Left Anchor: Recent Episodes
Ryan Cooper & Alexi the Greek
In this excerpt we discuss why so many American leftists struggled to get to the correct understanding in Ukraine, and why so many liberals have struggled to get to the correct understanding in Israel-Palestine.
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Today we've got David Dayen back on to talk about his reporting on how awful it is to attempt to make it as a franchisee for the Kitchen and Bath Tune-Up company. We also discuss the flailing incompetence of various Trump lawyers in their efforts to persecute critics of the regime, the return of tariffs, and the resumption of endless war with Iran, again. Enjoy!
We are still recovering from vacation and travel, so enjoy this premium episode from awhile back.
Zohran Mamdani is now arguably the most politically successful socialist in American history, having won the mayoralty of New York City. So we've got longtime socialist organizer and DSA member David Duhalde back on the podcast to discuss his recent review of Organize or Burn: How New York Socialists Fight for Climate Survival, by Fabian Holt, as well as the overall state of DSA nationally under the second Trump regime.
Today we have Professor Harvey Kaye back on to talk about so-called Christian nationalism, and not only why all the Founding Fathers would have regarded such an idea with horror, but also so would have Jesus Christ. People like Elon Musk and Pete Hegseth loudly proclaim their religiosity while simultaneously massacring innocent children, starving poor people by the millions, and welcoming the moneychangers into the temple.
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Today we've got noted author and historian Rick Perlstein on to discuss the late Alan Greenspan's 20-year reign as the chair of the Federal Reserve, the damage he did to the American working class and New Deal financial regulations, and what that says about the history of the 1990s and 2000s. Then we turn to what the rise of bareknuckle boxing has to say about MAGA's particularly chintzy and gross brand of fascism. Enjoy!
Check out Rick's newsletter here, and his books here.
In this latest bonus episode, we are talking about how former Labour Prime Minister Kier Starmer frittered away one of the biggest parliamentary majorities in British history, and what lessons that holds in general. Then we talk about the on-again-off-again Iran deal, and Trump's epic debacle with the Reflection Pool on the National Mall.
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Alexi is off today, so this time we are cross-posting a conversation Ryan had with Shawn Howard, who runs the newsletter American Vets in Defense of Democracy. They discussed why the economy hasn't collapsed, how the green energy transition has accelerated, why so much of the world is struggling to come to grips with the fact that the American president is a senile madman, and more. Enjoy!
Today we are unlocking our episode with William Lawrence, who is running to represent Michigan's 7th congressional district in and around Lansing, and has the geographical hand tattoo to prove it. Unlike the previous Democrat to represent the seat, current junior Senator Elissa Slotkin, William is a strong progressive. How does he plan to win a swing district on a platform of social housing, taxing the rich, bolstering union rights, and so on? Listen to find out!
Check out William's campaign website here.
Today we're are talking Trump's latest on-again, off-again deal with Iran, Zohran Mamdani's record after a few months as mayor of New York City, and whether AOC is worth considering as a presidential candidate in 2028.
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The dumbest president in American history, with his world-historically stupid war on Iran choking off trade through the Strait of Hormuz, with no end in sight, has de facto imposed a gigantic carbon tax on the entire planet. As a result, the green energy transition is leaping ahead at the fastest pace yet--led by China, which is cementing its position as the economic and technological powerhouse of the 21st century. That's...good?
We also discuss the Supreme Court's latest bowel movement in Callais vs. Louisiana, the continual acceleration of Republican gerrymandering, and more. Enjoy!
Today we have William Lawrence, who is running to represent Michigan's 7th congressional district in and around Lansing, and has the geographical hand tattoo to prove it. Unlike the previous Democrat to represent the seat, current junior Senator Elissa Slotkin, William is a strong progressive. How does he plan to win a swing district on a platform of social housing, taxing the rich, bolstering union rights, and so on? Listen to find out!
Check out William's campaign website here, and listen to the rest of the episode here.
Today we've got Bethany Andres-Beck, a DSA member who is running for Congress in the 6th District of Massachusetts, on to discuss why that state and the House of Representatives could use a nonbinary trans socialist with a lot of coding experience. Enjoy!
Trump's war on Iran has led to Iran closing the Strait of Homuz, and hence probably the worst single energy shock since oil became a bulk commodity. There is no end in sight. We discuss why it was such a catastrophically stupid decision, what it reveals about Trump's decaying brain, how Iran has gained the upper hand, and more. We also discuss the elections in Hungary and Mexico's forthcoming single payer healthcare system.
Subscribe now to listen to the whole episode!
Today we have Adam Johnson on to discuss his forthcoming book How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza. He brings elaborate receipts about how centrist and liberal media downplayed, excused, and denied the Gaza genocide, and in general treated Palestinians as subhumans.
Check out Adam's newsletter here and his podcast here.
Today we have Rep. Rick Krajewski, who represents the 188th District--entirely contained within West Philadelphia--in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A DSA member and longtime organizer, Rick primaried the longtime incumbent in 2020, and has spent the last several years learning the political ropes. We discuss the state of play in Harrisburg, what he has learned and gotten done in office, the prospects of Democrats taking full control of the state government in the elections this year, and more. Enjoy!
Zohran Mamdani is now arguably the most politically successful socialist in American history, having won the mayoralty of New York City. So we've got longtime socialist organizer and DSA member David Duhalde back on the podcast to discuss his recent review of Organize or Burn: How New York Socialists Fight for Climate Survival, by Fabian Holt, as well as the overall state of DSA nationally under the second Trump regime.
Subscribe here to listen to the rest of the episode!
Today we have the philosopher Jase Short on to discuss what is going on in Iran: What is happening, why did Trump and Israel do such a crazy thing, and what can be done about it?
Check out Jase's newsletter here.
Today we have the philosopher Jase Short on to discuss what is going on in Iran: What is happening, why did Trump and Israel do such a crazy thing, and what can be done about it?
Check out Jase's newsletter here.
For the second half of the episode, subscribe here!
Today we're zooming out and taking a broader look at the Jeffrey Epstein phenomenon. How did an evidently barely-literate freak end up as one of the linchpins of the global oligarchic elite? It's a highly telling indication of the rot in post-Cold War democracies, above all the United States.
Also, we are changing the way our Patreon tiers work. The Prospect is getting rid of digital memberships and subscriptions, so our $10 Leftenants will instead get a discount code for 60 percent off a print subscription. Hopefully that's both simpler and easier!
Today we are unlocking our episode on the update on the situation in Minneapolis. Note that most of the episode was recorded before Alex Pretti was martyred by CBP thugs, but Ryan provides a brief update on that at the start. This might just be seen as the turn of the tide.
Then we move on to discuss Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's remarkable speech and Davos, what it revealed about the previous "rules-based international order," and just how deliriously insane Trump's aggression against Canada and Greenland is.
Check out some excellent coverage of the Minneapolis resistance here and here.
Today we've got an update on the situation in Minneapolis. Note that most of the episode was recorded before Alex Pretti was martyred by CBP thugs, but Ryan provides a brief update on that at the start. This might just be seen as the turn of the tide.
Subscribe here for the full episode!
Also, check out some excellent coverage of the Minneapolis resistance here and here.
Today Will Stancil joins Ryan to discuss the organized community efforts to stymie ICE ethnic cleansing in Minneapolis. What are these goons doing there, how are people fighting back, and what can others learn from their experience?
Today we've got NYU historian Alejandro Velasco on to discuss Trump's kidnapping of Venezuela's now-former president Nicolas Maduro. We talk about the historical context, details about the oil sector there, what Trump's goals might be and whether they make any sense, and what it all might mean. Enjoy!
Check out Alejandro's recent article in the Guardian here.
This time we are discussing Wake Up Dead Man, the latest Knives Out picture, and its themes of faith, humility, forgiveness, and right-wing assholes in the pulpit. We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday break!
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The dumbest people in politics are always going on about how we need more "debate" between various factions. But Stanford political scientist James Fishkin has a much more sophisticated argument that actual deliberation--not cable news morons shouting at each other--has a vital role to play in democratic functioning, and has actually carried out several experiments to that effect. He joins us to talk about his book Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy?
