Norman Solomon is an author, journalist, media critic and activist. He is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Solomon’s books include War Made Easy, and Made Love, Got War. His new book is War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Norman Solomon reflects on the first 100 days of Trump’s return to power. He counsels that the struggle to defend, restore, and then improve America’s democracy and a humane society will take many years -- if not much longer. Why? Because Trumpism is a symptom and not the cause of an American empire that is rotting from within.

Norman Solomon warns that the enemies of multiracial democracy and a true We the People pluralistic democracy are working expertly to return the United States to the 1950s and the evils of Jim and Jane Crow if not before. He also warns that the corporate Democrats and the mainstream liberals have no real answers for Trump’s great talent (and appeal for his MAGA people) as a propagandist, dark therapist, and political strongman in an era of extreme social inequality and rage at the corrupt elites.

And Norman Solomon shares his hard-earned wisdom and advice on balancing pessimism and optimism and how to build one’s own internal Noah’s Ark to survive this worsening disaster here in America and around the world.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

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On this impromptu Easter Day installment of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega reflects on our collective discombobulation (and mass disinhibition), building our inner Noah’s Ark to survive these dark times that are getting much worse and much faster with Trump’s return to power, and the symbolism and metaphorical power of the Easter holiday and the spring season. 

Following through on the importance of building our inner Noah’s Ark and filling it with things that bring us joy, Chauncey shares his thoughts on this year’s WWE WrestleMania 41 event, and what should have been an epic bout between John Cena and Cody Rhodes with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playing his part as "The Final Boss".

Chauncey also shares what it was like to interview Peter Weller aka the star of Robocop at the C2E2 convention in Chicago last weekend.

The titan Nikki Giovanni transitioned to the next stage of existence on December 9, 2024.

This week’s episode features Chauncey DeVega’s conversation with Giovanni, which was shared here four years earlier, on December 8, 2020.

***

Nikki Giovanni is one of America’s greatest living poets. She has written dozens of collections of poetry as well as non-fiction and other work.

Giovanni has received many awards and other honors including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and three NAACP Image awards for literature.

She was also a central voice in the Black Arts Movement. Giovanni is currently University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.

Nikki Giovanni’s new book is Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose.

Giovanni reflects on truth-telling and writing as vocation, the color line, Black woman are uniquely suited for space travel, and why Black people keep struggling to save American society from its own racism and other iniquities. And Giovanni warns that America is ultimately doomed if it continues along is current trajectory.  

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow  

https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast

There are two guests on this week’s episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.

Dr. Justin Frank is a former professor of psychiatry at George Washington University. He is the author of several books including Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President.

Dr. Frank returns to the podcast and explains the importance of listening to and trusting our feelings and emotions in this time of fear, exhaustion, and collective trauma. Dr. Frank also interprets some of the common dreams that people experience during times of great stress and anxiety. He also shares his expert advice about how to be a good listener who gives useful advice to those who reach out to us for help.

Rev. Adam Russell Taylor is president of Sojourners and author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community.

He explains how the Age of Trump is an extreme moral, political, and spiritual crisis. Rev. Taylor warns that the Christian right-wing is now implementing a decades-long plan to remake the country into a Christofascist theocracy and that Trump’s rise to power has made that possible. Rev. Taylor also shares the importance of spiritual discipline and how it can empower collective action in what will be a long struggle to renew and defend American freedom and social democracy in this time of darkness.

Chauncey DeVega explains  the German concept of Gleichschaltung (“synchronization”) and how it applies to Trumpism and the larger American neofascist revolutionary project to remake all aspects of the country’s politics, culture and life.

Chauncey struggles with his love of professional wrestling and great excitement about how John Cena has finally, after 25 years, turned “heel” versus the reality that the WWE has many connections with the Trump administration and this time of horribleness.  

And Chauncey DeVega also shares some stories about the everyday heroes he recently encountered in his neighborhood and travels.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

This is a special joint episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show and The Truth Report.

M. Steven Fish is a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. His new book is Comeback: Routing Trumpism, Reclaiming the Nation, and Restoring Democracy's Edge.

Professor Fish returns to the podcast to warn that the Democrats continue to be weak and ineffective in their opposition to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement because they refuse to be high-dominance leaders who shape the public mood and inspire their followers. The most recent example: The Democrats in Congress surrendered to Trump and his MAGA Republicans by voting to avoid a government shutdown. The Democrats did this without extracting any significant political concessions.

And M. Steven Fish explains how it would not be that difficult for the Democrats to adopt a high-dominance leadership style and to be an effective opposition party in defense of real American democracy and freedom. Unfortunately, the Democrats and their consultants prefer to be victims who are unwilling to rise to the existential challenge.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com:

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow  

https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast

There are two guests on this week’s episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.

Dr. Justin Frank is a former professor of psychiatry at George Washington University. He is the author of several books including Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President.

Dr. Frank reflects on how the American people and their collective sense of normal, safety, and security has been dramatically disrupted by Trump’s return to power and his  “shock and awe” campaign against American democracy and society. Dr. Frank counsels that feelings of dread, fear, and anxiety are totally normal responses to such a threat – but the question then becomes what to do with those feelings.

