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Hi, everyone. It's

0:02

Rachel Maddow. I'm excited to tell you

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about a new original podcast

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that I'm co-hosting with my longtime

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producer and friend, Isaac Davy Aronson.

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It's called Rachel Maddow Presents Dejan

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News.

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So much in the news these days

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feels overwhelming. We find ourselves thinking,

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I don't think anything like this has ever happened

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before. But what if that's wrong? That

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in fact, we have contended with something like this before.

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Would that help us understand what's happening now? Each

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week on Dejan News, we'll bring you a story from

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history that has uncanny resonance with

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something in the headlines today.

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Retire the word unprecedented.

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Bring back uncanny. For a preview,

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you can stay right here and listen. To hear the

0:41

first episode and get the whole series, search

0:44

for Rachel Maddow Presents Dejan

0:46

News wherever you're listening right now, and

0:49

then just click follow. Dejan

0:51

News. D-E-J-A-N-E-W-S.

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The

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start of this story never gets

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any less surprising, no matter how many times

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it resurfaces. It's

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sometimes called the business plot, but

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that's too forgettable a name. The

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unforgettable name associated with it is

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the hero of the business plot, a

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man named Smedley Darlington

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Butler. It's my great pleasure in introducing to

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you, Major General Smedley

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Butler, a retired of

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the US Marine

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Corps.

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In the early 20th century, Smedley

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Butler was not just a great name. He

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was a household name. He was a Marine General.

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He was the most decorated

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Marine in US history at the time.

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And in the mid 1930s, Smedley Butler

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went public with this shocking claim that

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a shadowy cabal of

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rich and powerful business interests had

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tried to recruit him to lead a

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coup, a fascist coup.

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coup against President Franklin

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D. Roosevelt. I appeared before

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the congressional committee, the highest

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representation of the American people

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under subpoena, to tell what I

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knew of activities, which I believe might

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lead to an attempt to set up a fascist

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dictatorship. The plan as

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outlined to me was to form an organization

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of veterans,

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to use as a bluff or as a club at least,

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to intimidate the government and break

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down our democratic institutions. The

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upshot of the whole... That's the real Smedley Butler.

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You might have seen the movie Amsterdam that

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came out last year. The plot

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of that movie, or at least part of the plot, was sort of loosely

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based on this story and it was Robert

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De Niro who played the part of the Smedley

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Butler character.

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I've been offered money to become

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the self-appointed leader of

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the veterans, veterans like you. This

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story, the Smedley Butler

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business plot story, it

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does get sort of re-remembered every

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few years. And like I said,

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every time it resurfaces, it's still

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surprising, it's still unnerving.

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And after the January 6th attack on the U.S.

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Capitol, when we all went scrambling for things

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that might help us understand what had just happened,

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the Smedley Butler business plot story

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had another

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one of its moments in the press. The

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Washington Post in particular retold the

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story a week after January

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6th. They said, quote, as the

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dust settles after the pro-Trump attack

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on the U.S. Capitol, the similarities

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are hard to ignore. And

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that's absolutely true for sure.

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But here is something that I did not know. Inside

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the story of Smedley Butler

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and the business plot, that failed coup, there's

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an echo of January 6th

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that's more direct and maybe more

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illuminating for us now in It's

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this other part of the story

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about who exactly tried to

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recruit. Smedley Butler to this plot, why

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they picked him as their choice to lead it,

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and most importantly, why they thought

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it would work. Because

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it turns out the people who came to

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Smedley Butler and tried to recruit

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him to lead an army of veterans to march

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on the Capitol and overthrow FDR, the

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reason they thought this idea would work is

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that they had just seen it work. They

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had seen, in real life, a

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mob attempt to storm the seat

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of a democratic government to try to block

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the peaceful transfer of power, to

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install a post-democratic elections

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don't matter anymore, far-right

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fascism-friendly leader instead.

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They had seen a mob storm

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the seat of government to try to pull that off,

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and they'd seen it work. They

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had seen the mob succeed.

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From MSNBC, I'm Rachel

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Maddow. And I'm Isaac Davie Aronson, and

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this is Rachel Maddow Presents Déjà News.

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To hear the first episode and get the whole series,

5:03

search for Rachel Maddow Presents Déjà

5:06

News wherever you're listening right now, and

5:08

then just click follow.