Trump Watch

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.

Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect proposes concrete programs to win back white working class voters who switched from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016. plus George Zornick of The Nation talks about the Senate healthcare fiasco-- and legendary LA Activist attorney Carol Sobel makes the case for the rights of homeless people.

Amy Wilentz comments on the latest news about Jared Kushner, the most trusted man in the Trump White House, as he arrives in Israel seeking peace in the mideast. Also Harold Meyerson comments on the Republicans' impending fiasco in the Senate with Trumpcare, and looks for lessons in the defeat of Jon Ossoff for Congress in suburban Atlanta. and John Nichols makes the case for impeachment, arguing that Trump is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Every day seems to be a bad news day for the President -- today, yesterday, the day before. . . Rick Perlstein comments. plus Jonathan Lethem on Bob Dylan's Nobel speech and "Great American Writing on Rock" and Larry Tye on "Bobby Kennedy: The making of a liberal icon"

As things get worse for Donald Trump, he's likely to become more irrational and dangerous, says Sasha Abramsky of The Nation. Also--Trump is NOT like Nixon--that's what Rick Perlstein says. He wrote the classic "Nixonland."

Harold Meyerson traces parallels--and differences--between Nixon's efforts to stop the FBI from investigating him, and Trump's efforts to accomplish the same thing. Nixon's efforts led to impeachment; will Trump's? Also: Evangelicals and politics: Frances Fitzgerald comments.

Amy Wilentz follows Donald Trump on Twitter -- we ask her what that's like, and why she does it. Also, she has a modest proposal: somebody should stop him. Plus: Harold Meyerson on the Trump impeachment scenario: lessons from the Democrats' successful effort to remove Nixon, and the Republicans' failure to remove Bill Clinton.

John Nichols comments on the appointment of Robert Mueller as special prosecutor, and its significance for the impeachment scenario. and Ari Berman reports on the Supreme Court's ruling in the North Carolina voting rights case, and on Trump's "election integrity" commission.

(1) Harold Meyerson on the politics around Trump firing FBI Director James Comey -- and the 2018 elections (2) Laura Poitras on her film about Julian Assange, "Risk"

John Nichols on the House vote on Obamacare--and The Democrats' obligation to resist. Plus Margaret Atwood on the shocking relevance of “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu; and Katha Pollitt says “It’s not McCarthyism to demand an investigation of Trump."

RICK PERLSTEIN says “I thought I understood the American right. Trump Proved Me Wrong.” And the great BILL McKIBBEN talks about the People’s Climate March, coming up in Washington this Saturday. We’ll have a rundown of all the sister marches in southern California – from Santa Barbara and Ventura to Riverside to Irvine-- and also the LA Sister March in Wilmington, in the LA Harbor area. Also, our favorite county supervisor, SHEILA KUEHL, talks about the “Resist Los Angeles” march in LA on Monday May 1 – starting in MacArthur Park at 11.

(1) Tom Frank has been on the road in the Red States – we’ll ask him whether he thinks Bernie could have beaten Trump. (2) JOHN NICHOLS comments on Fox News firing the horrible Bill O’Reilly—and on Democratic candidates for the House in Georgia and Montana. (3) Steve Bannon, the fascist maniac, is out, and the calm bankers from Goldman Sachs are in--at the Trump White House: DAVID DAYEN will talk about what that means for tax reform, and for our future.

Trump seems to have changed his mind about a lot of things in the last day or two –it seems like Putin is no longer his number one friend, China is no longer his number one enemy, and Steve Bannon is no longer his number one “chief strategist.” Harold Meyerson will comment. Also: how we got from Ferguson to Trump’s election: Chris Hayes will explain—his new book is “A Colony in a Nation.” Plus: Is Trump like Nixon? Is collusion with the Russians to win election sort of like Watergate? We’ll ask John A. Farrell – his new book is “Richard Nixon: The Life.”

Katha Pollitt on how Trump is bringing back Feminism; Chris Hayes on Trump's defeats and disasters; and John Nichols on the Gorsuch filibuster and what comes next -- at the Court, and in the Senate.

The hedge-fund magnate Robert Mercer was probably the most important backer of Trump for president. Jane Mayer of The New Yorker has the first in-depth report on this little-known figure and former Breitbart News funder. Also: Is Trump like Nixon? Both won by exploiting the resentments of the white working class; both covered up crimes committed by their campaigns against the Democrats. But Rick Perlstein, author of the classic book 'Nixonland,' says the answer is no: Trump is not like Nixon.