Bill Fletcher joins Fighting Fascism to discuss organized labor, anti-fascist strategy, and why understanding MAGA as a social movement matters for confronting it.
Supporters of President Donald Trump at an event in Marietta, Georgia, on July 22, 2026.(Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images)
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For this Labor Day episode we’re joined by Bill Fletcher, a longtime union organizer who’s spent the last several years working to build out the labor movement’s anti-fascist infrastructure. Bill has an important reminder for those of us who direct most of our anti-fascist energy against Trump and the oligarchy: MAGA isn’t some astroturf trick. It’s a genuine social movement representing some 25-30 percent of Americans, and any strategies that ignore this fact are missing something fundamental about today’s dangerous political reality. You can learn more about Bill's organization, Standing for Democracy, here.
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For this Labor Day episode we’re joined by Bill Fletcher, a longtime union organizer who’s spent the past several years working to build out the labor movement’s anti-fascist infrastructure. Bill has an important reminder for those of us who direct most of our anti-fascist energy toward Trump and the oligarchy: MAGA isn’t some Astroturf trick. It’s a genuine social movement representing some 25 to 30 percent of Americans, and any strategies that ignore this fact are missing something fundamental about today’s dangerous political reality. You can learn more about Bill’s organization, Standing for Democracy, here.
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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.
Dr. Isabella Weber’s new book is called Anti-Fascist Economics. As a native of Nuremberg, where the Nazis staged their famous mass rallies, there’s another term she also uses: the economics of “never again.”
We think this book is such an important intervention in the world right now. So we were thrilled to have Isabella on the show to discuss why the rise of today's authoritarian movements is not an accident, but is rooted in an economic order that has treated regular people as expendable while elevating markets above democratic choice.
In the face of rising costs, what if we didn’t take the primacy of corporate profits and market fundamentalism as a given? What if, instead, we said, “Let’s do something about this! Let’s take on the corporate profiteering and stabilize the price of essential goods and actually use government to help people so they don’t elect a bunch of fucking fascists!”
If you care about democracy, you should read Isabella’s book. And you should definitely check out this episode.
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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.