What’s the Republican spending bill all about? It’s an extremely dangerous powergab engineered by Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House and dirty lawyer who came up with the legal strategy to try to overturn the 2020 election. The Republican spending bill essentially grants legal protections to Trump and Musk’s ongoing illegal mass purge, to protect them against court orders–one of the last levers of power we have left. Any Democrat who votes for this is complicit in Trump and Musk’s tech-backed coup, illegally mass firing federal workers to replace them with an A.I. surveillance state.

This week’s episode continues our conversation with Gil Durán of the Third Reich and FrameLab newsletters on Controlled Opposition—those Vichy Democrats who refuse to stand up to the fascist Republicans in power. But why? What’s in it for them? In a dictatorship, no one is safe—not even former allies like Putin, who’ve found themselves mysteriously falling out of windows or exploding mid-air. Why are some Democrats still playing the role of complicit bystanders?

The Senate is gearing up to vote on the extreme Republican spending bill, which slashes life-saving programs like Head Start and community health centers, while funneling billions to the Pentagon and Homeland Security. At a time when Trump is threatening to invade Canada and Greenland, and ICE is denying due process to green card holders like Mahmoud Khalil, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The bill also cuts Washington, DC’s budget—an attempt to punish the city for daring to protest Trump’s corrupt regime.

But here's the thing: shutting down the government doesn’t empower Trump or Musk—it forces Democrats to get on the front lines and expose the Republican spending bill for what it really is: a power grab designed to protect Trump and Musk’s illegal tech-backed coup.

There’s hope, though. While Trump and Musk face a future of justice (their approval ratings are plummeting), we need to keep fighting back. 

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes: 

The Nerd Reich https://www.thenerdreich.com/ 

FrameLab https://www.theframelab.org/

Chuck Schumer and Senate Dems are expected to help advance the GOP spending bill, which Republicans say would let Trump defund whatever projects he wants https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-republican-cr-budget-bill-nightmare-democrats-1235296004/

The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Rep. Al Green are misreading the moment https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/al-green-trump-resistance-democracy-rcna195314

Crypto cash is flooding the 2024 election. Here’s who’s benefiting. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/crypto-firms-candidates-house-senate-election-2024/

Facebook cofounder Sean Parker illegally damages redwood forest for fantasy Game of Thrones wedding https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/crypto-firms-candidates-house-senate-election-2024/

Rep. Al Green Speaking in Congress https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3ljo4v6aip223

Congressional Supporters of Al Green Sing “We Shall Overcome” in Congress https://bsky.app/profile/ariellaelm.bsky.social/post/3ljqoabwcps2i

Some Democrats Endorse Bill Allowing Elon Musk to Create His Own Currency The GENIUS Act is the first pro-crypto bill Republicans want to rush through this Congress. Thanks to industry money, several Democrats are ignoring the bill’s major problems. https://prospect.org/power/2025-03-10-some-democrats-endorse-bill-allowing-elon-musk-create-own-currency/

These 10 Democrats voted to censure Al Green https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5180324-10-house-democrats-censure-al-green/

Announcement! Are you concerned about what the broligarchy is doing with your data but feeling overwhelmed by all the tech? Do you get frustrated by the erosion of your sense of privacy and yet are unsure of what steps you, as a non-techie individual, can do? 

Join us on Monday April 7th for a special edition of the Gaslit Nation salon when representatives from the Gaslit Nation Security Committee will share a plan for taking control of your data, protecting your privacy, and regaining data sovereignty in an age of surveillance capitalism. 

This presentation will be geared towards non-techies and will help you prioritize steps you can take today to secure your data. Attendees will receive the following documents in a PDF: surveillance awareness self-assessment, prioritized action plan checklist, a calendar for the first thirty days of taking control of your data, and a copy of the presentation slides.

EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:

• March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating 

• March 31 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club: From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation, which informed revolts in Ukraine, the Arab Spring, Hong Kong, and beyond 

• NEW! April 7 4pm ET – Security Committee Presents at the Gaslit Nation Salon. Don’t miss it! 

• Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.

• Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.

• Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?

• 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 

How do we fight back against the broligarchs? Journalist Gil Durán, of the must-read newsletters Nerd Reich and FrameLab, shows the way, in this week’s Gaslit Nation. 

Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous line, “Hell is other people,” from his play No Exit, written in Nazi-occupied France, captured a grievance that mirrored the era’s ideological clashes—fascism, communism, and isolationism, often overlapping and competing, fueling Stalin’s genocides, the Holocaust, and World War II. The solution to sharing society with others, it seemed, was elimination: kill them. 

This is why democracies rely on tolerance—you don’t have to like my existence, but you must let me exist in peace. Yet today’s tech oligarchs, having amassed unimaginable wealth, would rather invest billions in creating tech colonies and new religions to justify mass murder, enslavement, and C.E.O. king fiefdoms than address world hunger, provide free education, and strengthen social safety nets. Their vision isn’t coexistence—they’re building an anti-empathy billionaire bunker cult. 

Gil Durán, a San Francisco journalist and former editorial page editor of The Sacramento Bee and The San Francisco Examiner, has a front-row view of the rise of the broligarchs, analyzing their fascist justifications for cruelty in his popular newsletter, Nerd Reich. Durán spent over a decade in California politics, serving as chief communications strategist for Governor Jerry Brown, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Attorney General Kamala Harris. His work has appeared in The New Republic, Esquire, and PBS. He co-founded Framelab, a newsletter on politics, language, and the brain, with Dr. George Lakoff. Most importantly we discuss: how do we defeat the Nerd Reich and the Vichy Democrats? 

This week’s bonus for our Patreon subscribers at the Truth-teller level and higher continues with Gil Durán of Nerd Reich, examining Democratic leaders as controlled opposition—public allies secretly serving the oligarchs.

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes:

The Nerd Reich by Gil Durán https://www.thenerdreich.com/

FrameLab https://www.theframelab.org/

Trump on Charter Cities: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-a-new-quantum-leap-to-revolutionize-the-american-standard-of-living

One of Peter Thiel’s favorite book: The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780684810072

Find a Tesla Takedown Protest near you: https://www.teslatakedown.com/

Download/print fliers made by Rise and Resist:

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NsdVaglj2-qbaUxPL-aXlPSSMbnjAPV-/view?usp=sharing

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rCUHIzHfJunm2fnZzdm2sMUWlRYeUtGg/view?usp=sharing

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MfkQlear-zAGgpkth6j_r85sSoXihilr/view?usp=sharing

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fXKCdNCrkPOL8nYI8I9WU7-DGIAGHSXb/view?usp=sharing

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/14oYKLO_vzVzEU1sxXSaH1kd_lZ1ylaOG/view?usp=sharing

Clip: Elon Musk realizes he might lose his empire: https://bsky.app/profile/internetceleb.bsky.social/post/3lk2rd73f422n

Robert Reich on Twitter: “When Trump was sworn in, Elon Musk's corporations were under more than 32 investigations conducted by at least 11 federal agencies. Most of the cases are now closed or likely to be closed soon, and the federal agencies are being defanged by DOGE. Funny how that works, huh?” https://x.com/RBReich/status/1898780869092884808

Andrea on Bluesky: “Start building a case for Trump and Musk to be arrested by the International Criminal Court” https://bsky.app/profile/andreachalupa.bsky.social/post/3lk47dkixgs2k

EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:

• March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating 

• March 31 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club: From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation, which informed revolts in Ukraine, the Arab Spring, Hong Kong, and beyond 

• NEW! April 7 4pm ET – Security Committee Presents at the Gaslit Nation Salon. Don’t miss it! 

• Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.

• Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.

• Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?

• 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 

This motivating discussion was supposed to run earlier, but then the third year anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine was marked by Trump viciously reminding the world he works for Russia by kicking Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy out of the White House, after he, Vance, and MTG’s boyfriend tried to ambush the war hero. 

