This Terrible Moment Before Trump Takes Power
Shrinking Trump
Really American Media
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2025
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. John Gartner and Dr. Harry Segal explore the anxiety surrounding what’s to come when Donald Trump takes office on January 20. Journalist and biographer Laurie Winer returns with her line on what this moment means politically and historically.
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As the New Year unfolds, our hosts consider what Trump's return to power means for democracy, and dive into Donald’s dangerous fantasies–from territorial expansion to increasingly bold threats.
Reflecting on the launch of our show last year, John and Harry renew their commitment to calling out Donald Trump's cognitive decline and severe personality disorders. We’ll also continue to assess MAGA’s sweeping effects on democracy, the press, and the emotional health of America’s public.
The Dr.’s discuss how Trump might be outsourcing decision-making to people like Elon Musk, who many consider a modern-day Rasputin. And they push back against the press for normalizing and downplaying the pair's dangerous behavior.
Harry offers a cautious optimism for the year ahead, pointing out the sheer logistical and financial roadblocks that stand in the way of Trump's most extreme ideas, like mass deportations. While John and our guest Laurie Weiner warn us against the terrible dangers of complacency.
Laurie shares eerie parallels with Germany's historic descent into fascism and urges vigilance against incremental normalization of Donald’s extreme authoritarian behaviors.
Our hosts also call upon our listeners to remain steadfast, by nurturing mental well-being and personal connections amid the chaos. We encourage folks to stay engaged and stay informed, because our collective awareness and actions are crucial for navigating the storm ahead.
Be sure to join us next time as we continue to dissect the psychological and political challenges of this new era, like no one else can.
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Transcript
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| 0:29.9 | I'm Dr. John Gartner. And I'm Dr. Harry Siegel. And welcome to another session of Shrinking Trump. |
| 0:37.3 | Welcome to the show and really our first show of the new year. |
| 0:42.8 | And of course we want to wish all of you a wonderful new year, |
| 0:47.9 | even though we are struggling with, imagining, preparing for a difficult year in our country and world, for that |
| 0:58.8 | matter. But I still want to make sure that you all hear our wishes to you for this new year. |
| 1:06.5 | John and I began this show in April. I always give this quick summary because it gives us some context, I guess, right? |
| 1:14.6 | Which is that we were very concerned about Trump's cognitive decline, signs of dementia that he was showing on the campaign trail, |
| 1:22.6 | as well as his severe personality disorder and his sociopathic personality, which results in constant lying |
| 1:33.3 | criminal behavior, betrayal, and creating a false sense of his being the rescuer of the country, |
| 1:43.3 | and that he just wants to make America great again. |
| 1:47.0 | So John and I have been taking this time between the election and the inauguration, which is two weeks from Monday, as we're recording today. |
| 1:58.0 | And there's this sense of pause because we hear his machinations. We see his |
| 2:06.9 | really terrible nominations. We hear his rumblings. But he's not in power just yet. And John and I are |
| 2:16.4 | here to process that with you, to think about it with you, |
| 2:20.3 | and to really to be of support, both to you and to ourselves and to each other. John? |
| 2:27.8 | Yeah, you know, I don't mean to be such a downer. But when you wish everyone a happy new year, |
| 2:37.0 | honestly, really the thing that I think of is I'm dreading this year. |
... |
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