There are a lot of questions, so you’ve got a nice long Q & A to curl up with in the snowpacalypse! I’m going to publish this before the electricity and my mind give out. As Lonnie Johnson sang in 1938, “My brains is cloudy, my soul is upside-down.” On that note, let’s kick it off with thoughts on sin and Sinners:
Frank G: It seems there has been very little cultural reaction to the US becoming an authoritarian, oligarchic, severely economically stratified nation in the past 10-15 years. Other repressive eras in our nation’s history produced huge cultural responses in music, art, literature and film, but it seems to me we are not really seeing this now. Am I reading the situation correctly and, if so, what do you think is the reason for this?
SK: Like politicians, entertainment companies have stopped trying to win us over: they instead focus on inserting things we don’t want (like AI) without our permission. The merger of Big Tech with Hollywood is one of the worst things to happen to American pop culture. The rot brought on by AI, algorithms, and “anti-DEI” racism is notable given the creative richness and diversity of the last two decades. The industry that boosted a show like Reservation Dogs just a few years ago is gone.
But cultural responses are still there. People still make art to reflect our time: it’s just a matter of whether their efforts are heard and recognized. I got your question on a rare day: the day Sinners got a record number of Oscar nominations. Sinners — a tale of vampiric white supremacists and Black cultural resistance during Jim Crow — is a commentary on our current era and its historical precedent. In the 1930s, Black music was an act of rebellion. Making Sinners is an act of rebellion now. Singing the blues is bearing witness; juke joints spit at the idea of white corporate control; and Sinners takes on race, crime, law, and other heavy issues in a wildly entertaining way.
In repressive eras, horror is where the unsaid can be said (see The Twilight Zone in the censorship-heavy early 1960s). The two movies that best respond to the political culture of the past ten years are Sinners and Get Out: another Black horror film. These films combine sharp political critique and visceral thrill and do so with vivid, original style. Their impact is one reason the Trump admin and its Hollywood backers deploy their racist “anti-DEI” policies: they’re afraid, and not of the supernatural.
You’re right that the last few years have felt flat and dull. Peak TV ended after decades of shows reflecting on the moral crisis of the US (Sopranos, Breaking Bad, etc.) We’ve been flooded with boring shows about the ultra-rich; this shift started around 2022. The downfall of TV was preceded by the downfall of the music industry: the murder of radio, MTV, and the musical pop monoculture — and with it, the counterculture that had formed in reaction. Like streaming TV, digital music is siloed and repressed by algorithms. Politically conscious songs exist but are hard to find. Americans still long for them: that’s why the “Fast Car” duet in 2024 entranced the nation.
A Declining Democracy: What did you think of Carney’s speech at Davos? In some ways I thought it was a great “emperor has no clothes” moment, and in others I thought it didn’t go far enough. I’d love to hear your take.
SK: It was novel not to be lied to, even though the honesty was about the evils of my country. I’m glad Carney dispensed with the notion of the “rules-based international order.” Belief in institutionalism — and denial that institutions have been protecting transnational organized crime all along — is how we got to this crisis. I discuss that (normalcy bias, savior syndrome, etc) in my book They Knew.
My one major critique of the speech is that, while of course the US government is responsible for its actions, those actions are made possible by global oligarchs, mobsters, and plutocrats. As I’ve been saying for a decade, the US is a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government. In order to defeat the US mafia state, you need to defeat the billionaires backing it. That means confronting so-called “allies” like Israel and so-called “enemies” like Russia. Their worst actors are one and the same: men of multiple passports and digital currency. It means addressing Silicon Valley and the emergence of a global surveillance state shaped by fanatics like Musk and Thiel. Overall, I found his speech encouraging. I just hope he sees the big picture.
Victoria K: I saw a Norm Finkelstein interview in which when he was young, he asked his mother, a concentration camp survivor, how she survived. She said that people who got the bread for soup are the ones who pushed and shoved others to get to the front of the line. The basic conclusion being “Good people don’t live.” This an ethical conundrum I think about frequently. How do you view this aspect of the moment we’re living in?
