How We Got Here

Gaslit Nation

Trump, Politics, Left, Democracy, Resistance, News, Society & Culture, Progressive, Liberal, Kendzior, Chalupa, Resist

4.8 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This past year, what feels like a hundred in Trump years, Gaslit Nation listeners have asked the same question: How did we get here? The answer, though deeply unsettling, is vital to understand. It's the story of a 40-year campaign waged by far-right Christian nationalists, Big Oil, and corporate power to undermine our democracy.

To help us all make sense of this crisis moment, as a firehose of corruption and racist disinformation blasts from the White House, we’ve created a special “Best of Gaslit Nation” episode. This powerful montage connects the dots with help from some of the most tenacious experts sounding the alarm.

You’ll hear from Ari Berman of Mother Jones and author of Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People—and the Fight to Resist It; Anne Nelson, author of The Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right; Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America, Elie Mystal of The Nation and author of Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, and more. Each voice reveals a piece of the puzzle: how the Reagan revolution, Supreme Court corruption, and dark money led us to this breaking point, unleashing Trump as their Frankenstein monster.

But this isn’t just about history: it’s about action. The Gaslit Nation Action Guide is your toolkit for resisting, rebuilding, and reclaiming our democracy. The darkness we face cannot withstand our collective light.

So stand up. Be defiant. Shine bright. This chapter isn’t the end: it’s our call to build something better, together.

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!

Two special events! This Thursday May 29 at 8pm ET, the Media and Democracy Forum will host Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes to discuss editorial cartooning’s role in democracy, press freedom, and 2025’s controversy involving her rejected cartoon by Washington Post editor David Shipley. RSVP here: https://www.mobilize.us/mediademocracyproject/event/768371/

June 16 at 4pm ET, Keira Havens of Citizens' Impeachment joins the Gaslit Nation salon to discuss the growing movement to demand the impeachment of Donald Trump and why it matters. Look out for a Zoom link on Patreon the morning of the event, and be sure to visit citizensimpeachment.com.

Featured Episodes:

Minority Rule, featuring Ari Berman https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2024/4/23/minority-rule

Voter Suppression Emergency: The Ari Berman Interview https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2021/6/24/voter-suppression-emergency-the-ari-berman-interview

The World Must Stand Up to Trump’s America, featuring Elie Mystal https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2025/2/11/the-world-must-stand-up-to-trumps-america?rq=elie%20mystal

Bad Faith, featuring filmmaker Stephen Ujlaki https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2024/4/16/bad-faith

Democracy in Chains: The Nancy MacLean Interview - Part I https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2022/6/1/nancy-maclean-interview-part-01

Can the Reagan Revolution Be Undone?, featuring Jesse Eisinger https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2023/12/13/reagan-revolution-jesse-eisinger-part-2

Project 2025 Super Special, featuring Anne Nelson https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2024/5/21/project-2025-super-specialnbsp

EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:

June 16 4pm ET – Keira Havens of Citizens Impeachment joins Gaslit Nation to discuss the Trump impeachment movement; details at citizensimpeachment.com.
June 30pm ET – Book club discussion of Lillian Faderman’s The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle
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

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone. It's Andrea Chalupa of Gaslit Nation. In our Monday, Gaslit Nation
0:17.3	salons, listeners over the last year, 100 years and Trump years, have asked,
0:24.2	you know, how did we get here? And of course we all know, but it's just a nice grounding exercise
0:28.3	to talk about the 40-year, bar-right Christian nationalist, big oil coup against our democracy.
0:42.1	So I decided to put together a montage of episodes walking you through the history of how America is now in this crisis point of normalization, normalization, where people are just living their lives
0:58.0	and every day fascism is happening, spewing from the White House. Donald Trump is the
1:06.4	Frankenstein monster of a coalition of forces that have been chipping away,
1:15.5	chipping away at our democracy.
1:17.9	And here to walk us through it is a best of Gaslit Nation.
1:22.7	You're going to hear from the investigative journalist Ari Berman of Mother Jones, Anne Nelson, the author of
1:30.4	The Shadow Network, historian Nancy McLean, the author of Democracy in Chains, Ellie Mistal of the
1:38.5	nation, the justice correspondent, and you're going to hear from the director of the must-watch documentary Bad Faith based on
1:47.6	Anne Nelson's book, The Shadow Network, Stephen Yulaki. And of course, Jesse Isinger, the Pulitzer
1:54.4	Prize-winning investigative journalist at ProPublica, who led their extremely important investigations into corruption on the Supreme Court.
2:04.6	You're going to hear from him, too, on how the Reagan Revolution plays into all this.
2:09.2	So I love this episode. It really pulls everything together. If you want a link to all of the
2:16.1	original interviews featured here, go to the show notes.
2:20.8	And as always, we have the power. Bite back, stand up, be defiant, and shine your light.
2:28.1	Because if there's one thing, the darkness of the ghouls cannot stand. It is our collective light. And you have it in you. We all
2:36.3	have it in you. America was built by authoritarianism. It has been a long history of authoritarianism
2:43.3	for non-white people in this country and women. We are fighting our way out of it. This is just the
2:48.4	latest chapter. And we are going to fight and build greater progress for everyone together.
	...

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