The Nicole Sandler Show

I've been plagued by computer problems all week. I'm still not out of the woods, but I was able to cobble something together to be able to record today's Emptywheel Friday episode with Marcy Wheeler. Good thing too, as this one another hell of a week!We learned about the Signal chat debacle (aka WhiskeyLeaks in honor of the drunken Secretary of Defense Hegseth) and much of the rest of the shitshow that's been playing out all week as I sat by without a working studio or computers.I hope to be back at full strength on Monday, but no promises. I'll keep you posted at nicolesandler.com and on Bluesky @nicolesandler.bsky.social.Donations to the computer repair fund are welcome at nicolesandler.com/donate-2

It was a weekend with some hope as I tried to focus only on the good stuff, and there was cause for encouragement. Bernie Sanders and AOC held five rallies in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado, and they were awesome in the truest sense of the word. Record crowds everywhere, with reports that most were not necessarily previous Sanders voters or supporters. People are rising up and there are more actions planned. Keep 'em coming!It's been a couple of weeks since Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com was here, but he's back today. Good thing because there's lots of breaking news that shows just how broken this country is... Did you hear the one about the imbecilic Secretary of Defense mistakenly adding a reporter from The Atlantic to a Signal chat revealing highly classified information about an impending attack on the Houthis in Yemen? Just lovely.... Feel safe yet?

We made it to another Friday, and another end of the week recap with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net. We keep noting that each week seems like an eternity, but this one seemed to have been even longer. I cannot keep up with all that’s happening. I don’t have the bandwidth, physically or emotionally to handle it. It’s one of many reasons why I’m so grateful for Marcy Wheeler and her indefatigable work at emptywheel.net, and that she brings it to us here each Friday.

Howie Klein has been my regular Thursday guest for over a dozen years now, but our friendship goes back further to the early 90s, when I was doing rock radio in Los Angeles and he was president of Reprise Records. When Howie left Reprise and Warner Brothers as Time Warner and AOL merged, he began devoting all of his time to progressive politics, launching Down with Tyranny and the Blue America PAC. Danny Goldberg also worked in the music industry as a personal manager, record company president, public relations man and journalist since the late 1960s. When Howie and I first met, Danny managed Nirvana, Hole, Sonic Youth, Bonnie Raitt, The Allman Brothers, Rickie Lee Jones and more. From 2005-2006, Danny was CEO of Air America Radio. That was a few years before I joined the network and hosted a nightly show there. All three of us share the common experience of working in the music industry and being very involved in progressive politics. Today, we're all dealing with our current political situation as best we can. Admittedly, I am not handling it well. Two weeks ago on the show, Howie mentioned that he had dinner with his dear old friend Danny Goldberg, and told me that Danny had some very important and insightful thoughts on surviving these dark days and fighting back, and suggested we have Danny join us on the show. So he is doing that today. They'll be here for the second half-hour. Tonight, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez will be in my neck of the woods. They're heading out west as part of Bernie's Fighting Oligarchy tour. I will be there and will bring you coverage tomorrow and Monday. They're leading the way of the resistance, but it's up to all of us. At the top of the show, I'll share some more constructive ways we can and are fighting back. It's all in our hands right now...

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...

Jason Leopold has been dubbed the "FOIA Terrorist" by the government. I don't like the word terrorist, so I call him the FOIA Master... He writes the FOIA Files for Bloomberg News, where he continues breaking news. Jason's work is truly important. I caught up with him a few days ago after our last conversation was delayed due to the LA fires. We have a few minutes left at the end, so I'm also sharing my interview with Craig Unger, author of the book American Kompromat recorded in 2021 when it was released. It's about how Donald Trump is a Russian asset. He'll join us live tomorrow...

Mondays are inevitable. Sadly, in recent weeks, the news on Mondays has been tragic and today is no exception. We're still reeling from the spectacle in the Oval Office on Friday and coming to terms with the fact that the man occupying the White House has aligned us with Russia over our allies in Europe. And as further proof that Dump is trying to crash the economy, the stock market took a huge dump today after the orange thing announced that his 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada would go into effect tomorrow.Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com will be along to talk about the shit show.I'll start the show with what might be my favorite song parody from the Marsh Family. They turned "Puppets on a Kremlin String" around in about 24 hours. It's the perfect commentary on what we witnessed on Friday that we wish would have never happened...

