Greg Palast

For years, I was BBC Television’s correspondent covering Venezuela and US attempts to overthrow their elected government. Trump invented nothing. This is at least the fourth US-backed attempt at overthrow and assassination of a Venezuelan president. To understand why Trump has ordered a covert operation to overthrow their government, you need to understand three things about Venezuela... Get the full story, read my Substack report: I met Chávez and Maduro. I know drugs are not the reason Trump wants war with Venezuela: https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/p/i-met-chavez-and-maduro-i-know-drugs Watch the film of my BBC reports, The Assassination of Hugo Chavez, produced with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Richard Rowley, on YouTube: https://youtu.be/syExbfVPDnU Get the DVD: https://donorbox.org/palast-the-assassination-of-hugo-chavez-dvd Or download it: https://donorbox.org/palast-the-assassination-of-hugo-chavez-download Support our work with a tax-deductible donation: https://donorbox.org/palast-fund  

"When cowards are ordering around heroes, there could not be anything more dangerous for America." — Greg Palast Greg Palast's full speech from the #NoKings rally in Waterfront Park, San Diego on Saturday, October 18, 2025.   For more from Greg Palast, subscribe to his Substack: https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/ Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee: https://buy.stripe.com/14kdRh1QhgDi34s4gh

Thom Hartmann’s new book, The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party and a World on the Brink, is one giant fact check on the Whopper-in-Chief, and much more — a disturbing dive into the roiling miasma of self-aggrandizing, self-deluding, psychologically shattered, wailing man-child who is Commander-in-Chief. Don’t read Hartmann’s book twice, as I have. It’s not just the nightmares it induces; it’s the fact that you’ll wake up to the nightmare that is our new reality. “Democracy,” Hartmann concludes, “doesn’t announce its departure with trumpets. It slips away in silence, one institution at a time.”   But we do have Hartmann’s bugle blast. Hopefully, it’s a wake-up reveille and not Taps for this fragile experiment called America. * * * * *    Thom Hartmann and Greg Palast will be speaking in San Diego on Friday, October 17 and in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 18 at fundraisers for the Pacifica Radio Network. Follow the links for more info: https://www.gregpalast.com/the-last-american-president/ Get a copy of Hartmann’s Last American President signed by the author for a tax-deductible donation to the Palast Investigative Fund. Only 5 signed copies available: https://donorbox.org/the-last-american-president-a-broken-man-a-corrupt-party-and-a-world-on-the-brink

Trump and Hegseth's gathering of the generals wasn’t patriotism — it was theater for authoritarianism. When you tell the military that America's “inner cities” are "a big part of war now” you’re not defending America — you’re declaring war on it.  The question now is stark: when the illegal order comes — to turn U.S. troops with live ammunition on the American people — will these generals follow it? And are they more or less likely to after this gathering? Learn more and stay updated, subscribe to our Substack: https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/ Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee: https://buy.stripe.com/14kdRh1QhgDi34s4gh

On Tuesday, Pete Hegseth told our military’s top brass that they must restore the “male warrior spirit” to the armed forces. “Male” spirit, Pete? My Mom would’ve kicked your a** Get the full story on Substack. https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/p/mom-wouldve-kicked-pete-hegseths Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee. https://buy.stripe.com/14kdRh1QhgDi34s4gh  

