Gaslit Nation

Constitutional law and voting rights attorney John Bonifaz answers our questions about one of the most contentious topics today – whether, when, and how to impeach Donald Trump. Bonifaz is the president and co-founder of Free Speech for People , a non-partisan advocacy group for a new constitutional amendment to limit campaign spending and repeal Citizens United, and the author of Warrior-King: Th...

This episode picks up where we left off last week in our breakdown of the Mueller Report, in particular the role of Paul Manafort who flagrantly announced his crimes and no one did anything to stop him; the constant underestimation of this transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government that spurred both the press and the Mueller probe to give them a pass; and the revelation that all fi...

At long last, the Mueller Report is here, and we are…underwhelmed. In the first episode of a two-part Mueller Report Special, we do an overview of the bizarre sequence of events that led to the Barr Report and the Mueller Report, which have been eclipsed by propaganda and atrocious media coverage. We examine the contents of the report itself, and ask questions like: why did Mueller fail to indict?...

We lay out, yet again, the urgent arguments for impeachment, and fact-check those we often hear against it. We also interview Alexandra Flores-Quilty ( @ A F Q _ 9 2 ) of the grassroots group B y t h e P e o p l e ( @ b y _ t h e _ p p l ) that works with Rep. Rashida Tlaib and other Congressional leaders to call for impeachment hearings. The worsening c r i s i s a t t h e U . S . b o r d e r ; t...

We discuss the Barr memo fallout, the insipid media coverage, the unchecked assassins of Russia and Saudi Arabia, Ukraine's election, FBI purges, and more.

As we've said repeatedly at Gaslit Nation, the crisis in the US was never about Trump vs Mueller, but about corruption and exploitation – about massive institutional failure that worsened over multiple decades, culminating in a kleptocracy backed by a transnational crime syndicate. We discuss what's next for the US and the world as the Trump team ramps up its autocratic goals.  

March 2019 marks the five-year anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea. We explain why the fake referendum in Crimea is called a "referendum by gun point" and provide background on Russia's annexation which had been in the works since the mid-2000s. The story of human rights abuses that continue to this day in Russian-occupied Crimea are told through the political prisoner Oleg Sentsov, a fil...

Impeachment sends a message about who we are as a country and what we will accept and abide. The rule of law demands action. Refusing to take action is normalizing atrocity. Lawlessness must be confronted regardless of the outcome, as a matter of principle and conscience. Fighting only the battles that you know you will win is a sure way of ensuring you lose; preemptive surrender, in a rapidly con...

Like Trump Tower Moscow, which was supposed to be the tallest building in Europe with a penthouse for mass-murderer Putin and an Ivanka Trump branded spa, the White House was another monument for Trump, in a long list of monuments he's built for himself over the years, and one that would help him and his family continue to live above the law. 

We are thrilled to welcome Carole Cadwalladr to Gaslit Nation. Carole is an investigative journalist who breaks major stories on the Kremlin and Mercer-backed Brexit vote, revealing a cast of nefarious characters that were also behind the election of Donald Trump. Her brave reporting, which won her the Orwell Prize  and makes her a target of hit pieces, has uncovered the growing vulnerability of e...

We break down decades of intertwined corruption in both the US and the UK and urge officials to seek actual accountability, because time is running out. Kleptocracy anywhere is kleptocracy everywhere, and it is ordinary citizens who pay the most painful price.

Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk, the head of the independent media network Hromadske TV, co-founded by a journalist - Mustafa Nayyem - that launched the EuroMaidan revolution with a Facebook post, looks back on lessons from Ukraine for the West. The discussion includes important insights for understanding international conflicts generally, like Ukraine and Venezuela, by focusing on the peop...

This week, we discuss the continued economic, environmental, and psychological fallout of the government shutdown, and speculate on what's in store later this month. We have a long discussion about the horrific forced separation of migrant children and parents at the US-Mexico border, which both violates the UN's Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and is reminisce...

