We continue with our Democracy is Dead News segment covering the policy changes and goings-on in the new American Fascist administration. This is a weekly addition to the podcast to attempt to catalogue for listeners as concisely as possible the growing fascist threat in America perpetrated and planned by Trump's second term. Please see references below.

References:

Re: Gaza purchase by US

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/clyn05y9x2xt

RE: El Salvador locking up deportees

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/04/el-salvador-deportees-incarcerated-us-citizens

Re: Fentanyl and Canada/Mexico

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c805jjk2klko

Re: Musk access to private information

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/feb/04/donald-trump-tariffs-live-blog-news-updates-canada-trudeau-mexico-china

Re: Firing coast guard leader

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/21/trump-administration-removes-four-star-coast-guard-leader-in-firing-spree

Re: Russel Voight appointment

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/russell-vought-democrats-protest-trump

Re: Summary of Feb 3-Feb 7 week

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjdep9j31l8o

Re: China Tariffs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrl053kez3o

Re: Banning transgender athletes:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20g85k3z35o

Re: Rare earth Ukraine deal

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mzgv4x901o

Re: Bondi disbanding anti-corruption initiatives

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/pam-bondi-disbands-anti-corruption-task-force-1235259073/

Re: Climate change information and mentions from websites

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/climate-change-transparency-project-foia/2025-02-06/disappearing-data-trump

Re: Trump Impeachment

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/05/al-green-trump-impeachment-articles-gaza

Re: Biden security clearance

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn57p5r99xyo

Re: FBI sue government over firings

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/04/fbi-jan-6-trump-doj

Re: Bird flu dairy cattle

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/05/bird-flu-us-cattle

Re: Anti-LGBT initiatives

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20250122-trump-orders-end-of-government-dei-programs-lgbt-protections

Re: Multiple Jan 6 rioters arrested already on other charges

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/07/january-6-attacker-arrested

Re: Illegal words for funding in Trump administration

https://gizmodo.com/the-list-of-trumps-forbidden-words-that-will-get-your-paper-flagged-at-nsf-2000559661

In this week's episode, we discuss the next installment of the Fascist Playbook focusing on the hierarchy that fasists follow to stratify the worth of other human beings. We talk about DEI initiatives in Trump's autocracy and what it really means in this episode.

Sources:

How Fascism Works – Jason Stanley

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/10/john-kelly-donald-trump-fascist/

https://jmheatherly.substack.com/p/fascism-unmasked-how-to-recognize?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History – Matthew MacWilliams

In this week's episode, we discuss the next installment of the Fascist Playbook focusing on the unreality that fasists create to sow hatred and division in supporters. This is the episode that talks about the 'fake news' of Trump's particular flavor of fascism.

Sources:

How Fascism Works – Jason Stanley

https://publicleadershipinstitute.org/2022/09/07/the-three-pillars-of-fascism/

On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History – Matthew MacWilliams

HBO's Chernobyl Series

In this week's episode, we discuss the next installment of the Fascist Playbook particularly why fascism is inherently anti-intellectual and how this manifests in fascist policies. Many historical examples of Trump and his followers have been anti-intellectual are outlined.

Sources:

How Fascism Works – Jason Stanley

Brewer, Mark. Trump Knows Best: Donald Trump’s Rejection of Expertise and the 2020 Presidential Election. Society. 2021.

(https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7786860/)

On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History – Matthew MacWilliams

Continuing on the series of the pillars and tools in the fascist playbook. This week, we look at propaganda and the flavor it takes on with fascism and how it is used to move the masses.

Sources Used and Media Mentioned:

How Fascism Works – Jason Stanley

Fascism: A Warning – Madeleine Albright

On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History – Matthew MacWilliams

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – William Shirer

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4970904-trump-attacks-democracy/

Today is the first part of a series of episodes on the Fascism Playbook. The first episode of the series is on The Mythic Past which Fascist parties and governments use to appeal to an age that either never existed or was grossly mythologized.

Sources for the episode and mentioned in the podcast:

How Fascism Works – Jason Stanley

Fascism: A Warning – Madeleine Albright

On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History – Matthew MacWilliams

The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander

What the coming second Trump administration will mean for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and environmental impacts in the United States.

Sources and mentioned media/organizations:

Greendreamer.com - Website mentioned that enumerates other organizations and NGOs that are pro-environment and EPA.

Earthjustice.org - Largest Environmental law organization in the United States

Silent Spring (1962) - by Rachel Carson

Refrigerants and the EPA:

https://www.epa.gov/mvac/acceptable-refrigerants-and-their-impacts

DDT and the EPA:

https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/ddt-brief-history-and-status

This episode goes into the assassination of the United Health Care CEO and explores how the decline in government guardrails has allowed rampant insurance company profiteering.

This episode discusses why even as a Canadian I am invested in the death of American democracy and why other citizens of the world are concerned. It outlines ways in which we can push back against the nascent fascist government to resist the deeper slide into autocracy.