Donald Trump is just a symptom of our national disease. We have to--and we can--change the system that coughed him up.

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This week, Andrea Pitzer focuses on the U.S. attack on Venezuela, looking at what we know, how recent events fit into history, and why it's important to stop Trump. But she also dives into why the president is just a symptom of what ails the country. The episode speed-runs the last two centuries of U.S. policy in the Americas, and the long history of intervention. Andrea shows how Trump's administration is mired in the rhetoric and fixations of the last century, with control over oil and anti-Communist obsessions determining how his advisors respond to almost every situation.

More importantly, she talks about Trump as merely the vessel of the real dysfunction afflicting the U.S. This illness could have wormed its way into the Democratic Party instead of the Republican Party, building a propaganda machine and bringing some virulent, billionaire-backed populism to power in some other form. But it didn't, and we are where we are. Which means we have to fight the Republicans' assault on democracy while simultaneously building a new kind of national governance that rejects the rot at the core of the current system. Andrea quotes her former editor Laura Helmuth arguing that we need to "move slow and build things." The episode closes by referencing a handful of the evidence-based policies that would transform everyday Americans' lives, and encourages listeners to work for one long-term change that matters to them.

The tactics Trump allies are using to gin up hate against trans people reveal how propaganda works and why it's so dangerous.

Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/you-re-soaking-in-it TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews In this week's episode, In this last episode for 2025, Andrea Pitzer reviews recent actions by the US and state governments targeting trans women and trans youth, showing how propaganda takes root and becomes effective over time. She considers the recent announcement by RFK Jr., the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the government's direct targeting of medical care for trans kids. Bizarre bathroom measures taken in Texas also get a mention, and show how politicians use these measures to garner political power for themselves. Turning to the UK, Andrea explores how quickly propaganda can shift a country's baseline acceptance for rights of minority groups when staff at key news outlets actively embrace exclusion. Considering how the recent shift in the US toward transphobia is being generated--especially the wave of anti-trans legislation--Andrea discusses evangelical Christianity's strong tradition of policing gender roles. From women's rights to the acceptance of gays and lesbians in the US, she shows how the expansion of rights is being strategically undone today. Rep. Sarah McBride's informal speech on the Capitol states last week about being trans, as well as her prior public statements, offer useful ways to think about sidestepping the kind of back-and-forth that's unlikely to be productive in addressing transphobia. Andrea considers the value and shortcomings of shitposting in offering solidarity and changing hearts and minds. She closes with a look on how to find the most effective means to help close to home, where propaganda is weakest and easiest to undo.

Why the Trump administration (and a lot of other people) are trying to kill journalism, and what we can do to stop them.

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Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/shredding-public-knowledge

Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/s768y0SrCp8

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In this week's episode, Andrea Pitzer looks at a new report on journalism from the Roosevelt Institute that reveals how corporate interests have prioritized power and profit, shattering news organizations and journalism itself. She goes further than the report to suggest that the current attack is not just on journalism but all public institutions in the US, from universities to public schools, hospitals, and the very idea of independent knowledge. This suppression of the right to know facts and establish reality is a hallmark of authoritarians, and Andrea outlines a few past examples from around the world. Journalism in the US has faced creeping destruction for decades, but now it's all accelerating with devastating speed, not only on the corporate side, but as a direct result of White House actions: through personal attacks on journalists, the recent White House "media bias" project, the stripping of credentials from any real Pentagon Press Corps, and more.

The Roosevelt Institute report outlines how public-interest obligations have been ignored, and media institutions have been made vulnerable to capture in ways that leave them unable to withstand authoritarian pressure. Andrea looks at those reporters and outlets who are still fighting the good fight, and closes with what you can do to help.

Get the full report: https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/political-economy-of-us-media-system/

None of us know what exactly will end Trump's rule. But we can keep expanding the possibilities. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/this-may-be-the-last-time Watch: https://youtu.be/TOrj4Yfp9JY TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews Our episode this week is a deep dive into the variety of ways the president's current authoritarian overreach is meeting blowback. Andrea Pitzer covers developments from recent days, including a Washington Post report about the deliberate execution of two shipwreck survivors in September after the U.S. military destroyed their boat at sea. She notes that Trump policies have already brought death to hundreds of thousands of civilians around the globe, but these two casualties seem to be particularly unsettling to a number of officials, as well as elected officials. Walking through many other recent ways that Trump's allies have refused to go along with his attempts to maintain or even expand his powers, Andrea speedruns multiple Senate votes aimed at upending Trump's tariffs, a state politician rejecting the call for gerrymandering, the blue wave in last months' off-year elections, the defeat of his attempt to keep the House from voting to release the Epstein files, and more. She continues by singling out other roadblocks, from CEO refusal to fund Trump's ballroom and the endless parade of judges attempting to hold the president to the rule of law, in some ways that appear to be sticking. Going through examples from history in Kenya, Argentina, and right here in the US, Andrea finishes by talking about how no one knows the moment when a demagogue's movement will collapse, and suggests some ways for us to speed up the process along through local actions on the ground.

Trump's denigration of women is part of the authoritarian playbook. Here's how to stop it.

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Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/quiet-piggy

Watch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4s0_Cx5rYM

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Our episode this week looks at Donald Trump saying "quiet, Piggy" to a reporter aboard Air Force One and the larger context of what the president is doing. Andrea Pitzer looks at Trump's long history with denigrating women, from journalists who ask him hard questions to his ex-wife Ivana, who at one point asserted in a sworn deposition that he had raped her. Andrea explores how Trump's behavior with women represents more than just his own perverse attitudes; it's a recognizable element of authoritarianism. And the pattern of how people in power are currently speaking about and treating women is a political bid to roll back the clock on half a century of progress for women, from Title IX to abortion and job security.

Looking at everything from tradwives to attacks on trans women, Andrea sketches out how the larger wave of those in charge trying to force women into specific roles and keep them there is a naked bid for power—one we should resist. The episode ends with a list of ways to support women in the workplace and in daily life, whether it's speaking up when they're denigrated or standing up for abortion rights, access to child care, and basic dignity. 00:00 Trump's Piggy-ness 00:40 Trump's Disrespect Towards Female Reporters 01:16 Trump's History of Misogynistic Remarks 07:36 Historical Context of Misogyny in Authoritarianism 11:10 Modern Impacts of Trump's Rhetoric and Policy 24:28 We Can Do Better

What if you threw a party to transform the country—or at least your little corner of it—and everybody came?

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Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/of-by-and-for-the-people

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This week's "Next Comes What" is a snapshot of a city responding to the havoc of the second Trump administration, and follows the drafting of a candidate for Congress who aims to flip the tables. Andrea Pitzer visited Roanoke for the fourth time in the last year, having been intermittently involved in a group of do-gooders who gathered to support the vulnerable groups Trump had specifically targeted in the runup to the 2024 elections. Later, as the administration and its allies took aim at federal workers, farmers, Medicaid, and more, the group realized everyone was at risk. Their movement grew from meetings coordinating with existing nonprofits to protests and educational programs.

This week, the core protest group formally drafted journalist and author Beth Macy to run for Congress, opposing a Republican incumbent who has stopped holding town halls for months at a time and refuses to meet with his unhappy constituents. Andrea traces the growth of the movement to reclaim Virginia's sixth district for the people, and attends Macy's coming-out party as she announces her candidacy. The episode closes with what it all means for the rest of us.

Standing up for trans folks isn't just the right thing to do—which it is!—it's also a way to win elections.

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Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/stop-trans-scapegoating

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews Our episode this week focuses on how trans people have been demonized by politicians, and why that approach backfired in elections around the country last week. To find out why this kind of hate mongering seems to be a weapon of choice for the Republican Party right now, Andrea Pitzer looks at the many prejudices that transphobia taps into, going back to the Lavender Scare, McCarthyism, and beyond. She considers how part of the hostility to trans identities also rises out of women gaining civil rights, and Republican frustration that they can't slot everyone into the roles they prefer. Andrea looks at two trans lawmakers in office now, and suggests they (and trans people as a whole) shouldn't have to shoulder the burden of carrying the banner for trans rights. Recalling an interview with researcher Mike Jones from more than a decade ago, Andrea recounts how he found that heroes in policy narratives are even more effective than villains in getting people to come aboard. She analyzes the different ways that Abigail Spanberger and Zohran Mamdani addressed trans issues. Both campaign styles, she finds, offer strategies to effectively counter Republican demonization of vulnerable groups in America. Andrea ends by discussing ways that we can all embrace the hero narrative and show that we're strong enough to stand up for everyone's rights.

Tuesday was a big day for democracy! But only if we follow through on its promise.

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Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/just-a-wave-not-the-water

Watch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlDH54C4azc

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This week, we celebrate the immediate results of the November 4 elections— which delivered key victories for candidates running against Trumpism and offering concrete policies to benefit their constituents. Andrea Pitzer looks at how, win or lose, elections do matter. But they're only one tool. Pointing out how even winning candidates can abandon the platforms they ran on, or give into donor pressure once in office, she lays out how the ultimate power remains with the people. There are many other ways that voters and non-voters alike can impact their communities.

Andrea considers the degree to which dedicated voters can sometimes demonize non-voters or blame them for failures at the ballot box. But nonvoters may have given up hope in our system altogether. And in any case, if getting out the vote is the goal, persuasion is more likely to work. She considers the ruptured promise of our republic, and the ways in which she still believes elections can lay the foundation to repair it. But only if we understand that Tuesday may have been a wave, but we ourselves are the water.

Trump's immigration policies may be echoing Nazi history, but that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do about it.

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Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/when-bad-things-get-worse

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This week's episode tracks the administration's shift in immigration enforcement as the power given to Border Patrol expands. Andrea walks listeners through the origins of and tactics used by Border Patrol and ICE in recent decades, as well as the ways unstable leadership and a lack of accountability have shaped their evolution. She turns to a conversation that she had last December with immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick in which he laid out the two paths detention and deportation would likely take in the new administration: one in which Tom Homan became ascendant, the other in which Stephen Miller took charge.

Andrea notes that the Miller approach seems to have gained the upper hand for now, and it's far more dangerous for Americans across the board. Diving into Nazi history, she outlines the way that an abusive law-and-order model for governing was defeated by the reign-of-terror concentration-camp model, and sees the U.S. as now moving more fully into the latter mode. But she points out that even if you failed to imagine how quickly U.S. guardrails would give way to expanding violence against civilians, you don't have to let that earlier failure of imagination keep you from thinking of ways to protect yourself and others. The episode closes with mutual aid actions that can help those most affected, as well as thoughts on preemptively closing some doors to immigrant enforcement operations.

Saturday's NO KINGS is the beginning of a movement. Thoughts on what it means and where we go from here.

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Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/-ozqcCEtRRc?si=nyvG3tY3-UGofGEd

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This week, Andrea Pitzer looks at the October 18 No Kings marches and rallies nationwide and jumps into what seven million people showing up means for the country. She narrates the Saturday march from Arlington National Cemetery across the Memorial Bridge into DC and along the National Mall. Along the way, she talks to demonstrators, members of the National Guard stationed in the District, and DC cops. She recaps surveys of those who showed up and what matters to them, including data from Dana Fisher* and some great points made this week in a conversation between Erica Chenoweth and Steven Levitsky.** Addressing why police departments around the country put out press releases, Andrea wonders if—for their own reasons—they're trying to create some distance between themselves and the administration. She also reviews how shook the White House was by No Kings.

Different people will play different roles in mass protests, and they may diverge even more in their approaches as mass protests become a mass movement. Andrea considers how this range of experiences, goals, and tactics can be a strength, rather than something that deepens conflict. And as always, at the end, she reviews ways to think about and take action in the moment, to push back against authoritarianism.

* Fisher's topline data from Saturday is now available here: https://danarfisher.com/2025/10/23/nokings-2-0-brings-joyful-resistance-across-the-us/

** You can see the whole conversation between Chenoweth and Levitsky in The Breakdown from the Ash Center: https://youtube.com/live/dqoSPLEK2Mg?si=C1f53eivbGGV2Pm3