Cliff’s Note
Today’s episode is exactly why we do this. Where else are you getting a nuclear policy expert explaining why Trump just made the world more dangerous, followed by a former MAGA insider revealing how the movement actually works from the inside — all in one show?
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Trump’s Iran “deal” is already falling apart — and the consequences could be nuclear. On today’s AMPED UP, Cliff Schecter and David Shuster break down how Trump’s threats of annihilation against Iran have backfired spectacularly: Iran is now charging a $2 billion toll on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, effectively boosting its own economy by 15% while American consumers foot the bill. Then Dr. Rebecca Lubot, author of Keeping a Finger on the Button: Presidential Continuity in the Nuclear Age, joins to explain why Trump’s nuclear brinkmanship has crossed a threshold no modern president—not even Putin—has crossed, and why China, Russia, and France are all changing their nuclear doctrines in response.
In the second half, former MAGA activist Rich Logis tells his powerful story of going from writing for Fox News and The Federalist to founding Leaving MAGA, a nonprofit helping people escape the movement. A Trump campaign volunteer who once called Democrats “worse than Nazis,” Rich describes how diversifying his news sources brick by brick dismantled his worldview—and why the Uvalde shooting was his final breaking point. His message to those still in MAGA: you’re not alone, and there’s a way out. This is essential viewing for anyone trying to understand how people get pulled into extremism and how they find their way back.
