The PoliticsGirl Podcast

Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump met with 800 of the military’s top brass last week and it was difficult to process how demoralizing it felt. If you’re like me, you didn’t recognize your country as our president talked about bringing US cities “under control” and painting anyone who didn’t agree with him as the “enemy from within”. There was a lot to be outraged about in that meeting, and plenty that felt terrifying, but the event was also just humiliating. For our country, for the brave men and women of the military who had to sit and listen, and for the speakers, who, quite frankly, embarrassed themselves. However, none of that limits the danger the event presents for nation on a crash course with dictatorship. Join me and Marine veteran and advocate, Janessa Goldbeck as we discuss.    As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free, along with a bunch of other perks, like the rants directly to your inbox and the knowledge that you’re making this kind of highly researched, factual information possible. If that interests you, please go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!! Thank you so much! xoPG Guest social: https://vvfnd.org/ As always, please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward!   All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   This episode is sponsored by… https://sundaysfordogs.com/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl https://JoinDeleteMe.com/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl https://quince.com/politicsgirl https://leesa.com code: politicsgirl IQBar: TEXT PG to 64000

Heather Cox Richardson, a historian and author of 'Letters from an American,' shares her insights on the fragility of democracy amid current political chaos. She discusses the fear and diminishing capacity driving Trump, alongside the performative nature of indictments. The podcast delves into the weaponization of free speech and how the GOP navigates shifting loyalties. With a focus on the importance of collective action, Heather emphasizes the need for diverse coalitions to uphold democratic values and resist authoritarianism.

There are two separate realities in America right now. One we saw at the Charlie Kirk memorial, where God has picked a side and if you’re not with them you’re not on it, and one rooted in reality. However, the reality one…it’s not winning. As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free, along with a bunch of other perks, like the rants directly to your inbox and the knowledge that you’re making this kind of highly researched, factual information possible. If that interests you, please go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!! Thank you so much! xoPG Guest social: https://www.thenewevangelicals.com/ Twitter: @newvangelicals Facebook:The New Evangelicals Instagram: @thenewevangelicals YouTube: @TheNewEvangelicals   As always, please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward! All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   This episode is sponsored by… https://perelelhealth.com code: politicsgirl https://oneskin.co code: politicsgirl https://GoPure.com code: politicsgirl https://calm.com/politicsgirl

The Democrats are annoying, but the entire party including the voters are being painted with a pretty broad brush right now. The DNC and national leadership might make me furious, but the Democratic Party is still the alternative to the Republican Party in this broken two party system. So if you’re pro-democracy, pro-rule of law, pro-constitution, and you’re watching the country fall apart right now, then we can’t pretend it doesn’t matter how the Democrats are doing. We have to be supporting the Democrats who are doing good work, and challenging the Democrats who aren’t. We need to be pressuring leadership, particularly Congressional leadership, to get it together and realize we’re fighting for our lives here. Which is why we’re joined today by Heather Williams, President of the DLCC, the part of the Democratic Party responsible for getting Democrats elected to state legislatures, and unlike our federal leadership, she and her team know exactly what they stand for and how to win. As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free, along with a bunch of other perks, like the rants directly to your inbox and the knowledge that you’re making this kind of highly researched, factual information possible. If that interests you, please go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!! Thank you so much!  xoPG As always, please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward! All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   Guest Link:  https://dlcc.org/   This episode is sponsored by… https://mudwtr.com code: politicsgirl https://joindeleteme.com/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl https://honeylove.com/politicsgirl https://quince.com/politicsgirl

The Trump regime wants us feel powerless, like their take over is inevitable, but it’s not. Part of the struggle is simply not giving up. To stay engaged and keep your people informed as to what they’re doing to our health care, our education, our voting rights, our civil rights and then responding with action. That is what Sky Perryman and her team at Democracy Forward is doing to great success. In a recent article in the Atlantic titled “The Anti-Trump Resistance That is Actually Working” Democracy Forward is called “the single largest source of Trump‘s legal troubles”. So although every day might feel like the bad guys are winning, when you look at the courts - real, and the court of public opinion - they’re actually losing. They’re losing. Every. Single. Day.  As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free, along with a bunch of other perks, like the rants directly to your inbox and the knowledge that you’re making this kind of highly researched, factual information possible. If that interests you, please go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!! Thank you so much! xoPG As always, please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward! Guest social: https://democracyforward.org/ Blue Sky: @democracyforward.org Insta: @democracyforward                YouTube: @democracyforward Twitter:@DemocracyFwd All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   This episode is sponsored by… https://sundaysfordogs.com/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl https://cookunity.com/politicsgirlfree code: politicsgirlfree https://joindeleteme.com/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl https://nakedwines.com/politicsgirl click: “Edit Voucher” code: PoliticsGirl

It’s back to school, and while school shootings are a given, actual education is not. It’s September 2025 and the Department of Education is being systematically dismantled while the policy impacts of the Trump administration are only set to make things worse. From food insecurity for children who get fed at school, to school closures, to policy decisions that tell us what we can and cannot teach. Nothing is as it should be. As today’s guest, Dr. Lester is the author of the upcoming book From Dropout to Doctorate: Breaking the Chains of Educational Injustice. Dr. Lester writes: education inequality isn’t theoretical, it’s real. Behind every data point about dropout rates, underfunded schools, or academic failures there real people with potential who were left behind. Why are we abandoning the very people we’ll need in the future to make our world a safer and smarter place?  As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free and it, and the the rants delivered directly to your inbox so even if we’re shut out of social media, you’ll still get access to the most highly researched, factual information available. Independent media needs your support now more than ever.   Go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!!  Thank you so much!  xoPG Guest social: https://terencelester.com/  https://www.instagram.com/imterencelester/  https://x.com/imTerenceLester  https://www.facebook.com/imterencelester  https://www.linkedin.com/in/imterencelester/  https://www.youtube.com/@imterencelester   Please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward!   All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   This episode is sponsored by… https://laundrysauce.com code: PoliticsGirl20 https://iRestore.com code: PoliticsGirl https://calm.com/politicsgirl IQBar: TEXT PG to 64000

While international relationships are essential in a changing, increasingly dangerous world, under the Trump Administration America is doing major damage to both our safety and security by eroding trust with our allies being mercurial and untrustworthy to them while being generous and cozy with our “enemies". Our president clearly sees the world as a zero sum game of how things serve him, and while that particular kind of selfishness might work in the business world, when the only goal is financial success, it doesn’t work in geopolitics if you are creating partners to make the world safer and more secure. We are joined today by Jon Finer, Biden’s former Deputy National Security advisor, to let us know where the international experts feel America sits right now on the international stage.  As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free, along with a bunch of other perks, like the rants directly to your inbox and the knowledge that you’re making this kind of highly researched, factual information possible. If that interests you, please go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!! Thank you so much! xoPG As always, please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward!   All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   This episode is sponsored by… https://cookunity.com/politicsgirlfree code: politicsgirlfree https://GoPure.com/politicsgirl code: PoliticsGirl https://oneskin.co code: politicsgirl

Things are not right. I’m doing my pod from the road today because something wasn’t right. In my particular case it was my son’s appendix, but the wrongness of what’s going on isn’t limited to my immediate family. It’s all around us. We’re drowning in it. So, this pod is about what’s going on this week. What we should be paying attention to. How we know when things aren’t right, and just like we just did with my son, how we take the information we’re given and act if things need to change. Let me know what you think about this episode. If people like this kind of news breakdown, I’ll do more of these episodes…just from home this time.  As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free, along with a bunch of other perks, like the rants directly to your inbox and the knowledge that you’re making this kind of highly researched, factual information possible. If that interests you, please go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!! Thank you so much! xoPG As always, please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward!   All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   This episode is sponsored by… https://nakedwines.com/politicsgirl Click “enter voucher” and enter code: PoliticsGirl https://honeylove.com/politicsgirl https://JoinDeleteMe.com/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl https://mudwtr.com code: politicsgirl

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know how the government works. It’s by design. Today we talk to the Host of PBS’s Civics Made Easy about the importance of offering Americans the kind of knowledge we should have but don’t, on a network that the government should fund, but won’t. Ben wants us to, “Get caught up together” and Trump wants us as stupid as possible. As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free and it, and the the rants delivered directly to your inbox so even if we’re shut out of social media, you’ll still get access to the most highly researched, factual information available. Independent media needs your support now more than ever.   Go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!!  Thank you so much!  xoPG Guest social: https://linktr.ee/thatbensheehan https://www.pbs.org/show/civics-made-easy/   Please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward! All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   This episode is sponsored by… https://sundaysfordogs.com/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl IQBar: Text PG to 64000 https://lolablankets.com code: politicsgirl https://calm.com/politicsgirl

Things are getting so bad in America that many people are checking out, but we can’t keep pretending things are normal when we know they aren’t. We must collectively wake up to what’s happening, to how we got here, to the ugly and the scary that we’ve allowed to flourish to find the courage to stand against it. That while hope is important, we must also acknowledge change is not coming if we don’t stand up and work for it. People are not being rewarded for standing on the right side of history right now. There’s a real reason to be afraid of speaking out, but we have to do it anyway, and we have to do it even if we’re afraid. In fact, as our guest Michelle MiJung Kim says, “We can only truly practice courage when we are afraid”. As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free, along with a bunch of other perks, like the rants directly to your inbox and the knowledge that you’re making this kind of highly researched, factual information possible. If that interests you, please go to  https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium  and subscribe today!! Thank you so much! xoPG Guest social: https://www.michellemijungkim.com/ I Feel That Way Too: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/introducing-i-feel-that-way-too-with-michelle-mijung-kim/id1813790730?i=1000708049234   As always, please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward!   All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl   This episode is sponsored by… https://laundrysauce.com code: PoliticsGirl20 https://cookunity.com/politicsgirlfree code: politicsgirlfree https://JoinDeleteMe.com/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl https://hexclad.com/politicsgirl