The Last Billionaires

A conversation with Sanho Tree on the illegal blockade of Cuba, Trump's buzz from Venezuela, and how Trump lit every fuse at once. If you want to understand why the world feels like it's on fire in six different places — and why those fires are not as unrelated as you might think — there no better guide than Sanho Tree. Sanho is a senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies , a former World...

It was an extraordinary abuse of power. The FBI showed up in Fulton County, Georgia, and seized 700 boxes of ballots from the 2020 election. And standing nearby, for reasons that may actually be illegal, was Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence. Voting rights expert Ari Berman says this attack on our elections wasn't just about 2020. It is an unignorable sign that Donald Trump and...

But the next best time is now. Michael Edison Hayden—author of " STRANGE PEOPLE ON THE HILL " and co-host of " Posting Through It "—gives the backstory of blockbuster stories he wrote while working for the Southern Poverty Law Center,  based on emails Stephen Miller exchanged with Breitbart News . The context he adds to that story, and the connections to his new book about extremists buying a cast...

Spend a minute and a half thinking about what's happening in Minneapolis as an American citizen. We don't know who Woke Hoth Guy is but we share this only out of respect for his words and solidarity.  Found here: https://bsky.app/profile/classhuggle.bsky.social/post/3md7362oo7s25  

Will your vote count in 2026? It may be the most important question we can ask right now. There's no one better to ask than Ari Berman. He's the author of MINORITY RULE and GIVE US THE BALLOT. He is also the National Voting Rights Correspondent for Mother Jones, and he has been covering the "GOP War on Voting" for over a decade.

Read more: Trump Keeps Demanding that You Stop Talking about His Jeffrey Epstein Problem https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/26/trump-keeps-demanding-that-you-stop-talking-about-his-jeffrey-epstein-problem/   If Dems Successfully Message on News Outlets Lefty Pundits No Longer Read, Did It Ever Happen? https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/27/if-a-dems-successfully-message-on-news-outlets-lefty-pundit...

Marcy Wheeler looks deeper into news that Trump's former defense attorney, now the deputy attorney general, will reach out to Ghislaine Maxwell. She lays out how Trump is orchestrating a cover-up scheme to protect himself from damaging Epstein revelations by getting Ghislaine Maxwell out of prison through a cooperation deal that will target his political opponents instead.

Donald Trump was desperately trying to regain his superpower, attempting to grab attention and refocus it. He ended up on an Obama conspiracy theory that's already been re-litigated five times. Read more at emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/18/tulsi-gabbard-accuses-kash-patel-of-covering-up-for-the-obama-deep-state/

emptywheel's Marcy Wheeler explains that the bubbling Jeffrey Epstein scandal is about two things: the underlying scandal and any ties Trump has to it, and the way it has disrupted Trump's normal super power ability to command and direct attention. Read more: Jeffrey Epstein Is about Trump's Failing Ability to Command Attention https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/13/jeffrey-epstein-is-about-command...

Marcy Wheeler explains the crucial distinctions in how liberals and the right-wing use language, the role of journalism, and the impact of amplifying polarizing messages. See how journalists act as data mules for Trump's truth social posts and the broader. And find out how FEMA's failures present an opportunity to build solidarity in everyone victimized by the regime's malicious ineptitude.

Find out more: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/07/pam-bondi-admits-she-must-fire-kash-patel-and-dan-bongino/

Marcy Wheeler digs deeper into the Catturd Deficit that allows white supremacists to use Xitter to rig the news. Then she looks at how Trump's illegal war on Iran has created unprecedented fractures in his base, from Russian useful idiots like Marjorie Taylor Greene to anti-Semitic voices like Candace Owens, and even convicted January 6th participants like Joe Biggs.  She explores how to exploit t...

X in 2025 is a machine of fascism , an undeniable Nazi bar filled with people who don't know the rule about what to do when a Nazi comes into a bar. Yet its influence has never been greater.  It's Elon Musk's megaphone and MAGA's primary digital outreach vector, especially when it comes to spinning lies in real time, such as they are trying to do in attempting to brand the Donald Trump-loving murd...

