Know Your Enemy

A leftist's guide to the conservative movement, one podcast episode at a time, with co-hosts Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell.

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Episodes

Working-Class Conservatism (w/ Max Alvarez)

Matt and Sam talk to Max Alvarez—writer, editor, and host of Working People , an excellent podcast—about growing up working-class and conservative in a mixed race household. Matt and Max compare experiences as we try to answer some basic but tough questions: what attracts some members of the working class to conservative politics? How do the cultural and economic aspects of conservatism interact for working class conservatives? And what can the left learn from working-class conservatism's appeal...

Oct 07, 2019•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 9

Koch'd Out

With the help of Jane Mayer's essential 2016 book, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right , your hosts explore the world of right-wing philanthropy and the institutions—from centers at universities to think tanks in Washington, DC—it has funded. What emerges is a startling history of how a small group of incredibly rich families used novel techniques to shelter their wealth from taxation and fund a right-wing takeover of American politics. Other s...

Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 8

Gunpower (w/ Patrick Blanchfield)

Matt and Sam's first ever guest, Patrick Blanchfield, is an Associate Faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and author of the forthcoming book Gunpower from Verso books, which you can and should pre-order here . In the wake of the massacres in El Paso and Dayton, we turn to Patrick—a truly brillant writer and thinker—to help us understand how these traumatic reptitions of spectacular violence are rooted in American history and ideology. Patrick's work: "The Market Can...

Aug 15, 2019•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 7

The Definitely-Not-Racist National Conservatives

The first National Conservatism conference was convened at the Ritz Carlton in Washington D.C. two weeks ago. It was a coming out party for the rising nationalist wing of the conservative movement, with attendees laying the groundwork for a more intellectual version of Trumpism. Many mainstream conservatives were in attendance, along with paleoconservatives, figures from the religious right, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and a popular Fox News host. In the era of Trump, mainstream conservatism i...

Jul 30, 2019•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 6

The Rise of the Illiberal Right

Interested in the background reading we did for this episode? There's a lot of it. But we want to show our work and give you the chance to dig deeper. Below are the articles we referenced, read, or drew upon for our conversation on the illiberal right. Primary Sources: Against the Dead Consensus , First Things Sohrab Ahmari, Against David French-ism , First Things David French, What Sohrab Ahmari Gets Wrong , National Review R.R. Reno, What Liberalism Lacks , First Things Romanus Cessario, O.P.,...

Jul 12, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 5

The Death of Conservatism? (Part 2)

Special thanks to Will Epstein and The Downtown Boys for providing music for these two episodes. Check them out. Ronald Reagan's televised "A Time for Choosing" speech in support of Barry Goldwater in 1964: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBswFfh6AY A choice excerpt: "Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. They tell us that by avoiding a direct confrontation with the enemy he will learn to love ...

Jun 26, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 4

The Death of Conservatism? (Part 1)

Sam Tanenhaus's original 2009 essay in The New Republic , the basis for the book we're discussing today: https://newrepublic.com/article/61721/conservatism-dead Whitaker Chambers's 1957 dismantling of Ayn Rand in the pages of National Review : https://www.nationalreview.com/2005/01/big-sister-watching-you-whittaker-chambers/ And here's Buckley's 1955 mission statement for National Review : https://www.nationalreview.com/1955/11/our-mission-statement-william-f-buckley-jr/...

Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 3

How Conservatives Argue

In episode two of KNOW YOUR ENEMY, Matt and Sam discuss economist Albert O. Hirschman's 1991 book The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy . Along the way, they identify the persistent patterns in conservative rhetoric from Edmund Burke to Friedrich Hayek to Paul Ryan. They finish off by examining some of the rhetorical tics of the progressive left, and Sam reminisces about the good old days when DSA was comprised exclusive of young nerds and old Jews....

May 16, 2019•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 2

Behind Enemy Lines

Read Matt's Dissent essay, " Leaving Conservatism Behind " Read Sam's essay about Jonah Goldberg's Suicide of the West , " The Remnant and the Restless Crowd "

May 07, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 1

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