Let’s Stop Casually Comparing Donald Trump to Eugene Debs

Trump could, like Debs, wind up running for president from prison. But Debs was a socialist, a free speech champion, and a fearless organizer. Trump is no Eugene Debs.

John Nichols

Fiction

Cormac McCarthy’s Unforgiving Parables of American Empire

He demonstrated how the frontier wasn’t an incubator of democratic equality but a place of unrelenting pain, cruelty, and suffering.

Greg Grandin
Fine Art

The Unsettled Life and Art of Jimmie Durham

A retrospective in Naples magnifies the mystery of the conceptual artist’s work. 

Barry Schwabsky
Inflation

Establishment Economics Is Under Siege

Politics

A. Phillip Randolph speaks

What Running on a Jobs Guarantee Could Mean for Democrats

Candidates hoping to win in 2024 should look to A. Philip Randolph, who knew an economy stuffed with good jobs would gain a political advantage.

Katie Rader and Carissa Guadron
William Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO, speaks during the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) economic policy conference in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

William Spriggs Was the Economist Who Fought for the Entire Working Class

From his days as a graduate student union leader, he championed an intersectional vision of economic, social, and racial justice.

John Nichols
A protester holds a sign that reads, ''Protect trans kids'' at a demonstration condemning Ron DeSantis during a Republican fundraising event in Houston, Texas on March 3, 2023.

Texas Could Have Taken My Trans Child Away. Here’s What I Did to Protect Our Family.

Or, how to make a “safe folder.”

Karen Krajcer

Culture

Arthur Russell’s Endless Reinventions

Arthur Russell’s Endless Reinventions

Since his death, his music has only become more influential and more mysterious.

David Hajdu
Quintessa Swindell and Joel Edgerton in “Master Gardener.”

Paul Schrader’s Unlikely Optimism

Master Gardener seems designed to provoke. But in his late age, the filmmaker has settled into an earnest style, fixated on love and second chances.

Vikram Murthi
A banner depicting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shaking hands with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 2019.

The Settler-Colonialist Alliance of India and Israel

Over the decades, the two nations have become closer allies in business and politics. We talked to journalist Azad Essa about the origins of this international relationship.

Deeksha Udupa

World

Homes in the Zero Down subdivision on Guam are reduced to piles of tin and wood debris leaving them unrecognizable in the wake of Typhoon Mawar.

Hope Is a Ghost Island: Guam After Typhoon Mawar

Three weeks ago, Mawar tore through the island of Guam, but her people are not waiting to be saved.

Julian Aguon
Berlusconi

The Damage Silvio Berlusconi (1936–2023) Leaves Behind

The notorious tycoon and former Italian prime minister is gone, but his toxic legacy remains.

Niccolò Barca and Tommaso Grossi
China's Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu salutes the audience before delivering a speech during the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on June 4, 2023.

The US Versus China

Continued failures to resolve fundamental differences over Taiwan could lead to war.

Michael T. Klare

Watch and Listen

Listen: The End of Liberal Certainty With John Gray

On this episode of American Prestige, a discussion with the English political philosopher on his recent book, The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism.

Yesterday 8:14 am

Listen: Basketball Butterfly Effect: Why Didn’t LeBron Ever Play Kobe in the Finals?

On this episode of the Edge of Sports podcast, Arya Shirazi joins the show for another installment of Basketball Butterfly Effect.

Yesterday 8:27 am

Listen: Reasons for Hope From Iowa Republicans, Plus “American Fiction”

On this episode of Start Making Sense, John Nichols analyzes Monday’s GOP caucus results, and John Powers reviews the new film starring Jeffrey Wright.

Today 5:00 am