Kylie Cheung, writer at Jezebel and NBA twitter extraordinaire, joins us for a fun conversation about Ron DeSantis’ first week running for president. The extremely unlikable Florida politician has already made waves with his cringey behavior but what’s worse is his attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community and abortion rights. We look at the right’s war on abortion rights and how its fared in other red states. We also make our picks for the NBA Finals, discuss “Heat Culture” and why we love a bunch of s...
Jun 02, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Brett Erlich of The Young Turks joins us to dissect the right-wing outrage campaign over very tepid acknowledgements that the LGBTQIA+ community exists. From the freak-out over Target offering Pride themed clothes, to Chick-fil-A hiring a diversity officer, to Milk-Bone slapping a pride flag on a tub of dog treats, new fronts in the culture war are bein…...
May 31, 2023•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gaby Del Valle and Felipe De La Hoz of Border/Lines join us to discuss the latest news on the immigration front. With the expiration of Title 42, many Conservatives are trying to now gin up fears over a “surge” of immigrants at the southern border. Felipe and Gaby explain what Title 42 is, why it’s not so much gone as it is replaced and the moves the Biden administration have made recently to respond to processing challenges for asylum seekers at the border.You can subscribe to Border/Lines here...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Ben Smith, co-founder of Semafor and former editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, joins Jordan to discuss his new book Traffic: Genius, Rivalry and Delusion In The Billion-Dollar Race To Go Viral. The two discuss how the rivalry between Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s co-founder and CEO, and Nick Denton, founder of Gawker, shaped the digital news landscape, how p…...
May 25, 2023•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Annie Wu Henry, digital strategist for progressive campaigns, joins us to break down the election results in Pennsylvania, highlighted by Sara Innamorato’s primary win for Alleghany County Executive. We also discuss Helen Gym’s great campaign for Philadelphia mayor and the challenges she faced from within the Democratic establishment and GOP megadonors working to stop her. Annie explains how progressive candidates in other purple states can learn from these races.We also discuss Wired magazine’s...
May 20, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Senator Dianne Feinstein returned to the Senate this week and gave some incredible quotes to Slate about how she never actually was gone. Impressive! We discuss the ongoing push for her resignation, Rob’s new king, Elon Musk’s interview with CNBC in which he claimed there was no evidence a Nazi mass shooter with Nazi tattoos was actually an extremist, a…...
May 18, 2023•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast After Rob takes our brand new AI co-host for a spin while Jordan is away in Japan, to mixed results, Alex Peter joins the show to talk about the Jordan Neely case, defunding the police, how his experiences as a public defender in NYC informed his views on criminal justice and prison abolition, and much more. Follow Alex on twitter here and on Tik Tok here. Check out Mutual Aid Hub here to get involved in your community. To become a subscriber (paid intern!) to the Insurgents and gain access to a...
May 12, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com In this episode, recorded before Jordan’s extravagant and unsanctioned Japan vacation, he and our friend Jack Crosbie of Discourse Blog have a conversation about ChatGPT and the future of AI automation, Twitter’s Elon Musk era, the Barstool to Tucker Carlson pipeline and more. There’s also some unfortunate comments about Canadians and Australians that t…...
May 09, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Olga Lexell joins us to talk about the WGA strike, what writers are calling for, how the shifting landscape toward streaming in the entertainment industry has allowed giant companies to further exploit writers for their work and more.At the top, we discuss the tragic death of Jordan Neely, who was killed on the New York subway by a bystander. After his death was caught on film, conservatives justified his death as part of their crusade against people experiencing homelessness. We discuss our bru...
May 05, 2023•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Molly Jong-Fast, host of Fast Politics , joins us to recount her trip to DC for White House Correspondents Dinner weekend. She shares some hot goss from the swamp and we get into the criticisms of the event itself and the risks that arise from close proximity between the media and political establishment. We also discuss how, despite self-congratulatory …...
May 02, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jessica Burbank, host of the new show Funny Money , joins us to break down the debt ceiling debate in Congress. The right is using this as an opportunity to, yet again, try to cut social safety net programs, but of course they have no issue raising the debt ceiling when a Republican is in the White House.We open the show with Rob’s realization that Canadians are not allowed to comment on US politics then follow it up with the news of Jordan’s engagement. To become a subscriber (paid intern!) to ...
Apr 28, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Kat Abughazaleh of Media Matters joins us to discuss Tucker Carlson’s sudden firing. We discuss the impact he had on his viewers, the white nationalist acts of violence he inspired, including mass shootings by perpetrators who mirrored his rhetoric in their manifestos, and more. We speculate (responsibly) about what caused his ouster and who will replac…...
Apr 25, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Andrew Lawrence of Media Matters joins us to discuss Fox News settling with Dominion at the last minute in its defamation case over the network airing election lies and smearing the voting machine company in the process. The $787 million settlement is the largest defamation settlement in US history, and while the right-wing television network narrowly avoided its top talent taking the stand, we explore how Fox isn’t out of the woods just yet.We also open with some NHL playoffs talk, so if you’re...
Apr 21, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Sam Biddle, technology reporter at The Intercept, joins us to discuss his new story about the Georgia National Guard using location tracking to recruit high school children. We get into the pitfalls and dangers of using an inaccurate method to try to identify and follow young people for purposes of military recruiting, how its an extension of other pred…...
