Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams

This week Stacey is joined for a wide-ranging interview with best-selling author and professor, Roxane Gay. They discuss the difference between non-violence and civility in fighting against ICE, the hypocrisy exposed by the Epstein Files, and what sets today’s student activism apart from previous generations. Stick around to learn the importance of attending a local city council meeting, and much more. 

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While the Trump administration’s war of choice with Iran continues to spread violence, confusion, and shocks for global markets, ICE’s relentless campaign is extending to immigrants who were previously considered safe, like DACA recipients. This week, Stacey talks about all of the above with author, MS Now host, and host of the “Why Is This Happening” podcast, Chris Hayes. They also delve into the attention economy and how Trump capitalizes on it, the importance of local races, and ask if Democrats are truly ready to bring fresh ideas to elections.

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More than a week into the war with Iran, the fallout continues.. The Trump administration’s strikes  have caused the deaths of  more than a thousand civilians, thrown the Middle East into chaos, and led to  oil and gas prices  spiking globally. This week, Stacey speaks to Mehdi Hasan, founder and Editor-in-chief of Zeteo, about the motivations behind the war, the importance of independent media in covering the conflict, and what history can teach us about foreign policy consequences that play out over decades.

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This week, Stacey opens the show with the war the Trump administration launched against Iran, a deadly and expensive undertaking pursued by the president without seeking congressional approval. Then, she turns her attention to the upcoming Academy Awards and examines the role the film and entertainment industry plays in America’s current political and cultural moment. Stacey is joined by Sam Sanders, host of The Sam Sanders Show on KCRW, and Hunter Harris, host of the Lemme Say This podcast and author of the Hung Up column on Substack. They discuss the movies and moments with political messages this ye...

Latinos are a growing and increasingly powerful part of America’s electorate, with both parties fighting for their favor. While 48% of Latino voters chose Trump in 2024, recent polls show that many are having second thoughts. This week, Stacey is joined by Chuck Rocha, founder and president of Solidarity Strategies, and Clarissa Martinez de Castro, Vice President of the Latino Vote Initiative at Unidos US. They discuss common assumptions and misconceptions about the issues animating these voters, , how ICE and Trump’s deportation policies are backfiring, and what it means for Democrats to authentically engage with diverse Latino communities on a wi...

America is in an affordability crisis. Basic needs like groceries, rent, childcare, and healthcare keep getting more expensive, while wages struggle to keep up. Seventy-four percent of Americans say the economy is in poor shape, and for many Millennials and Gen Zers, the idea of owning a home is becoming laughable. Yet Donald Trump and his MAGA allies insist the economy has never been better. This week, Stacey sits down with U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal and New York Times Business Reporter Talmon Smith to break down the growing disconnect between what Americans are feeling in their wallets and...

The media landscape in the US continues to undergo drastic transformations, with billionaire ownership and corporate consolidation leading to mass layoffs and content censorship. This week, Stacey is joined by Joy Reid, host of the Joy Reid Show and the first black woman to host a primetime program on cable news. They talk about the layoffs at the Washington Post, why she transitioned into independent media, what is lost when Black journalists are no longer at the table, and what people can do to inform themselves in an era where billionaires with agendas control the news.

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Voting rights are the Trump administration’s next big target. This week, Stacey is joined by Pod Save America’s Jon Favreau to discuss the aftermath of a raid by federal authorities in Fulton County, GA for boxes of election related materials from the 2020 cycle. They also talk about the Democrats leveraged a government shutdown to insist on ICE reforms, the latest polling data,  how this all intersects with the continued ICE raids in Minnesota, and what it means for Democrats to lead in this moment. 

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The unjust murder of Alex Pretti is the latest ICE killing in the city of Minneapolis, and he joins a growing body count for DHS. Protestors continue to flood the streets across Minnesota as the Trump administration and Republicans mislead the public as they continue to perpetuate state violence. This week, Stacey is joined by Hysteria’s Erin Ryan to discuss the aftermath of Pretti’s death, the escalation of federal actions in Minnesota, the connection to other assaults on Americans and what Democrats need to do in response. Then, Stacey and Erin turn to the March for Life rall...

This week, Stacey begins by offering a response to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ ridiculous assertion that Americans could save money if only they limited their dinners to a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, and a corn tortilla. Then she speaks to Jelani Cobb, Dean of the Columbia Journalism School and Author of “Three or More Is A Riot” to talk about what historic parallels can teach us about authoritarianism and activism in this moment. As protests grow in response to violent ICE encounters in Minnesota and other parts of the country, history offers insight into what ordinary Americ...

The killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis has sparked outrage and protests, but also  an outright defense of the use of state violence by the Trump administration and its allies. This week, Stacey is joined by NYU Law Professor and Strict Scrutiny host Melissa Murray to talk about the fallout from Minneapolis, the legal ways citizens can fight back against ICE, and the politicization of the Justice Department and the investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

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If the first week of 2026 is any indication, President Trump and his regime has their eyes set on controlling not only the United States, but the entire western hemisphere. This week, Stacey talks about the administration’s brazen move to attack Venezuela and send a special forces team in to kidnap President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. She’s joined by Ricardo Zuniga, founding partner of Dinamica Americas, to talk about how the dictator came to power in Venezuela, where the opposition currently stands, and how the country’s oil reserves are inextricably linked to its political fortunes. They also c...

In the last episode of 2025, Assembly Required is focusing on our audience. Stacey reflects on the lessons learned this year and answers listener questions about everything from how to defeat authoritarianism to what her favorite books were. We also hear stories from listeners who took action in their communities this year. Joining the conversation is the show’s Associate Producer, Farrah Safari. 

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

The internet was originally seen as a tool of progress and innovation, but the reality has turned out to be economically, politically, and morally fraught. The question isn’t whether technology is good or bad. It’s who it serves, who it harms, and who profits. Our dependence hasn’t just created better gadgets, it’s created a new economic ruling class. Companies that don’t just dominate the market; they are the market. Platforms that don’t just reflect culture; they steer it. This week, Stacey is joined by former Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition...

This week on Assembly Required, Stacey sits down with Alex Wagner, veteran journalist and host of the new Crooked Media podcast “Runaway Country”. Together, they unpack Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s alleged order to execute the two remaining survivors of an American missile strike on a fishing boat suspected of drug smuggling in the Caribbean, and the rare moves in Congress to investigate the matter. They also talk about how the Trump administration is using the shooting of two National Guard members in D.C. to further anti-immigrant policies, what the Republicans’ razor-thin House majority means for the 2026 midterms...

Live from Crooked Con, Shaniqua McClendon, Vice President of Politics at Crooked Media, hosts Maurice Mitchell of the Working Families Party, Ezra Levin of Indivisible, DeRay Mckesson of Pod Save the People, Kate Barr of Can’t Win Victory Fund, and Melissa Morales of Somos Votantes to talk about the best ways to contact and engage the low-information voters we know we desperately need. Then, Shaniqua McClendon sits down with the chairman of the DNC, Ken Martin to answer questions about how the party is rebuilding and where we go from here. 

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The battle for 2026 has already begun, and it’s all about the maps. Step three in the 10 steps to authoritarianism is to weaken competing powers, and step 10 is to end democracy itself by disrupting election systems and restricting who can vote so no meaningful opposition can ever win again. In California, voters passed Prop 50, the Election Rigging Response Act as a way to fire back at Republican gerrymandering in Texas that was designed to steal power by making it harder for voters to make their voices heard. Now, the battle lines for a competitive democracy are being redrawn, with pa...

Late night comedians have become some of the most recent high profile targets for Donald Trump and Republicans, because like most wannabe authoritarians, they can dish it out, but certainly can’t take a joke. This week, Stacey is joined by comedian, podcast host, writer, and former host of Full Frontal, Samantha Bee to discuss comedy’s role in pushing back against political censorship with relentless humor. They take on the current state of late night comedy, the very real threats to truth and free speech, and how we can all process this very fraught moment. 

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Authoritarianism is on the rise globally, from hard-line leaders in Europe to despots in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Wherever they emerge, these leaders are doing whatever it takes to stay in power, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no different. In this episode of Assembly Required, Stacey looks at how Netanyahu has overseen the erosion of Democracy in his country, and how it’s coincided with the devastating campaign of violence carried out against the Palestinian people after Israel was attacked on October 7th — a war that experts and allies across the globe, and across...

The act of protest is a vital, visible, and essential tool in resisting the fall of democracy, and it takes commitment,  disruption, and denial – three  of the ten steps to freedom and power. While protest gives us a platform to voice our grievances, foster solidarity, and demand change, it is not the only tool we have in our toolbox. When combined with other forms of direct nonviolent action — such as strikes, economic boycott, documenting abuses of power, and providing mutual aid like meals , and more — the impact multiplies. And one of the leading scholars of resistance has a theory: if just...

National Guardsmen are being deployed into Democratic-led cities under the guise of fighting crime. ICE, using military-style tactics, are racially profiling and terrorizing communities and brutalizing citizens and undocumented immigrants alike. Trump and the Republicans cynically describe millions of peaceful protestors raising their voices against authoritarianism as a violent threat. Taken separately, each of these events is disturbing. Together, they paint a stark and terrifying portrait of America in 2025. The Trump/Republican regime’s campaign against so-called “enemies within” has unleashed a wave of violence across the country. Step Nine of the Ten Steps to Autocracy  is militarizing law enforce...

