Trump Watch

Trump Year One: the Resistance & the ACLU, David Cole reports--voting rights, the travel ban, and more. Plus: The GOP tax bill just got worse, Harold Meyerson explains what happened in the House; plus Your Minnesota Moment: Al Franken apologizes. Also: Steve Ross talks about his new book "Hitler in LA: How Jews foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America".

The Democratic triumph in Tuesday's Virginia election and its implications for 2018--Harold Meyerson comments, also: what the Democrats should do on tax policy. Plus: Katha Pollitt on anger management, one year after Trump was elected; And: New York City--it's Trump's home, and it's also the antithesis of Trump. Comment from Mike Wallace--he won the Pulitzer Prize in History in 1999 for "Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898" and has authored a follow up, it's called "Greater Gotham: A History of NYC 1898-1919".

Amy Wilentz joins us live in-studio to talk about the Trump family troubles around the indictments; Plus, John Nichols talks about what's in the House tax bill.

America After Trump: E.J. Dionne argues that Trump has mobilized progressive political forces that can transform America—and he reminds us that Trump never had a majority of voters, and is the most unpopular presidents in our history. E.J. is co-author of "One Nation After Trump: A Guide to the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet-Deported." Also: Why are Trump voters so angry? Historian Steve Hahn examines explanations of white working class rage, starting with the monster bestseller “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance, which has spent more than a year on the best-seller list. Also: “White Rage” by Carol Anderson, and Justin Gest’s book “The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of immigration and Inequality.”

Ai WeiWei, the most famous political artist in the world, talks about his new documentary on global refugee crisis. It's called “Human Flow” --it opens in LA Friday Oct 20. Plus: Amy Wilentz on 'The Children's Hour': Ivanka, Jared, and Don Jr.

Is Trump Crazy? The Psychiatrists speak in "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" by Bandy Lee, MD -- Amy Wilentz comments: do psychiatrists have a "duty to warn"? Plus: Trump and the NRA after the Las Vegas shootings, George Zornick comments.

Sasha Abramsky talks about Trump and the triumph of fear -- his new book is “Jumping at Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream.” Also: Pundits say the three former generals on Trump's staff are "the adults in the room" who will block him from doing his worst. John Nichols isn't so sure about that -- the generals are featured in his book "Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse." And, for something completely different: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy. One of the darkest days at the end of what we call “the sixties” came on Sept. 9, 1971, after 1,300 prisoners at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York rebelled -- to protest years of mistreatment. The true story of what happened at Attica was covered up by officials for decades. but now, 47 years later, we finally know the true story, thanks Heather Ann Thompson.

Sarah Leonard of The Nation says Hillary's campaign memoir "What Happened" has its enjoyable parts, but fails to recognize the populist forces that explain what happened. plus Bob Dreyfuss on the Robert Mueller's coming indictment of Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort -- and Todd Gitlin replies to critics of Ken Burns's Vietnam series on PBS -- it's a powerful portrayal of the reasons the war was a disaster, he argues.

Hillary’s book about what happened in her loss to Donald Trump – it’s called ‘What Happened,” and D.D. Guttenplan of The Nation says she really doesn’t understand what happened. Plus: the horrible Betsy DeVos – billionaire opponent of public schools, and now Trump’s Secretary of Education: David Dayen will explain. Plus, the Republicans’ final attempt to repeal Obamacare is underway; Harold Meyerson will report.

Hillary's book about 'What Happened' has a clear message, Tom Frank says: "don't blame me." Also: Is Pence Worse? Do we really want Trump out? Joan Walsh says 'yes' to both. And Harold Meyerson comments on the Medicare-for-all bill introduced in Congress yesterday by our man Bernie. He says it’s not only necessary, it’s “strategically savvy.”

Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect talks about Trump's 180 on DACA and the Dreamers. Also: Hurricanes, Texas Toxics and Trump's EPA: John Nichols comments. And Bob Dreyfuss explains what we now know about Facebook taking money from Russians for political ads, and answers the question, 'Who is Felix Sater -- and why is Trump so afraid of him?"