SK: I appreciate Finkelstein’s critiques of Israel and his condemnation of the exploitation of the Holocaust by bad actors. He does not shy away from examining the darkest aspects of human nature, to say the least. But I can’t draw broad advice from this anecdote: I don’t think any of us know how we’d act when struggling for survival. There are gray areas, but keeping your moral integrity is crucial, or else your soul dies before your body. He may be right that “good people don’t live” but there’s also “good people who commit horrors cannot live with themselves.” (To be clear, I don’t think jumping the line for food to survive is a big offense; I think murdering someone is.)
Alice L: You write frequently that Trump is more of a kleptocrat than a fascist. Recently I noticed that you also say that this misdiagnosis is part of why we’re being so unsuccessful at stopping him from being so destructive. What would we be doing differently if we viewed him as a kleptocrat?
SK: As I wrote in Hiding in Plain Sight and They Knew, Trump differs from traditional fascists because he has no loyalty to the US and will happily sell off parts of it to foreign backers. In the last year, Trump has embraced the typical aggressive imperialism of a fascist dictator — threatening Greenland, Venezuela, etc. He is following that path much more than he did in his first term. At heart, though, he is a mafioso and kleptocrat. The world is a corrupt real estate deal; its people incidental — including the people of the United States. To deal with Trump, one must reevaluate leverage and realize that the existence of the US is irrelevant to him even if he is its president. Instead, focus on the transnational criminal network and dismantle that.
Beth: As a Canadian, I am watching Trump’s antics with alarm. How do you foresee the Greenland annexation talk playing out? Are we going to witness the US starting multi-front wars for Greenland, Canada and more? Brennan: It’s pretty clear that we are now in the phase where Trump openly bullies other countries with the implied threat that they don’t have nuclear weapons and he does, just as you highlighted in Hiding in Plain Sight, where he is quoted as far back as the 1980s saying he wanted to be president so he could use the US nuclear superpower status to force other smaller countries into bending the knee. So now what? He invades Greenland? Simon: Do you think Greenland starts the end of USA empire? It began with Reagan and hinged on Dubya’s response to 9/11. 47 is playing the Nero fiddle role.
SK: Trump operates as president the same way he did as a “businessman”: he is entrenched in organized crime. His main tactics are bribes, blackmail, and threats. His main weapons are the courts, propaganda outlets, and lawyer fixers and operatives, some of whom will privately threaten to kill you. We saw the Trump model in the lead-up to January 6. It began with denial, then a threatening call to a Georgia official, then court battles that he lost, and finally a violent attack — and then ensuring complicit actors are installed to protect the elites behind that attack.
This is the same strategy for Greenland. It is currently being approached as a “deal” in which inhabited territory, largely populated by indigenous people, is treated as real estate. This plan is more elaborate than “purchasing Greenland”: it involves mineral licenses and Arctic trade routes and other oligarchs. Military invasion is not Trump’s first line of offense — but threatening it has other advantages, like making Europe hate the US and want to kick it out of NATO. That’s a longtime Trump/Putin goal.
It is important to note that the Greenland plot was devised by lifelong Trump partner Ron Lauder. Lauder is a fanatical Zionist deeply connected to Netanyahu and Russian/Israeli oligarchs like Roman Abramovich and Lev Leviev. His brother, Leonard Lauder, was one of the men who arranged for Trump to be sent to the USSR in 1987, along with Soviet ambassador Yuri Dubinin and future Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin, who died under suspicious circumstances in 2017 and was revealed in 2023 to be an Epstein associate. I wrote about Lauder and Churkin in my 2020 book Hiding in Plain Sight.
