From Powerlessness to Power
We will not achieve any of our ultimate goals without exercising state power, and the most effective way to take state power is through nonviolent but confrontational resistance.
Samantha Hancox-Li
Samantha Hancox-Li is a writer, editor, and host of the Neon Liberalism podcast.
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Neon Liberalism #62: What Is Personalism?
Samantha and guest Professor Xavier Márquez talk the nature of non-democratic politics, and why the concept of "personalism" is the key to understanding the dynamics and dysfunctions of the second Trump administration. Along the way they discuss the difference between totalitarianism and authoritarianism, the ongoing importance of elections
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Neon Liberalism #61: The State of the Resistance
Samantha interviews Professor Omar Wasow, challenging him to reflect on the first year of the second Trump administration. What forms of resistance have worked? What forms have been less successful? Why is the regime trying to "recreate 2020," and why are they failing? Professor Wasow tells a story
The Editors' Chat #10
Ideological axes, Venezuela, Greenland, what to pitch us, and more.
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Neon Liberalism #60: Minneapolis Under Siege
Samantha and guest Will Stancil talk the murder of Renée Good and the Trump administration's larger assault on Minneapolis. Will is on the front lines of monitoring ICE in Minneapolis, working with his neighborhood rapid reaction group, and remains a vital commentator and activist in this disturbing time.
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Neon Liberalism #59: Venezuela and the State of American Strategy
Join Samantha and Giselle Donnelly, foreign policy analyst and American Enterprise Institute alumna, as they discuss the recent attack on Venezuela. Does this reflect a considered strategy? Or multiple factions "working towards the sleepy Führer"? Can we make predictions about future American foreign policy, or is it all
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Neon Liberalism #58: We Are Going to Win
Take a step back and recall where you were on election night 2024. Recall the way the future looked in January 2025 at Trump's inauguration. In this episode, Samantha and Adam Gurri, editor-in-chief of Liberal Currents, evaluate the long game against Trump—and argue that the Trump revolution
Are We Prometheans? "The Permanent Problem," Reviewed
The future requires a vision of gender that is not some reskinned picket-fence fantasy, but a true human ideal.
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Neon Liberalism #57: Why Did the Soviets Fail?
As we stand on the brink of a new Cold War, it's time to look back at the first Cold War and try to understand why America won—and, more importantly, why the USSR lost. Samantha and guest Yakov Feygin, author of Building a Ruin, talk about the
editorschat
The Editors' Chat #9
The Liberal Currents Startup Fund, right wing entryism, caveman accents, and more.
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Neon Liberalism #56: The Culture War Eats Foreign Policy
Join Samantha and guest Joe Stieb, assistant professor at UNC Chapel Hill, as they talk about Donald Trump's 2025 National Security Strategy. This strange document treats the European Union as our enemy, Russia as an afterthought, and obsesses over the dangers of "DEI." Stieb argues that
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Neon Liberalism #55: Politics As Culture
Has culture stagnated in the 21st century? Do the last twenty-five years feel like a blur? What can politics learn from the inherent dynamics of cultural change? And is Donald Trump the greatest kitsch artist of our time? Join Samantha Hancox-Li and guest W. David Marx, author of the just-released