Gaslit Nation

For our weekly bonus episode, provided exclusively for our Patreon supporters at the Truth Teller level and higher, we're sharing this week's bonus with all Gaslit Nation listeners to celebrate Tori Amos's new powerful book Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage. In this excerpt from Resistance, Tori explains the harrowing inspiration behind her classic song “Cornflake Girl.”

Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from RESISTANCE by Tori Amos, read by the author. Copyright © 2020 by Sword and Stone Publishing, Inc. Used with permission from Simon & Schuster, Inc.

In a powerful callout, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Congress and the White House over insider trading. Elected officials shouldn’t hold stocks—period. While Martha Stewart went to prison for it, members of Congress routinely outperform the market, raising red flags of insider trading. Donald Trump, for example, told people to buy stocks just before pausing tariffs, triggering a historic $304 billion windfall for billionaires, according to Bloomberg. How many people did Trump tell in private before hitting send on that social media post? Because that would be insider trading.

Corruption flows freely in America—like cheap wine at Mar-a-Lago. Now, MAGA Republicans are pushing the SAVE Act, requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. It’s voter suppression dressed up as security. Noncitizen voting is extremely rare, but this bill could disenfranchise millions—including women who changed their names for marriage and trans Americans. It’s essentially a poll tax, nationalizing Jim Crow.

Democrats could stop it in the Senate—unless a handful cave. Four House Democrats already backed it. If passed, this could become the next Citizens United, further empowering oligarchs like Elon Musk and paving Trump’s path to authoritarian rule.

What can you do? Show up. Protest. Call your senators, especially those who caved on the budget battle. Demand accountability. And yes, let’s talk about AOC primarying Chuck Schumer or Kirsten Gillibrand—New York, an the nation, deserves better.

For more on how to fight back, check the Gaslit Nation Action Guide at GaslitNationPod.com. Join us Monday, April 14, for a salon on defeating oligarchy, with special guests–Patrick Guarasci and Sam Roecker, senior advisors to Judge Susan Crawford’s victorious Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign. Together, we’re sand in their gears.

In this week's bonus show, Gaslit Nation’s special guest Adrian Karatnycky takes the Gaslit Nation Self-Care Q&A. Adrian has been on the frontlines fighting for democracy both at home and abroad. In his critically acclaimed book Battleground Ukraine, he traces Ukraine’s struggle for independence from the fall of the Soviet Union to Russia's genocidal invasion today, drawing important lessons for protecting democracies worldwide. He has worked alongside civil rights legend Bayard Rustin and the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in America. He also supported Poland’s Solidarity movement, which helped bring down the Iron Curtain, and played a key role, along with iconic Soviet dissident, writer, and Czech statesman Václav Havel, in preserving Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in the 1990s, when many thought the Cold War had ended.

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:

• April 14 4pm ET – Live-taping with Patrick Guarasci, chief political strategist for Judge Susan Crawford, discussing their campaign’s victory against Elon Musk in the pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court race!
• April 28 4pm ET – Book club discussion of Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower
• Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.
• Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.
• Have you taken Gaslit Nation’s HyperNormalization Survey Yet?
• Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and the first ~40 minutes are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit for our community

Show Notes:

Here Are the Senate Democrats Who Helped Republicans Avert a Shutdown https://time.com/7268499/senate-democrats-budget-vote/ Will They Help MAGA Pass the SAVE Act? Here’s How to Contact Them: https://www.congressionalinstitute.org/contact-congress/

Four Democrats Pass Bill Making It Harder for Married Women to Vote The House of Representatives—with the help of four Democrats—just passed a bill that could ...

This week we welcome special guest Tori Amos, the iconic singer-songwriter whose new book Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage is a must-read! We discuss the value of creativity during times of chaos and crisis, processing grief during a pandemic, the challenges of motherhood in this political era, what’s in store for the 2020 election, and much more.

The Supreme Court is at it again! This current season of the American Hunger Games, also known as a Supreme Court session, could be as disastrous for the American people and great for the far-right donor class since Citizens United.

Here to help us make sense of the firehose of corruption coming out of the nation’s highest court is Jesse Eisinger, a senior editor and investigative reporter for ProPublica and author of "The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives." Eisinger edited and led the team of journalists who produced several investigations exposing the massive bribes— we mean, the totally unethical and impeachable financial entanglements of Republican-appointed justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

The discussion includes why Republicans build war chests to capture our courts for generations and why Democrats continue to have no strategy in response; why the DOJ let Wall Street off the hook for tanking our global economy and what that means for whether Trump and his co-conspirators will also get away with their crimes and corruption, and how to push back against elite criminal impunity in a time of historic income inequality—worse than the Gilded Age.