Today we've got Rutgers labor historian Eric Blanc back on to discuss his recent article on the sewer socialists of Milwaukee. Back in the early 20th century, Wisconsin was the epicenter of the most successful socialist movement in American history, with socialists running Milwaukee for nearly 50 years starting in 1910. How did they win, how did they build power, and what did they do with it? With Zohran Mamdani poised to take charge of New York, this is some highly relevant history.
Check out the second half of the episode here!
Today we have Dr. Lucian Staiano-Daniels on to talk about his book The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War. It is something of an obscure conflict these days, but he explains why understanding it matters today, and in particular how the era is quite similar to 2025 in many ways—we also are experiencing a severely destabilizing revolution in information technology (social media now, the printing press then), political problems in a federalized empire with a rickety, anachronistic structure (America now, the Holy Roman Empire then), and a good old crisis of state finance (Trump’s illegal budget moves now, how Charles II infringed on the rights of the English parliament, along with many others, then). Enjoy!
Today we have economics professor Marshall Steinbaum on to talk about the potential fall of Larry Summers due to his association with Jeffrey Epstein, and what it reveals about the culture of the economics profession and policymaking in the Democratic Party.
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Here are the articles mentioned in the discussion:
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Claudia Sahm’s initial post: “Economics is a Disgrace.”
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Claudia’s account of the retaliation she faced for that post: “Economics Truly is a Disgrace.”
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Writeup of the resulting controversy in the Georgetown student newspaper.
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“Breach of Trust in Hostile Takeovers”— Andrei Shleifer and Summers’s indictment of capitalism.
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“How Harvard Lost Russia,” a journalistic account of the USAID-Harvard-Shleifer-Summers fraud case.
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Marshall’s article on what happened in the last decade-plus of Democratic economic policy-making: “A Real Post-Neoliberal Agenda.”
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Marshall’s recent essay in LPE Blog about antitrust: “Anti-monopolism as an Ideology of the Left.”
Zohran Mamdani won in New York City, and so did Democrats in New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and even Mississippi. What happened and why? We dig in.
Check out Ryan's articles on Zohran and Chuck Schumer, as well as our previous episode on Zohran.
Today we are discussing the home stretch of the New York City mayoral race, Andrew Cuomo's decent into outright gutter racism and Islamophobia, the ongoing ICE raids across the country, Trump's escalating war on Venezuela, and the surprising story of how rent control in Hong Kong led to a building boom in the 1920s.
Is it possible to reform America's blighted hellscape of car-dependent suburban sprawl, big box stores, strip malls, and stroads into something more healthy and human? Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon (of the podcast The War on Cars) argue yes, in their new book Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. They outline the gruesome history of automobiles, what they've done to American lives and cities, and how we might RETVRN.
Check out the famous Andre Gorz essay "The Social Ideology of the Motorcar" here.
Today Ryan has Sarah Taber, a small farmer and proprietor of the Farm to Taber YouTube channel, on to talk about just what is going on with American farming--the collapse in soybean exports, what farmers thought they would by voting for Trump, how he has made the H-2A visa program even more exploitative, why so many farmers are addicted to producing corn and soybeans, and more.
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Now that the dust has started to settled around the whole Charlie Kirk thing, we've brought on Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, associate professor of philosophy at Georgetown, to discuss his Boston Review piece about Ezra Klein's hagiography of Kirk, the discussion Klein had with Ta-Nehisi Coates, and why moderate liberals seem so at sea politically.
Other readings mentioned in the discussion: Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968, by Thomas Ricks, and "Democrats Must Embrace War Mindset," by Samantha Hancox-Li.
Today we have Danish MP Pelle Dragsted on to talk about his book Nordic Socialism: The Path Toward a Democratic Economy. We discuss what is distinctive about the Nordic socialist tradition, how much of it is left after many decades of neoliberal attacks, what people can learn from it today, and more.
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Today we have Phil Christman on to talk about his book Why Christians Should Be Leftists. Is there a model of Christianity aside from right-wing fundamentalism--something more in like with the teachings of this fellow Jesus Christ?
The David Bentley Hart essay mentioned can be found here.
Today we have Dr. Jonathan Howard, who writes at Science Based Medicine, on to discuss his new book Everyone Else Is Lying to You: How the medical establishment weaponized doubt to spread COVID, normalize quackery, and undermine public health. It's all about a cohort of highly credentialed and elite doctors who spread grotesque disinformation about Covid from the very start of the pandemic, and kept doing so even as their predictions were repeatedly proven wrong. And now many of those people are in charge of America's public health bureaucracy, tearing it to shreds--when they aren't getting Jonathan's YouTube channel nuked by abusing the company's copyright policy.
Why and how did they do this, and what might we do to stop this from happening in the future?
Today we have writer and friend of the pod Osita Nwanevu on to talk about his new book The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding. He goes back to political brass tacks--what democracy actually is, why it's important, why we don't have it, and why we should work to achieve the goals set forth in the Declaration of Independence for the first time.
Ryan recently visited Greenland to report on their public sector, which turns out to be extremely large and critical to the local economy. How and why did this develop? Then we discuss some recent gerrymandering news.
Stay tuned for the full article in the next issue of the Prospect! And subscribe here to hear the rest of the episode.
Today we're interviewing Katie Brennan, who just won the primary for the New Jersey state Assembly in Hudson County. She explains how the state Democratic machine de facto abolished democracy with a rigged ballot design, how it changed, and how she overcame a tidal wave of money to win.
Subscribe now to hear the rest of the episode!
Today we've got Layla Al-Sheik on to discuss recent events in Gaza, where an onrushing famine has suddenly become widely acknowledged, even among parts of the Israeli far right. Is it because reality finally broke through, or Europe getting fed up--or perhaps an Ezra Klein column? And is there a chance to save Gazans and get a permanent peace settlement?
Check out our previous episode with Layla here and the Isaac Chotiner interview of Amit Segal here.
Alexi is still on vacation, so this time we are replaying a recent American Prospect Weekly Roundup show, in which Evan Urquhart of Assigned Media helps Ryan dig into the Supreme Court's latest transphobic decision and how The New York Times played a vital role in it.
Today we've got David Dayen on to discuss the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: massive tax cuts for the rich, massive cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, evisceration of Joe Biden's climate program, and huge subsidies for oil and coal companies, plus a number of bizarre smaller items. Republicans seemingly also forgot to waive another budget law, meaning there will also be $500 billion in cuts to Medicare over the next decade. Not great!
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Back in 2011 Peter Frase wrote an article for Jacobin called "Four Futures," later turned into a book, speculating about how politics and the economy might evolve in the future as automation progresses. The four possibilities, outlined in broad strokes, are: communism, rentism, socialism, and exterminism. Fourteen years on, how have his predictions borne out, with the rise of global temperatures, green energy, and artificial intelligence?
Today we’ve got New York City politics expert Michael Caley on to discuss how Zohran Mamdani managed to assemble a coalition that bested Andrew Cuomo—where did he rack up big margins and why, how did Cuomo’s campaign fail, and what does it mean?
Check out Michael’s Substack here, and Michael Lange’s voting analysis here.
Today we have Dr. Matthew McManus on to discuss his book The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism. It turns out that there is an extensive tradition of socialism emerging out of classical liberal theory in the 19th century that is clearly relevant for today. What can modern leftists learn from John Stuart Mill, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Rawls, and many others? Listen to find out.
Today we've got Derek Davison of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter and American Prestige podcast on to talk about Israel's sweeping attack on Iran. What is happening and why, how much has each side suffered, and is there a chance that the U.S. might get involved? It doesn't look good.
Check out Kerry Howley's essay on Pete Hegseth here.
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Back in 1943 the Polish economist Michał Kalecki published one of the all-time great essays about political economy, “The Political Aspects of Full Employment.” We dig into his argument and how it holds up applied to the 2024 election. Then we turn to an essay in Spectre Journal called “‘Experience’ as the Best Teacher” by Vanessa Wills about the intellectual approach (or lack thereof) of Joe Rogan, and what it reveals about his class position.
