The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3619 – US Empire vs the Earth; MAGA Coalition Already Collapsing

Date: November 6, 2025
Host: Emma Vigeland (in for Sam Seder)
Guests: Abby Martin, Josh ("Ettinger Mentum")

Episode Overview

This episode focuses on two main themes:

1. The Role of the U.S. Military in Climate Catastrophe — Featuring Abby Martin and her new documentary, Earth’s Greatest Enemy.
2. Analyzing the MAGA Coalition’s Collapse and Election Takeaways — Political deep-dive and post-election insights with political analyst Josh (“Ettinger Mentum”).

The show is characteristically irreverent, data-rich, and critical of U.S. empire, mainstream Democrats, and the right-wing coalition, while also celebrating recent progressive electoral victories.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

I. The Economic Polycrisis, Shutdowns, and Tariffs

Emma Vigeland, Brandon Sutton, Matt Binder, others

• (00:18–16:31)

• Government Shutdown Impacts

  • Shutdown is deepening, federal employees are unpaid, forced into gig work.
  • FAA threatens to reduce flights by 10%; air traffic controllers unpaid.
  • Private analysis (“Challenger, Gray & Christmas”) finds job cuts at a 22-year high; over 1 million jobs cut in 2025, with mass layoffs in tech, retail, and warehousing.
    • Emma Vigeland: “Many people in this country are already experiencing recession-like conditions...” (06:54)

• Tariffs and Economic Pain

  • Trump’s tariffs: Half of U.S. imports now face tariffs, with costs passed to consumers—a jump from 2.4% to 18% in average import taxes.
  • Supreme Court (SCOTUS) skepticism on Trump’s “emergency tariffs.”
  • Trump claims tariffs saved the world from “depression”, despite evidence to the contrary.
    • Sam Seder (paraphrasing Trump): “If I didn’t have tariffs…the entire world would be in depression. I did this for the world…” (08:10)
    • Emma Vigeland's response: “China basically spanked him on the international stage… the U.S. needs China way more than China needs us.” (08:47)

• Affordability as Political Battleground

  • Both parties recognize “affordability” as the central voter concern, but Emma argues that mere rhetoric isn’t enough; action and clarity are needed from Democrats.
    • Emma Vigeland: “You can't just say we're tackling affordability. You've got to say how, because the Republicans are about to say we're tackling affordability.” (16:31)

II. Interview with Abby Martin: U.S. Empire and the Climate Crisis

(26:10–49:24)

Theme: The U.S. Military as a Leading Driver of Climate Catastrophe

• Scale and Concealment of Military Pollution

  • The U.S. military is the world’s largest consumer of oil—270,000 barrels per day.
    • Abby Martin: “The US military is the largest institutional polluter… 270,000 barrels of oil a day, no biggie.” (27:37)
  • Decades of lobbying have exempted military emissions from international climate agreements (e.g. Kyoto Protocol), obscuring their true impact.
    • Abby Martin: “…the Pentagon lobbied for a blanket exemption. This has been the way through all of these treaties every single year. …You’ve had this backdrop of just completely omitting the actual data, the actual calculations of emissions.” (32:24)

• Military-Industrial Complex as a Self-Perpetuating Enterprise

  • Withdrawals (Afghanistan) do not shrink the Pentagon budget; military expansion justified as economic necessity.
    • Abby Martin: “Every year… the Pentagon budget needs to continue to increase… otherwise you are failing as a corporation.” (29:41)

• False Solutions and “Greening” Military Imperialism

  • Critiques liberal proposals to “green” the military as delusional or cynical PR.
    • Abby Martin: “You can’t green a global military empire… We're looking at the actual expanse of a global military empire with 900 bases...” (35:32)

• Environmental Racism, Health, and Global Consequences

  • Contaminated water for U.S. military families, Indigenous peoples (e.g., Hawaii), and horrific compounding effects in war zones (Iraq, Gaza).
    • Abby Martin: “Not only generational trauma, but generational destruction, environmental degradation… The US military operates like a capitalist enterprise.” (40:43)
  • Palestinians face “generational” harm: bombed infrastructure, toxic carcinogens, systematic environmental warfare.