What would Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s father, Robert F. Kennedy, the man who saved Martin Luther King’s life, think of his son now? By endorsing Trump, Bobby Kennedy Jr. has endorsed everything he ever fought against. Trump is undoing all the environmental laws that Bobby fought for. To Bobby, the issue of global warming was paramount. And now he’s joined up with Agent Orange to say let the planet burn. Bobby, what’s happened to you? Trump won the election by removing voters he didn’t like. And we’re just at the beginning of that — that’s the dangerous thing. Bobby was a voting rights advocate. How could he stand there next to that man who is mass challenging voters of color? Bobby used to say — and it was kind of creepy, but I understood ‘cause he had his mental issues and he went through trauma — that he thought “daddy” was watching his every action and could still reward or punish him like a parent. He would suddenly become a little boy and talk about his daddy looking at him from Heaven and watching him. Well, hey, Bobby, if your daddy’s looking at you from Heaven now, what do you think he’s thinking? What do you think he’s thinking? As I told Off The Record host Egberto Willies in this clip, Bobby’s father saved Martin Luther King’s life. Not many people know this story. Read it, then imagine what King would say to Bobby Jr. now. https://www.gregpalast.com/rfk-saved-mlks-life/ Stay informed, subscribe to our Substack: @gregpalastinvestigates Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee.  

RFK Jr. is putting lives at risk — I can’t stay silent. His attacks on mRNA research and science funding aren’t politics — they’re threats to our health and future. This is painful. This is horrible and feels a bit like a betrayal. But I have no choice. Bobby Kennedy Jr. was my friend and co-author. We wrote stories together for Rolling Stone. Bobby introduced my New York Times bestseller and wrote a chapter for Billionaires and Ballot Bandits. And, with Jesse Jackson, we co-authored the Number 1 selling adult single issue comic book of all time, Steal Back Your Vote. But then, Bobby lost his mind... This is my story: https://www.gregpalast.com/i-was-on-the-phone-with-rfk-jr-when-he-lost-his-mind/

Thom Hartmann lays bare the origins of the scheme to take from the poor and give to the rich in his brilliant book, The Hidden History of Neoliberalism.    Get Thom’s book at your fave bookstore — or, to support my own reporting for the Hartmann program, make a tax-deductible donation to our foundation and get a copy of The Hidden History (I’ll sign the foreword) as our thanks: https://donorbox.org/thom-hartmann-s-the-hidden-history-of-neoliberalism?preview=1756859378    Support independent journalism. Buy Greg a coffee: https://buy.stripe.com/14kdRh1QhgDi34s4gh

Bobby Bobby, Bobby Kennedy, my dear dear friend of so many years, my co-author at Rolling Stone, Bobby, why are you threatening my life? Why are you threatening lives across America and even our not-yet-born great-grandchildren? You’ve blocked mRNA vaccine research. RESEARCH!!!! Bobby, you know damn well that mRNA is our best hope for an anti-cancer vaccine. What are you doing to us, Bobby? Bobby, my friend, you are sick, physically and mentally. I’m sympathetic, but don’t make everyone else as sick as you. If you want to know about my years-long friendship with RFK Jr., and why I am compelled to go public with this private information about him, read my story, “I was on the phone with RFK Jr. when he lost his mind."  https://www.gregpalast.com/i-was-on-the-phone-with-rfk-jr-when-he-lost-his-mind/

The flood in Kerrville, Texas, was not an Act of God, it was an Act of Trump. My new 1-hour special, All Washed Away, shows the horrific connection between the drownings in Texas and in New Orleans — 20 years ago this month — and the Trump/DOGE scheme to sell off FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trump and his DOGE buddies had, just before the Texas flood, cut the heart out of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed one out of three FEMA staff employees just before the Texas flood. The head of FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center, Jeremy Greenberg, whose job was to warn of such floods, was forced out just weeks before the Texas catastrophe. And since the DOGE massacre of April, FEMA’s San Antonio office has had no permanent Warning-Coordination Meteorologist. Trump has announced he’s planning to close FEMA by this December. His fantasy is, ultimately, to privatize emergency evacuation. Been there. Done that. The privatization of emergency evacuation led to over a thousand Americans floating face down in New Orleans in 2005.  Back in 2006, I did an investigation of the drownings in New Orleans for a program called Democracy Now! hosted by Amy Goodman. Watch the film of the investigation, All Washed Away, which I've just updated with an exposé of the Trump drownings of 2025 — available for free on YouTube and Substack. ▶️ https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/p/all-washed-away