Podcast / American Prestige / Aug 26, 2025

Columbia, Trump, and the Palestine Exception

On this episode of American Prestige.

The Nation Podcasts
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.

Columbia, Trump, and the Palestine Exception w/ Rashid Khalidi | American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

Danny and Derek welcome historian Rashid Khalidi back to the program, this time to talk about Columbia University’s agreement with the Trump administration. They discuss the university equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, the school bringing in outside monitors, bipartisan U.S. support for Israel despite shifting public opinion, and how donor influence and neoliberal management are both reshaping universities and eroding the humanities. They also preview Dr. Khalidi’s upcoming free public lecture series on Palestinian history.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Rashid Khalidi speaks during a welcome rally for Mahmoud Khalil in Manhattan, New York.

(Selcuk Acar / Anadolu via Getty Images)

Danny and Derek welcome historian Rashid Khalidi back to the program, this time to talk about Columbia University’s agreement with the Trump administration. They discuss the university’s equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, the school’s bringing in outside monitors, bipartisan US support for Israel despite shifting public opinion, and how donor influence and neoliberal management are both reshaping universities and eroding the humanities. They also preview Dr. Khalidi’s upcoming free public lecture series on Palestinian history.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

The Nation Podcasts
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.

War Breaks in Tigray, Brazil Elections, Houthi/Ansar Allah Attacks Hit Saudi Airports / American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

Derek has returned, but he keeps trying to get Danny to go to some seminar led by a charismatic “mentor” he encountered in his travels. In this week’s news: war breaks out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region (0:43); Flavio Bolsonaro wins the first round of Brazil’s presidential election as the right makes major gains (6:46); in Yemen, the government’s counteroffensive against Ansar Allah stalls (9:51), the group attacks airports in Saudi Arabia and Yemen (12:40), and Saudi Arabia seeks outside military support (13:42); the U.S. prepares to resume its war against Iran as the Islamic Republic intensifies attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz (17:44); in Japan, a U.S. Marine’s arrest for alleged murder sparks protests against the American military presence on Okinawa (22:18); Sudan’s military advances in North Kordofan (25:20) and Sudanese military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan rejects peace talks (28:06); in Mali, Tuareg rebels withdraw from Kidal as government forces retake the town (29:54); the U.S. and the WHO seek information about suspected plague cases at a Russian lab (29:54); Russian attacks across Ukraine kill at least 25 (32:57); Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calls a snap election (35:00); the U.S. bombs another alleged drug boat in the Caribbean (37:12); and Trump creates a new AI task force called the Super Intelligence Force (38:12).

Note: Since recording, Trump has said that the U.S. will not attack Iran before the November midterm elections.

Watch a replay of last night’s livestream with journalist Michael Fox about Brazil’s elections.

Subscribe and check out our History of Modern Palestine series with Rashid Khalidi.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Daniel Bessner

Daniel Bessner is a historian of US foreign relations and is the author of, among other books, Imperialist Realism.

Derek Davison

Derek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.

More from The Nation

Audience members walk out of the Metropolitan Development Commission meeting on March 4, 2026, in Indianapolis, Indiana, after a one-month continuance was granted for the hearing of the Metroblocks data center in the Martindale Brightwood community.

Dispatch From the Front Lines of the Data Center Wars—With Ben Inskeep & Bryce Gustafson Dispatch From the Front Lines of the Data Center Wars—With Ben Inskeep & Bryce Gustafson

Data centers and AI, AI and data centers. We all know how pivotal these issues have become. But lots of the analysis on these topics has been coming from pundits who are the farthe…

Podcast / Fighting Fascism

Demonstrators protest outside the US Supreme Court as justices hear the “Suncor v. Boulder” climate case in Washington, DC, on October 5, 2026.

Why SCOTUS Is Climate Action’s Biggest Threat—With Elie Mystal Why SCOTUS Is Climate Action’s Biggest Threat—With Elie Mystal

“If you don’t control the Supreme Court, you don’t control anything.”

Shilpi Chhotray

Presidential candidate for the Brazilian Liberal Party Flavio Bolsonaro during a press conference with representatives that declared their support for the runoff election in Brasília, on October 7, 2026.

War Breaks in Tigray, Brazil Holds Elections, Houthi/Ansar Allah Attacks Hit a Saudi Airport War Breaks in Tigray, Brazil Holds Elections, Houthi/Ansar Allah Attacks Hit a Saudi Airport

Derek has returned, but he keeps trying to get Danny to go to some seminar led by a charismatic “mentor” he encountered in his travels.

Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison

The Scala Data Centers facility in Barueri, São Paulo state, Brazil, on March 9, 2026.

Brazil’s Data Center Boom Is Enabled by Renewables Firms—With Laís Martins Brazil’s Data Center Boom Is Enabled by Renewables Firms—With Laís Martins

Paris Marx and a tech reporter for The Intercept Brazil discuss how Brazil’s renewable energy industry is fueling data center expansion, greenwashing, and harm to local communitie...

Paris Marx

The WNBA, Past and Present and Irish Sport for Palestine

The WNBA, Past and Present and Irish Sport for Palestine The WNBA, Past and Present and Irish Sport for Palestine

Tamryn Spruill joins the show to talk about her new book on the WNBA, and we discuss Palestine and Irish politics with Rebecca O’Keeffe.

Dave Zirin

A Palestinian flag in the Mashrou' Beit Lahia area of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, on October 6, 2026.

Palestine Three Years After October—With Rashid Khalidi Palestine Three Years After October—With Rashid Khalidi

Rashid Khalidi joins Danny and Derek to discuss Gaza, October 7, US policy toward Israel, regional shifts, and the future of Palestinian resistance.

Podcast / American Prestige

x