Refuse Fascism

Sam talks with three experts on widespread local fascist organizing around the country including the so-called Constitutional Sheriffs movement, the embrace by local governments of right wing militias and fascist efforts to modify the constitution itself. Devin Burghart (@dburghart) is the  Executive Director, at the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights . Carolyn Gallaher is a pr...

Sam talks with Merle Hoffman, long-time abortion rights activist and founder of one of the largest abortion clinics in the country, who has just written a memoir chronicling her decades of experience fighting for abortion rights. Get the book here: Choices: A Post Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto merlehoffman.com  and  choicesmedical.com or on Twitter:  @MerleHoffman. For those looking for abortion c...

Sam welcomes back onto the show Anthony DiMaggio and Henry Giroux to discuss their latest book  Fascism on Trial: Education and the Possibility of Democracy.  Dr. Henry A. Giroux is a renowned educator and author of multiple books on fascism and pedagogy. He holds the Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, Canada. Follow Dr. Giroux on T...

Sam speaks to the Supreme Court facilitating the further erosion of civil rights & foreboding upcoming elections outside of the U.S.  Then, frequent guest and guest host of the show, Coco Das shares reflections on SB4 (Texas' "Show Me Your Papers" law) and talks with award-winning Turkish writer and political thinker Ece Temelkuran discussing her essay in Prospect Magazine,  Fasc...

Sam comments on the downward spiral of the legal cases against Trump and the further consolidation of the RNC and “conservative movement” around MAGA fascism. Then, we share two interviews with people who have been actively resisting the escalating genocide in Gaza. First, a conversation with Dr. Nicole Erin Morse, Associate Professor of Media Studies and former Director of the Center for Women, G...

Sam talks with historian Rick Perlstein, author of multiple books about the US conservative movement including Nixonland , about his latest work on the contemporary era and the nexus between the fascists, the media, and the Democratic Party; what he calls "the infernal triangle." Subscribe to his newsletter at prospect.org and follow him on Twitter at  @rickperlstein . Then, Sam talks to...

Sam comments on SCOTUS hearing Trump's presidential immunity claim and Trump and Biden visits to the Texas-Mexico border. Then, she talks with Dr. Clarence Lusane to discuss the catastrophe for humanity of a second Trump presidency & lessons from the international rise of fascism.  Dr. Lusane is a professor and Director of the International Affairs program at Howard University. He is an in...

Sam talks with Dr. Lee McIntyre, philosopher and author of numerous books including How to Talk to A Science Denier and his latest, On Disinformation : "Drawing on his twenty years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its sp...

Sam speaks to developments in Trump's trials, the "pendulum swing" of political power, Gaza and the 2024 election, and more. Then, she talks with Jared Holt, Senior Research Analyst with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue . His writing can be found in various outlets including: The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Columbia Journalism Review, HuffPost and GEN Magazine and his Subst...

Sam talks with historian, activist and RefuseFascism.org editorial board member Paul Street about the coming year and his take on all the wild things happening as well as to come. Follow Paul's work on Substack at paulstreet.substack.com . Find out more about Refuse Fascism and get involved at RefuseFascism.org. We're still on Twitter (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RefuseFascism⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and other social...

Sam talks with Dr. Manisha Sinha, historian of the US Civil War and Reconstruction and one of 25 historians who signed onto the amicus brief supporting Colorado's decision to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot according to the 14th amendment (which bars insurrectionists from public office). Read the brief here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-719/298895/20240126...

It's been quite the week! Sam recaps some of the stories we're watching most closely: the Texas + other fascist controlled states v. federal government confrontation in the wake of a SCOTUS decision the fascists actually don't like (shockingly, Roberts and Coney Barrett agreed that the federal government has the authority to remove the murder wire that the state of Texas is strewing al...

We want to hear from listeners! What are some of your most urgent questions keeping you up at night as 2024 begins? Let us know via this survey: ⁠https://bit.ly/rf-pod-survey On this episode, we share Jessica Valenti’s testimony before Senate Democrats on the state of abortion rights ahead of the Roe v. Wade anniversary. Sam provides commentary highlighting the Supreme Court's efforts to expan...

