Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our bonuses! Danny and Derek welcome Gabriel Hetland back to the show, this time to talk about the U.S. military operation capturing Nicolás Maduro and what it says about American power in Latin America. They discuss how years of sanctions and economic warfare set the stage for direct intervention, the unresolved contradictions of the so-called Pink Tide, the role of oil and regional politics in America’s policy, the implications for the br...
Jan 04, 2026•11 min
Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our specials. Danny and Derek are joined by Alex Jordan of the Quincy Institute and Always at War to discuss the U.S. seizure of President Nicolás Maduro. They discuss what we know so far about the operation, how it differs from past U.S. interventions in the region, the risks of political fragmentation inside Venezuela, the potential of prolonged U.S. involvement, and the implications about the future of American power in the Western Hemis...
Jan 03, 2026•3 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get access to all of our bonus episodes. Danny and Derek are joined by journalist Seth Harp to discuss his book The Fort Bragg Cartel , which covers murder and drug trafficking around the North Carolina military installation. They talk about the rise and institutionalization of U.S. special operations after 9/11, how JSOC and related units expanded their role, permanent war reshaping military culture, special forces’ role in assassination campaigns, the end of t...
Jan 02, 2026•1 hr 2 min
Subscribe now to skip commercials and get all of our episodes. Use the code XMAS2025 for a $45 annual subscription! Danny and Derek speak with journalist and cultural critic Daniel Waite Penny to discuss the relationship between masculinity, the manosphere, and climate politics, as explored in the new season of Non-toxic , Carbon Bros . They talk about the “manosphere,” libertarians promoting techno-fixes, and Silicon Valley elites pushing solutions like space colonization; how gendered ideas ab...
Dec 30, 2025•53 min
Subscribe now for the full episode. Get an annual subscription for $45 with the code XMAS2025. Danny and Derek are joined by historian Aileen Teague to discuss the renewed U.S. focus on Latin America as part of the War on Drugs. They talk about recent U.S. actions in the Caribbean and Venezuela; the return of “narco-terror” rhetoric; political forces driving Washington’s approach to the region; where these developments fit within the longer history of U.S. intervention, sanctions, and militarize...
Dec 28, 2025•11 min
Danny and Derek welcome back to the podcast Eleanor Janega, medieval historian, author, and broadcaster, to get down to brass tacks: What is Christmas? They discuss its practice in early and medieval Christian societies, mummers’ plays and gambling, Saint Nicholas providing dowries and resurrecting boys killed for their meat, the post-Reformation treatment of Christmas, and more. Grab a copy of Eleanor’s book The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society . Learn more about ...
Dec 25, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Subscribe now for the full episode. Use discount code XMAS2025 to get an annual subscription for $45! Danny welcomes writer Justin Boyd and writer/producer VJ Boyd to the show to talk about The Muppet Christmas Carol . They discuss Charles Dickens as a transitional figure in 19th-century literature, Victorian ghost stories and Christmas, Jim Henson’s pre-Disney career and the regional TV ecosystem that produced the Muppets, the film’s melancholy as a post-Henson/post–Richard Hunt work, Michael C...
Dec 24, 2025•10 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Use the code XMAS2025 to get an annual subscription for just $45! Danny and Derek welcome back historian Andre Pagliarini to discuss Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his political project, and its significance for Brazil’s democracy and labor movement. They explore the emergence of “new unionism” in the late 20th century and the founding of the Workers’ Party (PT); how a leader shaped by labor activism ended up governing through institutional ...
Dec 23, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Subscribe now for the full episode. Get an annual subscription for $45 with our holiday discount code XMAS2025. Danny and Derek are joined once again by Vincent Bevins , this time to talk about the recent wave of so-called “Gen Z protests.” They explore why that framing explains almost nothing; how contemporary mass protests actually form, why they tend to resemble each other, and why their political outcomes rarely meet their original demands; and the crisis of representation, the collapse of i...
Dec 21, 2025•10 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Use the holiday discount code XMAS2025 for a $45 annual subscription (offer valid through 1/1/26)! Jolly Saint Nick is giving the U.S. government lots of coal this year, a boon to fossil fuel companies. In this week’s news: Thailand–Cambodia fighting resumes despite Trump’s ceasefire claim (1:52); an Israeli airstrike in Gaza threatens what remains of the ceasefire (6:00), and a winter storm devastates Gaza as Israel continues blocking s...
