Pepsi or Coke? Both brands are making money in Russia despite promises to unwind operations. For Russia’s war to end, companies must be named and shamed to finally leave the Russian market, and sanctions must be enforced.
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Overlooked in the campus protests is the witch-trial hearings by MAGA Mike Johnson’s House that bullied university presidents and scrutinized their federal funding, pressuring them, as Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton famously wrote in the Newspaper of Power, to “send in the troops.”
Read MoreRussia’s transnational crime syndicate uses our own weaknesses against us, to entrench their weaponized corruption. Take, for instance, the Act 22 tax loophole that lets rich Americans buy up land in Puerto Rico to avoid paying any money in federal taxes. It’s called “trickle down theory,” but the locals call it gentrification and tax dodging.
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How do we protect ourselves from a corrupt Supreme Court? How can the gerrymandering crisis be stopped? What were the Founding Fathers thinking? Can the American Experiment survive?
Read MoreEvery dictator or wannabe dictator relies on a base of support to stay in power. For Putin, Orban, and Trump, their base is Christian nationalism – claiming God wants white, straight "Christian" men to rule, even if this means violently stripping all others of their human rights. (Nevermind what Jesus actually taught in the Gospels about loving thy neighbor!)
Read MoreIn this week’s Gaslit Nation, Andrea and Terrell Star of the Black Diplomats Podcast & Substack get raptured! No, we’re still here, fighting fascism at home and abroad. And still with us, unfortunately, is Trump’s actual army of far-right Christian nationalists determined to destroy our democracy from within. What’s needed to fight a holy war? Another holy war, if your faith is in empathy and science.
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If there’s one thing fascists love it’s using the threat of terrorism to rile up their base. The largest terrorist attack in Moscow in decades signals a resurgent ISIS, one that Trump and his MAGA cult will no doubt campaign off of, to “scare out” the vote.
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Welcome to the Gaslit Nation State of the Union Super Special! This episode has everything! Suge Knight dissing Diddy at the 1995 Source Awards! World War II era journalist Dorothy Thompson’s warnings about Katie Britt! A dictator loving pope! George W. Bush’s pandora’s box of evil! A smirking Russian oligarch on the Oscars’ stage! You’ve never heard a state of our union analysis, and where we must go from here, quite like this.
Terrell Starr of the essential Black Diplomats Podcast and Substack joins Andrea to roast Katie Britt and her antiChrist diamond cross and what it says about the GOP’s Christofascist war against our democracy. The conversation includes the history of white women like Britt enforcing the genocide of slavery, and Andrea and Terrell accidently calling Steve McQueen’s masterpiece film Seven Years a Slave! (Yes, we now recall it’s 12 Years a Slave!) Andrea shares the story of how she once went undercover as a self-hating Republican woman at a GOP fundraiser and almost got caught by being the only woman who dared to eat food!
Our bonus this week, for subscribers at the Truth-teller level and higher, exposes the Kremlin Caucus and their financial backers. That episode will feature Olga Lautman and Monique Camarra of the Kremlin File podcast. To our supporters at the Democracy Defender level and higher, submit your questions for our upcoming Q&A! We always love hearing from you! Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
Fight for your mind! To get inspired to make art and bring your projects across the finish line, join us for the Gaslit Nation LIVE Make Art Workshop on April 11 at 7pm EST – be sure to be subscribed at the Truth-teller level or higher to get your ticket to the event!
Check out our new merch! Get your “F*ck Putin” t-shirt or mug today! https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/57796740-f-ck-putin?store_id=3129329
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Remember when Jared Kushner tried in late 2016 to establish a secret back channel to talk to Russia? Jared and Ivanka ran the Trump transition team, with Paul Manafort operating from the shadows, where he blooms like mold, pretending to have taken a step back to avoid the heat of, well, having been outed by a Ukrainian investigative journalist for being a highly paid Kremlin operative. The latest back channel between the Trump Crime Cabal and Russia is Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán, the Tiger Beat idol of CPAC. This Friday, on International Women’s Day no less, Orbán and Trump will meet at Mar-a-Lago, where America’s nuclear secrets get their own cabana.
For months now Gaslit Nation has warned that Orbán is the new Manafort, the Kremlin’s guy to make sure Trump comes to power, making their shared autocratic dreams come true. As Trump’s coup against our democracy continues, Andrea discusses Trump’s blatant shadow foreign policy with Russia mafia expert Olga Lautman and analyst Monique Camarra of the Kremlin File podcast, and the many challenges and bold action needed for democracy to fight encroaching authoritarianism, before it’s too late.
The sharks are circling, with China setting up police stations in Hungary, a European Union state. Will our democracy survive? As always, it comes down to us, as grassroots power is the most reliable power we have left. See the all new Gaslit Nation 2024 Survival on our homage – GaslitNationPod.com – for simple ways for us to pitch in as it’s all hands on deck!
Fun announcement for our Gaslit Nation community! On April 11 at 7 pm ET we’re holding another MAKE ART workshop exclusively for our subscribers at the Truth-teller level and higher on Patreon. Got questions about the creative process or the business side of things? Ever wanted to make art but didn’t know where or how to start? Want to know how to bring your art out into the world? Ask Andrea anything! Art is survival, and we need your mind and creativity more than ever! To get access to that, be sure to subscribe to the show at the Truth-teller level or higher on Patreon.com/Gaslit.
Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
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American taxpayers bailed out Citigroup, owners of Citibank, to the tune of $476.2 billion. This was the highest bailout by far for any bank during the 2008 Wall Street Crash, caused by Wall Street. Given the immense federal aid that saved Citibank, it should be no problem then for Citibank, built with the stolen wealth of slavery, to pay reparations, right?...Right?...
In this important discussion, David Montero, author of the new book The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A Case for Reparations, shares the latest research on how reparations for slavery would boost America’s economy, would further our collective healing, strengthen our democracy at a time of rampant and unchecked oligarchy, and force long overdue accountability. The movement for reparations has already begun, with important actions being taken by cities like Boston and New York.
Montero’s book is an eye-opening walking tour of New York City that will give you an all new look at how the North profited from slavery while at the same time serving as a hotbed of abolition–a polarized America much like today, with the moneyed elites on the side of the fascist machinery of the South, as long as it made them money. Listen to this interview and share it with your activist groups to help the movement for reparations grow.
And in honor of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old Air Force service member who set himself on fire outside of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, with the last words “Free Palestine”, here is his final post on Facebook, written that day:
“Many of us like to ask ourselves, “What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?”
The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”
The Washington Post has a thoughtful write-up on Bushnell, featured in the show notes below. Bushnell is the second person to set themselves on fire in protest of Netanayahu’s genocidal war, his latest destructive attempt to cling to power.
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February 20 marks two years since Putin launched his total war in Ukraine. February also marks the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, gunned down in the shadow of the Kremlin in 2015, on the eve of his anti-war march. And now Alexei Navalny, killed in a Siberian gulag, his body reportedly covered in bruises and kept from his family.
It may seem like Putin is winning, with Trump sailing into the Republican nomination, and MAGA lackey Mike Johnson deliberately stopping aid to Ukraine in Congress, costing countless lives and helping Russia advance. And the breaking news this week: Republicans in Congress based their impeachment proceeding of Biden on a Russian intelligence op, pulling out all the stops to help Trump steal the White House with the Kremlin’s help, again. One thing is clear: Putin is scared. The reality is that Putin’s fragile house of cards has turned Russia into a powder keg, as Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, vows to continue her husband’s work.
In this special episode, Andrea and Terrell Starr of the Black Diplomats Podcast and Substack discuss the assassintion of Navalny and the work ahead to build a meaningful opposition, the mainstream media continuing to normalize Trump by labeling his 16-week abortion ban as “less restrictive”, and the triumph of Black prosecutors Tish James and Fani Willis in the larger American story of hard-fought progress.
This week’s bonus show answers questions from our listeners at the Democracy Defender level and higher. (If you haven’t submitted your questions yet, get ‘em in for next week’s Q&A!) Inspired by our listeners, this week’s bonus show covers prison incarceration rates in the U.S. vs. Russia and what that can tell us about our homegrown authoritarian threats in the GOP, whether voting by mail is safe this election (it is!), and more!
Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
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“Don't tell me what the law is, tell me who the judge is.” Those are the haunting words of Roy Cohn, Trump’s former longtime mentor and Henry Kissinger’s current roommate in hell. Take Trump's classified Mar-a-Lago case. According to this week’s guest, Tristan Snell, a former New York state prosecutor who won the Trump University case, and author of the new book Taking Down Trump, Jack Smith’s classified Mar-a-Lago charges are a slam dunk. Unfortunately, the judge is Republican Aileen Cannon–appointed by Trump, and it shows in her MAGA-like rulings endangering witnesses. As Cohn would say, mob rules, baby!
