The Trump White House Follows the Kremlin Model Elevating Conspiracy Theorists, Propagandists and Far Right Influencers to Deliver the News
We begin with how the Trump administration has set up a White House media and propaganda operation that mirrors the Kremlin following the model established by Putin’s “political technologist” Vladislav Surkov in which “nothing is real and everything is possible” so that eventually people become turned off to facts and politics, ideology becomes meaningless, so that the dead hand of autocrats and kleptocrats can rule without the inconvenience of a free press and democratic governance. Joining us is Anna Merlan, a Senior Reporter at Mother Jones specializing in politics, crime, religion, subcultures, and women’s lives. A former Senior Staff Writer at Vice Features, she was previously an investigative reporter for Gizmodo Media Group, a senior reporter at Jezebel and staff writer at the Village Voice and the Dallas Observer. She is the author of Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power, and we will discuss her latest article at Mother Jones, “Meet the New State Media: How a second Trump Administration grants access to conspiracy theorists, propagandists and far right influencers.”
The Grift and Corruption at the Heart of Trump’s Sellout to Putin
Then we examine the grift and corruption at the heart of Trump’s sellout to Putin as the Kremlin dangles mineral deals and Trump offers “Gold Card” visas to previously banned Russian oligarchs he calls “very nice people.” Joining us is Casey Michel, the Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, as well as a writer, analyst, and investigative journalist working on topics ranging from kleptocracy, illicit finance, dark money, foreign lobbying, and foreign interference to the legacies of Russian and Soviet colonialism. He is the author of American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History and Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World, and we will discuss his article at The Moscow Times, “Trump is Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Russian Oligarchs”.
The Republicans Have Decided to Sacrifice the House in 2026 to Give Away the Store to the Plutocracy
Then finally we look into whether the Republicans have decided to sacrifice the House in the 2026 midterms in order to push through their unpopular agenda of giving away the store to the plutocracy and speak with James Thurber, the University Distinguished Professor of Government and Founder and Former Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, Washington, D.C. He is author of numerous books and more than eighty articles and chapters on Congress, interest groups and lobbying, and campaigns and elections and he is the author of Campaigns and Elections American Style and his latest book is Rivals For Power: Presidential – Congressional relations.