On Offense with Kris Goldsmith

For years, we've been told that young white men are drifting to the political right. But what if we're asking the wrong questions? When I met fitness coach and content creator Colin Davis, I was reminded of my best friend who died at 18. It made me wonder: if he'd lived, who would he have become? Would he have followed the same path I did—or would he have been swept into the culture and politics t...

Americans are angry. Millions of people recognize the danger posed by authoritarianism. So why does opposition so often feel fragmented, exhausted, and ineffective? My guest this week is historian, Army veteran, and returning On Offense guest Tad Stoermer, author of A Resistance History of the United States. In his new book, Tad argues that Americans have been taught a version of history that enco...

What happened to QAnon? Most Americans stopped talking about it after January 6. The headlines faded. The QAnon Shaman disappeared from the news. The movement seemed to dissolve. But according to former Congressman and January 6 investigator Denver Riggleman, QAnon never really went away. In this episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith sits down with Riggleman to discuss how QAnon evolved from an in...

Gal Beckerman, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of How to Be a Dissident, joins Kris Goldsmith to discuss conformity, authoritarianism, propaganda, and the pressures that cause ordinary people to stay silent while democratic institutions erode around them. But more importantly, they discuss what makes dissidents different — and the values, behaviors, and habits that shape people willing to...

Omer Aziz, author of Shadows of the Republic: The Rebirth of Fascism in America and How to Defeat It for Good, joins Kris Goldsmith to discuss why fascism in America cannot be understood purely as an electoral or political phenomenon. Drawing from history, media culture, masculinity, religion, and modern online radicalization, Aziz explains how fascist movements use spectacle, identity, belonging,...

Former January 6 investigative counsel Tim Heaphy joins Kris Goldsmith for a difficult conversation about whether American democracy still works — and whether it can survive what’s happening now. Heaphy, a former U.S. Attorney and author of Harbingers and the forthcoming We Are the Answer: How to Save Our Democracy, helped lead major investigations into both the Charlottesville Unite the Right ral...

Most people think accountability is someone else’s job. But what happens when the institutions that are supposed to hold power accountable stop doing it? In this episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith sits down with the founder of The Existentialist Republic, Chris Armitage to examine growing concerns around Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court, and the broader accountability crisis at the...

BREAKING: The Department of Justice has charged the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) over its use of paid informants inside extremist groups. This episode was recorded before that news broke—but it explores the exact kind of work now at the center of that controversy: infiltrating extremist networks, documenting their activity, and the real cost of doing it. Our guest in this episode was one of...

In this special episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith takes you inside the anti-ICE concert and fundraiser that brought Minneapolis together after the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Featuring live performances by the Dropkick Murphys, this episode captures the sound, energy, and urgency of a community refusing to back down in the face of fear, violence, and political intimidation....

Who gets to decide who is a terrorist? In this episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith sits down with Ian Austin, a former Army Ranger who deployed six times and is now facing federal charges tied to an anti-ICE action in Minnesota. Ian says he went to Minneapolis because he saw something he recognized: fear, force, and a government using power against civilians in ways that felt disturbingly famili...

In this deeply emotional episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith brings listeners to Minneapolis for two conversations recorded in the wake of the killing of Alex Pretti and the federal immigration crackdown that has shaken the city. First, Kris sits down with Matt Gordon, better known online as @USMCAngryVeteran, to talk about why he has been traveling the country since Donald Trump’s return to off...

The Courts vs. DHS: ICE, Executive Power & the Rule of Law Federal judges across the country are being forced to confront a question that sits at the core of constitutional democracy: when DHS and ICE push the boundaries of their authority, who stops them? In this episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith is joined by legal journalist Chris Geidner, founder of Law Dork, to break down what’s actually h...

Hate doesn’t stay on the margins. It shows up in city council meetings, school board races, local sheriff elections, and “community” groups that want to look normal while they build power. In this episode, I’m joined by Phil Williams, chief investigative reporter at NewsChannel 5 Nashville and the writer behind Hate Comes to Main Street. Phil has documented how extremist networks embed themselves...

Since Trump’s reelection, people have been desperate for an answer to the question: what do I do now? In this episode of On Offense, I’m joined by Christopher Armitage, the writer behind Existentialist Republic, to lay out a practical blueprint for engaging local and state power—because it’s far more accessible than most people think. We talk about how everyday people can: Rally friendly local and...

In this episode of On Offense, Kristofer Goldsmith talks with investigative journalist Christopher Mathias, author of the new book To Catch a Fascist. Mathias spent more than a decade at HuffPost documenting the American far right—from white supremacist rallies and fascist street gangs to the federal agents who enable them. In this conversation, Kris and Chris talk about infiltration, antifascist...

Tim Whitaker is the founder of The New Evangelicals — a platform created to help evangelicals hold onto their faith without being pulled into a theocratic political movement. In this episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith shares his own journey from disillusionment with religion during the Iraq War to a deeper understanding of Christian nationalism as a rising authoritarian threat in America. Toget...

How far would you go to fight authoritarianism? In this episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith speaks with Rachel Cohen—a Harvard Law grad who quit her Big Law job at Skadden and put her body on the line to confront ICE operations in Chicago and Minneapolis. Rachel didn’t wait for mass arrests or national headlines—she got arrested before the raids began. She took action before things escalated. Th...

America’s status as a global superpower isn’t guaranteed—and it may already be gone. In this episode of On Offense, national security expert Dr. Nola Haynes joins Kris Goldsmith to talk about the collapse of U.S. credibility, the damage of “Trump policy,” and the reckoning America must face—at home and on the world stage. This isn’t just a conversation about decline. It’s about what comes next—and...

In the 1930s, U.S. Marine General Smedley Butler stopped a fascist coup backed by Wall Street. Today, under Trump’s second term, the same forces are rising again—from threats of war in Venezuela to coordinated attacks on democracy at home. Historian and journalist Jonathan M. Katz joins On Offense to break down Butler’s legacy, America’s long history of imperialism, and what it means to organize a...

Lieutenant General Russel Honoré doesn’t talk like most generals—and in this conversation, he doesn’t mince words about politicians who glorify war but avoid accountability, or veterans who use their military service as a shield while undermining democracy. That’s exactly why I wanted to have him on On Offense. Honoré knows what it means to lead troops under pressure. He’s the kind of leader who c...

On January 6, 2021, Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn stood his ground against the violent mob that tried to overturn the election. In this episode of On Offense, Kris Goldsmith—combat veteran and antifascist investigator—sits down with Harry to talk about what it took to defend democracy that day—and why the fight isn’t over. They get into: What it felt like to face off with insurrectionists in r...

Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey joins host Kris Goldsmith for a conversation about punk, patriotism, and the fight against fascism in the Trump era. For over 30 years, Dropkick Murphys have called out Nazis and racists—from the stage, in their lyrics, and with their platform. In this episode of On Offense, Ken talks about why the band has always been political—and why more artists should speak...

Historian and veteran Tad Stoermer joins host Kris Goldsmith for the debut episode of On Offense. Together, they dig into the dangerous power of patriotic myth-making—like that in Ken Burns’ ‘feel-good history’—and how it’s left Americans unprepared to face modern authoritarianism. They cover: What the Founders really understood about tyranny Why “defending democracy” isn’t enough The danger of co...

On Offense with Kris Goldsmith is a new podcast for anyone ready to fight for democracy and stand up to fascism. Hosted by U.S. Army combat veteran and antifascist investigator Kris Goldsmith, each episode goes inside extremist movements, breaks down how the far right is seizing power, and features frontline voices from the fight against authoritarianism. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcas...