Podcasts about trump's big lie

Rundown -    Intro with Troubadour Dave Gunders - 00:35   "Tarred and Feathered" by Dave Gunders - 14:02   John Walsh in Craig's Lawyers' Lounge - 19:20   Craig's Lawyers' Lounge welcomes John Walsh, former US Attorney for District of Colorado under President Obama, who is now seeking the job of Denver DA in this year's election. Find out what makes this Stanford Law grad tick.  https://www.walshfordenver.com/   Show begins with Troubadour Dave Gunders and host discussing dynamic guest, John Walsh and the remarkable $83.3 million dollar verdict in favor of E Jean Carroll against Donald J. Trump in US District Court in NYC. Opening dialogue addresses what happens next. Next, to honor the verdict against female abuser Trump, we play Tarred and Feathered, a funny song of revenge by Dave Gunders.   Learn about John Walsh growing up in metro Denver and serving as a clerk in DC Circuit Court. Walsh went on to be an Assistant US Attorney in Los Angeles in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Once back in Denver, John Walsh has had successful law practices and raised his three kids in the Mile High City.   The MAGA threat on US democracy and Rule of Law is reviewed. John Walsh worked hard to fight the Big Lie in the courts of Michigan during November and December 2020. Listen to how difficult and tense that litigation became.   Find out about the big names that John Walsh has interacted with along the way. Adam Schiff, Joyce Vance, Preet Bharara, Elena Kagan, Ken Salazar, Bill Ritter, Norm Early, Beth McCann and Barack Obama get name dropped.   The January 6 insurrection followed Trump's Big Lie and John Walsh wants folks to follow the ruling of renowned Reagan appointed federal Judge Lamberth who has sized up the effect of relentless MAGA propaganda.   Lamberth wrote, “In my 37 years on the bench, I cannot recall a time when such meritless justifications of criminal activity have gone mainstream. I have been dismayed to see distortions and outright falsehoods seep into the public consciousness.”   The MAGA threat to Rule of Law is thoroughly reviewed. Denver feels the impact of too many social and political problems, but remains one of the great cities in the world.   This podcast is a love letter to Denver, even with her flaws, where John Walsh wants to be Chief Law Enforcement Officer. Size up would be Denver District Attorney, his personality and professional qualifications.

Rundown -   Scott McInnis enters the INNER SANCTUM of Craig's Lawyers' Lounge - 12:16   Troubadour Dave Gunders - 01:29:22   "Tear Up Time" by Dave Gunders - 01:37:22   Former six-term US Congressman Scott McInnis enters the INNER SANCTUM of Craig's Lawyers' Lounge reserved for those in their fifth decades as lawyers. This longtime public servant also served in Colorado Statehouse and as a Mesa County Commissioner till term limited.   Scott McInnis grew up in Glenwood Springs and served as part of the fun Colorado River Navy which had a flotilla of heavy rafts on which young Scott and his pals would play. Next thing you know, he was a Glenwood Springs police officer and then a lawyer.   Former Rep. McInnis continues to serve as Mesa County Director for the Colorado River District with a demonstrated love for the entire American Southwest. Learn about his amazing travels in his trusty Ford Expeditions and why he always needs to drive. https://www.coloradoriverdistrict.org/portfolio-items/scott-mcinnis/   Life in Congress for 12 years was not easy, especially if you live in and serve, the Western Slope. But McInnis is a hard worker who remains an influential member of the GOP. His love and knowledge of Colorado shines through. https://www.colorado.edu/center/west/scott-mcinnis   Learn how former Rep. McInnis feels about the current House chaos and his predictions regarding what happens next. Find out if the House can function without a Speaker. Understand McInnis' educated attitude about Ukraine.   Trials and tribulations of Trump and Boebert discussed in detail. We review the dastardly Dominion plot by Tina Peters and others in Mesa County as part of Trump's Big Lie. Learn McInnis' view of modern Colorado GOP.   Troubadour Dave Gunders gives us his solid perspective on life and breakups with his excellent song, "Tear Up Time." Listen to terrific discussion about the point of no return in relationships with friends and others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlTc865JzVI

Rundown -    Albert Alschuler and Quentin Young - 02:22   We address the many prosecutions of Donald Trump and especially the Colorado connections.    Renowned Professor Alschuler (featured in Episode 110) is an expert on criminal law and procedure. He's also studied the strange case of Mark Meadows. Is Meadows cooperating or not? Is TFG paying his former Chief of Staff to stay loyal? We discuss. https://www.justsecurity.org/87506/will-mark-meadows-be-a-principal-witness-against-donald-trump/   Panel discusses roles played in TFG's Big Lie coup and coverup by Jenna Ellis, Randy Corporon, John Eastman, Joe Oltmann, Shawn Smith, Salem Colorado, Peter Boyles, Dan Caplis, George Brauchler, and all defendants in Coomer v Giuliani, et. al. Trump's Big Lie clearly flowed through Colorado. https://coloradosun.com/2023/08/17/trump-indictment-opinion-silverman/   Colorado Newsline's brilliant editor Quentin Young studies and boldly writes about Colorado connections to Trump's insurrection. He's an entertaining and informative panelist previously featured on Episodes 64 and 83. This journalist is brave and names names. https://coloradonewsline.com/2023/08/10/trumps-jan-6-indictment-annotated-for-colorado/   Quentin Young has taken the time to study J6 videos and now sees red MAGA-hat wearing attorney and co-conspirator, Ken Chesebro, who was shadowing awful MAGA man, Alex Jones. Evil con man Alex Jones was shouting “Stop the Steal” and “This is 1776” like a cross between Jenna Ellis and Lauren Boebert, all the while being watched and filmed by one of TFG's many devious attorneys.   If you enjoy a lively panel discussion about court cases, Craig's Colorado Corner is your spot. Special weekday shows during this Trump litigation with thanks to our new sponsors! Law firms that love democracy are sponsoring these shows. Monday mornings 6 a.m. Colorado time on Apple and everywhere.

Rundown -    Dick Wadhams - 12:06   Troubadour Dave Gunders - 01:56:18   "All That Water" by Dave Gunders - 02:01:40   The most accomplished Colorado Republican strategist in modern times is Dick Wadhams and he comes clean about everything right here. Born and raised on a farm in Las Animas, CO, he's been a lifelong Republican. As CO GOP party chair, he won elections, and gained funding from Phil Anschutz among many others.   But now, this former GOP state Chair Wadhams feels shut out as MAGA moves in. Great Republicans of Colorado's past are discussed, as is their silence now in wake of MAGA threat to the Republican Party and to America. Wadhams is the rare Republican willing to stand up on air to this MAGA menace.   Wadhams was a powerhouse behind the throne for Governor Bill Owens, Senator Wayne Allard, Senator Bill Armstrong, Senator John Thune (who toppled Tom Daschle and may become GOP's Senate Leader), Senator George Allen, Senator Conrad Burns and others.   Find out how it all started for this Colorado boy. Analyzed is almost every major politician in Colorado including Senators Hickenlooper, Bennet, and Governor Polis. Dems and GOP once got along. Those days are gone and the reasons why are explored.   Changing faces of the media, especially here in Colorado, are reviewed. Special shout outs go to Shaun Boyd and Anne Trujillo from Dick Wadhams who works for Channel Four as their GOP political analyst. We also discuss radio and the decline that has accompanied the rise of MAGA.   Dick Wadhams is a columnist for the Gazette and a certified news junkie. He shows his class as he decries the broadcasters who talk about a “Biden Crime Family.” Wadhams is not OK with name calling, disinformation, and propaganda. He likes to win based on policy.   We discuss the GOP presidential field and sudden courage of star witness Mike Pence. We also discuss Ron DeSantis and whether there were benefits to slavery. Spoiler alert: answer is no. Tim Scott has Colorado connections. But there is no real GOP race. And the host predicts no real debates.   Trump is a criminal defendant now. In a passionate start to the show, the host explains what happens now that Trump has gone near the line by posting “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!” Great advice dispensed in the opening monologue to Judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding over USA v Trump.   Wadhams is passionate regarding Jan 6 and the need for 45 to be prosecuted. Jack Smith's bona fides as prosecutor discussed. Smith obtained a rare NY death penalty. So did the host on a Denver case. Normally, the GOP would love a law and order guy like Jack Smith but those days are gone.   MAGA is ruining Colorado GOP with staff not being paid yet. 50K went to Conspirator #2 John Eastman and RNC Committeeman Randy Corporon for futile lawsuit with budget for 250K. Wow! Wadhams reacts. State GOP being asked to approve Stalinist measure.   Harsh names are flying which is only appropriate since the GOP elected as chairman a man who wants to be known as Dave “Let's Go Brandon” Williams. Wadhams dislikes Williams and explains his many reasons why. We talk about all the ways Trump's Big Lie flowed out of Colorado.   Show Troubadour Dave Gunders delivers wonderfully once again with his song, "All that Water," which can be a metaphor for all the legal cases and charges now flooding America's 45th president and accomplished serial interstate criminal, Mr. Trump.

