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Bernie or Bust?

Harold Meyerson on the DSA, plus Katha Pollitt on Jeffrey Epstein and John Nichols on White Nationalism.

Start Making Sense and Jon Wiener

August 15, 2019

Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Thursday, March 7, 2019. (AP Photo / Nati Harnik)

If Bernie does not get the nomination, the Democratic Socialists of America will not endorse the Democrat who does. “Bernie or Bust” was what they decided at their recent convention—but is that a good idea? Harold Meyerson comments—he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect and a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times op-ed page.

Also: Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile and accused sex trafficker—who surrounded himself with an elite network of political leaders, wannabe billionaire types, and even scientists—and who committed suicide over the weekend. Katha Pollitt considers the people who have been named in court documents as having accepted invitations from Jeffrey Epstein and also having had sex with the underage girls he provided.

Also: White nationalism and the White House: last week—after the El Paso killings by a white nationalist—Tucker Carlson said on Fox news that white supremacy was “not a real problem in America.” He called it “a hoax, just like the Russia hoax.” John Nichols examines the history of white nationalism in recent American politics, going back to the election of Barack Obama.

Start Making SenseTwitterStart Making Sense is The Nation’s podcast, hosted by Jon Wiener and coproduced by the Los Angeles Review of Books. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts for new episodes each Thursday.  


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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