Listen Now

Sarah talks with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who is at the forefront of a wave of prosecutors aiming to end mass incarceration from the inside. Then, reporter Josie Duffy Rice challenges the notion that crime has gone down as a result of harsh sentencing and discusses whether electing progressive prosecutors in the best way to fix America's prison problem.

With Brett Kavanaugh poised to join the Supreme Court, Dr. Willie Parker gives us a preview of what a post-Roe America might look like by describing his work providing abortions in parts of the country that already live under harsh restrictions. Then, activist Kate Castle talks about reclaiming ground from the anti-abortion movement by protesting their spaces and destigmatizing abortion.Dr. Parker is the author of Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice. Castle is a member of the group NYC for Abortion Rights.Sound off with any questions/comments/suggestions by emailing us at whatsleft@buzzfeed.com, or tweeting @sarahrlnrd and @buzzfeednews.

Reihan Salam and Nicole Aschoff explain why the generation-long consensus in favor of ever freer trade has begun to fragment on the right and left. Atlantic columnist and National Review executive editor Reihan Salam tells the forgotten history of GOP protectionism. Author and sociologist Nicole Aschoff argues that a crisis of neoliberal globalization helped propel Trump to the White House. Sound off with any questions/comments/suggestions by emailing us at whatsleft@buzzfeed.com, or tweeting @sarahrlnrd and @buzzfeednews.

Jane Coaston and Jason Christian complicate the gun debate. Jane Coaston, a senior politics reporter for Vox, talks about the racist history of gun control measures and the unequal enforcement of laws to the detriment of non-white gun owners. Jason Christian recounts his experience in an anarchist gun club and explains why he grew disillusioned with apocalyptic, far-left gun culture. Sound off with any questions/comments/suggestions by emailing us at whatsleft@buzzfeed.com, or tweeting @sarahrlnrd and @buzzfeednews

Barbara Smith and Francis Fukuyama talk identity politics, past and present. As part of the Combahee River Collective, a group of radical, black, lesbian feminists, Smith coined the term identity politics in the 1970s, but says that today it's taken on a life of its own. Fukuyama argues that the left's identity politics have given rise of a corresponding white identity politics, resulting in polarization and paralysis.Questions/comments/feedback? Email us at whatsleft@buzzfeed.com, or tweet us @BuzzFeedNews @sarahrlnrd

Rashida Tlaib and Kate Aronoff talk about socialism and the Democrats. Can the two be squared? Will socialism save or doom the Democrats? And what even is socialism anyway?Tlaib is part of a wave of socialist and socialist-allied Democrats challenging centrists in primaries across the country. After winning her primary, she is running unopposed in Michigan's 13th Congressional District, making it all-but-guaranteed that she will serve in the US House. Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and she will join Ilhan Omar as the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.Aronoff is a contributing writer for the Intercept. She recently published a long piece in In These Times about the rapid growth of the Democratic Socialists of America in the years since the 2015-16 presidential campaign. Questions/comments/feedback? Email us at whatsleft@buzzfeed.com, or tweet us @BuzzFeedNews @sarahrlnrd

Join host Sarah Leonard for a new podcast from BuzzFeed News Opinion featuring bold, in-depth conversations with people at the crossroads of the new American politics. First episode launching Monday, August 20.