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**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:

Trump’s Global Culture War w/ Stephen Wertheim | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer Dec 14, 2025

Show notes

The Trump administration has released a new National Security Strategy that is a marked shift

not only from earlier administrations but also Trump’s first term in office. While the new policy

statement eschews the goal of global hegemony, it promotes culture war in Europe by

promising support of anti-immigration political parties, economic rivalry in Asia with China, and

a renewal of US military hegemony in the Western hemisphere. To survey this document and

Trump’s often contradictory foreign policy, I spoke to frequent guest of the show Stephen

Wertheim who is American Statecraft senior fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International

Peace.

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Gaza Aid Blocked Amid Winter Storm, Thailand–Cambodia Conflict Resumes, M23 Advances in DRC | American Prestige Dec 12, 2025

Show notes

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Danny and Derek will sadly not be doing a CBS News town hall event. This week in the news: the Thailand–Cambodia conflict resumes (1:47); the DRC–M23 conflict also resumes as M23 makes new advances (7:05); in Gaza, questions remain over the “second phase” of the ceasefire as a winter storm hits (10:38); separatists in Yemen gain control of the country’s south (17:18); the RSF takes Sudan’s largest oilfield (21:02); an attempted coup is foiled in Benin (23:31); Trump gives NATO a 2027 ultimatum on defense spending (26:05); Ukraine responds to the U.S. peace plan while Trump expresses frustration (29:46); controversy erupts in Honduras over election ballot-counting snafus (35:56); and in these great United States, Congress removes “right to repair” from the NDAA after contractors lobby against it (38:53).

Don’t forget to join our Discord.

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Europe’s Subservience to the United States w/ Ben Wray | Tech Won’t Save Us Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by Ben Wray to discuss Europe’s capitulation to pressure from the United States on Nexperia, as well as on digital protections and labor rights that could have big implications for the future of work.

Ben Wray is a researcher specializing in the platform economy. He writes the Gig Economy Project newsletter and his most recent report for the ETUC is called Uberisation.

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Republicans and Obamacare, Again; plus Early, Early Bob Dylan / Start Making Sense Dec 10, 2025

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Republicans are about to end Obamcare subsidies, driving up premiums for 20 million people during the year of the midterm elections. How have they managed to end up after all these years with no health insurance plan of their own? John Nichols comments.

Also: Bob Dylan’s earliest recordings have just been released—the first is from 1956 when he was 15 years old—on the 8-CD set ‘Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series vol. 18” – which ends in 1963, with his historic performance at Carnegie Hall. Sean Wilentz explains – he wrote the 120 page book that accompanies the release.

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Sudan’s Endless War in Darfur and Beyond w/ Mat Nashed | American Prestige Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

Derek and journalist Mat Nashed assess the state of Sudan’s ongoing civil war, particularly the fall of Al-Fasher and the Rapid Support Forces’ consolidation of control across much of Darfur. They discuss the throughline from the 2003 genocide to today; the wider humanitarian catastrophe; the shifting battlefield in Kordofan; the growing role of drones; the RSF’s political gambits; the international dimension of the war, including the UAE’s backing of the RSF and the Sudanese army’s search for external patrons; and they examine why accountability remains elusive as Sudan’s rival powers continue a war that hurts civilians above all else.

Follow Mat on Twitter and Instagram.

Read Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s WSJ opinion piece.

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The Corporate Landlord Tied to Israeli Bombs and US Evictions w/ Thomas Birmingham | The Nation Podcast Dec 08, 2025

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On one side of the world, a major corporate landlord is evicting tenants by jacking up rents by hundreds of dollars.

On the other, its parent company is linked to Israeli bombs, genocide, and illegal settlements.

This is the multibillion-dollar story of American Landmark — one of the country’s most eviction-happy landlords — and Elco, a corporate powerhouse whose subsidiaries are tied to the Israeli military and far-right settler movements. It’s even been cited by the UN for facilitating human rights violations.

Thomas Birmingham spent months meeting the families at the mercy of American Landmark, interrogating the corporate landlords profiting off them, and examining the connection between one kind of displacement here in America and another thousands of miles away, in the West Bank and Gaza.

His feature, "The Eviction Kings," is in the December issue of The Nation.

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The Rise of the Far Right in Europe w/ David Broder | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer Dec 07, 2025

Show notes

Only a few years ago, European elites were patting themselves on the back for fending off the

tide of right-wing anti-system parties (often styled as populists). But recent polls in France,

Germany and the United Kingdom show that that the far right is once again gaining traction,

thanks in no small part centrist governments that have demoralized the population and

legitimized xenophobia. David Broder, author of Mussolini’s Grandchildren and European editor

of Jacobin, wrote a wide-ranging essay on this for The New York Times. I spoke to David about

both the dismal decisions of mainstream parties and also possible alternatives.

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A Certain Mistake: Jackie Ess on Tolstoy’s Resurrection | Reading Writers Dec 06, 2025

Show notes

Charlotte delves into Ecclesiastes through the work of liberation theologist Elsa Támez (When the Horizons Close) before Jo shares some of Pierre Guyotat’s horny, rapturous literary memoir, Idiocy. Icon of many RW conversations past, the thoughtful Jackie Ess then joins to discuss Tolstoy’s crank-inflected final novel, Resurrection.

Jackie Ess is the author of a novel called Darryl, and more recently of a long short-story length chapbook called Eugene.

Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest and book coverage requests! Questions and comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com. Outro music by Marty Sulkow and Joe Valle.

Charlotte Shane’s most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free, and her social media handle is @charoshane.

Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.

To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWriters

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U.S. Moves Toward Venezuela Attack, Double-Tap Strike in Caribbean, DRC–Rwanda Peace Deal Collapses | American Prestige Dec 05, 2025

Show notes

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Despite sitting on a large surplus of Labubus, Danny and Derek work hard to bring you the news. This week: in Russia-Ukraine, new US diplomacy goes nowhere (1:08), Ukraine is now attacking Russian commercial ships (5:55), and the EU moves to phase out Russian natural gas (8:35); in the DRC-Rwanda conflict, Trump hosts a peace deal signing as fighting resumes with M23 in the eastern DRC (11:17); new fighting erupts in southern Yemen (14:19); Lebanon and Israel hold ceasefire talks as the IDF resumes strikes (17:08); in Gaza, new clashes leave a gang leader dead (19:45), the ceasefire implementation sees minimal progress (23:48), and Israel reopens the the Rafah checkpoint (26:24); Sudan’s RSF claims a new advance in the Kordofan region (28:40); a bizarre coup unfolds in Guinea-Bissau (30:40); Trump moves closer to military action against Venezuela (36:55); Honduras heads toward a contentious election (40:17); the US pauses entry from 19 countries after the DC National Guard shooting (43:46); and a double-tap strike on a boat in the Caribbean raises new legal questions (45:43).

Join the Discord (subscribers get access to all channels).

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Europe is Gutting Its Tech Regulations w/ Aline Blankertz | Tech Won't Save Us Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by Aline Blankertz to discuss how right-wing governments and international corporations in the European Union are pushing to gut tech regulations with the goal of boosting AI development in hope of improving economic growth and geopolitical standing.

Aline Blankertz is a cofounder of Structural Integrity.

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