Flipping Tables

• 44. Home for the Holidays- How Do I Have This Conversation?

  When I was at the protests in DC a sweet girl came up to me and asked how to start talking when you're afraid and I worry I was too harsh. I said something along the lines of "you just have to start". We are past the point of being complicit in silence- and that doesn't mean that these conversations especially with family aren't hard. Starting can look like "If you continue to use racist and dehumanizing language I'm going to leave" and walking out of the room when they continue. There's so much power in a walk out. Starting can look like "I believe in loving and supporting people of all faiths, genders, sexuality and races and I'm not going to compromise on this."Starting can look like "Didn't Jesus say that loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself were the most important commands? Since when has love been demonizing, name calling and belittling people?"In this episode, which is by no means comprehensive, I talk about some of the big "trigger" issues we see with Christian nationalism and right wing movements. This will be one to save and re-listen to. It's a lot of information but on the first listen, just try to take one thing. This month will be a lot of calls, cards, family events. Take one thing at a time, one resistance at a time and one courageous push back at a time. You won't always get it right and thats ok. When you know deep down what you truly believe it gets easier and as you practice, it will become safe and you will become a safe space.

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• 43. The Change We Want to See- Trevor Silva and My Cluck Hut

  This episode is brought to you by Ground News. Subscribe at groundnews.com/tables for 40% off their Vantage PlanIf you've seen the amazing ads on instagram from a soap company that is very openly ANTI fascist, yes the same ads I play the resistance fairy godmother, today you meet the owners. Trevor Silva and his wife Jennifer are the founders of My Cluck Hut, a no waste, inclusive, sustainable, "pay a freaking living wage" company. This is the story of how My Cluck Hut was born out of a desire to be the one who does better instead of waiting for everyone else to do it. And the protest we mention here is the on that happened in DC last weekend - thank you so much to everyone who attended!

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• 42. The Family- Christian Nationalist Power

  This episode is brought to you by ground news. Subscribe at groundnews.com/monteThis episode uncovers the hidden history and modern influence of The Family. A secretive religious–political network that has shaped American power since the 1930s. Founded by Abraham Vereide and built on the belief that God works through “key men,” The Family cultivated presidents, senators, foreign leaders, and global elites through private prayer circles, back-channel diplomacy, and the National Prayer Breakfast. We trace their role in anti-labor politics, Cold War foreign policy, international human-rights abuses, scandal cover-ups, and their deep connections to the Trump era, where “Jesus plus nothing” theology helped justify Christian nationalism and the erosion of church–state separation. Drawing from documented scholarship and investigative reporting, this episode reveals a movement that has remained influential precisely because it operates in the shadows.As always ad free and thank you for your support. SourcesSharlet, Jeff. The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. HarperCollins, 2008.Sharlet, Jeff. C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. Little, Brown and Company, 2010.Kruse, Kevin M. One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. Basic Books, 2015.Williams, Daniel K. God’s Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right. Oxford University Press, 2010.Dochuk, Darren. From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism. W.W. Norton, 2011.Gage, Beverly. The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror. Oxford University Press, 2009.Martin, William. With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America. Broadway Books, 1996.Callahan, Richard J. Jr. “The Invention of Corporate America’s Invention of Christian America.” The Marginalia Review of Books, 2020.Balmer, Randall. “The Religious Right and the Family Values Crusade.” Journal of Church and State, vol. 52, no. 3, 2010, pp. 370–394.Butler, Anthea. “Race, Religion, and the American Presidency: The Faith Factor.” Journal of American History, vol. 99, no. 1, 2012.Clark, Elizabeth A. “Invisible Hands and Divine Order: Theology and the Political Economy of American Fundamentalism.” Religion and American Culture, vol. 18, no. 2, 2008.The Washington Post archives on the National Prayer Breakfast (1953-present).The New York Times coverage of Doug Coe and Fellowship Foundation operations.Religion Dispatches (University of Southern California Annenberg) – multiple investigations into The Family’s political network.Guernica Magazine: “Christ Über Alles” interview with Jeff Sharlet.The Humanist: “The Family: More Gilead than Godly.”Encyclopaedia Britannica: “The Family (international religious movement).”Library of Congress Congressional Records on the National Prayer Breakfast (1953-1970s).Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College – correspondence and records on Vereide and early ICL initiatives.

