Gaslit Nation with Andrea Chalupa and Sarah Kendzior

This week we give the authoritarianism weather report – packed courts, purged agencies, and a pandemic running rampant as the Trump administration lies – and then examine a potential solution: Elizabeth Warren’s binder full of plans! We run through her proposals on information warfare, violent white supremacy, transnational crime, election integrity, and more! We argue that regardless of who wins the nomination, they should consult Warren’s plans as a roadmap out of this hellhole.

Hey you guys, did you hear – we’re living in a burgeoning authoritarian state! Much like we have been for the last four years! This week we discuss the delayed revelations of the punditry, what’s behind their unwillingness to state the obvious for so long, and ponder how long their clarity will last until collective amnesia kicks in again. More ominously, we examine the continued annihilation of the court system under Trump’s Roy Cohn reincarnation, Bill Barr.

We interview Steve Pierson and Mariah Craven of the progressive activist group Swing Left and hosts of the grassroots power podcast How We Win, about how Dems can prepare for 2020 – and win with Swing Left's Super State Strategy. We discuss whether the Dems can take the House and the Senate, how best to beat Trump, and how to bridge divides within the Democratic party. We also break down the obstacles beyond Trump – voter suppression, gerrymandering, and an obstructionist GOP that may simply not concede.

In a week when the GOP Senate will likely take their criminal president and crown him criminal king, we look at the big picture – treason, disinformation, and how to resist. Much like the Senate trial itself, our conversation centers on Ukraine. This week Andrea interviews Ukrainian journalist Olga Tokariuk about how disinformation makes its way from the Kremlin into western media and even into western courts, as demonstrated by a recent court case in Italy in which online Kremlin propaganda formed much of the “evidence”. This situation can happen anywhere, including here in the United States. Andrea and Olga also discuss censorship, state violence, and the difficulties in being a journalist in an era where multiple regimes seek to annihilate the very concept of truth.

We discuss key figures in the impeachment process – including Adam Schiff, John Roberts, and John Bolton – and what they’re trying to accomplish and how. In the first social media impeachment, their words are parsed and received, leading, in one case, to “Voldemort Putin” trending on Twitter. We also discuss how the destruction of the judiciary over the course of the Trump administration impacts the proceedings, and we touch on the Supreme Court and their recent horrendous anti-immigrant ruling.