For years, I was BBC Television’s correspondent covering Venezuela and US attempts to overthrow their elected government. Trump invented nothing. This is at least the fourth US-backed attempt at overthrow and assassination of a Venezuelan president. To understand why Trump has ordered a covert operation to overthrow their government, you need to understand three things about Venezuela... Get the full story, read my Substack report: I met Chávez and Maduro. I know drugs are not the reason Trump wants war with Venezuela: https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/p/i-met-chavez-and-maduro-i-know-drugs Watch the film of my BBC reports, The Assassination of Hugo Chavez, produced with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Richard Rowley, on YouTube: https://youtu.be/syExbfVPDnU Get the DVD: https://donorbox.org/palast-the-assassination-of-hugo-chavez-dvd Or download it: https://donorbox.org/palast-the-assassination-of-hugo-chavez-download Support our work with a tax-deductible donation: https://donorbox.org/palast-fund  

"When cowards are ordering around heroes, there could not be anything more dangerous for America." — Greg Palast Greg Palast's full speech from the #NoKings rally in Waterfront Park, San Diego on Saturday, October 18, 2025.   For more from Greg Palast, subscribe to his Substack: https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/ Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee: https://buy.stripe.com/14kdRh1QhgDi34s4gh

Thom Hartmann’s new book, The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party and a World on the Brink, is one giant fact check on the Whopper-in-Chief, and much more — a disturbing dive into the roiling miasma of self-aggrandizing, self-deluding, psychologically shattered, wailing man-child who is Commander-in-Chief. Don’t read Hartmann’s book twice, as I have. It’s not just the nightmares it induces; it’s the fact that you’ll wake up to the nightmare that is our new reality. “Democracy,” Hartmann concludes, “doesn’t announce its departure with trumpets. It slips away in silence, one institution at a time.”   But we do have Hartmann’s bugle blast. Hopefully, it’s a wake-up reveille and not Taps for this fragile experiment called America.* * * * *    Thom Hartmann and Greg Palast will be speaking in San Diego on Friday, October 17 and in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 18 at fundraisers for the Pacifica Radio Network. Follow the links for more info: https://www.gregpalast.com/the-last-american-president/ Get a copy of Hartmann’s Last American President signed by the author for a tax-deductible donation to the Palast Investigative Fund. Only 5 signed copies available: https://donorbox.org/the-last-american-president-a-broken-man-a-corrupt-party-and-a-world-on-the-brink

Trump and Hegseth's gathering of the generals wasn’t patriotism — it was theater for authoritarianism. When you tell the military that America's “inner cities” are "a big part of war now” you’re not defending America — you’re declaring war on it. The question now is stark: when the illegal order comes — to turn U.S. troops with live ammunition on the American people — will these generals follow it? And are they more or less likely to after this gathering? Learn more and stay updated, subscribe to our Substack: https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/ Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee: https://buy.stripe.com/14kdRh1QhgDi34s4gh

On Tuesday, Pete Hegseth told our military’s top brass that they must restore the “male warrior spirit” to the armed forces. “Male” spirit, Pete? My Mom would’ve kicked your a** Get the full story on Substack. https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/p/mom-wouldve-kicked-pete-hegseths Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee. https://buy.stripe.com/14kdRh1QhgDi34s4gh  

What would Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s father, Robert F. Kennedy, the man who saved Martin Luther King’s life, think of his son now? By endorsing Trump, Bobby Kennedy Jr. has endorsed everything he ever fought against. Trump is undoing all the environmental laws that Bobby fought for. To Bobby, the issue of global warming was paramount. And now he’s joined up with Agent Orange to say let the planet burn. Bobby, what’s happened to you? Trump won the election by removing voters he didn’t like. And we’re just at the beginning of that — that’s the dangerous thing. Bobby was a voting rights advocate. How could he stand there next to that man who is mass challenging voters of color? Bobby used to say — and it was kind of creepy, but I understood ‘cause he had his mental issues and he went through trauma — that he thought “daddy” was watching his every action and could still reward or punish him like a parent. He would suddenly become a little boy and talk about his daddy looking at him from Heaven and watching him. Well, hey, Bobby, if your daddy’s looking at you from Heaven now, what do you think he’s thinking? What do you think he’s thinking? As I told Off The Record host Egberto Willies in this clip, Bobby’s father saved Martin Luther King’s life. Not many people know this story. Read it, then imagine what King would say to Bobby Jr. now. https://www.gregpalast.com/rfk-saved-mlks-life/ Stay informed, subscribe to our Substack: @gregpalastinvestigates Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee.  

RFK Jr. is putting lives at risk — I can’t stay silent. His attacks on mRNA research and science funding aren’t politics — they’re threats to our health and future. This is painful. This is horrible and feels a bit like a betrayal. But I have no choice. Bobby Kennedy Jr. was my friend and co-author. We wrote stories together for Rolling Stone. Bobby introduced my New York Times bestseller and wrote a chapter for Billionaires and Ballot Bandits. And, with Jesse Jackson, we co-authored the Number 1 selling adult single issue comic book of all time, Steal Back Your Vote. But then, Bobby lost his mind... This is my story: https://www.gregpalast.com/i-was-on-the-phone-with-rfk-jr-when-he-lost-his-mind/

Thom Hartmann lays bare the origins of the scheme to take from the poor and give to the rich in his brilliant book, The Hidden History of Neoliberalism.    Get Thom’s book at your fave bookstore — or, to support my own reporting for the Hartmann program, make a tax-deductible donation to our foundation and get a copy of The Hidden History (I’ll sign the foreword) as our thanks: https://donorbox.org/thom-hartmann-s-the-hidden-history-of-neoliberalism?preview=1756859378    Support independent journalism. Buy Greg a coffee: https://buy.stripe.com/14kdRh1QhgDi34s4gh

Bobby Bobby, Bobby Kennedy, my dear dear friend of so many years, my co-author at Rolling Stone, Bobby, why are you threatening my life? Why are you threatening lives across America and even our not-yet-born great-grandchildren? You’ve blocked mRNA vaccine research. RESEARCH!!!! Bobby, you know damn well that mRNA is our best hope for an anti-cancer vaccine. What are you doing to us, Bobby? Bobby, my friend, you are sick, physically and mentally. I’m sympathetic, but don’t make everyone else as sick as you. If you want to know about my years-long friendship with RFK Jr., and why I am compelled to go public with this private information about him, read my story, “I was on the phone with RFK Jr. when he lost his mind."  https://www.gregpalast.com/i-was-on-the-phone-with-rfk-jr-when-he-lost-his-mind/

The flood in Kerrville, Texas, was not an Act of God, it was an Act of Trump. My new 1-hour special, All Washed Away, shows the horrific connection between the drownings in Texas and in New Orleans — 20 years ago this month — and the Trump/DOGE scheme to sell off FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trump and his DOGE buddies had, just before the Texas flood, cut the heart out of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed one out of three FEMA staff employees just before the Texas flood. The head of FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center, Jeremy Greenberg, whose job was to warn of such floods, was forced out just weeks before the Texas catastrophe. And since the DOGE massacre of April, FEMA’s San Antonio office has had no permanent Warning-Coordination Meteorologist. Trump has announced he’s planning to close FEMA by this December. His fantasy is, ultimately, to privatize emergency evacuation. Been there. Done that. The privatization of emergency evacuation led to over a thousand Americans floating face down in New Orleans in 2005.  Back in 2006, I did an investigation of the drownings in New Orleans for a program called Democracy Now! hosted by Amy Goodman. Watch the film of the investigation, All Washed Away, which I've just updated with an exposé of the Trump drownings of 2025 — available for free on YouTube and Substack. ▶️ https://gregpalastinvestigates.substack.com/p/all-washed-away

In this episode of Counterpoint, host Scott Harris talks to Greg Palast about his latest article, “The Evil Scheme to Purge Half a Million Voters,” which reveals how control of the US Senate could come down to ugly ethnic cleansing of the voter rolls.   Want to push back against the purges? Here’s what you can do:   • Spread this. Like it, and share it. • Subscribe to my new Substack, @GregPalastInvestigates • Check if you’ve been purged by CHECKING YOUR REGISTRATION at Vote.org — NOW!   And, if you think our investigations are important, then I’m asking you to donate to support our mighty little band of sleuths.        

Palast discusses Trump, tariffs, FEMA and that birthday parade with WVON Midday Show host Cleopatra Draper. Support independent journalism. Buy Greg a coffee. Stay informed. Sign up to our newsletter.    

"Steel was strong, but the truth is cold, He sold out the workers for a bar of gold." This song, which was created by the Thom Hartmann Program, was inspired by Greg Palast's latest article for the Hartmann Report,The Great American Tariff Scam — read it here.   The Great American Tariff Scam Lyrics   [Verse 1]He stood in a mill with his red tie tightTold the boys in hard hats, “I’ll stand and fight”But behind that grin and the photo flashWas a deal with the devil and a payday stash Steel was strong, but the truth is coldHe sold out the workers for a bar of goldLaid off in Gary, gone in DuluthWhile the billionaires laughed in their tailored suits [Chorus]🎶 It’s the Great American Tariff ScamA fist full of promises, a smoke screen shamJobs fall down while the prices climbAnd the ones who get rich are the friends of the crimeHe said “I’m here to help,” then he took what he can—That’s the Great American Tariff Scam 🎶 [Verse 2]Steel rolls rustin’ by the railroad trackWhile Wall Street wolves keep slappin’ our backsThey killed the deal that could save the plantNow the furnaces cool and the wages slant Imports rise with a tariff taxDomestic jobs? Ain’t comin’ backFrom cars to cables, we all pay moreWhile they cheer from behind their private doors [Chorus]🎶 It’s the Great American Tariff ScamWrapped in a flag with a glory camHe blocks the fix and blames the flameSays “I’m the hero!”—but he lit the gameHe’s the arsonist in a fireman’s van—That’s the Great American Tariff Scam 🎶 [Bridge]He said, “I’m here for the working man”But he hands the loot to the richest handsFrom Nippon Steel to the union hallIt’s always the worker that takes the fall [Verse 3]Now the ladle’s dry and the silence loudAs the union boys stand heads unbowedThey know the truth from the spin and smokeFrom every empty promise that the huckster spoke [Final Chorus]🎶 It’s the Great American Tariff ScamWith a hard hat lie and a photo glamThe jobs went south, the truth went coldBut he sold you pride like it’s solid goldSteel don’t bend, but a worker can—In the Great American Tariff Scam 🎶 [Outro – spoken over a slow fade]“Praise me,” he said, “I stopped the fire.”But he was the one with the gasoline and the lighter. Subscribe to The Hartmann Report.  

Don't count on government or political parties to save your vote.  You need to get active. Learn more at: GregPalast.com Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee!

You can ignore Trump slyly hinting to the Lord’s chosen that he just might call off the next election. But don’t ignore this: Trump won’t be calling off the election because he doesn’t have to. The Fix for 26 is already in. “Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.” The Republican plan is to win next year’s election this year. Yes, the voting will be bent, jacked and hammered this year, 2025, one year before the official voting. Find out how. Listen to this Election Crimes Bulletin and read my latest report at: GregPalast.com Support independent journalism, buy Greg a coffee!    

The Asian American community is the fastest growing voter group in America. Since the last presidential election, 2 million more Asian Americans have become eligible to vote. There are now 15 million potential Asian American voters. When you look at swing states, like Georgia, there are 328,000 Asian Americans eligible to vote in Georgia. That's the state that Biden won by less than 12,000 votes. And there’s almost 1.1 million Asian Americans in Texas.  If they are allowed to vote, Texas turns blue.  It's also a young demographic, and Asian Americans tend to vote three quarters Democratic. So, the GOP's doing everything that they can to crush the Asian American vote. It is racism by statistics. ▶️ Get the full story at GregPalast.com

Let's stop counting Biden's brain cells, and start counting vigilantes. This election is going to be a Vote Suppression Bacchanalia — I’ve never seen anything like it. Mark Elias, who's considered the number one voting rights attorney these days, has said it’s is a virus coming out of Georgia. And it is. Before the last election we found that under a little-noticed provision of Georgia’s 2021 voting restriction law, SB202, 88 GOP operatives had filed challenges to block a breathtaking 180,000 voters from having their ballots counted. One woman alone had challenged a staggering 32,379 voters in Cobb County. This new Georgia law circumvented restrictions on states removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of an election, by allowing individuals to challenge an unlimited number of voters. And now this vigilante vote challenge tactic is spreading to other swing states. The organization that created the challenge lists is a group out of Texas called True the Vote. In Georgia in 2022, when they first launched this vigilante game, they had 88 vigilante vote challengers, now they have an army of 44,000 operating in battleground states across the US.   But understand where this vigilante voter challenge scheme comes from. The Ku Klux Klan created this system in 1946 when they incorporated themselves as Vigilantes Inc. According to the FBI, the Klan challenged every single black voter in many counties in Georgia. And it worked. The Klan got their chief strategist, Eugene Talmadge, elected governor.  Here's the strange thing... In 1946 — before the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act — Harry Truman's FBI was about to arrest Talmadge for leading this mass attack on Black voters, but days before they were going to arrest him, Talmadge drank himself to death. So, it was illegal in 1946, and now we have the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Civil Rights Act, and somehow mass challenges of voters of color are perfectly fine with our federal courts?!? The NAACP and Reverend Jesse Jackson, of Rainbow PUSH, have begged Biden to sign an executive order to stop these vigilante vote challenges. They're a clear violation of federal law, even without the Voting Rights Act. They're also a violation of our Constitution. And that's what the FBI under Harry Truman thought — so why isn't the FBI saying the same thing today? It was illegal in 1946, and it ought to be illegal now.    For more on this, subscribe to our newsletter.

The Election Crimes Bulletin is back for the 2024 Election season. In this week's episode we reveal how the Trump plan for 2024 — to use an army of vigilantes to challenge Black voters — is the exact same plan the Klan successfully used to elect Georgia governor Eugene Talmadge  in 1946. Learn more at: GregPalast.com  

35 years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground, causing America’s greatest environmental disaster, investigative journalist Greg Palast explains why you shouldn't buy big oil's fable of the drunken captain. Get the full story at: https://www.gregpalast.com/dont-buy-exxons-fable-of-the-drunken-captain-2/

Before Scorsese’s film, before Grann’s book, there was a poem... Osage poet Elise Paschen reads “Wi’-gi-e”, the poem which inspired the title of the book and film, Killers of the Flower Moon. We filmed her special reading of the poem, which she dedicates to Lily Gladstone, who portrays Osage Native Mollie Burkhart in the film. If there is any justice in this world, Gladstone will win the Oscar for Best Actress. It was Elise, co-founder of Poetry in Motion, whose poem is spoken in the voice of Mollie Burkhart, who first brought Mollie’s story to wider attention. (In the film, Mollie’s husband, Ernest Burkhart, is portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio.)  After you hear Elise, make sure you catch the trailer for our documentary, Long Knife, produced by George DiCaprio and Greg Palast, which brings the story of the Osage up to date, focusing on the Osage Nation’s fight against the thievery of the Brothers Koch.This video was filmed by Battiste Fenwick on the Osage Reservation and edited by Esther Shubinski | @manytrailsproduction. Elise Paschen 's poem “Wi’-gi-e” is published in Bestiary (Red Hen Press, 2009). #KillersOfTheFlowerMoon #ElisePaschen #LilyGladstone #MartinScorsese #LeonardoDiCaprio #AcademyAwards #AcademyAwards2024 #Oscars #Oscars2024