Episodes

  • We're Getting Screw(worm)ed by the Love Bomber in Chief | America, You Got This?

    We're Getting Screw(worm)ed by the Love Bomber in Chief | America, You Got This?
    Jun 8 2026
    This week’s episode was supposed to be about the screwworm invasion, which, in case you missed it, is a flesh-eating parasite eradicated from the US since the 1960s that’s now back in Texas because Trump fired thousands of people at the agency that prevented it. It’s already screwing cattle farmers in Texas. Lauren pointed out that the MAHA moms in love with beef tallow have been suspiciously quiet. I still am not entirely sure what beef tallow is. Is that a fancy name for lard? I refuse to Google this. Ok, I’ll Google this. *Quickly Googles*Turns out lard is from pigs and tallow is from cows. I guess the MAHA moms will have to put lard on their faces. But I digress, which is something we do (by design) on our show because that’s how we stay sane and present. It’s a meandering journey, and we hope you’re enjoying it with us because we’re having a blast. Lauren was on the go this week for NetRoots in Philadelphia and TrendingUp Con, and I survived a week in my new apartment with no hot water. Moving to Portugal and living in a foreign language means that sometimes things, like connecting the gas, can get lost in translation. What wasn’t lost on me was the fact that Greg Bovino was also in Portugal, headlining a European far-right conference dedicated to the white nationalist mission of Remigration. Two Americans in the same foreign country, VERY different visions of the future. On Lauren’s flight to DC last week, she had an interesting encounter with her seatmate: a MAGA-coded, ivermectin-curious, Agricultural lobbyist. She told him exactly what she was headed to DC to do (be progressive AF), and the conversation shifted to Illinois politics, and he told her, unprompted, how much he loves Julianna Stratton — Illinois’ lieutenant governor, who just won the Democratic Senate primary. He said, “She’s what real leadership looks like.” The cynic in me was ready to call BS, but Lauren listened and had the epiphany that he sounded like someone in the early stages of realizing they’re in an abusive relationship.And that is exactly what Trump’s relationship with his base is. The problem is he’s not just their President. He’s our President too, and we are suffering at the hands of a malignant narcissist. Lauren has been saying this since 2016, when watching him campaign gave her panic attacks because his behaviors looked exactly like the behaviors of someone she used to know. I had a similar experience. Back in 2022, I interviewed psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X Lee, who edited the 2017 book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump. It’s a whole damn book about Trump being a malignant narcissist and the effects it would have on our collective consciousness. Trump was a walking red flag. The psychiatrists broke with medical tradition and tried to sound the alarm, but their advice was largely ignored. Here is the cycle:Love bombing. Years of campaigning, where he tells his base everything they want to hear. I am your retribution. I alone can fix it. You’re the forgotten men and women. He positions himself as the protector. They’re after you, and I’m the one standing in their way. He is so convincing. He is so charming in the exact way they need him to be charming.The hook. They give him everything. Their votes. Their loyalty. Their flags. Their family Thanksgivings. They break ties with loved ones until they’re surrounded by other people who have also given their votes, their loyalty, their flags. The discard. Now that Trump has what he wanted, he doesn’t need his base anymore. The tariffs hurt the farmers who put him in office. The war in Iran hurts the people who were screaming about high gas prices when Biden was in office. Beef is about to triple in price, and the man who promised them cheaper groceries is pardoning insider traders and hosting a UFC cage match on the South Lawn. DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender): Trump’s policies fail, and he denies it. He attacks anyone who points out the obvious. He claims that Republicans are the victims of election fraud and that Democrats are the offenders. This is just what he did to Kristen Welker on Meet the Press over the weekend. Anyone who dares to question Trump and his policies is crooked or stupid. He is the victim. The perpetrators are anyone who doesn’t agree with him. This is what narcissistic abuse looks like, and anyone who has been targeted by a narcissist knows it on sight. While it’s often said that his base is in a cult, it could also be argued that they are victims of his narcissistic abuse, and that’s why they are clinging to him, despite the fact that he is not fulfilling his campaign promises. He outright denies having promised no new wars, as reported in this Hill article.As the lies pile up, his base starts to lose faith in the original lie: that he cared about them at all. What’s worse is that Trump almost seems to delight in letting them know how little he cares. When he was running...
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    42 mins
  • Can We Agree to Disagree on That DNC Tweet? | America, You Got This?