This podcast has ended for now. But the work continues Next Comes What uses history to tell us about what comes next. And what to do about it. It's hosted by Andrea Pitzer and produced by me. If you want to know how we got into this mess, check out Ball of Thread with Marcy Wheeler . Thanks for listening.

The woman who wrote the definitive global history of concentration camps explains how this could be our moment to escape authoritarianism Andrea Pitzer's book ONE LONG NIGHT  became essential reading during Donald Trump's presidency. This unforgettable global history of concentration camps provided clarity and context to the crimes the Trump administration was committing at the border in our names...

Ian Haney López  has a warning for America. The renowned law professor and author of MERGE LEFT  wrote the definitive book on DOG WHISTLE POLITICS, revealing how powerful elites escalate convenient divisions to conquer America's working class. His work has inspired the race-class narrative used in Minnesota  to thwart Trumpism. Yet he fears America may be on the verge of becoming a frog boiled by...

"Hey, there's this thing I found out about that's a way to elect Kamala Harris and all the Democrats downballot AND build community infrastructure long-term. And it's going to transform this country. It's cool. You may not know about it yet. Check it out." That's the pitch from Billy Wimsatt, the founder and executive director of the  Movement Voter Project , for the  Movement Voter Project.  And...

How the myths that trap women into being America's social safety net con young men and hurt (pretty much) everyone. "In the US, we groom girls to stand in for the social safety net from the time they're old enough to hold a doll." From the first line of Jessica Calarco' s fantastic new book " HOLDING IT TOGETHER: How Women Became America's Safety Net ," you're confronted with truths that may chang...

How Americans overseas could help save our democracy at home Only 8% of Americans outside the United States voted in the last presidential election. Angela Fobbs is doing her best to change that.  An American living in Germany, Angela–like many of us–was ignited when Donald Trump took the presidency in 2016. And she's one of the many good-hearted Americans in Democrats Abroad  around the globe try...

Wisconsin's first truly democratic election in over a decade has already begun.   And if you want to know how November might look in the nation's Tipping Point State, you've got to read Dan Shafer at The Recombobulation Area , which recently became a part of the Civic  Media Network .  Dan describes how the election of Janet Protasiewicz to the state's Supreme Court last year has changed the board...

Zo Tobi is the communications director at the  Movement Voter Project , which is like a mutual fund that invests in trusted organizers building progressive power, especially in swing states. The group recently sent  a Bat Signal warning that the local ground game is badly underfunded .  You probably have the same thought many people did when I shared this: HOW THE HELL CONSIDERING HOW MUCH HARRIS...

No need to imagine the misery Trump/Vance would unleash on us. They're already living it in Alabama. Robin Marty is playing the long game. As the executive director of  West Alabama Women's Center (WAWC)  and the author of " New Handbook for a Post-Roe America ," she is living the nightmare of Project 2025 in Tuscaloosa. Every day, she sees the purposeful misery of a system ruled by right-wingers...

It is almost impossible to comprehend Donald Trump's political rise and fall and rise without the work of Kevin M. Kruse. Kevin is a historian who specializes in segregation and the civil rights movement, the rise of religious nationalism, and the making of modern conservatism. He co-edited the book  Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies of Our Past  and is the author of  W...

Tech billionaires want to disrupt democracy, and their sick philosophy is closer to the presidency than most of us want to admit. If two things go terribly wrong, Gil Duran  may be covering the biggest political story in US history. A few tech billionaires with a worldview that imagines themselves as the bad guys in almost every dystopian sci-fi story have handpicked the Republican vice presidenti...

The rhetorical analyst who wrote the book on Trump's demagoguery explains the power of positivity and weirdness. 2016 was the year we all became pundits. 2024 may be the year we all become rhetoricians. And no one is better at explaining how words help create and destroy democracy than Jennifer Mercieca.  The author of DEMAGOGUE FOR PRESIDENT: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump  can tell you wh...