Podcast appearances and mentions of ben burgis

Victor Bruzzone joins Ben Burgis to break down Medhi Hasan's recent conversation with Patrick Bet-David about Israel, free speech, imperial expansionism, and more.Follow Victor on Twitter: @victorbruzzoneFollow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!]Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Last month in New York City, Ben Burgis and Sohrab Ahmari sat down for an in-person dialogue on left- and right- "populism." Here it is!Follow Sohrab on Twitter: @SohrabAhmariFollow Cynthia on Twitter: @c_cook1988Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!]Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

In Spite of Hit Jobs From the Liberal Media, a Progressive Populist is Poised to Win in Maine | A Report From Albania on Protests Against Jared and Ivanka's Luxury Resort in a Nature Reserve | Trump Has His Roy Cohn But Will the Mafia Boss Get His Consigliere Confirmed? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Ben Burgis is joined by Michael Lazarus (author of "Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel and Marx") and Matt McManus (who needs no introduction to GTAA fans) for a fun three-way exchange on "analytical Marxism" (the tradition Ben works in), Michael's more Hegel-inflected version of Marxism, and Matt's sympathies with both sides.Order Michael's book:https://www.sup.org/books/politics/absolute-ethical-lifeFollow Michael on Twitter: @Mblaz39Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProfFollow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!]Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Last week Ben Burgis and Jillian Michaels hashed out their disagreements on socialism in an in-person debate in Michaels's studio in LA. Here it is!Follow Jillian on Twitter: @JillianMichaelsFollow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!]Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Is everything you've been told about the American Dream a lie? In this explosive episode of Keeping it Real, Jillian Michaels sits down with democratic socialist author and professor Dr. Ben Burgis for a high-stakes, brutally honest clash over the economic frameworks controlling your life.

Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, US politics has polarised sharply - with the rise of Trump and right-wing populism, but also a renewed class-based left around figures like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Zohran Mamdani.Part of what has given rise to these candidates is a Democratic Socialist political movement - and a key part of that movement is the publication Jacobin, which has sought to teach and lead debate about radical class politics, reviving Marxist critiques of capitalism and socialist ideology.In this chat, the founding editor of Jacobin, Bhaskar Sunkara, charts the history of the US democratic socialists and the role of Jacobin in particular. He unpacks the recent New York Mayoral Election campaign with Zohran Mamdani, exploring how the big but simple demands about free buses and rent freezes created a different imagination for what is possible from the state. He also shares a little about his upcoming book The Blueprint (with Mike Beggs and Ben Burgis), and some of the topics he will be talking about when he visits Australia in May and June 2026.For more information and to buy tickets for Bhaskar's Australian speaking tour: https://www.search.org.au/bhaskar_sunkara_live_in_sydney_get_your_tickets_todayThe Jacobin magazine is here.Bhaskar's earlier book, The Socialist Manifesto, can be bought here.Story NotesFor more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more on the books and Amanda's writing, have a look at:Amanda's website - https://amandatattersall.com/ Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie GrantPeople Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni PressOn Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersallOn Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni PressAmanda is on Socials here:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, US politics has polarised sharply - with the rise of Trump and right-wing populism, but also a renewed class-based left around figures like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Zohran Mamdani.Part of what has given rise to these candidates is a Democratic Socialist political movement - and a key part of that movement is the publication Jacobin, which has sought to teach and lead debate about radical class politics, reviving Marxist critiques of capitalism and socialist ideology.In this chat, the founding editor of Jacobin, Bhaskar Sunkara, charts the history of the US democratic socialists and the role of Jacobin in particular. He unpacks the recent New York Mayoral Election campaign with Zohran Mamdani, exploring how the big but simple demands about free buses and rent freezes created a different imagination for what is possible from the state. He also shares a little about his upcoming book The Blueprint (with Mike Beggs and Ben Burgis), and some of the topics he will be talking about when he visits Australia in May and June 2026.For more information and to buy tickets for Bhaskar's Australian speaking tour: https://www.search.org.au/bhaskar_sunkara_live_in_sydney_get_your_tickets_todayThe Jacobin magazine is here.Bhaskar's earlier book, The Socialist Manifesto, can be bought here.Story NotesFor more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more on the books and Amanda's writing, have a look at:Amanda's website - https://amandatattersall.com/ Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie GrantPeople Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni PressOn Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersallOn Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni PressAmanda is on Socials here:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Craig White, Ben Burgis, and Daniel Kodsi join Spencer Case to discuss--and debate--the Iran War.

Our cover is blown. Our secret funders unmasked. Code Red: Abort! Abort! This is not a drill.Supplementary Material 47: The DTG Conspiracy UNMASKED, Quantum Idiots, and Triggernometry Prophecies00:00 Glowing Introduction03:14 The Secret Conspiracy at the Heart of the Podcast08:17 The Israel Connection19:09 Cenk Uygur's Pickleball Conspiracy23:25 Comment Section Conspiracies30:20 Pizzagate Conspiracies Revisited37:55 The Value of debating with ChadBigCum42:26 AI discourse reflections43:43 Ben Burgis's hyperbolic reaction to AI use44:53 The AI revolution and its potential impacts47:53 Social and Economic Disruption and Job Replacement51:33 The Dangers of Slopified Work and AI economies55:47 Statistical Analysis Software and the value of Friction57:36 The Perils of AI Usage outside of your Skillset58:59 The Solution is within yourself!01:04:22 The Hundred Schools of AI discourse01:05:58 Double Slit and Quantum Physics Insights from Warren Smith01:12:39 Schrodinger's poor, misinterpreted cat01:13:48 The Wonderful Benjamin Boyce01:14:41 Quantum Woo and Arrogant Sensemakers01:18:29 Young Matt and Aged Chris01:20:13 The Triggernometry Prophecy01:23:54 Quid Pro Quo in the Discourse Circuit01:28:25 The Anti-Institutional Horseshoe Theory of MEHDI HASAN01:37:18 So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 40 minutes).Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurusLinksReddit post unmasking our Israeli backersMother Jones article on whether 'pizza' is a codeword in the Epstein files (Spoiler: No it is not)Mickey's Opinion Piece in The Canadian Jewish News about "quiet anti-semitism"Ben Burgis is suggesting a journalist should be fired for using AICenk Uygur's Pickleball ConspiracyVigeland & Citarella on Epstein: The One Conspiracy to Rule Them All (YouTube)Benjamin Boyce and Warren Smith discuss Quantum PhysicsTriggernometry: Mehdi Hasan Debate on the Iran War, Immigration and the Israel LobbyCreator of Horseshoe Theory Dies aged 100

Last week at York University in Toronto, there was a panel to pre-launch a book of essays called "Analytical Marxism and Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century: Revisitng G.A. Cohen" co-edited by Ben Burgis and Matt McManus. Contributors Les Jacobs and Christine Sypnowich spoke first, then Matt and Ben. Q&A includes some spicy exchanges on dialectics and whether analytical Marxism is too academic to be of much use to the workers' movement. In this episode, Ben starts with some context on Cohen's life and the major themes of the work and then we play the full video of the panel. At the end, Ben comes back to chat a bit more about the trip to Toronto and the GTAA episode schedule going forward.Prices in academic publishing being what they are, we can't exactly tell you to go out and buy this thing, but if you want to get your library to order a copy, here's the link for that;https://www.amazon.com/Analytical-Marxism-Democratic-Socialism-Century/dp/3032028930Prof. Sypnowich's website:https://www.christinesypnowich.com/Prof. Jacobs's profile at York:https://profiles.laps.yorku.ca/profiles/jacobs/Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProfFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowConsider donating to Andy's GoFundMe so he can replace his computer and fully go back to doing what he does best:https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-andy-get-back-to-creating-art-jtwetBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

