283 | What Trump Means to Us

Helen and David talk about what four years of Trump - and of talking (and talking) about Trump - have meant or their thinking about America and about democratic politics. Is it possible to give a balanced picture of Trump's presidency? Have the last four years followed a pattern or has it just been chaos? What is the likely legacy of Trump's extraordinary level of global fame? Plus we discuss whether 2020 marks the beginning of the 'short' twenty-first century and what that means for Trump's place in it.

224 | Super Tuesday Special: Biden's Back!

A special live edition recorded on the morning after Super Tuesday: we try to make sense of where the Democratic race now stands. How did Biden pull it off?  Is there a path back for Sanders?  And what role was Obama playing behind the scenes?  Plus we ask which strategy now makes sense for the general election and whether Trump has got the candidate he wants or the one he fears.  With Helen Thompson and Gary Gerstle, recorded at the McCrum Lecture Theatre in Cambridge.

217 | Trump vs Iran: Is it for Real?

David and Helen talk to Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor at the Economist, about the fallout from the killing of Soleimani and the future of American power.  Is Trump a madman or is he a realist (or is he neither)?  What sort of threat does Iran pose to American interests in the region and the wider world?  And what has all this got to do with oil and climate change?  Plus, in the week Trump's impeachment trial gets underway, we ask who or what can limit the power of the presidency.

183 | Where Power Stops

David gives another in his series of talks about democracy. This one draws on the theme of his new book Where Power Stops: The Making and Unmaking of Presidents and Prime Ministers. From Lyndon Johnson to
Boris Johnson, does power reveal the true character of politicians or do politicians reveal the true character of power? What sets the limits to what presidents and prime minsters can do? And how do we find them?
https://profilebooks.com/where-power-stops-hb.html

166 | Jared Diamond

We talk to the author of Guns, Germs and Steel about his new book on nations in crisis.  Jared Diamond argues that personal crises are a good way of thinking about national ones.  He tells us about one of his own personal crises and we see whether the lessons really apply to politics.  Plus we discuss what's gone wrong with political leadership in the US and we explore what it would take to tackle the global environmental crisis.

161 | President Bernie?

We talk about socialism in America: where it comes from, what it means, why it's so associated with Bernie Sanders and whether it can actually reach the White House.  What's the difference between democratic socialism and social democracy?  How would the workers gain control of businesses like Facebook and Amazon?  Who are the workers these days anyway?  Plus, we ask what a Sanders vs Trump contest would actually be like.  With Adom Getachew, from the University of Chicago, and Gary Gerstle.