    Can We Agree to Disagree on That DNC Tweet? | America, You Got This?
    Jun 1 2026

    Happy Monday. I just moved this weekend, which means I am surrounded by boxes, living off of potato chips and ibuprofen, and unwilling to spend a whole lotta energy litigating one tweet.

    But here we are.

    On Friday’s show, we had Marcia Baumgardner, a Texas teacher, a good human, and an online voice calling on us not to say things like “STFU!” It should be no surprise that we did not land in the same place on the DNC’s now-famous “Shut up, you ugly fuck” reply to Stephen Miller. But it’s not the conclusion, it’s how we came to it without shredding each other that matters.

    In case you missed it: Miller posted a transphobic attack on James Talarico, who’s running against Ken Paxton in Texas. (Paxton is impeached, indicted, has multiple mistresses, and is somehow the GOP nominee. On brand.) The DNC clapped back. The internet split. So did we.

    Our Takes

    Marcia: You can fight hard and still keep your civility. The DNC account is a leadership position. Leadership sets an example. And the data is clear—inflammatory rhetoric is quantifiably heavier on the right. We don’t have to match it.

    Me: I’ve been with the Lincoln Project since 2021, partly because they say “STFU” when someone needs a “STFU.” And as a stand-up comedian, we learn that different hecklers merit different responses. Stephen Miller isn’t the sweet drunk in the front row trying to be a part of the show; he’s the ugly f*ck trying to ruin the show for everyone else.

    Lauren: Republicans pride themselves on being the moral party, but are acting immorally. If Democrats can model better behavior, we can be that for them. That being said, protesters literally threw dildos at ICE, and that, too, is a strategy. There are lanes. Some are weirder than others.

    Where we landed: different lanes are fine. Activists punch. Comedians punch. The official DNC account, probably not the punching lane.

    Not gonna lie, I keep playing this conversation over and over again in my head. And I’m not jazzed about it because my attention is finite and I’d rather do something else with it. Yes, we should talk about our differences on the left. Yes, those conversations matter. That’s the entire reason we had Marcia on. But we are running on limited energy (at least I know I am!), and that energy should be aimed at the people who are actively making us miserable, not at each other over a single tweet. In other words, AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THIS! All energy should be directed to stopping the people who wake up every day with the goal of dismantling the agencies that protect our rights, while strengthening the agencies that take them away.

    Speaking of rights.

    If racism, bigotry, mass deportation, attacks on trans kids, and a tanking economy are not dealbreakers for Republican voters, why would a casual STFU from the DNC be?

    Who the f*ck is this audience we keep performing politeness for?

    I’ve been talking about this for years. They don’t exist. They have not existed for some time. As my former co-host Trygve Olson likes to remind us, to beat fascists we have to “play the game we’re in.”

    So debate it. Disagree about it. We sure did. Then let it go and get back to the work.

    Lauren is in DC and Philly this week for Netroots. I’m in Lisbon, where they’re having another general strike. Field reports incoming! Subscribe if you don’t want to miss them.

    See you on Friday.

    Maya & Lauren



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mayaonstage.substack.com
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Tulsi Gabbard Out and Under the Bus! (And Lauren called it) | America, You Got This?

    Tulsi Gabbard Out and Under the Bus! (And Lauren called it) | America, You Got This?
    May 23 2026

    We went live on Friday morning and assumed we could spend the afternoon decompressing. WRONG!!! By the time I got back from a walk, Tulsi Gabbard had resigned. It’s almost like Lauren felt it in the air.

    SPOILER ALERT: She did.

    Here is what Lauren said on the record, before the news broke:

    “Your proximity to these people is not going to protect you at any point. Like as a woman, if you are aligning with these people and you are harming other women and you are harming marginalized communities….that doesn’t keep you protected. It just maybe pushes you a little further down the list.”

    She was talking about Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem. Six hours later, Tulsi Gabbard was under the bus.

    In case you’re not keeping track.

    * Kristi Noem. Out in March!

    * Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Out in April!

    * Pam Bondi. Fired in April!

    * Tulsi Gabbard. “Resigned” yesterday!

    Four cabinet members out in five months. All four women. Every single one.

    Gabbard’s stated reason is her husband’s cancer diagnosis. That is real, and we wish her and her family well. But the math is mathing: women in this cabinet are not safe.