We're back, baby!Ben Burgis breaks down the idiotic arguments made by the MAGA faithful in defense of Trump's decision to wage an unprovoked, illegal, open-ended war against a country with far more capacity to defend itself than Afghanistan had in 2001 or Iraq in 2003, and makes the case that opposing it isn't just a question of anti-imperialism or harm-minimization (though it certainly is all that) but that there's a basic question of American democracy at stake.Read Ben's article in Jacobin:https://jacobin.com/2026/03/trump-iran-war-public-opinionRead Branko Marcetic's too while you're at it:https://jacobin.com/2026/03/trump-iran-war-public-opinionConsider donating to Andy's GoFundMe so he can replace his computer and fully go back to doing what he does best:https://gofund.me/f8ec78c56Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Ben Burgis and Matt McManus chat with Laura K. Field about her excellent new book "Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right."Order the book::https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691255262/furious-mindsFollow Laura on Twitter: @lkatfieldFollow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProfFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Deep State Kuba and New York Cynthia join Ben Burgis to talk about Curtis Yarvin's demented new essay "The Situation and the Solution."Follow Kuba on Twitter: @DrKuba2Follow Cynthia on Twitter; @c_cook1988Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substac

Ben Burgis, Rutgers University philosophy professor, socialist political commentator and  “Jacobin” columnist, discusses Venezuela and whether the U.S. will extend its aggression to Cuba, Mexico, Brazil and beyond.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.

Is Trump planning on a military invasion in Venezuela? If so, why do even conservatives think this is a horrible idea for America?   Check out our new bi-weekly series, "The Crisis Papers" here: https://www.patreon.com/bitterlakepresents/shop   Thank you guys again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and everyone of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined,   BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron only programing, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH!   Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents?   Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, (specially YouTube!)   THANKS Y'ALL   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9WtLyoP9QU8sxuIfxk3eg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Substack: https://jmylesoftir.substack.com/.../the-money-will-roll...   Read Jason Myles in Sublation Magazine https://www.sublationmag.com/writers/jason-myles Read Jason Myles in Damage Magazine https://damagemag.com/2023/11/07/the-man-who-sold-the-world/

Marxist Twitter has been fighting about Vivek Chibber lately. Ben Burgis takes the opportunity to address the immediate controversy but also the much broader value of Chibber's work.Read the Jacobin Chibber interview on the origins of capitalism that everyone is freaking out about:https://jacobin.com/2025/12/colonialism-transition-feudalism-capitalism-history-economyRead Ben's essay "Taking the Red Pill: William Clare Roberts vs. Vivek Chibber on the Class Matrix":https://benburgis.substack.com/p/taking-the-red-pill-william-clareFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Ben Burgis talks about why he doesn't buy Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò's defense of identity politics in Táíwò's book "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)."Check out the book:https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1867-elite-captureRead Ben's review:https://damagemag.com/2025/06/11/uncaptured-identity-politics-is-no-substitute-for-a-politics-of-class/Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Are service workers part of the "productive" part of the working class? And what does that mean? How about public sector employees--if they're not productive workers, does that mean that their interests don't align with productive workers and socialists shouldn't support the welfare state after all?Ben Burgis talks about what the Trotskyist leader and Marxist economist Ernest Mandel gets right and wrong in his introduction to Capital Vol. 2.Read Ben's essay:benburgis.substack.com/p/are-service-workers-and-public-sectorWatch the Erik Olin Wright "Understanding Class" lecture:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmiiSSMZPnERead his review of Jodi Dean's book:https://unherd.com/2025/05/the-21st-century-belongs-to-marx/Read Dean's response to Ben:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/analogies-and-tendencies-a-response-to-ben-burgisRead Ben's response to Dean's response:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/service-workers-aren-t-servants-a-response-to-jodi-deanFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Many-time GTAA guest Ana Kasparian went on Bill Maher's podcast Club Random. Ben Burgis watches the part where they argue about Gaza and breaks it down.Read Ben's article "The “Human Shields” Defense of Bombing Gaza's Civilians Is Morally Bankrupt":https://jacobin.com/2023/11/human-shields-bombing-gaza-palestine-israel-defense-forces-morally-bankruptFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

