The Fascism Barometer

Ejeris welcomes back movement strategist, organizer, and longtime friend Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson for a necessary and informative debrief of the 2026 midterm elections. Ash-Lee offers a clear-eyed assessment of what the results tell us about grassroots organizing, particularly from the perspectives of Black, Southern, and marginalized communities that have too often been ignored and written off. Despite historic election victories, the fascism barometer remains dangerously high. Ash-Lee and Ejeris discuss what it will take to protect election results, ensure every vote is counted, and why we must resist the temptation to mistake electoral success for lasting political power. This vital conversation makes clear that the future depends on how we organize. This is an all gas, no brakes moment!
You can find the tools you need to fight fascism at our Resource Hub.
Connect with Ejeris Dixon
Donate to the Fascism Barometer, and help us create more episodes and resources
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Full Transcript is available at fascismbarometer.org.
Podcast production by Phil Surkis

In this deeply personal Midnight Musings episode, Ejeris reflects on the recent death of their mother, and the ways her life helped shape the vision behind The Fascism Barometer.
Ejeris shares memories of growing up talking politics with their mother, watching her confront the cruelty and division of the current political moment, and carrying forward her belief that a more just world is possible. Ejeris also reflects on a question that has long guided their organizing: are we building movements that ordinary people can actually understand, and feel welcomed into?
This episode is a remembrance, a thank you, and a call to keep building the kind of movement that can bring more of us in.

Because even in the middle of the night, the barometer is still rising. And so is our responsibility to respond.
You can find the tools you need to fight fascism at our Resource Hub.
Connect with Ejeris Dixon
Donate to the Fascism Barometer, and help us create more episodes and resources
And when you feel the pressure, share this pod, and visit fascismbarometer.org
Podcast production by Phil Surkis

Scholar, researcher, and former organizer Daniel HoSang joins Ejeris for a deeply clarifying conversation about how people can be drawn to movements that also target their communities. Daniel challenges the idea that shifts toward MAGA among communities of color are simply about misinformation or a political conversion. Instead, he points to a breakdown in civic life where people have lost connection to the institutions and communities that once helped them make sense of the world.
This conversation explores how we talk to the people in our lives being pulled toward MAGA, why shame does not work, and how rebuilding trust, connection, and collective life may be one of the most important strategies we have in the fight against rising fascism.
You can find the tools you need to fight fascism at our Resource Hub.
Connect with Ejeris Dixon
Donate to the Fascism Barometer, and help us create more episodes and resources
And when you feel the pressure, share this pod, and visit fascismbarometer.org
Full Transcript is available at fascismbarometer.org.
Podcast production by Phil Surkis

In this "Midnight Musing", Ejeris argues that opposing fascism can’t mean simply defending a status quo that is already failing so many people. It also requires looking inward at who progressive movements haven’t reached, who they’ve pushed away. Ejeris imagines movements that listen as well as they speak, welcome people without requiring fluency in political language, create tangible change in people’s lives, and offer something more compelling than opposition alone. Because defeating fascism isn’t only about building a powerful “no.” It’s also about creating a “yes”. It's about creating a clear, welcoming, liberatory vision of what we want to build together.



Because even in the middle of the night, the barometer is still rising. And so is our responsibility to respond.

You can find the tools you need to fight fascism at our Resource Hub.

Connect with Ejeris Dixon

Donate to the Fascism Barometer, and help us create more episodes and resources

And when you feel the pressure, share this pod, and visit fascismbarometer.org

Podcast production by Phil Surkis

Ejeris sits down with organizer, strategist, and Mijente co-founder Marisa Franco for a layered conversation about Latino communities, rising fascism and authoritarianism, and the political failures that brought us to this moment. Marisa breaks down why the debate over whether to call this fascism may matter less than whether movements can organize people around their needs, real consequences, and the futures they want to fight for.

Together, Ejeris and Marisa explore why MAGA and Trump’s “Mar-a-Lago politic” are resonating for some Latinos, the credibility crisis facing the Democratic Party, and shifts in Latino voting patterns. This conversation asks how we resist fascism without pretending “normal” was ever enough, and how we organize toward something people can actually believe in.

You can find the tools you need to fight fascism at our Resource Hub.

Connect with Ejeris Dixon

Donate to the Fascism Barometer, and help us create more episodes and resources

And when you feel the pressure, share this pod, and visit fascismbarometer.org

Full Transcript is available at fascismbarometer.org. 

Podcast production by Phil Surkis