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The late David Horowitz, who died in April at age 86, was often dismissed as a fringe figure not just by liberals and leftists but even many on the right. Horowitz would often complain that his books — crude polemics with titles such as BLITZ: Trump Will Smash the Left and Win (2020) and The Enemy Within: How a Totalitarian Movement Is Destroying America (2021) — were ignored by respectable conservative publications such as National Review and Commentary. Horowitz got one thing right: that both his friends and foes underestimated him. In truth, as David Klion notes in an obituary for The Nation, Horowitz for all his shrillness and absurdity, had an enormous influence on right-wing politics and deserves to be seen as a precursor to Trumpism. Among other claims to infamy, Horowitz was the mentor of Trump's anti-immigration advisor Stephen Miller.I talked to David about Horowitz's long shadow and tumultuous journey from being a red-diaper baby to a New Left radical to an right-wing polemicist who tried to revive the very McCarthism that damaged his parent's life. Horowitz left a terrible legacy but was also a figure whose impact can't be ignored.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The late David Horowitz, who died in April at age 86, was often dismissed as a fringe figure not just by liberals and leftists but even many on the right. Horowitz would often complain that his books — crude polemics with titles such as BLITZ: Trump Will Smash the Left and Win (2020) and The Enemy Within: How a Totalitarian Movement Is Destroying America (2021) — were ignored by respectable conservative publications such as National Review and Commentary. Horowitz got one thing right: that both his friends and foes underestimated him. In truth, as David Klion notes in an obituary for The Nation, Horowitz for all his shrillness and absurdity, had an enormous influence on right-wing politics and deserves to be seen as a precursor to Trumpism. Among other claims to infamy, Horowitz was the mentor of Trump's anti-immigration advisor Stephen Miller.I talked to David about Horowitz's long shadow and tumultuous journey from being a red-diaper baby to a New Left radical to an right-wing polemicist who tried to revive the very McCarthism that damaged his parent's life. Horowitz left a terrible legacy but was also a figure whose impact can't be ignored.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
By helping the Republicans pass a spending bill that made no compromises with the Democrats and extend Donald Trump's power over the government, Chuck Schumer has made himself widely unpopular in his own party. Anger at Schumer is so intense that he had to cancel parts of his tour to promote his new book Antisemitism in America: A Warning. David Klion, Nation columnist and frequent guest on the podcast, reviewed this volume for The Baffler. He joins to podcast to discuss both the book and the making of Chuck Schumer.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
By helping the Republicans pass a spending bill that made no compromises with the Democrats and extend Donald Trump's power over the government, Chuck Schumer has made himself widely unpopular in his own party. Anger at Schumer is so intense that he had to cancel parts of his tour to promote his new book Antisemitism in America: A Warning. David Klion, Nation columnist and frequent guest on the podcast, reviewed this volume for The Baffler. He joins to podcast to discuss both the book and the making of Chuck Schumer.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The Supreme Court ruled against Trump last week in the first test of his refusal to release money appropriated by Congress, and more than a dozen more similar cases are likely to come before the court –– probably including a challenge to his withholding hundreds of millions from research universities on the grounds that they have failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. But what if Trump defies court decisions that go against him? Erwin Chemerinsky comments –– he's dean of the Law School at UC Berkeley.Also: The man in charge of Trump's plan to deport ten million undocumented people is Stephen Miller, who has a “seething, visceral, unquenchable hatred” for immigrants –– that's what Nation columnist David Klion says, as he examines a life that “defies any easy explanation.”Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The Supreme Court ruled against Trump last week in the first test of his refusal to release money appropriated by Congress, and more than a dozen more similar cases are likely to come before the court –– probably including a challenge to his withholding hundreds of millions from research universities on the grounds that they have failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. But what if Trump defies court decisions that go against him? Erwin Chemerinsky comments –– he's dean of the Law School at UC Berkeley.Also: The man in charge of Trump's plan to deport ten million undocumented people is Stephen Miller, who has a “seething, visceral, unquenchable hatred” for immigrants –– that's what Nation columnist David Klion says, as he examines a life that “defies any easy explanation.”