Donald Trump, who we keep hearing is a peacemaker, said his speech for the 250th anniversary of the founding of Navy that the U.S. only lost the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan because we got too "woke" about war tactics. Ben Burgis breaks it down.Get tickets to the election night show in NYC:https://www.barfreda.com/#/events/156966Read Ben's article in Jacobin:https://jacobin.com/2025/10/trump-vietnam-afghanistan-war-wokeFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Both supporters and opponents of the Labor Theory of Value often assume that the LTV and Marx's theory of capitalist exploitation are a package deal. Others, like G.A. Cohen, have questioned that link. Ben Burgis takes a look at the debate, arguing that these two ideas are related...but not in the way a lot of people assume.Sign up for Ben's Capital classes at patreon.com/benburgisFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Last week, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti had an interesting mini-debate on whether states and cities that don't cooperate with ICE are doing something wrong on the grounds that it involves a "neo-Confederate" rejection of federal supreamcy. Ben Burgis breaks it down.Watch the 32-hour workweek video previewed at the end:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr35Wr0H9mMFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Ambiguously fascist JD Vance guru Curtis Yarvin has written an odd little essay called "You Can't Handle the Truth." Ben Burgis responds!Read the essay:https://graymirror.substack.com/p/you-cant-handle-the-truthRead Matt McManus's essay on Yarvin:https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/curtis-yarvin-thiel-carlyle-monarchism-reactionaryFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick made a classical argument against redistributing wealth and economic resources in his book "Anarchy, State & Utopia" based on a thought experiment about the basketball player Wilt Chamberlain. Marxist philosopher G.A. Cohen takes it apart piece by piece. Ben Burgis discusses!Read Ben's article about this in Jacobin:Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Today is the 2-year anniversary of the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. Ben Burgis breaks the absurdity and evil of the way many people have tried to defend it, and puts the issue in a larger context.Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Ben Burgis talks about his Jacobin article "Democrats are Screwing Up the Shutdown" and subsequent developments.Read the article:https://jacobin.com/2025/10/democrats-shutdown-health-care-bernie-aocFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

That's the claim made by Neil Vallelly in a shockingly poorly-informed article for Jacobin (reviewing Christopher Schuringa's book "A Social History of Analytical Philosophy"). Jacobin editor Nick French defended analytic philosophy in a counterpoint review of the same book ("Is Analytic Philosophy a Class Ideology?") published the same day. In this episode, Ben Burgis argues in this episode that French is correct but that the whole exchange suffers from ignoring the overlap between analytic philosophy and Marxism. Jacobin readers should be hearing about the (considerable!) contributions of analytical Marxist thinkers.Read the Vallelly article:https://jacobin.com/2025/09/analytic-philosophy-history-hume-rawlsRead the French article:https://jacobin.com/2025/09/analytic-philosophy-history-hume-rawlsRead Matt McManus's review of the same book on Ben's Substack:https://benburgis.substack.com/p/thoughts-on-christoph-schuringasFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Ben Burgis addresses the controversy about the article he and Meagan Day wrote about political violence and free speech after the Charlie Kirk assassination, all of the ways the most tedious and unhelpful people on the Left found to miss the point, and the broader perils of this moment.Read the original article:https://jacobin.com/2025/09/charlie-kirk-murder-political-violenceFollow Meagan on Twitter: @meagankdayFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