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• 41. William Randolph Hearst and the Legacy of Yellow Journalism

  William Randolph Hearst was one of the most powerful and controversial figures in American media history — a man whose newspapers didn’t just report the news, but created it. Rising from the son of a wealthy mining family to the head of a sprawling media empire, Hearst revolutionized journalism through bold headlines, emotional storytelling, and sensationalism that came to define “yellow journalism.” His rivalry with Joseph Pulitzer ignited a circulation war that prioritized scandal over substance, blurring the line between truth and spectacle and forever changing how the public consumed information.But Hearst’s influence extended far beyond print. His newspapers helped fan the flames of the Spanish-American War, demonstrated the political might of mass media, and paved the way for today’s era of opinion-driven journalism. Though his empire eventually declined — and his life inspired Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane — Hearst’s legacy endures in every media outlet that trades outrage for engagement. His story is both a warning and a blueprint for the modern information age.Sourceshttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1OrdIlOeSdw3i7lKSJNaBM-YcGUMS9qIUzfIMJloGKTA/edit?usp=sharing

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• 40. HOW DID WE GET HERE? -with Timothy J Heaphy

  Last summer here in Nashville, there were 8 neo-Nazi marches. What is social media’s role in fueling — or even enabling — political violence? How do algorithmic echo chambers, disinformation loops, encrypted organizing platforms, and the erosion of trust in institutions converge to create real-world harm? And what can be done to hold systems and actors accountable before the spiral becomes irreversible?To guide that conversation, we’re honored to have Timothy J. Heaphy with us. His vantage is rare: He’s been on the front lines of investigating two of the most consequential episodes of recent American unrest — Charlottesville in 2017 and the January 6, 2021 Capitol siege — and in his new book Harbingers: What January 6 and Charlottesville Reveal About Rising Threats to American Democracy, he tells both the story of how these events unfolded and the deeper dynamics behind them. Timothy Heaphy’s career spans decades of legal, prosecutorial, and public service work, giving him deep institutional insight and investigative experience. A graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A. and J.D., 1991), he spent over a decade as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., and later in the Western District of Virginia, handling a range of federal prosecutions. After moving into private practice, he was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2009 to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, where he oversaw major investigations into corruption, fraud, civil rights, and national security.Following his tenure, Heaphy returned to private practice and later became University Counsel at UVA. In 2017, he authored Charlottesville’s independent report on the “Unite the Right” rally, and in 2021, he was appointed chief investigative counsel for the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, directing its investigative and legal teams. He also founded The Fountain Fund, a nonprofit supporting reentry for formerly incarcerated individuals. Throughout his career, Heaphy has combined legal expertise, public service, and investigative leadership in some of the most consequential inquiries of recent years.In his book, Harbingers, Heaphy brings that rich background to bear on two momentous acts of political violence: the 2017 Charlottesville rally and the January 6 Capitol attack. He doesn’t just rehash the facts — he shows how he built investigative teams, how he sifted through communications, how he probed decision-making failures in law enforcement and government, and how social media and digital networks played roles in planning, mobilization, and escalation. In today’s episode, we’ll use Harbingers not just as narrative backbone, but as a portal into deeper inquiry:How did social media architectures and incentives — content moderation policies, recommendation systems, coordinated groups — intersect with extremist organization and violence?Where did institutions (local government, law enforcement, federal agencies) fail to anticipate or respond — and why?What are the paths forward for accountability, reform, civic resilience, and prevention?So let’s dive in, first by asking: when does online grievance cross the line toward violence — and what makes that line blur in 21st-century politics?

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