On this day in legal history, July 31, 1919 the Constitution of the German Reich was signed in Weimar, Germany. The Constitution of the German Reich, commonly referred to as the Weimar Constitution, was the governing document for Germany during the Weimar Republic era from 1919 to 1933. It was drafted following the end of World War I by the lawyer and liberal politician Hugo Preuss, who played a crucial role in the shaping of the new democratic federal republic. The constitution was deliberated and framed by the German National Assembly, which gathered in the town of Weimar, Thuringia, after the Federal elections held on January 19, 1919. However, the process was not without its disagreements among delegates on issues such as the national flag, religious education for youth, and the rights of the states (Länder) within the Reich. These disagreements were eventually resolved by August 1919, but 65 delegates abstained from voting to adopt the constitution.The Weimar Constitution declared Germany to be a democratic parliamentary republic, introducing universal suffrage with a minimum voting age of 20, and employing proportional representation in the election of the legislature. Despite remaining technically in effect from 1933 to 1945 during the Nazi era, it was practically repealed by the Enabling Act of 1933, leading to its provisions and protections going unenforced throughout Nazi rule. The constitution's title echoed that of the Constitution of the German Empire that preceded it, and the official name for the German state remained "Deutsches Reich" until the adoption of the 1949 Basic Law. The first President of the Republic, Friedrich Ebert, formally signed the parliament-approved Weimar Constitution into law on August 11, 1919, in Schwarzburg, where he was on holiday, despite the parliament working out the constitution in Weimar. Subsequent federal elections were conducted in line with the Weimar Constitution, including those held on June 6, 1920.CoComelon, a popular kids YouTube channel owned by Moonbug Entertainment Ltd., won a significant copyright lawsuit against Chinese competitor BabyBus Co. Ltd. for copying its videos, receiving $23.4 million from the jury. Moonbug accused BabyBus of creating Super JoJo songs that were in some cases nearly identical to CoComelon songs, leading to a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. BabyBus admitted to infringing seven CoComelon works before the trial but contested the alleged infringement of 35 other works. The jury determined that BabyBus willfully infringed dozens of Moonbug's copyrights, and the award included $17.6 million in actual damages and profits, plus $5.8 million in statutory damages. UK-based Moonbug, which also owns other YouTube kids' programs, acquired CoComelon in 2020; it was subsequently purchased by two former Disney executives for $3 billion. BabyBus began its Super JoJo channel in 2019 and was sued by Moonbug and CoComelon creator Treasure Studio Inc. in August 2021, months before a significant acquisition. Moonbug's complaint accused Super JoJo of blatantly copying CoComelon's elements, including characters, settings, and animations, and pointed out examples of identical or nearly identical content; BabyBus countered that many of these elements were unoriginal or inherent in the genre. Tyz Law Group and Horvitz & Levy LLP represented Moonbug, while Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP represented BabyBus in the case. The verdict in the case of Moonbug Entm't Ltd. v. Babybus Network Tech. Co. was reached on July 27, 2023, marking a significant decision in the field of copyright infringement.CoComelon Wins Bulk of Copyright Claims, $23.4 Million From JuryThe Democratic National Committee (DNC) is redistributing legal work to various law firms after parting ways with Marc Elias, a well-known elections lawyer who had been a lead adviser to Democratic committees for more than a decade. The firms receiving work include WilmerHale and Covington & Burling, both of which have large practices in Washington, and Perkins Coie, which continues to provide legal services for the DNC despite reducing much of its consulting for Democrats. The separation from Elias represents a shift in the DNC's legal approach leading up to the 2024 election, though the reasons for the split remain undisclosed. No law firm has clearly assumed the role of the DNC's primary outside firm, and the committee now works with multiple firms on various legal matters. The DNC has also appointed in-house counsel Andrea Levien, who previously worked with Elias. During the 2020 election, Perkins Coie earned $11.2 million from the DNC, almost 65% of the DNC's expenditures for legal services. FEC records also reveal that the DNC is working with several other law firms, including Dentons and Boston-based Hemenway & Barnes, in this election cycle.DNC Work Favors Big Law After Split With Longtime Adviser EliasSam Bankman-Fried, the indicted founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, is facing calls by prosecutors to be jailed pending his October fraud trial. Prosecutors argue that he has attempted to intimidate witnesses and influence their testimony, specifically pointing to an incident where Bankman-Fried shared excerpts from his former romantic partner's personal documents with a New York Times reporter. He has been under house arrest in Palo Alto, California since his December 2022 extradition from the Bahamas, with bail including a $250 million bond. Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research. His former partner, Caroline Ellison, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is expected to testify against him, as are two other former FTX executives. The defense has until August 1 to respond to the government's letter seeking his detention. The court has also barred Bankman-Fried from discussing the case publicly.Sam Bankman-Fried must be jailed, is intimidating witnesses, prosecutors say | ReutersA federal judge has dismissed former U.S. President Donald Trump's $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN. Trump's lawsuit, filed in October 2022, claimed that CNN's characterization of his election fraud allegations as the "big lie" linked him with Adolf Hitler. U.S. Judge Raag Singhal, who was nominated by Trump in 2019, ruled on Friday night that CNN's words were an opinion and not a factual statement, and therefore could not be the subject of a defamation claim. Singhal stated that "CNN's statements while repugnant, were not, as a matter of law, defamatory." The lawsuit cited five instances where CNN referred to Trump's assertions about the 2020 election as his "big lie," a phrase associated with Nazi propaganda. Trump's spokesperson responded to the ruling but did not indicate whether there would be an appeal. The dismissal comes as Trump remains a front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, despite facing both state and federal indictments.Trump's $475 million 'big lie' defamation lawsuit against CNN dismissed | Reuters Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Today's West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy Podcast for our especially special Daily Special, Metro Shrimp & Grits Thursdays, is now available on the Spreaker Player!Starting off in the Bistro Cafe, MAGA lies and physical intimidation have driven election workers from their jobs in every state of the union, but Trump's Big Lie has hit a brick wall in court.Then, on the rest of the menu, twenty-two attorneys general oppose the 3M Company settlement over public water systems contaminated with ‘forever chemicals;' high superintendent turnover means many Oregon school districts are led by inexperienced newcomers; and, Lockheed Martin won the NASA contract to build a nuclear thermal rocket engine, a key technology that could dramatically speed up space travel and help humans get to Mars.After the break, we move to the Chef's Table where a prominent Belarusian journalist was sentenced to six years in prison for reporting on the opposition; and, the British billionaire owner of the English soccer team Tottenham Hotspur, has been indicted in New York on charges of “orchestrating a brazen insider trading scheme.” All that and more, on West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy with Chef de Cuisine Justice Putnam.Bon Appétit!The Netroots Radio Live Player​Keep Your Resistance Radio Beaming 24/7/365!“Everyone in this good city enjoys the full right to pursue his own inclinations in all reasonable and, unreasonable ways.”-- The Daily Picayune,New Orleans, March 5, 1851

It's Independence Day! There's no better way to celebrate than standing up to a bully. Whether it's a twice-indicted Russian mafia asset running for president, or his cult of violent white supremacists, there's no shortage of bullies running amok these days. Science journalist and bestselling author David McRaney, author of the books How Minds Change and You Are Now Less Dumb, shares his research on how to handle a situation where the person you're talking to insists on an alternative reality, using that to try to gaslight, intimidate, and, in a word, bully.   At Gaslit Nation, one of the questions we often get from our listeners is how to help loved ones lost to a disinformation cult, like QAnon and Trump's Big Lie. From harassing election workers to overwhelming school board meetings to disinformation merchants challenging actual experts to debates (“Debate me, bro!”), the Bannon strategy of flooding the zone with shit has ensnared people, separating families and friends. McRaney shares his surprising insights on how to reach people and provide an empathetic space for them to find their way back. For more on this topic, listen to Gaslit Nation's discussion with cult expert Dr. Janja Lalich, who recommends a slightly approach. Both discussions are essential guides for navigating this time of rampant disinformation and toxic political cults.   In our bonus episode, McRaney takes the Gaslit Nation Self-Care Q&A. For our next Gaslit Nation live taping, join Andrea and comedian Kevin Allison of the RISK! Storytelling podcast for a show at Caveat in New York on Saturday August 5th at 4pm to celebrate the launch of the new Gaslit Nation graphic novel Dictatorship: It's Easier Than You Think! To join in person or virtually, reserve your ticket here! Signed copies of the book can be ordered at the event!   To submit your own answers and share inspiration for ways to recharge as we together run a marathon to protect our democracy, leave your answers in the comments section or send an email to GaslitNation@gmail.com. We'll read some of the responses on the show! Gaslit Nation Self-Care Questionnaire What's a book you think everyone should read and why? What's a documentary everyone should watch and why? What's a dramatic film everyone should watch and why? Who are some historical mentors who inspire you? What's the best concert you've ever been to? What are some songs on your playlist for battling the dark forces? Who or what inspires you to stay engaged and stay in the fight? What's the best advice you've ever gotten? What's your favorite place you've ever visited? What's your favorite work of art and why?

Rundown -   Bob Zeidman - 15:44   Troubadour Dave Gunders - 01:52:30   "Eddie Don't Quit" by Dave Gunders - 02:02:11   Perhaps you've heard of the man who successfully claimed Mike Lindell's five million dollar offer to prove him wrong regarding 2020 election rigging. That man is Robert Zeidman and here's a chance to get to know the rest of the story. https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/a68b42f4-d5dc-4ff9-b34e-84d52fa3fc32.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_11&itid=lk_inline_manual_18   Robert Zeidman is a fascinating man. He got to Silicon Valley in the early days via Stanford. Bob Zeidman wrote the seminal book on software sleuthing titled, The Software IP Detective's Handbook. https://www.amazon.com/SOFTWARE-IP-DETECTIVES-HANDBOOK/dp/0137035330   Bob's an expert witness who makes money telling truths in written reports, and under oath. Bob Zeidman is a frequently retained and highly compensated expert witness. When Lindell announced the five million dollar challenge to Prove Mike Wrong, the My Pillow Guy sought to limit the crowd of contestants to Trump sympathizers.   Bob Zeidman has been a stalwart Republican even while living four decades in Silicon Valley and nearby San Francisco. Find out how Zeidman became an expert witness when the Winklevoss brothers sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Eventually, urban decay and overtaxation drove the Zeidmans to Summerlin, Nevada.    Zeidman is a brilliant writer as he's proved many times in different publications. When Zeidman took down and exposed Lindell, he authored a brilliant Politico piece named: How I Won $5 Million From the MyPillow Guy and Saved Democracy. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/26/my-pillow-mike-lindell-investigation-00097903   Zeidman has been on a political journey which has landed now on No Labels and we discuss Kyle Clark's brilliant takedown of that group and its leader. But anything is better than backing Trump and Zeidman assures he will never make that mistake again.   As you size up Bob Zeidman, expect to like this gutsy and successful businessman with the courage to call out mullarkey. Zeidman has correctly sized up Mike Lindell after studying the man who now owes him $5,000,000.00. That's a lot of pillows.   This story takes time - more than that allowed at CNN. We take the time in this enjoyable discussion with a news making computer expert. Zeidman has a good time in this, the area of his expertise. Bob is a fine Philly product of Morris (Moish) & Ruth. https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2023/04/21/mike-lindell-mypillow-debunked-election-claims-robert-zeidman-contd-ebof-vpx.cnn   We discuss the religious component of Mike Lindell's backing of Trump's Big Lie. Is democracy imperiled and did Bob Zeidman help save us? What are the implications to be drawn from Zeidman undressing Lindell's Big Lie. This is great food for thought.   Our Troubadour Dave Gunders brings back his hit, Eddie Don't Quit, dedicated this episode to Putin/Trump types everywhere. We talk about Roger Stone and all the Trump accomplices about to go down. Recent Supreme Court rulings decried, but this will lead to lots of legal work.

Fox News peddled Donald Trump's big lie that the 2020 US election was stolen from him; now, its owner Rupert Murdoch is paying the price.  He's settled in a defamation case, costing his network more than one billion Australian dollars.  Today, a US reporter covering the case on why the hefty price tag is just the start of the media mogul's legal woes.  Featured:  Elahe Izadi, media reporter, The Washington Post 

Fox News peddled Donald Trump's big lie that the 2020 US election was stolen from him; now, its owner Rupert Murdoch is paying the price.  He's settled in a defamation case, costing his network more than one billion Australian dollars.  Today, a US reporter covering the case on why the hefty price tag is just the start of the media mogul's legal woes.  Featured:  Elahe Izadi, media reporter, The Washington Post 

Dictators and aspiring tyrants want us to be demoralized, to be bullied psychologically into submission. Bullies are always surprised when people resist and fight back. The 2022 Midterms were a historic time of fighting back: the first major elections since the violent attempted overthrow of our democracy. People showed up and organized in record numbers, denying Trump's Big Lie and the America First fascist movement the victories they needed to steal the electoral college in 2024. Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are all protected by elected public servants who believe in democracy, and that's thanks to voters and organizers who refused to be intimidated. In this week's special episode, we highlight four Gaslit Nation listeners who worked hard to protect our democracy in the midterms, some volunteering as far as Ukraine.   In this inspiring conversation, you'll meet Dr. Nicole Speer, a recently elected member of the Boulder City Council who manages a brain imaging research facility at the University of Colorado. She shares her story of running for office and how others can do the same. You'll also hear from Hugh Stempfley of Illinois who trained as an election judge alongside his grandson, and shares their story of two generations on the frontlines of protecting our democracy. Jed Holtzman of San Francisco is active in his community advocating for policies and other actions to urgently protect our civilization from man-made climate change and his advice on why text-banking is a great way to pitch in, even if you only have an hour to spare. And finally, you'll meet entrepreneur Isaac Flanagan who left his comfortable home in Colorado to bring desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the frontlines of Russia's genocidal invasion of Ukraine, even while helping get out the vote in the U.S. midterm by calling voters in a California swing House district. We thank everyone who helped get out the vote in these and all elections. Our democracy depends on you, even though it shouldn't. Thank you to everyone who works hard to protect our democracy and shows why we always say: grassroots power is the most reliable power we have left.   In our bonus episode, available to subscribers at the Truth-teller level and higher, we cover the International Criminal Court at The Hague that just indicted war criminal Putin -- an arrest notice that makes Putin a wanted man in well over 100 countries. We also touch on the potential Trump indictment which noticeably isn't coming from the DOJ. We also answer questions submitted by our listeners at the Democracy Defender level and higher. Thank you to everyone who supports the show and keeps our civic-action community and independent journalism going. We couldn't make this show without you!  