We're back! This last weekend, Ben Burgis was at an international conference of socialist, communist, and labor parties in Mexico City hosted by the Partido del Trabajo (the smallest but furthest left of the three parties in Claudia Sheinbaum's coalition). He introduced Richard Wolff to the assembled delegates, and Wolff have a barn burner of a talk outlining just what's happened to American society in the last few decades. We share the video + Ben gives some background on the conference and gets into what the new season of GTAA this kicks off is going to look like.Follow Richard Wolff on Twitter: @profwolffFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Charlie Kirk, influential right-wing commentator and founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated on September 10th. Since then, he has been made into a martyr on the right, and the Trump administration has vowed to crack down on the left, despite details about the shooter's motivation remaining hazy. Among liberals, there has been a baffling rush to hold Kirk up as a paragon of democracy—despite his participation in the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election—and to demonstrate their own grief at his death. In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing editor David Klion, assistant editor Maya Rosen, and contributor Ben Lorber, a researcher of antisemitism and white nationalism, discuss reactions to Kirk's assassination across the political landscape, the mostly imagined specter of left violence versus the reality, the meaning of Kirk's deification in Israel, and the ways reactions to his death have become a proxy for conversations about the genocide in Gaza. Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Articles Mentioned and Further Reading“Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way,” Ezra Klein, The New York Times“How to mourn in our polarized age,” Rachel Cohen Booth, Vox“Charlie Kirk's Murder Is a Tragedy and a Disaster,” Ben Burgis and Meagan Day, Jacobin“JD Vance threatens crackdown on ‘far-left' groups after Charlie Kirk shooting,” Rachel Leingang, The GuardianSarah Schulman on the sublimation of the Palestinian genocide into mourning for Charlie Kirk on X“Light Among the Nations,” Suzanne Schneider, Jewish Currents“The Group Forging a ‘Judeo-Christian' Zionism for the New MAGA Age,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents“A Jewish clothing brand is making Charlie Kirk yarmulkes,” PJ Grisar, The Forward“In Israel, public tributes to Charlie Kirk include a street naming, a mural and a missile in Gaza,” Grace Gilson, JTA“The Measure of the World,” Claire Schwartz, Jewish Currents“Since the Hamas attack, Israelis have begun arming themselves the American way,” Jonathan M. Metzel, The Los Angeles TimesTranscript forthcoming.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Last week's assassination of right wing personality Charlie Kirk last week was a shock -- and so was the choice of many left and liberal media outlets to publish pieces that lauded the openly supremacist activist for his contribution to American political life. Ezra Klein wrote in The New York Times that Kirk was "practicing politics the right way." Rachel Cohen wrote in Vox that she was "sitting shiva" for a man she described as saying "blatantly antisemitic things," and Ben Burgis offered that at least Kirk "didn't descend into personal attacks." Briahna, who also debated Kirk, felt differently. She discusses the hagiography of Charlie Kirk with journalist Zaid Jilani and whether the left is troublingly indifferent to anti-Black racism if delivered "politely." Note that this episode was supposed to include a lengthy conversation about Matt Taibbi's refusal to cover censorship by right-leaning institutions, but, alas, the conversation didn't get that far. Fortunately, Brie has recorded a separate follow-up interview on that topic to be relased shortly -- stay tuned. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Ben Burgis Who Debated Charlie Kirk on "Democratic Socialism vs. Conservative Populism" | Echoes of the 60's and 70's From Protest Songs Against Trump and MAGA Fascism | An Assessment of the Military Standoff Between Russia and Ukraine backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

What makes a book of Marxist theory so controversial that publishers back out after initially accepting it? The answer takes us deep into the heart of leftist intellectual debates that have shaped revolutionary movements for generations."Flowers for Marx" brings together contrasting perspectives on fundamental questions that have divided Marxists since the 19th century. The conversation opens by exploring how platform appearances on shows like Joe Rogan became grounds for publisher rejection, raising crucial questions about whether the left should prioritize ideological purity or audience expansion.At the core of this discussion lies the tension between humanism and scientific approaches to Marxism. Conrad Hamilton defends Althusser's critique of humanism as potentially undermining revolutionary politics, while pointing to the achievements of actually existing socialist states often overlooked in Western discourse. Ben Burgis pushes back, arguing that core historical materialist insights suggest underdeveloped societies face inherent limitations in building socialism without first developing productive forces.The global dimension becomes clear when Ernesto Vargas begins examining Mexico's experience, where dependency on international financial institutions undermined development despite significant land redistribution initiatives. These different national contexts reveal how abstract theoretical debates manifest in concrete historical situations, challenging Eurocentric assumptions about revolutionary strategy.What emerges is a recognition that while these debates recur cyclically, they're not merely academic exercises. They reflect genuine dilemmas revolutionaries face in different contexts, which explains why theories considered settled often resurface with new urgency. Whether discussing the moral dimensions of Marxism or the viability of different development paths, these conversations remain vital precisely because the challenges they address persist.Tune in to our follow-up panel featuring Matt McManus and Daniel Tutt for additional perspectives on these enduring questions that continue to shape leftist thought and practice worldwide.Send us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Read Ben's latest in Jacobin here: https://jacobin.com/.../left-politics-maximalism...   Instead of trying to persuade the hundreds of millions of Americans to our right, sometimes we leftists seem to be competing to prove our radical bona fides to each other. That's not politics — it's just wasting precious time.   Check out our new bi-weekly series, "The Crisis Papers" here: https://www.patreon.com/bitterlakepresents/shop   Thank you guys again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and everyone of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined,   BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron only programing, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH!   Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents?   Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, (specially YouTube!)   THANKS Y'ALL   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9WtLyoP9QU8sxuIfxk3eg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Read Jason Myles in Sublation Magazine https://www.sublationmag.com/writers/jason-myles   Read Jason Myles in Damage Magazine https://damagemag.com/2023/11/07/the-man-who-sold-the-world/   Read Jason in Unaligned here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-161586946...   Read, "We're All Sellouts Now" here: https://benburgis.substack.com/.../all-we-ever-wanted-was...