• The Boomerang Effect: Empire Returns Home

  • “Excess” military hardware and tactics used to police U.S. streets via ICE, domestic policing, and protest suppression.
    • Emma Vigeland: “… the machinery that is being used now domestically to terrorize these communities… is such a visible example of what you're saying about this coming home to roost for the American people.” (44:28)

• Call to Action

  • Abby’s film tour (“Earth’s Greatest Enemy”) aims to connect local environmental groups, draw links between climate, militarism, imperialism, and call for systemic change.
    • Abby Martin: “We need to pinpoint who's really causing the collapse of the environment… We need to fight.” (45:44)

Notable Quotes

• Abby Martin: “We are all victims of this. And that's what this movie really tries to lay bare.” (44:43)
• Emma Vigeland: “The health impacts on people, millions of people, for the rest of their lives…” (39:24)
• Abby Martin: “You know, my shirt. ‘The US Military is the largest polluter in the world.’ People think it's China… We have to look at this with a global lens.” (39:24)
• Abby Martin: “I'm hoping you guys can fix that in post. I'm like a freaking ghost over here.” (26:10, joking about video lighting)

III. Post-Election Analysis: “MAGA Collapse” and Progressive Lessons

with Ettinger Mentum (Josh) — 50:29–87:41

Theme: The MAGA Coalition Is Rapidly Fragmenting—Progressives Surge

• “Woke 2” and Democratic Momentum

  • Dems outperform polling, particularly among Latinos/young voters; massive swings left in VA, NJ, and NY.
    • Josh: “Latino and young voters — the really huge thing that, like, I noticed… in Virginia and New Jersey… the areas that had the biggest swings were the most Latino counties.” (51:29)

• Analysis of Specific Races

  • VA AG race: Jay Jones wins despite scandal, “talking like a serial killer”—shows Democratic brand resilience.
  • Democratic coalition now includes “woke” Mamdani momentum, diverse urban and suburban support.

• Latino Vote and Electoral Maps

  • Latino support for MAGA crumbling, realigning elections (e.g., Manassas Park in VA, Paseaic in NJ).
  • Texas redistricting based on MAGA-friendly 2024 data now in peril as Latino swing reverses.
    • Emma Vigeland: “…the Latino support is completely falling apart, that is another way that perhaps Republicans are more weak than they appear to be.” (59:17)

• The “Branding” Asymmetry: Democrats vs. Republicans

  • Trump is synonymous with the Republican Party; Democrats can more easily differentiate from their unpopular, aging national brand (Biden).
    • Josh: “Republicans cannot pull off this trick because Trump has made himself synonymous with the Republican Party as a concept. This puts the GOP at a major asymmetrical disadvantage…” (64:18)

• Coalitional Lessons and Cross-Racial Shifts

  • Zoran Mamdani’s mayoral win in NYC: youth turnout + shift in Black and working class vote.
    • Josh: “He flipped the black vote from Cuomo… this time the Bronx was his second best burrow [borough]…” (77:09)
  • Pragmatism, not centrism, guided Black voters; “winning begets winning” — a snowball effect.

Notable Quotes

• Josh: “It feels like really kind of like a… it's like anti-anti-Trump. That's the moment we're in—the vibe shift.” (75:56)
• Emma Vigeland: “All he probably elevated all of these candidates because there are young people seeing him on social media and engaged in politics, even if they're not from New York City.” (71:05)
• Josh: “Now, the basis for opposition to him [Trump] isn't cultural… it's economic… And you'd expect that to have a more kind of visceral and like, salient reaction than even the first wave against Trump did.” (60:27)

Timeline and Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Time | |----------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Headlines, economic crisis, tariffs | 00:18–16:31 | | Abby Martin interview – Military, climate, empire | 26:10–49:24 | | Election recap with Ettinger Mentum | 50:29–87:41 |

Memorable Moments

• Abby Martin, drawing comic relief from her camera lighting:
  “I’m hoping you guys can fix that in post. I’m like a freaking ghost over here.” (26:10)
• Linkages between empire and domestic oppression—“The imperial boomerang”—as military tactics and hardware come home to be used on U.S. populations and protestors.
• “Woke 2” is back—Josh’s tongue-in-cheek naming of the new progressive surge post-election.

Summary Table: Key Lessons & Takeaways

| Lesson | Source/Speaker | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|--------------------| | U.S. military emissions are systematically hidden and vast | Abby Martin | 27:37, 32:24 | | Affordability is ground zero of political struggle, but Dems must get specific | Emma Vigeland | 16:31 | | MAGA’s hold on the coalition is weakening, esp. w/ Latino voters | Josh (Ettinger Mentum) | 51:29–60:27 | | Democrats benefit from flexibility/separate branding from Biden | Josh (Ettinger Mentum) | 64:18 | | Cross-racial, class-based progressive coalition possible | Josh, Emma Vigeland | 77:09, 80:55 |

Conclusion

This episode combines big-picture criticism of American imperialism's impact on climate with granular, data-driven analysis of shifting political coalitions after the recent election. Abby Martin draws urgent, global connections between U.S. militarism, capitalism, and climate collapse—calling for radical systemic action. In the latter half, Josh (“Ettinger Mentum”) breaks down how the MAGA coalition is eroding, why progressives are surging, and how Democrats have a brand opportunity if they embrace specificity and mass constituencies instead of donor-driven centrism.

Further Information / Links

• Abby Martin’s film: earthsgreatestenemy.com
• Ettingermentum’s Newsletter: Substack – Ettingermentum

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