In this special live taping of Gaslit Nation, we discuss how the sausage of elite criminal impunity gets made, what can be done to hold prosecutors accountable and end the revolving door of corruption between public service and powerhouse white collar crime law firms, and, just for fun, take a tour of the criminal cases against Trump and where things stand. Obviously, at Gaslit Nation, we know that real justice comes down to us, which is why this show started in the first place. Grassroots power is the most reliable power we have left, especially when the Attorney General is Merrick Garland.
This week’s bonus episode, for our subscribers at the Truth-tell level and higher on Patreon, features our audience Q&A at the live taping, with a discussion that includes exposing Jeffery Epstein’s full network, how Trump back in the White House would impact our listeners in Canada, whether it’s time to launch an underground resistance, and more! Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
An urgent request: the Senate passed aid to Ukraine. To put pressure on MAGA, contact your reps in the House with this easy-to-use site made by a Gaslit Nation listener: helpukrainewin.com. Stay tuned as Gaslit Nation & Friends name and shame members of the Kremlin Kaucus, their staff, and their largest donors. We can’t wait until November – we must stop MAGA now!
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The great Douglas Rushkoff is back on Gaslit Nation! This time we’re featuring Andrea’s interview on Rushkoff’s excellent podcast Team Human, recorded late September, but timely as ever. A filmmaker and observer of techno-fascist bros and their billionaire bunkers they’re building to hide from us, as they destroy the world, Rushkoff is the author of several books, including Team Human and Survival of the Richest. For more on his podcast, the Rushkoff Substack, and Part I and Part II of his appearance on Gaslit Nation, check out the show notes below!
Got questions about the investigations and prosecutions of the Traitor-in-Chief? Join Gaslit Nation for a special live taping on Monday, February 12, at 12 pm ET, featuring Tristan Snell—the prosecutor who led New York State's case against Trump and Trump University, and the author of the new book Taking Down Trump: 12 Rules for Prosecuting Donald Trump by Someone Who Did It Successfully. An event link will be sent to our Patreon community at the Truth-teller level or higher on the day of the event.
This week’s bonus episode for our supporters at the Truth-teller level and higher on Patreon will be Part II of the Gaslit Nation Social Media Workshop, designed for those who hate social media and miss the old Twitter. Organizer Rachel Brody, who works with various campaigns to help get out the vote and leading brands, joins us to share the landscape of social media today and how to leverage the power of your voice in a world that needs you. Our regular Q&As will return in February, so be sure to send in your questions!
Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
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In this week's episode, Andrea and Terrell Starr from the Black Diplomats Podcast and Substack discuss Jonathan Glazer’s chilling Holocaust drama, The Zone of Interest. They break down the gender politics of the "Queen of Auschwitz," past and present. They also fact check Donald Trump’s latest fascist campaign video aimed at energizing authoritarian voters, and share actions to take to build a better world.
Later this week, watch out for a short episode where Andrea and Terrell discuss the disinformation campaign against Fani Willis. This far-right hit job, orchestrated by Trump and his goon squad, aims to undermine her airtight case in Georgia. For more on the investigations and prosecutions of the Traitor-in-Chief, join Gaslit Nation for a special live taping on Monday, February 12, at 12 pm ET, featuring Tristan Snell—the prosecutor who led New York State's case against Trump and Trump University, and the author of the new book Taking Down Trump: 12 Rules for Prosecuting Donald Trump by Someone Who Did It Successfully. An event link will be sent to our Patreon community at the Truth-teller level or higher on the day of the event.
This week’s bonus episode for our supporters at the Truth-teller level and higher on Patreon will be Part I of the Gaslit Nation Social Media Workshop, designed for those who hate social media and miss the old Twitter. Organizer Rachel Brody, who works with various campaigns to help get out the vote and leading brands, joins us to share the landscape of social media today and how to leverage the power of your voice in a world that needs you. Our regular Q&As will return in February, so be sure to send in your questions!
Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you! As a supporter you get episodes ad free, invites to live events, bonus episodes, and more!
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Mark your calendars! Tristan Snell, the prosecutor who led New York State's case against Trump and Trump University and the author of Taking Down Trump: 12 Rules for Prosecuting Donald Trump by Someone Who Did It Successfully, will join Andrea for a live-taping of Gaslit Nation for our community of listeners on February 12 at noon ET. An event link will be sent to our Patreon community at the Truth-teller level or higher on the day of the event. To join us, sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!