After a four-year run on the show, Producer Jake is saying goodbye. (Although presumably he'll be saying "hello" again on some future episodes as a guest.) One of his predecessors, Producer Cale, joins us to see the lad off. Jay Zeroni, who's never been a GTAA producer but is still a good guy, joins us in the postgame for patrons. We're having some fun with our Season 7 finale before we take a break (at least from full episodes) for a couple weeks, and then we'll be back with some big format changes. Maybe we'll talk about some of that tonight!Meanwhile, if you live in or near Los Angeles, come out this Saturday to see Ben Burgis and Meagan Day chat with Danish parliamentarian (and leader of the Red-Green Alliance party) Pelle Dragsted about his book "Nordic Socialism." That's going to be Saturday, August 16th at 6 PM at the Village Well bookstore in Culver City, followed by drinks nearby afterward.Finally, not one but TWO new Capital classes will be starting on Labor Day weekend on the GTAA patreon. A new Capital Vol. 1 class (this time much slower, only a section a week instead of full chapters) will be starting on Saturday, August 30th and the long-promised Capital Vol. 2 class will be starting on Sunday, August 31st. Head over to patreon.com/benburgis if you want to sign up for either of those (or for the "GTAA University" tier where you get both at once).Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Spencer Leonard responds to a recent episode of Give Them an Argument. Norman Finkelstein, Matt McManus, and Ben Burgis all attempted to defend J.S. Mill from Karl Marx, and in the process demonstrated their failure to understand Marx's criticisms of Mill. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap

Jason and Ben Burgis talk about Hogan as racist and Ozzy and zionist.    Check out our new bi-weekly series, "The Crisis Papers" here: https://www.patreon.com/bitterlakepresents/shop   Thank you guys again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and everyone of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined,   BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron only programing, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH!   Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents? Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, (specially YouTube!)   THANKS Y'ALL   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9WtLyoP9QU8sxuIfxk3eg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Read Jason Myles in Sublation Magazine https://www.sublationmag.com/writers/jason-myles   Read Jason Myles in Damage Magazine https://damagemag.com/2023/11/07/the-man-who-sold-the-world/   Read Jason in Unaligned here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-161586946...   Read, "We're All Sellouts Now" here: https://benburgis.substack.com/.../all-we-ever-wanted-was...