Rundown -    Mike Rothschild - 05:42   Troubadour Dave Gunders - 01:23:40   "Impossible Happiness" by Dave Gunders - 01:47:24   Understand QAnon, perhaps for the first time in your life, in this entertaining hour plus interview with best-selling American author, Mike Rothschild. https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Upon-Us-Conspiracy-Everything/dp/1612199291   Learn the origins of QAnon and the interesting clues and timelines involved. Find out about the complicity of social media companies working in tandem with American talk radio. Find out the Q lingo and orthodoxies.   Donald Trump and Vlad Putin have taken full advantage of the dissension wrought by QAnon, this all-powerful digital movement. Believers envision military “insiders” who've provided Q Drops revealing truth that Trump is heaven sent to rid Earth of lefties.   QAnon might be funny if it was not so serious. Find out Q's many Colorado connections. We discuss the Q roles of Tina Peters, Lin Wood, Hunter S. Thompson, Lauren Boebert, Dan Caplis, Jenna Ellis, George Brauchler, Randy Corporon, Joe Oltmann, Peter Boyles, and others.   Rothschild explains how QAnon, a bigoted conspiracy theory explaining everything, was accelerated by Trump and the MAGA world. Learn of early precursors of the Q phenomenon such as 9/11 truthers, JFK conspiracy nuts, and birtherism. The Obama administration triggered many people.   World events are frightening. When the Covid pandemic hit, people became isolated with laptops and iPhones. Digital algorithms pelt people with bad news podcasts and all too often, disinformation by R/W profit motivated miscreants such as Alex Jones, Jerome Corsi, Roger Stone, and Tucker Carlson, who've all spewed Q talking points.   QAnon was at the heart of Trump's Big Lie. That's why they led Trump's J6 Insurrection at the Capitol. Mike Rothschild explains the addictive quality of the “hope-ium” which QAnon hucksters like Gen. Mike Flynn sell to vulnerable, uneducated, and unhappy people.    Totally Q-resistant is ever-happy show Troubadour Dave Gunders who delights with his pandemic inspired song, Impossible Happiness. The world is going through more than just a little rough patch as Trump claims only he can prevent WWIII which seems to be his 2024 sales pitch.    The world is in a heap of trouble and the dynamic duo of Dave & Craig toss around current events like Trump's imminent indictments in NYC and elsewhere. Also discussed is the International Criminal Court indictment of Vlad Putin! Meanwhile, China's Xi is going to Moscow next week. Uh oh.

Scoot examines the attitudes of people who were used, abused and lied to by Trump and FOX News, but for some reason cannot shake themselves out of their spell

Scoot and Ian talk about newly-released texts and emails that show all the big names you know at Fox News kept Trump's Big Lie alive on the air while all trashing it privately

Friends,Last Tuesday, House Republicans stood for a 43-minute recitation of the United States Constitution. This came just after Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee instituted a requirement to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before each meeting. Further pledges, flag salutes, and Constitution recitations are planned. Why are Democrats allowing Republicans to blanket themselves with conspicuous displays of patriotism, especially when the GOP has become the party of traitorousness and treachery?Recall that eight Republican senators and 139 Republican representatives objected to the certification of electors in the 2020 election, based on no evidence. Many continue to deny the outcome of that election. Several are still repeating Trump's Big Lie that the election was stolen from him.Last June, Rep. Liz Cheney charged members of her own party who continued to support Trump's Big Lie with “defending the indefensible,” warning that “there will come a day when President Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”Well, Trump is now almost gone. His nascent presidential campaign is sputtering. But instead of ostracizing them, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given those who defended Trump plum seats on congressional committees. Democrats should repeatedly speak out against these Republican traitors. Democrats should also criticize Republican lawmakers who are equating patriotism with white Christian nationalism. In a recent speech, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — whose popularity in today's GOP rivals that of Trump — called on Americans to “put on the full armor of God. Stand firm against the left's schemes.” DeSantis has prohibited the teaching of Black history, prevented teachers from discussing gender identity, and made it easy for parents to remove books from schools. He is now asking state universities for the numbers and ages of students who have sought or received sex-reassignment surgery and hormone prescriptions.Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado says she is “tired of this separation of church and state junk” and “the church is supposed to direct the government.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says, “we need to be the party of nationalism and I'm a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists.”Democrats should make clear that Christian nationalism is the opposite of patriotism. America's constitutional and moral mission has been to separate politics from religion — providing equal rights to Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Mormon, atheist, and agnostic. Real patriots don't fuel racist, religious, gender, or ethnic divisions. To the contrary, patriots seek to confirm and strengthen and celebrate the “we” in “we the people of the United States.”Nor do patriots ban books or prevent teaching about the sins of our past. Democrats must also remind the nation that patriotism requires taking a fair share of the burdens of keeping America going — sacrificing for the common good. Paying taxes in full rather than lobbying for lower taxes or seeking tax loopholes or squirreling away money abroad. Paying America's debts rather than using the threat of national default to extract political concessions from the other party. Above all, Democrats should be saying that patriotism involves strengthening our democracy — defending the right to vote and ensuring more Americans are heard rather than claiming without evidence that millions of people voted fraudulently. True patriots don't put loyalty to their political party above their love of America. True patriots don't support an attempted coup. Patriotism means refraining from financial contributions that corrupt our politics. Blowing the whistle on abuses of power even at the risk of losing one's job. Volunteering time and energy to improving the community and country.And Democrats need to reaffirm that when serving in public office, patriots do not use their office to increase their wealth. When serving as judges, they recuse themselves from cases where they may appear to have a conflict of interest. When serving on the Supreme Court, they don't disregard precedent to impose their own ideology.In sharp contrast to the superficial demonstrations of patriotism now being utilized by the Republican Party, Democrats must remind Americans that one of the major responsibilities of lawmakers and other public servants is to maintain and build public trust in the offices and institutions they occupy.  Now is the time for Democrats to reclaim patriotism and affirm its true meaning. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

This week's episode features a conversation with Jennifer Cohn, an investigative journalist who primarily writes for the Bucks County Beacon. Through her work investigating issues such as election integrity in the runup to the 2016 election, Jennifer became aware of the NAR--the New Apostolic Reformation--and the key players who've been pushing Trump's "Big Lie" following the 2020 election. In their quest to take dominion, these so-called "apostles and prophets" are pushing the Lie--but what's their motivation? Jennifer and I touch on this as well as numerous other related topics, key leaders, and influencers within this movement that is currently threatening American democracy in its aim to achieve dominion. Join the MindShift Podcast Patreon Community! Follow Jennifer on Twitter @JennyCohn1 Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

Returning guest Dr André Gagné from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, is an expert on the field of dominion theology, the New Apostolic Reformation, the Christian Right and what's going on in Trump world. Thus: what better thing to do than to reach out to him after a few years to catch up on what's going on in that universe? The good news is that André's book on the evangelicals behind Trump will be soon translated into English--and I'm sensing another episode coming up! Will the evangelicals promoting Trump's "Big Lie" go away anytime soon? What's their strategy for taking dominion? Find out the answers to those questions and more in this fascinating, if chilling, conversation. Join the MindShift Podcast Patreon Community! Contact Information Follow André on Twitter @Andre_Gagne1 Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

It's not just the Big Lie. Republicans are telling three other lies they hope will swing the midterms. They involve crime, inflation, and taxes. Here are the GOP's claims, followed by the facts.1. They claim crime is rising because Democrats have been “soft” on crime.Rubbish. Rising crime rates are due to the proliferation of guns, which Republicans refuse to control.While violent crime rose 28 percent from 2019 to 2020, gun homicides rose 35 percent. States that have weakened gun laws have seen gun crime surge. Clearly, a major driver of the national increase in violence is the easy availability of guns.The violence can't be explained by any of the Republican talking points about “soft on crime” Democrats.Lack of police funding? No. On average, all cities — whether run by Democrats or Republicans — saw an increase in police funding in 2022.Criminal justice reforms? No. Wherever bail reforms have been implemented, re-arrest rates remain stable. Data shows no connection between the policies of progressive prosecutors and changes in crime rates.In fact, crime is rising faster in Republican, Trump-supporting states. In 2020, per capita murder rates were 40 percent higher in states won by Trump than in those won by Joe Biden.Republican policies have made it easier for people to get and carry guns. Republicans are lying about the real cause of rising crime to protect some of their biggest supporters, big gun manufacturers and the NRA. 2. Republicans claim that inflation is due to Biden's spending, and wage increases.Baloney. Biden's spending can't be causing our current inflation because inflation has broken out everywhere around the world, often at much higher rates than in the US. Besides, heavy spending by the US government began in 2020, before the Biden administration, in order to protect Americans and the economy from the ravages of COVID-19 — and it was necessary.Wages can't be pushing inflation because wages have been increasing at a slower pace than prices — leaving most workers worse off.  The major cause of the current inflation is the global post-pandemic shortage of all sorts of things, coupled with Putin's war in Ukraine and China's lockdowns.The biggest domestic culprit for America's current inflation is big corporations that are using inflation as an excuse for raising prices above their own cost increases, resulting in the highest profit margins since 1950 — while consumers are paying through the nose.The biggest domestic cause of inflation is corporate power. Republicans are lying about this to protect their big corporate patrons.3. Republicans say Democrats voted to hire an army of IRS agents who will audit and harass the middle class.Wrong. The IRS won't be going after the middle class. It will be going after ultra-wealthy tax cheats.The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in July, provides funding to begin to get IRS staffing back to what it was before 2010, after which Republicans cut staff by roughly 30 percent, despite increases since then in the number of Americans filing tax returns.The extra staff are needed to prevent high-end tax evasion, which is more difficult to root out (the ultra-wealthy hire squads of accountants and tax attorneys to hide their taxable incomes). It's estimated that the richest 1 percent are hiding more than 20 percent of their earnings from the IRS.The Treasury Department and the IRS have made it clear that audit rates for households earning $400,000 or under will remain same.Republicans are lying about what the IRS will do with the new funding to protect their ultra-wealthy patrons.None of these three lies is as brazen and damaging as Trump's Big Lie. But they're all being used by Republican candidates in these last weeks before the midterms. Know the truth and share it.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

Scoot talks to WWL listeners about the latest from the J6 committee and what should be the nail in the coffin for Trump's "Big Lie" if not for his enablers in the MAGA cult and conservative media

Conservative economists shrug their shoulders at the record accumulation of wealth at the very top of America. They claim it's not a problem because wealth is not a zero-sum game: A huge amount at the top doesn't necessarily reduce the wealth (or potential wealth) of anyone else.They fail to see that wealth begets power. And power is a zero-sum game. Its possession by certain people means others don't have it. Substantial power in the hands of a few people can dramatically reduce everyone else's freedom, autonomy, and voice. Consider the current race for mayor of Los Angeles.Over the last few election cycles, a candidate for LA mayor has had to spend at least $2 million in order to have any chance of getting elected. But since launching his bid in February, Rick Caruso has spent $62 million, and almost all of it has been his own money. Over the same period, his opponent, Karen Bass, has spent $2.2 million, from donations. In other words, Caruso is outpacing Bass by about 20-to-1. Caruso's net worth is $5.3 billion. He has never held political office. He's been a developer of several faux-town-square luxury shopping centers. He is also a longtime Republican who has donated generously to the GOP, but switched his registration to independent in 2019, and this year registered as a Democrat — days before declaring his candidacy and just in time for the mayoral race.Karen Bass spent years organizing in South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots. She was then elected to the California legislature where she rose to become Speaker, and then elected to Congress. Former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, she was on President Biden's shortlist as a possible vice president.So why is there even a contest here? An ultra-rich white developer of luxury malls who was a Republican until moments before the campaign is running against a woman of color who has spent her lifetime in progressive politics in one of the nation's most progressive cities of color, achieving important victories for working people and the poor — all against the backdrop of ever more reactionary MAGA Republican Party. Yet polls show the contest dramatically narrowing. Caruso is now trailing Bass by just 3 percentage points among registered voters -- 34 percent to 31 percent — well within the margin of error. That's down from a 12-point gap in August.What gives?The mainstream media says the contest is narrowing because of “voters' worries about public safety and homelessness.” The story is by now a familiar rightwing trope —- even leftwing Los Angeles is moving right because crime and squalor. Just look at what happened to that liberal DA in progressive San Francisco! Rubbish. Crime and homelessness are real problems, but Bass is focusing on them just as much as is Caruso. In her ads, Bass says repeatedly, “I'm running for mayor to meet today's challenges: crime, homelessness, and the soaring cost of housing.” Bass has put forward a plan to bring 15,000 people indoors to expand interim and permanent housing. Caruso promises tiny houses for 15,000 people and temporary “sleeping pods” for thousands more. Bass has a solid record on these issues. Caruso is a real estate developer who has never built a single unit of affordable housing. The only rational way to explain the tightness of the race is Caruso's money. Apart from billionaire Michael Bloomberg's three successful New York mayoral campaigns, Caruso's spending is unrivaled in the annals of American local politics.A first-time candidate with little name recognition, Caruso has blanketed Los Angeles's airwaves with television, digital and radio ads -- portraying himself as a successful businessman who can clean up the city. In recent weeks he has begun to attack Bass relentlessly in television and radio ads. He's also spending heavily on door-to-door canvassing, especially in Latino and Asian-American neighborhoods whose voters were likely to have sat out the primary election and don't typically cast general election ballots.This is all about money, folks. Caruso's $62 million is multiples more than has ever been spent on a mayoral race in Los Angeles. Karen Bass's $2.2 million is within the typical range, but obviously paltry by comparison. Imagine if Caruso had sunk $62 million into affordable housing. Coincidentally, $62 million happens to be the goal of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles's new Affordable Housing Initiative, to create homes for nearly 600 unhoused people. Caruso's humongous spending illustrates a broader challenge for progressives across the country. This year, dark-money super PACs funded by Republican billionaires and multi-millionaires (along with the occasional billionaire candidate) have spent record amounts to defeat progressive contenders inside the Democratic Party.The current challenge to American democracy is not just Trump's Big Lie. It's also billionaire's big money. Campaign finance reform can occur even without a reversal of the Supreme Court's shameful Citizens United decision, if we enact public matching funds for small donors — a reform that came close to being enacted in this Congress. (We also need full disclosure of all sources of campaign funds, another measure that came very close.)We've been here before, people. When a billionaire developer with no public experience buys a major public office that affects the lives of millions, democracy is for sale. Please note: Subscribers to this newsletter are keeping it going. Thank you! We also appreciate you sharing this content with others and leaving your thoughts in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

My friends,Make no mistake: Donald Trump is effectively on the ballot in the midterm elections, five weeks from tomorrow (voting has already begun in several states). Even if he decides not to run, he's laying the groundwork for authoritarianism. In the upcoming midterms, 60 percent of us will have an election denier on our ballot, most of them endorsed by Trump. In the key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, Republican candidates who embrace Trump's Big Lie have won almost two-thirds of Republican nominations for offices with authority over elections.Many are running for secretaries of state — the chief elections officers in 37 states, who will be overseeing voter registration and how elections are conducted. In the 2020 presidential election, people who held these positions were the last line of defense for our fragile democracy, upholding Joe Biden's win despite heavy pressure from proponents of Trump's Big Lie. Which is why Trump and Trump's lieutenants, including Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, are trying to fill these positions with Big Liars.Michigan's GOP candidate for Secretary of State is Kristina Karamo — who rose to prominence in conservative circles after falsely claiming to have witnessed election fraud as a pollster. Karamo has claimed that Trump won the 2020 election and that Antifa was behind the January 6 insurrection. Arizona's Republican candidate for Secretary of State is Mark Finchem, a QAnon-supporting member of the Oath Keepers militia, who participated in the January 6 insurrection. He cruised to victory in the GOP primary by claiming that Trump won the 2020 election. Nevada's GOP's candidate for Secretary of State is Jim Marchant, who won his Republican primary by making Trump's baseless claims of election fraud a cornerstone of his campaign. He also falsely claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, and wants to eliminate it altogether (despite the fact that he has voted by mail many times over the years). In Wyoming, state representative Chuck Gray, who won last month's GOP primary for secretary of state, faces no opponent. Gray has repeated Trump's lies about 2020 being “rigged,” traveled to Arizona to watch a partisan review of ballots that was derided as deeply flawed and proposed additional regular election audits in Wyoming. In Alabama, state Rep. Wes Allen, the nominee for secretary of state, says he would have signed onto a 2020 Texas lawsuit to overturn Biden's win (that case was swiftly thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court).Trump-backed candidates for governor are also on the ballot in key states where governors play a critical role in certifying votes and upholding the will of the people.Pennsylvania's Republican gubernatorial nominee is Doug Mastriano. If he wins, Mastriano would appoint Pennsylvania's top election official. Mastriano was also at the Capitol on January 6, and has even been subpoenaed by the January 6 committee to testify about his involvement. Mastriano also helped lead the push to overturn the state's 2020 election results. Arizona's GOP gubernatorial nominee is Kari Lake — who has said she does not recognize Joe Biden as the nation's legitimate president, and would not have certified Arizona's 2020 election results had she been governor. Wisconsin's Republican gubernatorial nominee is Tim Michels. Michels still questions the results of the 2020 election and refuses to say whether he will certify the state's 2024 president election results. Right now, elections in Wisconsin are overseen by the bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission, but if Michels wins he supports scrapping the Commission in favor of a plan that could shift oversight of the state's elections to the state's Republican-dominated legislature. I don't know about you, but all these Big Liars terrify me. If any one of them wins in a state that's likely to be a battleground in 2024, they could tip the balance in a tight presidential election to Trump. What terrifies me even more is they could tip America away from democracy to authoritarianism. Meanwhile, a third of all state attorney general races currently have an election denying Republican candidate on the ballot — including Alabama's Steve Marshall, Idaho's Paul Labrador, Texas's Ken Paxton, South Carolina's Alan Wilson, and Maryland's Michael Peroutka. Attorneys general also have key roles in election administration — defending state voting laws and election results in court, taking legal action to prevent or address voter intimidation or election misconduct, and investigating and prosecuting illegal attempts to suppress the vote.I haven't even talked about all the local and county election officials who are also Big Liars, and also on ballots in many states — and who could play roles in the 2024 election. How can we fight back? First: Spread the word about the Trump-GOP's plans to capture the election process and undermine American democracy. Inform your friends and family — including young voters who often don't turn out in large numbers — about what's at stake in the midterms. Second: Make sure you and they vote down the entire ballot. Too many Democrats vote for federal offices but disregard state races. A recent analysis of the last three presidential elections in ten swing states showed that Democrats voted down the ballot far less than Republicans. (Democratic presidential nominees at the top of the ticket received more votes 87 percent of the time than Democratic state legislative candidates, while Republican presidential nominees received more votes just 45 percent of the time than Republican state legislative candidates.)Control of many state legislatures is often determined by a handful of races that can swing in either direction based on a relatively small number of votes. In the 2020 election, very small margins in a number of battleground races prevented Democrats from gaining control of state legislatures. Had Democratic candidates received just 4,451 more votes in the two closest races in the Arizona state House, they would have flipped the chamber. In North Carolina, had Democrats received 20,671 more votes (just 0.39 percent of the votes cast) in the ten most competitive legislative districts, they would have flipped the state House — thereby preventing Republicans from gerrymandering the state and federal maps, which Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has no ability to veto. In Michigan, just 8,611 more votes for state Democratic candidates in the four districts with the closest margins would have flipped this crucial swing state, too. Third: Familiarize yourself with state and local candidates, and share this information.You may want to get your ballot early so you have ample time. Some great organizations to help you are Sister District, The States Project, Bolts Magazine, and People's Action. (I'm linking to them here, but feel free to leave a comment with other local resources you've found helpful.) ***As I said, Trump is effectively on the ballot in the midterms. Which means — regardless of whether he decides to run again for president — our democracy is on the ballot. The midterm elections in five weeks will lay the foundation for all future races. My friends, I cannot say this with more concern: Trump's anti-democracy movement has been making astounding progress. We must stop it. Please note: Subscribers to this newsletter are keeping it going. Thank you! I also appreciate you sharing this content with others and leaving your thoughts in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

National Progressive Townhall Meeting with Congressman Mark Pocan. Is Russia sending cannibals and convicted murderers into Ukraine to fight? Also Texas maternal mortality data won't be ready before midterms. And Crazy Alert! Trump promotes children's book validating the "Big Lie" Plus: Breaking News that New York Attorney General Letitia James sues Trump and three children $250 million for a new fraud case.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Brad gives a preview of his new book by discussing how some of Trump's tactics and myths are comparable to what Hitler used to gain power in Germany. Brad is careful to point out that his comparison is just that - a comparison. He is not arguing that Trump and Hitler are identical. Rather, his argument is that Trump's Big Lie and the myth that the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago was unconstitutional and illegal are resonant with the Stab-in-the-Back myths Hitler used in Germany to convince his followers that their country had been stolen from them and only he could return it to glory. For access to the full Orange Wave series, click here: https://irreverent.supportingcast.fm/products/the-orange-wave-a-history-of-the-religious-right-since-1960 Pre-Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163 To Donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/BradleyOnishi Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/straightwhiteamericanjesus SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://swaj.supportingcast.fm