    And yet women keep aligning themselves with the Trump administration. We try to get to the bottom of that in this episode, and how we can reach the ones who seem unreachable.

    Pattern recognition is something that we excel at, so join us every Friday for more predictions that will absolutely come true.

    Watch Friday’s episode. The bus moment is at 30:00. The MAHA moms’ conversation is at 36:00.

    Forward this to someone in your life who still thinks that Trump loves and protects women.

    See you Friday!

    Maya & Lauren



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mayaonstage.substack.com
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    44 mins
  • Do we need gummies for this?

    Do we need gummies for this?
    May 18 2026
    “Racism is very expensive, and I don’t think America can afford it anymore.” I said that to Lauren on Friday’s show, somewhere in a conversation about gummies, maternal mortality rates, and European MRIs. Yes. We need gummies for this, but I’m gummyphobic for a lot of reasons that I talk about in the show. If you’re new here: I’m Maya. I’m a stand-up comic, I’m a mom, I’m in Lisbon, and I just launched a Friday morning show called America, You Got This? The question mark is doing a lot of work. I have been watching America from abroad…and I’m concerned.My new co-host is the ever effervescent Lauren Lehman Carter. She’s in Chicagoland (near my hometown!) by way of Indiana. She’s adequately babied and has an interdisciplinary degree in public relations and vocal jazz. She was not impressed with my scatting or my attempt to channel Billie Holiday. She’s witchy. I’m woo-woo. We have similar eyes. We decided we knew each other in a past life and were obviously meant to be doing exactly what we’re doing right now: hosting America, You Got This?We’re calling it a lifestyle show, which is the joke and also not. It’s a lifestyle show because we are two women (one GenX, one elder millennial) trying to live a life under a repressive government that just wants us to reproduce and then STFU. So we’re also talking about how to survive and dare we say…thrive in this system. It’s a thrive-style show! Every Friday. With sparkle.Some notes from the show…we talk about healthcare costs in Argentina, where I became “adequately babied,” in Portugal, where I am now, and in the US, where Lauren is, and costs are….well, you already know…sky friggin high with no relief in sight. The ReceiptsHere is what my healthcare costs me in Portugal:* €83 a month for private insurance* €20 copay for a specialist appointment with a sports orthopedist* €100 copay for an MRI, scheduled five days after I asked for it…* Roughly €1,000 a yearHere is what my healthcare cost me in California, three years ago, on a Blue Shield silver plan:* $1,200 a month for my daughter and me* $10,000 maximum out-of-pocket* Most things still came out of pocket anyway* Roughly $18,000–$19,000 a year, give or take, because I’m bad at mathI relocated to Portugal for many reasons, but partly because America priced me out. Lauren’s numbers are different and also the same. Two babies, both with hospital stays:* First baby: a week in the NICU. Hit the $10K max out-of-pocket.* Second baby: $3K for the C-section. Then, at three weeks old, he got RSV and spent a week in the hospital. Another $10K.She paid roughly $23,000 to have her family. We talk a lot in this country about being “under-babied.” Nobody talks about how much it costs to have the babies we already have.I don’t like talking about Black women dyingBut we’re dying. Here’s a recent Huff Post article about the maternal mortality rate if you’d like to familiarize yourself with just how many Black women are unnecessarily dying in the US. In the United States, Black women die in childbirth at 44.8 per 100,000 live births. White women die at 14.2 per 100,000. (CDC). My daughter was born in Argentina in 2007, where the maternal mortality rate at the time was 33 per 100,000. So while I didn’t know it at the time, it was safer for me to give birth in Buenos Aires, in a foreign language, on a foreign continent, thousands of miles away from home. It was cheaper too. I went there because I could not afford to have a baby in America, let alone raise one. Argentina reserves parking spaces and has priority grocery store lines for pregnant women. Strangers asked me if I planned to breastfeed. Invasive, sure, but also wow! My insurance was $200 a month and covered everything, prenatal, postnatal. EVERYTHING. The nurses asked if I wanted to stay another day because I looked tired. I said yes. I stayed.My friend from college didn’t have any of that. She had access to “adequate care,” in the language of American healthcare. She died anyway. You cannot have this conversation without the historical part, so here it is: American gynecology was built on the bodies of enslaved Black women, operated on without anesthesia. Read about Dr. James Marion Sims, the so-called “father of modern gynecology,” who experimented on enslaved Black women. So….Do We Need Gummies For This?Lauren says yes, sometimes, cut in half, after the kids are asleep, ideally, a strain that turns the dreams off. I say I’m still raw-dogging fascism, and trying to survive with a cocktail of boxing, meditation, and screaming into the void.Lauren and I are going to do this every week. Live on Fridays on Instagram and YouTube. Subscribe if you want to join us. Share if you know someone who needs it. Comment with your own healthcare horror story, gummy recommendation, or both! Is it America, you got this? Or America, you got this! This week, it’s somewhere in between. We...
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    47 mins
  • Ping Pong, Microaggressions, and the Precarious State of DEI with Dr. Gail Stern