I have more I could say about Ron Lauder — a scion of the Estee Lauder empire; born rich, like Trump — but the key point is how he seems to view sovereignty. As an ultra-Zionist, he appears to see it as irrelevant for every country except Israel. If Israel’s territorial expansion means butchering indigenous people or invading other nations, so be it. Many of Trump’s closest advisors seek to weaken the idea of sovereignty to provide a pretext for Israel’s genocides and wars, which are their top priority: far above the welfare of the US. I’m not being speculative; Trump backers like Sheldon Adelson (who died in 2021) admitted their loyalty to Israel over the US. Given the outsized role Israel’s leaders and American ultra-Zionists play in determining Trump policy, disputes like Greenland need to be considered through an ultra-Zionist lens.
Disregard for sovereignty benefits other Trump partners like the Kremlin as they try to justify their invasion of Ukraine. The goal is an intertwined network of oligarch-run mafia fiefdoms, with, as Carney noted, no post-WWII international order to constrain it. This is why some of the same people “negotiating” over Gaza are also “negotiating” over Ukraine. By “negotiating”, I mean striking mafia deals. I do worry that the disregard for sovereignty will lead to a threatened invasion of Canada. If Trump does this, he’ll likely press on two weak points: 1) Alberta right-wing separatists 2) French-speaking separatists. My advice for Canada is the same as for the US: stick together! The more you are split apart, the easier it is to take you over.
Larry H: Luke Kemp’s fascinating book Goliath’s Curse starts with a discussion of the collapse of Cahokia, which he links to his overall thesis about how “civilizational” collapse is really more about the overthrow of elites and can sometimes lead to better, more egalitarian lives for the subjugated. Are you familiar with his work, and what do you think about the thesis?
SK: I haven’t read that but now I want to! As a graduate student, I studied archeology at Wash U (across the river from Cahokia). There was no clear consensus among archaeologists for why the Mississippian People abandoned Cahokia. Kemp’s book came out in 2025 so I’m curious if there’s been an update.
Sebastian: It amazes me how you have predicted what has happened to this country. Do you think that behind this bellicose push to own Greenland is the influence of Peter Thiel and his cohort in order to establish a “freedom city” there? I noted that his disciple, JD Vance, was the first one to visit the island even though he was not welcomed. I would love to know what you think…
SK: See my other answer on Greenland. I don’t think Thiel is the main influence, but he shares the desire for minerals for tech. I do think he wants to establish a “freedom city” but my guess for where that nightmare experiment will be tried is Gaza. They want somewhere small; Greenland is enormous. As for Vance, he gives Randy “I can’t put my arms down!” Christmas Story vibes; he wants to seem like a big man in the snow.
(extra) Ordinary People: What is a good/the best source of daily news these days? Judi: What/who are your go-to news sources?
SK: I have none. It’s an incredible statement given that I cover the news for a living. But I cannot think of a single outlet that is reliable, not run by oligarchs, and not paywalled. There are individual writers doing a good job, but no big outlet where I can get an accurate rundown of daily news. I emphasize primary sources since so many corporations use AI and make things up. I used to have a curated social media list of experts, but it no longer works because either people quit or the social media outlets themselves (Twitter and BlueSky) block these accounts.
Jac Qui: I am stymied why people keep referencing DJT’s dementia or mental health. He says and does outrageous things: that isn’t a departure from his normal presentation. Even if he did have some cognitive issues, would it change anything in the current administration? I’m sure they have contingency plans.
SK: I agree. The focus on his health is wishful thinking. It’s easier to believe he is weak and demented than a powerful kleptocrat backed by a well-honed network of fanatics. They wanted to think he was sleeping through his trial because he’s a tired old man instead of an asshole flaunting a preordained outcome in his favor. People also want to see the MAGA cult end, and I do think it will when Trump is no more. But the organized crime structure will remain until it is gutted out of our institutions.
Karen: When you discuss the goals of elite criminal networks, please discuss how ICE and use of Palantir tracking takes this to a different level. I’m in Minneapolis and anyone ICE interacts with is photographed by them (not exclusively in arrest or detainment scenarios). They have traffic stops and photos are taken. My community is a suburb: residential and quiet and restaurants are regularly being raided and now are closed. I am here for a funeral and members of my family who are citizens and people of color cannot travel here for fear of their safety. The speed at which this is happening makes it hard to understand the overall goal.
