The Crisis Is Worse Than You Think | Molly Jong-Fast

Defending Democracy with Marc Elias

Democracy Docket

News, Politics

4.9 • 702 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Journalist and political commentator Molly Jong-Fast joins Marc Elias to discuss Trump’s declining political power, the myth of a governing mandate, and the growing backlash heading into the 2026 midterm elections. They examine corporate and billionaire collaboration with Trumpism, the retreat of Big Law, escalating voter suppression and election subversion, DOJ efforts to access voter files, and the legal fight to protect voting rights and democracy. The discussion also dives into the collapse of U.S. media, disinformation, Section 230, the erosion of expertise, billionaire influence on social media, AI misinformation, and why journalism has been undermined by policy choices. Support independent journalism: https://newsletters.democracydocket.com/member-youtube Stay informed with the latest news and political analysis: https://newsletters.democracydocket.com/youtube Follow Democracy Docket: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/democracydocket.com Instagram⁠: https://instagram.com/democracydocket Facebook⁠: https://facebook.com/democracydocket X/Twitter⁠: https://twitter.com/DemocracyDocket TikTok⁠: https://tiktok.com/@democracydocket Threads: https://www.threads.net/@democracydocket

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are living through a time of overlapping crises, a growing alliance between corporate power
0:04.9	and an authoritarian president, a media landscape flooded with lies, even a possible war with
0:11.1	Venezuela.
0:11.9	Well, Molly Zhang Fast, she's been on the front lines of all of it.
0:15.1	She's a journalist, an author, and a political analyst, and she has spent years dissecting
0:20.0	Trumpism, the media's failures,
0:21.9	and what incentives drive the elites to capitulate and cooperate with Donald Trump.
0:26.7	Today, we talk about whether there's any reason for optimism this year, what the future of
0:31.0	media looks like, how AI slop and fake news may infect our ecosystem, and why powerful
0:37.2	corporations and law firms aren't just
0:39.8	surrendering to Trump. They've gone all in and become collaborators. But before we get into any of that,
0:45.4	subscribe to this channel to stay informed about how you can defend democracy. Molly, Zhang
0:49.9	Fast, welcome back to defending democracy. Thank you for having me, Mark. Molly, you know, I have to say everybody is in there.
0:57.0	It's a new year.
0:58.6	Great things are happening.
1:00.6	Like, you know, Trump is weakened.
1:02.6	The Republicans are abandoning them.
1:04.6	And honestly, I am in the like, you know, we're 11 months from elections.
1:09.4	He's going to try to steal them. The Department of
1:11.8	Justice is out of control. We may go to war in Venezuela. So, Molly, are you in the, are you like
1:18.6	optimistic right now? Are you like in the hopeful New Year phase? Or are you in the, you know,
1:24.5	it's not going to be good? I'm in the, it's better than it was this time last year, right?
	...

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