What is Hezbollah, a name that translates to Army of God? These militant Shia led by the cleric Hassan Nasrallah are expected to retaliate for Israel's assassination of one of their military commanders in Beirut. Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by Western governments, is the strongest military force in Lebanon and holds seats in the country's dysfunctional parliament. It has been at odds with Israel for more than 40 years. But where did they come from? In this episode, the Middle East Institute's Randa Slim, a native of Lebanon who witnessed the Israeli invasion of 1982, explores the group's origins. 

Annelle Sheline resigned her position at the U.S. Department of State in protest of President Biden's unconditional support of Israel as it waged a war of immense destruction in Gaza. An expert on the Middle East at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Sheline says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to pull the United States into a regional war after Israel assassinated Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Tehran and Beirut. The attacks virtually guaranteed Iranian retaliation at some point, and the Biden administration has vowed to protect Israel from attacks. For all the wars and terrorism in the Middle East since 1948,  the region has yet to witness a full-scale, regional conflict directly involving outside powers.

By granting former President Donald Trump absolute immunity from criminal prosecution "for official acts" as Trump fights charges stemming from his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results, the Supreme Court "descended to a level of shame reserved until now for the Roger B. Taney Court that decided the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857," says Princeton historian Sean Wilentz in an essay for The New York Review. In this episode, Wilentz discusses the problems with the Court's 6-3 ruling that declared a president above the law -- a first in U.S. history.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and running mate J.D. Vance say they will lead America into the future with an economic platform that resembles something from the past. High tariffs were once the mainstay of U.S. economic policy, accounting for the large part of government revenues in the era before the personal income tax. The tariffs, trade barriers, expulsion of migrants, and domestic manufacturing espoused by the Republican ticket might be called an economic nationalism of the populist right. In this episode, historian Phil Magness delves into the fascinating history of American tariffs from the founding through the end of the Second World War.

Recommended reading:

The Problem of the Tariff in American Economic History by Phil Magness 

Both Donald Trump and Joseph Biden claimed they were indispensable to their party's electoral prospects, which both men attached to the very fate of our republic. "I alone can fix it," Trump once thundered. Up until Biden finally bowed out of the race on July 21, he insisted he was the best candidate to defeat Trump, despite his poor approval ratings and age-related mental disintegration. It may be cliché to consult the wisdom of the founding generation, but pieces of their wisdom can still help us come to terms with the bewildering events of our own time. For starters, George Washington set an example that seems to have been lost on both Trump and Biden. Giving up power -- knowing when to walk away -- is a sign of virtue. In this episode, eminent historian Joseph Ellis discusses Washington's warning about the threats to stable republican government.

Recommended reading:

His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis 

With President Joe Biden out of the race, prominent Democrats and donors are coalescing around Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, making it unlikely there will be a truly open nominating convention in Chicago next month. For most of American history, open conventions were the norm. Some ended in chaos, with the party and its chosen nominee weakened heading into the general election. In this episode, Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin delves into the fascinating, rough-and-tumble history of political conventions in presidential election years, and he explains why the major parties did away with them in the early 1970s.

Recommended reading:

What It Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party by Michael Kazin

This is the second of two podcast episodes this week dealing with the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump and the causes and effects of political violence in America.

Political violence comes in different forms. A political movement might have a paramilitary force that engages in extrajudicial mayhem. A lone assassin may or may not be motivated by political ideas. Mobs break out in sheer anger and frustration at injustice, real or perceived. In this episode, Oxford Brookes historian Roger Griffin, an expert on socio-political movements, fascism, and terrorism, delves into the causes of political violence that are often difficult to clearly discern or contain.

This is the first of two podcast episodes this week dealing with the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump and the causes and effects of political violence in America.

Historian Jeremi Suri says violence has been a part of our national story from the beginning. In a Time op-ed, Suri argues, "We have inherited a very violent culture in the United States. Moving forward, we have a choice. We can continue to encourage violence, or, we can step back and actively discourage personal attacks, bullying, and intimidation, knowing all too well where they can lead."

In this episode, Suri, who co-authors Democracy of Hope on Substack, explores the reasons behind the many assassinations in U.S. history and their effect on the rest of society. 

This is the fifth episode in an occasional series examining influential elections in U.S. history. The most recent episode, The Election of 1932, was published on June 17.

George W. Bush's historically narrow victory over Al Gore is remembered for how it was decided: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to end a Florida court-ordered recount of disputed ballots, handing the state's 25 Electoral College votes to the Texas Republican. The campaign itself was relatively tame as the candidates sparred over how best to spend a federal budget surplus. Vice President Gore struggled to escape the shadow of his boss Bill Clinton, as voters did not credit Gore with the economic boom that took place during Clinton's two terms. Bush had a shaky grasp of policy and world events, but he struck voters as genuine. In this episode, historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel delve into the election of 2000. If the winner only knew what awaited him on Sept. 11, 2001... 

Far-right political movements achieved power in Europe a century ago, wrecking parliamentary democracies and instigating wars of conquest and genocide. Today’s far-right populists are not the same as yesteryear’s fascists, but their growing popularity on a prosperous, mostly peaceful continent has caught many observers by surprise. In the elections for the European Parliament in early June, there was a clear shift to the right. Yet it would be wrong to conclude that Europe, with its stated commitment to human rights and market economics, is hurtling toward a far-right revolution. The results in France's snap elections dealt Marine Le Pen's National Rally a stunning setback, for instance. In this episode, political scientist Veronica Anghel of the European University Institute explains what's driving Europe's turbulent politics.