SK: First, I am sorry for your loss. It is very hard to deal with family tragedies in the midst of political violence. You are right that the use of facial recognition technology by Palantir and other tech companies makes this conflict different than those of the past. Technofascists want to create a system in which basic actions — driving, accessing shelter, getting food — are linked to “good behavior” and in this case, protest participation. We need to fight this through (among other things) breaking smartphone dependency to the degree we can, rejecting AI (which they use to monitor people), exposing technofascist plots, and avoiding self-censorship.
Vicki: Try as I might, I keep coming back to the uneducated inability of a huge number of persons who still do not/cannot comprehend the horror that is unfolding around us. In a state like Missouri (and many others) I blame the decades-old, systematic assault on public education and the denigration of higher ed. They cannot be ignored but they seemingly cannot be made to understand. How does any way forward deal with this reality?
SK: I don’t think higher education has much to do with it. Look at our old governor Eric Greitens, the Rhodes Scholar fascist who got indicted for blackmailing a half-naked woman he tied to exercise equipment in his sex dungeon basement. I do think an unwillingness to learn about past horrors in US history has left many unprepared for current horrors, but formal education isn’t a factor.
Jane: Does your dog travel with you? If he doesn’t, what’s it like for you and him when you return? Sweet looking pup!
SK: My dog Twizzle stays at the kennel when we travel. She loves it there because they baby her, which is how it should be. Twizzle is a rescue dog who, in her first year of life, was abandoned, shot, impregnated, and found starving on the street. We adopted her from the Humane Society when she was one. She has since transformed into an unrepentant hedonist and we do our best to keep her that way. What Twizzle has lost in street cred she has gained in treats, blankets, and human handmaidens.
Chris: Scientific studies come out fairly often that show COVID infections can lead to long term harms for anyone: brain changes in even seemingly recovered people, immune systems that don’t fully recover after 20+ months, etc. While authorities at first claimed kids are magically immune to its long-term harms, Long Covid has now surpassed asthma as the leading chronic illness in children. Do you foresee Americans taking heed and donning masks again where it matters most: airports, airplanes, and medical settings?
SK: One of the great threats of the Trump admin is the continued lack of research into covid and long covid. Biden’s admin tried to ignore covid but RFK Jr’s approach to science is overtly hostile, with research budgets eliminated. This leaves long covid patients in a position where they don’t know what is happening to their own bodies and doctors struggle to treat them — and fear even discussing the disease. There are commonsense things that can be done to mitigate covid: replacing air filtration systems, avoiding indoor crowds when possible, and yes, wearing a mask in airports and hospitals. I don’t think masking will become commonplace because it is politicized. It should not be controversial to wear a mask, and it should be required in medical settings. I’ve got an aunt on hospice who relatives are afraid to visit because her facility doesn’t require masks, so I understand the deep frustration of this question. I lack the scientific expertise to offer an alternative solution.
Ronna R: I listened to the interviews with Sascha Riley. I have followed this story for about 10 years now and feel like his story makes perfect sense. Like pulls all the threads together. Have you listened and if so, what do you think?
SK: I couldn’t bring myself to listen to all of it, but I got the gist. I’ve covered Epstein in depth, and it does a number on my soul, so I pace myself. However, the Riley case brought to mind both the Franklin scandal and the Craig Spence trafficking cases, which I describe in They Knew. These cases also involve the rape and trafficking of boys. Nick Bryant has done a lot of research on this topic. (Interview here.) The Clarence Thomas connection that Riley mentions has a lot of evidence to back it up.
Ciri500: In the last Q&A you mentioned someone knows Epstein using the present tense. Do you think Epstein is still alive, and if so, how did they do that?
