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Winning Rural Voters—Plus, J. Edgar Hoover

On this episode of Start Making Sense, Anthony Flaccavento and Erica Etelson explain the Rural New Deal, and Beverly Gage says the FBI’s first Director actually did some good things.

Jon Wiener

May 28, 2025

Deserted pickup truck display and US flag at Garrett Farms, outside of Midland, Texas.(Joe Sohm / Visions of America / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Winning Rural Voters, plus J. Edgar Hoover | Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

Rural America is Trump country. Last November Trump carried 93 percent of rural counties.. How can Democrats change that? Anthony Flaccavento and Erica Etelson, co-founders of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, have a strategy to accomplish that.

 Also: 20 minutes without Trump: We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. In this episode from the archives, Historian Beverly Gage will explain. Her award-winning book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of the American Century.” (originally aired in December, 2022)

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Rural America is Trump country. Last November Trump carried 93 percent of rural counties. How can Democrats change that?  Anthony Flaccavento and Erica Etelson, cofounders of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, have a strategy.

Also, 20 minutes without Trump: We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. In this episode from the archives, Historian Beverly Gage will explain. Her award-winning book is G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of the American Century  (originally aired in December 2023).

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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.

Trump’s Attacks on Voting, and on Iran / Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

After Senate Democrats block the SAVE act, Trump is likely to declare a national security emergency – claiming China could interfere in the midterms – as a basis for restricting voting. David Cole comments; he’s former legal director of the ACLU.

Also: Congress must challenge Trump’s war on Iran and assert its constitutional duty to take up War Powers resolutions and assert its primacy over matters of war and peace. John Nichols explains.  

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Jon WienerTwitterJon Wiener is a contributing editor of The Nation and co-author (with Mike Davis) of Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties.


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