The Nicole Sandler Show – Details, episodes & analysis

So Trump flew to China, brought Eric and the Nvidia guy instead of any actual China experts, accomplished nothing on Hormuz or Taiwan, got a lecture from Xi about Sparta and Athens, and came home. Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net and I spent an hour plus breaking down what it all means — plus Kash Patel snorkeling a war grave, which is exactly as bad as it sounds.

I've been waiting to talk with my favorite legal expert Lisa Graves about this latest, most despicable outrage from the Extreme Court. Just last week they gutted what was left of the Voting Rights Act. Lisa breaks down how we got here- from Roberts, who started his career as a Reagan revolutionary attacking the VRA's effects provisions, to the neo-Confederate legislatures that instantly moved to bleach Black representation out of Congress the moment the ruling dropped. We also talk Leonard Leo's sudden billions, C. Boyden Gray's deeply troubling family history, Linda McMahon calling teachers non-professionals, Trump literally saying on camera that he doesn't think about Americans' financial situation, and — most importantly — what we can actually DO about all of this.

Spoiler: it's court reform. And Lisa makes the case better than anyone.

Today I needed a laugh — and honestly, so did you. We kick things off with the best Trump impression on the internet, JL Cauvin. Today's guest is Mark Malkoff, author of Love, Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend, about the man who invented late night as we know it. We get into what Carson really thought about Trump back in the '80s and '90s, whether he would have survived today's TV landscape, the Don Rickles cigarette box story you've never heard, and what's happening to late night now that Colbert's show is ending. Plus: my husband calls in to correct my geography. As he does...

One of my favorite columnists, Will Bunch, national opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, took a road trip. Last week, he left Philly and showed up in New Orleans, along with ICE. Yeah, on purpose. He reported on the ugliness these unqualified goons spread in their wake. Will returned home to PA just in time to hear Dump's word and brain salad that he spewed over the people who went to hear him for 90 minutes at the Mount Airy Casino, which itself has a shameful, storied past. Will joins me today with some of his observations.

Back in 2012, People for the American Way put out the campaign button on today's show graphic. They knew it then, but the Democrats never pushed the issue enough. It was and still is the Supreme Court, stupid! The Extreme Court yesterday heard a case that will likely give the guy in the Oval Office even more power than he's already grabbed. And the case they heard today could likely open the campaign contribution floodgates even wider than they already are. Law Dork's Chris Geidner joins me today to help us understand WTAF it all means!

Mondays are inevitable and, these days, so is a lot more fucking news. On Mondays, I'm joined by Jonathan Larsen of The Fucking News, who injects humor and the necessary expletives to accurately present so much of what we're forced to endure every day... the Boat Murders, the Immigrant mistreatment and bigtry and racism, the Extreme not-Supreme Court, the lies, illegal pardons, D'ump's ego and more...

It's been 10 days since our last gathering with Marcy Wheeler as we did last Friday's show on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. And it's been quite an eventful 10 days at that! On today's show. we cover much of what happened during that time-- from yesterday's arrest of the alleged Jan 6 pipe bomber to Pete Hegseth's many problems including Signalgate and the Murder Boats, Trump's sickening pardons, the prosecutions of James Comey, Maurene Comey, Letitia James and John Bolton. Then there are the two truly hated men in DC, Mike Johnson & Kash Patel. Oh, and the National Security Strategy which is terrifying. And more... a lot more.

"America's Dirty Secret" is what today's guest, Catherine Coleman Flowers calls the problem she is devoted to fixing, and it's a problem that's not much-discussed unless you live in some of the poorest rural communities in the US where it's more prevalent that most of us realize.

Catherine Coleman Flowers is an environmental and climate justice activist. She's been called the "Erin Brockovich of Sewage" because her work focuses on improving sanitation and water infrastructure in places where it is disgustingly unavailable.

In regular English, shit stinks and raw sewage dumped into your yard and leeching back into your house is literally toxic!

I also invited friend of the show, host of the Environmental Coffeehouse, Sandy Schoelles to join us for what I promise will be an enlightening conversation.

If you're not terrified by Trump, you're not paying attention. I'll share some of the latest as I share latest news and things that should terrify all of us. As for AI - Artificial Intelligence- I'll admit that I'm not an expert. So I have one joining us today.

Rahul Powar is and AI expert and cybersecurity entrepreneur. And he'll help us understand what about AI that we should fear, how it should be used and what it is capable of doing. That includes the good, the bad, and the really, truly ugly!

And we'll begin with a creative satirical song and video about Whiskey Pete Hegseth by @scaredketchup on Youtube . Yes, it utilizes AI...

Perhaps the headline should have read "Reel" News, because today's guest's website (under construction) is ReelPoliticalNews.com.

With so much insanity coming at us from the White House, I wanted to get someone who is an actual journalist covering it all to help us catch up. Back in my Air America days and for a few years following that network's demise, I used to have a daily news update from the (now defunct) Talk Radio News Service. One of the correspondents there was Jon-Christopher Bua, who I always enjoyed speaking with. I found him recently on Bluesky (@jcbua.bsky.social), and invited back on the show. He is the founder and White House Correspondent for Reel Political News, and he's our guest today on the show.