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Today we are talking Elon Musk’s alleged retreat from DOGE, the ungodly horrors he has unleashed in that time, and why someone would commit such evil. Then we move on to Trump’s loss in tariff court, his prospects at the Supreme Court, the lie about “white genocide” in South Africa, and what’s going on in Gaza and Ukraine.
Check out Ryan’s piece on Musk leaving here, David Dayen’s piece on Trump’s tariff smackdown here, and the documentary series on Larry Krasner here.
Back in 2011 Peter Frase wrote an article for Jacobin called "Four Futures," later turned into a book, speculating about how politics and the economy might evolve in the future as automation progresses. The four possibilities, outlined in broad strokes, are: communism, rentism, socialism, and exterminism. Fourteen years on, how have his predictions borne out, with the rise of global temperatures, green energy, and artificial intelligence?
Subscribe now to hear the full episode!
Today we have economist and YouTuber Cahal Moran on to talk about his book Why We're Getting Poorer: A Realist’s Guide to the Economy and How We Can Fix It. We discuss what the economics profession has learned since 2008, what lessons the left can learn from it, why lefty YouTubers seem to be rather weak in this area, and more. Enjoy!
Today we've got David Dayen on to talk about the big Apple decision limiting fees on the company's app store, and then the building supply disruptions thanks to Trump's tariffs, which look to be comparable to what happened during the pandemic. Gulp.
What the heck is going on with the economy and the markets? We've got financial expert George Pearkes on to discuss tariffs, stocks, whether the bond market is blowing up, and the economy writ large.
Today we are speaking with professor Adam Kotsko about his new book Late Star Trek: The Final Frontier in the Franchise Era. Why Trek so successful and beloved through the 1990s, why have the recent shows struggled to recapture the magic, and how does that relate to changing dynamics in the entertainment industry?
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Today we have Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project, NLRB Edge, and The Bruenigs podcast on to talk about Ezra Klein's and Derek Thompson's book Abundance. We discuss the strengths and accuracies of the book, but also where it turns squirrelly, why it's gotten so much attention, and the suspicious cast of characters behind it.
Check out Matt's review of the book here.
Today we are talking with Professor Eric Blanc about his book We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big. It's all about how innovative organizers have managed to unionize some highly dispersed workplaces like Starbucks, but also how institutional labor unions have failed to take advantage of that knowledge. We also discuss what labor should do given the Trump administration's unprecedented threat to labor power as such.
Check out Eric's Substack here.
As Eric mentions, if you want to organize your workplace visit here, if you want to get another job so you might organize that workplace visit here, and if you want to support federal workers visit here.
To listen to the second half of the episode subscribe here!
Today we are bringing back David Austin Walsh to talk about the Trump/Musk attack on American higher education--not just DEI programs, but advanced science and research of any kind. Why are they doing this and what damage will it cause?
Check out David's book Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right here, our previous interview with him here, and Chuck Schumer's ridiculous interview with The New York Times here.
Ryan is on vacation this week, so here's an episode from the archives.
Today we're discussing the article "Truth and Politics" by Hannah Arendt. We talk about her idea that truth has both a weakness and a power to it, what the Herman Cain Award subreddit tells us about the power of propaganda, Joe Rogan getting owned on his own show, why Bernie Sanders is better at science communication than the CDC, and more. Enjoy!
Today we are talking to Harvard Law Professor Mark Tushnet about his book Who Am I to Judge: Judicial Craft versus Constitution Theory. It’s common today for Supreme Court justices to outline a theory of constitutional interpretation, but it turns out that not only is this dishonest, but also something that only developed in the late 20th century. Enjoy!
The Ian Toll book series Ryan mentions can be found here.
Today we are discussing the book Assholes: A Theory, by Aaron James. It turns out there are important distinctions between the asshole, the douchebag, the jerk, and the psychopath, and they are highly relevant to the men (they are usually men) running the American government.
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This time we've got Eoin Higgins on to talk about his book Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. He uses Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi as case studies in how shifting monetary incentives created by tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen combined with certain personal pathologies turned formerly respected progressive journalists into right-wing blowhards.
Coincidentally, Ryan also made videos on both Greenwald and Taibbi, which make for a nice pairing.
This time we are taking a step back to consider just what is going on with shadow president Musk and his gang of thugs seizing control of core government functions. It's important, we feel, to foreground the grave political implications of what is happening.
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Today we're bringing back Professor Harvey Kaye to talk about Trump's inaugural address and some of his first executive orders.
Check out the Prospect's coverage of Trump's actions: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4.
Alexi is off, so David Dayen joins Ryan to discuss the events over the holiday. What are Republicans going to do? Is anyone driving the GOP train--maybe Elon Musk? And what in God's name is Trump going on about with conquering Greenland, Canada, and Panama? We live in hell.
Today economics professor Rob Larson comes on to discuss his new book Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More. We discuss how the ultra-rich got their money, what they do with it, why it's a problem, and what to do about it. Enjoy!
What worked and what didn't about the Biden administration's program, and why didn't it pay off politically? We discuss, and at the end we give a brief update on what's going on in Syria.
Read President Biden’s defense of his record here.
Today we are talking the United Healthcare CEO assassination, the attempted coup in Korea, and the revolution in Syria. Subscribe now to listen to the whole thing!
Pennsylvania Senator Nikil Saval, who represents the First District in South Philadelphia, talks about what went wrong with the Harris campaign in Philadelphia and across the nation, and how the left might rebuild going forward.
Check out Nikil's recent book Rage in Harlem: June Jordan and Architecture.
This time we are talking about what went wrong and what to do going forward. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Less than a week to go before the election, so we've got Daniel Nichanian on from the great publication Bolts. We talk about Trump's Nuremburg Rally in New York and what effects it might have, how the Republican ground game is shaping up, and the most important races for state supreme court, prosecutors, and sheriffs.
Check out the rest of Bolts' excellent 2024 coverage here.
The second-largest reservoir in the United States is called Lake Powell on the Colorado River. It has not been filled since 1999, and in 2022 reached a record low of about 23 percent full--nearly the point of "dead pool," where the lake would be below the outlet pipes. The reason is that with climate change and reservoir overcapacity (the largest reservoir of all, Lake Mead, is downstream of Powell), there is too much storage on the river relative to demand for agriculture, cities, and water lost from reservoir evaporation.
What to do? Science writer Zak Podmore examines the question in his book Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River, where he argues it's time to drain the lake, save a lot of water, and restore the wondrous beauty of flooded Glen Canyon.
Zak and University of Utah economist Marshall Steinbaum join us to talk about the political economy behind the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, how environmentalists went wrong attacking it with conservative arguments, and how the Colorado can be better managed as a resource for both people and nature. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we are talking the killing of Yahya Sinwar, Kamala Harris's outreach to Black male voters, and most importantly, Trump's unbelievably crappy line of merch. Enjoy!
Israel's occupation is much worse than South African apartheid. Subscribe here to listen to the whole episode.
Today we are talking about philosopher Harry Frankfurt's famous essay "On Bullshit," and how it applies to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and J.D. Vance. We also discuss the damage caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, aid links here.
Check out the new book by Ryan Mac and Kate Conger as well. Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter.
This time we are talking Mark Robinson and the Olivia Nuzzi-RFK Jr affair. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Hey folks, Ryan has been sick with Covid, so this week we're unlocking a bonus episode.
Donald Trump visited Wilkes-Barre, much to Ryan's surprise, but his appearance fell flat. What's going on with his campaign? We discuss that, plus Kamala Harris's policy rollout, and the outbreak of riots in the UK. Enjoy!
Today economics professor Rob Larson comes on to discuss his new book Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
We've got historian Harvey Kaye back on to talk about the major DNC speeches and what they reveal about the state of the Democratic Party. Enjoy!
Today we're talking Trump, Harris's policy rollout, and UK riots. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got Prospect columnist and historian Rick Perlstein on to talk about the last month of political history—the Harris switcheroo, Tim Walz as running mate, JD Vance’s online brain poisoning, and more. Enjoy!
