The Chauncey DeVega Show

Brittany Friedman is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Southern California. She is also a 2023-2024 American Association of University Women faculty postdoctoral fellow and an Affiliated Scholar of the American Bar Foundation, whose writing and other work have been featured by The Washington Post, C-SPAN, NPR, The Associated Press, and Vox. Her new book is Carceral Apartheid: How Lies and White Supremacists Run Our Prisons.

Dr. Friedman explains how America is a type of "carceral society" where the logic and organizing principles of prison and racialized power dominate the culture.

Dr. Friedman shares the lessons she learned from the intimate conversations she had with elders who had been incarcerated (in some of the country's most infamous and dangerous prisons in California) during the Civil Rights Movement and long Black Freedom Struggle and that helped to organize prisoners' rights organizations.

These are essential lessons that pro-democracy Americans will need for navigating life in a time of rising autocracy and authoritarianism.

Chauncey DeVega shares a tale about his recent travels during a particularly hollow July 4th holiday, gains some life wisdom, and continues pondering what it means to be the working-class child of an aging parent. Chauncey also reflects on questions of moral culpability and how so many of us are already "Good Americans" who have been deeply and perhaps forever stained by their tacit and active complicity with evil.

And Chauncey DeVega goes to the movies and shares his review of James Gunn's (not so super) new Superman movie.

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

Sabrina Haake is a federal trial attorney with twenty years of experience specializing in First and 14th Amendment defense. Her essays have been featured in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Reader, and Raw Story. Her Substack newsletter is The Haake Take.

Sabrina Haake reflects on how the Age of Trump and his return to power have negatively impacted the interpersonal relationships and mental and emotional health of the American people -- and how they need to hold on to hope and a belief in human decency when it is so easy to so succumb to cynicism and despair in these dark times.

She also ponders how and why so many "good" "everyday" Germans were able to sustain living in a state of denial about how their society was succumbing to evil in human history during the 1930s and beyond.

And Sabrina Haake shares her personal life journey of overcoming poverty and abuse and how that has impacted her moral framework, public voice, and commitment to democracy and a more humane society.

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

Andrew Goldberg is an Emmy-Award-winning investigative producer and journalist. He has directed 14 prime-time documentary specials for PBS/public television, and both long and short-form segments for outlets like CBS News Sunday Morning, ABC News, Live From Lincoln Center, and National Public Radio. His new documentary film is White With Fear.

Andrew Goldberg details how Donald Trump and his propagandists, the Republican Party, the larger "conservative" movement, and the Fox News right-wing echo chamber worked together to channel and amplify white racism to win the 2024 Election with the ultimate goal of ending America's multiracial democracy.

Andrew Goldberg explains how racism against Black and brown people is an organizing principle of American politics and how White elites have historically used "white fear" and fantasies of "white victimization" to radicalize and manipulate White Americans.

Andrew Goldberg also reflects on his decades-long career and life journey as a journalist and filmmaker and the moral obligation to speak truth to power, and how looking away and living in denial about evil in its many forms is a form of corrupting privilege.

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

Rob Edwards is a thirty-year veteran of movies and television who wrote and produced shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Full House, and In Living Color before writing two classic animated films for Walt Disney Feature Animation: the Academy Awards and Golden Globe nominated The Princess and The Frog, and the Academy Awards nominated Treasure Planet. His new project is the graphic novel Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls.

Rob Edwards reflects on being creative for a living, the difference between tourists and pretenders and being a real professional, and how he feels obligated to both teach and entertain in his work. He also shares what it was like working on such iconic TV shows as Roc and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and managing the pressure and responsibility of being one of the few Black creative workers with his range and depth of experience in Hollywood.

Rob Edwards also does some sharing about his approach to writing the new Marvel film Captain America: Brave New World and how Anthony Mackie's character "Sam Wilson" (who is now the new "Captain America") reflects the much deeper history of the long Black Freedom Struggle and the pressure to always succeed in the face of the (near) impossible.

On this special Memorial Day episode of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega continues with his annual tradition of reading an account of the first such remembrance day that took place at the end of the Civil War when now free Black Americans buried Union Army war dead in Charleston, South Carolina and honored their sacrifice and victory over the Confederacy with a huge parade. Chauncey also reads an account written by a member of the United States Colored Troops about his experience(s) in the Civil War and doing battle against the forces of the Confederacy who were determined to keep Black people in bondage.

And Chauncey DeVega goes on a journey around his neighborhood and has a surreal series of experiences where he was lucky to not be shot by street pirates, learned from a wise honored elder on the bus, and then encountered a young man who claimed to be a time traveler.

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

Phil Tinline is the author of the new book Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax of the Century, Its Enduring Impact, and What It Reveals About America Today. Over the course of twenty years working for the BBC, Tinline has made and presented many acclaimed documentaries about how political history shapes our lives. He has also written for The Times (London), The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The New Statesman, BBC History Magazine, and Prospect.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Phil Tinline explores how conspiracy theories and conspiracism helped to birth the Age of Trump and its authoritarian populism and anti-intellectualism, the allure of the conspiracy theory subculture, and why the most obvious and simple explanation(s) for complex and terrifying events may be more frightening and disturbing than the most elaborate conspiracy theories.

Tinline explains why the agitprop satirical Iron Mountain conspiracy theory from the 1960s endures and is one of the most compelling and fascinating stories he has ever encountered.

Chauncey DeVega reflects on the meaning of Mother's Day, aging parent(s), and personal landmark moments in this time of great troubles and crisis.

Chauncey also sorts through the overflowing latrine of political waste that is "flooding the zone" to highlight some important news items that you may have missed -- including a horrible story about how a poor Black rural community in Alabama is literally drowning in sewage and the funding to help clean it up was cut by the Trump administration because it was supposedly a bogeyman phantasm white racial paranoiac "DEI" program.

On this week's episode of the podcast, there is also some fun and levity to balance out the seriousness and dire challenges of this very difficult time in America and around the world.

Chauncey DeVega goes on a journey around his neighborhood and ponders the sacred and the profane. He also shares his thoughts on last weekend's WWE Backlash pay-per-view event and John Cena's first title defense as a heel.

Chauncey is an unapologetic devotee of TLC network's many human zoos and offers up his professional judgement about the great mystery of our era: Was Amy on 1,000-Lb Sisters actually bitten by a camel or is it all an elaborate hoax?

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

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

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

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