On this week’s episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Mehdi breaks down one of Donald Trump’s most fascistic plans yet – using the US military to crush dissent.

“It’s not a conspiracy theory, nor is it a secret,” Mehdi says, as he brings the receipts exposing Team Trump’s plan to use the Insurrection Act to crack down on protesters via military force, starting on day one of his second term.

“We're not exceptional,” Rosa Brooks, former Obama Defense Department adviser, tells Mehdi. “I think one thing that Americans tend to think is that somehow bad things that happen in other places couldn't possibly happen here, but we are not immune from the forces of history.”

Watch Mehdi’s monologue, and his full conversation with Rosa Brooks and Yale University fascism expert Jason Stanley, above.

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Christians in Gaza: Khalil Sayegh, a member of Gaza’s Palestinian Christian community, joins Mehdi in the studio to discuss how Israel has repressed and attacked his community, both before and especially since October 7, 2023, and how the US evangelical elite has ignored the Christians of Gaza.

“My sister was entering a room with my infant niece, literally walking into the room and just before she got into this room, the room itself just collapsed,” Sayegh tells Mehdi, referencing the recent Israeli strike on a house next to Gaza’s Saint Porphyrius Church.

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Khizr Khan is back: Also on the show, Mehdi talks to legendary Gold Star father Khizr Khan, on set, about Trump’s recent stunt at Arlington Cemetery, in violation of federal law, and why it matters. “Trump is void of accountability, sense of responsibility. That is why we see that civility in our political discourse is at its lowest,” says Khan, who lost his son Humayun in Iraq in 2004 and famously denounced Trump at the Democratic National Convention back in 2016.  

If you’re a paid subscriber, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and who you would like to see Mehdi talk to next! And if you’re not a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for? We want to hear from you too.

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