Sam talks with Faisal Al-Juburi from RAICES Texas to get an update on what has changed (and what hasn't) for our siblings seeking refuge as of January 2024 at the deadly US border. Follow their work and get involved at https://www.raicestexas.org/ . We want to hear from listeners! What are some of your most urgent questions keeping you up at night as 2024 begins? Let us know via this survey: h...

Paul Street, member of the  RefuseFascism.org  Editorial Board shares reflections on January 6, three years later. Read his reflections: On January 6 Three Years Later: T he Trump Republi-Fascist Menace is Alive and Well .  Subscribe to the Paul Street Report  to read and hear more from Paul.   Then, Sam talks with Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vox, about  just some of the Trump trials, s...

As we close out 2023 and head into 2024 many of us are feeling a sense of deja vu - but with higher stakes. Take a trip through the events of 2023 with an eye to the future with some guests from this past year. THANK YOU to all the patrons and supporters who help make this show possible in 2023. Find out more about Refuse Fascism and get involved at RefuseFascism.org. We're still on Twitter (⁠...

As we close out the year and look towards 2024, members of the RefuseFascism.org Editorial Board answer questions submitted by supporters of the pod. You can become one of those supporters at patreon.com/refusefascism . Follow Coco Das at @Coco_Das , Paul Street at paulstreet.substack.com and Sam at @SamBGoldman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Twitter or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@samgoldmanrf⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on TikTok. Ment...

Sam talks with scholar Matthew D. Taylor about House Speaker Mike Johnson and the significance and danger exemplified in Johnson's ascent to power. Taylor documents Johnson's links to leading voices in the Christian Charismatic movement (which were early adopters of the Trump cult, and unlike mainstream Evangelical leaders, have never split in their support for Trump). This movement also p...

Sam talks with Dr. Susan Neiman, Director of the Einstein Forum in Germany about the US-backed war Israel is waging against Gaza. Her latest book is  Left Is Not Woke . Her first work of fiction, Nine Stories: A Berlin Novel , will be published in 2024. She has written two recent thought provoking essays for the The New York Review of Books : Historical Reckoning Gone Haywire Germans’ efforts to c...

Sam talks with Wendy Via, Co-Founder and President at The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, about their analysis of the publicly announced plan for "day one" of the next presidential administration (presumably headed by leading Republifascist candidate Donald Trump). Their report The Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism: Project 2023 states in part, "Their aims...

Sam talks with Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read Program Director at PEN America. Their new report America's Censored Classrooms 2023 states, "Over the past three years, state legislators have launched an onslaught of educational gag orders—state legislative and policy efforts to restrict teaching about topics such as race, gender, American history, and LGBTQ+ identities in educational settin...

Sam talks with writer Sarah Posner about Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, third in line to the presidency and Christian Nationalist who spent around a decade as a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom (sic), the organization behind the recent wave of state level anti-abortion legislation, the 303 Creative SCOTUS case, and on the wrong side of many other battles. Read Sarah's book U...

Sam talks with Mark Tinkleman, co-producer of the podcast, about the genocide in Gaza and the dangerous unity between imperialist “democracy” and fascism, plus what’s happening in the House of Representatives and more. Views expressed in this episode are the opinions of Sam and Mark themselves. Follow Mark on Instagram at @marknoodler . Recommended Signs of Hope If Not Now American Jews organizing...

Sam talks with Dahlia Lithwick about how the SCOTUS and this term fit into the growing fascist threat and the stakes of the cases they will potentially be hearing and deciding this year. Dahlia Lithwick writes about the courts and the law for  Slate and hosts the podcast  Amicus.  She is the author of  Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America . Mentioned in this episode: A Monumental SCOTUS...

Sam talks with writer and historian Paul Street (also on the RefuseFascism.org Editorial Board) about recent events including the fascist attempts to shut down the government, the ouster of Kevin McCarthy from the Speaker of the House, and the increasingly violent threats and promises of vengeance from current frontline candidate for president and as-yet unconvicted coup plotter Donald Trump. Foll...