The Nicole Sandler Show

Both Alex and I had technical problems last week when he joined us, so he's back today as the regime's attack on Social Security intensifies. The news has only gotten more alarming and unprecedented in the last seven days.Alex Lawson is executive director of Social Security Works, an organization dedicated to fighting to protect and expand Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; lower drug prices; ensure economic justice for all; and guarantee health care as a human right—because everyone deserves to live in dignity.

Monday mornings always come with a rude awakening... it's that "here we go again" feeling as we embark on another week in a world we no longer recognize. With each Monday comes the now-routinely awful news of what happened over the weekend when we tried to look away from the train wreck happening constantly before our eyes.This weekend brought with it the moment we knew was coming while we hoped it wouldn't... when Trump and his administration openly ignored a court order. It involved due process for a group of men who Trump decided were terrorists, without so much as a hearing before they were rounded up, shackled and deported to El Salvadore.Although a judge ordered that if a plane was in the air it be returned, that did not happen. So here we are.. I guess this is the constitutional crisis they've been warning us about? If so, then what? I wish I knew the answer.Our guest today is David Enrich, who's been making the media rounds promoting his important new book, MURDER THE TRUTH: FEAR, THE FIRST AMENDMENT, AND A SECRET CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT THE POWERFUL.For more, go to nicolesandler.com/3-17-25 or get the substack at nicolesandler.substack.com

We wrap up each week on Fridays with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net. We try to cover much of the important news from the week just ending. With the avalanche of shit raining down on us constantly, there's a lot of information to parse. Marcy is in Ireland, I'm in Arizona, so we record our Friday get-togethers at around noon Eastern. The show goes live at 5pm ET.There's a lot happening today, as the senate will vote on the "continuing resolution" offered by the magats. That may or may not happen by showtime. But as Marcy and I discuss, it's a lose-lose situation. There is no good outcome on this bill. Either way, whether the Democrats block it triggering a government shut-down or they vote for cloture allowing it to pass, we're screwed.Today we'll talk about why and how we continue to fight on... and yes, there are some reasons for cautious optimism, coming from the third branch of government -- the courts.

Howie Klein is usually with us on Thursdays but, as he's been writing about at DownWithTyranny.com, he's battling cancer and isn't able to be here today. He should be back with us next week.Today, the senate is debating the continuing resolution passed by the Republicans in the House, even though most of them would never have voted for this if the orange man in the White House hadn't threatened them to do it. Because they'll need 60 votes to invoke cloture and avoid a filibuster, the Republicans will need help from seven Democrats to get that done. Rand Paul is the only Republican to say he'll vote no.We'll talk about why it's important that the Dems don't roll over and allow the Dump/fElon regime free reign to complete their goal of destroying what's left of our nation. The deadline is tomorrow or there will be a government shutdown.

I've gotten a lot of email in the past week or two from listeners very concerned about what the Musk/Dump regime will do to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Although I know that messing with those programs would bring down what's left of this nation -- or maybe because I know that -- it's got me really concerned too.ProPublica this morning published a story regarding a leaked phone recording of the acting Social Security Commissioner expressing grave concerns about what "the DOGE kids" are doing there and the ramifications if they 'succeed'. I shared a lot of it on the show today, but you should read the whole thing for yourself so you know what's going on.We were supposed to speak with Alex Lawson today. He's the executive director of Social Security Works. Both he and I were hit with computer gremlins today so we only got to speak for a few minutes. We will reschedule and get him on early next week for a full conversation.  But in the few minutes we had today, he did warn that there's a real possibility that things at Social Security will be affected and so may our payments. He suggested that we all go to ssa.gov, log in and download hard copies of our statements --earnings and money owed-- so we have them should something go wrong. I also mentioned another article you should read, this one from The American Prospect, where David Dayen wrote "Senate Democrats’ Choice: Block the Republican Spending Bill or Dissolve Congress".  Please read it and call your senators. A great resource for calling is 5calls.org. 

