by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis | Jun 15, 2026 | Economy, health care, Inequality Watch, midterms, Politics and Movements: US, video, Voting Rights
Rep. Summer Lee argues in this interview with TRNN that the best path to good policies like Medicare for All is to take billionaires’ money out of politics and to fight for electoral reforms, and explains her concerns about the Trump administration’s push to interfere in the upcoming 2026 midterms.
Credits:
Production: Taya Graham/Stephen Janis
Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Taya Graham:
Can our democracy survive the influence of billions of dollars being poured into our politics? Well, that’s why I’m here at the Netroots Nation in Philadelphia in order to speak with Representative Summer Lee about the push to abolish Super PACS, the push to overturn Citizens United and whether or not we can look forward to some serious interference in our midterm elections. Congressman Lee, last time I saw you, you were talking about the Abolish Super PACS Act, which you co-sponsored with Senator Sanders. First, can you just give me just a quick rundown on how that works?
Rep. Summer Lee:
Yeah, so think about it this way. If you are a regular person, me, you, the people we know, you have a contribution limit on what you can give to somebody who’s running for federal office. If you are a millionaire or a corporation, yeah, you have that if you give directly to the candidate, but you can just get around it by giving to what we call these super PACs. So these super PACs are PACs that are not necessarily directly connected to a candidate. They legally can’t confer, but there are workarounds and with those PACs,
by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis | Jun 12, 2026 | Epstein, ICE, Inequality Watch, Politics and Movements: US, Trump, video
As part of our continuing coverage of Trump’s multi-pronged push to interfere with the upcoming midterm elections, we have been talking to a variety of voices on what they fear most from the administration. In this discussion with Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin, he accuses the Trump administration of constructing a private police force within the federal government and seeking to fund an extrajudicial efforts to also interfere with free and fair elections.
Credits:
Production: Taya Graham/Stephen Janis
Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Stephen Janis:
At the Real News Network, we have been covering the threat to midterm elections. Now, we came to the Networks Conference here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to speak to Congressman Jamie Raskin. When he told us about what he thinks might happen in November should scare all of us. You know, you introduced a Blanche Act, is that what it’s called? Yes. Yeah. So the Senate just passed the reconciliation bill and did nothing to it. So what are your thoughts at this moment that can be done to prevent it and what are your concerns about this slush fund that has been proposed by the Trump administration?
Rep. Jamie Raskin:
Well, the vast majority of Americans reject the idea that the Trump regime should be able to take 1.776 billion of taxpayer money and give it to convicted criminals, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and other extremists who tried to storm or who stormed the Capitol and tried to overthrow a presidential election. It’s outrageous and it violates about a dozen different federal laws and constitutional provisions. So
by Maximillian Alvarez | Jun 10, 2026 | Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Politics and Movements: International, Prisons and Policing, video
Israeli military forces captured the latest convoy of humanitarian aid ships sailing to Gaza with the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSM) between late April and mid-May. Activists who were imprisoned by Israel for days and eventually deported have reported harrowing treatment by their captors, including targeted torture, abuse, broken bones, unauthorized injections of undisclosed substances, and sexual violence by Israeli soldiers. We speak with a panel of freed GSM participants—Thiago Ávila, Catríona Graham, and Ariadne Teles—about what they saw and endured, and about the successes, defeats, and future of the movement to break Israel’s siege on Gaza.
Guests:
Thiago Ávila is a member of the Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee who was abducted in international waters by the Israelis in late April off the coast of the Greek Island of Crete. At the time, Ávila was one of two Flotilla participants and leaders forcibly transported to Israel where he was held as a political prisoner for 10 days.
Catríona Graham is a member of the Irish delegation who sailed with the most recent voyage of the Global Sumud Flotilla. While being detained by Israel, Graham shouted “Free Palestine” in Itamar Ben-Gvir’s face and was subsequently shoved down to the floor.
Ariadne Telles, is a member of the Brazilian delegation who sailed with the most recent voyage of the Global Sumud Flotilla and who also experienced abuse while detained by Israel.
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Editor: David Hebden
Transcript
The following rushed transcript may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Welcome back to The Real News Network. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. After 78 years of occupation and ethnic cleansing in historic Palestine and after three years
by Mansa Musa | Jun 9, 2026 | history, Political Prisoners, Politics and Movements: International, Prison Industrial Complex, Rattling the Bars, video
Imprisoned by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1926, the prison writings of Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci remain essential 100 years later for understanding how fascism, policing, and incarceration function to suppress political dissent and preserve unequal systems of power. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, former Black Panther and political prisoner Mansa Musa speaks with renowned scholar Alberto Toscano about the importance and terrifying relevance of Gramsci today.
Guests:
Alberto Toscano is a renowned Italian cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher, translator, and adjunct professor at the Simon Fraser University School of Communication. Toscano is a columnist at In These Times and the (co-)author of numerous books, including: Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis; and Fanaticism: On the Uses of an Idea.
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following rushed transcript may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Mansa Musa:
Welcome to this edition of Rattling the Bars. I’m your host, Mansa Musa. Today, this is just a political conversation that we’ll be having about fascism, but more importantly, talking about the works of Antonio Gramsci. Joining me today is Alberto Toscano. Welcome to Rattling the Bars Alberto.
Alberto Toscano:
Thanks for having me.
Mansa Musa:
First, explain to our audience who Antonio Gramsci was.
Alberto Toscano:
So Gramsci is best known as former secretary of the Italian Communist Party and one of the most significant Marxist and communist theorists of the 20th century. And most of his theorizing, such as we know today, was done in prison in a series of no books, his prison notebooks that were published after his death and after the end of World War II. It’s
by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis | Jun 8, 2026 | elections, ICE, Inequality Watch, midterms, Politics and Movements: US, video, Voting Rights
Are President Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans publicly signaling that they plan to interfere in—and potentially rig—the 2026 midterm elections? If so, why is the media not taking the threat seriously? In this episode of Inequality Watch, Taya Graham and Stephen Janis investigate the connections between wealth inequality, political power, ICE funding, the influence of Super PACs on elections, and growing concerns about democratic accountability in Trump’s America.
Credits:
Pre-Production: Taya Graham, Stephen Janis
Studio Production / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino, Stephen Janis
Transcript
The following rushed transcript may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Taya Graham:
Could President Trump and his MAGA Congress be planning to interfere with the upcoming midterm elections? Well, we have some evidence that might surprise you, which we will unpack on this episode of the Capitol Hill React Report. Hello, this is Taya Graham, myself, along with my reporting partner, Steven Janice, our Capitol Hill correspondence for the Real News Network. We report regularly on what’s happening in the nation’s Capitol, but with a twist. We examine the process of governance through the prism of the most powerful force in today’s politics, economic inequality. Now, before you say, tell you that seems sort of limited. Just let me explain a little bit before we get to the first video. Economic inequality is at its highest point in recent history. Just take a look at the latest report that showed American workers’ share of the economy has fallen to its lowest level since 1947.
That’s right. In 2025, the share of the economy that went to the people who actually make it run was 54% a historic low. Okay. So
by Maximillian Alvarez | Jun 1, 2026 | Article, Climate Crisis, Economy and Inequality, sacrifice zones, video
What the hell is going on with all these toxic disasters in the news?
Over the past week, we’ve had a terrifying crisis at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, CA, involving a pressurized tank of toxic chemicals on the verge of spilling or exploding for days and the evacuation of 50 thousand people in Orange County.
At the same time, right up the road in LA, we had a spill of thousands of gallons of crude oil that got into the LA River
Then, news broke of the horrifying tank rupture and explosion at the Nippon Dynawave paper mill in Longview, Washington, involving hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic liquid and 11 workers who were killed.
People have been asking me all week, “What the hell is going on?” And that’s because I’m a professional editor and an award-winning journalist who’s been covering toxic disasters like this for years. Also, I’m from Orange County, and my family lives in Garden Grove, about 10 minutes from the GKN Aerospace facility, so I’ve been watching all of this very closely.
If you haven’t been obsessively investigating these kinds of stories like I have, the recent rapid-fire bombardment of headlines can make it seem like all these toxic disasters are coming out of nowhere. An explosion here, a toxic spill there, a fire there. “Why is this happening? And what the hell do we do?”
So, right off the bat, the most important thing to understand is that this is not all just happening now. It’s been happening, and most of the time you just haven’t been hearing about it.
Did you hear about the toxic explosion
