The issue of the American justice system is so much broader than any one party, or any area of the country, or any one policy, because the totality of it is that it's driven by the underlying politics. The underlying politics are white fear and wrath and punishment. And that's what tends to be consistent. As I say in the book, that's the magnet that's drawing the iron filings into alignment. That's the thing that's powering all of it. The gravitational pole of those politics operate on each of these disparate little actors.

I can cite a chapter and verse of literature at the times saying Italians don`t speak our language, these folks coming from other places - it sounds identical to what you are saying about Muslims now. It really does.

It`s been a long and tumultuous relationship between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz that started off more or less as allies during the Republican primary. As Trump took the early lead in polls, Cruz stuck with the strategy of drafting off of the front-runner waiting for the moment to make his move.

I think that`s a plausible strategy. But I also think there is a case to be made that [Hillary] Clinton actually in some ways is best served by almost ignoring him and the sort of marginal voters that there are to get for Hillary Clinton are voters who already think poorly of Donald Trump and are not sold on her.

Having an energy conversation without talking about climate is like talking about smoking and not talking about cancer.

Because we [the USA] are so powerful, our failures resonate more. In some ways, the worst victims of our institutional and elite failures, through the ripple effect of financial crisis and war, aren't Americans.

It`s the nature of cable news that we [TV hosts] do a lot of clipping and quoting of other broadcasts and outlets, sometimes to make a narrative point, sometimes to make a political one, and sometimes just to make a joke.