Doctor, Lawyer, Insurrectionist: The Radicalization of Simone Gold
The Mother Jones Podcast
Mother Jones
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2021
⏱️ 33 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
As we approach the five-month anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, the Republican Party has made one thing clear: They want to forget all about it—holding Trump and his big lie closer than ever.
In the House, the party just kicked out a top leader, Rep. Liz Cheney, for calling out Trump’s lies and authoritarianism. Over in the Senate, Republicans are likely to stymie efforts to formalize a January 6 commission to investigate the attack. The GOP might be desperate to move on, but the Department of Justice—and the nation—isn’t. There are more than 400 cases working their way through the courts, in what has become the biggest counterintelligence operation since 9/11.
Over the next two episodes, the Mother Jones Podcast team gives you a snapshot of where we stand, what history has taught us, and what's next in the hunt for the insurrectionists. On today’s show: the story of someone who might not fit your picture of an insurrectionist—and how she was radicalized so quickly. Dr. Simone Gold is a Stanford-educated lawyer and board-certified emergency room physician who ended up on an FBI most wanted poster.
Guest host Fernanda Echavarri is joined by Mother Jones senior reporter Stephanie Mencimer, who charts Gold’s stereotype-busting rise from far-right media stardom to the steps of the Capitol on January 6. Her eventual arrest highlights not only the role of conservative media in fomenting an insurrection, but also illustrates what experts on extremism have long known: Education is no defense against radicalization.
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| 0:00.0 | I bet you remember where you were on January 6, 2021. I do. |
| 0:07.0 | Like you, I was glued to the television as the pro-Trump stopped the steel rally culminated |
| 0:13.4 | in a violent mob storming the U.S. Capitol. |
| 0:17.0 | Now, as we approach the five-month anniversary of the insurrection, yes, can you believe |
| 0:33.6 | it's been five months, the entire Republican Party has made one thing totally clear. They |
| 0:39.2 | want to move on and forget all about it. It seems they're holding Trump and his big like |
| 0:44.4 | closer than ever. The party just kicked out a top leader in the House, Congresswoman |
| 0:48.9 | Liz Cheney, for calling Trump out on his lies and authoritarianism. |
| 0:52.8 | He must not ever again be anywhere close to the Oval Office. |
| 0:56.4 | The GOP might be desperate to move on, but the nation isn't. Far from it. There are still |
| 1:02.4 | hundreds of court cases going through and people facing serious charges in an unprecedented |
| 1:07.8 | investigation at the Department of Justice, the biggest counterintelligence operation since |
| 1:12.8 | 9-11. And just last week, the House passed a bill to set up a January 6 commission. It |
| 1:18.6 | will face obstacles in the Senate. And we're learning more all the time. |
| 1:26.0 | Over the next two episodes, a snapshot of where we are right now, how we got here and what's |
| 1:30.6 | next in the hunt for the insurrectionists. I'm Fernanda Chavari sitting in for our host |
| 1:36.2 | extraordinaire, Jamila King. |
| 1:39.3 | Today, we're going to hear the story of someone who you might not think fits the picture |
| 1:43.6 | of an insurrectionist and how she was radicalized so quickly. This week, the radicalized, next |
| 1:49.6 | week, the radicalizers. Stick around. |
| 2:02.6 | The story you're about to hear is the story of one intensely radicalized woman who challenges |
| 2:07.9 | many assumptions about who became an insurrectionist on January 6th and about what it says about |
... |
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