Note: this week's podcast was recorded on the Friday evening before the white supremacist terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Van Jones is the first guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is the president of Dream Corps, a two-time New York Times bestselling author, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, an activist and organizer, as well as commentator on CNN. He is currently traveling the United States as part of the WE RISE tour in an effort to mobilize voters to stand up against Donald Trump by working for systemic change on a local and national level.
During this episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Van and Chauncey discuss America at six months under Trump's regime, the Democratic Party's failure to mobilize its voters, Trump's so-called "white working class" voters, what resistance should look like in this moment, and the responsibility that Bernie Sanders' and other third party voters who chose not to support Hillary Clinton on Election Day share for the national disaster that is Trump's presidency.
This week's podcast also features two other great guests.
Friend of the podcast and contributor to Jacobin magazine "Werner Herzog's Bear" stops by to share some stories about his recent pilgrimage home to Nebraska and how "Trumplandia" is often misrepresented by the mainstream corporate news media.
Writer and journalist Jared Yates Sexton also sits down at the virtual bar and salon to share his experiences fighting Trump's and other right-wing trolls online. Jared and Chauncey also make some predictions about the violence that Trump has unleashed in America and what they feel is the very real possibility of imminent death and mass mayhem across the United States caused by white supremacists and their allies.
As is their habit, Jared and Chauncey also spend some time discussing professional wrestling, the upcoming WWE Summerslam pay-per-view, and of course Mayweather vs. McGregor. This is bonus content that can be heard at the very end of this week's podcast.
In this week's episode, Chauncey DeVega reflects on Trump's threats of nuclear war with North Korea, the white supremacists in the White House, and pleads with listeners to prepare for what seems like obvious and predictable violence at this weekend's Charlottesville white supremacist hate festival.
At the end of this week's podcast Chauncey also shares a story about how small the world really is and why we should all count our blessings.