Plus: What Trump's people have been doing (or not) about the disaster in Texas. Elizabeth Holtzman, who served on the House Judiciary Committee that brought articles of impeachment against Nixon, reviews the case against Trump at this point -- and what special counsel Robert Mueller is doing to protect his investigation. Also: Trump vs. Trans soldiers and sailors: the ACLU is taking him to court. Chase Satrangio explains. And John Nichols of The Nation talks about his new book "Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse," and what they've been doing about the floods in Texas.

Plus: Trump & Golf, & an Abbie Hoffman anniversary Frank Rich has been “wallowing in Watergate,” as he put it, and found some fascinating stuff about Trump’s situation today and Nixon’s a year before his fall. Also: the ways Nixon was significantly stronger than Trump in resisting impeachment and resignation. Also: if you understand golf, you understand Trump. Golf is a game for “successful greedheads and their wannabes,” says legendary sportswriter Robert Lipsyte. It’s a waste of space and water, and it poisons local aquifers with chemicals. And it represents all that is retrograde and exclusionary in American life. Lipsyte asks, Doesn’t that remind you of our president? Plus: It was 50 years ago today: Abbie Hoffman and friends invaded the heart of capitalism, the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, and threw money from the gallery onto the trading floor. Bruce Dancis explains what happened --he was there.

Joshua Green talks about Steve Bannon's relationship with Donald Trump —Green's best-selling book is "Devi's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency." Plus: Bannon was fired because of his interview with The American Prospect -- Harold Meyerson, The Prospect's executive editor, talks about the interview, who said what, and how it happened. And the story of the big fight against big oil and big money in one city: Richmond, California. Steve Early will tell that story—his new book, with a foreword by Bernie Sanders, is "Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City."

Trump has stopped hinting about firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating him and his campaign – - maybe because Mueller has a growing number of supporters among Republicans. Robert Dreyfuss reports -- plus the news about the FBI raiding Paul Manafort's house. Also: Bernie has been busy: Ben Wallace-Wells has been travelling with Bernie Sanders, who has done rallies in more than a dozen states over the last few weeks. And Katha Pollitt has some advice for the anxious and the depressed among us on how to survive the coming months of the the Age of Trump.

David Cole, legal director of the ACLU, talks about different ways Trump could end the work of the special counsel -- and what that would mean politically. plus Nancy MacLean, author of "Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America" and Bob Dreyfuss of The Nation on the Russia investigations and the Trump family businesses.

Amy Wilentz comments on Jared Kushner's congressional testimony about that meeting with the Russian promising dirt on Hillary, and 6-year-old Arabella "interrupting" the NY Times interview with Trump in the Oval Office. Also: Rick Wartzman on the rise and fall of good jobs in America--his new book is "The End of Loyalty." And Harold Meyerson analyzes the latest efforts of Senate Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare.

John Nichols of The Nation opens the show with comment on Jeff Sessions's past, present, and possible future--Sessions is featured in John's forthcoming book, "Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse." And Al Franken talks about the dangers of humor in politics, about the voters who supported Trump, and the need for a public option in health care in America. He also answers the question, "Is Jeff Sessions a lying little weasel"? His new book, a numer one bestseller, is "Al Franken: Master of the Senate."

It’s not enough to say “no” to Trump, Naomi Klein argues; we need to transform ourselves and our movement to bring about the change we need. And we revisit our 2003 interview with Al Franken about his number one bestseller, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Now he has a new number=one bestseller: Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.

45 out of 50 of the state governments are resisting Trump’s voting commission – even the red states. And the five others are not complying; they simply haven't decided yet. It’s pretty amazing -- John Nichols comments. Also: The LA Times series of editorials about Trump, titled “Our Dishonest President,” was published as a book on July 4. When they first appeared online they got more than seven million page views. Nick Goldberg, editor of the paper’s editorial pages, explains what the series argued, and why it was such a success. Plus: young people are voting – for old socialists – in many countries. Why is that? Sarah Leonard has some answers; she wrote about it for the New York Times op-ed page.