Fashion isn’t just functional — it’s transformative. It can be a form of political speech, like when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines in a white gown emblazoned with “Tax the Rich.” It can also be a statement of resistance, as when the Black Panthers adopted black berets, a uniform that came to symbolize unity and power. Understanding the language of fashion is key to understanding the times we live in. It’s a translator for anyone trying to navigate this moment and one of the ten steps to reclaiming freedom and power as we challenge norms and assert our identity. Th...

Knowledge is power — a familiar cliché, but one that’s never felt more urgent. Trump and his Republican lackeys have launched alarming efforts to distort facts, manipulate evidence, and dilute the truth in order to disempower us. Very little has been left untouched, and the harm to scientific inquiry, the study of history, and institutions that preserve historical memory will be hard to reverse. Understanding our history is how we know that despite the dark chapters, this country is resilient. Knowledge is the key to being able to take action to shape our futures. This systematic campaign to upend reali...

One of authoritarianism’s core tactics is claiming the system is broken beyond repair and only one man can fix it. Enter Donald Trump. He’s reshaped the Republican Party around his insidious MAGA ideology, casting Democrats as enemies bent on destroying the country. For centuries, America’s two-party system has kept Republicans and Democrats locked in battle, with third parties rarely breaking through. But today, to defeat autocracy and its effects, something beyond the binary is required. This week, Stacey is joined by Jane Coaston, host of What a Day at Crooked Media and a former card-carrying libertarian, along...

Propaganda is a powerful tool for an autocrat. It’s crucial to step six of the Ten Steps to Autocracy: weaken the truth and fill the void with propaganda and lies. And since RFK Jr. allied with Trump and the Republicans before the 2024 election, the Make America Healthy Again movement has grown into a juggernaut of misinformation. You’ve seen it on your feeds - one minute you’re watching a recipe video or checking out someone’s post about a new workout, and then suddenly you’re listening to a young woman talk about how birth control is impure or...

On this week’s episode of Assembly Required, Stacey Abrams breaks down the “Ten Steps to Autocracy,” a framework inspired by Princeton Professor Kim Scheppele that outlines the warning signs of a country sliding toward authoritarian rule. We’re watching Trump and the Republicans check off those steps in plain sight: expand and consolidate executive power, break down government institutions, sow distrust in the media, scapegoate vulnerable communities, incentivize violence, and their final goal: undermine free and fair elections in order to cement authoritarian rule. Today, Stacey is joined by Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent at Mother Jones and auth...

As back-to-school season kicks off, the Trump Administration has gutted the Department of Education, and his Republican allies in Congress have followed suit by slashing funds for our public schools. Locally, GOP governors and state legislators are jamming through private school voucher bills paid for with public dollars. That means rollbacks to special education services, massive cuts to Title I grants that support low-income students, and reduced civil rights enforcement in public schools. And that’s not all – the Republican budget bill slashes funding for free meals for students while ICE is showing up on playgrounds and at school drop...

The Assembly Required team is taking a break this week but we’re excited to bring you an episode of Happier with Gretchen Rubin featuring our very own Stacey Abrams.

In this Roundtable discussion, we explore the role of romance in fiction and real life. Author and political leader Stacey Abrams explains how she weaves it into her suspense novels by focusing on authentic human connection, while therapist Lori Gottlieb brings her perspective on love off the page. Together, we look at how romance is imagined, experienced, and sustained today.

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Authoritarianism takes many forms - including stripping women of their rights. This summer marked three years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, eradicating the federal constitutional right to abortion and handing states the power to impose extreme restrictions or outright bans. The fallout has been devastating. Women have been hospitalized, dragged into court, and some have died as a direct result of Roe’s reversal. On this week’s Assembly Required, Stacey Abrams is joined by New York Times  best-selling author Jessica Valenti to break down the current state of the fight for abortion access, and by Monica Simpson—executi...

In the Ten Steps to Autocracy, step four is convincing citizens that democracy just isn’t working. If democracy isn’t working, then people will be seduced by populist promises and grievance politics. That’s why Democrats and the rest of us standing up to autocracy must have a positive vision of the future, and a realistic path to get there. One idea that has taken off among those thinking about Democrats’ next act is the “abundance agenda.” Crafted in their co-authored book Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue for a simple but powerful idea: Democrats need to operate from...

