Can the Democrats finally seize on President Trump’s increasing unpopularity and end their slump? It seems to me as though 2026 is providing them ample opportunity. But I wanted to know what they actually stand for. Have they learned anything about immigration? Are they ready for the new politics of artificial intelligence? To find out, I asked someone I consider a true man of the left, Chris Hayes, the host of “All In With Chris Hayes” on MS NOW.

00:00 Intro
02:09 - Democrats: The state of play in 2026
06:46 - How Israel fractures the Democrats
09:19 - Immigration reform beyond the “old consensus”
19:46 - Models for Democratic leadership: Mark Kelly, Ruben Gallego, Rafael Warnock, and Jon Ossoff
27:22 - 2028: Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and “the Hillary Clinton problem”
30:41 - The politics of attention
36:19 - The challenges of achieving a Leftist society
45:37 - A Leftist case against A.I.
1:04:23 - Will A.I. define the 2028 election?

(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)

Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times With Ross Douthat.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Democrats Could Still Screw This Up

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

The Democrats Could Still Screw This Up