How We Reclaim the Feed

Wide Awake America just became one of the Top 100 fastest-growing news Substacks. Here’s why that matters.

A Quick, Heartfelt Interruption

Thank you for helping make Wide Awake America one of the fastest-growing Substacks in the country. We are officially in the top 100 breakthrough newsletter.

We launched this volunteer-driven project to create news and commentary that isn’t locked behind a paywall, especially while the right floods every corner of the internet with disinformation and distortion.

So thank you! Free subscribers, you're boosting the signal. Paid subscribers, you're giving us the tools to make this all possible. And to everyone sharing, commenting, and spreading the word—thank you.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled programming…

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The Right Owns the Feed.
It’s Time We Take It Back.

The far right figured it out long ago: the internet isn’t just a tool — it’s terrain. And they’ve been organizing it as a place to create a movement, a community and a sense of deep belonging for their faithful for years.

They’ve built an ecosystem where everyday content becomes a gateway to their worldview. A Pee-Wee football coach sharing drills for kids gets more traction when he adds a rant about masculinity and “wokeness.” A health influencer posting smoothie recipes finds her reach explodes when she starts echoing anti-vax talking points. The incentives are clear: align with MAGA ideology, and your content gets amplified by their network of aligned influencers, well-funded backers eager to boost the signal, and algorithms that do the work of flooding the zone.

It’s not just about politics. It’s about identity—pulling people deeper, post by post, into a world where their fears are validated, their biases rewarded, and their attention monetized.

Connection and Belonging

Meanwhile, too much of the left focuses on logic but forgets community. We treat the internet like a tool, not a terrain. We deliver facts, but often fail to create spaces of belonging—places where people feel seen, supported, safe even in their vulnerability. The right has weaponized loneliness. They’ve turned fear into anxiety, anxiety into resentment, and resentment into a shared identity.

If we want to compete, we can’t just inform. We have to connect. We have to build spaces that offer not just truth, but trust—where people feel openness, affirmation, and real connection. Not to escape the world, but to make sense of it together.

That’s the heart of Wide Awake America — a podcast, radio show, and newsletter created for people who are tired of the noise and hungry for real conversation. It’s part of the No Paywall movement, because good ideas shouldn’t be locked away when the opposition is flooding every corner of the internet with cheap lies and slick production.

And this week, thanks to you, Wide Awake America officially became one of the Top 100 fastest-growing Substack newsletters in news.

This isn’t just a milestone — it’s momentum. It’s proof that people want content that’s clear, bold, and grounded in values. That they’re ready for something beyond corporate talking points and culture war distraction.

Why No Paywall?

Let me be clear: I absolutely believe in paying writers. Our household has dozens of paid subscriptions to brilliant journalists who refused to buckle under corporate pressure and now use platforms like Substack to produce game-changing work. Supporting them is essential.

But I also know this: if every piece of progressive journalism is locked behind a paywall while the right floods the zone for free, we will fall further and further behind.

That’s why Wide Awake America will always keep its core content free. Everyone should be able to follow those stories and hear these conversations, not just those who can afford to pay.

That said, paid subscriptions help make it all possible. Hosting, producing, editing, researching, and promoting the show isn’t free. And we’re a tiny but mighty team of volunteers — no corporate sponsors, no big media backing us.

If you believe in what we’re building, here’s how you can help:

• Subscribe for free. That boosts our reach and helps more people find us.

• Upgrade to paid. It keeps the lights on and helps us grow.

• Share the link. Every new reader is a chance to change the conversation.

And yes, we’ve got fun thank-you perks coming for paid subscribers — stickers, mugs, behind-the-scenes extras. But the content? It will always be for everyone.

I hope you know this is a collective project. The audience is as central to this effort as the writers, producers, and guests. We have to create our own progressive ecosystem—one that amplifies quality content, tells the truth without spiraling into despair, and offers connection as much as analysis. Wide Awake America is one piece of that puzzle, and I want it to succeed—not just for its own sake, but because we need many more creators, storytellers, and truth-tellers rising with us.

So drop your favorite voices in the comments. Let’s find each other, support each other, and help the good work get seen.

Thank you for being part of this community—and for helping put us in the Top 100 fastest-growing Substack newsletters. Here’s to growing together.

Gratefully,
Nadine