Bolsonaro Blitz (Zoom Link for Today’s Salon - 4pm ET!)
Gaslit Nation
A quick reminder to our community of supporters that the Zoom link for today’s salon at 4pm ET was posted on Friday. . Wannabe Trump and eager student of Steve Bannon’s dark arts, Jair Bolsonaro, was sentenced this month to 27 years in prison for inciting his supporters to violently overthrow democracy in Brazil. And where was Bolsonaro during the coup attempt? Florida, of course: a state otherwise known as the Republican National Committee. There, his close allies, including his son, met with Bannon after losing the 2022 election, in the lead up to their January 8, 2023...
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KPop Demon Hunters Antifa
Gaslit Nation
A Gaslit Nation listener once asked me: What’s the canary in the coal mine for American democracy? My answer: when they come for the comedians. Because when authoritarians kill the jokes, they kill the dissent. Look at Russia. In Putin’s early years, Kukly, a wildly popular political satire by smack-talking puppets, mocked him mercilessly. One of his first moves? Force media consolidation. Suddenly, the show vanished. Fast forward 25 years to today, you can’t hold an anti-war sign in Moscow without being arrested. As The New York Times reported back in 2000: “‘Kukly’ is...
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Power, Profits, and Protest: Trump, Russia, and the Middle East
Gaslit Nation
This September marks eight years since Donald Trump cozied up to pariah dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt on the sidelines of the United Nations—a secret meeting that reportedly triggered a highly secretive Mueller investigation into whether Trump accepted a $10 million bribe from el-Sisi when his 2016 campaign was desperate for cash. Last summer, Gaslit Nation ran a special episode unpacking this sweeping corruption scandal; and Fast forward to Trump’s Middle East tour this past spring, where he once again explicitly told the world that American foreign policy under his influence...
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Who Killed Charlie Kirk? Follow the Epstein Trail.
Gaslit Nation
Charlie Kirk is dead—taken out by an extremely skilled sniper in deep-red Utah. The MAGA Nazi built an empire scapegoating Black people, trans folks, and women, and cheered on Trump’s authoritarian destruction. Get ready for the martyrdom of this incel king and the coming retribution against democracy defenders. Let’s look at what really happened. Back in July, Kirk had demanded transparency from the Trump White House over Trump’s longtime friend: the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein who ran the real life QAnon–we play Kirk’s own words at the end of this episode. Instead, Trump turned the...
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Time for a New American Revolution
Gaslit Nation
America has always had a sadistic streak. From the very beginning, this so-called land of liberty was built on slavery and genocide. Yes, the Founding Fathers were less “philosopher kings” and more “sweaty men in wigs who owned human beings and thought democracy was something best kept away from women, the poor, and anyone who wasn’t them.” Fast-forward 250 years, and the far-right is still running the same playbook: cruelty as ideology. Immigrants? Cage them. LGBTQ+ kids? Target them. Women? Control them. The planet? Burn it. What Republicans call “policy” is really just sadism...
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Rebel Women of the Gilded Age
Gaslit Nation
What do theme parties, abortion rights, and feminist rebellion have in common? Historian Jennifer Wright unearths women who, in their own subtle and not so subtle ways, defied the patriarchy, mocking original incel Anthony Comstock whose 19th-century repressive tactics are being used today in the far-right’s war on women. In her dazzlingly researched books about Gilded Age legends like Mamie Fish, a character on the HBO series The Gilded Age, and innovative abortionist Madame Restell, Wright shows us that women have always found ways to wield power, even in times of deep inequality and...
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“Pace yourself.” – TEASER
Gaslit Nation
Our opening clip was the 1989 trailer for , the breakthrough Michael Moore documentary and a favorite of Erica Smiley, Executive Director of Jobs With Justice and one of the most powerful voices in today’s labor movement. Smiley is reshaping how we think about power, not just at work, but across our democracy. She co-authored , making the case that collective bargaining isn’t only about wages. It’s about people reclaiming control over the decisions that define their lives. From Amazon warehouses to grassroots coalitions, her work connects the dots between economic justice and...
