On Start Making Sense: Bill Gallegos on the withdrawal of the National Guard and marines from LA last summer, and Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s choice of songs for his Christmas album.
LAPD officers and National Guard soldiers stand outside a downtown LA jail in June 2025.(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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In June, Trump sent more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to occupy Los Angeles and terrorize the immigrant population. But by the end of July, almost all the Guard and the Marines were gone. Bill Gallegos explains how that happened and what other cities can learn from it.
Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turn to Sean Wilentz. He’s author of Bob Dylan in America, and he also teaches history at Princeton. (Originally recorded in January, 2005.)
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In June, Trump sent more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to occupy Los Angeles and terrorize the immigrant population. But by the end of July, almost all the Guard and the Marines were gone. Bill Gallegos explains how that happened and what other cities can learn from it. Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. For help figuring out what Dylan was doing, we turn to Sean Wilentz. He’s author of Bob Dylan in America, and he also teaches history at Princeton. (Originally recorded in January 2005.)
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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.
In his campaign against elite universities as centers of resistance, Trump hasn’t been able to force Harvard to submit. And it seems less likely now that they will settle. Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy has our analysis.
Also: the essential workers at our supermarkets: Ann Larson talks about poverty wages and worker solidarity. Her new book is Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View From Behind the Supermarket Register.
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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.