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Republicans have once again refused to stop Trump: Nikki Haley lost the New Hampshire primary, and the Trump Klan is moving ahead towards the GOP nomination. Why might that be? According to Harvard psychologist Martha Stout, author of The Sociopath Next Door, one in twenty-five people are sociopaths. Trump’s cult has galvanized and emboldened them, unleashing a toxic sludge that threatens to drown our democracy.
In this week’s episode, Andrea is joined by Olga Lautman, a Russian mafia expert and co-host of the Kremlin Files podcast, to discuss why Republicans are goose-stepping in line to support a shameless wannabe dictator, why the media continues to fail us and normalize this dangerous career criminal and Russian asset, and what can be done about it.
Andrea and Olga also debate over the growing attacks against Fani Willis, the Fulton County, Georgia DA who built a strong case against Trump and his goon squad for trying to overturn our election in 2020. Michael Roman, one of the 18 co-defendants in her case and a professional GOP opposition researcher, is trying to get Willis removed, which would put the entire case in jeopardy. Without any evidence, Roman claims that Willis is in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a lawyer she hired to her team of prosecutors. (Who cares!) This is a clear case of disinformation warfare to help Trump once again escape accountability. While there’s nothing illegal done by Willis or Wade, this is the new “Hunter Biden’s laptop” – red meat for the Fox News echo chamber. Check the show notes for trusted sources that cut through the gaslighting against Willis, who must remain in her post.
As for who will actually stop Trump, that’s us and our Gaslit Nation phone banks this fall.
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Not since the 2016 election has U.S. foreign policy been this consequential. We're experiencing serious 2016 vibes here at Gaslit Nation, when the Obama foreign policy team, including Biden and his advisors like Jake Sullivan, let Russia jack our democracy in front of their eyes. Now, they are allowing wannabe autocrat Netanyahu, a genocidal maniac, and close ally of Kushner and Putin, to pursue his long war to retain power after his failed coup to dismantle Israel's courts.
If Biden and his foreign policy team are unmoved by the tens of thousands of Palestinians facing starvation—a slow, torturous way to die (see Andrea's film Mr. Jones)—then surely they must be concerned about their re-election chances and should finally demand a ceasefire.
Terrell Starr of the Black Diplomats podcast and Substack joins Andrea to discuss the crisis in Gaza and its impact on the 2024 election, what the GOP Iowa Caucus (Klan rally) truly represents, the moral inconsistency of U.S. as well as South African foreign policy, the potential role of Kushner surrogate Nikki Haley in the Trump regime, the historic role of Black women in saving America from itself, and more!
This week's bonus show discusses the economies of the civil war, past and present, and what they may tell us about the future of the country. The episode will include a continuation of Andrea's conversation with Terrell Starr. They discuss the recent Lloyd Austin non-scandal hospitalization "scandal" and compare it to Hillary Clinton's non-scandal email "scandal," highlighting how the media and Republicans are determined to dehumanize and terrorize women and nonwhite people.
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Every dictator dreams of living to a ripe old age and dying in power, leaving behind a worshipful cult to ensure their immortality. Putin’s disastrous war in Ukraine, which was supposed to take Kyiv in three days, may bring his end sooner than he thinks. There was already one violent coup attempt against him last spring, and there are signs of failing health and increasing delusion. As his war drags on, with more Russians forced into the meat grinder, or coming home wounded, armed, and angry, Russia is a powder keg.
Is the West ready for the collapse of Russia? Will the country return to the chaos and car bombs of the 1990s? Will the statues of Stalin come down or be joined by ones to Putin? If the Kremlin is ripped apart by a succession battle, what will happen to the nukes? Olga Lautman, the Russian mafia expert and co-host of the Kremlin Files podcast, joins Gaslit Nation to forecast the collapse of Russia and why the West must get ready, especially for the sake of ensuring Ukraine prevails.
This week’s bonus show, exclusive to our supporters at the Truth-teller level and higher on Patreontt, answers questions from our listeners at the Democracy Defender level and higher. To our Patreon community, we look forward to seeing you at our Gaslit Nation Social Media workshop on January 18th at 8 pm EST. Rachel Brody, a tenacious organizer who helps various campaigns with their social media strategy, will help lead the discussion and answer your questions.
Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
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On a hot afternoon in the middle of summer in New York City, people gathered together at Caveat on the Lower East Side for a special live taping of Gaslit Nation with the RISK! Storytelling Podcast. This is Part II of Andrea’s discussion with comedian Kevin Allison, host and producer of RISK!, and a founding member of the groundbreaking comedy group The State.
