249 - Chris Hedges: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Rise of American Fascism

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author and journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times. He has covered numerous wars across the decades, written many books—including America: The Farewell Tour and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America—and has been involved in work for prisoner advocacy. In this episode, Robinson and Chris discuss Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the rise of American fascism. More particularly, they address comparisons between Trump and Hitler, DOGE, the new crisis for the Democratic Party, Israel and Palestine, the Christian far right, Marxism, and more. Chris’s latest book is A Genocide Foretold (Penguin Random House, 2025).

Chris’s YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@chrishedgeschannel?si=XIMAFyQFmWGoYyuO

The Chris Hedges Report Substack: https://chrishedges.substack.com

A Genocide Foretold: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786808/a-genocide-foretold-by-chris-hedges/

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:59 PTSD and Weightlifting

00:06:49 The Decline of the American Empire

00:11:10 The Strongest Dimension of Trump’s Presidency

00:17:20 Was Hitler a Better Speaker than Trump?

00:19:54 How the Democratic Party Sold Out the Working Class

00:22:21 Elon Musk and the Oligarchic Takeover of America

00:28:26 Is Elon Musk Wrong About the Efficiency of Government?

00:31:02 What Is the Deep State?

00:42:46 Is Donald Trump at War with the Deep State?

00:49:23 Infiltrating the Far Right Christian Community

00:54:04 Becoming a Minister

00:57:27 The Christian Right and the Fascist State

01:06:26 The Problem of Evil

01:10:31 On Sadism and the Decline of Empires

01:17:35 Why the Christian Right Supports Israel

01:20:20 How Does Trump Think of Israel?

01:27:38 On How the CIA Attempted to Recruit Him

01:31:06 Is Israel Still Committing Genocide in Gaza?

01:40:25 Chris’s New Book

01:46:24 On His Time with Hamas

01:55:01 Journalism vs Academia

01:58:28 Is Zionism Anti-Semitism?

02:04:52 How to Read the Bible

02:12:01 Where Does Integrity Come From?

02:22:26 Dehumanization in Palestine

02:26:15 On Marxism and Elon Musk

02:31:16 The Farewell Tour

02:35:34 On Trump’s Love of TV

02:37:50 On Reporting the Middle East

02:39:56 Russia and Ukraine

02:42:59 Growing Wealth Disparities in the United States

02:46:56 Fascist Attacks on Education

02:51:39 The Dark Future of the Press

02:57:30 Could the American Empire Be Revived?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.