From WNYC Studios.

I'm Brian Lerer.

This is my daily politics podcast.

It's Friday, February 28th.

Many of you've been asking, what can you do if you're outraged by what Donald Trump and Elon Musk and their people are doing,

and you think Democratic Party politicians are being too milk toast?

One thing that's happening today, as some of you know, is a protest framed by its organizers as a 24-hour economic blackout.

A 24-hour economic blackout.

It originated with a group officially formed just this month,

called the People's Union USA. Their website says today's action is not aimed at Trump and

Musk specifically. Rather, it says that, quote, the system as a whole, both political parties,

both past and current leaders and billionaires, have manipulated the economy and

profited off the working class, unquote. But many people have picked up on today's boycott,

specifically as an anti-Trump and Musk protest, also against major retailers that have dropped

their DEI policies and more. With us to help take your calls and

add the context of what he sees as a larger protest movement that might be taking shape is John

Nichols, National Affairs Correspondent for the Nation and co-author with Senator Bernie Sanders

of It's Okay to Be Angry About Capital capitalism, which came out last year and made the

New York Times bestseller list. John, thanks for coming on. Welcome back to WNYC. It's always a pleasure

to be with you, Brian. We'll get to your take on the larger context, but can we start with today's

economic blackout? Can you explain who got this going and how you understand the actual goals of today in

particular? Sure. The blackout, as you well explained in your intro, has been driven by a group

...