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, David Klion and Matt Duss on a popular right-wing fabulist.Has former president Barack Obama secretly been running the American elite — including the media and wide parts of the government — for nearly 20 years? Has he been doing so on behalf of a subversive agenda to empower Iran and undermine American exceptionalism? That's the argument made by David Samuels in a much-read piece in The Tablet. On this episode, I dissect Samuels arguments with two friends of the podcast, David Klion and Matt Duss. We not only look at the problems with Samuel's reactionary fable, but also take up why it is so popular on the right and even draws on conspiratorial ideas that have a wider purchase among centrists and conservative liberals.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, David Klion and Matt Duss on a popular right-wing fabulist.Has former president Barack Obama secretly been running the American elite — including the media and wide parts of the government — for nearly 20 years? Has he been doing so on behalf of a subversive agenda to empower Iran and undermine American exceptionalism? That's the argument made by David Samuels in a much-read piece in The Tablet. On this episode, I dissect Samuels arguments with two friends of the podcast, David Klion and Matt Duss. We not only look at the problems with Samuel's reactionary fable, but also take up why it is so popular on the right and even draws on conspiratorial ideas that have a wider purchase among centrists and conservative liberals.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Matthew Yglesias, a very influential journalist and proprietor of the Slow Boring substack, has emerged as a divisive figure within the Democratic party. To admirers, he's a compelling advocate of popularism, the view the Democratic party needing to moderate its message to win over undecided voters. To critics, he's a glib attention seeker who has achieved prominence by coming up with clever ways to justify the status quo. For this episode of the podcast, I talked to David Klion, frequent guest of the show and Nation contributor, about Yglesias, the centrist view of the 2024 election, the role of progressives and leftists in the Democratic party coalition, and the class formation of technocratic pundits, among other connected matters. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Matthew Yglesias, a very influential journalist and proprietor of the Slow Boring substack, has emerged as a divisive figure within the Democratic party. To admirers, he's a compelling advocate of popularism, the view the Democratic party needing to moderate its message to win over undecided voters. To critics, he's a glib attention seeker who has achieved prominence by coming up with clever ways to justify the status quo. For this episode of the podcast, I talked to David Klion, frequent guest of the show and Nation contributor, about Yglesias, the centrist view of the 2024 election, the role of progressives and leftists in the Democratic party coalition, and the class formation of technocratic pundits, among other connected matters. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by David Klion to discuss 'The Apprentice' — a movie about Roy Cohn's mentoring of a future president.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer is joined by David Klion to discuss 'The Apprentice' — a movie about Roy Cohn's mentoring of a future president.---Donald Trump is such a clearly defined figure — a walking, talking political cartoon — that it's hard to imagine when he was someone different. Ali Abbasi's new film, The Apprentice, gives us a Trump we're not used to seeing, a young man who was unsure of himself and found his path thanks to the mentoring of Roy Cohn, the notoriously crooked lawyer and political fixer. David Klion, frequent guest of the podcast, reviewed the movie for The Nation. While David liked the movie more than I did, we both agreed it is well worth watching, with superb performances and a vivid evocation of the New York of the 1970s and 1980s. In our talk, we discuss what the movie says about Trump's origins and also the Trump fatigue that has hurt the film at the box-office.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The FBI Cracks Down on American Kremlin Propagandists as Russian Election Influence Operations Ramp Up | Last Night's Star Turns at the DNC From Tim Walz and Kenan Thompson on Project 2025 | Trump's Anti-Semitic Attacks on Governor Josh Shapiro backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, David Klion joins Jeet Heer to discuss the President's mix of hawkish policy and moderate rhetoric.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, David Klion on the legacy of the former New Republic publisher.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Marty Peretz has led a large life, one he recounts with aplomb in his autobiography The Controversialist. As long time publisher and editor-in-chief of The New Republic, from 1974 to 2011, he transformed the venerable liberal magazine into an organ of neoliberalism, with a politics that emphasized deregulation of the economy, scaling back the welfare state, militant Zionism, and an aggressive foreign policy (leading the magazine to support the disastrous Iraq War in 2003). Coupled with the magazine, Peretz used his second wife's vast fortune to create an political network that extended to many nodes of elite power: Harvard, Wall Street and even the White House (Vice President Al Gore was Peretz's protégé).I wrote about Peretz's life and also the largescale damage done by his politics in a recent review of his memoir. Frequent guest of the show David Klion, who wrote about the memoir for The Baffler, joined the The Time of Monsters for a spirited discussion of a memorable life. Also relevant to this discussion is David's review of Liberties, a magazine founded by Peretz's longtime crony Leon Wieseltier.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Writing in the Nation, David Klion recently reviewed a Alexander Ward's new book on Biden's foreign policy, which offers a redemption arc whereby an administration wounded by the botched exit from Afghanistan made good by its handling of the Ukraine invasion.But as Klion notes, the two year frame of the book is too narrow. In conversation, David and I contextualize Biden's foreign policy, which is deeply unpopular and flawed, in the larger history of hawkish liberalism. We look at the attempt to revive a style of military Keynesianism and Biden's deep investment in Zionism, as well as the contradictions on issues of human rights that are hampering Biden's presidency.During the discussion, I alluded to this excellent Mother Jones article by Noah Lanard on Biden and Israel. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Writing in The Nation, David Klion recently reviewed Alexander Ward's new book on Biden's foreign policy, which offers a redemption arc whereby an administration wounded by the botched exit from Afghanistan made good by its handling of the Ukraine invasion.But as Klion notes, the two year frame of the book is too narrow. In conversation on this podcast, David and I contextualize Biden's foreign policy, which is deeply unpopular and flawed, in the larger history of hawkish liberalism. We look at the attempt to revive a style of military Keynesianism and at Biden's deep investment in Zionism, as well as the contradictions on issues of human rights that are hampering Biden's presidency.During the discussion, I alluded to this excellent Mother Jones article by Noah Lanard on Biden and Israel. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Historian Ronnie Grinberg's new book Write Like a Man: Jewish Masculinity and the New York Intellectuals couldn't be better "Know Your Enemy" fodder. (Main characters include: Midge Decter and Norman Podhoretz, Diana and Lionel Trilling, Irving Howe, Alfred Kazin, and Mary McCarthy!) These writers, Grinberg shows, built and sustained a novel, secular, Jewish, and masculine concept of the intellectual life, an ideology that would profoundly affected the development of Cold War liberalism, neo-conservativism, Zionism, and right-wing reaction against feminism, gay rights, and black power. As we discovered in this conversation, it's impossible to make sense of the creative and scholarly contributions of the New York Intellectuals — good and bad — without gender as an essential lens. Moreover, Grinberg shows how scholars can easily misapprehend the deeper motivations for neoconservative reaction (among those such as Podhoretz and Decter) if they are not attentive to the centrality of gender, sexuality, and patriarchy in these thinkers' work. Further Reading:Ronnie Grinberg, Write Like a Man: Jewish Masculinity and the New York Intellectuals (Mar 2024)Sam Adler-Bell, "The New York Intellectuals Were a Boys' Club," Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr 10, 2024Matthew Sitman, "Midge Decter to Howard Meyer, April 15, 1987," Friends and Enemies, Apr 8, 2024B.D. McClay, "Of Course They Hated Her: The Uncomfortable Honesty of Mary McCarthy," Commonweal, Dec 18, 2017William Barrett, The Truants: Adventures Among the Intellectuals (1982)Mary McCarthy, The Group (1963)Tess Slesinger, The Unpossessed (1934)Norman Podhoretz, Breaking Ranks: A Political Memoir (1979)Irving Howe, World of Our Fathers (1976)Further Viewing:D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus,"Town Bloody Hall" (1979)Further Listening:KYE, "Midge Decter, Anti-Feminist Cold Warrior (w/ Moira Donegan and Adrian Daub," Jul 28, 2023KYE, "What Happened to Norman (w/ David Klion)," Jan 16, 2020
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, David Klion and Jeet Heer on Dune: Part Two, the science fiction epic with real world echoes.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, David Klion and Jeet Heer on Dune: Part Two, the science fiction epic with real world echoes.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
For episode 152, Dana El Kurd hosts Geoffrey Levin to talk about his book "Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978". Levin is assistant professor of Middle Eastern and Jewish Studies at Emory University and the Director of Undergraduate Engagement at Emory's Tam Institute for Jewish Studies. Our Palestine Question is a new history of the American Jewish relationship with Israel focused on its most urgent and sensitive issue: the question of Palestinian rights. Given the ongoing genocide launched by the Israeli state on the Palestinians of Gaza, this book couldn't be more timely. Show notes: Ezra Klein - https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/opinion/netanyahu-biden-israel-gaza.html David Klion - https://www.nybooks.com/online/2024/01/28/the-exile-of-the-american-jewish-left/ The threshold of dissent - https://nyupress.org/9781479829316/the-threshold-of-dissent Necessity of Exile (Shaul Magid's book) - https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9798986780313 The best way to support The Fire These Times is: Through Patreon.com/firethesetimes. With a monthly or yearly donation, you get perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the video and book clubs, merch and more. Leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. This allows us to show up on these platforms in the first place. Tell your friends and enemies about it. Episode Credits: Host: Dana El KurdProducer: Joey AyoubGuest: Geoffrey LevinMusic: Rap and RevengeSound editor: Joey AyoubEpisode designer: Joey Ayoub
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, I am joined by David Klion to talk about this fascinating movie. David wrote about the movie for The New Republic and my review appeared here.______Martin Scorsese's masterful new movie, Killers of the Flower Moon strikes out to new territory for the famed director. It's his first foray into the American West (although set a generation after the traditional western and overturning many of the conventions of the genre).The film also explores many of his familiar themes: toxic masculinity, domestic violence, gangs, criminal conspiracies, spirituality and the limits of the law. On this episode of The Time of Monsters, I am joined by David Klion to talk about this fascinating movie. David wrote about the movie for The New Republic and my review appeared here. In the course of the discussion, I mentioned a novel about the Osage murders recommended by Lily Gladstone. The novel is Charles Red Corn's A Pipe for February.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Martin Scorsese's masterful new movie, Killers of the Flower Moon strikes out to new territory for the famed director. It's his first foray into the American West (although set a generation after the traditional western and overturning many of the conventions of the genre).The film also explores many of his familiar themes: toxic masculinity, domestic violence, gangs, criminal conspiracies, spirituality and the limits of the law. On this episode of The Time of Monsters, I am joined by David Klion to talk about this fascinating movie. David wrote about the movie for The New Republic and my review appeared here. In the course of the discussion, I mentioned a novel about the Osage murders recommended by Lily Gladstone. The novel is Charles Red Corn's A Pipe for February.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
More than twenty journalists have been killed during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict. On this week's On the Media, hear about the deadly challenges facing reporters on the ground. Plus, why comparisons of the Hamas attack on October 7th to September 11th serve as a warning for the geopolitical fallout that may lie ahead. 1. OTM host Brooke Gladstone [@OTMBrooke] on the worsening fog of war surrounding Israel and Palestine, and the confusion and disinformation in the coverage of the conflict. Listen. 2. OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] and Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, on the sharp rise in cases of violence against reporters in Gaza and Israel. Listen. 3. Tareq Baconi, president of the board of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, and David Klion [@DavidKlion], contributing editor at Jewish Currents, on why comparisons of 9/11 to the Hamas attack forewarn us of geopolitical conflict. Listen.
