Gaslit Nation

In this high-stakes episode, Andrea is joined by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk as Putin openly claims alignment with the U.S., and Europe is being forced to, whether it likes it or not, hold the line.  Matviichuk, leader of the human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, lays out why the war in Ukraine is not a regional dispute or a diplomatic inconvenience, but a direct clash between civilization vs. a fascist crime spree, one that will determine the future balance of power for Europe and the world. She dismantles the dangerous fiction that Ukraine is a charity case or a drain on European stability. As she makes clear: "Ukraine is not a beneficiary of European security. Ukraine is a provider of European security." Our conversation exposes Russia's war crime playbook, including the mass kidnapping and forced assimilation of Ukrainian children, brainwashing them into soldiers for Putin's meatgrinder. As Matviichuk puts it: "Every person who wants to shake Putin's hand must acknowledge that they are shaking hands with the biggest child kidnapper in the world." This episode is a five-alarm fire. Europe has the money, the industry, the frozen Russian assets, and the historical memory to stop another Iron Curtain, but only if it abandons wishful thinking and acts. Occupation is not peace, and delay is not diplomacy. Pretending like this will somehow blow over is how democracies fail. Next week legal scholar Madiba Dennie, author of The Originalism Trap, joins Gaslit Nation to break down how the MAGA Supreme Court emerged from a fringe movement of Lee Atwater's Southern Strategy, and how we can have an all new Supreme Court, with the help of the power of impeachment.  Mark your calendar! The Gaslit Nation Holiday Party, complete with hope and holiday sweaters, will be this Monday December 22nd at 4pm ET with fun surprises for our community of listeners. To join the joy, sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit – discounted annual memberships are available, and you can give the gift of membership. Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

Donald Trump's kleptocracy didn't happen overnight–it was part of the Kremlin's long game. With reports of Russia trying to explode planes headed to the US, we're running out of time to wake up before it's too late. In this week's bonus show for Gaslit Nation's Patreon supporters, who keep our independent journalism going in these dark times of institutional rot, media capitulation, and complacency, Andrea warns that we're nearing the point of no return. Putin can now say the U.S. and Russia are aligned, because they are. Trump's regime is declaring a return to the Monroe Doctrine, claiming the Western Hemisphere belongs to the U.S. That's exactly what Putin does in Eastern Europe. The Pentagon is handing Trump's gestapo-like immigration agenda $2 billion on top of $75 billion for ICE in Trump's Big Ugly Bill. Like Putin, Trump is building a gulag and gearing up for conflict with our neighbors, including Mexico, Venezuela, and whoever else he wants to casually kill. As we've long warned, Trump wants to become the Putin of North America, because that's his plan for staying in power indefinitely: enrich his family, build a dynastic oligarchy, and protect it with sadistic security services. To help us fight back and stay grounded in the gaslighting, this special bonus show includes a discussion of Gaslit Nation's Book Club: Total Resistance by Hans von Dach–a civilian guerrilla resistance guide produced by a Swiss military theorist in preparation for Soviet occupation during the Cold War–and Deaf Republic, a play-like book of poems by Ukrainian-born poet Ilya Kaminsky.  "At the trial of God, we will ask: why did you allow all this?," Kaminsky writes, "And the answer will be an echo: why did you allow all this?" We have to stop the worst from happening and wake people up before it's too late. For ways to fight back, check out, and share, the Gaslit Nation Action Guide on GaslitNationPod.com. The full discussion of this month's book club will be published on Patreon Monday morning, along with the Zoom link for the Gaslit Nation Salon at 4pm ET later that day. To get access to that, join our community on Patreon at Patreon.com/Gaslit and get invites to exclusive events, bonus shows, all episodes ad free, and more. Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit – discounted annual memberships are available and you can give the gift of member. Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you.  Show Notes: Today in Washington, DC! Celebrate voices of resistance with COURIER. Reflect on 2025's lessons and explore how courage drives the fights ahead. Andrea will be speaking tonight, joined by other independent journalists and activists. More info here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/courage-cowardice-tickets-1968694585501?aff=promotoolkit   Total Resistance by H Von Dach https://bookshop.org/p/books/total-resistance-h-von-dach/df1aa810a26bacea?ean=9781607963042&next=t   Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky https://bookshop.org/p/books/deaf-republic-poems-ilya-kaminsky/33e16033f9269bdf?ean=9781555978310&next=t   Read and Resist: The Gaslit Nation Book Club https://www.patreon.com/posts/read-and-resist-132804210?utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link&utm_id=4d59916b-2d54-46a3-b9e7-76fa99f42f1e&utm_medium=email   Trump strategy document revives Monroe Doctrine, slams Europe https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/trump-strategy-document-revives-monroe-doctrine-slams-europe-2025-12-05/   $2 Billion in Pentagon Funds Said to Go to Anti-Immigrant Operations: Democratic lawmakers said in a report that shifting Defense Department funding to support the Trump administration's immigration agenda has hurt military readiness. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/politics/defense-department-funds-immigration.html?smid=url-share   Russia Suspected of Plotting to Send Incendiary Devices on U.S.-Bound Planes: Two devices that ignited in Europe, officials say, were part of a covert operation to put them on cargo or passenger aircraft https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/politics/defense-department-funds-immigration.html?smid=url-share   Kremlin hails Trump's national security strategy as aligned with Russia's vision: Moscow welcomes White House document critical of the EU as talks to end the Ukraine war enter a key phase https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/07/kremlin-hails-trump-national-security-strategy-as-aligned-with-russia-vision  

