Left Anchor

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!

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.

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 year, and more. Enjoy!

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!

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.

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!

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 subscription. Hopefully that's both simpler and easier!

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 Canada and Greenland is. Check out some excellent coverage of the Minneapolis resistance here and here.

Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!

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.

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?

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.

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.