Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra

Audio drama about espionage and authoritarianism in post-war America AI summary

Rachel Maddow, MS NOW Visit website › History · EN · 21 episodes · latest 2026-02-12

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What it is about

As a new authoritarian movement rises in American politics, stoked by one of the country’s most outrageous demagogues, there is an all-out international manhunt for an American traitor. The U.S. Army’s Nazi war crimes trials in Germany have been infiltrated by a spy -- a mole for the other side. A gruesome foreign influence operation unfolds in Washington. A blackmail plot turns deadly in the U.S. Senate. A Hail Mary scheme to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes rattles democracy’s cage. With the line between the violent ultra-right and mainstream American politics fraying beyond recognition, with the FBI always one step behind their quarry, Americans of all stripes step up to confront a seemingly unstoppable, ascendant, anti-democratic force.

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Episode 8: Mystery Man

2024-08-05 · 1 hr 12 min · Season 2, episode 8

With the backing of an eccentric billionaire and powerful voices on the American far-right, a high-stakes effort to make Sen. Joseph McCarthy president surfaces at the Republican convention, as the years-long manhunt…
Episode 7: Mobilized

2024-07-29 · 51 min · Season 2, episode 7

With Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy facing the most serious challenge of his political life -- a looming censure vote in the U.S. Senate -- McCarthy's most fervent supporters raise up an army to fight in his defense.…
Episode 6: Under Pressure

2024-07-22 · 53 min · Season 2, episode 6

As Sen. Joseph McCarthy's activities -- and his troubling connections to those on the ultra right -- are exposed in the press, Democratic Sen. Lester Hunt launches a final effort to take McCarthy on and rein in his…
Episode 5: Coming Home

2024-07-15 · 53 min · Season 2, episode 5

The U.S. government’s search for American fascist Francis Yockey picks up steam as Yockey secretly returns home to America and joins forces with the growing pro-Nazi American ultra right. With investigators continually…
Episode 4: Spectacle

2024-07-08 · 44 min · Season 2, episode 4

Elements of the American ultra right -- including the trailing ends of the America First movement -- begin taking up a strange new cause after the war... sympathy for Nazi war criminals. The surprising efforts to oppose…
Bonus Episode: Rachel Maddow in Conversation with Tony Kushner

2024-07-01 · 1 hr 24 min

In a live conversation recorded at the Provincetown, MA Town Hall on May 26, Rachel and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner discuss “Ultra,” her book “Prequel,” and the rise of fascism both…
Episode 3: Malmedy

2024-06-24 · 44 min · Season 2, episode 3

One of the most shocking incidents of World War II for Americans -- a cold-blooded Nazi massacre of surrendering American troops -- gets weaponized against the United States by surviving Nazis hoping to return to power,…
Episode 2: The Mole

2024-06-17 · 38 min · Season 2, episode 2

The American government launches an all-out manhunt for a young American ultra-right fascist who harbors sympathy for the Nazis and who is actively peddling one of the world's most dangerous weapons. Francis Yockey’s…

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Publisher details

Owner: MS NOW
Oldest episode in feed: 10/2022 · over 4 years
Typical length: 40 min
Format: Serial Meant to be heard in order
Keywords: violence, ultra, treachery, fascism, extremism, news, justice, world war 1

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