Sam discusses what to make of Biden's warm welcome of Trump back to the White House and pledge to "accommodate him," legislation that gives you a preview of how Trump & Co see their strategy kicking off, Trump's cabinet of horrors, and more recent developments. Then, Amanda Tyler (@AmandaTylerBJC) is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Comm…

Post-election 2024, we're not telling you how to feel, we're just glad you're feeling something. Hang onto your humanity with us and pledge to refuse to accept a fascist America urgently and visibly in the coming weeks. Paul Street and Andy Zee joined Refuse Fascism host Sam Goldman for an online forum informed by listener questions on November 8, …

With the election in just two days, Sam recaps essential points on refusing fascism in the event of various scenarios that may arise over the next few days and weeks. While there is much that we do not know about what will happen on Tuesday and after, we do know this: fascism is never legitimate. No election, fair or fraudulent, can legitimize a fa…

Paul Street and Andy Zee joined Refuse Fascism host Sam Goldman for an online forum informed by listener questions on October 25, 2024 sponsored by Refuse Fascism and ⁠The RNL - Revolution Nothing Less - Show⁠. We're sharing excerpts from the forum which ⁠can be watched in its entirety on YouTube⁠. Follow Paul Street at ⁠paulstreet.substack.com⁠. B…

Friday, 10/25 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET join us for a livestreamed forum with Paul Street, Andy Zee and Sam Goldman, The 2024 Elections: The Future Hangs In the Balance, sponsored by Refuse Fascism and The RNL - Revolution Nothing Less - Show. Follow @RefuseFascism on social media to tune in and send your questions ahead of time to samanthagoldman@refusef…

One month to go before the election, what's happening? Elon + X going all out to get Trump back in power, mass deportation plans, nakedly Nazi justifications for those horrific plans, voter rolls being purged, multiple climate-change fueled storms pummeling the southeast with storms of disinformation and death threats against meteorologists followi…

As we enter the final month before the November 2024 presidential election, Sam recaps recent developments including Jack Smith's recent court filing detailing the 2020 Trump coup attempt, the fascist disinformation campaign that is actively harming people in need of help and accurate information in the wake of Hurricane Helene while somehow blamin…

Sam discusses the cruel and nakedly fascist “mass deportation” plank of both Project 2025 and the official GOP platform. Then, she talks with Dr. Alberto Toscano, author of Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis. Robin D. G. Kelley writes: "Late Fascism is brilliant, incisive, and right on time. We are living through a moment whe…

Sam recaps recent developments including the escalating impact on the community of Springfield, Ohio from JD Vance’s Hitlerian lies about immigrants there, the Republican Party that is made up of “Black Nazis” like Mark Robinson, the fascist organizing at the level of the Georgia state election board to find ways to throw the election to Trump in N…

Sam recaps recent events including the lynch mob atmosphere being whipped up against immigrants in general and Black Haitian immigrants in particular after white supremacists in Ohio started vicious lies against Haitians. These lies have been further amplified by J.D. Vance and Donald Trump including from the national debate stage with Kamala Harri…

Sam recaps recent events and then talks with Paul Street about the GOP's unfolding plans to suppress the vote, intimidate their opposition (including by raiding extremely mainstream activists in Texas with LULAC [The League of Latin American Citizens] and sending police to the homes of people signing pro-abortion rights petitions in Florida), and u…

Sam talks with returning guest Annika Brockschmidt about the ideology that binds Trump's GOP. Brockschmidt is a trained historian, author and journalist. She wrote two bestselling books on the history of the US religious right and the Republican Party. Follow Annika on BlueSky. German-speaking audiences can read her latest book Die Brandstifter: Wi…

Sam discusses the joy fest during the DNC and the growing gulf between those who think you can stop fascism in the US while still enabling a genocide in Gaza, and those who think that is completely incompatible. Cheers to all the protesters at the DNC for telling the truth this past week. Follow @uncommittedmvmt on TikTok for the voices clipped in …

This week, Sam discusses recent developments including Project 2025 Phase 2, the efforts of Republi-Fascists to subvert elections and the Democratic National Convention's approach to combating fascism (is it weird or is it fascism?). She then welcomes Sian Norris back on the show to discuss the fascist riots in the UK that targeted asylum seekers a…

Biden's out of the race and many people are feeling more optimistic about Kamala Harris beating Trump in the election... Sam comments about the new situation, what dangers lie ahead and what we can rely on to stop fascism and build a better world. Then, Sam talks with Graie Hagans, Chief Vision Officer with Bend the Arc: Jewish Action about the roo…

This week Sam shares commentary on the fascist spectacle that was the RNC along with other recent developments and how and why we must resolutely oppose fascism. Then, Sam talks with Karl Folk, a researcher of authoritarianism and radicalization and the founder of the Institute of Unreality. He writes for Splinter News on their authoritarianism and…