This week, amid the deluge of coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict following Hamas' surprise attack on October 7th, a certain historical analogy kept coming up: "this is Israel's 9/11." The analogy has been widely repeated, by officials abroad and stateside.For some invoking 9/11 explains Israel's retaliation. For others, the analogy is a warning, a reminder of the still unfolding violence and death that the American response wrought around the globe. This week, Brooke sits down with David Klion, contributing editor at Jewish Currents, who wrote about the analogy for n+1 magazine, to discuss why we should see it the invocation of 9/11 as a lesson and a warning.
Today we've got David Klion on to talk about Gaza--what has happened on the ground, the immediate and historical contexts, whether this marks the end of Benjamin Netanyahu's career, and if Israel can learn that the occupation is at the root of its most intractable security problems. Check out David's article in n+1 here.
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is the rarest of things: a summer blockbuster that is super-smart and repays close analysis. Two weeks ago, this podcast teamed up with Jewish Currents writers and editors Mari Cohen, David Klion, and Raphael Magarik to talk about the way the film portrays the 20th century left.But there is more to be said about the movie. Frequent Time of Monsters contributor, Doug Bell had some bones to pick with the the film. In particular, he feels it slighted the way Oppenheimer compromised with the anti-communist witch-hunters who tried to destroy his career. Was Oppenheimer a martyr or an opportunist? To take up the movie and the longer history of anti-communist repression in the United States, Jeet Heer talks with Doug Bell about the movie and the reality it sometimes fails to do justice.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is the rarest of things: a summer blockbuster that is super-smart and repays close analysis. Two weeks ago, this podcast teamed up with Jewish Currents writers and editors Mari Cohen, David Klion, and Raphael Magarik to talk about the way the film portrays the 20th century left.But there is more to be said about the movie. Frequent Time of Monsters contributor, Doug Bell had some bones to pick with the the film. In particular, he feels it slighted the way Oppenheimer compromised with the anti-communist witch-hunters who tried to destroy his career. Was Oppenheimer a martyr or an opportunist? To take up the movie and the longer history of anti-communist repression in the United States, Jeet Heer talks with Doug Bell about the movie and the reality it sometimes fails to do justice.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Christopher Nolen's Oppenheimer, a biopic about the famed scientist who oversaw the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atomic bomb, is a surprise hit of the summer. It's made more than $650 million worldwide, putting it ahead of more conventional blockbusters such as the newest entry into the Mission: Impossible franchise. Time of Monsters host Jeet Heer sat down with writers and editors at The Jewish Currents (Mari Cohen, David Klion, and Raphael Magarik) for a team-up of podcasts to talk about the movie. We discuss the way the movie portrays tensions within the Jewish community, its grappling with the history of the American left, its avoidance of direct portrayals of the effect of nuclear weapons, and its critique of the military-industrial complex.During the discussion we touch on David Klion's review of the movie which ran in The New Republic. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's acclaimed new biopic about the physicist who oversaw the invention of the atomic bomb, is the rare mass-market feature film that depicts the complexities of the US left during and after World War II. As the movie shows, J. Robert Oppenheimer was closely affiliated with Communists in his early life; his forays into left-wing politics included sending funds to the Spanish Republicans through the Communist Party. These relationships and activities eventually led to Oppenheimer losing his security clearance during the second Red Scare, and the hearing where this occurs is central to the film. Throughout the narrative, Oppenheimer explores its subject's Jewishness, which shapes his position in relation to both Communism and Nazism. Nolan also exhibits the Jewishness of Oppenheimer's political and intellectual milieu—which includes Lewis Strauss, the conservative Jewish politician who foments the physicist's downfall.On this week's episode of On the Nose, presented in partnership with The Nation's podcast The Time of Monsters, Jewish Currents associate editor Mari Cohen speaks with contributing editor David Klion, contributing writer Raphael Magarik, and The Nation national affairs correspondent Jeet Heer about the ways Oppenheimer illuminates and obfuscates the history it examines.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Texts and Films Mentioned:“Oppenheimer Is an Uncomfortably Timely Tale of Destruction,” David Klion, The New RepublicReds, directed by Warren BeatyAmadeus, directed by Miloš Forman Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda“Nolan's Oppenheimer treats New Mexico as a blank canvas,” Kelsey D. Atherton, Source NMAmerican Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. SherwinFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary ShelleyBarbie, directed by Greta Gerwig“Holy Sonnet XIV” by John Donne
Christopher Nolen's Oppenheimer, a biopic about the famed scientist who oversaw the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atomic bomb, is a surprise hit of the summer. It's made more than $650 million worldwide, putting it ahead of more conventional blockbusters such as the newest entry into the Mission: Impossible franchise. Time of Monsters host Jeet Heer sat down with writers and editors at The Jewish Currents (Mari Cohen, David Klion, and Raphael Magarik) for a team-up of podcasts to talk about the movie. We discuss the way the movie portrays tensions within the Jewish community, its grappling with the history of the American left, its avoidance of direct portrayals of the effect of nuclear weapons, and its critique of the military-industrial complex.During the discussion we touch on David Klion's review of the movie which ran in The New Republic. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On a previous podcast, the TV critic Sean T. Collins and I discussed how we were both surprised that Andor, the latest iteration of the Star Wars franchise, was actually a good TV program rather than just fan service. Now, the first season of Andor is over and there's room for a larger appraisal. David Klion, writing in The New Republic, makes the bold claim that the show deserves to be seen as great TV, in the same league as shows like The Wire and The Sopranos. David and I share our enthusiasm for Andor on this week's podcast.Among other topics, we discuss the way the show draws on the history of revolutions, including the Russian revolution; the extraordinary acting of Stellan Skarsgård, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, and Genevieve O'Reilly; and the shaping role of writer/director Tony Gilroy, the mastermind behind the series.Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The collapse of FTX, a crypto currency exchange that went from a valuation of $32 billion to bankruptcy, is sending shockwaves not just through the economy but also politics. FTX's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was the second biggest donor to the Democratic party in 2022. He has many complex ties with Democratic politicians, policymakers and pundits. In a recent column, I wrote about how Democrats have a crypto problem.On this week's episode of The Time of Monsters podcast, I talked with David Klion, an editor at Jewish Currents who writes for many publications, including The Nation. We had a wide-ranging conversation on not just the crypto crash but the philosophies of effective altruism and longtermism (supported by some of the players in the story), the dangers of plutocratic philanthropy, and the role writers like Matthew Yglesias played in whitewashing Sam Bankman-Fried. Along the way, we take up Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune and ask whether it, too, is an example of longtermism.Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
In the past week, a number of prominent MAGA leaders have made comments about Jews that range from insulting to outright antisemitism.Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “No President has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S. Those living in Israel, though are a different story – Highest approval rating in the World, could easily be P.M.! U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it is too late!” Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted: The same banks that hold George Soros accounts and hedge funds also held Jeffrey Epstein accounts and hedge funds.In a tweet that was deleted by Twitter, the musician Kanye West wrote, “I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” What are we to make of these comments? To take up the issue I talked to David Klion, an editor at Jewish Currents who has written before on Trump's comments on Jews. (David speaks on this podcast for himself and not for Jewish Currents). It's a wide ranging discussion about how casual bigotry serves as a gateway to something much worse.Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.Host: Jeet HeerExecutive Producer: Ludwig HurtadoAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
A broad spectrum of the American left agrees that the existing political system is not working—that it is dysfunctional, corrupt, anti-majoritarian, and utterly unable to address the serious economic, social, and ecological crises confronting the public. But despite pervasive exhaustion with the status quo, and despite omnipresent warnings about a looming constitutional threat from the radical right, there have been few signs of mobilization for a full-scale left-wing revolution since the 2020 uprisings against racism and police violence after the murder of George Floyd. Today, America's most liberal cities have largely doubled down on carceralism, and the right has far more insurgent energy than the left. To discuss the dog that isn't barking, David Klion spoke with Mike Duncan—the creator of the popular podcast Revolutions, which examines the history of ten historical upheavals in great detail—about what makes America in 2022 different from France in 1789 or Russia in 1917, and what it would take to see a real revolution. Books, Articles, TV Shows, and Podcasts Mentioned: Mike Duncan's Revolutions and History of Rome https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/ (podcasts) https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781541724037 (The Storm Before the Storm) by Mike Duncan https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781541730335 (Hero of Two Worlds) by Mike Duncan https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9780679724674 (The Black Jacobins) by C.L.R. James “https://www.thecut.com/article/dianne-feinstein-abortion-gun-civil-rights.html#_ga=2.116538756.381718568.1655143573-1672611386.1586182978 (The Institutionalist: Dianne Feinstein's Long Fight for Abortion and Gun Control)” by Rebecca Traister “https://newrepublic.com/article/163313/mike-duncan-turmoil-history-revolutions-podcast-lafayette-review (Mike Duncan Takes on the Turmoil of History)” by David Klion Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In the month since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a global icon. Zelensky, who was elected in 2019 and chose to remain in his country during the assault, is Ukraine's first Jewish president. His Jewishness, already notable given the nation's history of antisemitism, has taken on new symbolic importance in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that the assault is justified by its goal of “denazification.” Many Jews around the world, some of whose ancestors once lived in Ukraine, have come to identify with Zelensky, who embodies many of the contradictions of post-Soviet Jewishness, and whose attempts to lobby on behalf of his nation—including in a recent speech before the Israeli Knesset—have highlighted questions about the politics of post-Soviet Holocaust memory. On today's episode, Newsletter Editor David Klion speaks with a panel of writers and contributors to the new Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents—Julia Alekseyeva, Linda Kinstler, and Helen Betya Rubinstein—about Zelensky's Jewishness and the meaning of Jewish identity in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine. Books, Articles, TV Shows, and Podcasts Mentioned: https://jewishcurrents.org/issue/winter-spring-2022 (The Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents) “https://jewishcurrents.org/travesty-show (Travesty Show: An Illustrated Correspondence)” by Nicholas Muellner and Helen Betya Rubinstein https://www.netflix.com/title/80119382 (Servant of the People) “https://jewishcurrents.org/our-oligarch (Our Oligarch)” by David Klion “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-many-oblivions-of-babi-yar (The Many Oblivions of Babi Yar)” by Linda Kinstler https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781621069690 (Soviet Daughter: A Graphic Revolution) by Julia Alekseyeva https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/ (Revolutions podcast) “https://www.timesofisrael.com/is-ukraines-top-presidential-candidate-jewish-even-his-spokesman-wont-comment/ (Is Ukraine's top presidential candidate Jewish? Even his spokesman won't comment)” by Julie Masis Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
This is the first half of our episode with journalist David Klion on the background of the Ukraine crisis. Check out the full episode here!
Long before there was a catchphrase called “foreign policy for the middle class,” a Vermont mayor was on C-SPAN fighting for exactly that thing. Now he's a US Senator. And Bernie Sanders has pretty much spent his entire career in Washington questioning whether government decisions really serve working people … or, the 1%. On this episode of Things That Go Boom, we sit down with Sanders' Foreign Policy Advisor Matt Duss, because we wanted to know, from the perspective of someone whose boss has been thinking about these ideas for such a long time... Is Biden's foreign policy for the middle class anything more than a slogan? GUESTS: Matt Duss, Foreign Policy Advisor, Senator Bernie Sanders ADDITIONAL READING: Who Is Matt Duss, and Can He Take On Washington's ‘Blob'?, David Klion, The Nation
Fan of the show? https://www.patreon.com/newleftradio (Support us on Patreon)! We're joined by the Brooklyn Bad Boy himself, journalist David Klion for a wide ranging conversation on his path to left politics from his childhood in the Washington, DC suburbs, Israel/Palestine and the cognitive dissonance of Liberal Zionism, left foreign policy in a technocratic system, and American Empire with Canada in its shadow. Links https://jewishcurrents.org/ (Jewish Currents) https://jewishcurrents.org/category/from-the-newsletter (Jewish Currents Newsletter) https://muckrack.com/david-klion (Articles by David) https://twitter.com/davidklion?s=21 (Follow David on Twitter) About David Klion David Klion is an editor at Jewish Currents and has written for The Nation, The New York Times, The New Republic, and other publications. He has a master's degree in Soviet history from the University of Chicago and has lived and worked in Russia. About Jewish Currents As an award-winning magazine of politics, culture, and ideas, Jewish Currents publish quarterly in print and daily online. Currents has received acclaim for it's in-depth reporting, trenchant analysis, and rigorous cultural criticism, and for it's attention to literary quality and style. Issues Jewish Currents covers include the uses and misuses of antisemitism, the inner workings of Jewish communal organizations, Israel/Palestine politics on the ground and internationally, race and racialization, strategies and horizons of American left movements, the global rise of the far right, diasporic cultural expression, labor, climate, incarceration, immigration, and feminism. Since relaunching in 2018 with an all-new staff and design, the magazine has quickly established itself as an essential voice in the contemporary conversation. Stay connected with the latest from New Left Radio by https://newleft.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8227a4372fe8dc22bdbf0e3db&id=e99d6c70b4 (joining our mailing list) today! _________ Support this podcast
We start off on some personal anecdotes in Hollywood followed by our analysis on British pop culture. The meat of the show is spent looking back on the events of September 11, 2001, a day Ryan still very much remembers despite being at a young age. We look on the ramifications of that day, how society and televised media responded in the following years to it, its historiography when compared to the you've-heard-us-put-it-this-way-but-here-we-are ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, how it pertains to recent history as of the last month (namely, the end of the occupation of Afghanistan) and how we ought to move on from a tragedy we mustn't never forget. Read the NY Magazine story by David Klion referenced by Ryan in the episode: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/the-failures-of-the-9-11-museum.html Listen to us ramble on as two British conservative journalists by listen to our first voice over collab, "Planet Micah," so go hear it at: https://anchor.fm/mars-on-life-show/episodes/BONUS---Planet-Micah-e1645tc Social media: Mars on Life: @marsonlifeshow on Twitter and Instagram Sebastian Schug: @drsebby (Instagram) and Seabass on YouTube Ryan Mancini: @mancinira (Twitter) and @manciniryan (Instagram) Artwork by Zachary Erberich (@zacharyerberichart) "Space X-plorers" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mars-on-life-show/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mars-on-life-show/support
