U.S. President Donald Trump gestures to members of the media after exiting Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on February 13, 2026
(Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
In this episode of Start Making Sense, Harold Meyerson explains Democrats’ preparations for Trump’s threats to voting, and Marcus Rediker talks about Black America in the 1850s.
Trump, facing the wave of popular opposition to pretty much everything he’s doing, is working to block Democrats from voting in the midterms, and “election protection” has become a key part of the preparations underway from blue-state attorneys general and from voting rights groups like the Brennan Center and the ACLU. Harold Meyerson explains.
Also: A large proportion of slaves who escaped from slavery in the South escaped not on foot but by boat. Marcus Rediker tells their story—his new book is Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea.
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