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 Call...
May 12, 2026•56 min•Ep. 403
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 ...
May 01, 2026•35 min•Ep. 402
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!
Apr 25, 2026•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 401
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!...
Apr 14, 2026•14 min•Ep. 400
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 ....
Apr 09, 2026•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 399
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 yea...
Mar 30, 2026•59 min•Ep. 398
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!...
Mar 21, 2026•15 min•Ep. 397
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 .
Mar 16, 2026•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 396
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 !
Mar 10, 2026•31 min•Ep. 395
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 ...
Feb 25, 2026•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 394
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 C...
Feb 19, 2026•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 393
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Feb 06, 2026•7 min•Ep. 392
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 ....
Jan 27, 2026•31 min•Ep. 391
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?
Jan 17, 2026•50 min•Ep. 390
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 ....
Jan 10, 2026•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 389
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! Subscribe here to hear the whole thing!
Dec 27, 2025•7 min•Ep. 388
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?...
Dec 21, 2025•54 min•Ep. 387
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 t...
Dec 09, 2025•35 min•Ep. 386
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 e...
Nov 26, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 385
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. Subscribe now to hear the whole episode! Here are the articles mentioned in the discussion: 1. Claudia Sahm’s initial post: “ Economics is a Disgrace .” 2. Claudia’s account of the retaliation she faced for that post: “ Economics Truly is a ...
Nov 22, 2025•5 min•Ep. 384
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 ....
Nov 07, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 383
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.
Oct 31, 2025•11 min•Ep. 382
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 ...
Oct 21, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 381
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. Subscribe now to listen to the whole thing!...
Oct 17, 2025•34 min•Ep. 380
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 M...
Oct 09, 2025•53 min•Ep. 379
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. Subscribe here to listen to the whole thing!...
Oct 02, 2025•20 min•Ep. 378
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 .
Sep 16, 2025•5 min•Ep. 377
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 a...
Sep 05, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 376
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....
Aug 26, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 375
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.
Aug 16, 2025•17 min•Ep. 374
