Gaslit Nation

This holiday season, we wish you peace, joy, and a new Supreme Court. In Part 1 of our discussion, we pulled the mask off originalism and called it what it is: the Southern Strategy of our courts, a legal laundering scheme for white terrorism. In Part 2, we discuss how to take our courts back from GOP extremism to protect our Constitution–before it rips apart our country. To hear this week's full bonus show, subscribe at Patreon.com/Gaslit and support our independent journalism.  According to legal scholar Madiba Dennie, author of The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back, the answer is finally taking the Constitution at its word. The Constitution was built on principles from Enlightenment ideas that fueled the American Revolution: human equality, self-government, and the radical notion that legitimacy flows from the people, not from tradition or bloodlines. We fought a Civil War to finally live up to those ideals. In the Reconstruction era, through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments , the Constitution was fundamentally transformed into a document meant to support a multiracial democracy, one that promised equal protection, due process, and citizenship not tied to race. Taking back the Supreme Court means delegitimizing originalism and replacing it with a constitutional vision aligned with democracy itself. A Constitution that works for everyone. A Court that understands its job is not to drag us backward, but to help the country finally live up to its founding promises. Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, Q&A sessions, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!  

All we want for Christmas is a new Supreme Court. Here to tell us how we get there is legal scholar Madiba Dennie, author of The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back. What's "originalism"? It's white supremacy's answer to the Civil Rights Movement, every bit as sneaky and immoral as Republican operative Lee Atwater's "Southern Strategy," which mobilized racist voters through racist dog whistles instead of open slurs. Originalism sounds fancy by design, but it's pure fascist gaslighting, now wielded by the trash MAGA majority on the Supreme Court. Gaslit Nation's holiday gift to our listeners this year is to remind you of an inconvenient fact the media ignores: Donald Trump came to power in 2016 with the Kremlin's very illegal help, as documented in both the Mueller Report and the bipartisan U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election. That makes him an illegitimate president, which means his extreme Supreme Court picks should be impeached. More on that in part two of our discussion, coming Thursday. Thank you to everyone who joined our holiday party on Monday. As requested, the link to the Outreach Committee for listeners interested in discussing ways to reach current or former MAGA cult members and help guide them back toward the light is available in the show notes on Patreon. Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, Q&A sessions, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

We're seeing the same far-right media consolidation in America as during Putin's rise to power. Bari Weiss is the new Roger Ailes, hired to destroy CBS News. The far-right Ellisons are aggressively going after Warner Bros. to build a media monopoly to dumb down more Americans so that we're easier to control.  That's why Andrea spoke at Courier News' Courage & Cowardice event in Washington, DC on December 11. Courier, the team that built the searchable Epstein files database released by Congress, brought together independent journalists and creators who still believe journalism is a public good. The main focus of the conversation, which you can listen to here on Gaslit Nation, was how to build and sustain independent media. Andrea was joined by progressive YouTuber Jack Cocchiarella, Brian Beutler, formerly of Crooked Media and The New Republic who now runs  Off Message; TikTok comedian Meredith Lynch; and in a discussion moderated by veteran editor Mark Jacob, formerly of the Chicago Tribune, to talk about media capitulation and how to fight back. Here's some info on the event.  Luckily, the Media and Democracy Project (MAD) exists and provided us with the following actions you can take:  Make videos highlighting moments of real accountability like celebrating the ABC reporter Mary Bruce who pressed MBS and Trump with tough, substantive questions. Credit your sources clearly and encourage your audience to click through and read the original reporting. Introduce your audience to journalism and media-education initiatives such as States Newsroom, the News Literacy Project, and Rebuild Local News. Synthesize and share this essential explainer from Democracy Forward on the link between local news and democracy: https://democracyfund.org/idea/new-research-explores-connection-between-democracy-and-local-news/ If you're a journalist, whether independent or in a newsroom, regularly lift up the work of your colleagues.  Everyone should keep the conversation of journalism being the bedrock of a democracy front and center. Use your time online wisely: repost, share stories, and boost public-interest journalism whenever you can.  Most importantly, stay connected with MAD. 

Gaslit Nation reads through the ego and lies of Enabler-in-Chief Susie Wiles' interview with Vanity Fair, where she pulls the Nuremberg defense: I was just following orders! As Trump's primetime rant to the American people reminds us, Wiles is wrong: Trump plans to stay in power.  In this week's bonus show–available in full for our Patreon subscribers at the Truth-teller ($5/month) tier and higher, Gaslit Nation cuts through the nonsense to expose Wiles and the rest of Trump's creepy cabinet defending her. They're thick as thieves, sticking together to brace for congressional investigations should Democrats return to power. Wiles and Trump's other enablers, riding his corrupt coattails into power, see the blue waves coming for Republicans in special elections across the country, including in historically red districts. Her interview also reveals some intriguing insights into the MAGA succession battle–and why we should keep our eye on a possible Ivanka/Jared comeback post-midterms. To our Patreon community that keeps Gaslit Nation going: see you at Monday's salon at 4pm ET for our holiday party. Get ready for fun surprises as we celebrate and bring in the new year with hope and defiance. To join the fun, grab your membership at Patreon.com/Gaslit–discounts are available, and you can give the gift of membership this holiday season. Thank you to everyone who supports the show–we could not make Gaslit Nation without you.

In this high-stakes episode, Andrea is joined by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk as Putin openly claims alignment with the U.S., and Europe is being forced to, whether it likes it or not, hold the line.  Matviichuk, leader of the human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, lays out why the war in Ukraine is not a regional dispute or a diplomatic inconvenience, but a direct clash between civilization vs. a fascist crime spree, one that will determine the future balance of power for Europe and the world. She dismantles the dangerous fiction that Ukraine is a charity case or a drain on European stability. As she makes clear: "Ukraine is not a beneficiary of European security. Ukraine is a provider of European security." Our conversation exposes Russia's war crime playbook, including the mass kidnapping and forced assimilation of Ukrainian children, brainwashing them into soldiers for Putin's meatgrinder. As Matviichuk puts it: "Every person who wants to shake Putin's hand must acknowledge that they are shaking hands with the biggest child kidnapper in the world." This episode is a five-alarm fire. Europe has the money, the industry, the frozen Russian assets, and the historical memory to stop another Iron Curtain, but only if it abandons wishful thinking and acts. Occupation is not peace, and delay is not diplomacy. Pretending like this will somehow blow over is how democracies fail. Next week legal scholar Madiba Dennie, author of The Originalism Trap, joins Gaslit Nation to break down how the MAGA Supreme Court emerged from a fringe movement of Lee Atwater's Southern Strategy, and how we can have an all new Supreme Court, with the help of the power of impeachment.  Mark your calendar! The Gaslit Nation Holiday Party, complete with hope and holiday sweaters, will be this Monday December 22nd at 4pm ET with fun surprises for our community of listeners. To join the joy, sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit – discounted annual memberships are available, and you can give the gift of membership. Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!