Apr 19, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast LucidFoxx returns to the show this week to discuss Sen. Dianne Feinstein refusing to resign despite being absent for months, missing over 50 votes and holding up the judicial confirmation process. Her supporters and Dem loyalists insist she should be able to resign “on her time” but as this debate plays out, the right is, yet again, using the court system to further chip away at abortion rights.We also discuss the classified documents leak on Discord, “crime” in San Francisco, “anti-woke beer” a...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Chris Geidner, writer of LawDork , joins us to discuss ProPublica’s huge story revealing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has secretly accepted luxury trips from a prominent conservative billionaire for nearly 20 years. We explore the ethical implications and potential avenues for accountability. Even more bizarre, the donor (Harlan Crow) is a colle…...
Apr 11, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Abraham Josephine “Josie” Riesman, author of the New York Times bestseller “ Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America ” joins us today for a great discussion on how kayfabe, the art of presenting staged acts as authentic, has evolved and spread beyond the world of wrestling and into our politics. Josie explains the concept of neokayfabe and how the WWE has slyly blurred the lines between performance and reality in ways that have crept in broader society. We also learn about the long...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Alex Pearlman, Pearlmania500 on TikTok , joins us to discuss the “RESTRICT Act,” the bipartisan piece of legislation that purportedly will ban TikTok but ultimately has much broader implications. We get into the threats it poses to individual privacy and free speech rights, how the rhetoric around TikTok is ultimately ju…...
Apr 04, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ken Klippenstein (still under a lifetime ban from the podcast) joins us today to react to Donald Trump’s felony indictment over his hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. We take a look at some of the funniest reactions from folks on both the left and right, discuss whether Trump will actually be convicted, what this means for Trump’s likely top opponent in the GOP primary Ron DeSantis, and much more.You can follow Ken here: https://twitter.com/kenklippensteinTo become a subscriber (paid intern!...
Mar 31, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Ari Drennen, LGBTQ Program Director at Media Matters for America, joins us to discuss the latest in the anti-trans panic. This time, right-wing talking heads using the Nashville shooting on Monday to further their crusade against trans people and, despite transparently hollow calls in the past to not “politicize” mass shootings, doing exactly that this …...
Mar 29, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Spencer Ackerman, author of the fabulous book “Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump,” joins us to reflect on the US invasion of Iraq 20 years later. We discuss the way Americans behaved in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and in the run-up to the invasion, taking their anger and fear out on innocent strangers who, in many cases, were not from Afghanistan or Iraq and/or were not Muslim, the xenophobia and racism Americans engage in during times of conflict, the...
Mar 24, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Congressman Ro Khanna joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about the government response to the East Palestine train derailment and his rail safety bill, how Democrats can win back more working class voters, Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, his upcoming fundraiser with David Sacks and what progressives should call for in regards to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.You can find The Insurgents elsewhere on…YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheInsurgents/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thein...
Mar 22, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ed Zitron returns to the show to discuss venture capitalists and tech elites congratulating themselves on the Treasury & Federal Reserve taking action to protect Silicon Valley Bank depositors. We get into the self-absorption of the tech and investing class, why they can’t shut up and how tech workers—who are exploited daily by these same people—are the ones who truly would have been hurt had depositors not been covered.You can follow Ed’s Substack here: To become a subscriber (paid intern!) to ...
Mar 16, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Lucas Kunce, candidate for Senate in Missouri who is hoping to unseat Josh Hawley, joins us to talk about the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the tech and financial elites who spent the weekend demanding a bailout, how the government response to cover all depositors is something working people never experience, and how Jos…...
Mar 14, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Note: This Sunday night we’re having another subscriber-only live chat over on the Substack app — this time for an Oscars watch party. Become a Paid Intern and join us at 8 pm ET on Sunday night: Frank Cappello, host of the new Lever podcast Movies vs. Capitalism , joins us to talk about the new podcast and how it’s ok to be critical of movies and also enjoy them. We make some Oscar predictions, discuss how Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked to make an address during the awards show (an...
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Ryan Broderick, author of the fantastic Garbage Day substack, joins Jordan (Rob is out this week) for a discussion on the ethics of AI, the push for AI personhood, Mr. Beast’s chocolate bar line, fan-inclusion in online social movements, Twitter’s continued service outages and much more.You can follow Ryan here: https://twitter.com/broderickYou can subs…...
Mar 07, 2023•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bryan Metzger, political reporter for Insider, joins us to discuss what he saw at CPAC this week. The event is largely the Trump show this year, with Ron DeSantis notably absent. We get into the early 2024 jockeying among hopefuls, the election deniers parading around the convention, which vendors are setting up shop and just a general vibe check from the entire thing.You can follow Bryan here: https://twitter.com/metzgovTo become a subscriber (paid intern!) and gain access to an additional epis...
Mar 04, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com Nikki McCann Ramirez of Rolling Stone joins us to discuss Fox News hosts, network executives and even Rupert Murdoch himself all acknowledging in texts, emails and, in Murdoch’s case, a deposition, that the network aired, parroted and endorsed outright lies about the outcome of the 2020 election. We discuss how the network has shaped American politics, …...
Feb 28, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’re now exactly one year into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so Erik Sperling, Executive Director of Just Foreign Policy, joins us to help break down the current state of the conflict. We get into the hawkish rhetoric in Washington continuing to push for more war despite being safely removed from danger, Biden’s trip to Ukraine and how his public comments are at odds with some top Biden officials’ private remarks on the future of this war and we spend some time discussing why there should be...
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.insurgentspod.com John Russell, labor politics writer at The Holler and someone who has been on the ground in East Palestine, Ohio, joins us to discuss the latest developments in the Norfolk Southern train derailment disaster. We get into how liberals keep dismissing the tragedy because of the surrounding area’s voting patterns, we examine the class politics inherent in …...
Feb 21, 2023•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