Rundown -    Troubadour Dave Gunders - 24:15   "This American Dream" by Dave Gunders - 33:20   Eli Bremer - 38:47   At Independence Hall in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden told the world what this podcast knows – Trump and MAGA threaten America. There are authoritarians among us who will do Trump's dirty bidding. Some do it for money. Some do it for racism.   Peter Boyles is planning a return to radio. He's taking @710KNUS spot at 9 a.m. Saturday mornings. In the opening monologue, Boyles' return contemplated, with poached sponsors, host-ripping, and Trump backpedaling. Entertainment, intrigue and implosions to follow.   Boyles is a bigot who capitulated to Randy Corporon, as documented  on Ep. 48 and then Boyles flip-flopped, as chronicled on Ep. 81. On Ep. 101, Judith Berg told the world that Boyles called her the K-word in a dispute after bigots killed her former husband, Alan Berg.   It was Peter Boyles who hosted Joe Oltmann twice right after 2020 election to advance Trump's Big Lie. His pal Randy Corporon helped orchestrate. Will Boyles have the guts to rip Joe Oltmann or will he avoid hot topics as other #DenverTrumpRadio hosts do? Eli Bremer pulls no punches on Corporon and Oltmann.   Want to grow to be a GOP stalwart? Start with a conservative Christian American family, move them to Colorado Springs, have the children homeschooled, listen to Limbaugh, and then attend the Air Force Academy. That is our esteemed guest, Eli Bremer.   This rock-ribbed Republican is an American Olympian and NBC sports commentator. Bremer is nephew of Ambassador Paul Bremer and also has a prominent attorney father. In 2022, Eli Bremer, a Colorado Springs resident, tried to win the GOP nomination for United States Senate but lost to Joe O'Dea. He also lost to GOP dirty tricks.   Bremer tells the inside story of Colorado state GOP politics. Find out what Ken Buck and Randy Corporon and their accomplices did to turn the Colorado GOP into a MAGA subsidiary, replete with conspiracy theories about rigged elections, as set forth by the likes of Corporon and Oltmann.   Listen to the entire Eli Bremer interview to hear full castigation of Colorado party politics, and leaders who've bought into the “election-rigging bullshit.” But then, listen to hear Eli Bremer discuss the responsibility of America's 45th president. The discussion gets heated.   The dialogue with vacationing Troubadour Dave Gunders is always fun and entertaining, especially when he gets philosophical about traveling America. "This American Dream" by Dave Gunders is a haunting song of America, and an American man, in desperate times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJns8ryQzTE&t=2s

One week after a team of F.B.I. agents descended on his private club and residence in Florida, Trump warned that things could get out of hand if the Justice Department kept the heat on him. “People are so angry at what is taking place,” Trump told Fox News, predicting that if the “temperature” isn't brought down, “terrible things are going to happen.”But Trump and his allies are doing all they can to increase the temperature. Last Sunday, one of Trump's closest allies, Senator Lindsey Graham, warned of “riots in the streets” if Trump is prosecuted.On Tuesday, Trump spent much of the morning reposting messages from known purveyors of the QAnon conspiracy theory and from 4chan, an anonymous message platform where threats of violence often bloom. Some of Trump's reposts were direct provocations, such as a photograph of President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker Nancy Pelosi with their faces obscured by the words, “Your enemy is not in Russia.”Online threats are escalating against public servants. Bruce E. Reinhart, the federal magistrate judge who approved the warrant to search Mar-a-Lago, has been targeted with messages threatening him and his family.How to respond to this lawlessness? With bold and unwavering law enforcement. If Trump has broken the law – by attempting a coup, by instigating an assault on the U.S. Capitol, by making off with troves of top-secret documents -- he must be prosecuted, and if found guilty he must be imprisoned. Yes, such prosecutions might increase tensions and divisions in the short term. They might provoke additional violence.But a failure to uphold the laws of the United States would be far more damaging in the longer term. It would undermine our system of government and the credibility of that system -- more directly and irreparably than Trump has done.Not holding a former president accountable for gross acts of criminality will invite ever more criminality from future presidents and lawmakers. It is also important for all those in public life who believe in democracy to call out what the Republican Party is doing and what it has become: not just its embrace of Trump's Big Lie but its moves toward voter suppression, takeovers of the machinery of elections, ending of reproductive rights, book bans, restrictions on what can be taught in classrooms, racism, and assaults on LGBTQ people. Last week, Biden condemned “ultra-MAGA Republicans” for a philosophy he described as “semi-fascism.” Today he will deliver a rare prime-time speech outside the old Independence Hall where the Framers of the Constitution met 235 years ago to establish the basic rules of our democratic form of government. The speech is will focus on what the White House describes as the “battle for the soul of the nation” – the fight to protect that democracy.President Biden's earlier conciliatory tone and talk of uniting Americans and “healing” the nation from the ravages of Trump has obviously not worked on most of the Republican Party. With the notable and noble exceptions of Liz Cheney and a few other courageous Republicans — most of whom have been or are being purged from the GOP — the Republican Party is rapidly morphing into an anti-democracy movement. With each passing week, it becomes more rabid in its opposition to the rule of law. Republican lawmakers who took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution are repudiating it in word and deed. Republican candidates are lying about the 2020 election and whipping up our fellow countrymen into angry mobs. And as Republican lawmakers and candidates exchange their political integrity for power, Fox News and other rightwing outlets continue to exchange their journalistic integrity for money. The essential political choice in America, therefore, is no longer Republican or Democrat, right or left, conservative or liberal. It is democracy or authoritarian fascism. There can be no compromise between these two — no halfway point, no “moderate middle,” no “balance.” To come down squarely on the side of democracy is not to be “partisan.” It is to be patriotic.As Adam Wilkins suggested on this page yesterday, while today's Republican party does not have its own paramilitary, such as the Nazi's Brownshirts, the GOP is effectively outsourcing these activities to violent fringe groups such as the “Proud Boys," "Oathkeepers," and others who descended on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and who continue to threaten violence.Yet Democrats cannot and must not take on this battle alone. They must seek common ground with Independents and whatever reasonable Republicans remain. As Eric T noted on this page, we must continue to appeal to truth, facts, logic, and common sense. We must be unwavering in our commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law. We must be clear and courageous in exposing the authoritarian fascist direction the Republican Party has now chosen, and the dangers this poses to America and the world. It is also important for Democrats to recognize -- and to take bold action against — the threat to democracy posed by big money from large corporations and the super-wealthy: record amounts of campaign funding inundating and distorting our politics, serving the moneyed interests rather than the common good.Indeed, the two threats – one, from an increasingly authoritarian-fascist Republican Party; the second, from ever-larger amounts of corporate and billionaire money in our campaigns and elections – are two sides of the same coin. Americans who know the system is rigged against them and in favor of the moneyed interests, are more likely to give up on democracy and embrace an authoritarian fascist demagogue who pretends to be on “their side.”The battle to preserve and protect American democracy is the most important battle of our lifetimes. If we win, there is nothing we cannot achieve. If we lose, there is nothing we can achieve. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

Taking on the might of the Murdoch family in court is no small feat, but the small Australian commentary website, Crikey, is doing just that.  Lachlan Murdoch is suing the platform for defamation, after it alleged links between his family and the January 6 Capitol riot in the US, which the Murdochs deny.  Today, the host of Media Watch on ABC TV, Paul Barry, on why it will be a test case for Australia's defamation laws you'll want a front row seat for. Featured:  Paul Barry, host, Media Watch, ABC TV

Taking on the might of the Murdoch family in court is no small feat, but the small Australian commentary website, Crikey, is doing just that.  Lachlan Murdoch is suing the platform for defamation, after it alleged links between his family and the January 6 Capitol riot in the US, which the Murdochs deny.  Today, the host of Media Watch on ABC TV, Paul Barry, on why it will be a test case for Australia's defamation laws you'll want a front row seat for. Featured:  Paul Barry, host, Media Watch, ABC TV

For several years, Brian Stelter's Sunday CNN show, “Reliable Sources,” has been a reliable source of intelligent criticism of Fox News, rightwing media in general, Trumpism, and the increasingly authoritarian lurch of the Republican Party.Last week, CNN abruptly canceled the show and effectively fired Stelter and his staff. Why? The show had good ratings and was commercially successful. (More people watched it than MSNBC.)The show was cancelled by Chris Licht, CNN's new chairman and CEO, who has said he wants less criticism of Trump and the Republican right. Licht has told staff they should stop referring to Trump's “Big Lie” because the phrase sounds like a Democratic Party talking point. Licht also wants more conservative guests.What's motivating Licht? Follow the money. CNN's new corporate overseer is Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., which now owns what used to be Time Warner, including CNN. The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery is David Zaslav. Zaslav has been prodding Licht to reposition CNN to have more “straight news reporting” and fewer “opinionated” views from hosts. Zaslav says he wants CNN to be for “everybody … Republicans, Democrats.”But CNN is never going to be a network preferred by Republicans. Fox News has that sewn up. As Republicans move further rightward into the netherworld of authoritarianism, there's even less possibility that CNN's news coverage will be able to satisfy them, nor should CNN even try. If we've learned anything from Trump and his lapdogs at Fox News, it's that facts, data, and logic are no longer relevant to the Republican base.Even “straight news reporting” depends on what stories are featured, which facts are highlighted, and the context surrounding the news. How is it possible to report on Trump or Rudy Giuliani or any number of today's Republican leaders and not speak of the Big Lie, or say they've broken norms if not laws?The anti-democracy movement in America (as elsewhere) is among the biggest issues confronting us today. Is reporting on it considered “straight news” or “opinion?” Wouldn't failing to report on it in a way that sounded alarms be a gross dereliction of duty?So what's motivating Zaslav? Keep following the money. The leading shareholder in Warner Bros. Discovery is John Malone, a multi-billionaire cable magnate. (Malone was a chief architect in the merger of Discovery and CNN.) Malone describes himself as a “libertarian” although he travels in rightwing Republican circles. In 2005, he held 32 percent of the shares of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. He is on the board of directors of the Cato Institute. In 2017, he donated $250,000 to Trump's inauguration.Malone has said he wants CNN to be more like Fox News because, in his view, Fox News has “actual journalism.” Malone also wants the ‘news' portion of CNN to be “more centrist.” Early last spring, Brian Stelter wrote in his newsletter that Malone's comments “stoked fears that Discovery might stifle CNN journalists and steer away from calling out indecency and injustice.” (A source told Deadline's Dominic Patten and Ted Johnson that even if Malone didn't order Stelter's ouster, “it sure represents his thinking.”)When you follow the money behind deeply irresponsible decisions at the power centers of America today, the road often leads to rightwing billionaires. On Sunday, his last show, Stelter said:It's not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. It's not partisan to stand up to demagogues. It's required. It's patriotic. We must make sure we don't give platforms to those who are lying to our faces.Precisely. Sadly, there are still many in America — and not just billionaires like Malone — who believe that holding Trump accountable for what he has done (and continues to do) to this country is a form of partisanship, and that such partisanship has no place in so-called “balanced journalism.” This view is itself dangerous. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

