Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
America’s New Era of Violent Populism Is Here
About This Episode
More To The Story: A year ago this month, President Donald Trump granted clemency to nearly 1,600 people responsible for the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. University of Chicago political science professor Robert Pape argues that Trump’s decision to pardon and set free the insurrectionists, including hundreds who had been found guilty of assaulting police, could be the most consequential decision of his term.
On this week’s More To The Story, Pape talks with host Al Letson about how America’s transformation to a white minority is fueling the nation’s growing political violence, the remarkable political geography of the insurrectionists, and the glimmers of hope he’s found in his research that democracy can survive this pivotal moment in history.
Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick | Digital producer: Artis Curiskis | Deputy executive producer: Taki Telonidis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson
Listen: How Trump’s January 6 Pardons Hijacked History (More To The Story)
Read: Both the Left and the Right Are Targeted by Political Violence. Who Perpetrates It? (Mother Jones)
Read: Understanding Support for Political Violence in America (Chicago Project on Security and Threats)
- Donate today at Revealnews.org/more
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at Revealnews.org/weekly
- Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky
More Episodes
Inside America’s Race to Hide the World’s Money
SummaryThis episode of Reveal investigates the booming domestic trust industry, which has transformed the United States into a primary global destination for hiding assets. The hosts explore how wealthy individuals use trusts—legal mechanisms once reserved for the ultra-wealthy—to avoid taxes, protect assets from creditors, and maintain complete financial privacy. Through the story of entrepreneur Alessandro Chesar, the episode highlights the disparity between the sophisticated tools available to the rich and the financial realities faced by everyday Americans. Reporters Sally Hersch and Leah McGrath Goodman take listeners to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, an unlikely epicenter for this trillion-dollar industry. They reveal how states compete to enact the most lenient, secrecy-favoring laws to attract capital. Experts discuss how these practices, including perpetual trusts and structures that keep beneficiaries in the dark, contribute to extreme wealth inequality and complicate legal efforts to trace hidden funds. The episode paints a picture of a system where legal loopholes are actively cultivated to prevent the redistribution of wealth, ultimately questioning whether these secretive financial practices are fueling a new era of American aristocracy.
Iran, the US, and the Making of a New Middle East
Teaching Kids to Read: How One School District Gets It Right
Ibram X. Kendi vs. America’s “Antiracism Backlash”
As the Trump Administration Erases Black History, These Writers Are Keeping It Alive
The Man Who Taught Nonviolence to Martin Luther King Jr.
Taken by ICE
How Project 2025 Is Reshaping Our Country
How Minneapolis Taught America to Fight Back
Bad Bunny, Billionaires, and the Business of Sports
Related Podcasts
All podcast names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Podcasts listed on Podtastic are publicly available shows distributed via RSS. Podtastic does not endorse nor is endorsed by any podcast or podcast creator listed in this directory.