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Building Real Democracy Starts on the Shop Floor
Gaslit Nation
The fight for democracy in America didn’t begin, or end, at the ballot box. As labor organizer Erica Smiley, executive director of and co-author of , reminds us, our democracy has always been "in training," a work in progress shaped as much by picket lines as polling places. "Unions are schools for democracy," Smiley explains. In workplaces where people of all backgrounds must build consensus and fight for fair contracts, we learn the skills that sustain a pluralistic society. It's no surprise, then, that authoritarian movements often begin by attacking labor rights and education, because...
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Andor: The Tony Gilroy Interview
Gaslit Nation
"I have friends everywhere." In this special episode, we’re joined by Tony Gilroy, the creative force behind the electrifying Star Wars series Andor. Critics and activists on the frontlines in America have praised Andor for its powerful portrayal of resistance, and with Season 2 up for 14 Emmy Awards, it’s clear this is no ordinary space opera. Gilroy’s vision grounds the story in centuries of history, showing us what it means to resist empire in all its brutality. Andor is an urgent guide for Americans today. For more than three decades, Gilroy has been shaping modern cinema with...
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How to Start a Ukraine-Style Revolution: The Marci Shore Interview
Gaslit Nation
Hello Gaslit Nation listeners! This conversation was recorded before war criminal Putin and convicted felon Trump staged their grotesque spectacle on the blood-red carpet in Alaska. For our analysis of that hellscape—and what it means for Ukraine and democracy defenders everywhere—be sure to check out the recording of the August 18th salon, coming soon to Patreon.com/Gaslit. Thank you for listening and supporting the show! * In Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity, we find a roadmap for fighting oligarchy, injustice, and despair. Historian Marci Shore, author of , reminds us that...
info_outlineTrump’s “Big Evil Bill” sped through Congress, to sell off public lands, gut healthcare, destroy rural hospitals, outlaw state AI regulation for a decade, make it harder to take out loans to go to college, and unleash an immigration enforcement regime bigger than anything we’ve ever seen. ICE will now have a budget bigger than the FBI, DEA, U.S. Bureau of Prisons combined. This is an oligarchy fever dream that will painfully backfire on everyone.
Trump’s Big Evil Bill is the blueprint of Project 2025 in action: a theocratic, authoritarian takeover of our democracy. This bill will expand presidential powers, weaken the lower courts, and crush humanitarian protections and put our already militized police state on Russian Olympian super steroids. Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB Director and the architect of Project 2025, made sure the money was there to turn July 4th into a funeral for the American Revolution by installing a mad king.
But here’s the truth hiding in the despair: the more pain this bill causes, the more people it radicalizes. Just as past generations rose up during times of injustice, many Americans, especially those who embraced Trump’s con, like those manosphere-brain rotted Gen Z men, will be forced to wake up. They’ll see the betrayal. They’ll feel it. And some will finally fight back.
The far-right had a 40-year plan. We need ours. One model: The Gay Revolution by historian Lillian Faderman. It's the story of how love, courage, and relentless organizing by small groups of determined people, many forced to become activists because of state cruelty like the kind we’re now seeing, and won against impossible odds. The Gay Revolution is our roadmap of hope, and it pays tribute to the countless men and women, many who risked everything, many whose names we may never know, to cast out the darkness with love and defiance.
Go to the Gaslit Nation’s Action Guide and choose action. Choose empathy. Choose to be the liberation this moment demands.
EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:
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NEW DATE! Thursday July 31 4pm ET – the Gaslit Nation Book Club discusses Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s The Little Prince written in the U.S. during America First.
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Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other, available on Patreon.
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Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other, available on Patreon.
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Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect, available on Patreon.
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Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.
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Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.
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Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?
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Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and the first ~40 minutes are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit for our community
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Show Notes:
The song featured in this episode is First They Came for Queers by Mr. Madam Adam. Find more of their music here: https://music.apple.com/us/album/first-they-came-for-queers/1690696748?i=1690696753
How to Protect Your Community from ICE: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/ice-watch-programs-immigrants-how-to-start
How Trump’s bill will supercharge mass deportations by funneling $170bn to Ice https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/02/immigration-trump-big-beautiful-bill
Donald Trump’s weapons freeze on Ukraine could bring catastrophe https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/02/ukraine-russia-war-trump-weapons-freeze-missiles/
Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Who Threatened Police Joins Justice Dept. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/us/politics/justice-department-rioter-weaponization.html
House taking key vote on Trump's "big, beautiful bill," after GOP holdouts threaten final passage https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-vote-big-beautiful-bill-rules-committee/