It's been over a week since the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago to retrieve highly sensitive classified documents concerning nuclear materials and we're so glad that career criminal Kremlin asset Trump is finally behind bars – just kidding, they're still letting him run around and do whatever! This week we review the criminal investigation into Trump and his crime cult, which is once against faltering, whether in NYC in the pseudo “plea deal” granted to Alan Weisselberg, or in the refusal to stop the immediate threat Trump, Kushner, Ivanka, and the rest pose not only to the United States, but to the entire world.  We review new details of the raid, warn about Trump's successful manipulation of the media narrative, and focus on two key players – Ivanka and Jared, who were installed in the White House thanks to Merrick Garland's BFF Jamie Gorelick. Kushner has since made illicit two billion dollar deals with Saudi Arabia and had fallen under House investigation for illicit nuclear deals in 2019. (Remember when the Oversight Committee investigated things?!) We warn that the classified information that has been stolen and weaponized is not limited to the physical documents that the DOJ took its sweet time retrieving from Mar-a-Lago. We dig deep into the dirty dealings of the Trump spawn and their partners, and also look at Trump's own obsession with nuclear weapons, which dates back over forty years. This is a very dangerous situation! Our bonus episode is the Gaslit Nation Live episode recorded last week with our wonderful Patreon subscribers, in which we answered questions from our audience in real time. This episode was taped the day after the raid and the questions are very lively, making it a Must-Listen! To hear it, sign up at the Truth-Teller level or higher. Gaslit Nation is an extremely independent podcast and the only reason we have the freedom to investigate these controversial topics is because of listeners like you, and we thank you for keeping us going! Show Notes: From Andrea on Twitter: Want to protect the White House from Trump in 2024? Protect Pennsylvania, a must-win state in the Electoral College, in 2022. Join me in donating to a @StatesProjectUS giving circle to elect Democrats and keep Trump's Big Lie out of power in Pennsylvania https://twitter.com/AndreaChalupa/status/1559199165674098688 Donate to help keep Pennsylvania Blue in 2022 and Beyond! https://www.grapevine.org/giving-circle/zjrhpjw/State-Fair https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Trump%20Saudi%20Nuclear%20Report%20-%202-19-2019.pdf 

Tomorrow, Wyoming Republicans will determine the fate of Representative Liz Cheney — whom Trump has targeted for revenge ever since she criticized him for inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Six days after that attack — when no other Republican in the House or Senate was willing to rebuke Trump — she said on the House floor: “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”The very next day, on January 13, Cheney joined nine other House Republicans and 222 Democrats in voting to impeach Trump. So far, three of these ten principled Republican lawmakers have lost their primaries. Two have won them. The remaining four are retiring.As vice-chair of the House of Representatives' January 6 committee investigating the causes of that attack, Cheney has ceaselessly and tirelessly helped lay out the case against Trump during eight public hearings held in June and July, with more to come. In response, Trump has done everything possible to end Cheney's career. He made sure House Republicans revoked her status as the third-highest-ranking leader of the Republican caucus and that Wyoming Republicans censured her. Her life has been threatened and she has a security detail. But she has not wavered. Trump also selected Cheney's opponent in the Republican primary, Harriet Hageman — who has rallied behind Trump and amplified his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Hageman has a commanding double-digit lead over Cheney. (According to some reports, Cheney has been reluctant even to venture into Wyoming to campaign, due to death threats.) If Liz Cheney loses her House seat, as seems likely, I hope she doesn't disappear from public life. Although her views on countless substantive issues are the opposite of mine, I salute her. She has displayed more courage and integrity than almost any other member of her party — indeed, given the pressure she was under, perhaps more than any lawmaker now alive. The role Cheney has played raises larger issues about the meaning of representative democracy. Is it the responsibility of elected officials to represent the views of their constituents or their own principles? How far should they compromise their principles to get and retain power? These questions aren't limited to Republicans. As the midterms draw closer, some Democratic operatives and pundits argue that Biden and the Democrats must move to the “center” in order to win. But where is the center? Halfway between democracy and fascism? Midpoint between social justice and oligarchy? And if Democrats have to go either of these places in order to win, what's the point of winning? A personal note. In 2002, I ran for the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts — the first time I'd run for elected office. (I don't remember ever sleeping. I gained weight because I went to too many goddamn receptions and ate too many meatballs, pretzels, crackers and cheese. I talked so much I had to binge on throat lozenges. I smiled so much my cheeks ached. I got carsick from bouncing around Massachusetts in a cheap camper whose air conditioning continuously went out and whose springs were shot. I had to kiss the derrieres of too many rich liberals in order to finance the campaign.)During my campaign I was asked lots of questions. Should Cardinal Bernard Law resign over allegations that he allowed priests to molest children? I said yes. My campaign manager had a fit. “This is a Catholic state. You're Jewish. You can't just say that!” What would I do about Massachusetts's yawning budget deficit? My answer: Raise capital gains taxes. My campaign manager was apoplectic. “People hate tax increases. The rich especially hate capital gains tax increases!” Did I support gay marriage? I said yes. My campaign manager went ballistic. “You might as well end the campaign right here. You've just lost!” On these and many other issues throughout the interminable nine months of that campaign, I gave my unfiltered views. As I repeatedly told my campaign manager, “If I don't say what I believe, I won't have any mandate from the public to act on those beliefs once I'm elected.” His retort: “You keep saying what you believe, you won't get elected.”I was not elected. Five other candidates were seeking the nomination. I came in a respectable second. (This robbed me of the opportunity to take on the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, who rocketed into the state with piles of money. Had I won the Democratic nomination, I would have whipped Romney's assets.)So, was I wrong to stick to my principles? I call this the Dick Morris paradox. You'd be forgiven if you didn't remember: In early 1996, Bill and Hillary Clinton summoned pollster Dick Morris to the White House to make sure Bill would be reelected. Morris's advice to Clinton was to move to the center (“triangulate”) and say nothing in his re-election campaign except that the economy was terrific and would be even better in the second term. Whenever I ran into Morris slithering around the West Wing (to this day I think of him as a snake), I suggested he urge Bill to advance some policies for the second term's agenda — a hike in the minimum wage, universal pre-K, paid family leave, Medicare for all. Morris's invariable response: “If Clinton pushes any of these, there won't be a second term.” I said there was no point in having a second term without an agenda to do something important in the second term. He argued back that there was no use having an agenda without a second term. I began calling this the Dick Morris paradox. If the only way to get or keep power is to say nothing to the public about what you believe or intend to achieve, or to mislead the public, what's the point of having power? To Morris and most other political operatives, this question makes no sense. Politics is about getting and keeping power — nothing more or less. Principles have nothing to do with it. A candidate's beliefs and values are beside the point. Operators like Dick Morris defend themselves by saying politicians have a responsibility to mirror whatever the public wants or believes.But what if the public has been lied to by a conman who tells them the last election was stolen? What if he has cynically exploited their bigotry, ignorance, or distrust?Under these circumstances, should candidates merely reflect what the conman has stirred up, as Harriet Hageman has done in Wyoming and other Republican candidates are doing with Trump's Big Lie elsewhere? Or should candidates risk losing political power (or never gaining it) by standing on their own principles? The dilemma on the Democrats' side is not nearly as dangerous for the nation, but it exists nonetheless. Some of today's Democratic candidates are moving to the so-called “center” because they've convinced themselves they must do so in order to gain or hold power, which is better than not having any. But is gaining or holding power more important than telling the public what one truly believes, and speaking truth? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

The original justification for elite higher education in the United States was to train the future leaders of American democracy. As Charles W. Eliot, who became president of Harvard in 1869, noted, Harvard existed to inculcate the ideals of “service and stewardship.”Since then, Harvard has produced eight US presidents; Yale, five. (Stanford can boast Herbert Hoover, if it feels compelled to do so.)Elite universities have also produced a disproportionate number of senators and representatives from both parties. In fact, Republicans elected to the Senate over the last decade are more likely than their Democratic counterparts to have attended Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford.So how to explain Elise Stefanik, Harvard class of 2006, now the third-ranking House Republican, who recently called the January 6 hearings a “partisan witch hunt,” voted to invalidate the 2020 election, and has repeated Trump's Big Lie of election fraud?Or Josh Hawley, Stanford class of 2002 and Yale Law class of 2006, now senator from Missouri, who in December 2020 became the first US senator to announce plans to object to the certification of Joe Biden's victory, then led Senate efforts to overturn the Electoral College vote count, and fist-bumped the rioters on January 6?Or Ted Cruz, Princeton class of 1992 and Harvard Law class of 1995, now senator from Texas, who in late 2020 joined in John Eastman's and Trump's plot to object to the election results in six swing states and delay accepting the Electoral College results on January 6, potentially enabling Republican state legislatures to overturn them?And how to explain a new crop of Republican senate candidates?JD Vance, Yale Law class of 2013, now Republican candidate for the Senate from Ohio, has claimed that there “were certainly people voting illegally on a large-scale basis” in the 2020 election. When asked earlier this year if the 2020 election was “stolen,” he said, “Yeah, I do.”Blake Masters, Stanford class of 2008 and Stanford Law class of 2012, now the Republican candidate for the Senate from Arizona, has declared in campaign ads that “Trump won.” He promotes rightwing “replacement theory” – that Democrats favor illegal immigration “so that someday they can ‘amnesty' these people and make them voters who they expect to vote Democrat.”These alumni of America's finest institutions of higher education haven't adhered to their alma maters' ideals of service and stewardship of American democracy. In fact, they're actively wrecking American democracy.Nor can these elite graduates claim they don't know any better. Most third-graders can distinguish a lie from the truth.No, these scions of the most prestigious halls of American academe are knowingly and intentionally abetting the most dangerous attack on American democracy since the Civil War.Whatever did they learn from their rarified education? Obviously, zilch.The core of a good liberal arts education is ethics. The central question is the meaning of a good society. This has been the case since the eighteenth century, when most of America's prestigious institutions of higher education were founded.Adam Smith, the progenitor of modern economics, didn't call his field economics. He called it “moral philosophy,” and thought his book The Theory of Moral Sentiments more important than his The Wealth of Nations.Edmund Burke – Irish statesman and philosopher, and godfather of modern conservatism – didn't advise that people in public life seek power above all else. He argued that they owe the public their “judgment and conscience.”There is no single answer to the meaning of a good society, of course. It is the pursuit of it that draws on one's judgment and conscience. This is why higher education has advanced the role of reason in human affairs and stood for the Enlightenment values of democracy and the rule of law.But this new crop of Republican pretenders hasn't learned anything of the kind. They are practitioners of a much earlier and more cynical set of ideas: that might makes right, that the purpose of human endeavor is to gain power, and that ambition and treachery trump (excuse the verb) all other values.I can't help wondering: What do they see when they look into the mirror each morning? And what do they tell themselves after a day of deceit?Any of them who tries to justify the despicable means they are employing by telling themselves they can do more good by gaining or keeping power is under a dangerous illusion. As the great civil rights leader Bayard Rustin once said, “If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end.”These products of the best education America has to offer are betraying the core values of America.They deserve only shame. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

