Gaslit Nation

Like the rest of us, Pope Leo, the first American Pope, is under siege by MAGA. We discuss MAGA's war on the "globalist," "culturally Marxist" Catholic Church with Colleen Dulle, Vatican reporter for America Magazine and author of Struck Down, Not Destroyed.
Christian Nationalists have captured the White House, Congress, and Supreme Court. Now they are targeting the Holy See. We track the strategy from Steve Bannon's "gladiator school" for disinformation agents to recently converted Catholic JD Vance using his faith to justify mass deportations and ICE terror squads. MAGA has launched a financial boycott of the Catholic Church, provided safe haven and amplification for its biggest crackpots, while deploying dark-money disinformation and a Fox News-style Catholic press to target reformers.
We also confront the Vatican's long history of abuse and gaslighting. We discuss the erasure of trans people and women leaders like Mary Magdalene, arguably the true first pope. We also look to what the first American pontiff, Pope Leo, will bring in this time of crisis, and whether he will continue Pope Francis's war on Opus Dei–the far-right human trafficking crime cult that gained prominence during Franco's dictatorship in Spain. Opus Dei has set up shop in Washington, DC, counting among its allies Vance and the Heritage Foundation's Kevin Roberts, architect of Project 2025. 
Note: This conversation was recorded on June 17, 2025. Look out for our bonus episode later this week on the latest hellscape headlines! 
Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit
 EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:
The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult: available on Patreon.com/Gaslit

Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other: available on Patreon.com/Gaslit

Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other: available on Patreon.com/Gaslit

Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect, available on Patreon.com/Gaslit

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

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

Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit for our community

Show Notes:
Struck Down, Not Destroyed: Colleen Dulle's new book on keeping the faith while covering the Vatican's crises https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/struck-down-not-destroyed-colleen-dulle/1146546457
Steve Bannon's "Gladiator School" Evicted: How the far-right strategist lost his fight to turn an 800-year-old monastery into a training ground for culture warriors https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/steve-bannons-school-far-right-nationalists-officially-evicted-800-year-old-italian-monastery-leased-2007256
The Problem with JD Vance's "Ordo Amoris": A theological breakdown of how Vance manipulates the teachings of St. Augustine to justify ICE terror  https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/02/13/ordo-amoris-stephen-pope-vance-249926/
Project 2025 Architect Linked to Opus Dei: The Guardian reveals the deep ties between Kevin Roberts, the Heritage Foundation, and Opus Dei https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/26/kevin-roberts-project-2025-opus-dei
MAGA Tries to Starve the Church: An investigation into "Peter's Pence" and how conservative groups are financially undermining the Church https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/12/12/vatican-misleading-donors-peters-pence-explained/
Gaslit Nation's Episode on Opus Dei: https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2024/12/31/opus-dei

Here's what you missed at last week's Gaslit Nation Salon for our listeners on Patreon. 
Agonize then organize and socialize. The news cycle is designed to exhaust you, but you don't have to face the autocracy alone. We built a resilience community for truth-tellers, and we want you in it. 
Join us today at 4pm ET for our Gaslit Nation Salon, a space to strategize, vent, and connect with a community of listeners just as horrified as you. Find the link to join us by Zoom, wherever you are, at Patreon.com/Gaslit.
Thank you to everyone who supports the show -- we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

They shot a woman three times in the face. Now they want to send in the Insurrection Act. Why are they targeting Minnesota? The "Minnesota Miracle" showed how great our country could be: codified abortion rights, a trans refuge, free universal school meals. The Project 2025 agenda requires covering-up that progress works.
We are watching history repeat. The crushing of "Red Vienna" by autocrat Chancellor Dollfuss in 1934 made Austria easier to invade by Hitler and the Nazis. The overthrow of a democratically elected labour government in the Spanish Civil War ushered in a dictatorship by a narcissist. Whenever progressive movements secure rights through legal means, fascists resort to illegal terror to crush those victories, desperate to hide that a better world is possible.
As we honor Martin Luther King Jr. today, on his birthday, we must heed his warning: do not sleep through a revolution. While members of Congress "huddle" and wait for the courts, we demand they use every lever of power to protect the upcoming midterms.
Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit
EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:
The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult: join on Patreon.



Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other:join on Patreon.



Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other:join on Patreon.



Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect, join on Patreon.



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



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



Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit for our community

Show Notes:
Gaslit Nation discussion of MLK Jr.'s memoir Stride Toward Freedom: https://gaslitnation.libsyn.com/build-baby-build-the-world-needs-your-light-teaser

They want you to be passive and quiet. But history tells a different story. We're joined by award-winning comic creator Ben Passmore, author of Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance, to dig into the stories that history books, and Hollywood, whitewash:
De-sanitizing Resistance: We discuss how films and media often strip away the political intellect of figures like the Black Liberation Army, reducing revolutionary struggle to nihilism.