Dan interviews Sam Adler-Bell and Matt Sitman on the history and post-Trump trajectory of conservative intelligentsia. Listen to Know Your Enemy, their really great podcast on the American Right, wherever you get your podcasts. Sign up on Patreon for bonus episodes: patreon.com/knowyourenemy Recommended reading and listening: "What’s left of liberalism? Why the left and right both seem to agree that liberalism has failed us." By Sam Adler-Bell "Know Your Enemy #13: What Happened to Norman? with David Klion" "I Thought I Understood the American Right. Trump Proved Me Wrong." By Rick Perlstein "The dark history of Donald Trump's rightwing revolt." By Timothy Shenk "The Year the Clock Broke." By John Ganz "Anti-'68ers and the Racist-Libertarian Alliance: How a Schism among Austrian School Neoliberals Helped Spawn the Alt Right." By Quinn Slobodian "Leaving Conservatism Behind: How I renounced the God-and-guns conservatism of my blue-collar roots and embraced class politics." By Matt Sitman Join the Dig Book Club and zoom with Astra Taylor and Erick Stoll at thedigradio.com/dig-book-club. Watch their doc You Are Not a Loan here. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
This week Kate and Julia talk with writer David Klion (The Nation, New Republic, Foreign Policy, Jewish Currents) about how accusations of antisemitism are being weaponized against the left. They also, of course, talk about being a Millennial class traitor. Follow David on Twitter @davidklion http://jewishcurrents.org Julia and Kate can be found at @OhJuliaTweets and @KateWillett Hosts: Kate Willett and Julia Claire Producer: Genevieve Gearity Theme Song: Emily Frembgen and Kate Willett Artwork: Adrienne Lobl
Matt and Sam take up the question that's dominating The Discourse: Is Donald Trump—and the movement he leads—fascist? To provide an answer, they turn to the rich historiography of fascism and some key essays on the subject published since Trump's election. Along the way, they break down different approaches and sets of criteria for evaluating fascism, consider the similarities—and differences—between the 1920s and '30s and today, and ponder whether or not the "fascist question" is the right one to be asking. Listen to the end to find out where Matt and Sam finally land!Further Reading: Robert O. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism (Vintage, 2004)Friedrich Reck, Diary of a Man in Despair (New York Review of Books, 2013; originally published in 1947)Federico Finchelstein, From Fascism to Populism in History (University of California Press, 2017)Kathleen Belew, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America Harvard University Press, 2019 Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (Penguin, 2018)Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism (1950)George Jackson, Soledad Brother, (1970)Robert O. Paxton, "I've Hesitated to Call Donald Trump a Fascist. Until Now," Newsweek, Jan 11, 2021Richard Evans, "Why Trump Isn't Fascist," New Statesman, Jan 13, 2021Dylan Riley, "What is Trump?" New Left Review, Dec 1, 2018Gabriel Winant, "We Live in a Society," n + 1, Dec 12, 2020Alberto Toscano, "The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism," Boston Review, Oct 28, 2020Angela Davis, "Political Prisoners, Prisons and Black Liberation," Verso, Feb 21, 2018Jairus Banaji, "The Political Culture of Fascism," Historical Materialism, Feb 19, 2017.Richard Seymour, "Inchoate Fascism," Patreon, Nov 13, 2020. Samuel Moyn & David Priestland, "Trump Isn’t a Threat to Our Democracy. Hysteria Is," New York Times, Aug 11, 2017Corey Robin and David Klion, "Almost the Complete Opposite of Fascism," Jewish Currents, Dec 4, 2020. Peter Steinfels "The Semi-Fascist Candidate," Commonweal, May 16, 2016....and don't forget to subscribe at Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!
Kelsey Atherton and David Klion discuss the United States being the "sick man" of North America, institutional hollowing, collapse in transition and why the End of History isn't all what it's cracked up to be. Read David's article "The American Empire is the Sick Man of 21st Century" Make sure to check out Fellow Travelers - Foreign Policy From The Left.
Bill de Blasio's rise to power as NYC's great progressive hope ... The very strange story of de Blasio and the Park Slope YMCA gym ... The moment that changed everything between de Blasio and the cops ... De Blasio's bungled reaction to the virus ... Bernie's loss and the socialist left's debate over "electoralism" ... Why did the protests go national so quickly? ... Dave: De Blasio is scared of the cops ... Are the protests good or bad for Trump? ... What will NYC look like post-pandemic? ...
Bill de Blasio's rise to power as NYC's great progressive hope ... The very strange story of de Blasio and the Park Slope YMCA gym ... The moment that changed everything between de Blasio and the cops ... De Blasio's bungled reaction to the virus ... Bernie's loss and the socialist left's debate over "electoralism" ... Why did the protests go national so quickly? ... Dave: De Blasio is scared of the cops ... Are the protests good or bad for Trump? ... What will NYC look like post-pandemic? ...