Defamation law may turn out to be America's most important weapon against rightwing media lies.On Friday, Infowars star Alex Jones' parent media company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy in the midst of a defamation damages trial underway in Austin, Texas. Jones, you may recall, had portrayed the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre as a hoax involving actors, aimed at increasing gun control. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was among the 20 children and six educators killed, have sued Jones and his media company for $150 million. Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation.To win a defamation lawsuit, a plaintiff must show four things: the defendant made a false statement purporting to be fact; the statement was published or communicated; the defendant failed to exercise reasonable care or, worse, knew the statement was incorrect and hurtful but made it anyway; and the plaintiff suffered harm as a result.By these criteria, it's no wonder Jones will soon be paying out a fortune in damages. Declaring bankruptcy won't save him. Defamation litigation is slow and expensive and, like all litigation, it enriches lawyers. It can also be abused. Anyone remember what happened to Gawker after its tech blog published a post under the headline, “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people”? Billionaire Thiel quietly bankrolled Hulk Hogan, the professional wrestler, to sue Gawker for defaming Hogan in a totally unrelated story — and Hogan's nine-figure defamation award bankrupted Gawker Media.But at a time when social media can't be trusted to police itself against weaponized lies, and when much of the public doesn't trust government to regulate social media, defamation lawsuits may be the best we can hope for.One America News (OAN), a right-wing media organization that pushed conspiracy theories about the election, is facing so many defamation lawsuits from those injured by the network's lies that its future is now in doubt.Five years ago, Trump was ecstatic about OAN's flattering coverage of him. By the summer of 2020 -- dissatisfied with what he considered insufficient gushing by Fox News – Trump was urging his followers to switch to OAN and Newsmax, calling them “much better” than Fox. He did the same after the election, when OAN's journalists were more willing than many Fox correspondents to continue pushing Trump's Big Lie. Last December, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss, Georgia election workers, sued OAN hosts and guests, including Rudy Giuliani, for baselessly accusing them of committing election fraud and engaging in a criminal conspiracy. Freeman and Moss said OAN's lies subjected them to an onslaught of harassment and racist threats, leading one of them to leave her home for months at the recommendation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. OAN ultimately settled the case for an undisclosed sum. Apparently as part of the settlement agreement, OAN admitted on air that Freeman and Miss “did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct.”Meanwhile, Dominion Voting Systems, which provided voting machines to 28 states in the 2020 election, has accused OAN of defaming the company and its products by airing false reports that its machines switched votes from Donald Trump to President Biden, thereby hurting its business and putting its employees in danger. (One of those employees, Eric Coomer, received death threats after OAN named him in a report as an alleged collaborator of the far-left movement, antifa. Coomer is now suing OAN, too.) The litigation has not gone well for OAN. Judges have rejected its motions to dismiss the case. In one ruling, a judge concluded that OAN acted “maliciously and consciously” in perpetuating falsehoods about Dominion, and that its chief White House correspondent, Chanel Rion, failed to exercise even minimal journalistic standards.In April, OAN was dropped by AT&T's DirecTV, which has about 15 million subscribers. Verizon just announced it would stop carrying OAN on its Fios television service. OAN will soon be available to no more than a few hundred thousand people.Dominion isn't stopping with OAN. It's seeking a total of $1.6 billion in damages extending to Newsmax as well as to Fox News and Fox News's parent, the News Corp. And it's seeking an additional $1.3 billion in damages from each of Trump's most whacko conspirators — Sydney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.As to the News Corp, Dominion alleges that Rupert Murdoch and his son, Lachlan, acted with “actual malice” because they knew that the lie Fox News was touting was false.Defamation lawsuits aren't sure things, and they pose potential threats to the free press. But if the press is alert to errors and corrects them quickly, defamation shouldn't be a problem.Sarah Palin recently lost her defamation suit against The New York Times, in which she alleged that the Times defamed her when it erroneously linked her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting. Part of the reason Palin lost was the Times quickly corrected its mistake. The Times' behavior stands in sharp contrast to that of Fox News. Although Dominion repeatedly asked Fox News to stop its lies and correct the record, Fox persisted even though it knew they were lies (Dominion cites a report that Rupert Murdoch spoke with Trump a few days after the election “and informed him that he had lost.”)Even if it loses the lawsuit, Fox News can weather this storm financially (although cable providers are likely to use the lawsuit to drive down what Fox charges them when they renegotiate their contracts at the end of this year).Notably, though, Trump has not been interviewed on Fox in more than a hundred days and the network has avoided live coverage of his rallies and speeches, while granting more airtime to other Republican presidential hopefuls, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Meanwhile, Murdoch's Wall Street Journal and New York Post have issued sharp rebukes of Trump.Is this because the Murdochs have had a change of heart about Trump? Or because they've had a change of litigation strategy? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

John Heilemann talks with Jonathan Lemire, White House Bureau Chief at Politico, host of Way Too Early on MSNBC, and author of the new book, The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020. Heilemann and Lemire discuss the January 6 select committee's final hearing of the summer; the scandal over the Secret Service's purge of text messages from the day of the Capitol riot; and the growing impatience among top White House officials with Attorney General Merrick Garland's Justice Department over its apparent lethargy around bringing criminal charges against former President Trump related to the insurrection. Lemire also unpacks the history of Trump's Big Lie as an idea; recalls what it was like to see his face on every TV screen in the world for days after asking the question at the 2018 Helsinki summit that led Trump to declare that he sided with Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence officials regarding Russia's interference in 2016; and discusses various 2024 scenarios, from a Biden v Trump rematch to potential presidential runs by Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom, the ultra-thirsty governors of Florida and California. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this episode of "The Philip LeBlanc Show," guest Arthur Therapy (Curtis Retherford), host of the Trump true crime podcast "Sweet Jesus, I Cannot Believe All This Shit Was Allowed to Happen," helps identify who is who within the tangled conspiracy that is Trump's Big Lie. It does not help that they are all named Jon Raffen-something.This WLHR podcast was written and performed by Adam Bozarth and Anna Rubanova.If you would like to support fake public radio, please visit patreon.com/lefthandedradio and become a patron today!Leave a message for Philip LeBlanc at 413-547-1055WLHR merchandise is available at teepublic.com/user/left-handed-radioMORE MERCH: http://www.lefthandedradio.com/merchLeftHandedRadio.com | patreon.com/LeftHandedRadiohttp://twitch.tv/lefthandedradiofacebook.com/LeftHandedRadio | instagram.com/lefthandedradio | twitter.com/LeftHandedRadiolefthandedradio@gmail.com | https://www.tiktok.com/@lefthandedradioSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Tonight is the eighth and last of the scheduled public hearings of the House Select Committee on the January 6 attack (the committee is still gathering evidence and may schedule additional hearings). So this is a good time to press the pause button and examine what the committee is accomplishing. The committee is clearly building a criminal case against Trump and his closest enablers of seditious conspiracy, a crime defined as “conspiring to overthrow, put down, or destroy by force the government of the United States or to oppose by force the authority thereof.” I expect the committee will make a criminal referral to the Justice Department, handing over all its evidence. Ideally, Trump, along with Giuliani, Powell, Stone, Flynn, Navarro, Bannon, Meadows, and other co-conspirators, will be convicted and end up in jail. But the Committee has a second purpose — one that has received too little attention: to stop Trump's continuing attack on American democracy. Even as the committee reveals Trump's attempted coup in the months leading up to and during the January 6 attack, the attempted coup continues. Trump hasn't stopped giving speeches to stir up angry mobs with his Big Lie — he'll be giving another tomorrow in Arizona. Trump hasn't stopped pushing states to alter the outcomes of the 2020 election — last week he urged Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to support a resolution that would retract Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes cast for Biden. Trump is actively backing candidates who propound the Lie. Several prominent Republican candidates for the Senate and for governor — such as JD Vance in Ohio, Blake Masters in Arizona, and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania — are running on it. Republican candidates across America are using increasingly violent language. Republicans lawmakers in several states are enacting legislation to take over election machinery and ignore the popular vote. Meanwhile, the lives of committee members and their families have been threatened. Witnesses are receiving gangster-style warnings not to cooperate. The committee's message to all of America, including Republicans: Stop supporting this treachery. In other words, the committee's work is not just backward-looking — revealing Trump's attempted coup. It is also forward-looking, appealing to Americans to reject his continuing attempted coup. In order to accomplish this, the committee is doing six important things:First, it's making crystal clear that the continuing attempted coup is based on a lie — which is why the committee has repeatedly shown Trump's Attorney General William Barr, saying:I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations [of voter fraud], but they were made in such a sensational way that they obviously were influencing a lot of people, members of the public, that there was this systemic corruption in the system and that their votes didn't count and that these machines controlled by somebody else were actually determining it, which was complete nonsense. And it was being laid out there, and I told them that it was — that it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on that. And it was doing a grave disservice to the country. Second, the committee is showing that the battle between democracy and authoritarian is non-partisan. Not only are the committee's vice-chairman Liz Cheney and committee member Adam Kinzinger, Republican representatives, but most of the committee's witnesses are Republicans who worked in the Trump White House or as Republican-elected state officials, or they staffed Republican legislators or served as judges appointed by Republican presidents. All appear before the committee as American citizens who are disgusted by and worried about Trump's attempted coup. When Cheney displayed a message Trump tweeted after the assault on the Capitol began, in which he claimed Vice President Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done," Cheney asked former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson for her reaction. Hutchinson responded:As a staffer that works to always represent the administration to the best of my ability, and to showcase the good things that he had done for the country, I remember feeling frustrated, disappointed, it felt personal, I was really sad. As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic, it was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie.Third, the committee is appealing to Republican lawmakers to stop supporting Trump's continuing attempted coup. During the first televised hearing, Liz Cheney issued an explicit warning: We take our oath to defend the United States constitution. And that oath must mean something. Tonight. I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain. Fourth, the committee wants the public to see that average Americans have fallen for Trump's treachery, with disastrous results. Witness Stephen Ayres, who described himself as “nothing but a family man and a working man” participated in the January 6 attack because Trump “basically put out, you know, come to the Stop the Steal rally, you know, and I felt like I needed to be down here. … I was, you know, I was very upset, as were most of his supporters.” When Liz Cheney asked Ayers, “Would it have made a difference to you to know that President Trump himself had no evidence of widespread fraud?” he replied, “Oh, definitely … I may not have come down here then.”Fifth, the committee is reminding Americans of their duties to democracy. Committee chair Bennie Thompson, last week:When I think about the most basic way to explain the importance of elections in the United States, there's a phrase that always comes to mind. It may sound straightforward, but it's meaningful. We settle our differences at the ballot box. Sometimes my choice prevails, sometimes yours does, but it's that simple. We cast our votes. We count the votes. If something seems off with the results, we can challenge them in court, and then we accept the results. When you're on the losing side, that doesn't mean you have to be happy about it. And in the United States, there's plenty you can do and say so. You can protest. You can organize. You can get ready for the next election to try to make sure your side has a better chance the next time the people settle their differences at the ballot box. But you can't turn violent. You can't try to achieve your desired outcome through force or harassment or intimidation. Any real leader who sees their supporters going down that path, approaching that line has a responsibility to say stop, we gave it our best, we came up short, we try again next time, because we settle our differences at the ballot box.Others on the committee have spoken about the danger to democracy of mobs and demagogues. Here's committee member Jamie Raskin: In 1837, a racist mob in Alton, Illinois broke into the offices of an abolitionist newspaper and killed its editor, Elijah Lovejoy. Lincoln wrote a speech in which he said that no transatlantic military giant could ever crush us as a nation, even with all of the fortunes in the world. But if downfall ever comes to America, he said, we ourselves would be its author and finisher. If racist mobs are encouraged by politicians to rampage and terrorize, Lincoln said, they will violate the rights of other citizens and quickly destroy the bonds of social trust necessary for democracy to work. Mobs and demagogues will put us on a path to political tyranny, Lincoln said. This very old problem has returned with new ferocity today, as a president who lost an election deployed a mob, which included dangerous extremists, to attack the constitutional system of election and the peaceful transfer of power. Finally, the committee is showing that Trump's attempted coup is ongoing. Near the end of last week's hearing, Cheney revealed that:After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation. A witness you have not yet seen in these hearings. That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump's call and instead alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice. Let me say one more time, we will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously.I have no idea whether the hearings will lead to criminal indictments and convictions of Trump and his enablers, but I do believe the hearings are finding their way into the public's consciousness. This may prove to be as — if not more — valuable than a criminal proceeding. Not even a criminal conviction will change the minds of those who believe Trump's Big Lie; to the contrary, it may make them even more suspicious or paranoid, possibly leading to further violence. But the hearings may begin to convince Trump supporters that he's a dangerous charlatan. The hearings already appear to be having an effect. The percentage of Republicans who say Trump misled people about the 2020 election has ticked up since last month, while a majority of Americans say Trump committed a crime. At the same time, Trump's enormous fundraising operation has slowed. A New York Times/Siena College poll last week that showed nearly half of Republican primary voters would rather vote for a Republican other than Trump in 2024. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who may run in 2024, has been gaining on Trump in some polls, including in New Hampshire, the first primary state, where one recent survey had DeSantis statistically tied with Trump among Republican primary voters. In 1954, I watched the Army-McCarthy hearings from our living room sofa — my father and I squinting into a tiny television screen (my father yelling “son-of-a-b***h!” every time McCarthy or his chief counsel, Roy Cohn, spoke). McCarthy had picked a fight with the U.S. Army, charging lax security at a top-secret army facility. The army hired Boston lawyer Joseph Welch to make its case. At a session on June 9, 1954, McCarthy charged that one of Welch's young staff attorneys had ties to a Communist organization. As the television audience looked on, Welch responded with the lines that ultimately ended McCarthy's career: "Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness." When McCarthy tried to continue his attack, Welch angrily interrupted, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?"Almost overnight, McCarthy's immense national popularity evaporated. Censured by his Senate colleagues, ostracized by his party, and ignored by the press, McCarthy died three years later, 48 years old and a broken man. Is there a lesson here?Please consider a paid or gift subscription to help sustain this work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

