🦩 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Daniel Bessner is a historian and professor at the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, and the co-host of the foreign policy podcast American Prestige. He’s also the editor of the new Cambridge University Press volume Cold War Liberalism: Power in a Time of Emergency, which examines how liberal elites built the U.S. national security state and justified gl...
Feb 28, 2026•46 min•Ep. 460
🦩 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership From slavery and child labor in the 19th century to the Iraq War and Gaza, the Left position has been accepted only after horrible human costs. Next time, how about listening before the damage is done? ⏳ Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-left-is-always-right-too-early 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www...
Feb 25, 2026•19 min•Ep. 459
A convoy to Cuba, Grok doxxes a sex worker, Mamdani cuts the library, Pakistan has really fast jets, MGP declares war on sea lions, Andrew is arrested, and bugs are more popular than Trump. 📰 SUBSCRIBE TO THE BRIEFING: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american...
Feb 21, 2026•7 min•Ep. 458
Abigail Thorn is an actor, writer, and the creator of the widely acclaimed YouTube channel Philosophy Tube, where she explores politics, culture, and philosophy through performance and storytelling. She is currently starring in BLINK, a London stage play about livestreaming, voyeurism, and parasocial intimacy written years before those concepts entered mainstream discourse. 🎭 Subscribe to Philosophy Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ0HX-m_eSY 🎭 Get tickets to BLINK: https://kingsheadthea...
Feb 06, 2026•30 min•Ep. 457
🦩 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership The core right-wing principle is a belief in hierarchy, not the limitation of state power. 🐍 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2022/07/why-conservatives-hate-the-government-but-love-the-cops 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.pengui...
Feb 04, 2026•8 min•Ep. 456
🦩 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership For Peter Thiel, JD Vance, and other figures on today’s far right, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien have become a cultural touchstone. Pity they don’t understand the first thing about them. 🧙♂️ Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/how-the-right-abuses-tolkien 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/Curr...
Jan 30, 2026•29 min•Ep. 455
EPA to stop animal testing, Palestinians go on general strike, Ye apologizes for his Nazism again, TikTok claims apparent censorship was caused by a power outage, and the government repeals workplace protections because they protect trans people. 📰 SUBSCRIBE TO THE BRIEFING: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www...
Jan 29, 2026•5 min•Ep. 454
Ro Khanna is the U.S. representative for California’s 17th Congressional district, more commonly known as “Silicon Valley.” He was a co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2020, and there’s been speculation he may run for president himself in 2028. He joined Current Affairs associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss his bipartisan efforts to release the Epstein files, a “new FDR moment” for the Democratic Party, and the dangerous state of U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump. 🦩 Rea...
Jan 24, 2026•41 min•Ep. 453
The "Keep America Beautiful" campaign urged Americans to pick up their trash—so that companies could keep producing it. 🗑️ Read the full article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-sinister-origins-of-americas-anti-litter-movement 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-...
Jan 23, 2026•13 min•Ep. 452
Climate change is sinking posh London homes, pro-Palestine protesters face felony charges, Ugandan president cuts internet during election, Trump’s new Board of Peace, and Nike’s tone-deaf MLK Day basketball shoe. 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/...
Jan 22, 2026•7 min•Ep. 451
Will Sloan is a film critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Jacobin, and the Toronto Star. He is the co-host, with Luke Savage, of the podcast Michael and Us, which examines politics and ideology through popular film and television. He is the author of Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA, a critical reappraisal of the famously maligned filmmaker that challenges conventional ideas of “bad” art and cultural taste. Sloan joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to ...
Jan 21, 2026•43 min•Ep. 450
Donald Trump's overthrow of Nicolás Maduro sets a terrible precedent that severely erodes international sovereignty. Can other countries depose any leader they accuse of a crime? 🇻🇪 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-coup-in-venezuela-is-an-assault-on-the-whole-world 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/boo...
Jan 06, 2026•19 min•Ep. 449
In the fall of 2024, Zohran Mamdani was a long-shot challenger taking on New York City’s political establishment. Today, he’s the mayor. In this early interview with Current Affairs, recorded shortly after he announced his campaign, Mamdani lays out his vision for transforming the city. 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/73...
Jan 02, 2026•32 min•Ep. 448
John Sanbonmatsu is a professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the author of The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves. The book is a response to Michael Pollan’s 2006 bestseller The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and as the title suggests, Sanbonmatsu thinks writers like Pollan are dead wrong about the ethics of food. He maintains that killing and eating animals is entirely indefensible, no matter how “humane” the process supposedly is. 0:00-7:19 ...
Jan 01, 2026•40 min•Ep. 447
Joshua Cohen is a political theorist and writer of the Ettingermentum Substack: an exceedingly thorough and insightful resource for anyone hoping to understand what the hell is going on in American politics these days. Cohen sat down with Current Affairs to discuss the recent government shutdown, what Democrats actually pay attention to, and what the future looks like for a party controlled by pundits. 📰 Subscribe to the Ettingermentum Substack: https://www.ettingermentum.news/ 📰 Follow Etting...
Dec 27, 2025•50 min•Ep. 446
Medea Benjamin is an anti-war activist and one of the co-founders of CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She’s spent decades fighting the American military-industrial complex, organizing protests against the invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s and interrupting speeches by both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She’s also the co-author, with David Swanson, of NATO: What You Need to Know. She joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss the ongoing push for war, from the Middle East to...