Check out Rick’s books here.
Today we are discussing two readings: “The Perils of Presidentialism,” by political scientist Juan Linz, and a selection from On Violence by Hannah Arendt, and what they tell us about the crumbling American constitutional order. Next time we'll be back with historian Rick Perlstein, stay tuned!
Today we are bringing back John Ganz to talk about his book When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s, as well as the recent French elections. Enjoy!
This time we are talking to returning guest Astra Taylor with her co-author Leah Hunt-Hendrix about their book Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea.
We’re continuing our discussion with David Austin Walsh regarding his book Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right. Check out the previous episode to hear about his attempted recruitment from the far right. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Historian David Austin Walsh, who just published a book called Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right, did some bad tweets. But this led to something interesting: a concerted recruitment attempt from the conservative movement, including personal outreach from Chris Rufo, Richard Hanania, James Taranto, and others. We discuss why the tweets were bad and the surrounding context in academia, the pitch from Rufo et al, and the book.
The conversation went long, so tune in next week for part II.
This episode is a recording of Ryan talking with The New York Times's Jamelle Bouie about the recent spate of deranged Supreme Court decisions on The American Prospect's weekly livestream. Enjoy!
Today we have Michael from the 5-4 podcast to talk about the big New York Times report on how Garland dithered on the Trump prosecution, plus the Texas immigration controversy, and the upcoming Chevron doctrine case. Enjoy!
Today we are talking to Professor Brad Evans about his new book How Black Was My Valley: Poverty and Abandonment in a Post-Industrial Heartland. It's all about growing up poor in a Welsh coal mining city, what that was like, and what has subsequently happened to the region. Enjoy!
Today we are contrasting the brutal punishment meted out to college students and professors protesting Israel's actions in Gaza with the kid glove treatment handed out to Donald Trump by New York courts and the Supreme Court. Enjoy!
Today we have Jonathan Greenaway on to talk about his new book A Primer on Utopian Philosophy: An Introduction to the Work of Ernst Bloch. We discuss where Bloch came from, the uses of utopian thinking in politics, and more. Enjoy!
We've got Michael from the 5-4 podcast on to talk about how Garland whiffed the Trump prosecution. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we have Matt Bruenig back on the podcast to talk about his new publication NLRB Edge, the problems with US labor law, and why the ACLU is filing a lawsuit attempting to blow a giant hole in union rights.
Today we are discussing Donald Trump's numerous legal fines, and then Judith Butler's concepts of precarity and grievability, specifically as they apply to the war in Gaza.
This time we've got David Dayen to talk about House Republicans' failed effort to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, pass an immigration bill, or get through military aid to Israel, as well as David's piece about the failings of American democracy. Enjoy!
This time we're talking about the weenie Trump apologists, his bad day in court, Gaza, and broken airplanes. Subscribe here to hear the whole thing!
We're taking the week off, so enjoy our episode with Astra Taylor speaking about her book The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart. We discuss how modern capitalism came to produce insecurity on a personal scale, who benefits from it, whether a modern economy can be run with a secure population, and more.
Merry Christmas! This time we are doing another holiday movie review episode, this time about Children of Men and Die Hard. Subscribe here to hear the full episode!
Today we're posting an interview with Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project that was part of a telethon holiday livestream for The American Prospect. (Find the donation page here.) We discuss what happened when McDonald's crossed the Danish labor movement, how the same thing is happening to Tesla, why Americans seem so down on the economy, and more. Enjoy!
We're continuing the discussion on the Gaza war with Adam Johnson. Check out his articles we discuss at The Nation and Jacobin.
We're unlocking our Gaza discussion with writer and organizer Layla Al-Sheikh, talking about the history of Hamas and Israel, the plausibility of a two-state solution, what people in the West can do to help, whether the Biden administration might think twice about its support for Netanyahu, and more.
Check out Layla's article in Dissent and Jacobin, and you can find the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund here.
Today we've got political science Professor Neil Kraus on to talk about his book The Fantasy Economy: Neoliberalism, Inequality, and the Education Reform Movement. We discuss how all the promises that increasing educational attainment would cut poverty and inequality failed, how that can actually be accomplished with unions and the welfare state, and how a proper higher education system should work. Enjoy!
Today we are speaking with Astra Taylor about her book The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today after a brief update on the Gaza situation, we are talking about the new dark horse House speaker, and the end of democratic government in North Carolina. Enjoy!
We are continuing our Gaza discussion with writer and organizer Layla Al-Sheikh. Subscribe to listen to the whole thing!
Check out Layla's article in Dissent and Jacobin, and you can find the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund here.
Today we've got David Klion on to talk about Gaza--what has happened on the ground, the immediate and historical contexts, whether this marks the end of Benjamin Netanyahu's career, and if Israel can learn that the occupation is at the root of its most intractable security problems.
Check out David's article in n+1 here.
The WGA won their strike against the Hollywood studios, President Biden is on the UAW picket line, Trump is talking with scab parts workers, and New York City was flooded briefly. We talk about it.
Note: we discuss the possibility of replacing Dianne Feinstein at the beginning, before it was known that California Governor Newsom would nominate former labor organizer and Uber lobbyist Laphonza Butler to serve out the remainder of her term.
Apologies for the radio silence over the last couple weeks, Alexi has been in Greece, Denmark, and Germany, and Ryan has been on a reporting trip in Finland. We just haven't had time to record. But we're back to discuss what Ryan learned about Finland's S Group cooperative retailer and how the broader Finnish society compares with America. Enjoy!
Ryan is traveling in Finland, so for this week we're unlocking a recent theory episode.
How is socialism related to liberalism? This time we read two works on this question: "The Relationship Between Liberalism and Socialism," by Ed Rooksby, and "Why I Am Not A Liberal," by Liam Kofi Bright. We discuss how liberalism evolved, if socialism contradicts it or evolves out of it, and why billionaires are ontologically unhappy. Enjoy!
Donald Trump has now been indicted four times (though this was recorded before the most recent Georgia indictment). We discuss why this is different from the Mueller investigation, how Trump might escape justice by dragging it out until after the election, and Ulysses S. Grant's view on what happens to people who attempt to overthrow the government, plus some more optimistic news. Enjoy!
In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss how capitalist inequality breaks people's brains. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
In this episode, first Ryan discusses his Heatmap article about Tesla and Elon Musk, as well as the book Ludicrous by Edward Neidermeyer. Then he interviews the Prospect's Luke Goldstein about his investigative article about Q-Cells, a South Korean solar panel company that has set up shop in Dalton, Georgia--the district represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Today we are talking the death of Tony Bennett and socialism banana discourse. Subscribe now to hear the whole episode!
We are taking this week off, so this time we're unlocking an old episode with Phil Christman, talking about his book How to be Normal, a collection of essays about the pandemic, masculinity, whiteness, religion, and much else besides.
Alexi is back, and we are talking current events: the imploded Titanic submarine, the Elon-Zuckerberg cage match, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny in Russia, the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Joe Biden’s embrace of Narendra Modi, the Greek election, and how freight rail workers finally got paid sick leave. Enjoy!
Also don’t miss Yanis Varoufakis’s commentary on the Greek economy.
In this preview of our latest bonus episode, video game journalist, critic, and creator merritt k discusses the state of the gaming press. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got John Nichols on to discuss the book he wrote with Bernie Sanders, It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism. Topics include Bernie's favorite writing technology, the definition of socialism, where the American left goes from here, and more. Enjoy!
In this long preview of the latest bonus episode, Ryan and David Dayen explore what's in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between the Biden administration and House Republicans. Subscribe now to hear the rest!
Today we've got historian David Broder on to discuss his book Mussolini's Grandchildren: Fascism in Contemporary Italy. The new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the most right-wing person to hold the post since the fascist dictatorship. Where did she come from, how has the Italian far right evolved, and where is it going?
Today we've got Tanja von Knorring on to discuss what is happening with trans issues in Finland. She's a longstanding expert in this area, and explains the historical context regarding trans rights, how policy has changed recently, where the recently transphobic backlash there has come from, and more. Enjoy!