Christian nationalism is an extremist, anti-democratic ideology rooted in the belief that the United States should be a nation for Christians to the exclusion of all others. In modern times, the Trump administration and its Republican allies have wielded this ideology as a weapon to divide Americans and implement an agenda via plans like the infamous Project 2025 that eviscerates the rights of immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community, questions the rights of women to vote, restores a freedom to discriminate against others and targets reproductive rights. This week, in response to a listener question asking what Christian nationalism has to...

Donald Trump has been called many things: authoritarian, racist, liar, scam artist. Stacey Abrams is adding one more…aspiring autocrat. Inspired by Princeton professor Kim Scheppele, Stacey  has remixed the “The Ten Steps to Autocracy” to reflect today’s political reality. And embedded in that framework is a chilling move the administration and Republicans have played repeatedly since inauguration: attack the media until no one knows what’s true. 

Just this year alone, Trump has launched frivolous lawsuits against  CBS, ABC, and the Wall Street Journal. He banned the Associated Press from the White House press pool for months. A...

On July 4th, Trump signed the devastating and dangerous Republican "Megabill" into law — a sweeping measure that targets the young and the vulnerable to further enrich the wealthy. But we’re all collateral damage. Among its many cruelties: new Medicaid restrictions that could strip coverage from 11.8 million Americans over the next decade, a cost shift in SNAP that may cut food benefits for 22.3 million families, and a $5 trillion debt ceiling hike. While working and middle class families across the board will suffer, some groups stand to lose even more, like women of color, young millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alph...

In the very first edition of Assembly Required’s listener mailbag, Stacey Abrams tackles your wide-ranging, urgent questions—from politics to pop culture. She dives into MAGA’s Epstein-fueled outrage, breaks down Trump’s mega-bill, and fully embraces her inner nerd with takes on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, her all-time favorite romance novels, and much more! 

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

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Political humor is more than just a distraction. It’s where punchlines meet headlines and chaos turns into catharsis. It offers us moments of levity amid an overwhelming, anxiety-fueled news cycle. In an America galloping towards autocracy, where the political landscape shifts by the hour and human rights teeter on the edge of policy, humor isn't just helpful…it’s essential. This week, Stacey sits down with someone who knows how to find the funny in the bleakest of times. Amber Ruffin, comedian, writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of Have I Got News for You, joins...

National parks and public lands tell us who we are - and remind us of how we fit into the grander scheme of things. They give people the chance to connect with the awe-inspiring beauty of nature, create jobs and fuel economic growth, and preserve vital historical and cultural landmarks. But despite their broad, bipartisan popularity, Republicans appear determined to dismantle our parks and auction off our natural history to the highest bidder. Back in February, the administration began gutting the National Park Service—firing over a thousand employees. And the destruction hasn’t stopped. At the center of this...

Late June marks the end of the Supreme Court term—a moment when some of the most consequential decisions in American life are handed down. At stake are rulings that could reshape democracy and redefine or limit civil rights. Still pending: major cases on the future of birthright citizenship, transgender rights, the Affordable Care Act’s coverage of preventive care services, and more. This week, Stacey sits down with Leah Litman, University of Michigan law professor, co-host of Strict Scrutiny, and New York Times bestselling author of Lawless, to break down SCOTUS’ latest decisions and preview what to expect in the...

Last week, ICE stormed through Los Angeles, raiding Home Depots, warehouses, and schools in a cruel, targeted crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Those raids sparked a wave of protests as thousands of Angelenos marched through downtown, denouncing the Trump administration’s unjust actions. What began as largely peaceful demonstrations escalated after Trump defied both the California governor and LA mayor by deploying the National Guard and the Marines to the city. It was a deliberate show of force and a warning to other blue states: this is what happens when you resist. But LA didn’t back down. Over the week...

Winning elections starts now, and that’s only the beginning. The way we get our news has always evolved, and today we face a fractured media landscape that makes it harder to reach people consistently. The American right has often been at the forefront of navigating these waters by  finding compelling messengers and putting them on new platforms that reach  voters, from the rise of talk radio in the 80s to Fox News, TikTok and YouTube today. That innovation has too often led to domination of these information ecosystems, and we can see the impact in the results of the...

The U.S. birth rate is falling, and the Trump administration has a solution: Make. More. Babies. But instead of expanding support for families—through childcare, reproductive healthcare access, or paid leave—they’re turning to policies touted by a set of right-wing members of a movement called pronatalism, which includes Christian nationalists and tech-industry eugenicists who see increasing the birth rate as an existential mission, for a select few. Today’s pronatalists include figures like Elon Musk – a father of at least 14 children himself – who only want to encourage white, conservative Americans to have larger families; an idea that has ter...