The packed audience shared their insights and fears heading into 2024. One of the many indelible questions from the live Q&A raised this question: What happens if Trump wins? This discussion answers that and provides ways on how to avoid that tragedy for America and the world.
To our Patreon community at the Truth-teller level and higher, save the date for our January 18th 8 pm ET Quit Twitter Social Media Workshop. If you hate social media, if you miss Old Twitter before Apartheid Barbie Musk deliberately destroyed it, if you want to elevate your voice for those who need your solidarity and support, then this is the workshop for you! We’ll be joined by organizer Rachel Brody who helps various campaigns with their social media strategy and helps lead the statewide coalition to replace Jay Jacobs, the useless chair of the New York state Democratic Party who, from George Santos to Republican control of the House running through New York, has cost this country so much. This is an event not to miss!
Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
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Dorothy Thompson was the leading journalist of the 1930s and 1940s, considered as influential as Eleanor Roosevelt. After becoming the first foreign correspondent to be expelled from Germany by Hitler, Thompson advised President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, testified to Congress, and destroyed the public career of American aviator and Nazi medal-recipient Charles Lindbergh with the power of her pen. She crashed the 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden and heckled over 20,000 American Nazis until the police had to drag her out, and she warned the world relentlessly about fascism and its useful idiots in the U.S., like America First. Her warnings inspired her husband Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, to write It Can’t Happen Here, the now classic novel about the rise of an American dictator. That novel and Thompson’s 1941 essay for Harper’s “Who Goes Nazi?”, her macabre game on how to tell who among you at a dinner party would become a Nazi, went viral when Trump came to power in 2016.
In this special episode, Andrea interviews Peter Kurth, author of American Cassandra: The Life of Dorothy Thompson, which helped inspire Andrea’s latest screenplay based on Thompson and her urgent lessons for us today. Gaslit Nation has always been a show that combines the power of art with fighting fascism, and this interview captures that call-to-arms.
To our Patreon community at the Truth-teller level and higher, save the date for our January 18th 8 pm ET Quit Twitter Social Media Workshop. If you hate social media, if you miss Old Twitter before Apartheid Barbie Musk deliberately destroyed it, if you want to elevate your voice for those who need your solidarity and support, then this is the workshop for you! We’ll be joined by organizer Rachel Brody who helps various campaigns with their social media strategy and helps lead the statewide coalition to replace Jay Jacobs, the useless chair of the New York state Democratic Party who, from George Santos to Republican control of the House running through New York, has cost this country so much. This is an event not to miss!
Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
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While this news broke after we recorded this week’s episode, Gaslit Nation would like to congratulate the Colorado Supreme Court for being on the right side of history! With Trump disqualified from being on the ballot in Colorado, it’s now up to the Supreme Court, which Trump packed, to take up the case. However things go, it’s nice to finally see some justice for Trump’s massive treason, though small at this very late stage.
Terrell Starr of the essential Black Diplomats podcast is back on Gaslit Nation to discuss the latest polling revealing a generational split in the Democratic electorate when it comes to Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas War, especially the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, and Israel’s widely documented unchecked war crimes. The discussion includes the path forward to resolve the conflict, lessons from Ukraine, and why the Far Left needs to be morally consistent when it comes to foreign policy and elevating the voices of regional experts.
In this week’s bonus show, out later this week for our supporters at the Truth-teller level and higher, Terrell and Andrea discuss Zelensky vs. Orban and why Ukraine finally entering the European Union matters for security in Europe and the U.S. Orban is the darling of the America First crowd, but as Zelensky and the adults in the room of the E.U. showed, he’s just another scared “little man,” as the journalist Dorothy Thompson called the strongmen she covered, from Mussolini to Hitler to Stalin, during the 1930s.
To our Patreon community at the Truth-teller level and higher, save the date for our January 18th 8 pm ET social media workshop. If you hate social media, if you miss Old Twitter before Apartheid Barbie Musk deliberately destroyed it, if you want to elevate your voice for those who need your solidarity and support, then this is the workshop for you! We will be joined by organizer Rachel Brody, who helps various campaigns with their social media strategy and leads grassroots efforts to replace Jay Jacobs, the useless chair of the New York state Democratic Party who has cost this country so much. This is an event you’re not going to want to miss! To get access to our January 18th social media workshop, make sure you’re subscribed on Patreon at the Truth-teller level or higher on Patreon! Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
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