Former Executive VP of the Trump Organization explains why it’s so dangerous to shrug off Trump’s recent peculiar behavior; State Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-TX) discusses the high stakes of the redistricting fight in Texas; and longtime activist and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream co-founder, Ben Cohen, digs into why the U.S. government should invest more in its citizens and less in weapons and war.

The erosion of the Justice Department’s independence from the White House is on full display, after VP Vance met with DOJ brass to strategize about the Epstein files. Not only is this not normal, it’s dangerous for America; Trump’s latest round of Tariffs took effect on August 1, but how exactly will they affect everyday consumers? Defense Attorney Abbe Lowell weighs in on the DOJ’s probe of his newest client, New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Why Americans should be concerned with President Trump’s ongoing unusual behavior; Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) digs into the growing shift within the Democratic Party on selling weapons to Israel; Pulitzer-prize winners Anne Applebaum & Lynsey Addario discuss their new, important highlighting the evolving catastrophe in Sudan.

As Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vows to punish the state’s Democratic lawmakers for fleeing the state, Congressmen Lloyd Doggett, Jasmine Crockett, and State Rep. Ann Johnson discuss the threats to democracy posed by the Texas gerrymandering push; former Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes discusses Trump’s upcoming in-person meeting with Vladimir Putin and the consequences of the war in Ukraine; and ‘The House on Mango Street’ by Sandra Cisneros is the subject of this week’s Velshi Banned Book Club.

On the campaign trail Trump promised his supporters he would be their retribution, and now he is following through; the president of a key Jewish-American lobbying group is now speaking out about Israel’s conduct in Gaza; and on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Ali has an important conversation about how America’s use of atom bombs changed the course of history, and why the world is now much closer to nuclear warfare than we’ve been in decades

Texas State Representatives Gene Wu and Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos address the Texas Attorney General’s pledge to punish Democrats who fled the state in protest of Trump’s redistricting push; Ben Rhodes weighs in on Trump’s announcement that he will host Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week; the Trump Administration is building its own police state in America as it ramps up recruitment for ICE employees.

Could a new resistance change the course of Trump’s battle with Harvard University and higher education? Plus: signs that Democrats are moving toward jumping into a political arms race with Republicans over Trump’s gerrymandering plan; and an official with a prominent Israeli rights group explains why they are now calling Israel’s conduct in Gaza a genocide.

What’s behind a complicated but crucial piece of Trump’s strategy for reshaping the judiciary; Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz explains why Trump firing the BLS head is ‘like driving a car with no odometer'; and how Trump’s targeting of immigrants, science, health, and universities is causing a brain-drain that history tells us could have generational impacts on American progress.