Zero Squared

Chris Cutrone describes how the left's history of supporting right-wing reaction in the Middle East has led to this moment of conflict, whether Trump was planning the attack on Iran all along, and the reason we should assume good faith on all sides when considering world politics. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

What is American conservatism, and how should socialists understand it? In this interview, Wyatt Verlen offers a historical overview of conservatism in the United States, from the Bourbon Democrats and Robert Taft to William F. Buckley and the rise of the New Right. We explore how conservatism evolved in response to the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Cold War, and examine the role of political machines, laissez-faire ideology, and anti-communism in shaping the American right. This is a conversation about history, ideology, and strategy through a socialist lens.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Chris Cutrone explains why the left needs to abandon the liberal conception of "Bonapartism" and take up a Marxist understanding instead. Bonapartism is not Bonaparte at the Platypus Reviewhttps://platypus1917.org/2025/06/01/bonapartism-is-not-bonaparte/Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Stanley Sharpey is a writer and a socialist living in London. His essay for Sublation Magazine, "The Discreet Charm of the PMC" explains the history of the term and ends up sympathizing with the Ehrenreichs given the political dilemma they faced in the 1970s.The Discreet Charm of the PMC at Sublation Magazinehttps://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-discreet-charm-of-the-pmcSupport Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Spencer Leonard discusses the meaning of the term "Historical Materialism," and how it emerged through the historical struggle for socialism. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Adorno's essay "Commitment" and the failure of leftist politics over the last decade. What level of regression can we expect?Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

In this episode of the CutroneZone, we dive deep into Chris Cutrone's essay "On Philosophy and Marxism: Response to Suther and Velissaris"—a characteristically sharp and mournful defense of the dialectic against the return to philosophy. As always, Cutrone's critique is uncompromising, clear, provocative, and melancholic.Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Philip Cunliffe discusses his recent essay at COMPACT entitled "How Trump Won the Canadian Election." He explains what constitutes sovereignty, why sovereignty is necessary for democracy, and why Trump turned Canada away from cosmopolitan internationalism and towards patriotic nationalism.Philip Cunliffe at Compacthttps://www.compactmag.com/article/how-trump-won-the-canadian-election/Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Fabio Vighi returns to throw cold water on the notion that capitalism can be saved. The crisis is terminal. The financialization will continue. In this era of Emergency Capitalism, the crisis will only deepen in the US, in Europe, and in China.Support Sublaton Mediahttps:/patreon.com/dietsoap

Ashley Frawley is senior editor of Compact. She is the author of two books, Semiotics of Happiness: Rhetorical Beginnings of a Public Problem and Significant Emotions: Rhetoric and Social Problems in a Vulnerable Age. Her writing has appeared in UnHerd, and the New Statesman. She is also the former co-host of Sublation Magazine and in this episode she returns to discuss her latest essay in Compact.How Society Got a Sex Change by Ashley Frawleyhttps://www.compactmag.com/contributor/ashley-frawley/Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Benjamin Studebaker's latest essay for Sublation Magazine in this week's Sublation Magazine podcast. Are the Republicans and especially Trump, acting in an anti-democratic manner? What threatens democracy today?Support Sublation Media and Join the Conversation:https://patreon.com/dietsoap

In this episode of the Cutronezone, the Last Marxist discusses his latest essay for Sublation Magazine and speculates on why COMPACT magazine rejected it for publication. How is it that established opinion is incapable of taking up and thinking through the significance of Trump's Tariffs? Read Cutrone's Essay "Fear" in Sublation Magazine:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/fear-itselfSupport Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Novelist and journalist Walter Kirn discusses his 2006 novel "The Unbinding" and answers questions like:Was Holland Caufield a revolutionary?What is the role of the outsider?Can we escape the Spectacle? Support Us on Patreon for the Second Halfhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Wyatt Verlen's essay in Sublation Magazine instructs the left to quit complaining and start critiquing. History gave Trump a right. As of the moment of writing, this right continues to be denied to him. That right is the right to be critiqued."Read the new Sublation Essay by Wyatt Verlen:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-right-to-a-critiqueSupport Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Thomas Peermohamed Lambert discusses his novel, Shibboleth, with Nina Power and Douglas Lain in the Culture Corner.  What does it mean to go to Oxford? What is the future of the elites and elite education? Can you find love on campus?Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

In this week's Spencer Leonard Hour, he discusses the meaning of the Civil War in relation to the struggle for socialism.Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Chris Cutrone discusses just what the aim of Trump's Tariffs might be. Will there be a new global order with the US still at the center? What does it mean to say that the United States is "FREE"? Is Trump just an idiot? Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Trump's Tariffs, the attacks of law firms such as Perkins Coie, and how the deportations of MS-13 gang members undermine Due Process. Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap

William Stratford discusses the dialectics and the revisionism dispute. What lessons can we learn from it today, after the long defeat of the 20th century and the Millennial left? Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Hamilton Craig is a Compact columnist and a doctoral student at CUNY researching farmers' movements in the United States. In this episode of Diet Soap, he discusses his recent essay for Compact entitled "The Democratic Promise of Manifest Destiny" with Douglas Lain and tries to consider just how seriously to take Trump's effort to revitalize and reinvent our Manifest Destiny and discuss Cutrone's essay "The Future Belongs to America. So Should Greenland."Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap"The Democratic Promise of Manifest Destiny" - Hamilton Craighttps://www.compactmag.com/article/the-democratic-promise-of-manifest-destiny/

Chris Cutrone and Douglas Lain discuss the meaning of the term "neoliberalism" and the ignominious end of the previous regime of accumulation. Cutrone takes Studebaker to task over their differences in conceptualizing neoliberalism, highlighting contrasting interpretations of its historical and ideological implications.Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the Platypus Affiliated Society convention and a few of the questions raised on our panels:  What was neoliberalism?Why does Society have Politics?Join the Sublation Patreon for a second hour of discussion:https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Spencer Leonard discusses the Frankfurt School's Marxism, how these Marxists are still relevant to us today, and explains Horkheimer's "Egoism and Freedom Movements: On the Anthropology of the Bourgeois Epoch." Support Sublation Media and Listen to the Second Half:https://patreon.com/dietsoap

David Shields, author of "How We Got Here," returns to discuss how Trump has destroyed our reality and how our sensemaking institutions are in crisis. How can we educate ourselves and get a grip on the world if everything is FAKE NEWS?Get a copy of Shield's book "How We Got Here"https://sublationmedia.com/product/how-we-got-here-melville-plus-nietzsche-divided-by-the-square-root-of-allan-bloom-times-zizek-squared-equals-bannon-by-david-shields/Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Chris Cutrone assuages Douglas Lain's fears as they survey the wreckage of Trump's first 50 days in office. Is Trump an amateur just throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks? Yes? Is he a world historic figure who aims to rearrange the world order? Yes again?Watch the second half of this podcast on Patreon, and join a Zoom call afterparty conversation with other socialists and thinkers.https://pareon.com/dietsoapChris Cutrone's "Marxism and Politics" was paused for a time as we made some revisions to the text. It is available again now:https://sublationmedia.com/product/marxism-and-politics-essays-on-critical-theory-and-the-party-2006-2024/

The historian Spencer Leonard joins Doug to discuss the history of the term "labor aristocracy" and unpack the meaning of anti-imperialism today.

In this week's Diet Soap podcast, Arturo Desimone returns to set the record straight about the Monroe Doctrine and the character of American power while Doug fact checks him again in real time using Elon's newest wonder: Grok 3!Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Zaid Jilani joins Douglas Lain to discuss his two recent articles for Compact: The Democrats' RFK Dilemmahttps://www.compactmag.com/article/the-democrats-rfk-dilemma/Democrats Should Work with Trumphttps://www.compactmag.com/article/democrats-should-work-with-trump/Patrons are invited to discuss these podcasts by Zoom every week.Support Us on Patreon to join the conversation.https://patreon.com/dietsoap

This episode of the Sublation Magazine show will attempt to sort through the questions and narratives that are bombarding those of us who are trying to pay attention to the political situation, especially in America. Is Trump a dictator, after all? Is Elon any good with computers? Did Vance make a speech in support of Nazis and Fascists? Are the Democrats rebooting the resistance, and if so, what does that mean for the left? Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Chris Cutrone returns to discuss his recent essay for COMPACT entitled "Mar-a-Gaza." How should socialists understand Trump's proposal? How should the ethnic cleansing of Gaza be resisted now that it is uninhabitable? What went wrong with the pro-Palestinian protest movement? Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Erin Hagood is the president of the Platypus Affiliated Society and in this episode she explains how this growing Marxist group is intervening on the left. Are they up to no good? Are they saving the world and our collective memory?

This week's Sublaton Magazine stream will include a discussion with Benjamin Studebaker about Elon Musk's takeover of the Federal Government. Are we now entering an era of high-tech feudalism? Do we like the taste of it? We will also be discussing Rob McCleary's Short Story "Nixon in Space" https://electricliterature.com/nixon-in-space-rob-mccleary/Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Following up on Reid Kane's podcast discussing the Marxist Value Critics, Spencer Leonard discusses Marx's critique of political economy and its relevance today. Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Douglas Lain and Benjamin Studebaker discuss the prospects for the US and Canada. Who will win the coming trade war? What is the point of blaming Canada? Story of the Week:Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" https://fullreads.com/literature/the-lottery/Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Nina Power and Douglas Lain discuss Quentin S. Crisp's novel "Hamster Dam," Neo-Decadence, and the life of the writer in the 21st century. Questions asked include: Do we misremember ourselves? What is frightening today? Do the seventies live on? Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Joseph (Jake) Klein explains the history of DEI and how riots in the 60s led to redefinitions of racism. A conservative libertarian, Klein also criticizes his colleagues for their hypocrisy. They are WOKE for Israel. Patrons are invited to a follow-up discussion on Zoom at 2:30pm Pacific.Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the meaning of the "left's" fear of a Yarvinized America. Will Trump realize "neo-feudalism?" Is this the dawning of the Dark Enlightenment? Were the Democrats correct when they argued that Trump was going to be a DICTATOR? Support Sublation Media and Join the Conversationhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Amid renewed calls for his cancellation, Chris Cutrone addresses his critics about an essay that was to be entitled "Why Not Greenland?" Also discussed: How can we understand this moment without tailing any capitalist party? What about the Labor Theory of Value? And did Fonzie even "jump the shark" in the sense the phrase is usually meant? Support Sublation Media on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Jacob Shell is a professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University. He is also addicted to X (Twitter) and a critic of the left and the Democrats. Shell insists he's not a leftist, but if the left were alive, I believe he would be. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

In this episode of Sublation Magazine, we discuss Trump's intention to expand America. Is he trolling? Is he serious? How seriously should we take Chris Cutrone's defense of Trump's plans? Is there a chance for an "Empire of Liberty?" What does it take to be a Marxist (first or last) in the age of Trump? Also, what is the meaning of a Vanishing Elephant?Story of the Week: The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakamihttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/11/18/the-elephant-vanishesChris Cutrone's controversial essay at compact:https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-future-belongs-to-america-so-should-greenland/Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Spencer Leonard joins Douglas Lain for the first "Spencer Leonard Hour." Spencer will be appearing on the channel monthly going forward in order to educate us about the misunderstood and neglected history of Marxism. Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Reid Kane and Douglas Lain discuss the Wertkritik or "value critics" of contemporary Marxism in this episode of the Diet Soap podcast.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Doug's old co-host joins him to think over the last year and the prospects for a new new left in 2025. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Umut Özkýrýmlý reveals how the Left has been sucked into a spiral of toxic hatred and outrage-mongering, retreating from the democratic ideals of freedom and pluralism that it purports to represent. Exploring the similarities between right-wing populism and radical identity politics, he sets out an alternative vision. It is only by focusing on our common humanity and working across differences that the Left will find a constructive and consensual way back from "woke".Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Douglas Lain and Chris Cutrone discuss György Lukács' "The Theory of the Novel: A Historico-philosophical Essay on the Forms of Great Epic Literature," which provides Doug an opportunity to reminisce on his long-lost vocation as a novelist.  Link to Lukacs' Theory of the Novelhttps://analepsis.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/georg-lukacs-the-theory-of-the-novel.pdfSupport Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Benjamin Studebaker takes on the co-host role in this first of the new Sublation Magazine streams. In this episode, we'll discuss the idea of the pseudo-event, the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, and the meaning of the East Coast drone invasion while also covering Toby Green and Thomas Fazi's essay for Sublation Magazine entitled: "A Victory for the Covid Policy Skeptics?" Is Neofeudalism ending, or is it merely rebranding? We will also discuss Donald Barthleme's short story, "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby." Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colbyhttps://www.jessamyn.com/barth/colby.htmlA Victory for Covid Policy Skeptics essay:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/a-victory-for-covid-policy-skepticsSupport Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Phil Illy is the author of the book "Autoheterosexual: Attracted to Being the Other Sex" and in this week's podcast, he discusses the theory that the transgender phenomenon is best understood through the lens of human sexuality. He argues that by covering up what he calls "autoheterosexuality" the culture is harming trans people.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

The Sublation Magazine Show will be moving to Mondays starting on the 16th of December as we transition from the era of Ashley Frawley and welcome Benjamin Studebaker as the new co-host. In this Tuesday transition episode, Spencer Leonard and Doug will discuss the ideas of Henryk Grossman, the Marxist radical who believed that capitalism would eventually lead to a terminal crisis. Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap

In this episode of the Cutrone Zone Chris discusses how he came to be a target on the left. Why was he pre-canceled in 2013? What is it about him that drives people so crazy? Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Daniel Tutt and Douglas Lain discuss Losurdo's Western Marxism and Postpone's critique of "Anti-Imperialism" in this special edition of Diet Soap. What is the substance of the new "anti-Imperialists"? What is cherry-picking? Was Losurdo charitable enough in his reading of the Frankfurt school?Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Mir Bal is a former socialist podcaster from Sweden, a former social worker, and a Jesuit. This episode of Diet Soap is from the unpublished archive, and in it, Doug and Mir discuss just why he's left secular life and, with it, the left. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.con/dietsoap