Trump Watch

Gary Younge traveled from Maine to Mississippi interviewing Trump’s white working-class supporters. He found anxiety, pain, and a loss of hope. For many, he concludes, “Whiteness is all they’ve got.” Plus, Amy Wilentz talks about Ivana Trump’s new memoir, 'Raising Trump'—stories about Don Jr., Ivanka, and little Eric, and their mom and dad. It’s like a reality show about “Real Housewives of Trump Tower.”

For our year-in-review show, we turn to John Nichols, The Nation magazine's National Affairs Correspondent, who highlights the Resistance in 2017. His Progressive Honor Roll for the year appears at TheNation.com.

Two ways to interview a Nazi: on the one hand, The New York Times recently did a profile of “the Nazi next door,” portraying him as an ordinary guy; on the other, Gary Younge confronted Richard Spencer, America’s leading white supremacist, on video. With Gary’s help, we compare and contrast the two approaches.

Jane Mayer of The New Yorker reports on Mike Pence's family, his life, and his lifelong ambition to be president.

"Raising Trump" is Ivana's new book about Don Jr., Ivanka, Jared and little Eric—Amy Wilentz says it's not your typical child-raising advice book. Plus: The GOP tax bill in the Senate: Harold Meyerson brings us the bad news. And historian Linda Gordon on the arrest of Fred Trump (Donald Trump's Father) at a KKK rally in 1927, and, her new book: "The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition”

The legendary journalist Howell Raines reports from Alabama on the continuing Republican support for Roy Moore, the Senate candidate accused of molesting a 14-year-old and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent, the heroic civil-rights attorney Doug Jones, is running “the most vigorous Democratic campaign that’s been waged in Alabama in at least 30 years.” Also, Trump and the bomb: We’re hoping the generals keep him from doing anything crazy, like starting a nuclear war with North Korea—but the system is set up to give the president control over nuclear weapons, rather than the military. Adam Shatz explains--he wrote about Trump and the bomb for the London Review of Books.

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."