I don't usually interview novelists on this show, but Mike Papantonio is so much more. He is a leading trial lawyer who's won numerous multi-million dollar verdicts on behalf of victims of corporate malfeasance. He hosted the radio show "Ring of Fire" on Air America Radio, and has written a bunch of books - both fiction and non-fiction- dealing with the law.His new book, THE MIDDLEMAN, centers on the shady practices of Big Pharma, a subject we should all be concerned about.One of Pap's co-hosts on "Ring of Fire" for many years was Bobby Kennedy Jr. When I invited him on the show to talk about his new book, I also said I'd have to ask about Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, a man for who I previously had a lot of respect. He said no subject was off limits.

We usually spend Mondays talking about the latest news with Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com, but he's out today doing something important with his son. And frankly, I just don't have it in me today.I was trying to find something that would bring some hope to my feelings of hopelessness right now, when a video titled 'Stress Kills' appeared in my email from Bernie Sanders. He seems to be the only person in DC who's actually out there making noise and trying to help. He's been traveling the country on his Fighting Oligarchy tour. So today, we'll spend most of the show listening to Bernie as we'll share his rally held yesterday in Altoona, WI.. We could all use some of Bernie's energy right about now...

We reached another Friday and it was another week filled with more crap than we could cover in an hour-long discussion, which is what Marcy Wheeler and I try to do each Friday. This morning, Marcy put up a long, information-filled post at emptywheel.net titled "Attention Deficit and Defiance Division of Labor: There's Stuff Happening Where You're Not Looking" which provided a bit of a blueprint for today's conversation -- and lots of links you can click on while you follow along.Coming up next week -- in addition to our regulars Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com on Monday, Howie Klein of DownWithTyranny.com on Thursday and Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net on Friday --we have some great guests coming up. On Tuesday, we'll speak with one of my fellow Air America radio alums, Mike Papantonio! He hosted a show called Ring of Fire with Sam Seder and often with Bobby Kennedy Jr (before he lost his mind. He has a new novel just released this week, The Middleman: A Legal Thriller about a lawyer taking on Big Pharma. His publicist pitched him as a guest. I told him that I don't usually have novelists on, but the subject is interesting, and I'd love to ask him about RFK Jr. Pap's response was that he'll talk about anything I want to ask him about. So I will!I've also heard from a lot of listeners concerned about what Elon Trump will do to Social Security; there are tons of rumors flying about it. So I figured it was time to get Alex Larsen back... He'll be here Wednesday.

Watching the Dow crash for the third day in a row since the megalomaniac in chief unilaterally put 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, the orange one tried to change course again. First he suspended tariffs on cars from both nations. Then he paused the tariffs on Mexico for a month. As the market kept hemorrhaging, the then paused the tariffs on Canada for a month too. The Dow regained about 100 points of today's loss, but still closed down 428 points for the day, adding to the more than 1200 point drop sustained over the two previous days.At DownWithTyranny.com yesterday, Howie Klein wrote "Trump is Tanking the Economy — He's The Worst By That Metric Since Herbert Hoover" - and everyone else is realizing that reality too. Howie Klein joins us today for our regular Thursday get-together to talk about this and more.Is Trump getting the message? Maybe. Today he also convened a cabinet meeting where, Politico reported, he "put new limits on Elon Musk, clarifying that each cabinet member is in charge of their own departments, not Musk."

Craig Unger is a journalist and NY Times bestselling author of six books, two of which deal directly with his reporting on what led him to conclude that Donald Trump is a Russian asset. I first spoke with Craig in January of 2021 for the release of his book American Kompromat: How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and related Tales of Sex Greed, Power and Treachery, a week after Joe Biden was inaugurated and I thought we were done with Trump for good. I reached out to him after last Friday's disastrous Oval Office meeting between the orange dicktator and Ukrainian President Zelinsky when there seemed to be no doubt about Trump's loyalties, and invited him back.So, Craig Unger joins us live today at the beginning of the show. He has a new book out too, Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of Treason That Stole the White House.If time permits, we'll get into last night's 100 minutes of madness masquerading as an address by the president (sic) to a joint session of Congress. And a new Randy Rainbow song too...