Left Anchor

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!

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?

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 the second half of the episode here!

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 empire with a rickety, anachronistic structure (America now, the Holy Roman Empire then), and a good old crisis of state finance (Trump’s illegal budget moves now, how Charles II infringed on the rights of the English parliament, along with many others, then). Enjoy!

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 Disgrace .” 3. Writeup of the resulting controversy in the Georgetown student newspaper . 4. “ Breach of Trust in Hostile Takeovers ”— Andrei Shleifer and Summers’s indictment of capitalism. 5. “ How Harvard Lost Russia ,” a journalistic account of the USAID-Harvard-Shleifer-Summers fraud case. 6. Marshall’s article on what happened in the last decade-plus of Democratic economic policy-making: “ A Real Post-Neoliberal Agenda .” 7. Marshall’s recent essay in LPE Blog about antitrust: “ Anti-monopolism as an Ideology of the Left .”

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 .

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.

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 Social Ideology of the Motorcar" here .

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!

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 Must Embrace War Mindset ," by Samantha Hancox-Li.

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!

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 .

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 are in charge of America's public health bureaucracy, tearing it to shreds--when they aren't getting Jonathan's YouTube channel nuked by abusing the company's copyright policy. Why and how did they do this, and what might we do to stop this from happening in the future?

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.

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.

Today we're interviewing Katie Brennan, who just won the primary for the New Jersey state Assembly in Hudson County. She explains how the state Democratic machine de facto abolished democracy with a rigged ballot design, how it changed, and how she overcame a tidal wave of money to win. Subscribe now to hear the rest of the episode!

Today we've got Layla Al-Sheik on to discuss recent events in Gaza, where an onrushing famine has suddenly become widely acknowledged, even among parts of the Israeli far right. Is it because reality finally broke through, or Europe getting fed up--or perhaps an Ezra Klein column ? And is there a chance to save Gazans and get a permanent peace settlement? Check out our previous episode with Layla here and the Isaac Chotiner interview of Amit Segal here .

Alexi is still on vacation, so this time we are replaying a recent American Prospect Weekly Roundup show, in which Evan Urquhart of Assigned Media helps Ryan dig into the Supreme Court's latest transphobic decision and how The New York Times played a vital role in it.

Today we've got David Dayen on to discuss the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: massive tax cuts for the rich, massive cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, evisceration of Joe Biden's climate program, and huge subsidies for oil and coal companies, plus a number of bizarre smaller items. Republicans seemingly also forgot to waive another budget law, meaning there will also be $500 billion in cuts to Medicare over the next decade. Not great! Subscribe here to listen to the whole thing !

Back in 2011 Peter Frase wrote an article for Jacobin called " Four Futures ," later turned into a book , speculating about how politics and the economy might evolve in the future as automation progresses. The four possibilities, outlined in broad strokes, are: communism, rentism, socialism, and exterminism. Fourteen years on, how have his predictions borne out, with the rise of global temperatures, green energy, and artificial intelligence?

Today we’ve got New York City politics expert Michael Caley on to discuss how Zohran Mamdani managed to assemble a coalition that bested Andrew Cuomo—where did he rack up big margins and why, how did Cuomo’s campaign fail, and what does it mean? Check out Michael’s Substack here , and Michael Lange’s voting analysis here .

Today we have Dr. Matthew McManus on to discuss his book The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism . It turns out that there is an extensive tradition of socialism emerging out of classical liberal theory in the 19th century that is clearly relevant for today. What can modern leftists learn from John Stuart Mill, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Rawls, and many others? Listen to find out.

Today we've got Derek Davison of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter and American Prestige podcast on to talk about Israel's sweeping attack on Iran. What is happening and why, how much has each side suffered, and is there a chance that the U.S. might get involved? It doesn't look good. Check out Kerry Howley's essay on Pete Hegseth here . Subscribe now to hear the whole episode!

Back in 1943 the Polish economist Michał Kalecki published one of the all-time great essays about political economy, “ The Political Aspects of Full Employment .” We dig into his argument and how it holds up applied to the 2024 election. Then we turn to an essay in Spectre Journal called “ ‘Experience’ as the Best Teacher ” by Vanessa Wills about the intellectual approach (or lack thereof) of Joe Rogan, and what it reveals about his class position. Subscribe now to hear the whole episode!

Today we are talking Elon Musk’s alleged retreat from DOGE, the ungodly horrors he has unleashed in that time, and why someone would commit such evil. Then we move on to Trump’s loss in tariff court, his prospects at the Supreme Court, the lie about “white genocide” in South Africa, and what’s going on in Gaza and Ukraine. Check out Ryan’s piece on Musk leaving here, David Dayen’s piece on Trump’s tariff smackdown here , and the documentary series on Larry Krasner here .