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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).

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

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.

How LA Defeated Trump, Plus Bob Dylan’s Xmas | Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

In June, Trump sent more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to occupy Los Angeles and terrorize the immigrant population. But by the end of July, almost all the Guard and the Marines were gone. Bill Gallegos explains how that happened and what other cities can learn from it. 

Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turn to Sean Wilentz. He’s author of Bob Dylan in America, and he also teaches history at Princeton. (Originally recorded in January, 2005.)​ 

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Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

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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