Donald Trump is being cast as a “lame duck” president, yet his actions suggest otherwise. Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson argues Trump’s second term has given him an even “greater sense of autonomy,” unrestrained by tradition or law. Wilson warns that Trump’s need to remain the center of attention means he’ll grow even more chaotic and dangerous if he feels sidelined from power. 

Recently, Ali Velshi met with Albie Sachs, a 90-year-old former judge and veteran of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Sachs shared that, in hard times, "the sacrifice is in missing the chance to be doing." That means that history calls on all of us to stand up for justice. Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude adds that, as we learn from history, "we have to admit that racism still occupies the throne in this country" and we must "get at that moral rot."

Donald Trump is often cast as a “lame duck” president, but Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson argues that Trump’s second term has given him an even “greater sense of autonomy,” unrestrained by tradition or law. Wilson warns that Trump’s need to remain the center of attention means he’ll grow even more chaotic and dangerous if he feels sidelined.

The delayed September jobs report shows a slowing labor market – with Black women suffering most from the Trump administration policies. But persistent inflation has been costing everyone and Chief Business Editor for People Inc., Caleb Silver argues that rising prices combined with slowing growth and sluggish hiring has the U.S. economy facing “stagflation.” Trump’s tariff regime has in part been responsible for the hiked cost of living, with the president claiming it’ll revive U.S. factory jobs. Economist Justin Wolfers asks if we even want a manufacturing renaissance, saying factory workers he’s spoken with say those jobs were meant to be a pathway to the middle class.

“Breathless” by Jennifer Niven is a reminder of exactly why young adult fiction resonates with so many readers. Through gentle and poignant storytelling, “Breathless” is an exploration of how to find yourself after experiencing your first devastating loss as a young person. In Nevin’s own words, “Breathless” is a story about choosing your voice, your future, your body, and yourself.

Donald Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of sedition and said their actions were “punishable by death” after they posted a video urging service members to refuse unlawful orders. Experts say the lawmakers did nothing illegal, and even more concerning, Trump’s hostile rhetoric comes amid a surge in political violence in the U.S.

Historian Walter Isaacson says the second sentence of The Declaration of Independence is the greatest sentence ever written and explains why in his new book. “That sentence influences everything,” Isaacson tells Ali Velshi. ”Getting people to participate based on that simple mission statement, I think could bring the pendulum back so that we wouldn't be as fractured as we are now,” he said.

President Trump called for the execution of six Democratic lawmakers, after they released a video urging U.S. military service members to “refuse illegal orders.” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who grew up in a military family, says her father taught her that unlawful orders must always be questioned. Trump’s unhinged reaction is “exactly the reason why, frankly, many of us put out this video.”

Home ownership is now out-of-reach for many Americans. “Homes are for people to live in,” says Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project, but he warns big landlords are "building homes for money, not people." President Trump claims to care about home affordability, but Stoller insists his administration is actually "on the side of oligarchs." 

President Trump's immigration enforcement crackdown is expanding across the country, from mass arrests outside Chicago to a new deployment of Border Patrol agents in Charlotte, North Carolina, and New York City could be next. "The point is to terrorize people," says Fordham University Professor Christina Greer, adding, "we should all care what happens to our neighbors." New York Comptroller Brad Lander adds "I'm not sure ICE knows what they're gonna get into if they come for New York." 

After Democrats scored big wins in this month's elections running on affordability, Trump has started talking about the issue. But his new proposal of 50-year mortgages isn't only a terrible deal, but it does nothing to address the broken system that's made homeownership out of reach for many Americans.

Former federal judge Mark Wolf resigned his lifetime seat to warn that Donald Trump threatens American democracy. His departure is part of a wider pattern inside government, with DOJ attorneys leaving in record numbers and some National Guard soldiers refusing what they say are unlawful orders. These acts point to a systemic crisis of faith and to a growing movement of judges, civil servants, and citizens determined to defend the American experiment as it nears its 250th year. “I hope I'm sending out a ripple of hope, and it will merge with these other ripples,” Wolf says. “And together create this tidal wave that will be sufficient to sustain our democracy.”

The Supreme Court has given ICE free reign to stop and detain people based on nothing more than appearance, accent, job, or location, and this dragnet is now sweeping up U.S. citizens. University of Toronto professor and fascism expert Jason Stanley warns that "we are now a country where you have to bring your papers around." Furthermore, Stanley says that "if you instill fear in Black and brown citizens that they will have this interaction with ICE, they're much less likely to show up" to vote or participate in civic life. 

