How do we fight back against the broligarchs? Journalist Gil Durán, of the must-read newsletters Nerd Reich and FrameLab, shows the way, in this week’s Gaslit Nation. Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous line, “Hell is other people,” from his play No Exit, written in Nazi-occupied France, captured a grievance that mirrored the era’s ideological clashes—fascism, communism, and isolationism, often overlapping and competing, fueling Stalin’s genocides, the Holocaust, and World War II. The solution to sharing ...
Mar 12, 2025•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast This motivating discussion was supposed to run earlier, but then the third year anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine was marked by Trump viciously reminding the world he works for Russia by kicking Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy out of the White House, after he, Vance, and MTG’s boyfriend tried to ambush the war hero. In our recorded first ever Gaslit Nation book club, we discussed Albert Camus’ The Stranger (Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search f...
Mar 10, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Who is "Woke Jesus"? It’s the actual Jesus from the Bible—the dark-skinned Jewish revolutionary who advocated for feeding the poor and healing the sick. The Christian nationalists who use Trump’s MAGA movement as a weapon against our democracy are also at war with Jesus, as this week’s guest explains. By the strictest definition, doesn't that make Trump the anti-Christ? Investigative journalist Katherine Stewart, author of the new book Money, Lies, and God , examines the right-wing Libertarian e...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast You may be asking: does America even have free and fair elections in GOP-gerrymandered hostage states like Florida? Under a wannabe-autocrat like Ron DeSantis, voting becomes a defiant fact check of the legitimacy of the GOP’s power. If they were truly effective at governing, why would they resort to gerrymandering and other forms of voter suppression to maintain control? By voting, even if your vote is illegally not counted, your presence casting the vote adds up, and together the exit polls ca...
Mar 04, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast America joined Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Israel, led by indicted corrupt criminal and Putin pal Netanyahu, wanted for war crimes, to vote against Ukraine’s United Nations resolution calling for peace and an end to Russia’s genocidal invasion. In this week’s Gaslit Nation, Andrea and Terrell Starr, of the Black Diplomats Podcast and Substack, joining from Kyiv, explain how we got here and what to do about it. Fascism helped build America, and global resistance to fascism will help us overcom...
Feb 26, 2025•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast To help us navigate these dark times, Gaslit Nation will hold our first book club. Join us next Monday, February 24, at 4pm ET for a salon discussion on two profound works: Albert Camus’ The Stranger (the Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. These books capture the emotional truth of our era. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor and psychologist, offers extraordinary insights into how people confronted genocide in death camps. His account of prisoners organizing cabare...
Feb 21, 2025•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast There’s a troubling sense of normalcy bias among some Democratic leaders who believe they’ll regain their footing in the 2026 midterms, riding another anti-Trump wave. But here’s the critical question: will the United States even have free and fair elections? To answer that, we need to look back and ask: was the 2024 U.S. election free and fair? Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and those around them, break the law so brazenly, how can we trust they came to power without breaking the law? According to...
Feb 19, 2025•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week’s bonus show is our live recording with Russian mafia expert Olga Lautman, who answers listener questions about combating the Russian-backed fascist threat of the Musk/Trump regime. We also discuss Trump and Russia’s attempts to strongarm Ukraine into a deal that would buy Russia time to continue its genocidal invasion. Don’t miss this special episode. A heartfelt thank you to all our Gaslit Nation supporters. This show wouldn’t be possible without you. Together, we’re shining a light ...
Feb 15, 2025•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the most striking aspects of living under a dictatorship is how eerily normal life can appear on the surface. The sun still rises, children still play in parks. Yet, beneath this façade of normalcy, the foundations of democracy are being purged. Drug-fueled Nazi oligarchs, emboldened by their unchecked power, withhold critical funding, endanger lives, and proudly defy the courts. They destroy the rule of law and unleash a culture of corruption, all while the world watches America turn int...
Feb 12, 2025•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Protests matter because they challenge the regime's legitimacy, remind us we're not alone, and connect us with incredible people fighting to protect human rights in an era of rising technofascism. At the People’s March in Washington, DC, in January, which protested MAGA fascism, Andrea met Dr. Meena Bewtra, a physician with Doctors for America—a group of doctors on the frontlines of advocating for healthcare as a human right. In this live taping with our Patreon community, Dr. Bewtra answers lis...