    Ping Pong, Microaggressions, and the Precarious State of DEI with Dr. Gail Stern
    Jul 3 2023


    It's all fun and games until people have to flee for their safety. Join host Maya May for a powerful and thought-provoking episode of 'We Gonna Fix This or Nah?' featuring Dr. Gail Stern, comedian and co-founder of Catharsis Productions. Discover the critical role comedy played in Dr. Stern's design and leadership of sensitivity training for law enforcement officers and how a weaponized ping pong ball is the perfect metaphor for illustrating the cumulative impact of microaggressions. This episode tackles complex issues with lots of laughs, but when Maya asks what the world will look like in 20 years without DEI, Dr. Stern's answer is sobering, far from humorous—it's the reality check we all need to hear.



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mayaonstage.substack.com
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    43 mins
  • Do We Just Need a Nap? - Mindfulness with Dr. Jud Brewer

    Do We Just Need a Nap? - Mindfulness with Dr. Jud Brewer
    Jun 3 2022
    We seem to be losing our collective mind - can mindfulness save us from ourselves? To find the answer, host Maya May talks with this week's guest - psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and Director of Research and Innovation at Brown University's Mindfulness Center, Dr. Jud Brewer. His TedTalk on breaking bad habits garnered over 10 million views, so Maya tracked him down to talk about America's bad habit - our addiction to drama. We sure do love our problems, solving them - not so much. But maybe with a nap and some meditation, we'll be one step closer to solving America's problem-solving problem. Dr. Jud and Maya talk Tom Cruise, Pepé Le Pew, and how curiosity didn't kill the cat, but it won't kill us. You can follow Dr. Jud Brewer at
    https://twitter.com/judbrewer

    You can follow Maya May at https://twitter.com/mayaonstage



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mayaonstage.substack.com
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    28 mins
  • Tech connected us (and our problems) with Michael Schutzler

    Tech connected us (and our problems) with Michael Schutzler
    May 27 2022

    Technology was supposed to make our lives better. What happened?! Michael Schutzler, CEO of WTIA (Washington Technology Industry Association), prone paddleboard enthusiast, and Dharma teacher, talks to Maya May about why tech needs to start with "how can I help?" In a sobering but hopeful conversation that covers everything from Star Trek to systemic bias in tech, Michael asserts that, yes, we can fix this, but the timeline for doing so is...a bit iffy.

    You can follow Michael Schutzler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/schutzlerwtia

    Follow Maya May on Twitter http://twitter.com/mayaonstage



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mayaonstage.substack.com
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    47 mins
  • Can kindergartners fix everything? Systems thinking with Dr. Laura Cabrera

    Can kindergartners fix everything? Systems thinking with Dr. Laura Cabrera
    May 14 2022

    In this debut episode of We Gonna Gix This or Nah?, Cornell University professor, co-founder of the Cabrera Research Lab, and co-author of Systems Thinking Made Simple, Dr. Laura Cabrera, talks to Maya about why systems thinking (together with comedy, of course) will save us from ourselves. And it's so simple even 5-year-olds can learn it - she knows this because she's actually taught it to kindergartners. We didn't learn everything we needed to know in kindergarten, but there is still time. It's our debut episode, so we thought we'd come out of the gates with life-changing info you didn't even know you needed to know!

    https://www.cabreraresearch.org/

    Find Laura Cabrera on Twitter at http://twitter.com/_Laura_Cabrera

    Follow Maya May on Twitter http://twitter.com/mayaonstage



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mayaonstage.substack.com
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    35 mins