Welcome to a very angry episode of Gaslit Nation! The government may be back open, but the US is not out of danger – we are merely in the eye of the hurricane as damage from the shutdown mounts and Trump threatens both another shutdown and a scheduled "national emergency." Sarah and Andrea discuss the toll the shutdown took on workers and how the broader ambition of the GOP – to strip the US down...

We breakdown Trump's war on America in the form of the longest government shutdown in our nation's history, the urgent case for # ImpeachmentNow , and examine Deripaska's very sweet sanctions deal. 

This isn't just a shutdown – it's a hostile restructuring. As the longest shutdown in US history drags on, Sarah and Andrea discuss the incredible toll it's taken on workers, the economy and national security. We discuss the apocalyptic vision of much of the GOP elite, including rapture-fiend Mike Pompeo and nuke-lover Trump, and how their destructiveness ties into the current goals of the shutdow...

We continue examining the diastrous fallout of the government shutdown and the toll it's taken on unpaid federal workers, national parks, and public safety. We debunk the myth that Trump did not understand what the shutdown would entail and argue that this is exactly what he and his camp have wanted: controlled chaos that allows him and other operatives to more easily strip the country down and se...

There is treason in the treasury, nepotism in the government, and corruption everywhere – it may be a new year, but it's the same sad story for the US! This week Sarah and Andrea discuss the cabinet shakeups that have left our government in the hands of a criminal syndicate bound by blood, marriage, and guilt; the retirement of James Mattis and what it means for US foreign policy, especially in Ru...

At Gaslit Nation, every week is Festivus because we have so many grievances to air ! Our Feat of Strength is that we survived 2018. This week, Sarah and Andrea's Airing of Grievances includes an in-depth look at Russian spy Maria Butina and her NRA "lover" Paul Erickson; a recap of the many criminal acts of Michael Flynn and some speculation as to why he may be eluding punishment; and a long, hard...

It's another wild week in the United States of America, where any child can grow up to be Individual One! Actually, that's not true, you have to choose a life of crime and complicity, and this week's Gaslit Nation discusses what's new for the indicted (Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort), the people who failed to stop them (James Comey), the accomplices (John Kelly, Nick Ayers), and the new guy who will...

In this week's Gaslit Nation, Sarah and Andrea express their ongoing frustration about last week's deja news avalanche of stories about corruption that remains unpunished. As America, the land of collective amnesia, realizes y e t a g a i n that Trump is a Russian asset following the confessions of Michael Cohen, Sarah and Andrea discuss what it means for brazen, blatant criminals to go caught but...

In this special episode of Gaslit Nation, Andrea interviews her mother Tanya Chalupa who championed the child carseat law and the seatbelt law in California, as well as working on other child safety bills. She explains how to get a law passed even if, as she was, you're an outsider with very little experience.  And yes, the big news of Manafort Monday is broken down - the explosive Guardian scoop...

Happy Thanksgiving, Gaslit Nation listeners! Sarah and Andrea are hosting a feast of interesting (and terrifying) commentary from folks around the US as they welcome winners of the Gaslit Nation Get Out the Vote contest onto the show. Our special guests – Valerie Carzello (@ScullyBully) of South Burlington, Vermont, Catherine Snyder (@catherinecritz) of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Brian Covey (@hi...

In this episode of Gaslit Nation, Sarah and Andrea are still way too excited about the midterm elections! The Blue Wave turned out to be a slow motion river flowing through the country and reshaping the political map in the process. We talk about the new winners and losers as well as the battles over voter suppression in Georgia and Florida and how it's not partisan to count all the damn votes. We...

The midterms are over and the results are…decidedly mixed! Sarah and Andrea discuss the historical night from their perspectives in Andrea's blue trifecta of New York and Sarah's red nightmare hellhole – er, trifecta – of Missouri. If you are a happy progressive living in a newly blue state or a frustrated progressive living in a newly red state or anything in between, this is the show for you!  W...