Podcast
The Nicole Sandler Show
Hosted by Nicole Sandler · EN
Speaking Truth to Power from a progressive point of view with the irreverence it demands
113episodes
Episodes
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Emptywheel Fridays with Marcy Wheeler who Explains it All
May 2201:20:19Tap to summarizeEvery week feels like an eternity, and this one seemed worse than normal. On today's Emptywheel Friday, Marcy Wheeler and I covered a lot of territory.🏰 Trump's billion-dollar ballroom got killed by the Senate parliamentarian and some help from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse — because Republicans forgot which committees have jurisdiction over the White House. Oops.💰 The so-called "terrorist slush fund" — a $1.8 billion bounty that could, allegedly, pay pardoned January 6th rioters, cop assaulters, and at least one convicted child sex abuser who used the promise of a payout to try to silence his victim. And Todd Blanche lied his face off about it in front of the Senate. There are a few lawsuits already challenging this travesty.⚖️ The Broadview 6 case is OVER — dismissed with prejudice after a judge discovered the DOJ had hidden grand jury misconduct with redactions. This is a pattern.🎸 The Late Show's final night was last night, with Paul McCartney helping Stephen turn off the lights. Oh, and the right wing billionaires who killed off one of Trump's biggest TV critics is also shuttering the original news authority - CBS News Radio no longer exists after today. For someone whose entire career has been in radio and who spent a few years in the CBS building on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, this is a true punch in the gut, and just plain wrong.Plus — what YOU can do this Memorial Day weekend while your representatives are out in public. Listen now!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Broken Country, Breaking News and a Sad Farewell
May 2101:30:59Tap to summarizeA LOT going on today on the Nicole Sandler Show ...Trump created a $1.776 billion slush fund to pay off his Jan. 6 insurrectionists (yes, that number was chosen on purpose — cute, right?). And now the Pillow Guy wants $400 million from it, a Proud Boy leader wants $5 million because his "life was messed up," and actual Republicans in Congress are starting to say... wait, what? We cover the pushback from Rep/ Brian Fitzpatrick and Sen. Bill Cassidy, and Todd Blanche's testimony that makes less sense the more you listen to it.Ryan Cooper from The American Prospect joined me to talk about all of it — plus the military getting run into the ground, the Ebola outbreak nobody's prepared for, and the DNC's post-election autopsy that somehow forgot to mention inflation OR Gaza.Oh — and tonight the Late Show ends, thanks to the right-wing takeover of our media. Bruce Springsteen was on last night and had a few things to say. And as usual, I have feelings.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Trump's $1.776 Billion Grift & How We Got Here Explained by Driftglass
May 2001:06:43Tap to summarizeI'm Nicole Sandler, and today I nearly lost my mind before I even got to my guest. Between Trump dropping his IRS lawsuit only to magically produce a $1.776 BILLION "weaponization fund" to pay off his convicted cronies — oh, and a little addendum granting himself and his whole family immunity from tax prosecution forever — I needed someone smarter than me to talk me off the ledge.That someone is Driftglass — brilliant OG Progressive political blogger and co-host (with the incomparable Blue Gal Fran) of the Professional Left Podcast. And he delivered.We trace exactly how we got to this insane moment in history: from Bill Clinton's budget surplus (say it with us — surplus) to George W. Bush blowing it all up, to Republicans meeting at a DC restaurant the day Obama was inaugurated to plot his destruction, to the rise of the birther king himself, to here. It's a long story. But Driftglass tells it better than anyone.Also: eight Senate Democrats voted to confirm a judicial nominee who wouldn't say Biden won in 2020. We have thoughts. Many thoughts.Subscribe. Tell your friends. We'll keep going as long as we can.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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They're Robbing Us Blind — Plus a Tribute to the Great 'Boca" Brit Somers
May 1901:23:51Tap to summarizeToday's show was one I didn't plan. I woke up to watch the Senate grill Todd Blanche over Trump's $1.776 billion slush fund (yes, 1776 — he literally can't help himself), and then I got the news that my dear friend and radio comedy legend Boca Britany Somers passed away last night. So I did what I always do — I showed up, played her bits, cried a little, and kept going. That's what she would've wanted. Come listen.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Emptywheel Fridays with Marcy Wheeler & Nicole Sandler
May 1501:21:03Tap to summarizeSo Trump flew to China, brought Eric and the Nvidia guy instead of any actual China experts, accomplished nothing on Hormuz or Taiwan, got a lecture from Xi about Sparta and Athens, and came home. Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net and I spent an hour plus breaking down what it all means — plus Kash Patel snorkeling a war grave, which is exactly as bad as it sounds.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Lisa Graves Exposes How John Roberts Destroyed the VRA & What We Can Do About It