SK: I don’t know if he’s alive. I don’t think he committed suicide. I think he was either murdered or is alive. If they could cover up a murder (with malfunctioning cameras, missing guards, etc), they could sneak him out. I’ve wondered whether the source of the recent “Epstein leaks” is Epstein. I also had a strange experience before Trump returned to office. An individual who used to work for an organization tied to Epstein, but who detests Epstein, drove across the country to tell me in person that he knows, for a fact, that Epstein is alive. This person does not have a reputation for embellishment. I cannot attest to the veracity of this claim. But I wouldn’t rule it out.
Arc of a Diver: Do you think Minneapolis is ground zero for civil war? Arguably, it started at the constitutional convention, blew up in 1861, and has simmered since, but for how we generally think of a civil war, is Minneapolis today’s Ft. Sumter?
SK: I don’t like the Civil War analogies because 1) people try to divide the country on North/South lines or red/blue lines and those are facile divisions 2) this isn’t a civil war so much as a federal invasion by a mafia state. Minneapolis is less Fort Sumter — which was the result of South Carolina and other southern states declaring secession — than it is a role model in how to fight a siege. I hope I am not speaking prematurely, but I’m encouraged by the solidarity the city has shown.
Anthony: Though there isn’t a one size fits all answer, it would be interesting to read your “broad brush” on daily habits/activities/information consumption that help in maintaining sanity/well being/productivity in activism.
SK: I’m struggling with that whole “maintaining sanity” thing! But what helps me is 1) going outside, especially to hike or kayak, which is hard given the weather 2) music; I have music on all the time 3) crafts, especially weaving or embroidery, because it’s repetitive, pretty, and makes me feel like I accomplished something concrete 4) watching TV with my family at the same time every day; we enjoy the ritual and the conversation 5) visiting historic sites, both for curiosity’s sake but also because they shed light on the present. So, to make a “broad brush” recommendation: nature, art, family, road trips, and routine.
Foosgroup: I’m concerned about the system enabling Trump. Even if he goes, the system with all the dangerous people remains. Should we start by focusing our efforts on winning one big thing at a time? Getting rid of one person is not going to help; they would be replaced by the next in line. Donna: All members of Congress, the Senate, the military, and federal employees take an oath to protect the US from enemies both foreign and domestic. Why are none of them stepping up to meet this threat?
SK: Good question about the oath, Donna! It’s good to remind people that they broke a promise, even as they are attempting to normalize dereliction of duty. The American people are being invaded by a federal mafia state. I don’t want to hear “but they voted for this” when only 22% of the population did, and most Americans condemn ICE and Trump. As for the corrupt system that upholds this administration, it extends beyond our borders, and yes, one bad president will be replaced with another. I don’t think focusing on winning one big thing at a time is the answer. Achieving lots of small goals at once is. If we all focus on local concerns while also showing support for fellow Americans holding the line in big battles like Minnesota, we have a better chance of winning. Diversity of tactics is good when you’re getting hit on multiple fronts.
Rebecca: Everyone says, “Midterms! Midterms!” when it’s 11 months away and Trump has already wreaked so much destruction. I’m worried that even if we do have an election, it may happen with ICE at every voting precinct. Then there’s the very real fear of compromised voting machines. Your take, please?
SK: People should focus on the here and now much more than on the midterms. As I write this, Minneapolis is under siege and responding with a general strike. Locals there say the solidarity is unlike anything they’ve experienced. Whatever happens in Minneapolis, they have shown the power of the people. Everyone donating to politicians will get more done by giving to mutual aid or local activist groups instead. It is too early to predict election activity, but the answer doesn’t lie there anyway. The Democrats won the executive, Senate, and House, and look what happened!
Mary V: What do you think about the fact that people can’t stop talking about the Epstein files when there is so much information already available through transcripts and testimony of victims? The media which I don’t watch is not going to play video on the nightly news of the abuser. How are we going to survive this nightmare?
