There’s so much chaos in the news and in many communities across the country. To discuss this week’s headlines, Esty Dinur is joined by writer and political analyst, Mary Geddry. They discuss how Trump’s authoritarian chaos is only spreading and how the privatization of healthcare, infrastructure, and all the services that are essential to everyday life, is the antithesis of democracy.
Geddry calls Trump’s deployment of troops to DC as a test run for greater federal expansion in blue states, an expansion that she previews will result in the arrest of all kinds of dissidents. As detention centers are being built across the country and ICE is offering $50K signing bonuses to new recruits, Dinur compares the situation to the gulag system in the Soviet Union. Geddry points to the massive amounts of money that private prison companies are making off detention centers, like “Alligator Alcatraz,” though that location has been ordered to shut down.
Geddry says that America’s democracy isn’t broken; it’s working just as a two-party system is meant to. That is, by it’s very nature, the two-party system is polarizing. She blames both parties for how we got to this point and says we need to organize and imagine a better system, one that could include rank-choice voting. 

Mary Geddry is a writer and political commentator whose work focuses on authoritarianism, economic inequality, and social justice. She has founded four community radio stations in Oregon, reflecting her long-standing commitment to grassroots media and public access to information. Mary also co-founded a local nonprofit dedicated to advancing the rights of nature and sustainability, underscoring her dedication to environmental justice. Her commentary has been featured in independent outlets and on her Substack, where she publishes daily political analysis with an eye toward uncovering corruption and amplifying voices for accountability and justice.
Featured image of the exterior of a detention center via Flickr.
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