Podcast / The Nation Podcast / Jun 2, 2025

Trump’s Immigration Façade

On this episode of The Nation Podcast, Ray Suarez says that Trump’s bark masks a more cynical, and contradictory, bite.

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.

US-Iran Escalations, Israel Expands Lebanon Campaign, CIA Feuds With Intelligence Chief / American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

There’s too much Knickerbocker news to fit here, but we do have other stories to report. This week: Iran and the U.S. exchange fire in the Gulf (2:00), plus peace talks stall after Trump adds new demands (4:29); Israel escalates its Lebanon campaign despite ceasefire talks (08:33); Cambodia takes a Thailand maritime dispute to the UN (15:19); in Sudan, tribal clashes kill dozens in South Darfur (17:38); Ukraine strikes St. Petersburg during the city’s International Economic Forum (20:13); Germany loses a UN Security Council vote (21:54); Colombia’s first-round election results see the right gain momentum (24:04); U.S. sanctions hit Cuba-linked hotels (26:36); and Tulsi Gabbard resigns as the DNI faces a CIA feud (29:11). 

Then, Tim Sahay and Kate MacKenzie, co-editors of The Polycrisis, join the show to explain how the climate crisis, Chinese clean-tech, U.S. policy, and the Iran war are accelerating a global shift away from fossil fuels.

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

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

Protesters are arrested and put into a police van after refusing to leave the intersection while walking through the streets to demonstrate against U.S. President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Multiple groups throughout D.C. blocked off intersections around the Capitol during morning rush hour traffic while chanting, “No Trump, no deportation, no more fascist occupation.”

(Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images)

On this episode of The Nation Podcast, editor D.D. Guttenplan talks to veteran journalist and broadcaster Ray Suarez about the gap between Donald Trump’s maximalist immigration rhetoric and his actual enforcement policy. Ray’s article appears in our June issue.

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.

The Transformation of the New York Waterfront w/ Karrie Jacobs | The Nation Podcast
byThe Nation Magazine

In its heyday, the Bush Terminal industrial complex spanned several city blocks along Brooklyn’s waterfront and employed more than 35,000 people. Built by Irving Bush in the late nineteenth century, it was an "early intermodal shipping hub." Goods arrived by water and left by rail. Bananas, coffee, and cotton came in through doors on one side of the warehouses and were loaded onto trains on the other.

But after World War II, as trucks replaced rail and shipping patterns changed, the Terminal’s purpose faded and the vast complex slipped into disuse.

Today, Bush Terminal is again at the center of New York’s vision for urban reinvention— and a debate around development, displacement, and the future of work in the city.

Joining us on a deep dive into Bush Terminal is veteran architecture critic and writer Karrie Jacobs. Her essayOn the Waterfront,” appears in our December issue of the Nation.

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

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

Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Ray Suarez

is a broadcaster, reporter, and author and the host of Going for Broke, a new podcast from The Nation and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

D.D. Guttenplan

D.D. Guttenplan is a special correspondent for The Nation and the former host of The Nation Podcast. He served as editor of the magazine from 2019 to 2025 and, prior to that, as an editor at large and London correspondent. His books include American Radical: The Life and Times of I.F. Stone, The Nation: A Biography, and The Next Republic: The Rise of a New Radical Majority.

More from The Nation

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) welcomes Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar at the State Department on May 29, 2026.

The US-Iran War Escalates, Israel Expands Its Lebanon Campaign, the CIA Feuds With the Outgoing Intelligence Chief The US-Iran War Escalates, Israel Expands Its Lebanon Campaign, the CIA Feuds With the Outgoing Intelligence Chief

There’s too much Knickerbocker news to fit here, but we do have other stories to report.

Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison

The New York Knicks celebrate with the Bob Cousy Trophy after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 130–93 in Game Four of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

How Racism Shadows the 250th—With Eddie Glaude... and The Knicks! How Racism Shadows the 250th—With Eddie Glaude... and The Knicks!

Author and Professor Eddie Glaude joins the show to talk new book and Arya returns to talk about the NBA Finals.

Dave Zirin

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attends a state banquet for US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping.

The SpaceX IPO Gives Elon Musk Even More Power—With Sean O’Kane  The SpaceX IPO Gives Elon Musk Even More Power—With Sean O’Kane 

Paris Marx talks to Sean O’Kane about how Elon Musk is justifying SpaceX’s massive valuation and the way corporate governance rules are giving him even more power.

Paris Marx

A man checks in to vote at a polling location at the Los Angeles County Registrar during early voting in the state's primary election.

The Dems After Tuesday’s Primaries, plus Elmore Leonard’s Bad Guys The Dems After Tuesday’s Primaries, plus Elmore Leonard’s Bad Guys

John Nichols analyzes this week’s primary results in California and elsewhere, and, from the archives, Elmore Leonard talks about where his characters and plots came from.

Jon Wiener

Mickey Mouse in festive costume interacts with visitors at Shanghai Disney Resort in Shanghai, China.

Disneyland: Cold War Factory—With Roland Betancourt Disneyland: Cold War Factory—With Roland Betancourt

Danny and Derek speak with Roland Betancourt, Chancellor's Professor of Art History at UC Irvine, about Disneyland and the rise of automation in the US.

Derek Davison and Daniel Bessner

Demonstrators participate in a “March on Wall Street” to call for economic justice on August 28, 2025, in New York City.

Monopoly v. Democracy—With Matt Stoller & Zephyr Teachout Monopoly v. Democracy—With Matt Stoller & Zephyr Teachout

Matt Stoller and Zephyr Teachout on how democracy is an economic issue.

x