The Catturd Deficit

Read more: Trump Keeps Demanding that You Stop Talking about His Jeffrey Epstein Problem https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/26/trump-keeps-demanding-that-you-stop-talking-about-his-jeffrey-epstein-problem/  If Dems Successfully Message on News Outlets Lefty Pundits No Longer Read, Did It Ever Happen? https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/27/if-a-dems-successfully-message-on-news-outlets-lefty-pundits-no-longer-read-did-it-ever-happen/ 

Marcy Wheeler looks deeper into news that Trump's former defense attorney, now the deputy attorney general, will reach out to Ghislaine Maxwell. She lays out how Trump is orchestrating a cover-up scheme to protect himself from damaging Epstein revelations by getting Ghislaine Maxwell out of prison through a cooperation deal that will target his political opponents instead.

Donald Trump was desperately trying to regain his superpower, attempting to grab attention and refocus it. He ended up on an Obama conspiracy theory that's already been re-litigated five times. Read more at emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/18/tulsi-gabbard-accuses-kash-patel-of-covering-up-for-the-obama-deep-state/

emptywheel's Marcy Wheeler explains that the bubbling Jeffrey Epstein scandal is about two things: the underlying scandal and any ties Trump has to it, and the way it has disrupted Trump’s normal super power ability to command and direct attention. Read more: Jeffrey Epstein Is about Trump’s Failing Ability to Command Attention https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/13/jeffrey-epstein-is-about-command-of-attention/

Marcy Wheeler explains the crucial distinctions in how liberals and the right-wing use language, the role of journalism, and the impact of amplifying polarizing messages. See how journalists act as data mules for Trump's truth social posts and the broader. And find out how FEMA's failures present an opportunity to build solidarity in everyone victimized by the regime's malicious ineptitude.

Find out more: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/07/pam-bondi-admits-she-must-fire-kash-patel-and-dan-bongino/

Marcy Wheeler digs deeper into the Catturd Deficit that allows white supremacists to use Xitter to rig the news. Then she looks at how Trump's illegal war on Iran has created unprecedented fractures in his base, from Russian useful idiots like Marjorie Taylor Greene to anti-Semitic voices like Candace Owens, and even convicted January 6th participants like Joe Biggs.  She explores how to exploit these cracks using the same tactics that got Trump elected, turning his own troll army's playbook against them.

X in 2025 is a machine of fascism, an undeniable Nazi bar filled with people who don't know the rule about what to do when a Nazi comes into a bar. Yet its influence has never been greater.  It's Elon Musk's megaphone and MAGA's primary digital outreach vector, especially when it comes to spinning lies in real time, such as they are trying to do in attempting to brand the Donald Trump-loving murderer in Minnesota as a Marxist.  emptywheel's Marcy Wheeler explains how the site became the machine for fascism, why she still uses it, and some promising angles of attack.  Follow Marcy emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/  X  https://x.com/emptywheel/  Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social  Read the original Machine for Fascism post: https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/11/01/elon-musks-machine-for-fascism-a-one-stop-shop-for-disinformation-and-violence/ 

This podcast has ended for now. But the work continues Next Comes What uses history to tell us about what comes next. And what to do about it. It's hosted by Andrea Pitzer and produced by me. If you want to know how we got into this mess, check out Ball of Thread with Marcy Wheeler. Thanks for listening.

The woman who wrote the definitive global history of concentration camps explains how this could be our moment to escape authoritarianism Andrea Pitzer’s book ONE LONG NIGHT became essential reading during Donald Trump’s presidency. This unforgettable global history of concentration camps provided clarity and context to the crimes the Trump administration was committing at the border in our names. Now, Pitzer is back with a gripping new newsletter, Degenerate Art, and a warning about what could come next. “In terms of what I've looked at in my own work from history, what I have found is that often, somewhere between three and five years after an authoritarian personality comes to power, there's kind of an inflection point or a moment when it could all almost be stopped,” she told us. Pitzer explained what this inflection point means and why we can be optimistic that the American public might take advantage of this moment. She also provides crucial clarity about how Donald Trump became possible in the United States, how he would be worse the next time around, and what sort of atrocities we should expect if he and allies like Stephen Miller and Project 2025 seize power again. And when one of the world’s leading authorities on concentration camps tells you that propaganda works, we better believe her. Thanks for listening to these podcasts if you have. You can follow and support my work at IKnowHowMuchYouCare.com.