The government reopened this week without a deal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, which has alarmed health care experts across the nation. “Lots of people will actually die because we don’t have universal coverage,” said University of Pennsylvania professor and former White House Health Policy Adviser Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel. “Republicans have had 15 years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act and haven’t come up with a replacement…As president Trump famously says, he has concepts of ideas, concepts of a plan, that’s not a plan.”

‘The Knife and the Butterfly’, by veteran member of the Velshi Banned Book Club Ashley Hope Pérez, is a salient reminder of just how much a novel can create and foster empathy. “The Knife and the Butterfly” tells the story of two teenagers, members of rival gangs, and the single act of violence that connects them forever. Pérez says, “...literature is always working to support readers in encountering and navigating the whole range of human experiences.”

Extremist ideology on the right is not just fringe thought, it’s now central to the conservative project championed by Republicans. Former GOP strategist Stuart Stevens says Democrats should meet this moment with moral clarity: “The Democratic Party needs to indict the GOP for being un-American.”

Ali Velshi comments on last week’s vote results: “‘Democracy is not a spectator sport’… You can’t just watch from the sidelines, and expect democracy to succeed. You have to participate and work at it… On election night 2025, in state after state, that’s exactly what voters did.”

Asylum-seekers in New York City believe they’re doing the right thing showing up to scheduled hearings in immigration court. But lurking in the hallways are ICE agents laying an “abduction trap” for them. New York comptroller Brad Lander urges Americans to see what’s happening for themselves: “You don't have to risk arrest or put your body on the line to bear witness, to sit in court and show up to let people know their rights."

Virginia Democrat Ghazala Hashimi makes history as the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office in the United States. “I think my message has been resonating with so many people who feel marginalized,” the lieutenant governor-elect tells Ali Velshi. “Our next steps have to be to respond to the crisis in the health care system that's resulting from the cuts to Medicaid.”

New York City’s mayoral race was dominated by one issue, the lack of affordable housing in America’s most expensive city. Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Andre Perry says, “The supply is not meeting the demand… We’re not building the kinds of homes and units” needed to address an affordability crisis that has spread nationwide.

Tenn. Rep. Justin Jones is compelled to run for office even when the odds are stacked against him and to serve, even as part of a Democratic super-minority in a deep-red state legislature. “And even when I vote,” he tells Ali Velshi, “I always write out my dissents because I want to send them as a love letter to the next generation to say, ‘This is where we stood. This is why we stood. And we hope that by the time you read this … in the history books, you know that we were laying the groundwork for you to inherit this victory.’”

A new documentary about Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario profiles her career from the frontlines. “I think every single assignment has a different set of risks,” she tells Ali Velshi. “ Because, obviously, as photographers, there's no way to do my job from a hotel. I have to literally be in front of my subject.”

In 1981, Murad Velshi was running to represent his district in the Ontario Legislature. He never stood a chance, but he taught his 11-year-old son that running, losing, and trying again is what democracy is about. Six years later, Murad ran again— and won — becoming the first Muslim immigrant elected to Ontario’s Legislature, proving that democracy is often built at the margins long before it reaches the center. Decades later, in another major city, another Muslim immigrant has achieved the improbable: Zohran Mamdani, now the first Muslim and first South Asian immigrant elected Mayor of New York City— a reminder that democracy is sustained through courage, coalition-building, and showing up, especially when the odds say you shouldn’t.

AI is booming right now and it’s causing utility costs for everyday consumers to reach unprecedented highs. “There is increasing deployment of AI technologies behind the scenes, and that is definitely driving up these energy costs,” said University of Pennsylvania professor and Google researcher Benjamin Lee. “Right now, we're very, very much on the benefits side of the equation, and then we are paying whatever cost is needed to demonstrate those next generation capabilities.”

Ali Velshi is back at the Big Board to break down county results in Virginia and New Jersey which show how the map shifted blue from Donald Trump’s 2024 victory. While both Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill championed affordability, pollster Cornell Belcher says, “It's not just the cost of things. It's the nature of things in America.” He said Trump’s firing of federal workers, many of whom live in Virginia and his immigration crackdown in New Jersey, where one in four is foreign born, both contributed to GOP losses.