The Most Childish Imperialism
How Trump is different from the old imperialists, and how the liberal world must respond.
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Universalism versus Nihilism: the True Divide in American Politics
It is imperative that the nihilism destroying our society be named and confronted directly if we are to have any kind of future.
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Half the Answer #12: Why Did the Secret Police Visit Clay Jackson?
Caitlin and Trent talk to Clay Jackson, a litigator from Dallas, Texas. Clay describes the disconcerting experience of having secret police show up to his door the same day he gave boilerplate know-your-rights information to some neighbors who were concerned about being targeted by ICE. They discuss the rapidly escalating
White Fragility Comes to the Naval Academy
Treating America’s soldiers and sailors like scared children, too delicate to read a history of lynching, shows the administration’s deep contempt for them.
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Half the Answer #11: Why We Fear AI
Trent and Caitlin speak with cognitive scientist, linguist, and AI researcher Hagen Blix about his book, co-authored with Ingeborg Glimmer, called Why We Fear AI: On the Interpretation of Nightmares. What do those selling AI-branded products have to gain from telling everybody that AI could take over the world? What
Why We Need a Reconstruction of the Liberal Public Sphere
How media systems work, how ours came to be, and where we go from here.
Attacks on Higher Ed and the New Illiberal Electorate
The right-wing destruction of American higher education institutions is a strategic move. Liberals need to answer with a strategy of their own.
Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt's Nazi Staffer
Nathan Hochman was fired from the DeSantis campaign for making a transparently neoNazi video featuring the Governor, and has only doubled down on his white nationalism since.
The Banality of Complicity: Arendt's Guide to Moral Resistance in the Age of Trump
Even in seemingly powerless positions, the choice to withdraw one’s support from corrupt systems remains a meaningful assertion of humanity.
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Neon Liberalism #25: Does the Narrative Matter?
Join Samantha and guest Will Stancil as they talk the vexed question of whether politics is driven by merely material conditions, ask why tyrants are obsessed with their own popularity, and assess why the Democratic budget standoff fizzled while Chris Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador broke through—
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Half the Answer #10: Liberty, Rationality, and Trans Rights
Trent and Caitlin talk with journalist Evan Urquhart about the ways trans rights get discussed in mainstream media, including the notion that supporting trans people’s full participation in society and protecting their right to bodily autonomy represents a viewpoint that is out of touch, too extreme, or endangers the
The New York Times Launders Another Fascist
Misogyny, racism, and antisemitism all were glossed over in Ross Douthat's softball interview of Jonathan Keeperman.