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Trump vs. LA—Plus, Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake

On this episode of Start Making Sense, Harold Meyerson on the fight against ICE in Southern California, and Rachel Kushner on her latest novel.

Jon Wiener

July 9, 2025

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 v. L.A.—Plus, Rachel Kushner’s ‘Creation Lake’ | Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

Trump’s ICE is attacking undocumented people in LA County because there are a lot of them — maybe a million, out of a total of 3.3 million Latinos, and also because LA is one of the most Democratic counties in the country. And LA has a big and militant alliance of immigrants rights groups that are fighting Trump. Harold Meyerson will explain the deportation battle in Southern California at this point. 

Also: Rachel Kushner will talk about the informant and provacateur who infiltrates an anarchist eco-commune in rural France – the central character in her award-winning novel, “Creation Lake” – it’s out now, in paperback.

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Trump’s ICE is attacking undocumented people in LA County because there are a lot of them—maybe a million, out of a total of 3.3 million Latinos, and also because LA is one of the most Democratic counties in the country. And LA has a big and militant alliance of immigrant rights groups that are fighting Trump. Harold Meyerson will explain the deportation battle in Southern California at this point. 

Also: Rachel Kushner will talk about the informant and provocateur who infiltrates an anarchist eco-commune in rural France—the central character in her award-winning novel, Creation Lake—it’s out now, in paperback.

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.

Mamdani’s Socialism—and Us; plus Football and Concussions | Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

Zorhan Mamdani takes office in four weeks as the first socialist mayor of New York City. How should we understand the constraints he faces, without accepting those constraints? Bhaskar Sunkara has our analysis; he’s president of The Nation and author of ‘The Socialist Manifesto.’

Plus: Sports Talk on The Nation podcast! Of course Thanksgiving was a big weekend for football on TV – a weekend where millions of viewers got to see a festival of brain injuries — concussions after receiving blows to the head. Dave Zirin will comment – he's the long-time sports editor of The Nation and host of the Edge of Sports podcast.

Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com

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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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