SK: This is what I’ve been saying too — there’s enough to indict! They are releasing a slow drip of horrific acts of abuse to torture the victims and desensitize spectators. We know the names of many perpetrators: they’ve been public for decades. They’re still out there and some of them are helping direct this government. I want to know the roots of Epstein/Maxwell. I’ve written two books tracing it to the 1970s. But that’s not the point of the DOJ “revelation industry”. I’m with you — this is a disingenuous act when divorced from preexisting knowledge and accountability.
Dennis C: It’s hard to see a way back to any semblance of sanity in this country. What do you think will be the first “real” step towards that? JV: It seems like integrity went “out of fashion.” I was a small child at the time, but I keep thinking of Nixon — and how his party eventually stopped enabling him — compared to the greedy cohort surrounding Trump, who enable him every step of the way. Do we have any hope of restoring integrity as a value in our American culture?
SK: The first step to decency in terms of the government would be an admission of institutional complicity and an apology to the American people. This should be followed by mass resignations. Officials shouldn’t be expected to be forgiven: the point is to do the right thing and gut out the rot. As seen in the unified reaction to Epstein, there is a great hunger for honesty, even if it means confronting horrors. I do not think any of this will happen; it’s just what should happen.
As noted, integrity is shunned. There is an incentive against it. Until that incentive structure changes, sadism rules. But there is a difference between a top-down political culture and what we create ourselves. Americans are helping each other regardless of official directives, and that shifts the culture on its own. I’m encouraged by protest efforts in Minneapolis and elsewhere and mutual aid efforts. I’m also encouraged by the growing denouncement of digital dependence. The long phase of denial that has marked the last ten years is giving way to something new.
As for restoring integrity, the only way to do it is to live your values and model that for others. Integrity is the one thing that once you lose, you can’t get back. Integrity is a form of power that no oppressor can touch.
Chad C: Trump will no doubt pardon everyone in his administration, but can a court in another country go after these people? Similar to the Nuremberg Trials.
SK: I wish! This is why the criminal elite has gone so hard after the ICC. Maybe Carney’s realism about the dead “rules-based order” will inspire new routes to justice.
Gauri: Do you think there’s going be to be another shutdown? What is needed to make Congress functional again? Separate non politics q: I’m a huge believer in local honey and general honey magic. Somehow I think you would have some killer honey knowledge! Any fav tips on how to save the bees?!
SK: I’m terrified of shutdowns. I get scared they will use it as an excuse to destroy things like national parks. It is possible we will get another. I also share your worries about bees, but I don’t have expertise here, aside from my inability to turn down local honey wherever I go. If I’ve been in your small town, chances are I bought your homemade honey. Anyway, contact your state conservation department. People there know ways to help, like which plants you can plant in your yard to attract more bees.
Laura H: Do you think Trump has any red line he won’t cross/low to which he won’t go? Do you think he’s still answering to his puppet masters or has he gone rogue?
SK: There is no line Trump will not cross. There is only self-interest. His pursuits are now rooted in greed and sadism, because he has already attained impunity and power. He is old and afraid of his mortality. He is also incapable of shame. However, he does understand shame. He knows there are universal taboos that, if exposed, will give him a level of infamy that he does not want. There are very few taboos that cause this fear. Those universal taboos are pedophilia, child murder, and incest. Trump’s usual response to committing a moral offense has been to shift political culture so that his offense is normalized, as he has done with his extreme bigotry and crime. Keep your eye out for new attempts. It’s notable that there is a propaganda effort to normalize child murder — for example, the genocide of Palestinian children — and the advent of AI child pornography all while the Epstein case looms in the background.
K Smith: Going real dark, what’s the chance of nuclear war (human extinction) in the next 3 years?
SK: Yikes! I don’t know. I’d say the chances of human extinction in three years is very low, like under 1%. The odds of retaliatory nuclear war are low. The likelihood that someone uses a tactical nuke, perhaps only one time, are moderate to high. The leading contender for this act is Trump. Trump has held a lifelong belief that the world will end in nuclear annihilation. In recent years, he has talked about wanting to be the one to push the button. I believe this is how he copes with his fear. It is one of many reasons he should have been disqualified from candidacy in 2016.
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