As millions of Americans protest Donald Trump under the slogan of “No Kings,” it is worth asking how the nation ended up with such an authoritarian president. David Sirota and the team at the Lever have provided a great answer to this question in their new podcast series Master Plan: The Kingmakers, which looks at the revival of the Imperial Presidency after the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s. I talked to David about the history uncovered in this podcast and why Trump is merely a symptom of a much deeper problem.

The US/Israel war against Iran has been devastating to many US allies, both in the Middle

East and the wider world. It could easily lead to a Global Depression. Even before the

war, Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute noted that countries such as Qatar and

Saudi Arabia had good reason to wean themselves away from a close reliance on the

US. I talked to Annelle about the current state of the war and why it will only intensify

the alienation of traditional US allies.

Former Nation editor Don Guttenplan is now bringing municipal politics to the magazine

with a weekly column tracking the progress of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. I spoke to Don

about how Mamdani is balancing pragmatism and principles as he deals with policing,

Donald Trump and a tough budget.