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Right Now With Perry Bacon

Right Now With Perry Bacon is a twice-weekly show about national politics with a focus on the radicalism of the Trump administration and tactics to combat it. The program, hosted by New Republic staff writer Perry Bacon on Substack, features in-depth discussions with experts and politicians. It goes beyond the daily headlines to explain why things are happening and put them in a broader context.

All Episodes
August 27, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: The Mistake That Progressive Candidates Keep Making
Progressive candidates like Wisconsin’s Francesca Hong aren’t explaining to voters that they can win the general election, leaving them vulnerable to centrist opposition casting them as “unelectable.”
Video is available for this article
August 27, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
The Mistake That Progressive Candidates Keep Making
Progressive candidates need a strategy to deal with center-left opponents who say progressives can’t win general elections in swing states.
Video is available for this article
August 26, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: Why Minneapolis Has Become the Center of 2020s Politics
Author Michelle Phelps explains why Minneapolis has been at the center of recent racial justice movements.
Video is available for this article
August 26, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Why Minneapolis Has Become the Center of 2020s Politics
Author Michelle Phelps explains why Minneapolis has been at the center of recent racial justice movements.
Video is available for this article
August 25, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Why Professors Got Behind Abdul El-Sayed
AAUP president Todd Wolfson says that endorsing El-Sayed and other candidates is part of defending both higher education and democracy.
Video is available for this article
August 25, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: Why Professors Got Behind El-Sayed
AAUP President Todd Wolfson says that endorsing El-Sayed and other candidates is part of defending both higher education and democracy.
Video is available for this article
August 18, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: What AOC’s ‘Woke” Comments Say About Her and the Left
Scholar Deva Woodly says progressive politicians shouldn’t distance themselves from the movements of the early 2020s.
Video is available for this article
August 18, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
What AOC’s ‘Woke” Comments Say About Her and the Left
Scholar Deva Woodly argues that progressive politicians shouldn’t distance themselves from the movements of the early 2020s.
Video is available for this article
August 11, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: Why the Democrats’ Primaries This Week Are So Critical
The contests in Minnesota and Wisconsin this week are among the last major fights this year between the Democratic Party’s progressives and centrists.
Video is available for this article
August 11, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Why the Democrats’ Final Primaries This Week Are So Critical
The contests in Minnesota and Wisconsin this week are among the last major fights this year between the Democratic Party’s progressives and centrists.
Video is available for this article
August 5, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: What El-Sayed’s Narrow Win Tells Us About the Democrats
Political scientists Seth Masket and Julia Azari say the super-close contest between El-Sayed and Stevens shows a party where neither faction is dominant.
Video is available for this article
August 5, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Why Abdul El-Sayed Is the Favorite in November
Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow win in the primary may not portend much for the general election, particularly if the entire Democratic Party unifies around him.
Video is available for this article
August 4, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: Why Insurgent Candidates Are Thriving in the Midwest
Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and Wisconsin’s Francesca Hong are showing that innovative campaign tactics help candidates outside of progressive strongholds too.
Video is available for this article
August 4, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Why Insurgent Candidates Are Thriving in the Midwest
The political skills that have helped Abdul El-Sayed and Francesca Hong surge in Democratic primaries suggest that they will be solid general election candidates too.
Video is available for this article
July 29, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: Inside AOC’s Foreign Policy Vision
Writer Jonathan Guyer says that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is presenting a different foreign policy vision than previous Democrats who have ran for president.
July 29, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Inside AOC’s Foreign Policy Vision
Writer Jonathan Guyer says that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is presenting a different foreign policy vision than previous Democrats who have run for president.
Video is available for this article
July 28, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Can This Well-Known Florida Democrat Survive the Progressive Surge?
Progressive Elijah Manley says that South Florida needs a bolder representative than longtime Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
July 17, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Transcript: What’s Really Driving the Progressive Surge
Political scientists Julia Azari and Seth Masket say a more organized progressive faction is one of the reasons leftist candidates are increasingly winning Dem primaries .
Video is available for this article
July 17, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
What’s Really Driving the Left’s Wins In Democratic Primaries?
Political scientists Julia Azari and Seth Masket say that a myriad of factors are powering recent progressive wins in Dem primaries.
Video is available for this article
July 16, 2026
Right Now With Perry Bacon
Do the Democrats Really Need More “Working-Class” Male Candidates?
Two experts on gender and politics say that much of the discourse in the Democratic Party is really about masculinity and appealing to male voters.
Video is available for this article

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