Dec 19, 2025•51 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Derek is joined by Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute to discuss the Southern Transitional Council’s recent territorial advances in Yemen, what they mean for the country’s already-fractured political order, and why the “internationally recognized government” remains mostly theoretical. They also delve into the history of southern secessionism, the dysfunction of the Presidential Leadership Council, and how Emirati-backed forces have...
Dec 17, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek welcome to the show Julia Gledhill and Van Jackson, co-hosts of the Un-Diplomatic podcast, to talk about the Trump administration’s newly released National Security Strategy. They discuss how the document leans on civilizational framing, portrays competition as existential conflict, omits diplomacy and institutions in favor of coercion and deal-making, and deemphasizes democracy promotion. They also touch on the strategy’...
Dec 16, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Subscribe now to ditch the ads. Chag Sameach! Danny and Derek are joined by independent scholar Joseph Scales to talk about the history of Hanukkah. They discuss the rivalry between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires that preceded the conflict; the Maccabean/Hasmonean revolt and the family's ascension to power within Judea; the Judean expansion; and much more. Originally published November 27, 2021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Dec 15, 2025•1 hr 27 min
Subscribe now and get access to this episode as well as our series A Modern History of Palestine with Dr. Khalidi. Danny and Derek are joined once again by historian Rashid Khalidi to discuss Gaza two months after the announcement of a ceasefire. They begin with Dr. Khalidi's class on Palestine at the People’s Forum after his decision to leave Columbia University, and what that experience says about the state of American higher education. They then turn to Gaza, exploring why Israel contin...
Dec 14, 2025•11 min
Subscribe for the full version! The greatest recurring crossover in the biz, between AP and NonZero Newsletter , returns. Get your discounted membership to NonZero now! Part One Video 0:00 The incoherence of Trump's foreign policy 7:16 The paucity of debate around Chinese chip restrictions 19:13 Danny: Is this the stupidest foreign policy establishment ever? 25:27 Should AGI worry us? 34:40 Bob’s Overtime bait Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Dec 12, 2025•41 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Listen to our Chinese Prestige miniseries ! Danny and Derek will sadly not be doing a CBS News town hall event. This week in the news: the Thailand–Cambodia conflict resumes (1:47); the DRC–M23 conflict also resumes as M23 makes new advances (7:05); in Gaza, questions remain over the “second phase” of the ceasefire as a winter storm hits (10:38); separatists in Yemen gain control of the country’s south (17:18); the RSF takes Sudan’s larg...
Dec 12, 2025•45 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Derek and journalist Mat Nashed assess the state of Sudan’s ongoing civil war, particularly the fall of Al-Fasher and the Rapid Support Forces’ consolidation of control across much of Darfur. They discuss the throughline from the 2003 genocide to today; the wider humanitarian catastrophe; the shifting battlefield in Kordofan; the growing role of drones; the international dimension of the war, including the UAE’s backing of the RSF and th...
Dec 09, 2025•1 hr 24 min
Subscribe now for the full episode. Danny and Derek welcome back to the show media scholar Andrew deWaard to discuss Netflix’s reported acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and what it says about the economic forces driving contemporary media. They talk about how conglomeration and financialization have reshaped Hollywood; zero interest rates, asset inflation, and Wall Street driving mergers; how intellectual property, streaming platforms, and algorithmic “background TV” are transforming both c...
Dec 07, 2025•10 min
Subscribe now for immediate access to all of our bonus episodes. Danny and Derek welcome back Brendan James and Noah Kulwin, of the Blowback podcast, for a tour through their latest season, which takes the show to Angola. They discuss how Angola became one of the largest and least-remembered battlefields of the Cold War, Reagan’s return to proxy wars, Cuba’s decision to send troops without Soviet approval, South Africa’s “total onslaught” ideology, the Reagan era’s fanaticism, its echoes in toda...
Dec 06, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get more content. Don’t forget to download our Chinese Prestige miniseries, currently on sale for $5. Annual subscribers get the series free! Despite sitting on a large surplus of Labubus, Danny and Derek work hard to bring you the news. This week: in Russia-Ukraine, new US diplomacy goes nowhere (1:08), Ukraine is now attacking Russian commercial ships (5:55), and the EU moves to phase out Russian natural gas (8:35); in the DRC-Rwanda conflict, Trump hosts a pe...
Dec 05, 2025•52 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek welcome to the show Molly Lambert, creator of the JENNAWORLD podcast, to talk about the rise of the modern porn industry and its roots in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. They discuss the medium’s origins in underground stag films and the porno chic era; the shift to home video and the corporate studio model; breakout stars like Ginger Lynn Allen and Jenna Jameson; porn as an outsider industry mirroring Hollywood; gender, labo...
Dec 02, 2025•58 min
Subscribe now to listen to the full episode and get access to all of our Sunday bonuses. Danny and Derek speak to Ilias Alami, assistant professor of political economy at Cambridge, about the global shift from neoliberalism to new forms of state capitalism. They discuss the rebalancing of economic power toward East Asia; sovereign wealth funds, policy banks, and state-owned enterprises; and the role of states in industrial strategy, technology, and supply chains. They also touch on China, AI, an...
Nov 30, 2025•10 min
Instead of a news roundup, we are releasing the second episode of our new miniseries Chinese Prestige . Annual subscribers already have access, while everyone else can get the 8 episodes for $5 for two weeks only. This conversation examines China’s early post-Korean War period and the political and social campaigns that defined the new PRC. The group discusses land reform, the Three-anti and Five-anti campaigns, Soviet-style economic planning centered on heavy industry, and the technocratic ...
Nov 28, 2025•51 min
Danny speaks with Alex Goldman about his new podcast Hyperfixed , in which he works to get to the bottom of listeners’ complex problems, or at least enough of an explanation that they’re ok with the annoyance. We have then provided the full episode of “Third Eye Blind,” where one Mitchell finds out he's missing something almost everyone else has, and he wants to know -- who would I be if I had it? If you like what you hear, why not support Alex and join Hyperfixed ? Otherwise, have a grea...
Nov 27, 2025•42 min
In lieu of a typical Tuesday episode this week, we are releasing the first episode of our new miniseries Chinese Prestige . Annual subscribers already have access, while everyone else can get the 8 episodes for a whopping $5 for two weeks only. Enjoy! In this first episode of Chinese Prestige , Yidi, Danny, and Derek trace the origins of the Chinese Communist Party from the May Fourth Movement to the civil war with the Nationalists. They explore the party’s strategic shift from cities to the cou...
Nov 25, 2025•56 min
Mark Ames of Radio War Nerd is on the program to tell us a little about the new book penned by his partner in podcast crime, John Dolan, titled They Should Have Been Hanged: War Nerd Essays on the U.S. Civil War . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Nov 24, 2025•20 min
Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our bonus Danny and Derek speak with writer and editor David Klion about the collapse of the liberal Zionist project and how the moral and political implication of the Gaza genocide have reshaped American Jewish identity. They discuss how October 7 and Israel’s assault on Gaza forced a reckoning among liberals who once believed in the two-state promise; the fracturing of institutional life and why so many public figures have avoided account...
Nov 23, 2025•11 min
Subscribe now to listen to the full episode. Danny and Derek are joined by the writer Emily Tamkin to discuss Sarah Hurwitz’s comments on the Holocaust, education, and the Jewish people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 22, 2025•6 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek are praying for Kim Kardashian to pass the bar. In this week’s news: Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia visits the White House (1:56); the U.S. pushes a new Ukraine peace deal (8:58); Israel continues killing people in Gaza (12:30), Palestinians’ shelters are failing in heavy rain (13:57), the UN votes on Trump’s Gaza plan (15:22), and Palestinians seeking relief are put on flights to South Africa, raising ethnic cleansi...
Nov 21, 2025•44 min
Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek speak with political theorist and author Lea Ypi about her new book Indignity: A Life Reimagined , which explores how personal memory intersects with imperial collapse, nationalism, and the surveillance state. They discuss her grandmother’s journey from Ottoman Salonika to Albania amid the rise of competing political projects; archives and the stories they erase; the challenge for universalist ideals in a capitalist world...
Nov 18, 2025•1 hr 1 min