This week’s bonus episode will answer questions from listeners at the Democracy Defender level and higher on Patreon. Andrea will also share some colorful insights from someone who had to work with Russian oligarchs back in the car bomb 1990s in Russia. For our Patreon community, Mark your calendar for the January 18th, 8 pm ET social media workshop to help us get in gear for raising our voices as we head into another make-it-or-break-it election year for our democracy and, therefore, the world

Want to join the conversation? Subscribe to join our community of listeners at Patreon.com/Gaslit

Show Notes:

Urgent call-to-action from Razom for Ukraine: Call your representative and ask them to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine. More info for taking quick action here: https://www.votervoice.net/RAZOMFORUKRAINE/Campaigns/107413/Respond

How to Volunteer in Ukraine https://www.volunteeringukraine.com/

How to Visit Ukraine https://visitukraine.today/

Make a tax deductible donation to the Berliner Odessa Express https://www.we-aid.org/en/initiatives/berlinodessaexpress/

Short film by Rick Minnich on the Berliner Odessa Express: “We Are Here” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjzAsCG--6I

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-other-billionaires-sokol-huizenga-novelly-supreme-court

Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-secretly-attended-koch-brothers-donor-events-scotus

We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-leo-supreme-court-supermajority

The Parallax View (Journalistic thriller recommended by Jesse Eisinger)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parallax_View

Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court

https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court

It’s Not Personal: Why Clarence Thomas’ Trip to the Koch Summit Undermines His Ethics Defense

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-koch-network-trips-disclosure-law-scotus

Citizens for Ethics: “Republicans are promising to unleash a whirlwind of 150 subpoenas on allies of Democrats if Senator Durbin moves forward with a subpoena of Harlan Crow in his Supreme Court ethics investigation. That threat just shows how powerful Harlan Crow really is.”

https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/1730195116663394757?t=-epurOECtmwyOyu6rjyEgQ&s=19

New Supreme Court Ethics Code Is Designed to Fail

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-supreme-court-ethics-code-designed-fail

This week, Canadians didn’t just politely shuffle into voting booths: they kicked the door down and destroyed Conservative leader and longtime MAGA fanboy Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat to Bruce Fanjoy (who we’re now, quite literally, major fans of. More on him in this episode!)

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., specifically kleptocrat-besieged New York City, we’ve got our own political swamp to drain. Mayor Eric Adams, who once likened himself to Biden, now seems more Nixonian, dodging Department of Justice corruption charges by reportedly cozying up to Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson. The result? NYC turned into an ICE command center for Trump’s creeping authoritarianism, part of a wannabe-gulag stretching from New York to El Salvador.

On this week’s Gaslit Nation, Andrea and Terrell Starr of the Black Diplomats Podcast and Substack celebrate Canada’s heroic stand and urge the world to focus on NYC’s upcoming Democratic mayoral primary June 24, one of the most pivotal fronts in the global fight against kleptocracy and for the soul of America.

The Left must reclaim “socialism” as quality of life advocacy, building better schools, healthcare that won’t bankrupt you, and a social safety net for all, not just those who can afford one. We highlight two standout challengers: Comptroller Brad Lander, a fierce Ukraine supporter who led the effort to divest the City’s pension from Russian investments, and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who led a hunger strike for taxi driver debt relief.

The question isn’t just who can beat Adams, who’s running as an independent, and predator Andrew Cuomo, desperate for a comeback. It’s who has the record to lead New York in resisting Trump and dismantling the oligarchy.

Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit!

Show Notes:

Opening clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahh0jINl-PU

Canadian election: https://bsky.app/profile/youranoncentral.bsky.social/post/3lnwgjxcnk22l

Bruce Fanjoy’s Green House: This big blue house runs green and clean https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/08/28/news/big-blue-house-runs-green-and-clean

Here’s who’s running for New York City mayor in 2025 Get to know the candidates in a wide, weird and unsettled field.

https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/04/heres-whos-running-new-york-city-mayor-2025/401994/

Ukraine is the front line in the battle against oligarchic capitalism: The war in Ukraine is not just a fight for sovereignty, but a battle against the global rise of oligarchical capitalism, with the future of democracy and economic justice at stake. https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-is-the-front-line-in-the-battle-against-oligarchic-capitalism/

Adams to skip New York City’s Democratic primary, run for reelection on nonpartisan line: The mayor has been at odds with his party and wants time to recover from now-dismissed federal charges. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/03/eric-adams-reelection-independent-00267865

Judge Ends Eric Adams Case, but Sharply Criticizes Trump’s Justice Dept. Judge Dale E. Ho refused to let the government leave open the prospect of reinstating charges against the mayor. But he acknowledged the president’s power to determine the fate of prosecutions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/nyregion/eric-adams-case-dismissed.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DU8.N7E9.W-opYY3A0W4N&smid=url-share

Adams Doubles Down on Trump Alliance, Praising F.B.I. Director’s Book: In the mayor’s first comments after a judge ordered corruption charges against him dropped, he urged New Yorkers to read a book by the Trump administration’s F.B.I. director.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/nyregion/eric-adams-kash-patel-book.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DU8.FskD.fhDP-pm2rpfe&smid=url-share

Incumbents are losing around the world, not just the U.S. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2024/11/14/incumbents-are-lo...