America and Britain: two countries separated by a common language but united by an authoritarian undertow that threatens to drown both in an anti-migrant, anti-climate, pro-Christian Nationalism dystopia.
So which country is winning Fash Gold? In a few hours Donald Trump will deliver what promises to be a State of the Union that will make Fidel Castro crawl out of his grave to scream, ¡BASTA! ¡NO MAS!
It will cap 55 days of 2026 in which his regime has kidnapped Venezuela’s head of state and seized control of its oil exports; threatened to invade Greenland; told former Allies that climate action is a threat to US interests; his ICE paramilitaries have murdered at least nine people including shooting US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretty in cold blood in broad daylight in Minneapolis; reversed the EPA endangerment finding about CO2 on which US climate regulation rests; all while deflecting attention from the millions of pages of Epstein Files. While behind the scenes FBI begins systematic targeting of climate activists, knocking on the doors of people who haven’t been near a protest in almost a decade, never mind a can of soup.
Professor Dana R. Fisher of American University returned to the pod to talk about all of that, and about her new Apocalyptic Optimist podcast and newsletter.
Green vs. Brown (or Turquoise) is the New British Politics
Meanwhile, here in the UK a crucial by-election in a formerly overwhelmingly Labour seat in Greater Manchester is framed as beginning of a political contest that will define the next decade and more: dark money-funded Reform vs the surging but less experienced Greens.
Britain has already jailed nonviolent climate protestors and restricted defenses in court, with ongoing debates about protest trials and labeling Palestine Action a terror group. The Gorton and Denton by-election seems to be between Reform, seeking to import Trump’s climate and migration agenda, and the surging Green Party, treating climate, inequality, and migration as realities to face without losing humanity. The show notes a single constituency poll with Green candidate Hannah Spencer ahead of Reform’s Matt Goodwin, with Labour (which has held the seat for a century) behind;
as Labour is consumed by Epstein-linked arrests and scandal involving Peter Mandelson and former Prince Andrew.
In an interview recorded late in 2025, Harriet Lamb, CEO of the Green Party of England and Wales, describes rapid growth following Zach Polanski’s leadership, with membership doubling to over 150,000 at time of recording - much increased since.
Lamb connects her background in international development and environmental and social justice to party politics, argues the UK has shifted into a multi-party system creating both dangers and opportunities, and emphasizes a “people and planet” platform focused on the cost-of-living crisis, inequality, wealth taxes, and strong public support for climate action. She discusses candidate development through a “Greens to Parliament” program aimed at building a diverse slate for 2029, and says coalition politics must protect Green principles and public trust, citing German coalition negotiations and the Scottish Greens’ Bute House agreement as examples.
00:00 Confrontation and Repression
01:35 Wicked Problems Returns
04:11 FBI Targets Climate Activists
07:42 Low Hanging Fruit and Autocracy
19:18 UK By-Election and Green Surge
29:32 Hope Surge and Outreach
31:28 Broad Coalition and Core Values
36:28 Vetting New Recruits
38:39 Road to Parliament and Coalitions
45:24 Milestones and Closing Reflections
No matter what happens, by the time the votes are counted in Gorton & Denton we may well be in a very different political world.
Wicked Problems will be back soon.
