Stress Test, from Mother Jones

America is hopelessly divided. That's what we're told. Look no further than the Senate impeachment trial for evidence: If Republicans work with Democrats, Fox News and tribal partisans will expose them to Trumpian fury, or so the narrative goes. But how true is this dim view of America's future, really? On this week's episode, we feature a guest who has received backlash and back-slaps for trying to knit together disparate interests in a deeply partisan world: Van Jones. The CNN star worked in the Obama White House as the “Green Jobs Czar” and currently heads the Reform Alliance, which advocates for criminal justice reform. While Jones has repeatedly called out Trump for being a bigot and a bully, he caught major heat from fellow progressives when he publicly praised Trump and the Republican party for their work on the First Step Act, an important reform that ultimately led to around 7,000 people leaving prison. Late last year, our Washington DC bureau chief David Corn joined Van Jones onstage for a live event at George Washington University and asked him: When do you compromise? When do you cooperate? And what to do when you find yourself caught in brutal partisan crossfire?

As the 2020 presidential election approaches, efforts to suppress the vote are endemic. In this week’s episode, Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman talks to President Barack Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, about some of the most insidious voter suppression tactics, from draconian voter ID laws to partisan and racial gerrymandering, in a wide-ranging conversation moderated by "Broad City" star Ilana Glazer. The shindig, co-presented by Mother Jones, is part of a live event program run by Glazer called "The Generator Series", during which she attempts to break down complex ideas about democracy, policy, and being a good American citizen. Glazer invited Holder to discuss his recently launched campaign, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), which fights to create fair voting districts, and Berman, whose work illuminates the history behind why we vote the way we do in the US. Together, they identify flash points in the ongoing battle for this foundational American right.

Australia's wildfire emergency has no end in sight. This is what scientists warned would happen, and now it is: runaway wildfires of unprecedented scale and destruction are raging around Australia. At least 25 people have been killed, and about 3,000 military personnel have mobilized to assist in the evacuation of about 100,000 residents across the country's South East. The toll on the ecosystem remains less clear, but a widely reported estimate puts the number of wildlife killed at 480 million (not including frogs, bats, or insects.) Today, you'll hear from Marc West, the brother of our executive producer James, who managed to evacuate with his family from one of the hardest hit regions just as the crisis mounted. You'll also hear from one of the world's most prominent scientists studying the intersection of climate change and extreme weather, Michael Mann, who happens to be in Australia witnessing this disaster unfold firsthand. Note: since recording parts of this episode, the reported death toll from the bushfire crisis has risen to at least 25. The estimated numbers of homes destroyed and acres burned have also continued to increase.

Happy 2020. Today, we’re bumping an episode from May 2019 back to the top of your feed because it’s about a fight that will come to define so much of what happens this year in American political life: Voting rights. One Supreme Court case discussed in this episode is about adding a question to the U.S. Census that would have asked everyone if they were a citizen. The other case is about partisan gerrymandering. Since we first recorded this episode, both major cases have been decided. Census ballots have been sent to the printer without the citizenship question. And the Supremes rejected efforts to rein in partisan gerrymandering. But the underlying issues are still very much at play. The first votes in the Democratic primary get cast just next month, so we wanted to remind you of some of the biggest hurdles facing voters this year. We get into it with the director of ACLU’s voting rights project, Dale Ho, and our very own Ari Berman.

On this Christmas Day edition of the Mother Jones Podcast, we replay our August conversation between veteran science journalist Ziya Tong and Mother Jones’ D.C. bureau chief, David Corn. Tong explains exactly how—despite the many wonders of the human brain—our minds can be hardwired to melt in the face of vast global problems by only allowing us to see what’s right in front of us. When considering tectonic movements of the global financial system, or the complex dynamics of climate change, humanity suffers from “scale blindness,” Tong writes in her book, "The Reality Bubble: Blind Spots, Hidden Truths, and the Dangerous Illusions that Shape Our World." She calls it a “warped perspective,” preventing us from seeing the enormity of what’s coming “until it’s a little bit too late.” But there is hope for busting out of the powerful systems we take for granted. A way to do this is to design a new “mental blueprint” for how we view the world, she says. 

For the third time in American history, the House of Representatives has voted to impeach the president. In this breaking news edition of the Mother Jones Podcast, our Washington DC Bureau Chief David Corn joins host Jamilah King to break down the political prospects for President Donald Trump as the Republican-controlled Senate prepares for its impeachment trial. Will it be fair? Will impeachment ultimately alter Trump’s 2020 prospects? And what about all his other misdeeds? Tune in to learn what happens next in Washington, and what we can expect from Trump as he aims to preserve a presidency hanging in the balance.

Some of the people who screwed over American families during the Great Recession of 2008 are still around, and they're lurking in the shadows: they're in President Donald Trump's orbit, and in his cabinet. Steve Mnuchin. Wilbur Ross. These are just two swamp-dwellers who foreclosed on the sick and elderly during a time when millions of jobs were lost in the biggest layoffs since 1945. Now, some of these modern-day robber barons are helping write national housing policies. What does that mean for the American dream? Soon after the crash, Aaron Glantz, a senior reporter for Reveal, started going around San Francisco knocking on doors, meeting people who were falling back on their skyrocketing mortgages and about to give into the banks. He noticed something strange. These homes were being foreclosed on, bought, and sold by the same few people, and they were making a killing. Glantz wrote about it in his recent book "Homewreckers", which was released in October. On this show, he tells host Jamilah King how the swamp creatures from the mortgage crisis are being resuscitated by Trump.

In just under two months, the first votes will be cast in the Democratic presidential primary. While the epic national drama of impeachment plays out in Washington, candidates are charging through town halls, living rooms, diners, stadiums, and community centers. There are spats and drop-outs and surprises and, yes, even new entrants, as dividing lines, new and old, are litigated and dirty laundry is aired. In other words: a campaign. And Mother Jones reporters are there. For today's show, host Jamilah King is joined by Mother Jones politics reporters Tim Murphy and Kara Voght to talk about Kamala Harris's shock drop-out and what it says about diversity amongst the Democratic field frontrunners; the entrance of billionaire Michael Bloomberg; the surge of Pete Buttigieg in Iowa, and the Great Transparency Wars of 2020; and so much more. Get on the campaign train with Mother Jones.

President Donald Trump has said he welcomes "brilliant" skilled immigrants to the United States. In this week's episode, Mother Jones senior data reporter Sinduja Rangarajan investigates the Trump administration's efforts to build a bureaucratic wall to keep out these very immigrants. As part of a 8-month collaboration with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, she reports on how the administration has been rejecting record numbers of applications for coveted H-1B "tech visas," spreading confusion and panic among visa holders, some of whom have lived in the country for years. She also built a database that documents an unprecedented flurry of lawsuits alleging that the administration is applying the H-1B rules arbitrarily and in violation of the spirit of the law. Listen as Sinduja profiles an Indian immigrant who saw his life suddenly upended and as she talks about her own connection to the story.

The Trump administration touts its “Remain in Mexico” policy as resounding success. Critics call it cruel and illegal. What’s unquestionable is that Trump has made it virtually impossible for migrants to seek asylum in the United States, leaving tens of thousands of migrant families stuck in limbo in crowded shelters and tent camps in Mexico’s border cities. Reporters Fernanda Echavarri and Julia Lurie travel to Ciudad Juárez to examine the colossal impact of a policy that has become the new normal at the border.