Community as Armor: Ben puts the focus on true resistance as mutual aid. From the Jane Collective organizing healthcare, to prisoners organizing even from solitary confinement, the most radical act is building a culture of care.

The Trap of Online Activism: In an age of surveillance capitalism, Ben warns that we must move beyond the "power fantasy" of social media. Real solidarity happens offline, face-to-face, building trust that algorithms can't suppress.

As MAGA's Supreme Leader expands the surveillance state through Peter Thiel's Big Brother Palantir and unleashes a KKK gestapo through ICE, we must learn from unfiltered history and understand what it actually takes to survive.
January 15th is the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Civil Rights movement ushered in the Third American Revolution, defeating the authoritarianism of Jim Crow, which John Roberts' Supreme Court is bringing back. Listen to our episode on Stride Toward Freedom, the memoir by a young MLK Jr. after he captured the world's attention leading the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott. For more on resistance strategies, listen to our episode on Gene Sharp, author of From Dictatorship to Democracy, and our interview with his protege Jamila Raqib, the executive director of the Albert Einstein Institution: Fire in Our Peace: The Power of Nonviolent Resistance. 
 Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit
Show Notes: 
Watch: A sobbing mother calls 911 as federal agents force their way into her home to chase down a DoorDash driver who was just trying to deliver food. https://www.reddit.com/r/minnesota/comments/1q8vvwa/st_paul_mn_a_sobbing_resident_calls_911_as/?sort=old

Trump Taps Palantir to Build a "Big Brother": How the administration is partnering with Peter Thiel's tech giant to monitor Americans. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html

ACLU Investigates Police Use of Flock License Plate Surveillance: https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/flock-roundup

Project 2025 Tracker: Monitoring the conservative policy blueprint and authoritarian roadmap. https://www.project2025.observer/en

Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators: A guide on how to target the businesses fueling the deportation machine. https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/ice-businesses-boycott-campaign/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPR1kdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEezKLIFd9EZUL6g5uRoGAhj6cAItrut7MjpF8RislyssfXbo-V_-dZNqW2Fw4_aem_f4IvbocKBVROoBGqO-V_Kg

Prairieland Defendants: Legal support and mutual aid for protesters. https://prairielanddefendants.com/

Police Accountability and Reform: An activist checklist for demanding transparency. https://activistchecklist.org/police/

The Singing Revolution: How music helped liberate the Baltic States from Soviet occupation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_Revolution

Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776): The full text of the pamphlet that sparked a revolution. https://loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1776ThomasPaine.pdf

"The Voice of Dust and Ash": A documentary film on resistance and silence. https://vimeo.com/753111135?fl=pl&fe=cm

Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism. https://share.google/t85l3THA4XfvEEbNo

Whistleblower drops 'largest ever' ICE leak to unmask agents: 'The last straw' https://www.rawstory.com/ice-agents-data-leak/

Review: 'One Battle After Another,' What Black Women Call Life https://blacknerdproblems.com/review-one-battle-after-another/

EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:
The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult: join on Patreon. 

Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other:join on Patreon. 

Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other:join on Patreon. 

Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect, join on Patreon. 

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

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

Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit for our community

The Russian Orthodox Church, a longtime arm of the Kremlin, is running an intelligence operation targeting MAGA's Christian nationalism, to help turn America into a dictatorship. 
This week's bonus show continues our conversation with Russian mafia expert Olga Lautman. She exposes a sweeping op by the Kremlin's church. You can read her investigation in the show notes. Russians, being white and Christian, get a pass that other terrorist regimes, like Iran, don't. We fact check their mind-hacking op, and also answer questions from Gaslit Nation listeners–like if Putin and Trump got in a fight, who would win? 
Whether it's MAGA, the Kremlin, or the regime in Iran that looks on the verge of collapse, it's the same mind-hack everywhere: confuse, divide, and exhaust. The antidote is clarity, which can only be maintained through self-care. This weekend, be sure to find some time in nature, and be gentle on yourselves and others. We're all in this together, and we will overcome. 
Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit
Show Notes:
Be sure to read Amanda Gorman's poem for Renee Good. It's here for those who don't have Instagram, where she originally posted it: https://bsky.app/profile/elizabethjacobs.bsky.social/post/3mbximyqaos23
Gil Duran on Thiel and Greenland: https://bsky.app/profile/gilduran.com/post/3mbx2lvjrec2h
Russia's Orthodox Church and the Weaponization of Religion https://olgalautman.substack.com/p/insights-from-chapter-2-russias-orthodox?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true