MSNBC Launches New Rachel Maddow Project, Podcast About a Wild Historical Plot to Undermine U.S. Democracy

MSNBC announced Monday the latest project from Rachel Maddow, the network’s most popular host. Maddow signed a new multi-year contract in August reportedly worth $30 million to pursue new projects while only hosting her show once a week.

Maddow, who has been at MSNBC for some 13 years, had reportedly been considering leaving the network altogether, but eventually ended up staying under new terms which allow her to “pursue projects in a wide range of formats, from documentaries and streaming specials to movies and books, all under the banner of her newly minted independent production company whose name I can now reveal: Surprise Inside,” reported Vanity Fair in August.

The first of those new projects is a podcast titled, Ultra. The first two episodes drop on Oct. 10.

MSNBC bills the new historical work from Maddow as examining “the history of a seditious plot to undermine democracy 80 years ago, and the wild fight to stop it.”

“We are not the first generation of Americans to have contended with a clear and present threat to our democracy,” Maddow noted in a press release. “The history of this particular fight is less well known today, but it’s a fascinating example of how the criminal law can’t be counted on to do it all. Protecting democracy from its enemies takes all kinds of Americans working in all kinds of ways.”

The podcast will be released as the trial of Oath Keepers’ leader Stewart Rhodes for seditious conspiracy continues to dominate headlines and the latest Jan. 6 hearing will take place, current events which clearly inspired Maddow’s choice of content.

Ultra marks Maddow’s second foray into the podcast world. Her first offering, Bag Man, which was produced by Michael Yarvitz – who was also a producer on The Rachel Maddow Show and now Ultra – chronicled the “criminal enterprise” of Nixon’s Vice President Spiro Agnew. Maddow and Yarvitz won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for that work.

Listen to the trailer for Ultra above