The Lawfare Podcast: An American Fight Against Fascism with Rachel Maddow
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
When she's not hosting the Rachel Maddow show on MSNC, Rachel Maddow has been diving deep into the history of fascism in America. First on her podcast, Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra, and most recently in her new book, "PREQUEL: An American Fight Against Fascism", she has unearthed the stories for popular audiences both of an earlier era of foreign authoritarian influence in American politics and of those who fought against it.
In this conversation, Maddow sat down with Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes to discuss Prequel and its relationship to the modern fight against populist authoritarianism. They talked about the many striking similarities between then and now, some key differences, the necessity but ultimate inadequacy of law enforcement as a solution to authoritarian movements, the role of journalism, whether grifting is an inherent feature of right-wing authoritarianism, and why so many heroes of that era's fight against fascism are almost forgotten today.
For future reading on this subject, Maddow recommends:
- Charles R. Gallagher, "Nazis of Copley Square: The Forgotten Story of the Christian Front"
- Steven J. Ross, "Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America"
A video version of their conversation is available on Lawfare's YouTube channel here.
