Rania Khalek, welcome to KK&F! Episode 288 gives us the opportunity to talk to the talented and principled journalist of BreakThrough News (currently hit with a subpoena by Trump for challenging imperialist propaganda — and when you have a subpoena for Trump, it means you’re doing something right). Rania is talking to us about the current Red Scare we’re living under. From critiques of the once-promising John Fetterman and to the Democratic Establishment’s lack of teeth when it comes to actually pushing back against the Trump administration’s attempts to silence free speech. Watch below:

It would seem obvious that independent left journalism is the antidote to mainstream media outlets over which — regardless of their political affiliations! — Trump has increasingly asserted control. (Remember Jimmy Kimmel?) Yet even as proud, self-identifying leftists beyond the Democratic Party establishment have created genuinely self-funded, grassroots independent channels to spread information and (most importantly) to safely and accessibly critique the Trump administration and its abuses, somehow the Democratic Establishment isn’t interested at all in helping. In fact, as we discuss with Rania, as Trump goes on the offensive on outlets like BreakThrough News, levying subpoenas to attempt to threaten and silence those outlets if it’s unsuccessful in actually taking all of their money and shutting them down, Dems are sitting back and watching it happen while reporters like Rania have the courage to call out the bullshit that Dems lack the spines to challenge.

It’s part of a bigger picture in which Trump controls the political landscape, tampering (not strong enough a word) with free elections, funneling cash and institutional support from the highest office in the country to get his lackeys into office. We also see how these fascist attacks spread through the world in America’s vast network of imperialist projects, looking at the role our country has played in sustaining political instability in Latin America and the Middle East, supporting authoritarian regimes sympathetic to Trump’s agenda basically wherever it can.

So it’s time for the Democrats to stand up! It’s long been time for the Democrats to stand up, but we’re coming awfully close to the actual last chance. When Stephen Miller can call the Democratic Party a “terrorist organization” and have any shred of respectability or public assent, and party elites accept that line and takes it as a cue to move rightward, we’re in the worst possible position. As Rania asserts (and we’re in total agreement), Dems have to have the courage to take back the narrative — because it’s the Republicans who are extremist, who are undermining the fundamental principles on which our democracy depends, and who are attacking our social fabric and civil infrastructure to line their pockets and impose the fascist regime they’ve been building out in the open for years.

We’re grateful to you for your paid subscription, which keeps us ad-free. Remember that you can also listen to this episode as a podcast on major streaming platforms tomorrow.