Feb 06, 2025•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you want to see where America is headed, watch The Bibi Files. The greatest threat to Israeli democracy, as well as peace for both Palestinians and Israelis, continues to be Bibi Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. Joining us this week are filmmakers Alexis Bloom, director of The Bibi Files, and producer Alex Gibney, who is also working on a documentary on Luigi Mangione and the corruption of the healthcare industry. Check the show notes for a link to watch The Bibi Files–one of the most chilling t...
Feb 05, 2025•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Don’t count America out just yet! Democrats flipped a state Senate seat in Iowa, in a district Trump won by 21 percent—a resounding rebuke to the psychopath in the White House. In an election year that saw incumbents lose all over the world, Trump barely scraped by with one of the narrowest victories in generations, even with the help of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, bribing voters, rampant far-right disinformation, voter suppression laws, several Russian bomb threats, and GOP ratf*cking—e...
Jan 31, 2025•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to week two of Trump and Project 2025’s Reign of Terror. A convicted felon, a Russian asset, an adjudicated rapist, a chronic cheater, a trust-fund brat with six bankruptcies, and a psychopath displaying clear signs of dementia is dismantling the foundations of American democracy, just as promised—and just as we warned. The cruelty is sending dangerous shockwaves across the globe. With each passing day under this regime, the nightmare grows darker. But here on Gaslit Nation, we’re fighti...
Jan 29, 2025•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast What’s the easiest way for dictator Xi Jinping of China to invade Taiwan? Bribe the President of the United States! Trump’s loyalty lies in enriching himself and his family, all thanks to the highest bidder – including China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and others. As China shows more signs of preparing to invade Taiwan, Musk’s Twitter is normalizing this very idea. Andrea and Russian mafia expert Olga Lautman discuss this and more, including Trump and Melania’s meme coin cash grab, in this week’s Gas...
Jan 24, 2025•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trump used and discarded the powerful Fred Trump daddy figures who helped him rise to power: infamous lawyer Roy Cohn, whom he abandoned as Cohn was dying of AIDS; Fox News kingmaker Roger Ailes, forced out over sexual harassment allegations; and, possibly, Vladimir Putin. The Russians invested decades of financial and other support into Trump and his family, as Russian mafia expert Olga Lautman explains on this week's Gaslit Nation. But now, with American oligarchs, unlimited money, immunity gr...
Jan 22, 2025•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast From Joan of Arc, the novel Mark Twain considered his finest work—one that took him longer to write than any of his other books, and one so deeply personal to him that he chose to publish it anonymously: “When we consider that her century was perhaps the most brutal, depraved, and morally corrupt in history since the Dark Ages, we are left in awe at the extraordinary emergence of such a figure from such a time. The contrast between her and her era is as stark as the difference between day and ni...
Jan 17, 2025•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a Gaslit Nation first, we’re speaking to a guest whose voice is… well, masked like Putin’s stiff botoxed face. That’s because we’ve had to protect their identity—our guest today is none other than the undisputed ruler of the underworld, likely the wealthiest person on the planet (given the cadre of oligarchs they’ve got on speed dial), and—let’s not forget—a master strategist. You may know them as Darth Putin KGB , the Twitter titan who once made parody fun before it got, well, a little too r...
Jan 15, 2025•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Announcement! If you’re a Gaslit Nation supporter on Patreon, join us for the first ever Gaslit Nation Game Night this Friday at 8:30pm ET, organized by Gaslit Nation listeners. The game of the night will either be Codenames or Chameleon . The Zoom link is posted in the Victory Chat as well as this episode page on Patreon! When it comes to the DNC Chair election on February 1st, the only choice is Ben Wikler, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin since July 2019. None of the other candid...
Jan 09, 2025•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast On January 6, 2021, we watched on live television as Donald Trump and several Republican members of Congress incited a violent attempted overthrow of our democracy. This insurrection led to several deaths, including police officers who later died by suicide. When Joe Biden was sworn in as President in January 2021, Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress. Instead of using their time in power to pass a resolution or bill banning Trump and his supporters from holding office under the 14th A...
Jan 08, 2025•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Andrea will be speaking at the peaceful Now March this Friday, January 3rd, on Capitol Hill calling for Congress to take their final opportunity to stop MAGA fascism. Obviously the time to stop Russian-backed Trump was years ago, as Gaslit Nation has documented for years now. Andrea will join the Now March to support the tenacious organizers, to take a stand on the right side of history, and to never stop reminding people: none of this is normal. An unpunished coup is a dress rehearsal for a suc...
Jan 02, 2025•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast How does Franco’s reign in Spain connect to the rise of Trump? In this gripping true-crime thriller, financial journalist Gareth Gore, while investigating a bank collapse in Spain, follows the money trail to uncover a vast international conspiracy behind Opus Dei. What is Opus Dei? It's a shadowy global right-wing organization founded in Spain just before the Spanish Civil War. Supported by powerful Republican figures like Leonard Leo, Opus Dei is a Christian nationalist movement fueling efforts...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Good news! Staying off social media is good for your mental health and countering disinformation. In this week's Gaslit Nation bonus show, listen to an excerpt of our inspiring live interview with Dr. Emma Briant , one of the world’s foremost experts on disinformation warfare and propaganda. Dr. Briant, co-editor of The Routledge Handbook on the Influence Industry and author of Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism: Strategies for Global Change , shares invaluable insights into the weapons of global ...
Dec 31, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Great Britain was woefully unprepared when Hitler's Nazis invaded nearly half of Europe. As the country faced the relentless terror of the Blitz—where cities were bombed like Ukraine is being bombed today by Putin—Churchill was tasked with turning the tide. In the midst of this devastation, he turned to his favorite act of self-care: creating art. In our ongoing discussion, Robert Schmuhl, author of Mr. Churchill in the White House, explores how painting was a profound source of solace and stren...
Dec 28, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Self-care is an act of resistance, especially when the fate of the free world depends on you. In the latest episode of Gaslit Nation , Andrea interviews Robert Schmuhl, author of Mr. Churchill in the White House . Their conversation reveals the fascinating dynamics between White House roommates Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. It also delves into the debate: did Churchill really see Lincoln's ghost? Two of the most powerful men of the 20th century, with towering e...
Dec 24, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast “And hope here, I don't think it's passive. It is active. It's a form of resistance against despair. And it must be paired with a political imagination, that belief that we can build the future.” –Wasim Almasri, Director of Programs, The Alliance for Middle East Peace In this important conversation, Andrea and Terrell speak with Avi Meyerstein, Founder and President of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), and Wasim Almasri, Director of Programs based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Th...
Dec 18, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Ukrainian intelligence sent about 20 experienced drone operators and about 150 first-person-view drones to the rebel headquarters in Idlib, Syria, four to five weeks ago to help Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the leading rebel group based there, the knowledgeable sources said. The aid from Kyiv played only a modest role in overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Western intelligence sources believe. But it was notable as part of a broader Ukrainian effort to strike covertly at Russian opera...
Dec 14, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Tuesday's episode of Gaslit Nation, titled Is the U.S. an Oligarchy?, Andrea opens with a discussion about the "Claims Adjuster Assassin." However, not all listeners were satisfied with the initial analysis. Many felt that something about the arrest of Luigi Mangione didn’t add up and urged her to take a closer look. Always ready to dig deeper, Andrea takes on the challenge, offering a fresh perspective on the case. Is Luigi Mangione the shooter or, like so many across America with similar co...
Dec 13, 2024•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Is America an oligarchy? This debate between Andrea and Felix Salmon, author of The Phoenix Economy: Work, Life, and Money in the New Not Normal, took place over the summer, but was delayed due to Biden dropping out of the election and Kamala Harris taking his place. We're revisiting it this week to assess how well it has aged. America’s twelve richest men are now worth a combined $2 trillion. One of them, Jeff Bezos, reportedly interfered with the independence of the Washington Post, triggering...
Dec 11, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we're celebrating the people of Syria and their liberation from Assad the Butcher. Our live-taping interview with disinformation expert Dr. Emma Briant has been rescheduled to 4:30 PM ET on December 30th. Be sure to bring your questions about combating disinformation and influence campaigns as we ring in the new year with Dr. Briant! In the meantime, join us today at 4 PM ET to celebrate Syria's liberation and share any comments or questions you’d like to discuss. The Zoom link is now pos...
Dec 09, 2024•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Assad’s regime is on the brink of collapse. Romania and South Korea are showing the world how to stand up against Russia highjacking democracies. The U.S. has released a report stating that a foreign adversary is likely behind Havana Syndrome. This Monday, disinformation warfare researcher Dr. Emma Briant will join our political salon, to answer our questions about fighting back. These topics and more are covered in this week’s bonus show, available to our Truth-teller level subscribers and high...
Dec 06, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