In our recorded first ever Gaslit Nation book club, we discussed Albert Camus’ The Stranger (Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, to see what wisdom they hold for us today, and how these two works “talk to each other.” 

For March, we’re reading Gene Sharp’s revolutionary handbook From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation, which informed revolts in Ukraine, the Arab Spring, Hong Kong, and beyond. Our March 31st salon at 4pm will open with a book club discussion of Dictatorship to Democracy. For April, we’re reading (if you haven’t already!) Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower, and May’s book club pick is Total Resistance: Swiss Army Guide to Guerrilla Warefare And Underground Operations. Get ready to make some good trouble! 

To hear the full discussion, be sure to join our community on Patreon. Thank you to everyone who supports Gaslit Nation–we could not make this show without you! 

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:

• March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating 

• March 31 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club: From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation, which informed revolts in Ukraine, the Arab Spring, Hong Kong, and beyond 

• NEW! April 7 4pm ET – Security Committee Presents at the Gaslit Nation Salon. Don’t miss it! 

• Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available here

• Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available here

• Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?

• 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 

Who is "Woke Jesus"? It’s the actual Jesus from the Bible—the dark-skinned Jewish revolutionary who advocated for feeding the poor and healing the sick. The Christian nationalists who use Trump’s MAGA movement as a weapon against our democracy are also at war with Jesus, as this week’s guest explains. By the strictest definition, doesn't that make Trump the anti-Christ? 

Investigative journalist Katherine Stewart, author of the new book Money, Lies, and God, examines the right-wing Libertarian elites taking over our democracy through white Christian nationalist foot soldiers and offers ways to fight back. Stewart is also the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism and The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children. Her journey included witnessing Christian nationalist recruitment and hate campaigns take root in her child’s public school. As Andrea discuses in the opening of this week’s show, MAGA/Russia are weakening the U.S. from within (mass purge, trade war, declaring war on experts, etc.) so that we’re scared and confused, and easier to conquer. We won’t let them win. 

Thank you to everyone who joined Gaslit Nation’s first book club last month! For March, we’re reading Gene Sharp’s revolutionary handbook From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation, which informed revolts in Ukraine, the Arab Spring, Hong Kong, and beyond. Our March 31st salon at 4pm will open with a book club discussion of Dictatorship to Democracy. For April, we’re reading (if you haven’t already!) Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower, and May’s book club pick is Total Resistance: Swiss Army Guide to Guerrilla Warefare And Underground Operations. Get ready to make some good trouble! 

EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:

• March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating 

• March 31 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club: From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation, which informed revolts in Ukraine, the Arab Spring, Hong Kong, and beyond 

• NEW! April 7 4pm ET – Security Committee Presents at the Gaslit Nation Salon. Don’t miss it! 

• Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join on Patreon.com/Gaslit. 

• Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group on Patreon.com/Gaslit. 

• Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?

• 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 

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes:

Voting is an act of fact checking: The dictator or wannabe dictator claims legitimacy. By voting, even if your vote is illegally not counted, your presence casting the vote adds up, and together the exit polls can indicate whether the election was stolen. Look to Venezuela’s grassroots powerhouse effort to count votes to prove the opposition won the election: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/10/gonzalez-proof-win-venezuela-election-vote-tally-maduro

Russia sought to influence LGBT voters with ‘Buff Bernie’ ad: Materials made public in committee dump of Facebook propaganda

https://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/11/01/russia-facebook-ad-sought-influence-lgbt-voters-buff-bernie/

The Insider reveals new details of Russian intelligence scheme offering Taliban $200,000 bounties for killing U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/01/09/the-insider-reveals-new-details-of-russian-intelligence-scheme-offering-taliban-200-000-bounties-for-killing-u-s-soldiers-in-afghanistan

