On this episode of Start Making Sense, Indivisible's Ezra Levin on Saturday’s nationwide protests, and Harold Meyerson on the National Guard and the Marines in Los Angeles.
Protesters continue to clash with the Los Angeles Police Department in downtown Los Angeles over the immigration raids on Monday, June 9, 2025.(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ protests, with 5 million people at 2100 events, was the largest single day of protest in American history. Leah Greenberg of Indivisible will talk about how the event was organized, and what comes next.
Also: The Medicaid cuts provide a lifetime opportunity for us to reach the 70 million people who did not vote and the 60 per cent of Trump voters who are not MAGA — that's what Ai-jen Poo says. She's director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and President of Care in Action, and a key labor organizer and strategist.
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With tanks rolling down the street in DC on Saturday and troops being deployed to LA, it’s never been more important to come together in nonviolent action to exercise our First Amendment right to peaceful protest. That’s what the organization Indivisible says about Saturday’s National Day of Defiance—the nationwide “No Kings” protests. Ezra Levin will explain; he’s a cofounder and co–executive director of Indivisible.
Also: Who, exactly, is being arrested by ICE agents in Los Angeles? Why is the National Guard in downtown LA? And what are the 700 Marines Trump sent to LA supposed to do? Harold Meyerson will comment—he’s editor at large of The American Prospect.
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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.