The Nicole Sandler Show

It's another Monday, so on today's show, Jonathan Larsen brings us the latest of The Fucking News, which he diligently writes just about every day at TheFuckingNews.substack.com and discusses here on my show. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

What a day this has already been, and I'm not even talking about the news! I'll explain, but the short version is I got sick today. But I soldiered through and was able to talk with the one and only Driftglass today about all the shit we're going through. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

While we, mere mortals, try to discern fact from fiction when trying to get a handle on what is truly happening in the world, investigative reporter Jason Leopold has mastered the ins and outs of the of the few tools available to US citizens to dig through the drek to get at the truth. FOIA Man, as I call him, returns to the show today. Then I checked in with a town in Arkansas that's in the news today for a disturbing reason... Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's my never-ending question during the Dump Days of America... Delulu Don keeps signing Executive Orders that are expressly unconstitutional, but he doesn't care. In many cases he's breaking the law, but is he if there's no one to enforce the laws he's breaking? Chris also just returned from a vacation. He was in the UK and wrote about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and seeing Rosie O'Donnell perform there. I have so many questions for him about Europeans' thoughts about the US in the Dump era and how it feels to unplug from this shit for two weeks! Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

On Mondays, Jonathan Larsen joins me on the air to tell us wtf is going on with a bit of snark and humor because it sure beats letting the seriousness of what's happening make you sad, anxious or crazy. kingNews.substack.com and get Jonathan’s original reporting without much snark at JonathanLarsen.substack.com. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's another Emptywheel Friday! Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me each Friday to wrap up much of the news that happened each week to help us understand wtf is going on Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's that time of year again. The kids are going back to school! So today, we'll chat with Professor Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Dayton.This week marked the 8th anniversary of the Unite the Right Nazi rally in Charlottesville, so I thought this was a good time for a primer into these hate groups and "accelerationism." Accelerationism also happens to be the topic of an article Art wrote for The Conversation recently, “A Field Guide to ‘Accelerationism’: White supremacist groups using violence to spur race war and create social chaos”. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

The man known to social media denizens as @LOLGOP, but to his parents and others as Jason Sattler, joins me on the show today. Jason is still all over social media, has his own newsletter at thefarce.org (that's also his handle on Bluesky), and he produces Marcy Wheeler's Ball of Thread podcast and others too. He joins me on today's show to unpack ice, media and the right's monopoly over it and more. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Just a couple of hours before I hit the air today at 3ET, the Washington Post sent a breaking news alert with the headline, "Texas Republicans dare Democrats to stay out of state another month." (gift link) They further explain, "The lawmakers put new pressure on absent Democrats to return to the state, testing whether they'll stay away another month to try to kill a plan to redraw congressional districts in favor of the GOP." In other words, the Republicans who rule the Texas state legislature, following the Oval Office felon's directives, are stretching the norms of the gerrymander to do away with any districts that might vote for the Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterms. Redistricting in the middle of the decade? Not a regular occurrence. Is it illegal? That's one of the questions I have for David Daley, author of three books on the subject. The one that started it all was Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count. He followed that with Unrigged: How Americans are Battling Back to Save Democracy in 2021. Unfortunately, the landscape has since changed. Dave’s newest book, released in 2024, is Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections. Dave is also the former editor of Salon.com, and is a senior fellow at FairVote, who advocates for ranked choice voting and proportional representation, so he knows this subject. Dave gave us the lay of the land regarding gerrymandering, apportionment and where we currently stand, and it’s not a pretty picture. Sadly, a woman in the YouTube chatroom during the show, Stephanie, commented saying, “Dave is so pessimistic. I’m sorry I tuned in.” Wow. I’m so sorry she felt that way. But, as I said before, David Daley is an expert on this subject and he was just telling us the facts that we need to know. He wasn’t trying to discourage us, but not knowing the truth about what is happening will not make the situation any better. Not understanding how dire the situation is will just give people (the wrong) reason to not try their hardest to correct the problems. We NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH! As depressing as that truth may be… I thought we’d also get to the rest of the news on today’s show. It’s the usual these days… D’ump creates chaos as he keeps the ball in motion trying to steal another election (while he invokes opposite world and claims the Democrats are stealing the elections). Then there’s the soft launch of Martial Law in Washington DC and other anti-democratic and harmful machinations set in motion by the guy who, if he were a Democrat, would have been 25th amendmented by now… Instead, I got sidelined by a call from our friend Spocko who filled us in on the work he’s doing to amplify our voices and help truth tellers come together to get our message out. Tomorrow on the show, one of social media’s most prolific Tweeters, podcast producer, columnist and all-around really smart guy, Jason Sattler, better known as @LOLGOP. Watch today’s show via YouTube: The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Demented Don hit the ground running this morning with a soft launch of Martial Law. That's really what it is. He announced that "today is Liberation Day" in DC. Wait a minute. Didn't we just have "liberation day" on April 2, and wasn't that about tariffs? It's all so confusing. I guess every day is Liberation Day in the Dumpster fire that is his brain. It would be really funny if it weren't so dangerous. Today is Monday, so we check in with our pal Jonathan Larsen who writes all about the shit that won't stop at The Fucking News and on his personal breaking news site, jonathanlarsen.substack.com. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Thankfully we made it to the end of another week. Not only because I get to unplug from the news for the weekend, but because I get to wrap up the week with Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel.net. We get together every Friday to stick a fork in the week, as Marcy fills in the blanks and explains some of the news stories and issues that came to light during the week. Today we touch on the resurrection of Trump's "Russia Russia Russia" lies, the Durham appendix, Trump's Putin capitulation, Marcy's explanation of "competitive authoritarianism", more Epstein fallout and more. And then we can rest for a couple of days, rinse and repeat.... Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Bringing you the honest, real news - the truth- is what I strive for each day. In order to do it effectively, I believe we need to inject a bit of humor, irreverence and snark lest we lose our minds (or I do mine, anyway). That's why I often invite journalist, author, filmmaker, podcaster Brian Karem on the show. You can read him on his Reporter’s Notebook Substack and at Salon.com, hear him on his Just Ask the Question podcast, read any of his seven books - the latest being Free the Press and find him on social media everywhere. And occasionally, like today, on The Nicole Sandler Show. We were both a bit fired up today, so be ready for some fireworks. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's about time! I've been a fan of Allison Gill's work for years but have never had the pleasure of meeting her. I've cited her reporting regularly, as she has been on top of the news since she launched the Mueller, She Wrote podcast back in 2017. Allison is incredibly busy, currently hosting three podcasts, plus interviews & writing articles on her substack at muellershewrote.com, and running MSW Media, Inc. while breaking news regularly. Most recently, Allison broke the story of Ghislaine Maxwell's sex offender status being downgraded to allow her to be moved to a minimum security "Club Fed" "prison" in Texas... Now she's in the middle of lawsuit she filed against the DoJ for the training videos instructing FBI personnel how to flag mentions of Trump and others in the Epstein files - the existence of which she was the first to report on last month. So strap in, there's a lot to talk about today with Allison Gill. Thanks for reading/listening to The Nicole Sandler Show! This post is public so feel free to share it. Watch today’s show via YouTube: Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

