The Last Billionaires

How we feed fascism by surrendering rural districts to Republicans The Democratic Party's official stand for one year of this century—2008—was that Democrats should compete everywhere. Look up what happened! Since then, Democrats have let negative partisanship and the far right's devouring of rural America scare them away from competing in too many places. And when that happens, it leads to things...

Thanks to a 6-3 MAGA majority, Originalism is now your religion, whether you like it or not. Here's how we take our freedom back. Madiba K. Dennie has done the impossible in her new book.  The Originalism Trap  tells the history of the conservative legal movement kicking freedom's ass. Dennie deftly describes how this once-mocked doctrine now dominates our highest court and tens of millions of ute...

How we overcome the strategic racist demagoguery that lets billionaires divide and dominate us. Donald Trump epitomizes DOG WHISTLE POLITICS . That's the verdict of  Ian Haney López, author of the groundbreaking book of that title that exposes the electoral strategy that has driven the Republican Party's success in taking over the Supreme Court and engineering massive wealth inequality in the Unit...

How the national media snoozed on what could be one of the biggest stories in recent American history. Sarah Posner covers the Christian Right, so of course, she was one of the few journalists covering one of the biggest stories of this election  so far. The Republican Party is on the verge of an election win that could allow them to enact complete and total Christian Nationalism in the United Sta...

This is the third podcast we've done about Project 2025. And it's the first one we've done after Project 2025 has become so well known that Donald Trump had to pretend to disavow it. Much of the credit for exposing the public goes to Taraji P. Henson, who made this abomination " the talk of the BET Awards ." And to John Oliver, whose  full-episode deep dive into the plan to politicize the entire f...

You probably don't know the name Walter Huss, but you certainly see his vision of the world alive today in the modern Republican Party. Seth Cotlar is a historian of the US Right teaching at Willamette University in Salem, OR, who is writing a book based on the 57 boxes of archival material from Walter Huss found at the University of Oregon library.  In his fantastic newsletter Rightlandia , Seth...

"We're trying to win an election, and the right is trying to seize power by any means necessary." Melissa Ryan helps people, policymakers, and institutions combat disinformation; you can see why. She has a clarity that comes from more than a decade in national politics and a coolness that comes from either some really good nature or nurture, probably both. And you can get that calming clarity she...

Who can explain why Elon Musk is? A.R. Moxon can. Because A.R. Moxon could explain your nose to your face. His words levitate us over our sleeping bodies so we can see reality with a clarity life generally lacks. His new book of essays VERY FINE PEOPLE  follows his critically acclaimed debut novel THE REVISIONARIES . And everything he writes dances off the page and into your consciousness. We want...

What are the Americans who will decide the 2024 election thinking? Anat Shenker-Osorio is a legendary messaging expert and the host of the fantastic Words to Win By podcast . And she's constantly in focus groups with the "double hater" and "disaffected swing" voters who will decide if this republic will embrace fascism.  So, she has a good idea of the challenges that Joe Biden, democracy, and we a...

Ohio Republicans are clinging to gerrymandering like their extremism depends on it. Because it does. You're probably not following the details of the fake controversy Ohio's Republicans have generated around Joe Biden appearing on November's ballot. And you shouldn't be. That's David Pepper's job. The former chair of Ohio's Democratic Party is now working with  Blue Ohio  to make sure Democrats sh...

Charles Gaba is not a Super PAC, but he and his site Blue24.org  could be.  Since the founder of ACAsignups.net added political fundraising to his activism in 2018, he has raised over $8 million to back Democratic candidates. That's more than many PACs; the big difference between Charles and a PAC is that he takes nothing.  You can support his efforts . But if you give at Blue24.org  the money goe...

Project 2025 is a religious document. It was written by a bunch of fanatics who will do anything to make sure you have the right to practice their religion and only their religion. This 1,000-page plan for a full rollout of fascism developed by the elite of the Republican establishment isn't just corporate authoritarianism laundered as "small-government conservatism." It's a messianic mission stat...

Elections always have consequences. But few have suffered as consequences as personal as Professor Robert Mann. Bob is author of several books including  Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU   and he recently launched a Substack called   Something Like the Truth .  He was the Manship Chair in Journalism at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University when Jeff Landry was elected...

Eva Burch is a fantastic anomaly in American politics.  Instead of a lawyer who thinks he's a gynecologist, she's a nurse practitioner with a career of actual medical experience that she has brought into government service. You probably first heard about this rising star in the Democratic Party, a State Senator from Arizona, this March when she rose to make a speech on the floor of the Arizona Sta...

If we're talking about Dobbs and democracy, there's no one better to talk to than Jessica Valenti, who writes the newsletter " Abortion, Every Day ." She's also the author of a book that you should pre-order called " Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win ."  Her invaluable reporting and commentary make the case that if you're talking about "Dobbs and democracy," you don't...

If your number one goal is to survive 2024 without too many regrets about what you did to help save democracy, this podcast is for you. Melissa Walker is the Head of Giving Circles at the States Project . She makes a powerful case that the best way for individual citizens to make the best use of their time, energy, and resources to avoid regret is by focusing on America's statehouses.  And she bel...

Some say Margaret Atwood wrote the dystopia that best describes America's bleakest future. We say it was Robin Marty.  Her " The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America " laid out almost exactly that sort of war Republicans would wage on reproductive freedom with their new 6-3 Supreme Court majority, and how to still get health care by any means necessary.  And she's living the nightmare of the post-D...

Donald Trump's presidency sucked. Everyone agrees. For you, it may have sucked because he bumbled us into the worst response to the worst pandemic in a century. For the vast right-wing conspiracy, it sucked because we still have pretty much the same government we had before he took and refused to leave office. That's why the Heritage Foundation has brought together the GOP establishment to craft b...

No one understands the power of real American history more than the right.  The shameless wars on "critical race theory" and "DEI" and "wokeness" stink of fear. It's the fear of knowing that anyone who understands the true story of how Black America confronted relentless oppression by demanding that America fulfill its founding promise can't help being both infuriated and inspired.  And no one has...

Marcy Wheeler doesn't want to hear your complaints about Merrick Garland.  She has her own. But she doesn't want to hear yours. Not yet. Why? Because it's time to save democracy. The publisher of the essential Emptywheel.net and a renowned national security and civil liberties reporter for decades, Marcy Wheeler joined us this week to unspool the " Ball of Thread " that has led us to the point whe...

How did we get to the point that it's good news for Donald Trump, according to The New York Times , when a *majority* of Americans think he has committed serious crimes? Jamison Foser can tell you. He writes the Finding Gravity newsletter and he's also a strategist who co-created Media Matters . And he now advises Take Back the Court . America's right wing is so good at creating and spreading myth...

Those with the most power tend to oppose democracy. And that even seems to be true as we face actual fascism. Dr. Jennifer Mercieca -- our guest for the second episode of "How are you feeling about democracy?" -- told me that as long as there has been a United States those with the most to lose have been the most afraid of rule by the people. Her first book explored our Founding Fictions . And she...

Our first guest on "How are you feeling about democracy" is Ari Berman, Mother Jones' national voting rights correspondent. Ari has literally written the book on voting rights. His  GIVE US THE BALLOT was lauded for its telling of the modern struggle to expand voting access against the backlash to the civil rights movement. And his new book MINORITY RULE is the book democracy has been waiting for....