Marisa Kabas on Blueskye: “SCOOP: Now that Linda McMahon is confirmed/sworn in as secretary, Trump will be imminently issuing an executive order eliminating the Department of Education. I’ve obtained a draft of an email that McMahon will be sending to staff re: the EO and the department’s “final mission”. Here is a portion:” https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social/post/3ljj64pfjzk2v

Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy by Katherine Stewart https://bookshop.org/p/books/money-lies-and-god-inside-the-movement-to-dismantle-american-democracy-katherine-stewart/21368231?ean=9781635578546&next=t&next=t

The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism by Katherine Stewart https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-power-worshippers-inside-the-dangerous-rise-of-religious-nationalism-katherine-stewart/8555591?ean=9781635577877&next=t&next=t

The Good News Club: The Religious Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children by Katherine Stewart https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-good-news-club-the-religious-right-s-stealth-assault-on-america-s-children-katherine-stewart/6717978?ean=9781610392198&next=t&next=t

Download "From Dictatorship to Democracy" for free here: 

https://archive.org/details/from_dictatorship_to_democracy_1306_librivox

Download "Total Resistance: Swiss Army Guide to Guerrilla Warefare And Underground Operations"

https://archive.org/details/total-resistance-swiss-army-guide-to-guerilla-warfare-1965

Opening clip: https://x.com/theelishev/status/1896120665532719511

Clip: Trudeau: "I heard he talked about banking again this morning in a tweet, which doesn't make any sense because 16 banks are currently active in Canada holding about $113b worth of assets in this country, so American banks are alive and well and prospering in Canada. It's an example of not really being able to see what he wants ... what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that'll make it easier to annex us." https://x.com/atrupar/status/1896962522764227069

Clip of Daryl Hannah at the Oscars: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1301955947523848

Clip: Conan Jokes About 'Anora' and Russia At The Oscars 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiwBNniPhR8

You may be asking: does America even have free and fair elections in GOP-gerrymandered hostage states like Florida? Under a wannabe-autocrat like Ron DeSantis, voting becomes a defiant fact check of the legitimacy of the GOP’s power. If they were truly effective at governing, why would they resort to gerrymandering and other forms of voter suppression to maintain control?

By voting, even if your vote is illegally not counted, your presence casting the vote adds up, and together the exit polls can indicate whether the election was stolen. Look to Venezuela’s grassroots powerhouse effort to count votes before they were conveniently misplaced. In Venezuela, the voters proved the opposition leader Edmundo González, not Russian-backed dictator Nicolás Maduro, won the election. Several independent investigations confirmed their victory. While Maduro clings to power, voting remains a powerful fact check, confronting him with his own illegitimacy and galvanizing the movement to oust him. 

In Florida, two special elections will take place on April 1—to replace pedo Putin-puppet Matt Gaetz in the Congressional 1st District with Democratic challenger Gay Valimont, and to replace Zelenskyy co-extortionist Mike Waltz in the Congressional 6th District. Longtime public educator and champion of public schools Josh Weil stops by Gaslit Nation to discuss how you can help support his campaign to hold Elon Musk and MAGA accountable. Early voting is March 22nd to 29th. To phonebank for Josh Weil, check out these virtual phone get-out-the-vote events!

Show Notes:

Join a get-out-the-vote virtual phonebank for Josh Weil in Florida! https://www.mobilize.us/joshweilforcongressionaldistrict6/

Josh Weil for Congress https://joshweil.us/

How Venezuela’s opposition proved its election win: ‘A brilliant political move’ https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/10/gonzalez-proof-win-venezuela-election-vote-tally-maduro

The best freedom money can buy: How the Party of Reagan became the Party of Putin https://www.themarysue.com/the-best-freedom-money-can-buy-how-the-party-of-reagan-became-the-party-of-putin/

America joined Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Israel, led by indicted corrupt criminal and Putin pal Netanyahu, wanted for war crimes, to vote against Ukraine’s United Nations resolution calling for peace and an end to Russia’s genocidal invasion. In this week’s Gaslit Nation, Andrea and Terrell Starr, of the Black Diplomats Podcast and Substack, joining from Kyiv, explain how we got here and what to do about it. Fascism helped build America, and global resistance to fascism will help us overcome the threats we face in this dangerous crossroads for America, and the world. 