There was a time when, upon hearing the term "party down," I'd think it was time to get ready to have fun. Today, sadly, I think of the headlines telling me that despite the complete transformation of the Republican Party to a frightening cult led by an orange buffoon, the Democratic Party is still struggling to find its way to being what we need it to be and to do! For years I've struggled with the party. When I lived in California, I was registered NPA - no party affiliation- because I was still able to vote in primaries and be involved in a productive manner. When I moved back to Florida, I registered as a Democrat so I could vote and participate in the primaries. Sadly, it seems as if the Democratic Party hasn't learned the lessons it has needed to learn for decades. The conundrum is what to do about it! That's something we'll discuss with Mike Lux on today's show. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's the first Monday in August when many Americans are - or used to be- or wish they were on vacation. August used to be what was known as a "slow" news time, but those days are long gone. The shit keeps coming at us, by Trumpian design, and I've accepted the challenge to report on as much of it as I can physically and mentally stand. Thankfully, I'm joined in this task each Monday by Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com who makes the ugliness of it all a little less distasteful by injecting snark and irreverence into his reporting as I usually attempt as well. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Yes, my vacation is over and it's as if I never took a week off at all. Ugh. I did tune out from the news and Dump's chaos while I was away, but there was still plenty of shit hitting the fan. Thankfully, today is Friday so Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net gets me pretty much caught up on what happened and is still happening. As usual, we cover a wide range of issues all revolving around the shitstorm that emanates from Dumpworld. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

I'm back! I was on vacation for the past week and did my best to completely tune out from politics, the news and, most importantly, D'ump. Did anything more happen this week other than a continuation of our descent into hell? We'll talk about that and check in with Howie Klein of Down with Tyranny and the Blue America PAC too. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

I've been using a new "Opposite World" theme to open the show each day because we living in a time where nothing is as it should be. Dump even said the quiet part out loud, "What you're seeing and what you're reading is NOT what's happening." That might be the only truth he's ever actually spoken! Steve Benen, longtime political writer, now producer for Rachel Maddow who writes the MaddowBlog, wrote the book on the subject last year. MINISTRY OF TRUTH: DEMOCRACY, REALITY, AND THE REPUBLICANS' WAR ON THE RECENT PAST should be required reading for everyone as it examines the warped alternate reality under which we are trying to exist. Steve Benen joined me on the air last summer when the book was just-released. I thought this conversation was the perfect way to wrap up this vacation. I'll be back live tomorrow! Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's my penultimate vacation show. I'll be back live in the studio on Thursday. For this episode, we span the decades! We spend most of the hour with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works. He joined me on July 9 to help dispel the bullshit put out by the SSA regarding the big ugly bill (now, unfortunately, law). Alex explains the ramifications from this shitty legislation for seniors and every American's healthcare and quality of life. Then, since I realized we could use a bit of hope, we go back to October of 2010 for my one and only conversation with Rev. Jesse Jackson who called in one day while I was guest-hosting the Thom Hartmann Show. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

I grew up learning about America as "The Great Melting Pot." It was taught with pride. Today, the governing cabal has nothing but disdain for immigrants, unless they're married to Trump, I guess. Today on the show, we'll hear a conversation with David Dayen of The American Prospect that happened at the height of the government's assault on Los Angeles. And for a different and surprising look at immigration and what it actually is about, my interview with author Jessica Goudeau about her surprising book, "We Were Illegal: Uncovering a Texas Family's Mythmaking and Migration". Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe