This week we discuss the dueling shitshows of the Boris Johnson sweep in the UK and the ongoing impeachment effort in the US. We debunk the media myths surrounding the British election – no, the loss of Jeremy Corbyn is not an omen of what will happen to Warren or Sanders! – while looking at the way the US and UK situations are linked, namely dark money, Kremlin backers, shady data mining corporations, and mainstream media propaganda. We also discuss what lessons progressives in the US can take away from Corbyn’s disastrous campaign, and how to balance unity with the necessity of diverse opinions in a political movement.Then we discuss the ongoing impeachment effort in the House – which may well have happened by the time you read this post! We stress that the Democrats must not send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, where they will only be used for a show trial by Republicans who have already declared they have no interest in seriously examining the House’s evidence. Impeachment hearings and investigations must continue – including ones of active criminals like Rudy Giuliani, who is flagrantly confessing to his own offenses because he fears no repercussions. A crisis cannot be resolved when it is not fully exposed. It will only linger and fester if partially examined – and hearings are the strongest tool officials have to fight autocratic consolidation.
For our weekly bonus episode, we discuss how to stay motivated during the nightmare year that will be 2020, and give pragmatic advice for activists involved in campaigns and everyday folks struggling to to save their country. We give tips for responsible citizens with outstanding social skills (Andrea!) and for brooding loners with an irrational fear of the phone (Sarah!) Everyone has something to offer and now is the time to join the fight. To listen to this bonus episode and also get access to all past and future bonus episodes, sign up at the Truth-Teller level of higher on our Patreon.
ABOUT GASLIT NATION PODCAST Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa are experts on authoritarian states who warned America about election hacking years before 2016. Here, they take a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs.
In this action-packed Gaslit Nation episode, we discuss the two articles of impeachment that were introduced by the House Democrats as Trump’s Kremlin pal Sergei Lavrov sat in the White House getting ready to help Trump steal yet another election. We discuss the grave threat this alliance poses to U.S. security, the need for the House to continue holding hearings, and what steps folks should take to fend off this attempted annihilation of our democracy by a transnational crime syndicate.
ABOUT GASLIT NATION PODCAST Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa are experts on authoritarian states who warned America about election hacking years before 2016. Here, they take a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs.
Never take democracy for granted! This week we discuss the last two weeks of impeachment hearings and the witnesses, among them several immigrant Americans who are experts on the former USSR and know all too well how fragile our freedom really is. We discuss the GOP’s desire to turn the hearings into a show trial and have it star Andrea’s sister, Alexandra Chalupa, the whistleblower who alerted the public to the danger of Paul Manafort and whose name was bleated out daily by Kremlin puppet and Giuliani goon squad accomplice Devin Nunes. (You can listen to an interview with Alexandra here.)
We also discuss the BREAKING NEWS that Alexandra and Andrea are not the same person and argue that the insipid bro journalists who continually make this error, and refuse to correct it (!), are not equipped to cover complicated government conspiracies. These meritless men of Twitter are no longer merely annoying, but actively endangering people, and they need to shape up or shut up. We discuss the role of journalism and documentation in the digital age, the importance of accuracy and context, and how even simple mistakes can be weaponized and transformed into propaganda.
Other topics include Lisa Page’s revelatory interview in the Daily Beast, the need for the House to broaden the scope of the impeachment hearings to include other crimes, the ongoing Kremlin infiltration of governments in Europe, and more!
For our weekly bonus episode, available to listeners at the Truth-Teller tier or higher, we do a run-down of the remaining 2020 presidential candidates. In the middle of our recording, Kamala Harris unexpectedly dropped out of the race, so our initial reactions are caught on tape! We discuss the grossness of a primary in which skilled public servants drop out or fly under the radar while billionaires pay their way into an indefinite stay. Sign up to hear this bonus episode on our Patreon, and help keep Gaslit Nation going!
Gaslit Nation, hosted by writers Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa, experts on authoritarian states who warned America about election hacking before the 2016 election. Here, they take a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs! Subscribe todayto catch up on previous episodes and get new ones! (also available on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, and PocketCasts).
“For anyone who was following along with news of Trump’s business practices and Paul Manafort’s history with Russian oligarchs, it was pretty clear that there was reason for concern, which made the yawns of cable news and mainstream media all the more infuriating. If you were one of the people following along, this podcast might not make you feel better about our current predicament, but it will make you feel heard.”