On this extremely cursed episode of Gaslit Nation, we take a break from gas station dictatorships to talk about their emo tech cousin: crypto, the shadow banking system for oligarchs, autocrats, and the Trump family, with Andy Greenberg of Wired, author of Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency. Greenberg walks us through how Bitcoin was sold as untraceable "freedom money"–digital cash for the revolution!–and instead became a giant glowing crime map. Dark-web drug empires, massive child sex abuse rings, ransomware gangs, investment scam sweatshops, North Korean weapons programs, autocratic terrorists like Russia and China. Turns out their transnational crypto crime sprees left a trace. Greenberg profiles investigators who followed the blockchain to catch some of the world's worst monsters and advises how to "follow the money" in the digital age. We also discuss Trump's crypto war on the U.S. dollar and how he and his family enrich themselves with the help of crypto criminals.  This week's bonus show, for our Patreon supporters at the Truth-teller ($5/month) level and higher, features Gaslit Nation's book club discussion of Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky and Total Resistance by H Von Dach–and an urgent wake-up call to see the Kremlin's long-game in exporting oligarch-fascism, before it's too late. Just today, it was reported that Russia tried to plant bombs on U.S.-bound flights, following similar reports of planned attacks across Europe.  Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, Q&A sessions, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit! Show Notes: Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg https://bookshop.org/p/books/tracers-in-the-dark-the-global-hunt-for-the-crime-lords-of-cryptocurrency-andy-greenberg/b449e45a97a6794b?ean=9780593315613&next=t Trump pardon of billionaire sparks concerns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwcHn1GSZwo Aaron Rupar: "Wow -- Russia reportedly plotted last year to plant bombs on US-bound flights (gift link)" https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3m7lbz4g7nc2v

Looking for a festive holiday gathering that plants seeds of hope to rebuild our democracy? Andrea was invited to the Courage>Cowardice event hosted by Courier News, the folks who built the searchable database of the Epstein files released by Congress. She'll be joined by other independent journalists and creators at Eaton in the heart of Washington, DC from 6pm to 9pm this Thursday December 11.  Andrea will be speaking on a panel about media capitulation and how to fight back with Meredith Lynch, Cohost of The Moment Live; Jack Cocchiarella, Gen Z Political Commentator & YouTuber; Brian Beutler, Journalist, Off Message; in a discussion moderated by veteran journalist Mark Jacob, the former Metro Editor at the Chicago Tribune and Sunday Editor at the Chicago Sun-Times.  For more info, check out the event link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/courage-cowardice-tickets-1968694585501?aff=promotoolkit Want to hear Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chats, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Is America ready for a woman president? Andrea and independent journalist Terrell Starr debate, and we want to hear where you stand. Let us know in the comments. Consider this: the two times Trump was elected president, he ran against a woman–but both of those women faced highly unusual, unprecedented elections for any candidate. In 2016, Hillary Clinton ran against a hostile foreign intelligence operation and an FBI director, James Comey, with a misogynistic track record. The FBI was successfully sued by 34 women who faced sexual descrimination as recruits, their complaints dismissed by Comey. The 2016 election wasn't politics as usual: it was an act of war–by the Kremlin and criminal negligence by Comey's abuse of power.  In 2024, Kamala Harris had a few short months to save global democracy. Again, a woman was handed a political grenade.  Will America's first woman president be Ivanka Trump?  Republicans elevate three types of women: Concentration camp Barbies like Kristi Noem, pedofile-defending child-looking brides like Karoline Leavitt, and Trump's personal favorite: the blond bombshell–like his daughter Ivanka. Trump once said he would date Ivanka if she wasn't his daughter. He told the porn star Stormy Daniels, who he had an affair with when Melania had just given birth to Barron, that Stormy reminded him of Ivanka. With Jared Kushner back in the White House, grifting and running Trump's shadow foreign policy, does that mean Ivanka is the likely candidate to break the glass ceiling by being a patriarchal blow-up doll? And how do we stop that?  Studies have shown countries led by women are more prosperous, resilient and environmentally friendly. A 2022 U.S. News Survey found that 70% of respondents believe women are better at leading countries than men. So why can't America have nice things? What will it take for us to finally elect a progressive woman president?  Want to hear Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chats, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit! Show Notes: FBI to pay $22 million to women who alleged sexual discrimination at training academy https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-to-pay-22-million-to-women-who-alleged-sexual-discrimination-at-training-academy Women Are Better at Leading Countries Than Men, Survey Respondents Say https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2022-10-05/women-are-better-at-leading-countries-than-men-survey-respondents-say How Women in Power Foster National Happiness https://esthinktank.com/2025/02/10/how-womens-leadership-shapes-happier-nations/ Women and girls around the world are leading the fight against climate change https://unsdg.un.org/latest/stories/women-and-girls-leading-fight-against-climate-change Countries with more female politicians pass more ambitious climate policies, study suggests https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/09/countries-with-more-female-politicians-pass-more-ambitious-climate-policies-study-suggests/ Terrell Starr Substack: https://terrellstarr.substack.com/