# Ultra (podcast) *Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra* is an [[MSNBC]] original podcast created and hosted by [[Rachel Maddow]], with the first season debuting on October 10, 2022. The series uncovers a largely forgotten chapter of American history in which a network of pro-[[Nazi Party]] operatives -- including sitting members of Congress -- collaborated with Hitler's government to spread [[Propaganda]] and undermine American democracy in the lead-up to and during [[World War II]]. ## Season 1 (2022) The first season consists of eight episodes released weekly beginning October 10, 2022. It centers on the Great Sedition Trial of 1944, the largest sedition prosecution in U.S. history, and the web of ultra-right conspirators who made it necessary. A key figure in the narrative is George Sylvester Viereck, a German agent funded and directed by the Nazi embassy in Washington. Viereck ghostwrote speeches for members of Congress -- most notably Senator Ernest Lundeen of Minnesota -- and exploited the congressional franking privilege to mass-distribute Nazi [[Propaganda]] at taxpayer expense. The scheme connected [[America First Committee]] isolationists, street-level [[Militia Movement]] groups, and a broader constellation of [[Fascism]] sympathizers who sought to keep America out of the war and, in some cases, to overthrow the republic outright. The season also profiles the journalists, Justice Department prosecutors, and anti-fascist activists who fought to expose the operation -- and the institutional failures that ultimately let many of the conspirators escape accountability. The trial itself ended in a mistrial after the presiding judge died, and it was never retried. Maddow timed the release deliberately: the first episode dropped as opening statements began in the [[Oath Keepers Seditious Conspiracy Trial]], drawing an implicit parallel between 1940s sedition and the [[January 6 Capitol Attack]]. ## Season 2 (2024) The second season, an eight-episode run debuting June 10, 2024, shifts to the postwar 1950s. It follows an international manhunt for a fascist American traitor who infiltrated the U.S. Army's Nazi war crimes trials in Germany. The season traces a foreign influence operation unfolding in Washington, a deadly blackmail plot in the U.S. Senate, and a scheme to stop the counting of [[Electoral College]] votes -- all rooted in the unfinished business of the American ultra-right after [[World War II]]. ## Connection to Prequel Maddow's research for *Ultra* became the foundation for her 2023 book [[Prequel]], published November 14, 2023, which reached #1 on the *New York Times* bestseller list. Where the podcast is a narrative audio documentary, [[Prequel]] expands the material into a full book-length treatment, covering additional organizations like the Silver Legion of America, the American White Guard, and the Christian Front alongside the Viereck network. Both works share the same core argument: that [[Fascism]] and [[Authoritarianism (Term)]] have deep, recurring roots in American political life, and that the mechanisms of their spread -- [[Disinformation]], [[Nativism]], [[Antisemitism]], exploitation of democratic institutions -- rhyme across eras. ## Reception *Ultra* was a critical and commercial hit. Among its honors: - 2023 Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism (the first podcast to win in that category) - Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award - Edward R. Murrow Award (2025) The podcast was widely praised for making obscure archival history accessible and for drawing structural parallels to contemporary right-wing movements without being heavy-handed about them. ## RWKB Relevance *Ultra* is essential context for the Right Wing KB because it documents the historical infrastructure of [[America First Movement]] [[Fascism]] in the United States -- the same ideological lineage this vault tracks from its WWII-era origins through the postwar far right, the militia era, and into the modern [[January 6 Capitol Attack]] ecosystem. The podcast demonstrates that collaboration between elected officials and foreign authoritarian powers to undermine American democracy is not a new phenomenon, and that the failure to hold such actors accountable has recurring consequences. Key connections: the exploitation of [[Propaganda]] channels by members of Congress, the role of [[Antisemitism]] and [[Nativism]] as mobilizing forces, the use of [[Conspiracy Thinking]] to radicalize mass audiences, and the structural parallels between 1940s sedition networks and contemporary groups like the [[Oath Keepers]]. ## See also - [[Rachel Maddow]] - [[Prequel]] - [[America First Committee]] - [[Fascism]] - [[January 6 Capitol Attack]] - [[Oath Keepers]]