On this episode of Start Making Sense, John Nichols analyzes Tuesday’s elections, and Greil Marcus explains what’s missing in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani votes at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School Tuesday, November 4, 2025, in Queens, New York.(Barry Williams / New York Daily News / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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Democratic candidates won everywhere they ran on Tuesday – Abagail Spanberger and a Democratic state legislature in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, Gavin Newsom’s redistricting proposition in California, and of course Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Trump didn’t even campaign against any them. John Nichols has our analysis.
Also: Greil Marcus comments on the new film about Bruce Springsteen writing the songs for his 1982 album “Nebraska”, starring starring Jeremy Allen White of ‘The Bear.” The movie misses the context: working class decline in Reagan’s America. Greil Marcus is the author of two dozen books, including “Mystery Train,” which has just been reissued in a special 50th anniversary edition.
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Democratic candidates won everywhere they ran on Tuesday—Abagail Spanberger and a Democratic state legislature in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, Gavin Newsom’s redistricting proposition in California, and of course Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Trump didn’t even campaign against any them. John Nichols has our analysis.
Also: Greil Marcus comments on the new film about Bruce Springsteen writing the songs for his 1982 album Nebraska, starring starring Jeremy Allen White of The Bear. The movie misses the context: working class decline in Reagan’s America. Greil Marcus is the author of two dozen books, including Mystery Train, which has just been reissued in a special 50th anniversary edition.
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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.
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.
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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.