The Chauncey DeVega Show

Phil Tinline is the author of the new book Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax of the Century, Its Enduring Impact, and What It Reveals About America Today [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Ghosts-of-Iron-Mountain/Phil-Tinline/9781668050491]. Over the course of twenty years working for the BBC, Tinline has made and presented many acclaimed documentaries about how political history shapes our lives. He has also written for The Times (London), The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The New Statesman, BBC History Magazine, and Prospect. In this wide-ranging conversation, Phil Tinline explores how conspiracy theories and conspiracism helped to birth the Age of Trump and its authoritarian populism and anti-intellectualism, the allure of the conspiracy theory subculture, and why the most obvious and simple explanation(s) for complex and terrifying events may be more frightening and disturbing than the most elaborate conspiracy theories. Tinline explains why the agitprop satirical Iron Mountain conspiracy theory from the 1960s endures and is one of the most compelling and fascinating stories he has ever encountered. Chauncey DeVega reflects on the meaning of Mother’s Day, aging parent(s), and personal landmark moments in this time of great troubles and crisis. Chauncey also sorts through the overflowing latrine of political waste that is “flooding the zone” to highlight some important news items that you may have missed -- including a horrible story about how a poor Black rural community in Alabama is literally drowning in sewage [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/24/trump-sewage-pollution-settlement-alabama] and the funding to help clean it up was cut by the Trump administration because it was supposedly a bogeyman phantasm white racial paranoiac “DEI” program. On this week’s episode of the podcast, there is also some fun and levity to balance out the seriousness and dire challenges of this very difficult time in America and around the world. Chauncey DeVega goes on a journey around his neighborhood and ponders the sacred and the profane. He also shares his thoughts on last weekend’s WWE Backlash pay-per-view event and John Cena’s first title defense as a heel. Chauncey is an unapologetic devotee of TLC network’s many human zoos and offers up his professional judgement about the great mystery of our era: Was Amy on 1,000-Lb Sisters actually bitten by a camel [https://ew.com/1000-lbs-sisters-amy-slaton-addresses-arrest-bitten-by-camel-season-7-trailer-exclusive-11703012] or is it all an elaborate hoax? WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: chaunceydevega@gmail.com HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW? Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow   https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast

Norman Solomon is an author, journalist, media critic and activist. He is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Solomon’s books include War Made Easy, and Made Love, Got War. His new book is War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine. In this wide-ranging conversation, Norman Solomon reflects on the first 100 days of Trump’s return to power. He counsels that the struggle to defend, restore, and then improve America’s democracy and a humane society will take many years -- if not much longer. Why? Because Trumpism is a symptom and not the cause of an American empire that is rotting from within. Norman Solomon warns that the enemies of multiracial democracy and a true We the People pluralistic democracy are working expertly to return the United States to the 1950s and the evils of Jim and Jane Crow if not before. He also warns that the corporate Democrats and the mainstream liberals have no real answers for Trump’s great talent (and appeal for his MAGA people) as a propagandist, dark therapist, and political strongman in an era of extreme social inequality and rage at the corrupt elites. And Norman Solomon shares his hard-earned wisdom and advice on balancing pessimism and optimism and how to build one’s own internal Noah’s Ark to survive this worsening disaster here in America and around the world. WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: chaunceydevega@gmail.com HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW? Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow   https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast

On this impromptu Easter Day installment of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega reflects on our collective discombobulation (and mass disinhibition), building our inner Noah’s Ark to survive these dark times that are getting much worse and much faster with Trump’s return to power, and the symbolism and metaphorical power of the Easter holiday and the spring season [https://www.thefield.co.uk/country-house/easter-eostre-24035].  Following through on the importance of building our inner Noah’s Ark and filling it with things that bring us joy, Chauncey shares his thoughts on this year’s WWE WrestleMania 41 event, and what should have been an epic bout between John Cena and Cody Rhodes with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playing his part as "The Final Boss". Chauncey also shares what it was like to interview Peter Weller aka the star of Robocop at the C2E2 convention in Chicago [https://www.salon.com/2025/04/19/robocop-actor-peter-weller-on-the-crooked-line-leading-from-ronald-reagan-to-donald/] last weekend. The titan Nikki Giovanni transitioned [https://apnews.com/article/nikki-giovanni-obit-e2232d5a003442afb76f084fe7c1b4a3] to the next stage of existence on December 9, 2024 [https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2024/12/09/nikki-giovanni-poet-and-proud-knoxvillian-dies-at-81/1429748001/]. This week’s episode features Chauncey DeVega’s conversation with Giovanni, which was shared here four years earlier, on December 8, 2020. *** Nikki Giovanni is one of America’s greatest living poets. She has written dozens of collections of poetry as well as non-fiction and other work. Giovanni has received many awards and other honors including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and three NAACP Image awards for literature. She was also a central voice in the Black Arts Movement. Giovanni is currently University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech. Nikki Giovanni’s new book is Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose. Giovanni reflects on truth-telling and writing as vocation, the color line, Black woman are uniquely suited for space travel, and why Black people keep struggling to save American society from its own racism and other iniquities. And Giovanni warns that America is ultimately doomed if it continues along is current trajectory.   WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: chaunceydevega@gmail.com HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW? Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow   https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast

There are two guests on this week’s episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. Dr. Justin Frank is a former professor of psychiatry at George Washington University. He is the author of several books including Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank returns to the podcast and explains the importance of listening to and trusting our feelings and emotions in this time of fear, exhaustion, and collective trauma. Dr. Frank also interprets some of the common dreams that people experience during times of great stress and anxiety. He also shares his expert advice about how to be a good listener who gives useful advice to those who reach out to us for help. Rev. Adam Russell Taylor is president of Sojourners [https://sojo.net/biography/adam-russell-taylor] and author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community. He explains how the Age of Trump is an extreme moral, political, and spiritual crisis. Rev. Taylor warns that the Christian right-wing is now implementing a decades-long plan to remake the country into a Christofascist theocracy and that Trump’s rise to power has made that possible. Rev. Taylor also shares the importance of spiritual discipline and how it can empower collective action in what will be a long struggle to renew and defend American freedom and social democracy in this time of darkness. Chauncey DeVega explains  the German concept of Gleichschaltung (“synchronization”) [https://forward.com/opinion/700261/german-word-forced-into-line-nazis-at-the-watercooler-trump/] and how it applies to Trumpism and the larger American neofascist revolutionary project to remake all aspects of the country’s politics, culture and life. Chauncey struggles with his love of professional wrestling and great excitement about how John Cena has finally, after 25 years, turned “heel” [https://people.com/john-cena-remains-quiet-shocking-wwe-heel-turn-11692361] versus the reality that the WWE has many connections with the Trump administration and this time of horribleness.   And Chauncey DeVega also shares some stories about the everyday heroes he recently encountered in his neighborhood and travels. WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: chaunceydevega@gmail.com HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW? Via PayPal at ChaunceyDeVega.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow [https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow]

This is a special joint episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show and The Truth Report. M. Steven Fish [https://polisci.berkeley.edu/people/person/m-steven-fish] is a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. His new book is Comeback: Routing Trumpism, Reclaiming the Nation, and Restoring Democracy's Edge. Professor Fish returns to the podcast to warn that the Democrats continue to be weak and ineffective in their opposition to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement because they refuse to be high-dominance leaders who shape the public mood and inspire their followers. The most recent example: The Democrats in Congress surrendered to Trump and his MAGA Republicans by voting to avoid a government shutdown. The Democrats did this without extracting any significant political concessions. And M. Steven Fish explains how it would not be that difficult for the Democrats to adopt a high-dominance leadership style and to be an effective opposition party in defense of real American democracy and freedom. Unfortunately, the Democrats and their consultants prefer to be victims who are unwilling to rise to the existential challenge. WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: chaunceydevega@gmail.com HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW? Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow   https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast