Episode 01: Preview of Future Episodes

In this episode of Surviving Trump, host Bella Goode lays out the roadmap for the podcast, detailing what’s ahead in the coming weeks. From understanding the pillars of democracy to analyzing key players—Trump, Musk, the GOP, and right-wing influencers—this series serves as a revealing crash course in civics and political strategy.

Bella shares how the podcast evolved, why a structured approach to understanding democracy is crucial, and how listeners can engage in the fight to protect democratic institutions. Plus, hear about The Blue Choir, a rotating panel of everyday citizens lending their voices to the conversation.

If you're looking for clarity, strategy, and a sense of community in these challenging political times, this episode is your first step.

Next Episodes

Episode 02:  We cover the pillars of Free and Fair Elections and the Rule of Law: what the Constitution says, what actions Trump and his Administration are taking to chip away at democracy and what’s being done to stop them. 

Episode 03: We’ll explore two critical pillars:Checks and Balances – How Trump is bypassing safeguards meant to limit presidential power. Freedom of Speech & Press – How he’s controlling the narrative and silencing critics.

Transcript

Bella Goode  00:00

Hi everybody, and welcome to Surviving Trump. I'm Bella Goode. If you're listening to me right now, I'm guessing you share some level of concern, or actually, let's be real, outright fear about the future of our country and democracy. You're not alone. In fact, that's the whole point of this podcast. I want to take you back to last November. 

Like so many of you, I was devastated the election outcome. Well, it felt unfathomable. I struggled to wrap my mind around this new reality, and within a week, I knew I had to do something. That something started as a kernel of an idea, a podcast, a place to fight for democracy, to let off steam and to make sense of the madness. Now I'll be honest with you, Surviving Trump has evolved a lot. This is probably the fourth time I've written and recorded a preview episode. 

First I had the idea of focusing on headlines, but then I figured by the time I recorded them, they wouldn't be headlines anymore. Then I thought I'd split the podcast into two segments, one keeping you informed with evergreen topics like freedom of speech and voter rights. 

The second topic would talk about how to cope with a situation, the daily fire hose of executive orders. For this segment, I would draw upon my education and experience in Positive Psychology, which promotes the use of, for example, resilience, your character strengths, self efficacy and other tenants to help you manage the turmoil of your life, especially with Trump in office. I may return to this idea down the road, but for now, I'm taking another path. 

It occurred to me pretty quickly that if I was going to have a podcast on politics, I'd have to go back to school and take a course in civics. Even when I took civics in high school, I didn't really learn much. Hey, I was a teenager, and I was- I had more important things to do, like passing notes to my girlfriend than learning about the Supreme Court. One way to get caught up to speed, I thought would be to write the equivalent of a civics course for my podcast. This way we could all learn at the same time. 

This is basic knowledge that we should all have about democracy and what's at stake. What's at stake? Well, three simple words packed with huge implications, the answer should light a blow torch under each and every one of us to take action before it's too late. I will repeat this again and again. Democracy matters because it gives us a voice, it protects our freedoms and it keeps power in check. It's not perfect. It can be slow, it can be messy. We could get annoyed at it, but that's because it's built on debate and fairness. If we take it for granted, we risk losing it to an authoritarian rule where power goes unchecked, and history shows that once democracy is lost, it's a lot harder to get back, and that's why we have to defend it now. We will spend, or I will spend several episodes on learning about the core pillars of democracy and what's at stake with each one of them. 

Well, what are The Pillars of Democracy? Well, they're deeply rooted in the Constitution, but they also draw from broader values and principles that have evolved over time through laws, court decisions and what you might call common practice. I think of the pillars as a modern day version of the Constitution, and this is what we are defending. 

So after talking about The Pillars of Democracy, we move on to the players. Who are we up against in our fight for democracy, starting with a key muckety-mucks at the top. I'm talking about, yep, the Trumpster and Musk. I don't mean episodes- I'm not talking about episodes spent bemoaning their antics and absurdities. I want to know about their psychological profile and what's in their DNA, their motivations, the potential danger they represent to democracy and what can be done to stunt their progress. 

Does it change anything knowing that we are being led by certifiable monsters after Trump and musk, we look at voters, specifically the four factions of Republican voters who put Trump in charge and supposedly gave him a mandate for massive change. The faction to the Republican Party consists of The MAGAs, The White Nationalists, The Conservative Republicans and The Technocrats. 

So after the voters, let me see, then our next couple of episodes, we move on to the supporting players in this high stakes game, The Republican Loyalists who are enabling Trump and Musk, the cabinet and key appointees, the GOP loyalists in Congress, the House and the Senate, his supreme court supporters, which we know that they're there. We also talk about the ideology behind the mandates, like Project 2025, and America First. 

We also talk about the influencers. These are, oftentimes, these are people that you haven't heard about before, people like ViKtor Orbán of Hungary and a guy named Curtis Yarvin, who is a dark and scary soul, that's all I can tell you and then we'll talk about him later on. 

And finally, in this whole kind of Civics 101, we'll talk about the mouthpiece that is Trump and Musk's media apparatus, including social media platforms and far right boosters who amplify their messages. All this information is covered in what I think of, again, as a Civics 101 course. 

In the first 20 to 25 segments of this podcast, and with foundational knowledge in government and politics, the next four years should be more manageable. It should help you be more informed and to help you make decisions, and it should help you take action as the inevitable challenges arise. 

Well, what about Democrats you say? Are they anywhere in the picture? Are they one of the players? Well, quite frankly, you'll hear about Dems in every episode, mostly in terms of implications and possible actions and responses. Down the road, there will be much more focus, like the key Democrats, who's stepping up, who should step aside, and what game plan is there? What do we have to work with? Then we'll also talk about some of the grassroots movements and what actions we can take as ordinary citizens. 

Bottom line: this podcast is Surviving Trump, and no matter what the topic is, all roads lead back to democracy. Is it thriving, or is it slipping away? There's one other interesting aspect of this show I'd like to share. I call it The Blue Choir. Each week, I tap into a rotating panel of everyday people, you- like you and me, who care about saving democracy. They come from my network, their network and beyond. They're engaged, they're passionate, and they have something that they want to say. I pose a question to The Choir based on each week's topic, and the responses are then woven into the episode. It's not a static group. People join, people drop out, some share long thoughts, some hit us with some sharp one liners, but all of them care, and they want their voices to be heard. They give us views, quite frankly, from the center and from the left of center. 

So before we wrap up, I have two requests. One, leave a comment. The transcript for today's episode is available along with references and links. Start a discussion, ask questions, challenge ideas. This is our community. 

The second request is that leave a review. If this podcast resonates with you, let me know. If it doesn't, tell me that too. I want to get it right. Should I keep going? Should I tweak the approach? Your honesty will be invaluable to me. Oh, and also, follow me on Blue Sky @SurvivingTrump. 

And speaking of Blue Sky, here's a great post talking about The Big Ask. The Big Ask, what I would call is what all of us Democrats should be doing and how we stay engaged. So it's a guy who goes by the handle of Joe Katz. 

So Joe Katz says "Everything is dumb and terrible, and it's going to be dumb and terrible for a while. It's important to do what you can do to make it less dumb and terrible, and it's important to find a way to make some contentment for yourself in spite of everything being dumb and terrible." 

Oh, I think those are very wise words. Another way of saying it. This comes from lawyer and political commentator Joyce Vance, "It can be better as long as we all stay involved." 

Well, I hope she's right. So what I like to do after every episode is done is to leave it on a lighter note. And I usually end with something from Andy Borowitz, the political comedian. So this week, let me see what I have here. 

In a wide ranging interview on Thursday, former President Jimmy Carter said that the best part of heaven by far, is the knowledge that he will never see Donald J Trump again. "Oh, now don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the gift of eternal life", he said, "but an eternity without Trump is the greatest gift of all." 

So until next time, stay engaged, stay informed, and more importantly, stay in the fight. This is Bella Goode, signing off.