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Election Protection: The ACLU’s $25M Project—Plus, Howard Zinn’s Life and Work

On this episode of Start Making Sense, Deirdre Schifeling of the ACLU explains their plans to protect voting in November, and Dave Zirin talks about A People’s History of the US.

Jon Wiener

August 12, 2026

Howard Zinn prior to a press conference at Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston on January 9, 2008.(Mark Garfinkel / MediaNews Group / Boston Herald via Getty Images)

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Election Protection: The ACLU’s $25M Project, plus Howard Zinn’s Life and Work
byThe Nation Magazine

The ACLU is organizing thousands of volunteers, preparing to respond to 25 different ways Trump could try to subvert or sabotage the midterms. Deirdre Schifeling explains—she’s the ACLU’s Chief Political and Advocacy Officer. More info at https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/people-power.

Also: Howard Zinn’s book A People’s History of the US has sold four million copies—and now we have a biography of the author, written by Dave Zirin, The Nation’s longtime sports editor – his new book is The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn.

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The ACLU is organizing thousands of volunteers, preparing to respond to 25 different ways Trump could try to subvert or sabotage the midterms. Deirdre Schifeling explains—she’s the ACLU’s chief political and advocacy officer. More info here.

Also: Howard Zinn’s book A People’s History of the US has sold 4 million copies—and now we have a biography of the author, written by Dave Zirin, The Nation’s longtime sports editor—his new book is The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn.

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

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.

Norm Eisen on the Paramount-Warners Merger, plus Trump and TV News / Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

The primary force behind the settlement that will allow Trump’s allies at Paramount to take over Warners-Discovery and CNN was Gavin Newsom, who pressured California Attorney General Rob Bonta to end the anti-trust fight defending media independence. Norm Eisen explains – he’s co-founder and executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund and Democracy Defenders Action, and, the New York Times reported, “the leader of a coalition of entertainment and news industry professionals who opposed the deal.”

Also: After Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House newsroom, the TV networks united in refusing coverage of his events – including Fox News. John Nichols has our analysis.

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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.


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