January 6 Shadow on Trump's 250 Rallies
Gaslit Nation
Gaslit Nation
4.7 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The barbarians are inside the gates and throwing a toxic masculinity pageant on the front lawn. While the United States should be preparing to honor the 250th anniversary of our democratic republic by working toward a more perfect union, Donald Trump has hijacked the historic milestone to throw corrupt, all-caps "TRUMP RALLIES" and UFC cage matches to distract from his economic warfare on the American people as he and his family rake in billions.
This week, Mother Jones investigative reporter Dan Friedman joins Gaslit Nation to expose the blatant kleptocracy behind "Freedom 250," a shadowy, dark-money shell company created by the White House to bypass congressional oversight and strip taxpayer funds from the bipartisan America 250 Commission.
This corporate-sponsored slush fund allows the administration to openly sell White House access to elite corporate donors and tech oligarchs seeking to build monopolies approved by Trump's DOJ and rake in tax breaks. Even more alarming: the contractor hired to run these "patriotic" events is Event Strategies, the exact same group that profited from organizing Trump's violent January 6th coup attempt.
We refuse to normalize corruption. If we look away now, the floodgates will swing wide open for future autocrats to follow. Listen to Part I now, and stay tuned for Part II this Thursday, where we discuss our leverage for accountability and how to fight back!
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Show Notes:
Opening clip: JD Vance on The View https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mog4pzuauh2x
Trump's efforts to turn the 250th in a partisan party for himself. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/06/military-parade-army-trump-american250-a250/
Trump's War on History: As America's 250th anniversary approaches, the president wants to control the country's future by bulldozing its past. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/america-freedom-task-force-250-trump-anniversary-history-smithsonian-kennedy-center/
Piece on Interior/NPS effort to get rid of National Park signs: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/donald-trumps-national-park-signs-francis-newlands-chevy-chase-circle/
Trump's Christian Nationalist rally on the Mall https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/trump-maga-freedom250-christian/
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | So President Trump has called affordability a hoax. |
| 0:04.0 | He said that, not me. |
| 0:06.0 | He's pouring money into this ballroom of his and the reflecting pool. |
| 0:10.0 | Oh, don't forget the arched Trump pay, I call it. |
| 0:14.0 | And a White House cage match. |
| 0:17.0 | All these things, why is he doing them when you you just everybody knows that |
| 0:22.6 | Americans are struggling? What is he spending all this money for? Well, I got to defend the |
| 0:26.2 | president on the hoax point. What the president said is the idea that Republicans cause the |
| 0:31.9 | affordability problem is a hoax. And I think that's true. If you go back to the Biden administration, |
| 1:12.5 | inflation got up to 9% under the Biden administration. Right now is at 3.5%. By the way, too high. We're doing everything that we can to bring it back down to 2.5%, which is where most people would like to see it. But we inherited an affordability problem. We're doing a lot to make it better. It's going to take a little bit of time. There's a lot more work to do. But the president knows that a lot of Americans are struggling. In fact, he ran on that. He talked about it. And we've done some things and made some good progress on that point. He just said he loves the inflation. What he said, Anna, what he said is that he loves the fact that the inflation is going to come down when this war is over. That's what he said. |
| 1:14.2 | That wasn't a duress. |
| 1:19.7 | Welcome to Gaslit Nation. |
| 1:21.4 | I am your host, Andrea Chalupa, |
| 1:23.3 | a journalist and filmmaker and the writer and producer |
| 1:25.5 | of a journalistic thriller, Mr. Jones. |
| 1:27.8 | The film of Kremlin doesn't want you to see, so be sure to watch it. |
| 1:30.3 | And this week, we are joined by investigative journalist Dan Friedman of Mother Jones. |
| 1:36.5 | He is a long-time beat reporter on the transnational crime syndicate beat, looking at corruption, lobbying, foreign influence |
| 1:47.4 | on our democracy, culminating now in the 250th anniversary of United States of America, |
| 1:54.0 | celebrated by a convicted felon Donald Trump and what appears to be some very shady slush fund. Dan is here to break down what he is seeing. |
| 2:04.6 | Dan, I know you are extremely busy these days doing what you do. What are you watching around the |
| 2:11.9 | 250th anniversary celebrations of our country a historic moment where a band of rebels, most of them slave |
... |
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