This episode features interviews from the past two intense weeks... first Sam discusses recent events and updates from the intensifying situation in the US. Then, we share two interviews: first with Aziza Ahmed to discuss the implications of two years without Roe and recent SCOTUS rulings on abortion rights. Aziza is a professor of law at Boston Un…

Sam discusses the pivotal decision from the fascist-dominated Supreme Court to grant Trump permission to commit crimes through the immunity ruling this past year with historian Paul Street, along with the slew of other terrible rulings. Of course while this ruling would seem to green-light the current president to act as a king unbound by any rule …

Sam Goldman recaps the events of this past week including the totally illegitimate "debate" debacle between Trump and Biden, plus the slew of despotic rulings from the Trump's unelected "Supreme" Court. Then, Sam interviews legal scholar and author Aziz Rana to take a deeper look at U.S. Constitution and its veneration to understand how it has supp…

This week Sam shares commentary on the second anniversary of the overturn of Roe & the stripping away of the federal protection of abortion rights. Then she welcomes Madiba K. Dennie back on the show to discuss originalism as the underlying theory behind some of the worst recent Supreme Court decisions. Madiba is the Deputy Editor and Senior Contri…

This week Mark Tinkleman guest hosts the pod, covering SCOTUS decisions on the abortion medication mifepristone as well as gun control, Trump’s support from powerful people, the Southern Baptist Convention's attack on IVF, and a listener’s feedback. Then Sam welcomes researcher Teddy Wilson back on to discuss how the MAGA movement is weaving Trump'…

Sam interviews filmmaker Stephen Ujlaki about his latest film Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Unholy War on Democracy. This feature-length documentary is available for streaming on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Google Play & YouTube. See trailer here. For information about the film, including a listing of screenings & how to organize a screening in y…

Sam discusses the historic guilty verdict that was just rendered by a jury against Trump this past week (34 felonies for falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, all for the purposes of ensuring his illegitimate election in 2016), along with the slew of unhinged fascist threats and rants that have come in the a…

Sam interviews historian Dr. Jefferson Cowie, author of Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power (winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize). Jeff serves as the James G. Stahlman Chair in the Department of History at Vanderbilt University. He was recently honored with a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship - in part, in anticipation of his upc…

This week Sam Goldman (@SamBGoldman) and Coco Das (@Coco_Das) have a wide ranging conversation with Dr. Clarence Lusane and Sunsara Taylor over what it will take to stop fascism in the United States. We discuss the 2024 elections in the context of the prospect of civil war, the genocide in Gaza and the uprising to stop it, the threat of today's war…

Sam discusses the events of this past week including Trump's trials (including what's getting prosecuted and what's being postponed indefinitely), the escalating genocide in Gaza as the Israeli military started to invade Rafah and the ongoing bravery of students across the country who continue to demand an end to this genocide. Then, we share an in…

We're sharing a round-up of excerpts from interviews over the past four years with 20 experts on fascism. If you want to know "what is US fascism in this century" or "who are the fascists in America" or "where did fascism in the US come from" - this is your crash course (and it's episode 200!). Find out more about Refuse Fascism and get involved at…

It’s been one of those weeks… Sam shares commentary on the wildly fascist logic coming from the Supreme Court this past week (the president is likely immune from prosecution for the attempted coup in Jan 2021, and federal law will likely no longer require emergency rooms to provide life-saving abortions…), the wave of repression sweeping American u…

Sam talks with three experts on widespread local fascist organizing around the country including the so-called Constitutional Sheriffs movement, the embrace by local governments of right wing militias and fascist efforts to modify the constitution itself. Devin Burghart (@dburghart) is the Executive Director, at the Institute for Research & Educati…

Sam talks with Merle Hoffman, long-time abortion rights activist and founder of one of the largest abortion clinics in the country, who has just written a memoir chronicling her decades of experience fighting for abortion rights. Get the book here: Choices: A Post Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto merlehoffman.com and choicesmedical.com or on Twitter: …

Sam welcomes back onto the show Anthony DiMaggio and Henry Giroux to discuss their latest book Fascism on Trial: Education and the Possibility of Democracy. Dr. Henry A. Giroux is a renowned educator and author of multiple books on fascism and pedagogy. He holds the Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in English and Cultural Studies at McM…

Sam speaks to the Supreme Court facilitating the further erosion of civil rights & foreboding upcoming elections outside of the U.S. Then, frequent guest and guest host of the show, Coco Das shares reflections on SB4 (Texas' "Show Me Your Papers" law) and talks with award-winning Turkish writer and political thinker Ece Temelkuran discussing her es…

Sam comments on the downward spiral of the legal cases against Trump and the further consolidation of the RNC and “conservative movement” around MAGA fascism. Then, we share two interviews with people who have been actively resisting the escalating genocide in Gaza. First, a conversation with Dr. Nicole Erin Morse, Associate Professor of Media Stud…

