On this episode of the Start Making Sense podcast, John Nichols previews politics for this year, while Tim Schwab talks about Big Philanthropy.
Bill Gates speaks at the 2019 New York Times Dealbook.(Mike Cohen / Getty Images)
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.
Hope is different from optimism – it’s an embrace of uncertainty, and a basis for action. The polls look bad for Joe Biden, but Democrats’ chances are much brighter in the House, and perhaps the Senate. John Nichols talks about reasons for hope in 2024, starting in the tipping point state of 2020, Wisconsin.
Also: Bill Gates is now the 6th richest man in the world, with 104 billion dollars. He’s spent the last 20 years giving away some of his money–the Gates Foundation gave away $7 billion in 2022. But with the money comes a host of problems. Tim Schwab will explain; his new book has a great title: “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire.”
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Hope is different from optimism: It’s an embrace of uncertainty, and a basis for action. The polls look bad for Joe Biden, but the Democrats’ chances are much brighter in the House, and perhaps the Senate, too. This week, John Nichols gives us some reasons to have hope in 2024, starting with the tipping point state of 2020—Wisconsin.
Also on this episode: Bill Gates is now the sixth-richest man in the world, with $104 billion to his name. He’s spent the last 20 years giving away some of his money—the Gates Foundation gave away $7 billion in 2022. But with that money comes a host of problems. Tim Schwab, author of The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire, comes on the podcast to discuss.
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 year in politics: Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments on Trump’s collapsing support in 2025, and the rise of the resistance—in both the unprecedented national mobilizations culminating in the second No Kings Day, and the Democratic triumph in virtually all elections in 2025.
Also: the year in court: David Cole, who stepped down this year as national legal director of the ACLU, reviews the 149 rulings against Trump in federal courts this past year, and the 21 times the Supreme Court has supported his attacks on democracy.
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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.