May 1400:59:19Tap to summarizeI've been waiting to talk with my favorite legal expert Lisa Graves about this latest, most despicable outrage from the Extreme Court. Just last week they gutted what was left of the Voting Rights Act. Lisa breaks down how we got here- from Roberts, who started his career as a Reagan revolutionary attacking the VRA's effects provisions, to the neo-Confederate legislatures that instantly moved to bleach Black representation out of Congress the moment the ruling dropped. We also talk Leonard Leo's sudden billions, C. Boyden Gray's deeply troubling family history, Linda McMahon calling teachers non-professionals, Trump literally saying on camera that he doesn't think about Americans' financial situation, and — most importantly — what we can actually DO about all of this.Spoiler: it's court reform. And Lisa makes the case better than anyone.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World — Thanks to One Orange Narcissist
May 1401:38:53Tap to summarizeNicole Sandler is joined by Kaswar Klasra — journalist, founder, and Editor-in-Chief of The Islamabad Telegraph — for a wide-ranging, no-holds-barred conversation about the world Trump has made. Calling in from Islamabad at midnight his time, Kaswar brings a firsthand view from Pakistan: a country caught in the crossfire of Trump's war with Iran, mediating between nuclear powers, watching gas prices double overnight — and still trying to maintain a free press while American journalism collapses in real time.From the Strait of Hormuz double blockade and Pakistan's surprising role as peacemaker, to Trump's visit to China and fears he'll give away Taiwan, to the death of the Voting Rights Act, the dismantling of CBS and Voice of America, and Trump calling a female reporter "Piggy" — nothing is off the table. Nicole and Kaswar have known each other since 2011, and this reunion is exactly the kind of global, unfiltered conversation you won't find anywhere else.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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A Heart Attack or Not, but the News Will Kill You
May 1301:12:12Tap to summarizeNicole Sandler returns after an unplanned absence following a scary health event that landed her in the hospital for several days. She breaks down what happened — heart racing at 143 BPM, chest pressure, possible AFib, and a pericarditis scare — and why she's still not entirely in the clear.On the news front: Trump's Iran nuclear negotiations have collapsed after he rejected Tehran's response with a dismissive Truth Social post; the Supreme Court takes another sledgehammer to the Voting Rights Act; and a shadow hearing in Florida gives Epstein survivors — including Jenalisa Jones — a platform to speak out about how Pam Bondi's DOJ exposed their names and identities in the document release, re-traumatizing women who had told no one about their abuse.Plus: the no-bid Reflecting Pool contract, Trump berating a reporter, and Nicole's honest reflection on why she keeps doing this work.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Emptywheel Fridays | New Episode, Nicole's Back, Trump's Disaster, Kash's Whiskey...
May 801:00:00Tap to summarizeNicole Sandler is back after a health scare, but she tries to never miss an Emptywheel Friday episode! So she and national security journalist Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net are here for their weekly breakdown of lots of what the corporate media is underreporting.This week: the Iran War is far more catastrophic than the White House is letting on — bases may be permanently abandoned, Saudi Arabia is furious, jet fuel prices are spiking, and Spirit Airlines is the first casualty. Plus, Kash Patel's whiskey brand may have gotten him into serious legal trouble, Howard Lutnick testified behind closed doors about his Epstein ties, Trump's new counterterrorism strategy conspicuously omits far-right extremists, and the Voting Rights Act is basically history. It's a lot — because it always is.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Another Emptywheel Friday with Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel.net
May 101:24:32Tap to summarizeIt's another Emptywheel Friday, when national security journalist Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me to break down the week, and this one was a mess! The Supreme Court finished off what was left of the Voting Rights Act, we saw two days of "Whiskey Pete" Hegseth hearings (House AND Senate Armed Services Committees), the Jim Comey "8647" indictment #2 and why it's a mess, the SPLC prosecution unraveling, the Cole Allen shooting attempt at the White House Correspondents dinner, gas prices spiking while the Defense Secretary can't tell you what a gallon costs, and the Sarah Jacobs/Trump-as-Jesus moment you have to see to believe. Plus, a tribute to the civil rights heroes who did the hard work to get the Voting Rights Act passed in the first place, and why their persistence matters right now.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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