Sam talks with historian Rick Perlstein, author of multiple books about the US conservative movement including Nixonland, about his latest work on the contemporary era and the nexus between the fascists, the media, and the Democratic Party; what he calls "the infernal triangle." Subscribe to his newsletter at prospect.org and follow him on Twitter …

Sam comments on SCOTUS hearing Trump's presidential immunity claim and Trump and Biden visits to the Texas-Mexico border. Then, she talks with Dr. Clarence Lusane to discuss the catastrophe for humanity of a second Trump presidency & lessons from the international rise of fascism. Dr. Lusane is a professor and Director of the International Affairs …

Sam talks with Dr. Lee McIntyre, philosopher and author of numerous books including How to Talk to A Science Denier and his latest, On Disinformation: "Drawing on his twenty years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way t…

Sam speaks to developments in Trump's trials, the "pendulum swing" of political power, Gaza and the 2024 election, and more. Then, she talks with Jared Holt, Senior Research Analyst with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. His writing can be found in various outlets including: The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Columbia Journalism Review, Huff…

Sam talks with historian, activist and RefuseFascism.org editorial board member Paul Street about the coming year and his take on all the wild things happening as well as to come. Follow Paul's work on Substack at paulstreet.substack.com. Find out more about Refuse Fascism and get involved at RefuseFascism.org. We're still on Twitter (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@R…

Sam talks with Dr. Manisha Sinha, historian of the US Civil War and Reconstruction and one of 25 historians who signed onto the amicus brief supporting Colorado's decision to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot according to the 14th amendment (which bars insurrectionists from public office). Read the brief here: https://www.suprem…

It's been quite the week! Sam recaps some of the stories we're watching most closely: the Texas + other fascist controlled states v. federal government confrontation in the wake of a SCOTUS decision the fascists actually don't like (shockingly, Roberts and Coney Barrett agreed that the federal government has the authority to remove the murder wire …

We want to hear from listeners! What are some of your most urgent questions keeping you up at night as 2024 begins? Let us know via this survey: ⁠https://bit.ly/rf-pod-survey On this episode, we share Jessica Valenti’s testimony before Senate Democrats on the state of abortion rights ahead of the Roe v. Wade anniversary. Sam provides commentary hig…

Sam talks with Faisal Al-Juburi from RAICES Texas to get an update on what has changed (and what hasn't) for our siblings seeking refuge as of January 2024 at the deadly US border. Follow their work and get involved at https://www.raicestexas.org/. We want to hear from listeners! What are some of your most urgent questions keeping you up at night a…

Paul Street, member of the RefuseFascism.org Editorial Board shares reflections on January 6, three years later. Read his reflections: On January 6 Three Years Later: The Trump Republi-Fascist Menace is Alive and Well. Subscribe to the Paul Street Report to read and hear more from Paul. Then, Sam talks with Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vo…

As we close out 2023 and head into 2024 many of us are feeling a sense of deja vu - but with higher stakes. Take a trip through the events of 2023 with an eye to the future with some guests from this past year. THANK YOU to all the patrons and supporters who help make this show possible in 2023. Find out more about Refuse Fascism and get involved a…

As we close out the year and look towards 2024, members of the RefuseFascism.org Editorial Board answer questions submitted by supporters of the pod. You can become one of those supporters at patreon.com/refusefascism. Follow Coco Das at @Coco_Das, Paul Street at paulstreet.substack.com and Sam at @SamBGoldman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Twi…

Sam talks with scholar Matthew D. Taylor about House Speaker Mike Johnson and the significance and danger exemplified in Johnson's ascent to power. Taylor documents Johnson's links to leading voices in the Christian Charismatic movement (which were early adopters of the Trump cult, and unlike mainstream Evangelical leaders, have never split in thei…

Sam talks with Dr. Susan Neiman, Director of the Einstein Forum in Germany about the US-backed war Israel is waging against Gaza. Her latest book is Left Is Not Woke. Her first work of fiction, Nine Stories: A Berlin Novel, will be published in 2024. She has written two recent thought provoking essays for the The New York Review of Books: Historica…

Sam talks with Wendy Via, Co-Founder and President at The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, about their analysis of the publicly announced plan for "day one" of the next presidential administration (presumably headed by leading Republifascist candidate Donald Trump). Their report The Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism: Projec…

Sam talks with Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read Program Director at PEN America. Their new report America's Censored Classrooms 2023 states, "Over the past three years, state legislators have launched an onslaught of educational gag orders—state legislative and policy efforts to restrict teaching about topics such as race, gender, American history, an…

Sam talks with writer Sarah Posner about Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, third in line to the presidency and Christian Nationalist who spent around a decade as a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom (sic), the organization behind the recent wave of state level anti-abortion legislation, the 303 Creative SCOTUS case, and on the wrong s…