Republicans in the Senate--we will need 20 of them to vote to convict Trump if he’s going to be removed from office.  Is that possible?  Elie Mystal runs the numbers--those up for reelection, and those who might have a conscience--and concludes, “maybe—if we the people work really hard.”  

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Pico Iyer has lived in Japan part-time for the last 30 years – he says it’s hard to imagine how different that country is from our own.  His new book is “A Beginner’s Guide to Japan.” 

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Ilhan Omar has endorsed Bernie for president – how does she deal with Trump’s vicious attacks?  David Perry has spent the last few months with her in her Minneapolis district—he says he’s never seen a politician talk as little about themselves as she does in her town halls.

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Despite the fact that more than 75% of Americans favor Roe v. Wade, abortion rights face increasing jeopardy at the Supreme Court, and the right finally succeed at defunding Planned Parenthood.  But there’s one immensely promising factor at work: abortion drugs, especially misoprostol, which is easily obtained on the Internet, despite the FDA’s attempts to prevent online pharmacies from selling them.  Katha Pollitt explains.

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With the Supreme Court back in session, we turn our attention to the most right-wing and longest-serving Justice, Clarence Thomas.  Is he a self-hating sell-out?  Corey Robin says he’s something else: a conservative black nationalist.  His new book is The Enigma of Clarence Thomas.

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A new episode of ‘The Children’s Hour’--stories about Ivanka, Jared, Don Junior, and little Eric.  This week: who’s helping Dad fight impeachment?  And why has Ivanka left it up to the boys?  Amy Wilentz has our story.

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Republicans and impeachment:  in the case of Nixon, it took them until the very end to jump ship--and those who defended him (Reagan and Bush Sr.) had better political futures than those who didn't.   Also: today they’re willing to criticize Trump on Turkey, but not on Ukraine—how come?  Jeet Heer comments. 

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Thousands of Muslim women left their homes in the US and Europe to travel to Syria to join ISIS, the Islamic State, especially after it declared a Caliphate in 2013.  Many of them were educated and successful –  Why did they do it? Azadeh Moaveni wanted to find out—she spent years interviewing former ISIS women in camps in Turkey and Kurdistan.  Her new book is Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS. 

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Also: Afghanistan held elections on Saturday.  Trump had declared a couple of weeks ago that negotiations with the Taliban were “dead”-this was after he had promised to end the American war there. How WILL that war end? Andrew Bacevich has been thinking about that—he suggests it will follow the example of the Vietnam war.  Bacevich writes for TomDispatch, the LA Times, and The Nation.

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Historian Eric Foner talks about about voter suppression and the right to vote, about who gets to be a citizen, what rights undocumented immigrants have, and about the history of mass incarceration--and how they all relate to the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, part of the country’s attempt to redefine citizenship after the end of slavery.  His new book is The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution.  

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