Rachel Maddow's podcast uses Japanese American incarceration as a lesson versus today's Trump policies

Japanese American groups, remembering their own history of unjust mass incarceration during WWII were among the first to condemn  the Trump administration's immigration policies, viewing similarities in rhetoric and actions, particularly mass detention and family separation, as echoing past injustices to their families.

The similarities between their incarceration and this administration's attitudes toward immigrants is largely unknown by most Americans. All that may change as their struggle is the subject of a podcast by progressive media host Rachel Maddow.

 "Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order" is a new, six-episode narrative podcast that tells the story of the executive order that authorized the roundup and incarceration of innocent Japanese Americans during World War II. The podcast was released on December 1, 2025.

"Rachel Maddow’s new series lays bare one of the most shocking decisions in American history," posts the Manzanar Committee on social media. "It’s a story that reveals how an executive order authorizing the mass roundup of innocent Japanese Americans came to be, the powerful players who engineered it, and the burn order that tried to erase it from history."

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Japanese Americans were among the first to protest Donald Trump's immigration policies.

The series investigates one of the most shocking decisions in American history, focusing on the powerful figures who engineered the policy, those who tried to stop it, and a "burn order" that attempted to erase the official report from history. A copy of the crucial government memo was discovered decades later, despite orders for its destruction.

"I'm angry, I'm angry," said 81-year-old Satsuki Ina to CBS. "It's frightening. It's terrifying that this is happening again."

"It is a replication of our own history," explains Inak, a survivor of the Tule Lake Ssegregation Center. "They're using the same legal false justification, removing people without due process."

Rachel Maddow

Maddow is arguably the most in-fluential voice in progressive media. She is the highest paid host on MSNBC, now rebranded as MS NOW. Maddow has approximately 9.4 million followers across her primary social media accounts, with nearly 9.4 million on X (formerly Twitter) and 2.5 million on the Facebook page for The Rachel Maddow Show. Her podcasts are highly popular, often reaching number one on the Apple Podcasts charts.

In her podcast Burn Order, Maddow draws several parallels to today's political climate beyond mass detentions. The podcast focuses on the manipulation of information, government accountability, and the targeting of groups.

FYI: Listen to the podcast on various platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and MSNBC's website.  

The key parallels Maddow highlights are:


• Targeting of "the Other": The government used "brazen lies and stereotypes" to turn the public against a whole group of people. This can be seen today with the divisive political rhetoric labeling certain groups as a threat.

Lack of Accountability for Influential Figures: Maddow points to figures operating without accountability. This can be seen as a parallel to situations where powerful individuals seem untouchable and operate outside public scrutiny.

Attempts to Suppress Truth: The podcast is titled after a "burn order"—a deliberate attempt to destroy documents and suppress the truth. This can be compared to modern discussions about mishandled records, government cover-ups, and the fight for transparency.

Public Indifference: Maddow suggests the public back then was "determined to look the other way". Today, with a constant stream of news, there is a danger of public fatigue and indifference, potentially allowing those in power to act unchecked.

Abuse of Power: The historical event involved the abuse of executive power and the stripping of citizens' rights through an unconstitutional executive order. This serves as a warning about unchecked power and the importance of constitutional checks and balances.

It's amazing how many Americans have never heard of this shameful chapter of US  history. Even less known is how Japanese Americans fought for the federal government to admit any wrongdoing.

The podcast also explores how the persistence of the Japanese American community was able to get the federal government to issue an apologizy to Japanese Americans for the wartime internment through the Civil Liberties Act of 198..The apology not only acknowledged that the incarceration was based on "racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership," it also provided a $20,000 cash payment to each eligible survivor.

Maddow will host a live event in Los Angeles tied to Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order sponsored by MS NOW. It will take place at 5 p.m. PT on Dec. 14 at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. The event also will air as a MSNOW primetime special on Dec. 29. Tickets for the event are available for purchase via Ticketmaster.

Japanese Americans, informed by its painful history, largely reacted with alarm and opposition to Trump's immigration crackdowns, advocating for compassion and constitutional rights for all immigrants. Their perspective matters.


“Doing the right thing doesn't always pay off in the short run, but your country will ultimately get this right,” Maddow tells Time magazine. “The good guys will be rewarded and the bad guys will be punished or forgotten. Having faith in those kinds of moral outcomes is really a nice guiding light to have in dark times like these.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.