American democracy is under attack in more ways than ever before. From the disinformation and voter suppression efforts based on Trump's Big Lie, to the GOP abandoning democracy for their own power, to foreign cyber attacks and good old fashion voter machine manipulation. Congress is unable to pass a voter protection bill because the Republicans keep stonewalling and now the GOP are actively telling us they're going to elect people who will cheat, suppress and even invalidate votes to make sure their candidates end up on top. We all need to vote, but we also need our votes are safe and secure when we do it. Today we talk to election security advocate, lawyer and political writer, Jennifer Cohn about what we can do, what we should demand and what we can look out for when it comes to protecting our elections. Guest social: Twitter: @jennycohn1 Medium: https://jennycohn1.medium.com/jennifer-cohn-links-to-articles-podcasts-talks-and-interviews-8e7916bdfc77 Please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward!   All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   Don't forget to send questions via email, video or audio for the ASK PG Episode to: ask@politicsgirl.com   Thank you to today's sponsors!  www.clickup.com - code: politicsgirl www.beistravel.com/politicsgirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is not the only body battling the Big Lie perpetuated by Donald Trump and his allies. A prominent group of conservatives issued a detailed report on Thursday showing that there is "absolutely no evidence of widespread fraud" in the 2020 election. The question remains: will their conservative peers finally listen? David Hoppe, former chief of staff for Speaker Paul Ryan, and one of the authors of the aforementioned report, and Abdallah Fayyad, opinion writer for The Boston Globe, join Joy Reid to discuss. Plus, Democrats were accused of lying about a 10-year-old pregnant rape victim. Now that the horrible story is confirmed, we discuss what it tells us about the terrifying future of reproductive rights in America. Finally, another generation of young Americans is saying -- loud and clear -- pass that torch to us. Joy Reid and her panel analyze the large age gap between many Democratic leaders and young voters, and what can be done to bridge the gap. All this and more in this edition of The ReidOut on MSNBC.

The link is tightening between America's move toward theocracy and its slide toward autocracy.It is important to understand these connections. The Supreme Court's overturning of Roe, its expanded reading of the Second Amendment, and its eagerness to elevate religious freedom over the Constitution's guarantee against established religion come from the same cloth as Republican state legislative attacks on democracy, the GOP's fealty to Trump's Big Lie, and white supremacy.At the Faith & Freedom Coalition's “Road to Majority” conference in Nashville last month, speakers explicitly embraced the theology of “Dominionism” -- the idea that “right-thinking” Christians have a biblically derived mandate to take control of all aspects of government and society. Trump's keynote at the conference made the connections explicit. He warned that the “radical Left” is “trying to destroy organized religion” and “trying to shred our Constitution,” and continued: “The greatest danger to America is not our enemies from the outside, as powerful as they may be. The greatest danger to America is the destruction of our nation from the people from within. And you know the people I'm talking about.” Other speakers labeled Democrats “evil,” “tyrannical” and “the enemy within,” and charged that Democrats were engaged in “a war against the truth.” Senator Rick Scott of Florida predicted “the backlash is coming. Just mount up and ride to the sounds of the guns, and they are all over this country. It is time to take this country back.” Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina (the state's first Black lieutenant governor and a virulent critic of so-called “critical race theory”) said he expected “a pitched battle to literally save this nation.” Referencing a passage from Ephesians that Christian nationalists often use to signal their militancy, Robinson added, “I don't know about you, but I got my pack on, I got my boots on, I got my helmet on, I've got on the whole armor.”The connections between these strands of rightwing ideology are growing clearer and louder — theocratic Christianity, gun violence, the subjugation of women through forced birth, and strongman authoritarianism. Christian nationalism now taking over the Republican Party envisions vigilante justice -- “good guys with guns,” neighbors eavesdropping on neighbors, and action to stop what they call “abortion trafficking” — women crossing state lines to access legal abortions. Widespread access to guns is essential to keep everyone under control, suppress protests, and fuel fear. To call this a “culture” war is to understate its true meaning and potential danger. Those of us who still believe in separating church and state, guarding reproductive rights, ensuring racial equality, ending gun violence, and protecting democracy must understand that much of the Republican Party now stands for the exact opposite of these values.The funders and kingmakers of the Republican Party see all this for what it is: an effort to hold on to power in the face of massive demographic shifts: toward women (who now constitute 60 percent of all university enrollees, and therefore the future power structure) and people of color, and away from formal religion. Over the longer term, the Republican Party is doomed. In the meantime, with a rightwing majority on the Supreme Court, legislative majorities in states determined to suppress votes and dominate election machinery, an authoritarian strongman president waiting in the wings, and an ideology of Christian nationalism, the GOP will do what it can to hold on. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

Former President Donald Trump was not lacking in pardon requests in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riots, according to new information revealed during the hearings on Thursday. Among those who asked for pardons: Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Mo Brooks (R-AL). That in itself proves that Brooks knew Trump's “Big Lie” was a load of BS, says New Abnormal co-host Andy Levy on the latest post-hearing episode. Also in this episode, Jay Willis, editor in chief of Balls & Strikes, breaks down two Supreme Court rulings, including the rejection of gun control legislation in New York, loudly proclaimed in an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas. “Thomas' opinion basically freezes firearm regulation as it existed [in the Constitution],” Willis says of Thomas' mind-boggling explanation. Last but not least, Greg Sargent, author of The Washington Post's The Plum Line blog, makes the case that the Jan. 6 hearings are absolutely making an impact.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our guest today on Mea Culpa is the groundbreaking, congressional reporter for the Guardian, Hugo Lowell. Lowell has broken a number of high-profile stories about the January 6th committee's investigation. Join Michael and Hugo for an in-depth conversation about the January 6th hearings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our guest today on Mea Culpa is the groundbreaking, congressional reporter for the Guardian, Hugo Lowell. Lowell has broken a number of high-profile stories about the January 6th committee's investigation. Join Michael and Hugo for an in-depth conversation about the January 6th hearings. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We have always known what Donald Trump said and did in his statements his speeches and his tweets - insisting that the only way he could lose the election is it it was "rigged." But thanks to the evidence revealed by the J6 House slect committee public hearings, we know know the private conversations - or, by another name, the evidence - behind the lies. And the liberal progression of Trump's criminal scheme to is as obvious as it is incriminating. Here's the breakdown of this dramatically incriminating evidence. For our Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise shop, please visit: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkirschner/ Please consider becoming a #TeamJustice patron at: https://www.patreon.com/glennkirschner My podcast, "Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner" can be downloaded where you get your podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/JusticeMatters Follow me on: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirschner2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have always known what Donald Trump said and did in his statements his speeches and his tweets - insisting that the only way he could lose the election is it it was "rigged." But thanks to the evidence revealed by the J6 House slect committee public hearings, we know know the private conversations - or, by another name, the evidence - behind the lies. And the liberal progression of Trump's criminal scheme to is as obvious as it is incriminating. Here's the breakdown of this dramatically incriminating evidence. For our Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise shop, please visit: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkirschner/ Please consider becoming a #TeamJustice patron at: https://www.patreon.com/glennkirschner My podcast, "Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner" can be downloaded where you get your podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/JusticeMatters Follow me on: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirschner2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seth takes a closer at multiple Trump aides and advisers confirming on tape there was no evidence of Trump's stolen election lies and Rudy Giuliani getting wasted on election night.Then, Christine Baranski talks about glaring at Elon Musk at the Met Gala, her character in The Gilded Age and the end of her series The Good Fight.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In blunt testimony to the January 6th committee, former Attorney General William Barr testified he thought Donald Trump was “detached from reality” as the former President continued to tout the lie of a stolen election, a lie that had been repeatedly been debunked by Trump's own advisors and campaign. Interweaving recorded interviews with live witnesses, on day two of the hearings, the committee focused on Trump's knowledge that there was no credible basis for claims the 2020 election had been stolen and heard that there were two camps among Trump's advisors: Team Normal and Team Rudy, which urged Trump to claim victory and pushed lies about voting fraud. We'll talk to Select Committee member Representative Zoe Lofgren and a panel of experts about other revelations.

...Plus, Trump's Big Lie metastasizes in the absence of accountability

John Fetterman wins Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary. Madison Cawthorn loses his bid for reelection. Republican candidates continue to push Trump's Big Lie. Scientists highlight the dangers of air pollution. Co-Host: Jayar Jackson (@JayarJackson)Become a TDR YouTube Member: http://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport/join Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOINSubscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1Follow The Damage Report on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedamagereport?lang=enFollow The Damage Report on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/thedamagereport/ Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Madison Cawthorn Gets DUMPED By Voters! - https://youtu.be/B_ZRnK3zXawFetterman Pulls Off DECISIVE PA Defeat In Tight Election - https://youtu.be/2EZkGTYpxbgLauren Boebert Accidentally Slaps Herself In The Face - https://youtu.be/vgONqEJ5hhESummer Lee Destroys All Expectations Against MEGA Funded Opposition - https://youtu.be/IOcyFe4M7QY See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kevin McCarthy gets busted for the Big Lie - Is this his political end? Is Marjorie Green going to show the way to stop other crazy far right wing republicans? Integrative Veterinarian Dr. Marty Goldstein explains the Spirit of Animal Healing. Well what have Democrats done for us lately? Here it is... Why the hell isn't Jared Kushner's $2 Billion Saudi payment a bigger scandal?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week's episode features an alarming conversation with returning guest Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshipers and The Good News Club, as well as numerous articles in a variety of online sources. In this chat, we discussed a January 2022 article Katherine wrote in The New Republic in which she not only identified some of the funding behind several Christian Right organizations in America, but also a more alarming trend: the support for Trump's "Big Lie" by these same outfits.  Not only are they pushing it, they are weaponizing this conspiracy theory to motivate both pastors and evangelicals alike to get out and vote in 2022 and 2024 in an effort to "reclaim America for God"--as in the allegedly Christian nation that America both was, and should be again. Join the MindShift Patreon Community! Contact Information Follow Katherine on Twitter @kathsstewart Follow me on Twitter @MIndShift2018