Today we've got Professor Mark Paul on to talk about his book The Ends of Freedom: Reclaiming America’s Lost Promise of Economic Rights. We discuss the idea of an economic bill of rights, how the right stole the idea of "freedom," how to fix America with a few simple policies, and more. Enjoy!
In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss how "James Medlock" posted a million bucks out of a reactionary venture capitalist. Subscribe now to hear the rest!
In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss the incredibly deserved firing of Tucker Carlson from Fox News. Subscribe now to hear our discussion on Supreme Court corruption and Republicans' new push for child labor.
Today we've got Justin Joque on to talk about his book Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and the Logic of Capitalism. It's all about Bayesian versus frequentist statistics, big data, machine learning, AI chatbots, and how they're used in modern capitalism--highly relevant stuff these days. Enjoy!
Today we've got Nashville city council member Sean Parker on to talk about Tennessee political drama. Why does the Republican state government hate Nashville so much, how have things changed in recent years, why did Black legislators get expelled from the state House, and is there any hope for change? Listen to find out.
Today we're talking again with Pete Davis, author of Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing, about his film Join or Die. It's a documentary about Robert Putnam and the accelerating decay of social institutions like clubs, unions, churches, and so forth. Pete explains why those are so important, and what might be done about it.
In this preview of our latest bonus episode, Skanda Amarnath, executive director of the Employ America think tank, discusses why the Silicon Valley Bank failed. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got Professor Jon Shelton on to talk about his book The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy. We discuss how the justification for public schooling was wildly different in the 19th century, why education doesn't solve poverty, why "human capital" is a nonsense idea, how education reform became a fake substitute for class politics, and more. Enjoy!
In this excerpt of our latest bonus episode, we discuss the implication of Michael Knowles' eliminationist rhetoric about trans people. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing where we discuss the reaction to our previous episode, Jesse Singal twitter drama, President Biden's undermining of DC home rule, and more.
Today we've got historian Dan Berger to talk about his new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power through One Family’s Journey-- and then we've got the two main characters of the book as well, Zoharah Simmons and Michael Simmons.
Zoharah and Michael have lived astounding lives, and they tell us stories about working with SNCC during the fight against Jim Crow, campaigning for Julian Bond, traveling the world to join the freedom struggle in other nations, and more. Enjoy!
Today we've got Evan Urquahart and Michael Hobbes on to talk about the ongoing frenzy of bigotry directed at trans people, and why centrist and liberal reporters are feeding it.
Evan covers trans issues at Assigned Media, while Michael is a journalist currently working on the Maintenance Phase and If Books Could Kill podcasts.
Also check out Evan's coverage of detransitioners, Tom Scocca's critique of the Times coverage, and this open letter to New York Times management from many of its employees and contributors.
Today we've got Felicia Kornbluh, professor of history at the University of Vermont, on to talk about her new book A Woman's Life Is a Human Life: My Mother, Our Neighbor, and the Journey From Reproductive Rights to Reproductive Justice. We discuss the fascinating history of pre-Roe abortion rights activists, the movement against coerced sterilization, what full reproductive justice means, and more. Enjoy!
In this excerpt Marianne talks about the bad and good sides of the Biden administration. Subscribe here to listen to the whole thing!
This time we're doing a movie review episode talking about two classics: Casablanca and Inside Llewyn Davis, discussing both their politics and their merits as films. Enjoy! (And pardon Ryan for repeatedly pronouncing it "Llewelyn".)
This time we've got Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on to discuss his book Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else). We talk about how this cooption process has happened, how to counter it without falling victim to irritable knee-jerk anti-"wokeness," what identity politics originally meant, and more. Enjoy!
We're off this week for vacation, so we're reposting one of our favorite episodes about one of our favorite movies. Happy holidays everyone!
The essay by Clare Coffey about Mary Bailey that we mention can be found here.
In this preview of our latest bonus episode, David Dayen talks about the Sam-Bankman Fried prosecution. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got Marshall Steinbaum, professor of economics at the University of Utah, and The Nation's Jeet Heer on to talk about crypto shills--who they are, how they got like that, why there are so many of them among cultural and political elites, and more. Enjoy!
Today we've got historian Chad Pearson on to talk about his book Capital's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century. We discuss how racism is heavily rooted in the need to control Black labor in the South before and after the Civil War, how the KKK was a kind of employer's association, how the civil liberties of workers were systematically violated by corporations and the government in the Gilded Age, and more. Enjoy!
This time we've got New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie on to talk about reclaiming American traditions and institutions from conservative Republicans who want to destroy them.
Items mentioned in the discussion: Jamelle's columns on the Supreme Court, the Senate, and Andrew Yang's dumb third party; his newsletter and podcast; and Ryan's article "Will no one defend the American Republic?"
Today we've got Professor Harvey Kaye back on to talk about a new edition of his book The British Marxist Historians, which tells the story of Maurice Dobb, Rodney Hilton, Christopher Hill, E.P. Thompson, and Eric Hobsbawm. We discuss how these guys used Marxism in their work, what light it sheds on politics today, why they still matter, and more. Enjoy!
This time Ryan calls in to tell Alexi about the Faroe Islands. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
This time we are talking utopian futures. Somewhat by accident we ended up reading two different Catalyst articles by Alex Gourevitch: Alexi read "Post-Work Socialism?" while Ryan read "The Basic Income Illusion" (co-authored with Lucas Stanczyk). We discuss the practicalities of UBI, the case for collective ownership of all national wealth, and how to get the crummy jobs done without relying on the threat of poverty. Enjoy!
Today we've got Volodymyr Artiukh, a postdoc at the University of Oxford and native of Ukraine, on to talk about what's going on in his country. We discuss the balance of forces on the ground, why the war happened, why the left has struggled to analyze the situation, what effect Western support has had on the conflict, and what Ukraine needs in the future.
Today we've got Volodymyr Artiukh, a postdoc at the University of Oxford and native of Ukraine, on to talk about what's going on in his country. We discuss the balance of forces on the ground, why the war happened, why the left has struggled to analyze the situation, what effect Western support has had on the conflict, and what Ukraine needs in the future.
In this preview of our latest bonus episode, Harold Meyerson talks about the state of the union movement in 2022. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
In this preview of our latest bonus episode, Harold Meyerson talks about the state of the union movement in 2022. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Happy Labor Day! Today we've got Maximillian Alvarez and Rebecca Garelli on to talk about Max's new book The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke. It's a collection of interviews of various working-class folks, from a gravedigger, to a sheet metal worker, to a nurse, and many more. Rebecca is one of those interviewees; she speaks about her work as a teacher and organizer in the Phoenix area, and how they've fought to keep themselves and their students safe from both the pandemic and right-wing austerity.
Happy Labor Day! Today we've got Maximillian Alvarez and Rebecca Garelli on to talk about Max's new book The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke. It's a collection of interviews of various working-class folks, from a gravedigger, to a sheet metal worker, to a nurse, and many more. Rebecca is one of those interviewees; she speaks about her work as a teacher and organizer in the Phoenix area, and how they've fought to keep themselves and their students safe from both the pandemic and right-wing austerity.
In this preview, we review the Democrats' record of accomplishments over the last few weeks. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got Aaron Kleinman, director of research for The States Project, on to talk about his work helping Democrats fight for control of state legislatures. We discuss how Republicans are plotting to use gerrymandered state legislatures as a springboard to turn America into a right-wing dictatorship, how campaign money stretches much farther in a state race as compared to a national one, conservatives' vulnerability on abortion, and more. Enjoy!
Check out their "give smart" page of featured candidates here.
Today we've got David Dayen on to discuss just what is in the monster Inflation Reduction Act--the gobs of tax credits, new regulations, tax hikes, and so on. Then we discuss what it reveals about the state of the Democratic coalition and what it might bode for the future.
Check out Lee Harris's Prospect articles on the IRA and energy investment, and how corn ethanol producers might benefit; along with David's backgrounder on it. Evergreen Action also has a useful summary of the bill here.
This is a sample of Ryan's book where he discusses how the pandemic's economic collapse disproves saving scold ideology.
You can check out the whole thing on Audible, Barnes & Noble, or Audiobooks.com, or you can see a selection of outlets where you can get a print copy here as well. Much obliged for any purchase or review!
Today we've got Pennsylvania state Senator Nikil Saval on to talk about the remarkable fact that he got a climate and affordable housing bill through a Republican-controlled legislature. What's up with that??
Other stuff mentioned in the episode: our previous episode with Nikil, his writing at n+1, and a run-down of Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.
Today we've got Professor Roberts, author of Marx's Inferno: The Political Theory of Capital, on to discuss his debate with Martin Hägglund regarding Hägglund's book This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom. We discuss the proper foundation of a socialist movement, the origins of capitalism, what American leftists should be doing in practice, and more.
Check out our previous episode on This Life here: Part I, Part II.
In this preview, we discuss why the left should be taking the threat of Trump and the January 6 hearings more seriously. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
This time we've got David Duhalde, chair of the Democratic Socialists of America Fund and former DSA staffer, on to talk about his chapter in a new book Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections, which discusses the debate around DSA endorsing Biden and the problems the organization suffered during the 2020 campaign against Trump. We talk about the state of the socialist movement, why the left seems to have lost some of its broader cultural purchase, and what it should focus on going forward. Enjoy!
In this preview, Professor David I. Backer explains how school financing works in this country. Subscribe now to hear the full thing!
In this episode from the archives, we've got economist Marshall Steinbaum on to discuss his research on why it's necessary to cancel student debt, how to end segregation in higher education, and why the theory of "human capital" is a bunch of nonsense. Enjoy!
Today we've got Professor Nomi Claire Lazar on to talk about her fascinating book Out of Joint: Power, Crisis, and the Rhetoric of Time. We discuss revolutionary leaders' habit of changing the calendar when they seize power (think Julius Caesar, the French Revolution, or the Bolshevik Revolution), what happens when someone locks themselves in a cave for weeks with no clocks, what time has to do with political legitimacy, and more. Enjoy!
Today we've got Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth on to discuss their book It's not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom. We talk about the key distinctions between free speech and academic freedom, why any defense of free speech on the merits must be rooted in democratic values, and why racist (or similarly bigoted) views have no place in today's universities. Enjoy! Also, check out Ryan's review of the book here.
In this episode from the archive, we've got Alex Pareene on to discuss the recent controversy and articles about political theoretician David Shor and his "popularist" dogma. Then we move on to talk about subscription media, and the promises and pitfalls thereof for the left. Enjoy!
Make sure to subscribe to Alex's newsletter. He's pretty much the best lefty writer in the business.
Today we've got Trevor Strunk, host of the No Cartridge podcast, on to talk about his book Story Mode: Video Games and the Interplay Between Consoles and Culture. We discuss the political subtext of game genres, why Japanese games can be so different from American ones, how multiplayer games can build different kinds of community, and more. Enjoy!
We've got Labor Notes staff writer Luis Feliz Leon on to talk about his coverage of the Amazon Labor Union there and at The American Prospect. We discuss the union's wildly unorthodox tactics, what leadership really means in a left-wing context, and what their prospects are for the future. Enjoy!
Mary Moriarty is running to be county attorney of Hennepin County, where she was formerly chief public defender. We talk about her history in the area, what's been going in Minneapolis since the George Floyd protests, the general state of criminal justice reform, and more. Enjoy!
We've got attorney and podcaster Sparky Abraham on to talk about the latest Supreme Court news, why many liberals are foolish to prioritize court cases, and how utterly despotic courts can be at the local level -- it turns out in some county courts, fully half of cases are about small-dollar debt collection.
Things mentioned in the episode: our episode with Brian Fallon, the Debt Collective, and "Do Courts Matter" by Stephen Carter.
Clarence Thomas is apparently in the hospital, so we thought we'd return to our old episode with political scientist Corey Robin. We first talked about how most workers experience a severe lack of freedom in the workplace, and then move on to discuss Clarence Thomas's history and peculiar brand of black nationalism. Check out Corey's book: The Enigma of Clarence Thomas.
Today we pose the question: how the heck did famed Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben turn into an anti-vaccine conspiracy nutcase? We've got Adam Kotsko, a leading Agamben scholar and translator of many of his works, on to discuss to what extent his goofball pandemic views emerge from his actual serious work. Enjoy!
Check out Adam's Slate article on the topic here, as well as his books Neoliberalism's Demons and Agamben's Philosophical Trajectory.
This is the first half of our episode with journalist David Klion on the background of the Ukraine crisis. Check out the full episode here!
In this excerpt Phil talks about the weirdness of the norms of chivalry. Subscribe here to hear the whole thing!
Also don't miss his book How to Be Normal.
Today we've got economics professor Rob Larson back on the pod (see his previous episode here) to talk about the bizarre state of the economy. The labor market is red hot, inflation is higher than in almost 40 years, and there are calls from the capitalist class to strangle the boom. We discuss whether Jerome Powell is going to pull a Paul Volcker on the labor market and what might be done to ease price pressure. Then we discuss Facebook's hilarious "metaverse" faceplant in the context of Rob's great recent book Bit Tyrants. Enjoy!
You can find the first part of the discussion with Jeff Spross here, or subscribe to hear the rest here, or check out Ryan's book here!
With the news of Justice Stephen Breyer retiring (and Ryan on vacation for the next week), we thought it would be a good opportunity to post this 2019 interview of Brian Fallon about his organization Demand Justice.
Fallon is a longtime Democratic Party operative who nevertheless has become a pretty heated critic of the liberal legal establishment and an ardent advocate of Supreme Court reform. The current troubles the Biden administration is having with the courts proves much of what he said to be sadly prescient, alas.
Ryan's book is finally out on January 25!! Called How Are You Going to Pay for That? Smart Answers to the Dumbest Question in Politics, it's a book about political economy, how to break free of the mental stranglehold of neoliberalism, and how to fix up this jalopy country. (And then we've got a special guest at the end as well.)
Ryan's doing a book launch event with David Dayen that you can check out here, and you can pre-order the book if you like here.
Subscribe now to hear the whole episode!
Or you can pre-order Ryan's book here, or check out the launch event on January 25 here.
Today we are taking a look back at the January 6 putsch -- the total failure to prosecute any of the top organizers, above all Trump, how that has emboldened them to further extremism, how a segment of the left is weirdly naive about all this, and more. God help us all.
Check out Osita Nwanevu's article here and Corey Robin's article here.
We're reposting our episode from last year discussing It's a Wonderful Life, one of our favorite films of all time, and one that has only grown in relevance compared to when we grew up watching it decades past. Enjoy, and we hope everyone has a nice holiday season!
In this preview, Harvey Kaye discusses Josh Hawley's bizarre new book. Subscribe now to listen to the whole thing!
Today we've got the authors of Carceral Con: The Deceptive Terrain of Criminal Justice Reform on to discuss their book. We discuss some of the downsides of how criminal justice reform has been portrayed in popular media, in particular the downsides of the austerian logic that doing so will save the government money. Enjoy!
Today we've got Smith College Assistant Professor of Government Erin Pineda on to talk about her book Seeing Like An Activist: Civil Disobedience and the Civil Rights Movement. We discuss how her work relates to the famous James Scott book Seeing Like a State, how civil disobedience really worked during the civil rights movement, how the movement against police brutality today has been sidetracked by fussy liberals, and more. Enjoy!
Subscribe now to listen to the whole episode!
And check out David's podcast series "Meltdown" here.
Today we have Ashley Lucas on to talk about her essay "The End of Rage" about a man named Russell "Maroon" Shoatz. He was a Black Panther and political radical in the 1970s who ended up in prison for killing a police officer, despite a lack of any direct evidence he was the culprit, and later served over 22 years in solitary confinement after attempting to escape. He is now old and has terminal cancer, and after recording the episode he was (remarkably enough, by American standards at least) released into hospice care.
Check out Maroon's book of essays here, and a piece on the horrid conditions in Riker's Island here.
