Your Government is Gaslighting You

Mindf*ck Monday | 

 We’ve all been gaslit — in relationships, at work, and now... in our government. In this week’s Mindfck Monday*, we’re breaking down how gaslighting works, how it damages your sense of reality, and how it’s being weaponized politically right now.

We start with the psychology: what gaslighting actually looks like, how to spot it, and the long-term damage it does to your confidence, clarity, and autonomy.

Then we go full political:
 From erasing DEI (yeah — diversity, equity, inclusion... and access) to spinning hate symbols into harmless nostalgia, the regime is rewriting reality in real-time. And guess what? It’s not just dishonest — it’s dangerous.

This episode is here to help you spot it, name it, and shut it down — in your personal life and in your politics.

🎧 Available now on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere podcasts stream.
 📲 Follow @ChristiChanelle for daily sassy news and raw political commentary
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The Woman They Turned Into an Incubator
This Friday, we’re talking about the Georgia woman being kept alive against her family’s wishes — because the state wants to prioritize the fetus inside her. This isn’t dystopian fiction. It’s happening in real time. We’ll dive into how this case is testing the limits of bodily autonomy, and why it's a warning shot for us all.

Coming Next Monday: June 10, 2025
Presidential Pardons & MAGA Favorites: Who Gets a Free Pass?
We’re running the receipts on the pardons Donald Trump has already handed out this year — including the Chrisleys — and what it reveals about whose crimes are forgivable under this regime. Spoiler: It’s not the ones fighting for justice.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Gaslighting
• 1:44 Personal Experience with Gaslighting
• 3:06 Politics and Gaslighting Examples
• 6:29 DEIA Backlash as Gaslighting
• 8:49 Recognizing and Fighting Gaslighting
• 11:30 Call to Action and Closing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We've all been gaslit, every one of us, by someone we loved, by someone we trusted, and now by the people in power. If you've ever said, maybe I'm just overthinking it, or maybe it's not that bad, or maybe I'm the problem, you've already felt the effects of gaslighting. You're not crazy. You're being conditioned to doubt your reality. Let's break it down. I'm Christy Chanel and this is Sassy Politics. I'm Christy Chanel and this is Sassy Politics, and let's talk a little bit about gaslighting. I feel like I'm an expert in this field because, well, I was gaslit in both of my relationships for 10 years apiece, so I feel like I'm very qualified to talk on this subject.

Speaker 1: 1:01

Gaslighting is psychological manipulation that makes you question your memory, your perception and your sanity. It gets its name from the 1944 movie Gaslight, where a husband literally dimmed the lights in their home and convinced his wife she was imagining it. Wow, if you're conditioned enough, you believe that it sounds dramatic. But this isn't a movie, it's real life and it's happening everywhere In relationships. Gaslighting sounds like that never happened. You're just being too sensitive, you're imagining things. Clinical studies show gaslighting leads to a loss of self-worth, anxiety and depression, isolation and emotional confusion. According to a McGill University study. People gaslight their partners to avoid accountability and control them. It's not miscommunication, it's psychological abuse and I know it very well because I felt the same way. I felt like I was crazy. I felt like I didn't remember something right, even if it just happened. I felt like I didn't remember something, right, even if it just happened. I felt like I didn't see something I saw, even though it was right in front of me, in black and white. I felt like the things that we have naturally, that intuition, that knowing that we're born with I know I have a very strong intuition, but I constantly doubted it. These red flags would wave and I would push them down and think no, no, no, no, no, no. He said he didn't do it. He said it wasn't him. It wasn't him when it was, when it was. I know you know what I'm talking about In some capacity, whether it's work, co-workers, family relationships or politically.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Gaslighting activates trauma responses in the brain Fight, flight, freeze or fawn. You start to doubt yourself so much you'll abandon your own truth just to feel safe. Victims of long-term gaslighting often experience complex PTSD, chronic self-doubt, emotional numbness, decision paralysis. This is emotional warfare and it chips away at your identity. Gaslighting doesn't stop in personal relationships. It's happening in politics every single day. Here's what it looks like Denying things you saw with your own eyes, rewriting history, labeling facts as fake news, framing questions as attacks and we've all seen that in the press conferences with Caroline Leavitt.

Speaker 1: 4:09

She's a master at it. You can actually start to pick apart her answers, body language, what she's saying. Your body doesn't hold lies very well, and that's something that we'll do in another episode. So today is just the gaslighting. Here's some examples Pepe the Frog.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Trump posts a photo with Pepe the Frog in the background, a symbol hijacked by white supremacists. When it's called out, it's going to be dismissed as a joke. That's going to be gaslighting. So it hasn't happened yet. But they're not going to outright say oh yeah, we put that frog there on purpose, because it's a dog whistle to let those hate groups know we see you and good job. No, it's not going to happen like that. I want you to pay attention to what happens next in regards to that photo. It's on his truth social now. If you want to go check it out, it's the one of him walking. It's a black and white photo. He's walking and he's talking about. This is a mission from God, that one.