People are waking up from their shock and fighting back. Over $250,000 was raised on GoFundMe for Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl, the woman roughly dragged out of a town hall. The sheriff who threatened her with arrest from the stage is under investigation, along with his three unidentified rent-a-cops. Protests continue at Tesla dealerships, as well as Republican town halls across the country. Tesla owners face vandalism threats and pay to remove the logo, as the company’s stock plummets. Twenty-one civil servants of the United States Digital Service, taken over by DOGE, resigned, writing in their letter: “We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations. However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.” France’s President Emmanuel Macron fact checked Trump at the White House and helped a banned AP reporter ask a question, and promised to strengthen security across Europe, including for Ukraine. At the Governors Ball in the White House, before Trump, the Army Choir sang the resistance anthem against tyranny, from Les Miserables, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" 

To help us lift up our hearts and minds for the work ahead, this week’s bonus show, for our Patreon members at the Truth-teller level and higher, is our recorded first ever Gaslit Nation book club, looking at Albert Camus’ The Stranger (Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, to see what wisdom they hold for us today, and how these two works “talk to each other.” Thank you to everyone who supports the show–we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes: 

Want ideas on how to resist? 

• Friday February 28 – U.S. Economic Blackout: No corporate spending, shop small, plan ahead. Details here: https://thirdact.org/texas/2025/02/10/u-s-economic-blackout-planned-for-feb-28/

• Tuesday March 4 – 50501 Protest. Find one near you or start one here: https://www.fiftyfifty.one/

• Tuesday March 4 – Protect Our Kids Protest by the American Federation of Teachers, to protest the destruction of the Department of Education. Details here: https://www.aft.org/ProtectOurKids and here: https://www.mobilize.us/aft/

• Friday March 7 – Stand Up for Science Protest. Details here: https://standupforscience2025.org/

• Tesla Takedown Protests – ongoing. Details here.: https://www.teslatakedown.com/

• Friday March 14 – NOW March in Washington, DC. Details here: https://nowmarch.org/

• Don’t Just Do Nothing: 20 Things You Can Do to Counter Fascism: https://itsgoingdown.org/dont-just-do-nothing-20-things-you-can-do-to-counter-fascism/

• Protect democracy by protecting yourself: Bookmark! The Ultimate Guide to an Untrackable Phone : https://www.tacticalprivacywire.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-an-untrackable-phone/

Two days after a woman was dragged from a Coeur d’Alene town hall, Sheriff Bob Norris and other parties will face investigation into conduct https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/feb/24/two-days-after-a-woman-was-dragged-from-a-coeur-da/

Justice for Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl: Fight for the First https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-dr-borrenpohl-fight-for-the-first/cl/s?lang=en_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp13_t1-amp14_c&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Hegseth Defends Trump’s Firing of Joint Chiefs Chairman Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview on Sunday that Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was “not the right man for the moment” and praised President Trump’s handling of the war in Ukraine. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/23/us/politics/hegseth-trump-cq-brown-pentagon.html

Trump and Hegseth’s Pentagon purge undermines the armed forces How to damage military morale and recruiting? Trump and Hegseth seem to be trying to find out, alas. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/23/trump-hegseth-pentagon-generals/

New FBI director Kash Patel plans to relocate up to 1,500 employees https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/new-fbi-director-kash-patel-plans-relocate-1500-119064886

Mike Galsworthy ‪on BlueSky: “Just America & Israel voting with Russia, Iran, North Korea... ...against Ukraine.” https://bsky.app/profile/mikegalsworthy.bsky.social/post/3lix7n4o4tc2w

French prosecutor seeks 5-year jail sentence and ban from office for far-right leader

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/french-far-right-leader-marine-le-pen-faces-5-year-ban-office-rcna180103