Dec 19, 2025•47 min•Ep. 445
How can someone so delusional attract an audience of millions? What does it say about us that Owens is listened to by anyone other than a psychiatrist? 🧿 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/candace-owens-and-the-decay-of-the-american-brain 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-ide...
Dec 16, 2025•28 min•Ep. 444
Right-wing megadonors flew mayors to an all-expenses-paid summit in New Orleans, where they pushed a policy framework that codified mainstream criticism of Israel as “antisemitic.” 📰 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/a-dark-money-network-is-recruiting-u.s.-mayors-to-criminalize-pro-palestine-speech 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://ww...
Dec 11, 2025•32 min•Ep. 443
Nina Turner is a former Ohio State Senator, national co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, and one of the most forceful advocates for working-class politics in the United States. She’s a longtime champion of economic justice and a leading voice in movements for peace and social uplift, including the new Up in Arms campaign challenging the power of the military-industrial complex. Turner joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss why the Democratic Part...
Dec 10, 2025•40 min•Ep. 442
Anthony Fantano is the biggest music critic on YouTube, and the self-described “internet’s busiest music nerd.” The New York Times calls him “The Only Music Critic Who Matters (if You’re Under 25),” and his show The Needle Drop has over 3 million subscribers. Fantano is known for his provocative takes, like “AI Music is Evil” and “Taylor Swift is a Coward.” He joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson and associate editor Alex Skopic to talk about the state of the music industry,...
Dec 05, 2025•45 min•Ep. 441
📰 Email help@currentaffairs.org with proof of your New York Times cancellation, and we will gift you a FREE one-year digital subscription to Current Affairs Yet again, the New York Times’ Bret Stephens advocates the overthrow of a sovereign government. Why do the readers of the “paper of record” tolerate this dangerous propaganda? 🌹 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/there-have-to-be-consequences-for-advocating-illegal-wars 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://ww...
Nov 26, 2025•20 min•Ep. 440
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mark the passing of a professional liar, war criminal, and mass murderer. Dick Cheney is dead. As you read this, his co-conspirator George W. Bush may be reading his eulogy in Washington National Cathedral. Yet the politics Cheney represented live on—and the media are busy trying to whitewash his record, depicting him as an honorable American statesman. Today, on the day of Cheney’s funeral, we’re joined by Adam McKay, the director of 2018’s Vice, wh...
Nov 20, 2025•45 min•Ep. 439
Cory Doctorow is the author of over 20 books, including The Internet Con , How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism , and the science fiction novels Unauthorized Bread and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom . He’s also an activist for civil liberties on the internet with the Electronic Frontier Foundation , and a prolific blogger at his website Pluralistic . Doctorow joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson and associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss his newest book, Enshittificati...
Nov 18, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 438
🌹 Sign up for our FREE newsletter, State of Affairs, and we’ll send a digital copy of The Silencing of Me straight to your inbox: https://www.currentaffairs.org/newsletter?hsCtaAttrib=199589517656 PAPERBACK VERSION available in the Current Affairs store: https://shop.currentaffairs.org/collections/books Current Affairs presents a new “anti-woke” manifesto by Dr. Peter B. Jordanson, a man who refuses to be canceled even when nobody is canceling him, and who dares to angrily speak up for Facts in...
Nov 14, 2025•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 437
The New York Times editorial board is wrong. Principled progressive politics on the Bernie Sanders model is still the path forward. 🌹 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-case-for-centrism-does-not-hold-up 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-natha...
Nov 12, 2025•28 min•Ep. 436
This is how you run. This is how you win. This is the politics we need right now. Democratic socialist candidates can inspire people again, and fight the right effectively. 🌹 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/follow-mamdanis-example 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism...
Nov 08, 2025•25 min•Ep. 435
The viral pistachio-filled candy bar is everywhere—but there’s nothing sweet about the United Arab Emirates and its human rights record. 🍫 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/dubai-chocolate-is-regime-propaganda 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-na...
Nov 04, 2025•18 min•Ep. 434
🌹 Claim 50% OFF FOREVER to The Lever and get a free copy of the Master Plan e-book: https://the.levernews.com/current-affairs-master-plan/ John Fugelsang is a political commentator and author of Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. He joins Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss how right-wing Christian nationalism has twisted the teachings of Jesus into a tool of hate and ...
Oct 30, 2025•41 min•Ep. 433
🌹 Claim 50% OFF FOREVER to The Lever and get a free copy of the Master Plan e-book: https://the.levernews.com/current-affairs-master-plan/ A neo-Nazi is trying to fill the void left by the failures of the two major parties. Unless Americans are offered a visionary alternative, Fuentes’ toxic ideology may flourish. 🌹 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-rise-of-nick-fuentes-should-horrify-us-all 🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/members...
Oct 26, 2025•30 min•Ep. 432
🌹 Claim 50% OFF FOREVER to The Lever and get a free copy of the Master Plan e-book: https://the.levernews.com/current-affairs-master-plan/ David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, joins Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss his new book Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. They trace how corporate America seized control of U.S. politics, from the Powell Memo and Watergate to the rise of the Heritage Foundation, Roger Ailes, and t...
Oct 21, 2025•58 min•Ep. 431
