On this episode of Start Making Sense, Harold Meyerson argues Democrats remain likely to win the House in November, and Adam Hochschild talks about the Bund in prewar Europe.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks at a press conference with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2026.(Nathan Posner / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Last week was one of the roughest for Democrats since Trump won the election in 2024: The Supreme Court ended Black congressional representation in most of the South and opened the door to the creation of several more Republican House seats, and then the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the state’s initiative that created four more Democratic House seats was invalid. Nevertheless, Trump is so unpopular that Democrats remain strong favorites to retake the House in November. Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: During the first part of the 20th century, 100,000 Eastern European Jews joined a socialist organization that opposed Zionism. Their organization we call the Bund, and they believed that Jews should fight for full rights wherever they were, not for a new homeland somewhere else. Their motto was “Here, where we live, is our country”—that’s the title of a new book about them by Molly Crabapple. Adam Hochschild comments.
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Danny and Derek’s promised ring ceremony regrettably must be relocated from MSG due to a scheduling conflict. In this week’s news: The Iran negotiations show signs of progress (1:26) despite disputes over the agreement (5:20), plus conflicting reports over the status of the Strait of Hormuz* (9:24); Lebanon sees a reduction in fighting and another round of talks (12:31); in Gaza, Israel is targeting children (15:38), plus a Board of Peace update (16:48); Keir Starmer resigns as PM of the UK (18:40); the DPRK/North Korea appears to be back on Trump’s radar (21:18); a battle over El Obeid, Sudan, still looms (22:53); Trump is again angry with NATO and has a spat with Italian PM Meloni (25:07); in Russia-Ukraine, an update on the war (27:40), Poland strips Zelenskyy of an award (30:21), and the Russians are again displeased with Trump (32:40); election updates in Colombia (34:25), Peru (36:08), and Ethiopia (37:27); and Trump unveils the new Air Force One (39:23).
*After the time of recording, the initiative to rescue stranded ships in the Strait of Hormuz was paused due to a vessel being attacked.
Check out the replay of Wednesday’s livestream.
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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.