TikTokers Are ‘Hunting’ Tesla Cybertrucks to Project Anti-Musk Messages on the Tailgate https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tiktokers-hunting-tesla-cybertrucks-project-174834791.html

To help us navigate these dark times, Gaslit Nation will hold our first book club. Join us next Monday, February 24, at 4pm ET for a salon discussion on two profound works: Albert Camus’ The Stranger (the Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. These books capture the emotional truth of our era. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor and psychologist, offers extraordinary insights into how people confronted genocide in death camps. His account of prisoners organizing cabarets and finding spiritual connections, even in the face of death, is both harrowing and inspiring. Man’s Search for Meaning is essential reading for understanding how casual sadism, like Elon Musk’s highly illegal mass purge of live-saving government programs, is already taking root in the U.S.

This week’s bonus show also features a continuation of our conversations with Elie Mystal, author of Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, on why we need an EU travel ban of Ivanka Trump and others complicit in the destruction of democracy in America, and investigative journalist Greg Palast, director of Vigilantes, Inc., a must-see film about the GOP’s war on democracy. To access the full episode, join our Patreon community at Patreon.com/Gaslit.

As we face these turbulent times, Gaslit Nation remains committed to shedding light on the truth. Stay tuned for our all-new episode this Tuesday. Together, we can weather this storm and reclaim our democracy.

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes: 

Watch Vigilantes, Inc. for free, by Greg Palast: https://www.gregpalast.com/vigilantes-inc-stream-for-free/

Bad Law Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America  https://thenewpress.com/books/bad-law

Events at Gaslit Nation

• Feb 24 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club at our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss Albert Camu’s The Stranger (Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning

• March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating 

• NEW! Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.

• ONGOING! Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.

• NEW! Climate Crisis Committee launched in the Patreon Chat thanks to a Gaslit Nation listener who holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences

• NEW! Caretaker Committee launched in the Patreon Chat for our listeners who are caretakers and want to share resources, vent, and find community 

• NEW! Public Safety page added to GaslitNationPod.com to help you better protect yourself from this lunacy (i.e. track recalls, virus threats, and more!) 

• ONGOING! Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?

• ONGOING! 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

There’s a troubling sense of normalcy bias among some Democratic leaders who believe they’ll regain their footing in the 2026 midterms, riding another anti-Trump wave. But here’s the critical question: will the United States even have free and fair elections? To answer that, we need to look back and ask: was the 2024 U.S. election free and fair? Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and those around them, break the law so brazenly, how can we trust they came to power without breaking the law? 

According to investigative journalist Greg Palast, this week’s guest and director of the must-see film Vigilantes Inc., which you can watch for free, the answer is a resounding no. Palast’s analysis reveals the shocking normalization of Republican voter suppression: over 3.5 million votes were effectively canceled in 2024. This means 3.5 million Americans were denied their fundamental right to vote. And according to Palast, a significant number of suppressed voters are nonwhite. This isn’t just voter suppression; it’s a modern-day resurrection of Jim Crow, fueled by the Republican Party’s relentless assault on democracy. In this week’s bonus episode, out Friday, Elie Mystal, the Justice Correspondent for The Nation, and author of the new book Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, explains how the GOP’s reaction to the first Black president was to gut the Voting Rights Act, paving the way for Trump. 

In this week’s bonus episode, we also continue our conversation with Palast, diving into the power of film as a powerful force for confronting America’s darkest history. Plus, we’ll also hear from Mystal on why European nations must take a stand by imposing a travel ban on Ivanka Trump and others complicit in the destruction of our democracy—a move that could help hold the Musk-Trump regime accountable for its action, along with divestment strategies that brought down Apartheid. Don’t miss this eye-opening episode, out Friday!

Thank you to everyone who supports the show–we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes:

Watch Vigilantes, Inc. by Greg Palast for free: https://www.watchvigilantesinc.com/

Bad Law Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America https://thenewpress.com/books/bad-law

Events at Gaslit Nation

• Feb 24 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club at our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss Albert Camu’s The Stranger (Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning

• March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating 

• NEW! Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.

