Central to Trump's fascist agenda is his pledge to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in the nation's history. Trump has affirmed that efforts will involve a national emergency declaration and the military. To discuss this topic Sam interviews Brittany Ramos DeBarros, an army veteran and Organizer Director of About Face: Veterans Against the War (on Instagram @vetsaboutface). Recommended reading: Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan Can’t Happen If US Military Members Resist It by Rory Fanni...
Dec 08, 2024•59 min•Season 5Ep. 45
Sam gives an update on Trump's new appointments to his Revengers cabinet and their implications, shouts out Evan Greer's disruption of anti-trans bigot Rep. Nancy Mace, and underscores the qualitative changes in governance that fascism represents and calls for collective action against MAGA fascism NOW not waiting until atrocities are underway. Sam also discusses Trump's plans for mass deportations of at least 11 million people, drawing parallels to historical atrocities and emphasizing the urge...
Nov 24, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 44
Sam discusses what to make of Biden's warm welcome of Trump back to the White House and pledge to "accommodate him," legislation that gives you a preview of how Trump & Co see their strategy kicking off, Trump's cabinet of horrors, and more recent developments. Then, Amanda Tyler (@AmandaTylerBJC) is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty . Amanda is the lead organizer of Christians Against Christian Nationalism and she is the author of How to End Christi...
Nov 17, 2024•49 min•Season 5Ep. 43
Post-election 2024, we're not telling you how to feel, we're just glad you're feeling something. Hang onto your humanity with us and pledge to refuse to accept a fascist America urgently and visibly in the coming weeks. Paul Street and Andy Zee joined Refuse Fascism host Sam Goldman for an online forum informed by listener questions on November 8, 2024 sponsored by Refuse Fascism in association with The RNL - Revolution Nothing Less - Show . We're sharing excerpts from the forum which can be...
Nov 10, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 42
With the election in just two days, Sam recaps essential points on refusing fascism in the event of various scenarios that may arise over the next few days and weeks. While there is much that we do not know about what will happen on Tuesday and after, we do know this: fascism is never legitimate. No election, fair or fraudulent, can legitimize a fascist regime. Join the online forum: Refuse Fascism Responds to the 2024 Election Friday, Nov 8 at 8PM ET. Sign-up to join us: https://us02web.zoom.u...
Nov 03, 2024•56 min•Season 5Ep. 41
Paul Street and Andy Zee joined Refuse Fascism host Sam Goldman for an online forum informed by listener questions on October 25, 2024 sponsored by Refuse Fascism and The RNL - Revolution Nothing Less - Show . We're sharing excerpts from the forum which can be watched in its entirety on YouTube . Follow Paul Street at paulstreet.substack.com . By popular demand! Get your Refuse Fascism T-Shirt here: bonfire.com/refuse-fascism-pod-shirt Find out more about ...
Oct 27, 2024•56 min•Season 5Ep. 40
Friday, 10/25 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET join us for a livestreamed forum with Paul Street, Andy Zee and Sam Goldman, The 2024 Elections: The Future Hangs In the Balance, sponsored by Refuse Fascism and The RNL - Revolution Nothing Less - Show. Follow @RefuseFascism on social media to tune in and send your questions ahead of time to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org. This episode is in response to the (very belated) warnings coming from Democratic Party and military leaders that Trump is (in the words o...
Oct 20, 2024•1 hr 46 min•Season 5Ep. 39
One month to go before the election, what's happening? Elon + X going all out to get Trump back in power, mass deportation plans, nakedly Nazi justifications for those horrific plans, voter rolls being purged, multiple climate-change fueled storms pummeling the southeast with storms of disinformation and death threats against meteorologists following, and more. The new apostolic march on Washington this past week called this election "America's last stand" - Sam discusses all this, then talks wi...
Oct 13, 2024•56 min•Season 5Ep. 38
As we enter the final month before the November 2024 presidential election, Sam recaps recent developments including Jack Smith's recent court filing detailing the 2020 Trump coup attempt, the fascist disinformation campaign that is actively harming people in need of help and accurate information in the wake of Hurricane Helene while somehow blaming Democrats and more than anything, immigrants, for this climate-fueled destruction, and of course the "eyeliner on a pig" fascism on display during t...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 37
Sam discusses the cruel and nakedly fascist “mass deportation” plank of both Project 2025 and the official GOP platform. Then, she talks with Dr. Alberto Toscano, author of Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis . Robin D. G. Kelley writes: "Late Fascism is brilliant, incisive, and right on time. We are living through a moment when the "F" word is no longer taboo and the threat of fascism lurks everywhere. And yet, so mired in debates over definitions, typologies, and analogie...
