92NY Talks

What will political power look like after the Trump era? Brian Tyler Cohen — #1 New York Times-bestselling author, MSNBC contributor, and creator of one of the most-watched independent political platforms in the country — joins us for a conversation with Don Lemon about his new book, The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World.
Time and again, Donald Trump has seemingly changed the laws of political gravity — and in order to wield power in the years ahead, Brian Tyler Cohen argues, progressives and Democrats need to learn how to adapt to a new political reality. In The Day After, he offers an argument for how progressives should position themselves after the Trump presidency — analyzing how Democrats have failed to use their power effectively in the Trump era, and what he sees as the stakes for American democracy in the years ahead.
Brian Tyler Cohen doesn't just comment on politics — he dissects the machinery behind it. A leading progressive voice in digital media, he has built a following of millions by translating the chaos of the political moment into clear, unsparing analysis. In a conversation with Don Lemon — another leading progressive voice of dissent in the Trump era — hear how Democrats can wield power at every level of the government: from the executive branch to the courts to economic policy, voting rights, climate action and beyond.
How are elections won — and what should governing look like after? Join Cohen and Lemon for a timely conversation about how the Trump era and a new media landscape have transformed political influence and public debate.

Are corruption and economic inequality becoming the defining issues in American politics — and the weapons that could drive a Democratic comeback in the 2026 midterms?
From Donald Trump's rise to Zohran Mamdani's insurgent win in New York City, economic anger has become one of the most powerful forces in American life. The chasm between the very rich and everyone else — between billionaires buying influence and voters struggling with rent, child care, and basic stability — is no longer in the background. It may be the central political fact of the moment.
But who can best channel that anger? Republicans have long turned class resentment against wealthy liberals, universities, and the media. Democrats are now trying to redirect it — toward oligarchy, corporate power, super PACs, and the ultra rich. As Democrats battle to harness economic anger, they face questions about what they'll do if they retake Congress. Will investigating corruption in the Trump Administration, as they're expected to do with their restored subpoena power, help the Party win back the trust of disillusioned voters? And looking to 2028, who will the Democratic presidential candidate be? What will Democratics learn, if anything, from the 2024 Harris loss to ensure victory in 2028?
In a live recording of The Political Scene podcast, The New Yorker's political writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos are joined by editor David Remnick to discuss inequality, affordability, and dark money—and who might be best positioned to tap the country's anger over corruption and the wealth gap. How will Republicans respond? And how might the fight over this year's midterms reverberate in the 2028 Presidential contest?

"Tell me about a complicated man."
So begins Emily Wilson's contemporary translation of Homer's Odyssey — establishing her as the definitive Homeric translator of our time and radically transforming how we understand a cornerstone of western literature. As The Odyssey enters the pop cultural arena this summer via Christopher Nolan's big-screen adaptation — a film inspired by Wilson's translation — she joins us for a conversation about why the The Odyssey has endured for nearly 3,000 years.
In the first English translation of The Odyssey by a woman, written in a vivid contemporary idiom, Wilson captures the beauty and enchantment of Homer's poem without poeticizing its carnage — a profound reflection on violence, marriage, and family. Nearly a decade after that translation gave Homer "a radically contemporary voice" (The New York Times Magazine), and nearly three millennia after it was originally composed, The Odyssey remains shockingly relevant.
In this conversation with the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Sarah Ruhl, whose work is profoundly influenced by Greek myth and famously modernized Eurydice for the stage, Wilson asks: what can a story about travelers and the aftermath of war tell us about our own world in an era of mass migration, riven by military and political conflict? What can this epic of a "complicated man" reveal to us about contemporary masculinity and violence? In a nation rooted in myths of rugged individualism and sacred homeland, how does The Odyssey hold up a mirror to American life?
Hear Wilson and Ruhl discuss The Odyssey's circuitous path through the waters of Western culture — from ancient song to modern verse to Hollywood. Find out how this archaic text, in the hands of a master translator, can offer a startling vision of how we live today.
"Wilson's language is fresh, unpretentious and lean… It is rare to find a translation that is at once so effortlessly easy to read and so rigorously considered." ― Madeline Miller

Join us for a candid conversation with former First Lady Jill Biden about her life in the White House during a singular moment in US history — and her new memoir, View from the East Wing. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the shadow of the January 6 insurrection, Joe and Jill Biden arrived at the White House for one of the most complicated periods in recent American memory. A tireless advocate for women's health initiatives, military families, cancer prevention, and education, Dr. Biden also made history as the only First Lady to hold a career outside the East Wing as a community college professor. Now, in her new memoir, she reveals her experience of these deeply consequential four years for the first time — before, during, and after the unexpected ending to her husband's bid for re-election, setting the record straight and sharing her story in her own words. In her first live NYC interview, Biden tells her story — the unprecedented pressures of balancing the duties of the First Lady with her role in her family, behind the scenes stories from Camp David and Air Force One, how the Biden presidency changed the nation, what she saw leading up to President Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 election, her unwavering faith in democracy and the American experiment, and much more.

Join MS NOW legal analyst Andrew Weissmann — a lead prosecutor in Robert Mueller's Special Counsel's Office and FBI General Counsel — with MS NOW anchor Lawrence O'Donnell for a conversation about the political culture of deceit that threatens to undermine our democracy. These are the subject of Weissmann's new book, Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America.
Political lies, Andrew Weissmann writes, are foundational to Donald Trump's policies: they fuel his administration's weaponization of law enforcement and unlawful deportation of immigrants, among other things. Other politicians, inspired by Trump's success, have flooded the public square with their own falsehoods. And as political lies grow and are widely accepted, Weissmann discusses how they threaten the very foundation of our democracy. But as dire as this crisis is, we are not helpless — Weissmann describes tools to vindicate the public's right to the truth, using examples from around the globe as models we can emulate.
In a conversation with MS NOW's Lawrence O'Donnell, hear Weissmann discuss his revelatory new book — a legal guide and citizen's playbook for how to prevent liars from holding office in the future. Don't miss this urgent conversation about how to save democracy from the demagogues.