• ONGOING! Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.

• NEW! Climate Crisis Committee launched in the Patreon Chat thanks to a Gaslit Nation listener who holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences

• NEW! Caretaker Committee launched in the Patreon Chat for our listeners who are caretakers and want to share resources, vent, and find community 

• NEW! Public Safety page added to GaslitNationPod.com to help you better protect yourself from this lunacy (i.e. track recalls, virus threats, and more!) 

• ONGOING! Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?

• ONGOING! 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 

This week’s bonus show is our live recording with Russian mafia expert Olga Lautman, who answers listener questions about combating the Russian-backed fascist threat of the Musk/Trump regime. We also discuss Trump and Russia’s attempts to strongarm Ukraine into a deal that would buy Russia time to continue its genocidal invasion. Don’t miss this special episode. 

A heartfelt thank you to all our Gaslit Nation supporters. This show wouldn’t be possible without you. Together, we’re shining a light on the truth and fighting for a better future.

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes:

Olga Lautman Substack: https://trumptyrannytracker.substack.com/

Events at Gaslit Nation

• Feb 24 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club at our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss Albert Camu’s The Stranger (Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning

• March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating 

• NEW! Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.

• ONGOING! Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.

• NEW! Climate Crisis Committee launched in the Patreon Chat thanks to a Gaslit Nation listener who holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences

• NEW! Caretaker Committee launched in the Patreon Chat for our listeners who are caretakers and want to share resources, vent, and find community 

• NEW! Public Safety page added to GaslitNationPod.com to help you better protect yourself from this lunacy (i.e. track recalls, virus threats, and more!) 

• ONGOING! Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?

• ONGOING! 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 

One of the most striking aspects of living under a dictatorship is how eerily normal life can appear on the surface. The sun still rises, children still play in parks. Yet, beneath this façade of normalcy, the foundations of democracy are being purged. Drug-fueled Nazi oligarchs, emboldened by their unchecked power, withhold critical funding, endanger lives, and proudly defy the courts. They destroy the rule of law and unleash a culture of corruption, all while the world watches America turn into a failed state.

Joining us to unpack this dystopian nightmare, as well as what must be done to overcome this global threat, is Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent for The Nation and author of the new book Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. Mystal, a prophetic voice in the fight for democracy, breaks down what Biden and the Democrats should have done to curb Trump and MAGA extremism when they had the chance. (We’ll be shouting we told you so all the way to the gulag!) He explains why Merrick Garland was, as we warned, a threat to democracy, what actions Democrats and the people must take now in the limited time we have left, and why New York State Attorney General Tish James serves as a vital reminder of the importance of local resistance. Most importantly, Mystal calls on world leaders to divest from America, an urgent strategy that helped bring down apartheid. 

This week’s bonus show is our live recording with Russian mafia expert Olga Lautman, who answers listener questions about combating the Russian-backed fascist threat of the Musk/Trump regime. We also discuss Trump and Russia’s attempts to strongarm Ukraine into a deal that would buy Russia time to continue its genocidal invasion. Don’t miss this special episode, coming to you on Friday.

A heartfelt thank you to all our Gaslit Nation supporters. This show wouldn’t be possible without you. Together, we’re shining a light on the truth and fighting for a better future.

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Events at Gaslit Nation

• Feb 24 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club at our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss Albert Camu’s The Stranger (Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning

• March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating 

• NEW! Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon. 

• ONGOING! Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.

• NEW! Climate Crisis Committee launched in the Patreon Chat thanks to a Gaslit Nation listener who holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences

• NEW! Caretaker Committee launched in the Patreon Chat for our listeners who are caretakers and want to share resources, vent, and find community 

• NEW! Public Safety page added to GaslitNationPod.com to help you better protect yourself from this lunacy (i.e. track recalls, virus threats, and more!): https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/public-safety

• ONGOING! Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?: https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/survey-reject-hypernormalization

• ONGOING! 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