Nicholas Vrousalis, author of "Exploitation as Domination: What Makes Capitalism Unjust" joins Ben Burgis to talk about his book, how to rigorously think about capitalist exploitation, what it was like to work with G.A. Cohen in grad school, and more. Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument about the bizarro arguments of pro-Trump libertarians. In the postgame for patrons, Ryan Zickgraf joins us for a dramatic reading of Sophie Lewis's thoughts about the sex with octopuses.Order Nicholas's book:https://global.oup.com/academic/product/exploitation-as-domination-9780192867698Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ryan_zickgrafFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Steve Paxton studied with the great Marxist philosopher G.A. Cohen as a graduate student at Oxford. Since then, he's had blue-collar jobs, white collar jobs, and been unemployed, but he's never stopped writing and thinking about socialism and Marxism. For this special Bastille Day episode, Ben Burgis talks with Steve about his book "How Capitalism Ends." Oh, and it's graphic designer Andy's birthday, so we'll raise a toast to our Bastille Day Boy. In the postgame for patrons, believe it or not, we actually finish our long march through Jordan Peterson vs. 20 Atheists.Order Steve's book:https://stevepaxton.co.uk/buyNowHCE.phpFollow Steve on Twitter: @Steve__PaxtonFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Labor scholar Shaun Richman joins us to talk to Ben Burgis about his book "We Always Had a Union: The New York Hotel Workers' Union, 1912-1953." Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument on the absurd attacks on Zohran that have been made everywhere from National Review to Reason to...Matt Taibbi's Substack. (Goddamnit, Matt.) In the postgame for patrons, Ben and the crew get heart-breakingly close to finally being done with "Jordan Peterson vs. 20 Atheists."Read Ben's MSNBC article on the hysteria about city-owned grocery stores:https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/zohran-mamdani-grocery-stores-food-deserts-panic-rcna216332Read his Jacobin article on the "seize the means of production" hysteria:https://jacobin.com/2025/07/zohran-mamdani-socialism-bernie-taibbiOrder Shaun's book:https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p088537Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Ess_DogFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Two authors from the new anthology "Flowers for Marx" (returning guests Matt McManus & Conrad Hamilton) join Ben Burgis to chat about the book. Before that, Ben and the crew debunk more smears of Zohran. In the postgame for patrons, Matt puts in a shift joining us on our long march through Jordan Peterson vs. 20 atheists.Order Flowers for Marx:https://www.revolpress.com/flowersFollow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProfFollow Conrad on Twitter: @BongardConradFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Ep 345 of RevolutionZ begins with a brief apology for an error last episode. some self-reflection about RevolutionZ's duration of 345 consecutive episodes, some moving guest comments on Gaza plus my own comments on emerging Trumpian fascism. It then again addresses the question do activists need fresh conceptual frameworks that transcend traditional Marxism?The episode revisits the critique of the Marxist tradition's adequacy for contemporary struggles/ We again and perhaps more succinctly and also aggressively argue that Marxism's core concepts systematically diminish attention to gender, race, and power relations while distorting economic understanding by defining classes solely through property relations.The episode describes how these limitations have manifested in real-world movements to lead not to classlessness but to "coordinator class rule," dictatorships, and persistent though sometimes somewhat altered racism and sexism. The episode rejects Marxism's labor theory of value, denies the practical utility of dialectics, and considers why the tradition seems particularly vulnerable to sectarianism.After then sharing a couple of personal anecdotes, the episode extends invitations to prominent Marxist intellectuals—from Kali Akuno, Tariq Ali, Ben Burgis, Vivek Chibber and Angela Davis, to Terry Eagleton, Max Elbaum, Bill Flether, Nancy Fraser and John Bellamy Foster, to David Harvey, Doug Henwood and Boris Kagarlitsky, to Robin Kelly, Vijay Prashad, Kshama Sawant and Rick Wolff—to address these concerns in the spirit of constructive dialogue. Hopefully one or more will respond. After all, why not?This episode isn't bent on dismissing Marxism's contributions much less any Marxist activists, but on asking essential questions to propel a needed conversation: Does this intellectual tradition, as practiced by real-world actors who have been bent by existing oppressive structures, provide the comprehensive understanding needed for today's multi-faceted struggles? When should we enrich existing frameworks, and when must we entirely transcend them? Do you  want to be called Marxist? If so, why? What conceptual tools will best serve our efforts to create a world beyond capitalism, sexism, racism, authoritarianism, and ecological collapse? Marxism's conceptual tools, or what?Whether you're deeply versed in Marxist theory or approaching these matters for the first time, this episode urges that we together critically examine the intellectual foundations of our activism. What frameworks best position us to understand—and change—our rapidly transforming world?Support the show

