In this season 4 bonus episode, Koki talks to PRA Principal Research Advisor Steven Gardiner about the Trump administration’s early-January attack on Venezuela and escalating domestic confrontations around ICE enforcement, including the Minneapolis protests around the murder of Renee Good. Gardiner describes how the kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro represents both a familiar extension of U.S. imperial power and a dangerous acceleration of presidential authority, bypassing Congress and normal democratic oversight. He explains that this belligerence largely resonates with the Short for Make America Great Again, the slogan of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Learn more base, which accepts violent action when framed as efficient, hypermasculine, and rooted in authoritarianism rather than democracy or human rights.
Gardiner concludes with guidance for organizers: increase participation to prevent fatigue and stress; build strong, offsite support networks off the front lines; maintain the practice of nonviolence by preparing for right-wing provocation, targeting, and doxing; and apply sustained pressure on those with the biggest voices. Effective action, he argues, must extend beyond the streets to counter an increasingly authoritarian state.
Steven Gardiner is the Principal Research Advisor and former Research Director at Political Research Associates. He has been researching and writing in opposition to the politics of An attitude toward social identities that can be mobilized to justify discrimination, state/vigilante violence, and exploitation. Learn more , violence, and authoritarianism since the early 1990s. In 2004, Gardiner received a PhD in cultural anthropology from Cornell University. Since earning his doctorate, he has taught more than 20 different courses at eight universities in the United States, Pakistan, and the UAE.
Episode Resources
- Political Research Associates, “Trump 2.0’s First 100 Days: Authoritarian Gains and Consolidation,” The Public Eye, 2025.
- Katherine Stewart, “Burning Down the House: What’s Behind the U.S. Antidemocratic Reaction?” The Public Eye, 2025.
- Political Research Associates, “‘Do Not Let Grief Harden into Despair’: PRA Analyzes Trump 2.0’s First 100 Days, Part 1,” Inform Your Resistance, 2025.
- Political Research Associates, “‘It’s Never Just About Gender’: Gender and Authoritarianism: PRA Analyzes Trump 2.0’s First 100 Days, Part 2,” Inform Your Resistance, 2025.
Episode Keywords
Venezuela attack, Nicolás Maduro kidnapping, Trump administration, authoritarianism, MAGA, foreign policy, ICE attacks, ICE raids, Anti-ICE protests, Renee Good murder, Minneapolis protests, Insurrection Act, hypermasculinity, U.S. imperialism, nonviolent resistance, right-wing provocation, protests, resistance, Far Right, A form of far-right populist ultra-nationalism that celebrates the nation or the race as transcending all other loyalties. Learn more , Repression occurs when public or private institutions—such as law enforcement agencies or vigilante groups—use arrest, physical coercion, or violence to subjugate a specific group. Learn more , militarism