Today is Friday, when we get together with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net to recap much of what happened in the week leading up to our conversation. We record these shows on Friday mornings here in Arizona/Friday afternoons for Marcy in Ireland. Today, while we were recording, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelinskyy arrived at the White House to meet with Trump, ostensibly to sign a deal for Ukraine to compensate the US for our help in defending them against Russia. I had the tape-delayed coverage running on a computer screen off to my right. When Marcy and I finished taping, I turned up the volume in time to hear the US president and vice president attack Zelinskyy in an outrageous spectacle that should be the end of this administration. I watched that surreal scene unfold and then replay for the next couple of hours. We saw President Zelinskyy get in his car and leave the White House. I'm still in shock. Although Marcy and I had already recorded the show for today, I knew I couldn't just run it as usual without addressing this sickening, embarrassing moment that history will not look kindly on. I reached out to Marcy who agreed to jump back on the line to start the show live with me so we could address the situation. I have no idea what will happen next, I just know that it's not a great time to be alive. Slava Ukraini.

I know. I escaped Florida after living there for half of my life. I don't have many kind words to say about the state that has mostly become a bad joke. But I'll sing their praises if the people of Florida come through on April 1. (And I'm not talking about an April Fools prank!)There are two special congressional races in FL being held that day to replace two of D'ump's cabinet nominees. Matt Gaetz left Congress as the rep for District 1 when he was ridiculously nominated to be AG. Thankfully we dodged that bullet and no longer have Gaetz in Congress. Rep Mike Waltz resigned from his seat representing FL6 to become D'ump's new national security advisor. The special election to fill those two seats from Florida is set for April 1, with the deadline to register this Monday, March 3. Early voting begins March 22.Today, the Democratic candidate running from FL6, Josh Weil, joins Howie Klein and me on the show today. Find out more about him and support him at joshweil.us.As usual, we'll start with the latest news....

The current regime has announced that they are following the authoritarian's handbook when it comes to controlling the media. Banning the AP from the Oval Office and other press events with the liar-in-chief wasn't enough for them, so now they've decided that they will decide which reporters and media outlets will be allowed to cover the office of the president in the WH Press Pool. The NY Times' chief White House correspondent Peter Baker likened the move to "how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access."Thankfully, David Dayen - executive editor of The American Prospect and one of the best journalists working today - had already agreed to be our guest today. In addition to the never-ending torrent of shit being propelled against the wall (and there's another ton of it today), I'll ask him about the current state of a free press in the US and what these actions portend.

A huge part of surviving this assault on our nation from within is our ability to maintain our sanity. One lesson I've learned in the past five weeks is that some days are better than others. I look forward to those mornings when the usual pit in my stomach doesn't fully form and I'm able to make it through the day without dissolving into a trembling mess. So far, so good today. I like days like these because I'm more able to catch up on my reading and somehow digest the avalanche of surreal news that ,on a day when the stress, anxiety and depression take over, render me incapable of dealing with it. Sadly, those bad days still outnumber the good ones. But I know it's something I must keep working on because giving in to despair is not an option.On days like this, I like to find the good news. There was actually a bit of it from the Supreme Court, if you can believe it. The extreme court today actually sided with a man whose constitutional rights were violated by prosecutors who wouldn't correct false testimony at his trial. The extremes actually directed the Oklahoma courts to vacate his conviction. A huge step in the right, er, correct direction.I'm encouraged by watching videos of Senator Bernie Sanders who's embarked on a "Fight the Oligarchy" tour - going to Republican districts, encouraging citizens to stand up and demand their representatives stand up to the Trump/Musk regime and for the constitution...I'm thrilled that Heather "Digby" Parton is my guest today. I love talking with Digby any day, and read her blog (at digbysblog.net) every day. We'll talk about today's breaking news and how we continue to fight the oligarchy and save our future.