Sep 29, 2024•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 36
Sam recaps recent developments including the escalating impact on the community of Springfield, Ohio from JD Vance’s Hitlerian lies about immigrants there, the Republican Party that is made up of “Black Nazis” like Mark Robinson, the fascist organizing at the level of the Georgia state election board to find ways to throw the election to Trump in November, plus the heartbreaking stories that are starting to come out as maternal mortality review committees uncover cases of women who did not need ...
Sep 23, 2024•52 min•Season 5Ep. 35
Sam recaps recent events including the lynch mob atmosphere being whipped up against immigrants in general and Black Haitian immigrants in particular after white supremacists in Ohio started vicious lies against Haitians. These lies have been further amplified by J.D. Vance and Donald Trump including from the national debate stage with Kamala Harris this past week. Unfortunately these recent events couldn’t be more timely alongside this week’s discussion with Sasha Abramsky, author of the new bo...
Sep 15, 2024•43 min•Season 5Ep. 34
Sam recaps recent events and then talks with Paul Street about the GOP's unfolding plans to suppress the vote, intimidate their opposition (including by raiding extremely mainstream activists in Texas with LULAC [The League of Latin American Citizens] and sending police to the homes of people signing pro-abortion rights petitions in Florida), and unleash violence at multiple levels should Trump be declared the loser in November. In response to all this the Democrats are celebrating... the additi...
Sep 08, 2024•52 min•Season 5Ep. 33
Sam talks with returning guest Annika Brockschmidt about the ideology that binds Trump's GOP. Brockschmidt is a trained historian, author and journalist. She wrote two bestselling books on the history of the US religious right and the Republican Party. Follow Annika on BlueSky . German-speaking audiences can read her latest book Die Brandstifter: Wie Extremisten die Republikanische Partei übernahmen and listen to her on the two podcasts she hosts Kreuz und Flagge and Feminist Shelf Control . Men...
Sep 02, 2024•56 min•Season 5Ep. 32
Sam discusses the joy fest during the DNC and the growing gulf between those who think you can stop fascism in the US while still enabling a genocide in Gaza, and those who think that is completely incompatible. Cheers to all the protesters at the DNC for telling the truth this past week. Follow @uncommittedmvmt on TikTok for the voices clipped in today's episode. Then, she talks with Stephen Eisenman, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Northwestern University. He has a forthcoming book out wi...
Aug 25, 2024•46 min•Season 5Ep. 31
This week, Sam discusses recent developments including Project 2025 Phase 2, the efforts of Republi-Fascists to subvert elections and the Democratic National Convention's approach to combating fascism (is it weird or is it fascism?). She then welcomes Sian Norris back on the show to discuss the fascist riots in the UK that targeted asylum seekers and Muslims following a lethal mass stabbing in Southport England. Sian Norris is a senior investigative reporter at openDemocracy (read her work here ...
Aug 18, 2024•58 min•Season 5Ep. 30
Biden's out of the race and many people are feeling more optimistic about Kamala Harris beating Trump in the election... Sam comments about the new situation, what dangers lie ahead and what we can rely on to stop fascism and build a better world. Then, Sam talks with Graie Hagans, Chief Vision Officer with Bend the Arc: Jewish Action about the roots and origins of antisemitism, the current dangers and complex dynamics of the moment in the US and how Jewish communities and individuals can truly ...
Jul 29, 2024•56 min•Season 5Ep. 29
This week Sam shares commentary on the fascist spectacle that was the RNC along with other recent developments and how and why we must resolutely oppose fascism. Then, Sam talks with Karl Folk, a researcher of authoritarianism and radicalization and the founder of the Institute of Unreality . He writes for Splinter News on their authoritarianism and American politics team. Read his latest: The Nefarious Figures Behind the Far-Right Who Predate Trump . You can find him on X and Bluesky @brainnoto...
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 28
This episode features interviews from the past two intense weeks... first Sam discusses recent events and updates from the intensifying situation in the US. Then, we share two interviews: first with Aziza Ahmed to discuss the implications of two years without Roe and recent SCOTUS rulings on abortion rights. Aziza is a professor of law at Boston University where she also serves as the Co-Founder and Director of the BU Program on Reproductive Justice. Follow Aziza's work at bu.edu/law/profile/azi...
Jul 14, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 27
Sam discusses the pivotal decision from the fascist-dominated Supreme Court to grant Trump permission to commit crimes through the immunity ruling this past year with historian Paul Street, along with the slew of other terrible rulings. Of course while this ruling would seem to green-light the current president to act as a king unbound by any rule over his “official acts,” the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats did not announce any action in response to this chilling marker on the ...
