Wildfire warfare with Brian Tyler Cohen

Next week, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as president. The ensuing months and years will bring much chaos and catastrophe. I say that not to scare you but because it’s the truth. Much of the legacy media continues to fail to meet this fraught moment by acting as if this is politics as usual — American life as usual. (See these many examples as well as the general turmoil at the Washington Post.) Needless to say, none of this is normal.

Independent journalism like the kind I produce here will be crucial to getting factual information free from authoritarian spin, which is why I’m grateful for the support of my subscribers here at American Doom. Many of you have chosen to support my work with a paid subscription, but many more of you remain on the fence. I’d like to hear from you about what you’re looking for, what I can provide for you, and what will push you over the edge to supporting my work here with your hard-earned dollars.

This week, I’m offering an Inauguration Special — a 20 percent discount on annual subscriptions to American Doom, from $50 a year to $40. This gets you access to all paywalled posts containing exclusive reporting, as well as audio versions of posts for those times when you don’t have the time to read but still want to keep with the news. I hope you’ll join me. As always, you can also buy me a cup of coffee at the Doom Coffee Fund.

Thank you for your support.

***

While the fires out west have continued to rage, the American right has been in rare form, blaming any Democratic official or progressive policy they can think of for this ongoing natural disaster.

The behavior has been particularly grotesque and craven — which is saying a lot for a political party led by Donald Trump — but mostly unsurprising for those of us who have been documenting the hyper-polarized information warfare of the last decade. Naturally, Trump has led the attack, not waiting for even a hint of relief in the battle against the flames before launching a series of attacks against Gov. Gavin Newsom and others.

Republicans have fallen in line, putting on display the party’s utter lack of empathy. It’s an emptiness of the soul that is juxtaposed by the emptiness felt by so many people in California as they look around at possessions, homes, neighborhoods and lives that are now, in some cases, completely gone, as Brian Tyler Cohen put it the other day.

More from the Doom podcast

* The coming misinformation war - Meta is ending fact-checking at a time when reputable information is needed more than ever.

* Threats, harassment and intimidation at the polls with Mike Wendling of the BBC

* 'Hands up, don't shoot' - The legacy of Ferguson with DeRay McKesson

Cohen, who has called Los Angeles home for the last 15 years, has been one of the lucky ones. His home and life are intact. A powerful voice in independent media, Cohen has consistently called out the insanity, absurdity, lies, cons, and shamelessness — as the title of his recent book makes clear — of the American right in the Trump era.

I caught up with Cohen recently about the causes of the California wildfires, which have little to do with the culture war grievances being put forth by Trump and Republicans, and more to do with the issue they continuously ignore: climate change.

You can view our discussion above, listen to it here, or subscribe to the American Doom podcast on Apple and Spotify, as well as our YouTube page.

***

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.american-doom.com/subscribe