Dr. Frank also explains the psychological dynamics at work in why so many Americans were in denial, immature, and refused to believe the many warnings, over almost a decade, that Trump’s return to power would be a disaster for the country and the world.

Dr. Lance Dodes is a former clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a training and supervising analyst emeritus at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

Dr. Dodes explains why and how so many Americans and others in this time of crisis are increasing their unhealthy use of alcohol, drugs, and engaging in other addictive behavior as a coping mechanism. He also explains the important differences between compulsion and bad habits and their importance for treating alcoholism and other diseases.

Dr. Frank and Dr. Dodes both share their advice for enduring, navigating, and how Americans of conscience and honor can try to stay healthy and relatively balanced and ready for the long struggle during this time of extreme stress, anxiety, fear, vulnerability, general duress and exhaustion.

Chauncey DeVega continues to navigate the long Trumpocene and Trump’s first month back in power, what are weeks that feel like years and decades. The Dear Leader has now declared himself a de facto king, emperor, Napoleon…. or worse.

And as Chauncey has warned for years, Trump is now literally whitewashing and creating a thoughtcrime regime against teaching the real history of American society and the color line with his very real and very serious Orwellian threats against America’s colleges, universities, and public schools. 

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and a Senior Advisor for Public Trust in Science at the Aspen Institute.

He is the author of many books including On Disinformation and How to Talk to a Science Denier.

Lee McIntyre explains how the American people are being systematically targeted in a disinformation and propaganda war by malign actors both here in the United States and from abroad with the goal of breaking reality, confusing them about the difference between facts and lies, undermining science and rational thought, and causing them to withdraw inward, abandon healthy community, and civic life and democracy.

McIntyre explains the concept and practice of propaganda and disinformation, its origins, and how the American people can educate themselves so that they can effectively resist.

Lee McIntyre also warns that President Donald Trump is a highly skilled and gifted propagandist and practitioner of disinformation who has no real peer or equal in recent American history – if ever.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow  

https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast

Dayton Ward is a New York Times bestselling author or co-author of more than forty novels and novellas. His most recent Star Trek novel is Pliable Truths. Ward’s essays and other writing have been featured at Tor.com, StarTrek.com, and Syfy.com

Dayton Ward reflects on his decades-long love of Star Trek, what it means to be creative for a living and his decision to “take the leap” later in life to become a full-time professional writer, how Star Trek fandom has changed over the decades, and what his wishes are for Star Trek to become in the future.

Chauncey DeVega journeys home for the New Year and Christmas holidays and has more adventures and challenges as the working-class child of an aging parent. Chauncey also reminds us that these are the good days before the imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House and how we must keep our hearts open to the amazing examples of humanity and inspiration in our neighborhoods and day-to-day lives. Those experiences are fuel for the hope tank that Americans of conscience and honor will need to survive, resist, and eventually overcome the horribleness of the next four years and beyond.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

David Altheide is the Regents' Professor Emeritus on the faculty of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University and author of many books including his most recent, "Gonzo Governance: The Media Logic of Donald Trump."

David Altheide explains how and why Donald Trump was and continues to be so amazingly skilled and gifted at manipulating the American news media – so much so that he was able to easily win back the presidency by defeating Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris.

Altheide warns that Donald Trump is now a type of meme and character who cannot be easily countered by traditional understandings of how politics, media, and society are supposed to function in a democracy.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow   

https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast 

Blair Kelley is an award-winning author, historian, and scholar of the African American experience. She is currently the Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the incoming director of the Center for the Study of the American South, the first Black woman to serve in that role in the center’s thirty-year history. Her new book is Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class.

Blair Kelly discusses the relationship of the Black working class to the American story of striving, struggle, hope, endurance, tragedy, and triumph along the color line. She also intervenes against a dominant narrative that erases the Black working class from how the country’s news media and other elites and general public conceptualizes what it means to be a “real American” and member of the “working class” in the Age of Trump and this era of authoritarian populist backlash and rage. Chauncey and Blair also reflect on their own experiences as proud members of the Black working class, and how they navigate being in elite spaces where that identity and experience makes many people uncomfortable and uncertain.

Chauncey DeVega continues to work through our collective emotions and the public mood in the aftermath of the 2024 Election, this time of growing dread, and Trump’s imminent return to the White House. Chauncey also shares two powerful recent essays on Trump’s return to power and this time of moral and larger societal crisis.

And Chauncey DeVega travels to the local cineplex and proceeds to share his reviews of the new movies Queer, Werewolves, Day of the Fight, and The Order.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

Willy Vlautin is the guest on this week’s special Thanksgiving Day episode of the podcast.

He is the author of seven novels including Lean on Pete, The Motel Life, and The Night Always Comes. His new book is The Horse. He is the founder of the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines.

Willy reflects on his life journey and working-class roots, the challenges of being creative for a living, how music helps to sustain him, and what it means to him to write working-class stories about strivers and survivors and why janitors and waitresses deserve their own novels too.  

Chauncey DeVega continues his crusade against traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinners, and reflects on questions of gratitude and our collective and individual emotions in this time of great troubles and uncertainty following the 2024 Election and what comes next.  

And Chauncey wades into the great controversary of the day: How should you navigate your relationship this Thanksgiving, the holiday season and beyond with your Trump-supporting family member(s)?

WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega

My email:

[email protected]

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?

Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow