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Building Local Power to Win—With Dan Denvir

Aaron and Jonathan talk to Dan Denvir about his local organizing project, Reclaim RI.

Matt DaSilvaAaron Regunberg and Jonathan Smucker

May 19, 2026

Students marching in the “No Kings” rally in Burlington, Vermont.(Susan Stava / LightRocket via Getty Images)

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Building Local Power to Win w/ Dan Denvir / Fighting Fascism
byThe Nation Magazine

Aaron and Jonathan talk to Dan Denvir, not about his famous lefty podcast The Dig, but about his not-so-famous local organizing project, Reclaim RI. We swap stories about what it really looks like to build the power necessary to turn the Democratic Party into an institution that can actually fight fascism. It's practical! It's theoretical! It's praxis-tical!

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Aaron and Jonathan talk to Dan Denvir, not about his famous lefty podcast The Dig but about his not-so-famous local organizing project, Reclaim RI. We swap stories about what it really looks like to build the power necessary to turn the Democratic Party into an institution that can actually fight fascism. It’s practical! It’s theoretical! It’s praxis-tical!

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/subscribe.

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Chud of the Rings w/ Bret Devereaux / Fighting Fascism
byThe Nation Magazine

We all love making fun of fascists. But Dr. Bret Devereaux makes an art of it. Bret is a historian of antiquity and a Tolkien scholar, and he doesn’t suffer fools. He’s been going at it with the world of online chud “historians” — the fascists who say they’re fighting to defend “Western Civilization,” something they’ve never bothered to actually try to understand. And he has similarly choice words for the far right billionaire freaks who idolize, and utterly misunderstand, the Lord of the Rings.

This is a genuinely delightful conversation for nerds like us. But it’s also a serious look into the ways the far right misuses history and literature to advance their fucked up worldviews — and how we can fight back.

Check out Bret’s WONDERFUL blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, at acoup.blog.

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Matt DaSilvaMatt DaSilva is a co-host of the Fighting Fascism podcast.


Aaron RegunbergTwitterAaron Regunberg is a climate lawyer, a contributing editor at The New Republic, and a former Rhode Island state representative.


Jonathan SmuckerTwitterJonathan Smucker is cofounder and executive director of Popular Comms, a cofounder of Pennsylvania Stands Up, and the author of Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals. He has worked for over 25 years as a political organizer, campaigner, and strategist, and has trained thousands of organizers and social movement participants.


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