TEASER - We Can Overcome Oligarchy
Gaslit Nation
Gaslit Nation
4.8 • 4K Ratings
🗓️ 16 May 2025
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How much have the Trumps made since returning to power? According to The New York Times, a staggering $2 billion in the last month alone. From Russia to the Middle East, the Trumps have long cultivated ties with the global oligarchy, welcoming support from some of the world’s most repressive regimes to gain power in 2016 and, now, to enrich themselves.
You’ve likely heard about the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives. And perhaps you know about Trump’s covert meeting with sanctioned Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during the UN General Assembly that September. But what about the August 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving the Trump campaign and envoys from several Middle Eastern dictatorships?
In this week’s bonus episode, we revisit the explosive 2018 reporting that detailed this secretive gathering, now more relevant than ever as Trump embarks on what can only be described as a Middle East cash-grab tour. Among the key figures: convicted pedophile and Trump ally George Nader, and Joel Zamel, an Israeli operative with links to Russian intelligence and expertise in digital influence warfare.
To help make sense of the chaos, and chart a path through it, we continue our conversation with Olga Lautman, a leading expert on the Russian mafia and transnational kleptocracy. It’s a deep dive into how the oligarchy operates, and how we resist it.
Thank you to everyone who supports Gaslit Nation–we could not make this show without you!
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Show Notes:
The Trumps Get Richer: We take a look at the Trump family’s business deals. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/briefing/trump-family-business.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HE8.DPvg.yMtnHvgKpHjK&smid=url-share
George Nader pleads guilty to child sex crimes https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/politics/george-nader-plea
Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/politics/trump-jr-saudi-uae-nader-prince-zamel.html
Early Gaslit Nation episode on Andrea meeting a Russian agent in the 2016 Trump Tower meeting: https://youtu.be/gftsj4PVbvc?si=A8fGSATV1anM_AKd
Olga Lautman’s Trump Tyranny Tracker: https://trumptyrannytracker.substack.com/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | America's Philistine president has had himself appointed head of one of our premier cultural institutions. |
| 0:07.0 | He has cut funding and support to the arts, humanities and education. |
| 0:13.0 | And now he has announced a 100% tariff on films produced outside the U.S. |
| 0:19.0 | Let that sink in for a minute. |
| 0:23.0 | You can't put a price on creativity, but apparently you can put a tariff on it. |
| 0:29.9 | Of course, this is unacceptable. |
| 0:33.3 | All these attacks are unacceptable, and this isn't just an American problem. |
| 0:39.6 | It's a global one. |
| 0:42.0 | Like a film, we can't just all sit back and watch. |
| 0:46.1 | We have to act and we have to act now. |
| 0:50.1 | Without violence, but with great passion and determination. |
| 1:02.0 | Our opening clip was Robert De Niro on stage at the Cannes Film Festival. Friends in Europe are buzzing about his statement. |
| 1:06.0 | I think it's because it gives them hope that America is very aware of the crisis that we're in, |
| 1:13.8 | how it endangers the world, and most importantly, that we're trying to do something about it. |
| 1:20.7 | Welcome to this week's Gaslit Nation bonus show. |
| 1:23.9 | I am your host, Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker and the writer and producer |
| 1:29.6 | of the journalistic thriller, Mr. Jones, about Stalin's genocide, famine, and Ukraine. |
| 1:35.4 | The film The Cremlin does not want you to see, so be sure to watch it, for a hand to hold, |
| 1:41.3 | for a port in this storm, this for Gaslit Nation's book club. |
| 1:46.2 | We're reading Martin Luther King Jr.'s instructional and inspiring memoir, Stride Toward Freedom, |
| 1:53.9 | explaining how a grassroots community launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the major |
| 2:00.4 | breakthroughs of the civil rights movement. |
... |
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