The Chauncey DeVega Show Chauncey DeVega

There are three guests on this week’s episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.
Mark Jacob is a media critic and a former Metro Editor at the Chicago Tribune and Sunday Editor at the Chicago Sun-Times.
He explains why the mainstream news media is obsessively focusing on President Biden’s health and aging and has, to this point, mostly refused to pay similar attention to the much greater dangers of Donald Trump’s emotional and mental health and the extreme threat he represents to American democracy and society. Mark also warns that the mainstream news media is desperately muckraking about President Biden instead of focusing on the democracy crisis because the former is a much easier story to tell.
Dr. Justin Frank is a former professor of psychiatry at George Washington University. He is the author of several books including Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President.
Dr. Frank shares his thoughts about President Biden’s horrible performance during the debate against Donald Trump and why he self-destructed. Dr. Frank also explains how President Biden’s mortality was fully revealed by the debate and how that has caused great pain for the many Americans who view him as a stable and responsible, if not great leader, who protects them from the extreme dangers and abuse of Donald Trump and his forces. Dr. Frank also shares his thoughts about the mind of Donald Trump and our rapidly worsening national calamity.
Dr. Frank was in transit, and we spoke via cell phone.
D. Earl Stephens is the former Managing Editor at Stars and Stripes and the author of Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters.
He shares his great frustration with how the mainstream news media continues to normalize Donald Trump and the neofascist MAGA movement and has mostly failed in its responsibilities during the country’s worsening democracy crisis. Stephens warns the news media and others who are in denial that Donald Trump and his agents are deadly serious in their threats to end free speech, and punish in the most extreme fashion any voices who oppose them when/if they take power in 2025. 
These three conversations took place several days prior to Saturday’s horrific events in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Chauncey DeVega reflects on the attempt on Donald Trump’s life and how matters are now much worse in America where the spiral of violence and ascendant neofascism, and what is likely a near-unstoppable Dictator Trump MAGA takeover in 2025, have greatly accelerated.
Chauncey also reflects on our collective emotions in this moment of extreme crisis and how it impacted his trip home to see his mother along with all the regular stress and emotional labor about aging, money, and life that entails.
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On this heat dome episode of the podcast, Chauncey DeVega previews (and warns about) the first debate between President Joe Biden and the Jan. 6 coup plotter and convicted felon Donald Trump.
In an (unsuccessful) attempt to escape the hellish heat, Chauncey then declares a political sanctuary and reads some kind emails from the good people who appreciate the podcast and his essays, is joyful as he recounts a story about a miracle in his neighborhood, reads part of a wonderful short story from Walter Mosley’s award-winning collection The Awkward Black Man, and honors the great recently departed titans Roger Corman and Donald Sutherland.  
Heroes and greatness are everywhere: In that spirit, Chauncey DeVega also honors Colonel Edward Thomas Ryan, a closeted gay man and decorated US Army Veteran, who recently transitioned to the next plane of existence. Col. Ryan was the subject of a series of stories at the New York Times, The Guardian, and other leading publications.
On this episode of the podcast, Chauncey’s fellow Star Wars traveler and expert Mr. Bill makes an appearance. They discuss the new TV show The Acolyte, its many problems and failures of storytelling, why “representation” is not a substitute for good writing and a coherent and compelling narrative, what it means to be a real Star Wars fan, and how the Star Wars universe has gone so very wrong and if it can be salvaged.
Chauncey DeVega also shares several Star Wars TV series pitches that are much better than The Acolyte and the other recent shows and films set in that universe.
There is also a special bonus segment at the end of this week's episode of the podcast about Star Wars: The Acolyte and the anticlimactic reveal of the Sith Lord and the fifth episode of the show.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?
On Twitter:
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HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?
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Hello, good humans and members of The Chauncey DeVega Show Secular Church Family. I am continuing, as promised, to share my essays over at The Truth Report. 
Here is my recent essay “Making sense of the post-Trump conviction polls”.
You can listen to the full episode here.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?
On Twitter:
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https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

Mark Hertsgaard is the author of seven nonfiction books, including Hot: Living through The Next Fifty Years on Earth. Hertsgaard’s reporting, essays, and other writing have appeared in such publications as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, TIME, The Nation, The Guardian, and Scientific American. He is the co-founder and executive director of Covering Climate Now.
His new book is Big Red's Mercy: The Shooting of Deborah Cotton and a Story of Race in America.
Mark explains how the mainstream news media’s institutional culture and failings helped to birth the Age of Trump and American neofascism and the global climate emergency. He also shares how he keeps his hope tank full and the importance of being a marathon runner and not a sprinter in these times of great challenge and peril.
And Mark reflects on America’s tragic relationship with guns, violence, the color line, and the moral courage and witnessing of his blood sister Deborah “Big Red” Cotton and how they are forever tied together after being shot at the same second line parade in New Orleans, in what was the worst mass shooting in that great city’s modern history.
Chauncey DeVega is compelled to walk to Trump Tower aka Trump’s Obelisk of Evil here in Chicago during a rainstorm on Saturday where he reflects on the aspiring fascist dictator and now felon being found “guilty” in his historic hush-money election interference trial, and what that may mean or not for the present and future of American democracy and society.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?
On Twitter:
https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega
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My email:
chaunceydevega@gmail.com
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?
Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com
Patreon:
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On this episode of The Truth Report, Chauncey DeVega shares a version of his recent essay at Salon, “Trump trial delays bring focus to crucial Supreme Court case”.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?
On Twitter:
https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega
On Facebook:
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My email:
chaunceydevega@gmail.com
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?
Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com
Patreon:
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Hello good humans. I am sharing the new episode of my other podcast The Truth Report here as well.
***
On this episode of The Truth Report, Chauncey DeVega shares a version of his recent essay at Salon, “When Trump gets dark, Biden goes light”.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME?
On Twitter:
https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega
On Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega
My email:
chaunceydevega@gmail.com
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW?
Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow