If you have ever questioned the amount of hate in this country and have grasped with it’s genesis then you must listen to both podcasts of Ultra. The 2nd season is quite poignant which will blow your mind. Personally both seasons should be included in any and all US political history courses. Very well done.

Both seasons are a must listen if you care about being an American! Excellent!

This podcast, both seasons, left me at times with my mouth wide open at just how crazy and, dare I say, frightening the parallels to our current political landscape are. Do yourself a favor and listen. It seems like we are doomed to repeat history, so pay attention because we’re going to need make sure this never happens again!

Profound! Left me speechless! Exactly what is happening now! This should be required listening for every American who loves this country and who cherishes democracy.

The music in the background is so annoying!

Princeton University American history major here to say I never learned about any of this relatively recent American history and it is vital to understand so we are not completely flabbergasted and mystified by what is happening presently. Providing this series is an enormous public service and thanks to great storytelling and intelligent writing this is fun to listen to even as it is jaw-dropping to absorb.

Thank you for still teaching me things I never learned after all of these years

This dude is awful. Hopefully jobless soon! MAGA 25

Should be required for all voters and students.

Both seasons should be required listening for all students and Americans.

I really thought I knew a couple of things about USA history - I was wrong. What is presented here has been purged from American classrooms. It is a narrative that never felt “American” but it is wholly American. The names could be changed and all this presented as truth today. We are who are and everyone that calls themselves American citizens should listen to every episode of all seasons. The core truths here are unavoidable. American democracy won ultimately in these stories. It requires the average citizen to triumph today. This will not be easy. Americans need to find a fortitude they are no longer known for.

Incredible piece of American history which should’ve stood as a warning for what happens when a cult of personality is allowed to run roughshod on society. If only we had learned our lesson.

I found this and season 1 to be very interesting and the parallels between then and now are uncanny. It just reinforces the idiom: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I am a little disappointed there was no mention of the role Ed Murrow played in the push back against Senator Joe McCarthy

I couldn’t stop listening!

Aren’t your parents in correctional facility? Cousin didn’t your family business create those microchips that were “stolen”. Famous forced to work in publicity of robbed. Good Luck

What a bunch of fear mongering political propaganda. Any one who listens to this and believes it is being led off a cliff

If you never paid attention to politics in the 30s -60s, then you can’t understand how we got here today. People see the orange felon as unique. He is not. There is a scary past of the USA that isn’t spoken of and that is part of the problem. The hatred is real. It exists and has existed for eons. Be aware of the books your friends read.

Rachel Maddow consistently uncovers important and not well known history, and is to be lauded for that. The stories in this series certainly fit that description and I learned a lot by listening to the series. But, unfortunately, this podcast series is so poorly produced, it makes it almost unlistenable. There are a lot of techniques copied from her television show, and TV “news programming” in general, including repeating items multiple times to lengthen a show. The total running time of this entire series could probably have been cut by 75% and still told the story in just as much depth. Most annoying to me is the background music that runs continuously in the episodes, which sounds like it’s lifted from a circus carousel, or a kids cartoon. I’d love if she’d continue bringing us important history like this, and like the excellent podcast she did earlier about Spiro Agnew, but produce the shows less “slickly“ and with a little more seriousness. Overall, good stories though!

Pass.

Thanks for resuscitating this story that needs to be retold. I’ve never heard of it and there are so many glaring parallels to what we are going through and seeing daily.

I learned so much listening to this podcast! The U.S. Government has long been infiltrated by these traitors and perpetrators of treason, peddlers of hate and white supremacy. We have and continue to be at risk. History is repeating itself and so many of us simply do not know how relevant this time really is!! Thank you for these stories, I will share and never forget.

I really appreciate this podcast and at the same time I’m shocked that this happened once and it’s happening again. We haven’t learned anything and we seem to be doing the same thing again. This story is really laying out the game plan that is being played right now. Why don’t we have a way to stop this from happening again? We’re playing into their hands again.

Season 1 was amazing - eye opening, well written, well narrated, great research and super interesting topic. Season 2 is also fascinating but, the pizzicato violin is making me nuts. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone or the Shining once it catches my ear. Super distracting, please vary the music, or stop it altogether at times. It’s not really part of the story and sounds like AI. In any case, still worth the time. Lots to learn.

An incredible story well told, but the podcast channel is nothing but free advertising for MSNBC to peddle their subscriptions.

As a historian, I relish podcasts that tell stories many Americans might not be familiar with, such as Ultra, both season one and 2. While the story Maddow tells is factual and riveting, I cannot understand why she repeats herself so often in every episode. She’s writing the narrative, per the statements given at the end of each episode, so surely she’s aware of the constant repetitive descriptions. For just one example, how many times do we have to hear that Lester Hunt was beloved by all. I’m not sure if the repetitions are to stretch the material into more episodes or because she thinks we’re all morons, but we’re not. The facts of each season’s story are so interesting, as are the spliced-in recordings of the time. Please stop repeating yourself, Ms. Maddow, and at least this historian would recommend your podcasts to friends, strangers, and even my students.

Love this series. Once again Rachel Maddow walks us through a history either largely unknown or forgotten to shine a light on today’s events. The parallels of the American Fascist movement of the 50’s with today and the Trump movement ought to be terrifying to everyone. And yet, she doesn’t really drive those parallels home, but instead let’s the listeners make the connections and concludes in the final episode that we successfully fought back this threat through the work of a few reporters, legislators, and justice officials. But the movement ended when Joseph McCarthy killed himself through his alcoholism. Had he not, it is not at all clear that the resistance to the fascist movement would have succeeded. And I don’t believe that all listener would necessarily be able to connect all the dots with Trump and the current Republican Party. Not all Americans are aware that if neither presidential candidate gets 270 electoral college votes, the vote goes to the House of Representives with one vote per state, where Republicans have a significant advantage, and that a few Republican controlled state legislatures can simply fail to send a slate of Harris-won electors to the electoral college under a claim of election uncertainty and thus deny Harris the election. Nor are people aware that state electors do not have to represent the candidate who received the most votes in the state, and the state legislature could ignore the vote and appoint their own slate, which many Republican controlled states have given themselves the power to do. These are the techniques McCarthy supporters intended to use, but simply couldn’t get sufficient support at the party convention, but Trump has much broader support in the Republican Party to execute such plans. Nor did justice succeed in making these seditionists face the consequences of their actions, much as we see the justice system twisting legal logic to protect Trump. But the biggest oversight to me was the failure to tie one of the actual McCarthy architects to Trump: Roy Cohn. Cohn taught Trump to use the law as a cudgel; to never admit any wrong doing; to brutally attack and undermine your enemies, as he had done for McCarthy. Might he not also have taught Trump how to take power even if you lose an election. These connections were worth exploring more deeply, because I don’t expect Trump to conveniently exit the scene just as his plans are about to take hold. (Tiny PS, the podcast is not “written by myself”, it should be “written by me”)

By the end, I got really tired of them cutting to an expert or historian and only getting a sentence fragment sound bite. Let the people talk, give me full sentences and complete thoughts. It became annoying, and it gave the impression that you were aggressively cherry picking their words. It started to feel like you were trying to remove their words from their context, or maybe that you just sucked at interviewing these people and only got 5 minutes of usable material for the whole podcast. The subject and the stories were very interesting. The production and presentation were aggravating.

Every American — every high school history classroom — needs to hear and discuss this podcast series, and its predecessor, Ultra season 1. These two podcasts help us understand the history of hate that is deeply embedded in the GOP, and the devastation from its incorporation of the Dixicrats by Nixon. Far from being the “patriots” the proclaimed, it should not be surprising that they enthusiastically embraced the treason of fascism, antisemitism and racial prejudice. Rachel Maddow’s careful delivery makes these two podcasts exceptionally compelling and comprehensible. She richly deserves a Pulitzer.

Started watching MSNBC in Nov ‘16. Felt like our lives were at risk. Oh boy, Rachel did I learn. Rachel is brilliant

People who want power and control will do anything to get it. As a History teacher with two Masters Degrees, I have done my share of research and there are several portions of this story that I have shared in my classroom for decades with photos and other primary source evidence. What I CANNOT teach, is about their plot to overthrow the government. Teachers in conservative schools would get canned- we get angry phone calls for sharing basic truths about Supreme Court decisions. I once had a very angry dad e-mail my superintendent because I was teaching high schoolers that there were ‘Radical Republicans’ trying to impeach President Johnson. I had to explain to him that they were a very LIBERAL group who called themselves such and they did very much want Johnson gone. There is no winning- Most of the story of Ultra is easily verifiable. Any negative review I have read about Ultra that calls this story a lie simply has not attempted to verify it with any research. I really thought most Americans knew these things! Always be ready to defend Democracy!!!! And be careful who you vote for! The opportunists have no moral code!

I was really looking forward to this podcast. In this dangerous political climate , it is crucial to remind voters how fragile democracy is. I had to walk away at episode 5. The music is so distracting and annoying that I could not focus on the dialog. The message was compelling enough on it’s own with out resorting to creating a theatrical production! Very dissappointed.

This is a fascinating recounting of this history. My father in law experienced the fear of this right wing scourge when he was starting his medical career. This after serving as a surgeon in WW2 in North Africa and Italy. Now we hear the same old playbook in recent history of election denialism, monkeying with the electoral college, and shameless lying to further their cause. I appreciated the mention of Richard Nixon defending democracy in 1960. If only he had maintained that ideal into the late sixties and seventies. Next I want to hear about the thread from Yocky to the Heritage foundation.

Great job

It’s not the everyday news cycle. I think of it as one of the best classrooms for this type of American history. I have to slow my role and listen so I won’t miss all the pieces as they add up to an extraordinary story. Truly amazing work. Thank you so much. It’s really appreciated.

Can’t believe these people lie. We don’t believe anything you say

A fascinating podcast about fascism in the US. Many parallels to our current time.

If you need a perfect example of how history repeats and how preserving democracy is a full time job, this is your podcast. A friend recommended this podcast recently and I just find it incredibly informative and very well done. Rachel continues to impress me with her insight and steady steer through complex topics. A+

After dnc people want more content

This is the stuff that students should be taught about. So they understand how important our democracy is. It’s hard for somebody who’s never been out of their little community to understand how everything is intertwined. She brings it to you. She brings the states to you the countries to you and all the little intricate details of of government. Rachel Maddow is an excellent teacher. Keep on writing.

My high school did us all a deservice by not covering this. I wish Rachel had been my history teacher. With her calm voice and pragmatic presentation, she proceeds through all the ins and outs of this fascinating, hair-raising history. I hope our modern legislators know this history and are prepared to nip any copycats who want to try this game again. As she read this series, I could see the puppeteers behind Trump pulling the final strings to overturn this next election.

Impressively researched, fascinating topic but Ms Maddow’s delivery is just… so… drawn… out… I wanted to love this, but the only way to get through this is at 1.5 - 1.75 speed. It’s as if she is using the producers of Dateline and has to stretch 15 minutes of content into a 60 minute show.

A truly riveting story that should be heard by all, Rachael is an awesome story teller, Season 2 has been absolutely phenomenal! Simply well done. Thank you

As someone who is a history major in college, I find the series very very informative I’ve often heard it said that it is the victors who write the histories It’s nice to see something that they didn’t show us in school

The research was great, presentation, first rate, but the background music is so loud! It distracts from the important information.

Thank you for this informative and educational PodCast! I’ve learned a lot … I hope it will be heard by many, many people before the upcoming elections! Congratulations!

Once again, Maddow & company present a well and deeply researched telling of a dark side of our political history. Instead of hiding this history, we would do well to teach it to all our high school students so that they can make the distinction between the glory of fighting for our independence from a king and the hard work of perpetually fighting to keep it from authoritarianism. My compliments to all who made this series, it's a job well done.

Beautiful illustration of history repeating itself. I can hardly wait to see what you’re going to do next. I can see why Rachel had trouble getting through this one. The only problem is that the episodes are over so fast. Thank you, Rachel, for bringing me to tears at the end of every segment.

As all reviews here note, stunning work. Amazing narrative hook teaching graduate level political history in dramatic bites. More history and exposé of these dark forces in our politics please! Particularly as they relate to current figures. Keenly interested in the Roy Cohn linkage between McCarthy and Trump.

Wow Wow Wow!!! Rachel Maddow has done it again with another podcast with history that not many people know about. I really enjoyed listening to her and the historians learning about these two major events in history that have never been taught in schools. I’m a college student and listening to this made me want to hear more week after week on what happened next and what happened next and so on. I recommend people listen to Rachel Maddow podcast ultra season one and two because it’s very important that people know the history of what she is explaining and the historians and that history doesn’t repeat itself again! I also have read her book “Prequel” which I highly recommend reading. Hoping that she writes another book for Ultra season two like she did with Ultra season one for “Prequel”!! Fingers crossed 🤞🏽

Is it possible to further magnify the King has no clothes but is still incredibly dangerous.