This time we've got philosopher David Livingstone Smith (last seen here on episode 165) to discuss his book Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization. We talk about the sources of dehumanizing ideology, what purpose it can serve politically, why even Heinrich Himmler couldn't take witnessing a massacre of Jews during the Holocaust, and more. Enjoy!
After unlocking our episode about the January 6 putsch, Ryan is doing a quick follow-up on our episode with John Ganz from February. This time we're talking about Robert Paxton's book The Anatomy of Fascism in the context of Trump lawyer John Eastman's coup memo, and various aspects of current right-wing culture. Enjoy!
Also check out the Adolph Reed essay mentioned here.
We're unfortunately delayed thanks to personal events so we're unlocking this one as a retrospective of our initial thoughts on the January 6 putsch. Tomorrow Ryan will have another episode on the fascism question, so stay tuned!
In this excerpt we make the case against sanctioning Afghanistan. To hear the full episode subscribe here!
Today we are talking with Alex from the Providence Leftist Radio Podcast (also see their Patreon here) about Chapter 5 in Nikolai Bukharin's book Historical Materialism, "The Equilibrium between Society and Nature," as well as Friedrich Engels' essay "On Authority." Enjoy!
In this first half of this episode, we talk about the situation in Afghanistan with Lyta Gold, particularly the media freakout about America's imperial humiliation. To hear our following discussion of The Green Knight, subscribe here!
Today we've got Professor Brad Evans to talk about his recent book Ecce Humanitas: Beholding the Pain of Humanity. We discuss his arguments against privileging sacrifice, why liberalism is dead, and how to create something better. Enjoy!
In this preview we discuss the ways that America really is better than Hungary, and the ways that it is an international embarrassment. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got an interview with Imani Oakley, who is running to represent New Jersey's 10th District in Congress next year. We talk about what the district is like, why she got into politics, the political splits in the Black community, and more. Enjoy!
In this excerpt, we discuss a (partial) list of one week's worth of climate disasters, and the recent Kim Stanley Robinson book The Ministry for the Future. Subscribe now to hear the full episode!
Ryan has been off on vacation for the past 2 weeks, so we are unlocking this one as a treat while we get the next one produced. This time we talk about both the fake smear campaign version of critical race theory as invented by professional conservative liars, and the actual body of thought. Enjoy!
Links to articles we mentioned: one by Sam Kriss, one by Damon Linker, and one by John Ganz.
Enjoy this PREVIEW of our latest bonus episode with Trekonomics author and friend of the podcast Manu Saadia
Manu joins us to discuss the greatest eco-socialist revolution you've never heard of: "The Coconut Revolution."
Subscribe now to listen to the rest!
Today we've got historian Matt Karp on to talk about his recent article in Harper's on the 1619 Project and right-wing attempts to suppress anti-racism in the classroom. Items mentioned in the episode: John Ganz on the 1619 Project; Frederick Douglass on the 4th of July, America's composite nationality, and his eulogy for Lincoln, and John Mercer Langston on the world anti-slavery movement.
Also don't forget to pre-order Ryan's book!
In this preview we discuss the history of McCarthyism and why conservatives are trying to re-created with their fake version of CRT. Subscribe now to hear the rest!
In this episode we talked to Professor Harvey Kaye to talk about his book Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. We discuss how Paine ended up in America, his role in the French Revolution, and how he is likely the author of the hottest and most powerful take in American history. Enjoy!
Today we've got historian Eric Rauchway on talk about his new book Why the New Deal Matters. We discuss how New Deal projects and programs shape our everyday life for good and ill to this day, how Eleanor Roosevelt was such a badass, why a Green New Deal is so relevant and necessary, the political value of activist government, and more. Enjoy!
Today we've got historian Chelsea Chamberlain on to talk about her recent paper "Challenging Custodialism," about the history of an institution for disabled folks called Elwyn (still in operation). The Nursing Clio article mentioned in the episode can be found here. Also reach out if you'd like to read a copy of the paper.
Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got Astra Taylor on to talk about her new essay collection, Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions. We talk about the student debt crisis, the politics of refugees, what she calls "fauxtomation," and more!
Links to things we discussed: the Debt Collective (which has so far erased some $2 billion in student debt!), Astra's short documentary You Are Not a Loan, and her previous film What Is Democracy? (which she discussed on a previous episode).
In this excerpt, we discuss the strange trajectory of The Intercept's co-founder. Subscribe now to listen to the rest of the episode!
We've got some requests to unlock this episode, so here you go! It's a briefer discussion just from Ryan on two articles about the history and current state of the American semiconductor industry, why understanding the details of the production process matter for socialists, and then some talk about the bad state of diplomatic relations between China and the US. Enjoy!
Franklin D. Roosevelt: America's first social justice warrior?? Subscribe now to hear the full episode!
Pete Davis comes on the show to talk about his book Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing. We talk about the value of committing to social institutions, Pink Floyd, whether tradition is really conservative, the devious politics of the self-help industry, and more. Enjoy!
How did an English corset-maker end up writing the most powerful take of all time? Subscribe now to find out!
Austin has seen a major campaign away from the criminalization of homelessness over the last two years. But that effort is running into a backlash, and there will be a city referendum on May 1st to determine if the reforms will be overturned. We've got organizer Chris Harris on to talk about the fight for homeless justice, how the reform efforts have played out, and the state of the referendum campaign.
The No on Prop B website can be found here. The story of Philly Mayor Jim Kenney's attempt to outlaw spitting is here.
Today we've got historian Gabe Raeburn to discuss his recent article The Rise and Fall of Marxist Perspectives: Eugene Genovese and the Fight for Hegemony in Radical American Historiography. This was an ambitious left-wing historical journal that aimed to unite various warring factions on the left and push Marx-inflected history, but collapsed after just two years thanks to Genovese's compulsive feuding and domineering personality. We talk Eric Foner, Gramsci, Christopher Lasch, the importance of personality in politics, and more. Enjoy!
Friend of the pod David Kaib has been conducting multiple reading groups of the classic book Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed and How They Fail, by Francis Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, over the past year. The book has perhaps never been more relevant given the the historic protests over police brutality, the coronavirus pandemic, and economic inequality of late. We talk about what lessons might be drawn from the successes and failures of these protests, and how we should think about movement strategy going forward. Enjoy!
Today we've got Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Dr. Micah Johnson on to talk about their new book Medicare for All: A Citizen's Guide. We talk about what the pandemic revealed about the broken American health care system, and how universal Medicare could fix both the immediate problem and help us be more prepared for future heath disasters.
Abdul's newsletter The Incision can be found here.
Why did the Texas electricity system collapse during the recent cold snap? We've got Kate Aronoff, co-author of A Planet to Win and sole author of the forthcoming book Overheated, on to discuss what went wrong. It turns out that carbon power is screwing up human society in basically every imaginable way, who knew? Enjoy!
Today we've got writer John Ganz on to discuss what relationship fascism has to Trump and the U.S. far right, and the bizarre spectacle of people trying to work up a red-brown alliance. (This has not worked out well in the past!)
Check out John's Substack here.
Thanks to popular demand, we are unlocking this one. We've got Doug Henwood, author of the excellent book Wall Street, on to talk about GAMESTONK and what it all means. While it may be funny to see a couple hedge funds getting pantsed by Reddit, the fact is that financial speculation is no way to provide material security to the working class.
We've got Mike on to discuss Freedom from the Market, a great book that examines how the "free" market has in fact been a source of tyranny and oppression throughout American history, and how Americans have mobilized in many since-forgotten ways to expand their freedom by protecting themselves from the market. Enjoy!
Today we are hoisting up an episode from the archives in celebration of MLK Day. We discuss King's advocacy of democratic socialism and his argument that civil rights were inadequate without an equal share of economic production. Then we turn to his foreign policy views, including his speech attacking the Vietnam War, and how his argument for a brotherhood of nations is more vital than ever in the age of climate change.
The MLK Nation article "Let Justice Roll Down" can be found here.
