Episodes

  • Bonus Sample: Liberals Punching Left

    Bonus Sample: Liberals Punching Left
    May 18 2026
    Listen to the full episode In this contribution to an ongoing co-host conversation, Matthew argues that the liberal centre's habit of punching left is a historically conditioned class strategy. From FDR's New Deal—designed to inoculate capitalism against socialism—through Hayek, Buckley, the Birchers, Limbaugh, and the Obama-era "socialist medicine" smear, liberals have accepted the premises of Red Scare attacks, because doing so served their own interest in disciplining the actual left. The result is a Ratchet Effect that pulls discourse perpetually rightward, and a narrowing of the Overton window to convert anticapitalist politics into psychological pathology. When the liberal centre engineers conditions in which no structural challenge to capitalism is rational, it can caricature the resulting conflict as hysteria, cultishness, and immaturity. There’s also a gendered dynamic going on here, in which the leftist is unreasonable, nitpicky, always demanding too much, focused on minutiae but also big feelings, and always missing the “big picture”. Sometimes the only real division between right wing and liberal responses to the left is the difference between outright hatred and resentful dismissal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    5 mins
  • Brief: Spirituality After Atheism?

    Brief: Spirituality After Atheism?
    May 16 2026
    It’s normal to feel lost after leaving a cult, transitioning out of fundamentalist religion, or abandoning conspiracy theories. Whether you’ve left behind, you may be asking, "What now?" Britt Hartley joins Julian to talk about her new book, No Nonsense Spirituality: All The Tools No Belief Required, and her recent run-in with the hardcore atheist community, which calls her work “nonsense.” The ex-Mormon practices Sufi mysticism, holds an MA in theology, and is writing her doctoral dissertation. A spiritual atheist, she advocates passionately for reclaiming awe, rituals, pilgrimages, and spiritual experiences from the monopoly of organized religion. Show Notes No Nonsense Spirituality: All The Tools No Belief Required Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    43 mins
  • 308: The AI Slop Machine is Worse Than You Think [feat Mallory DeMille]

    308: The AI Slop Machine is Worse Than You Think [feat Mallory DeMille]
    May 14 2026
    Two months ago, we recorded Episode 291: My Chinese Buddhist Israeli AI Guru, surveying the growing field of AI slopfluencers churning out wellness supplements via Amazon affiliate links. At the time, we weren’t clear on who was behind these accounts. Then Mallory DeMille went down a YouTube and TikTok rabbit hole and found the men making millions from these accounts. Today we’re going to look at what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and the cultural and racial dynamics at play in their slop. Show Notes An Amish Avatar and an A.I. Monk Are Pitching Supplements on Social Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 mins
  • Bonus Sample: What's Left?

    Bonus Sample: What's Left?
    May 11 2026
    Listen to the full episode Derek considers the online debates over leftism and liberalism in the context of coalition building. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    8 mins
  • Brief: Antifascist Dad (Audiobook Excerpt)

    Brief: Antifascist Dad (Audiobook Excerpt)
    May 9 2026
    Matthew reads the Introduction from Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    43 mins
  • 307: Conspiracy Reflex Syndrome

    307: Conspiracy Reflex Syndrome
    May 7 2026
    As Cole Allen sprinted into the news cycle, social media accelerated to cover the story—and the conspiracy-beast in the basement flexed his fast-twitch muscle fibers. The now third assassination attempt on Donald Trump (this time at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner) had to be staged. What else could explain it? The one time Trump shows up, an assassin is waiting for him. What are the odds? How about the guy who just calmly kept eating his salad? A highly suspicious AI video showed a security agent’s hat morph into his hair, while another had Allen running faster than humanly possible, which fit with an elaborate story about the shooter actually being a time traveller. We break down what happened, how quickly the conspiracy theories spread, and the cultural and political dynamics of this ubiquitous reflex. Show Notes False-flag Conspiracy Theories Swirl After WHCD The Era of Normie Extremism is Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 mins
  • Bonus Sample: Hasan, Contrapoints, Ezra Klein, & The Dem Civil War

    Bonus Sample: Hasan, Contrapoints, Ezra Klein, & The Dem Civil War
    May 4 2026
    Listen to the full episode The Democratic Party is in free fall. Still suffering the aftershocks of the 2024 election, a civil war is brewing internally between those who want to build coalitions that can win elections and those who see radicalization as the only way forward. In April, debate about whether Dems should embrace hugely popular leftist streamer Hasan Piker,or distance themselves from him dominated the discourse. A week later, two popular online personalities of the left—acclaimed transgender video essayist, Contrapoints, and artist/author Josh Citarella—sat down for an episode of his Doomscroll podcast. Contrapoints made the case for coalition building and pragmatic Democratic electoral politics. Their frank mutual criticisms of the online left outraged some. Meanwhile, NYT writer and podcaster, Ezra Klein's controversial comments on Charlie Kirk and highly-charged interviews with Ta Na-Hesi Coates and Sarah McBride (the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress) hovered in the background. Julian clips key moments from these interactions and offers his thoughts on a way forward for Democrats as we approach the midterms and looming presidential race in 2028. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    6 mins
  • Brief: Women 3, Manosphere 0

    Brief: Women 3, Manosphere 0
    May 2 2026
    On the Whatever Podcast livestreams, alpha debate bros browbeat insecure betas and deride token guest female sex workers while possibly ignorant they're helping promote their OnlyFans accounts. But recently, three steely-eyed women have snuck in, decoded the matrix and fought their way up to stare down the ultimate boss—a chain-smoking, greasy-haired, foul-mouthed Christian nationalist named Andrew Wilson. Julian features and celebrates the insurgent grit and intelligence of these three women, who've gone into a hostile environment, and not only held their own, but handed this smug prick and his minions their asses in ways both undeniable and elegant. While it may not be possible to drive a stake completely through the heart of misogyny's zombie internet dragon, destroying the main characters at their own game in front of their own fans sure tastes sweet. Who knows, perhaps it might make some of the younger and more impressionable viewers think twice about the hateful and irrational slop they’re being fed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    28 mins