Get "Flowers for Marx" from Revol Press here: https://www.revolpress.com/flowers   "The resurgence of interest in Marx has generated vigorous and sometimes perplexing collisions of theory and politics online. This collection—featuring stimulating exchanges on Marxism, science, and humanism, and on socialism's relation to liberalism—exemplifies their irreverent energy. It is partisan without being sectarian, learned without being academic.” — Ray Brassier, author Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction   Check out our new bi-weekly series, "The Crisis Papers" here: https://www.patreon.com/bitterlakepresents/shop   Thank you guys again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and everyone of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined, BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron only programing, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH!   Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents?   Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, (specially YouTube!)   THANKS Y'ALL   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9WtLyoP9QU8sxuIfxk3eg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Read Jason Myles in Sublation Magazine https://www.sublationmag.com/writers/jason-myles   Read Jason Myles in Damage Magazine https://damagemag.com/2023/11/07/the-man-who-sold-the-world/   Read Jason in Unaligned here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-161586946...

We are joined by Branko Marcetic @BMarchetich writer at Jacobin to talk about Zohran's win and Trump's threats against Democracy. David talks about the flooding in Texas and the human consequence of GOP failure. Immediately after catch Ben Burgis in the POSTGAME for PATRONS ONLY patreon.com/leftreckoning➡️ Support independent left media: patreon.com/leftreckoning

Trump's "To Do Or Not To Do" on Bombing Iran | The Split in MAGA Illustrated by the Clash Between the Insidious Tucker Carlson and the Odious Ted Cruz | The Legacy of Charlottesville Now That White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis Can Apply For a Job at ICE and DHS backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Read Ben's article in Jacobin here: https://jacobin.com/.../musk-trump-nationalize-spacex...   The slap fight between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has highlighted the absurdity of keeping so much of our space program and satellite internet infrastructure in the hands of a single oligarch.   Check out our new bi-weekly series, "The Crisis Papers" here: https://www.patreon.com/bitterlakepresents/shop Thank you guys again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and everyone of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined,   BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron only programing, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH!   Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents?   Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, (specially YouTube!)   THANKS Y'ALL   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9WtLyoP9QU8sxuIfxk3eg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Read Jason Myles in Sublation Magazine https://www.sublationmag.com/writers/jason-myles   Read Jason Myles in Damage Magazine https://damagemag.com/2023/11/07/the-man-who-sold-the-world/   Read Jason in Unaligned here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-161586946...   Read, "We're All Sellouts Now" here: https://benburgis.substack.com/.../all-we-ever-wanted-was...

Stefan joins special guest Jason Myles to discuss 'selling out', and whether the notion even makes sense in the contemporary moment, where we are all always already sold out, and to the degree that this is alienating it just makes it even more saleable Read the essay here https://benburgis.substack.com/p/all-we-ever-wanted-was-everything Subscribe to Ben's substack here benburgis.substack.com/subscribe Check out our new bi-weekly series, "The Crisis Papers" here: https://www.patreon.com/bitterlakepresents/shop Thank you guys again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and everyone of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined, BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron only programing, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH! Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents? Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, (specially YouTube!) THANKS Y'ALL YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9WtLyoP9QU8sxuIfxk3eg Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Read Jason Myles in Sublation Magazine https://www.sublationmag.com/writers/jason-myles   Read Jason Myles in Damage Magazine https://damagemag.com/2025/05/21/shedeur-sanders-and-the-marketization-of-college-sports/   Read Jason in Unaligned Here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-161586946...   Read Jason in Ben Burgis' Substack here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-164138518        

President Donald Trump just made some new public statements about the Russia-Ukraine war, and they were thoroughly unimpressive. At one point, he seemed to get angry at Vladimir Putin over a massive new Russian attack on Ukraine, calling on Putin to “STOP.” But then in remarks to reporters, he openly suggested that he doesn't expect Russia to make any serious concessions at all in the quest for peace. This striking public admission badly undercuts Trump's “master dealmaker” mystique, and wrecks the illusion he's cultivated that he expects genuine concessions from both sides. We talked to Ben Burgis, a columnist at Jacobin and a podcaster who has a good new piece for MSNBC.com analyzing Trump's negotiating strategy. Burgis explains why Trump's approach is likely to be counterproductive at best—and why it could produce catastrophic long-term results.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices