, and click on the image below to get a copy of Hao’s essential book.If you appreciate the work that goes into The Ink and haven’t already done so, we hope you’ll become a supporting subscriber.Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people.Join us today. Or give a gift or group subscription.More Live conversations this week!Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, May 28, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, when we will meet Live with The Ink Book Club to wrap up our discussion of Abundance, and on Thursday, May 29, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, when we’ll be back with messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio. We hope you can make it to both conversations!To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert that we’re live, and you can watch from your iOS or Android mobile device. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Ink to access full videos of past conversations and to join the chat during our live events.. Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe

Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people.Join us today. Or give a gift or group subscription.More Live conversations next week!Join us next Tuesday, May 27, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, when we’ll talk with author and journalist Karen Hao about her new book, Empire of AI. On Wednesday, May 28, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we will meet Live with The Ink Book Club, and on Thursday, May 29, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be back with messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio. To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert that we’re live, and you can watch from your iOS or Android mobile device. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Ink to access full videos of past conversations and to join the chat during our live events. Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe

We just had a long and very challenging Live conversation with Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, journalist and novelist Ross Barkan, and our friend (and former Trump advisor) Michael Cohen. We talked about how the reality of Donald Trump’s presidency has upended American politics, not least for Trump and the MAGA movement. Rep. Himes, a noted pragmatic centrist, is now willing to talk seriously about progressive ideas like Medicare for All. Cohen’s trajectory out of the Trump orbit has made him a fiery advocate for constitutional rights. And for Barkan, the first months of Trump 2.0 signal that the MAGA brand has peaked and is in decline. Watch the whole video for their thoughts on what’s next.If you appreciate the work that goes into The Ink and haven’t already done so, we hope you’ll become a supporting subscriber.That’s how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people.Join us today. Or give a gift or group subscription.More Live conversations this week!Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 21, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, join us for this week’s Book Club meeting. We’ll be joined by Abundance authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Then on Thursday, May 22, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll talk with author and finance expert Ramit Sethi, then at 4:00 p.m., we’ll be speaking with the journalist Jim Acosta. We hope you can make it to all of these great discussions.To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert that we’re live, and you can watch from your iOS or Android mobile device. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Ink to access full videos of past conversations and to join the chat during our live events. Get full access to The.Ink at the.ink/subscribe