Jul 07, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 26
Sam Goldman recaps the events of this past week including the totally illegitimate "debate" debacle between Trump and Biden, plus the slew of despotic rulings from the Trump's unelected "Supreme" Court. Then, Sam interviews legal scholar and author Aziz Rana to take a deeper look at U.S. Constitution and its veneration to understand how it has supported the rise and preservation of Trump. He currently serves as Provost’s Distinguished Fellow and J. Donald Monan, S.J., University Professor of Law...
Jun 30, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 5Ep. 25
This week Sam shares commentary on the second anniversary of the overturn of Roe & the stripping away of the federal protection of abortion rights. Then she welcomes Madiba K. Dennie back on the show to discuss originalism as the underlying theory behind some of the worst recent Supreme Court decisions. Madiba is the Deputy Editor and Senior Contributor at Balls & Strikes and author of The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We The People Can Take It Back . Yo...
Jun 24, 2024•55 min•Season 5Ep. 24
This week Mark Tinkleman guest hosts the pod, covering SCOTUS decisions on the abortion medication mifepristone as well as gun control, Trump’s support from powerful people, the Southern Baptist Convention's attack on IVF, and a listener’s feedback. Then Sam welcomes researcher Teddy Wilson back on to discuss how the MAGA movement is weaving Trump's conviction and Jan. 6 into a lore of violence and victimization. They discuss the historical similarities between the events surrounding Jan. 6th an...
Jun 17, 2024•44 min•Season 5Ep. 23
Sam interviews filmmaker Stephen Ujlaki about his latest film Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Unholy War on Democracy . This feature-length documentary is available for streaming on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Google Play & YouTube. See trailer here. For information about the film, including a listing of screenings & how to organize a screening in your community visit badfaithdocumentary.com . From the Variety review of the film: "The Christian Nationalist movement was the driving force ...
Jun 09, 2024•59 min•Season 5Ep. 22
Sam discusses the historic guilty verdict that was just rendered by a jury against Trump this past week (34 felonies for falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, all for the purposes of ensuring his illegitimate election in 2016), along with the slew of unhinged fascist threats and rants that have come in the aftermath of the verdict. Then, as this guilty verdict has in no way stopped his campaign for power again, she talks with two contributors to the June ...
Jun 02, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 21
Sam interviews historian Dr. Jefferson Cowie, author of Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power (winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize). Jeff serves as the James G. Stahlman Chair in the Department of History at Vanderbilt University. He was recently honored with a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship - in part, in anticipation of his upcoming project, tentatively titled Crosswinds of a Common History. You can find more of Jeff's writing including information on his other three books h...
May 26, 2024•49 min•Season 5Ep. 20
This week Sam Goldman (@SamBGoldman) and Coco Das (@Coco_Das) have a wide ranging conversation with Dr. Clarence Lusane and Sunsara Taylor over what it will take to stop fascism in the United States. We discuss the 2024 elections in the context of the prospect of civil war, the genocide in Gaza and the uprising to stop it, the threat of today's wars spiraling out of control, the nature of the fascist threat, and the possibility of wrenching a better future out of this moment. Dr. Clarence Lusane...
May 20, 2024•59 min•Season 5Ep. 19
Sam discusses the events of this past week including Trump's trials (including what's getting prosecuted and what's being postponed indefinitely), the escalating genocide in Gaza as the Israeli military started to invade Rafah and the ongoing bravery of students across the country who continue to demand an end to this genocide. Then, we share an interview with acclaimed historian and returning guest Dr. Federico Finchelstein to discuss his latest book The Wannabe Fascists: A Guide to Understandi...
May 12, 2024•51 min•Season 5Ep. 18
We're sharing a round-up of excerpts from interviews over the past four years with 20 experts on fascism. If you want to know "what is US fascism in this century" or "who are the fascists in America" or "where did fascism in the US come from" - this is your crash course (and it's episode 200!). Find out more about Refuse Fascism and get involved at RefuseFascism.org. We're still on Twitter (@RefuseFascism) and other social platforms including Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky. ...
May 05, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 5Ep. 17
It’s been one of those weeks… Sam shares commentary on the wildly fascist logic coming from the Supreme Court this past week (the president is likely immune from prosecution for the attempted coup in Jan 2021, and federal law will likely no longer require emergency rooms to provide life-saving abortions…), the wave of repression sweeping American universities against the courageous students and professors continuing to demand an end to the US-supported genocide in Gaza waged by Israel, plus note...
Apr 28, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 16
