Swing State

Is A Criminal Syndicate Taking Over Our Democracy? Sarah Kendzior Rings the Bell.

Apr 30, 2020

Sarah Kendzior, author of The View From Flyover Country in 2016 and her new book Hiding in Plain Sight, studied autocrats in Central Asia then came home to find one, she says, elected in her own country, the USA. She's a bare-knuckled critic of the Trump administration and she has been ringing the bell that this is a...

Are Universities Screwed? Will We Reinvent Higher Ed and The American Dream in Coronavirus Time?

Apr 26, 2020

When, how and will college students get back on campus? University of California Professor Christopher Newfield wrote The Great Mistake in 2016 on how we wrecked public universities and failed the middle class. Now COVID-19 has knocked schools flat. He calls for refunding and rebuilding public higher ed at the end...

The Great Bill McKibben On How We Use This Wild Moment As a Dramatic Reset To Save The Planet

Apr 21, 2020

In 1989, at the age of 29, Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature, serialized in The New Yorker. Hit with plague, not to mention draught, floods and swinging temperatures, Bill is with us to look at how we seize this moment to restart how we live and mitigate the next tragedy before it is too late.

A Massive Game of Stratego - The Spectator’s Dominic Green on the Eurozone, Boris’ Britain, and America and China as Economic Engines

Apr 16, 2020

Rich countries, poor counties, China or America: who funds whom, who allies with whom? Are we heading to a Cold War with China or a new multi-polar world? Will the Eurozone survive and with whom will post-Brexit Britain choose to align? Is Europe’s stability vulnerable as Italy and Spain fall under economic stress?...

November: Will You Get To Vote This November? How? Are We Ready?

Apr 15, 2020

Voting rights in America have long been fraught but this 2020 Presidential election risks dramatic turns if people cannot vote.

We sit down with journalist Ari Berman who is knee-deep in reporting on voting rights and ballot casting and we arrive at some pretty dramatic and plausible scenarios: Half of voters wanting...