Today we're bringing back Peter Cole to talk about the second edition of his book Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly. Fletcher was one of the most impressive labor organizers of the early 20th century -- a guy who successfully organized the very diverse workforce of the Philadelphia docks into one of the keystone unions of the IWW. If you've heard of Fred Hampton, you should know about him. Enjoy!
Alexi is out, so Ryan briefly discusses how the coronavirus pandemic blows apart the conservative/libertarian conception of freedom, and illustrates the value of a socialist version of same. Hope you all had a good holiday, and enjoy!
Thanks to popular demand, we are unlocking this one for everyone. We couldn't decide how we wanted to tackle such a gigantic book, so we decided we'd each pick out 10 quotes that drove us furthest up the wall, and talk about them. Enjoy!
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Today we are talking with Steven Klein, a professor of political theory at King's College London, about his book The Work of Politics. How does the welfare state interact with traditional conceptions of political activity and struggle? Klein has complex and interesting answers to this question. Enjoy!
Today we've got philosopher David Livingstone Smith on to discuss his book On Inhumanity. We discuss how people can come to believe others are less than human, how that is related to various atrocities, whether the entire idea of "races" should be abolished, and more. Enjoy!
What happens after Trump? We've got The New Republic's Osita Nwanevu on to discuss his recent article on why the left should take to the streets immediately, broader questions of political possibility, how American democracy might be defended, and more. Enjoy!
Today we've got Matt Sitman, who is co-host of the excellent Know Your Enemy podcast, associate editor at Commonweal, and editorial board member of Dissent, on to discuss the quite remarkable papal encyclical from a few weeks ago. We talk the politics of Catholicism, how Pope Francis relates to his predecessors, how to live well in such a terrible age, and more. Enjoy!
On this episode we discuss the LARB symposium on Martin Hägglund's book This Life. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got Professor Robert Vitalis on to discuss his book Oilcraft, and how a mistaken understanding of how the oil supply works has bedeviled both imperialists and anti-imperialists. Enjoy!
PS: Alas, despite our best efforts we once again had a few audio glitches, thanks it seems this time to internet connection problems. Apologies!
In the second half of our latest bonus episode we discuss the presidential debate, the Amy Coney Barrett nomination, and judicial theories of originalism. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!
Today we've got Daniel Bessner, University of Washington professor and recently inaugurated Foreign Exchanges columnist, on to discuss various foreign policy topics: the motivations and functioning of the American empire, how we should think about China regarding the Uyghur abuses and climate change, and how one might go about rolling back the imperial system. Enjoy!
Today we've got Marshall Steinbaum from the University of Utah to discuss whether socialism and antitrust (or antimonopoly) inherently trade off, or can complement each other. The Gabriel Winant review of Goliath we discuss can be found here. Enjoy!
PS: Unfortunately we had some more technical glitches during recording. Apologies, but everything should be reasonably comprehensible.
Today we've got Professor Harvey Kaye on to discuss his book The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great. We discuss the radical content of this doctrine, how the Democratic Party has forgotten its own history, and how the "Greatest Generation" has been sanitized by morons like Tom Brokaw. Enjoy!
Today we've got Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on to talk about his new book, Healing Politics. We discuss the coronavirus pandemic, health care reform, the experience growing up in an immigrant community, what he's learned from his faith, and more. Enjoy!
Today we've got political philosopher Meena Krishnamurthy on to talk about her writings on Martin Luther King, Jr. We discuss distrust and solidarity, how individualism strangles American government, how his thought bears on the Black Lives Matter movement, and more. Enjoy!
Her article on the democratic value of distrust can be found here.
(PS: Apologies for the occasionally scratchy audio, there was an unnoticed problem during recording. Alas, bit of an occupational hazard for podcasters during quarantine.)
We discuss Peter Beinart's argument that black politicians can't be as progressive as white ones in this preview. To hear the whole thing, subscribe here!
Today we've got Dave Dayen of The American Prospect on to talk about his new book Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power. Enjoy!
Here we've got Tobi Olowe, host of the Impressions of America podcast, on to talk about the life and legacy of Ayn Rand, and her eponymous institute's decision to get on the coronavirus welfare train. Enjoy!
PS: The very funny Whittaker Chambers review of Atlas Shrugged can be found here.
Today we've got an interview with Bill Humphrey, a city councilor for Newton, Massachusetts. We ask him about how he got into politics, how he ran his successful campaign, and what it's like being a leftist in government during pandemic times. Enjoy!
You can find Bill's radio show Arsenal for Democracy here.
Today we've got Arati Kreibich, who is running in the Democratic primary for New Jersey's 5th District against Josh Gottheimer, one of the most pro-Trump Democrats in the House. (New Jersey voters take note, the primary is July 7.) Enjoy!
Today we continue our discussion of what a post-police society might look like with David Kaib, who has taught some DC DSA night school classes on the subject.
Links to articles we mentioned: Ryan on the Nordic style of policing, Alex Vitale's book The End of Policing, and this Jacobin article on the abolition of police and prisons. Enjoy!
Today we've got Nikil Saval, candidate for the upcoming primary in the Pennsylvania First Senate District on June 2nd. We talk about how he got into organizing and politics, what it's like interacting with the Philadelphia Democratic machine, his advice for others considering a run for office, and more. Enjoy!
We've got journalist Zach Carter on to talk about his new book The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes -- an intellectual biography that he's been working on for years. We talk about Keynes' fascinating personal life, the development of Keynesian doctrine, and how "bastard Keynesianism" stripped of most of its interesting elements took root in American economics departments. Enjoy!
We've got David Dayen, the executive editor of the The American Prospect, on to discuss his latest coverage of the pandemic -- the utter failure of the national government response, the timidity of congressional Democrats, why monopolist agribusiness is spreading the virus, and more. Enjoy!
Here are links to subscribe or donate to support the Prospect's excellent work.
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Also subscribe or donate to The American Prospect to support the great work of David and his colleagues!
We've got religion reporter Jack Jenkins on to talk about his forthcoming book American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country. We talk about the struggles of the religious left to counter the religious right, whether evangelical Christianity is really a cult of Mammon, why Jeremiah Wright was way ahead of his time, and more. Enjoy!
We've got former Bernie Sanders speechwriter David Sirota on to talk about why the Democratic establishment ultimately defeated Bernie Sanders. We ask whether he could have done anything differently, how much of it came down to luck, and what lessons the left can take away for the future. Enjoy!
PS: We'll have an extended discussion of this question coming up soon for subscribers, so stay tuned!
Enjoy this preview of our latest bonus episode, where we talk with Jeff Spross about our previous episode with Rohan Grey. To hear the whole thing, subscribe here!
Today we are talking with Harvey Kaye about his new book FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We discuss how Roosevelt's radical politics can be discerned well before he became president, his extraordinary political agility and boldness, how he used history to paint a new picture of America, and more. Enjoy!
We've got author Tara Isabella Burton on to talk about her forthcoming book Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, to talk about spirituality and belief in an age when traditional religious forms are collapsing. We discuss the faith-like activities and beliefs of the religious "nones," the blasphemous theology of the Prosperity Gospel, how people might discover collective moral views during the coronavirus pandemic, and more. Enjoy!
We're talking with Rohan Grey today about a proposal he worked on with Rep. Rashida Tlaib on funding massive cash aid to Americans funded with two $1 trillion platinum coins. We talk about the balance of power between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, what it would mean for the Treasury to reclaim the authority to print money, a UBI versus a job guarantee, and more. Enjoy!
PS: This essay Ryan wrote on a similar idea might be useful background.
This time we've got a bit of an off-beat interview, talking with Anne Orchier about the effort to stop Los Angeles from hosting the Olympic Games in 2028. It's not directly relevant to the coronavirus pandemic, but it does have a lot of the same themes, in that the Olympics have become a locus of disaster capitalism where rich elites wreak terrible social carnage to make a quick buck. Enjoy!
Once again we're talking coronavirus, with returning guest Manu Saadia. We talk about what is to be learned from the various approaches different countries have taken, how Democrats are bungling the crisis, and how we might seize the moment to change prevailing ideological orthodoxy, and push through vital reforms. Enjoy!
You can find Manu's book Trekonomics here.