Speaker 1: 5:07

The next example the Betsy Ross flag and the Patriot Front. Political figures wear patches that resemble hate group symbols and when people notice they're accused of being un-American. When people notice they're accused of being un-American, that's gaslighting. So we have the Patriot front holding a flag, waving the Betsy Ross flag, and now we have a political figure putting it on his shirt the same weekend. How ironic, trust me, it's going to be on us. They're going to blame us.

Speaker 1: 5:39

Elon Musk's black eye musk appears with trump visibly bruised. He says little x did it his toddler? Uh, when we already have the story that tells you what actually happened. So, yes, you can think oh well, he doesn't want to tell us what really happened. You know who wants to tell you about being punched. It's called transparency. It's called. If you're lying about this, what are you lying about over here? It's the big smoke screen, it's gaslighting. This isn't transparency, it's a distraction. That's gaslighting. D-e-i-a backlash.

Speaker 1: 6:19

And now the next example, and probably the most important one DEIA diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, even though the A is left off quite frequently, this is being framed as a threat. Values that are meant to uplift marginalized communities are suddenly being treated like dangerous ideas, but if you were to speak these words individually and isolate them, they're not dangerous at all. They're very important to us as a society. They want you to believe equity is unfair. They want you to believe diversity is dangerous. They want you to believe inclusion is oppressive. Now I want to tell you a little story. My son. He was in second grade and he got this big award. Only two kids in the whole elementary school got this award and it was the inclusion award. It was because he went around to people and always made sure that they were included in the games that they were playing. Walking in the hallway, high-fiving, hugging. He wanted everybody to feel important and he got that award and it was probably one of my most proud mother moments. So to tell me now, years later he is 16, that that award was dangerous.

Speaker 1: 7:48

I have a few words for you. This is gaslighting at its highest form. We are being told that fairness, justice and representation are the problem, that wanting visibility and access is somehow extremist. That's not true. That's manipulation. You might be experiencing gaslighting if you constantly apologize, even when unsure why. You feel like you're walking on eggshells. You second guess your memory and emotions, which I did. All the time you feel emotionally numb or confused politically. Gaslighting looks like being told what you're seeing is fake, being called unpatriotic for speaking up, being made to feel irrational for caring. But how do you fight it?

Speaker 1: 8:49

In your personal life, document everything. Talk to people outside the situation. One way is to journal. I journaled things Like when I got into an argument with my ex. I would journal it and then later, when I had a clearer head, I went back and I read it again and I realized it wasn't me. I wasn't perfect in every situation, but for certain situations I was being gaslit and it was so obvious once I read my own words back. I suggest you try it if you are suspicious that you might be getting gaslit as well. Talk to people outside the situation. Set boundaries. Go to therapy or counseling.

Speaker 1: 9:32

For me, I listened to books, I listened to YouTube of people that were experiencing the same thing and I would drive back and forth to work and kind of teach myself the signs. Um, I'm so grateful for it, I'm so grateful to it and that's why I'm here on YouTube. I know how much it helped me and I want to be a part of helping you. I didn't have the money for therapy or counseling. I had to do it myself, and so I'm thankful for all the YouTube people out there that took me on their journey so that I could see my own journey was really fucked up Politically. Name what you see like I'm doing right now. Share the receipts, educate yourself. You know Harvard has some free classes out there on politics, and that's right. I'm taking one of them. I'm kind of excited I'm attending Harvard, even though it's free, and even though I didn't get in from high school, I'm taking advantage of it, and maybe you should too.

Speaker 1: 10:37

And lastly, most obvious is to vote. Make sure you're voting, not just in the presidential election, in all the elections that affect your state and your town. Gaslighting is power abuse, whether it's a partner or a politician. It's meant to confuse, isolate and control you. But you're not crazy, you're not overreacting and you're not the problem. You're waking up, and that's what they're afraid of. That's what they're afraid of. That's what they're afraid of. This is your invitation to join the full breakdown. Head to my YouTube channel. If you're listening to the audio on Apple or Spotify or Pandora anywhere you can listen to your podcasts. Check out the video form on my YouTube channel and check out the new episode of Sassy Politics dropping every Monday. Let's talk about what gaslighting really is and how we burn the whole lie to the ground. And, as my mom would say, love you, miss you bye.