We were terrifyingly close to an open war on Iran recently. The near-miss was a reminder of how brazenly American imperial power is wielded around the world and how easy dragging us back into another major war would be for Trump or anyone else in his position. It also was a reminder that we don't have a real antiwar movement in this country that can fight back against these kinds of escalations. I talked about all these issues with Daniel Bessner, a historian and professor of international studies at the University of Washington, as well as the author of Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual and a forthcoming history of the RAND Corporation. He's also a regular contributor to Jacobin. Daniel's cowritten essay on democratizing US foreign policy: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2017-04-05/democratizing-us-foreign-policy Daniel's essay on the continued supremacy of the American military: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/american-us-empire-not-in-decline-superpower-trump-proves-it-is-stronger-than-ever-militarism-daniel-bessner Daniel's review of George Soros's most recent book: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/01/george-soros-defense-of-open-society-philanthropy David Klion's profile of the Quincy Institute: https://www.thenation.com/article/quincy-institute-responsible-statecraft-think-tank/
Making It is Norman Podhoretz's 1967 memoir about his journey from the working-class neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn to his heady ascent in the New York literary scene of 1950s and '60s. It's also a fascinating psychological study of a man on the cusp of converting from Cold War liberalism to what came to be known as neoconservatism—a shift driven, at least in part, by the cool reception of this book. Making It proves a fascinating text through which to understand not just one conservative mind, but multiple generations of New York intellectuals, the neoconservative movement, and the politics of grievance, self-pity, and narcissism that have come to define much of conservatism in the Trump era.Sources Cited:David Klion, "The Making and Unmaking of the Podhoretz Dynasty," Jewish Currents, Dec 19, 2017Norman Podhoretz, "My Negro Problem — And Ours," Commentary, Feb 1963Janet Malcolm, "‘I Should Have Made Him for a Dentist'" New York Review of Books, Mar 22, 2018Louis Menand, "The Book That Scandalized the New York Intellectuals," The New Yorker, Apr 24, 2017Benjamin Moser, "My Podhoretz Problem — And Ours," Jewish Quarterly, Dec 5, 2018Lee Smith, "Making It," Tablet, Jan 16, 2019
News Editor @JewishCurrents David Klion joins us to talk Mayor Pete, Obama, Stephen Miller, Kanye, and Jewish Current's recent Bernie Sanders penned essay "How To Fight Antisemitism." We also talk a lot about my broken toilet. HUGE MISOPHONIA WARNING: some of the sound was lost and I had to salvage it through one microphone, so if you're that person that listens to us and has misophonia, you're gonna HATE this one!!! Also sorry for the late ep. Sound took a long time. Listen we're not always on time but we always show up. Follow David Klion @DavidKlion and read his stuff in @JewishCurrents where he's news editor and @thenation @newrepublic where he writes. Bernie Piece HERE: https://jewishcurrents.org/how-to-fight-antisemitism/ *************************************************** FOR FULL EP GO TO PATREON.COM/PODDAMNAMERICA ***************************************************
In which Pete and Connor welcome Dune expert and journalist David Klion onto the pod to discuss the legendary, quasi-lost Dune Encyclopedia. This is a release of one of our exclusive episodes for patrons. To get access to everything we do, join up here: patreon.com/PodsidePicnic
We've got writer David Klion on to discuss the freshly updated magazine Jewish Currents, Center for American Progress chief Neera Tanden's decision to bust the ThinkProgress union, the prospects for imperial rollback after 2020, how far the new Koch- and Soros-funded Quincy Institute should be trusted, and the evolution of Bernie Sanders' foreign policy thinking. Here are his Nation articles: on Matt Duss, lefty foreign policy, and the Quincy Institute.
In which Pete and Connor are joined by Dune superfan David Klion for a riveting discussion of the Dune Encyclopedia, the secret key to understanding the afterlife of Frank Herbert's creation. This is a preview of an exclusive Patreon episode. To get the whole thing, go here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/dune-ft-david-3-29538337
This episode began with a spat on Twitter. Glenn Greenwald, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-founder of The Intercept, is famous for his deep, long-standing skepticism of Russiagate. After Attorney General Barr’s summary of the Mueller Report came out, announcing to the world that the special prosecutor had found no basis for bringing charges against the President for collusion in Russia’s 2016 election interference, Glenn was not shy in pointing out that for two years, the media had hyped what amounted to, in his words, a “conspiracy theory,” while maligning its skeptics, including himself.David Klion, a freelance journalist, took issue with Glenn’s pronouncements. In Mother Jones, he admonished what he referred to as “a clutch of noisy Russiagate skeptics in the media,” focusing on Greenwald and Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi in particular. Glenn and David mixed it up a little bit on Twitter, before Glenn invited David to discuss it in a more productive venue — our podcast. David graciously accepted, and here we are.What none of us could have anticipated was that 18 minutes in, the website we use to record our podcasts, Zencastr, would let us down. The better part of an hour of David’s audio was never recorded, thanks to some technical failure by Zencastr. On every other episode of this show, we’ve had our guests make backup recordings of their audio locally. But for complicated reasons that are entirely the fault of Zaid and me, this was the one episode where that didn’t happen. So, 18 minutes in, Zaid and I take the baton and continue the conversation on Russiagate. We’re very, very sorry to disappoint our listeners, but we hope you enjoy the episode nonetheless.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/extremelyoffline)
Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, free college tuition, a $15 minimum wage – and now it's time to add Child care for all to the Progressive agenda. That's Katha Pollitt's proposal—she argues it will help huge numbers of people. (And Elizabeth Warren just made it a campaign issue of hers.) Also: Bernie's foreign policy: in 2016 he ran on domestic issues almost exclusively. This time around, he's going to say more about foreign policy—a lot more. David Klion explains; he's profiled Bernie's foreign policy advisor, Matt Duss.
Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, free college tuition, a $15 minimum wage – and now it's time to add Child care for all to the Progressive agenda. That’s Katha Pollitt’s proposal—she argues it will help huge numbers of people. (And Elizabeth Warren just made it a campaign issue of hers.) Also: Bernie’s foreign policy: in 2016 he ran on domestic issues almost exclusively. This time around, he’s going to say more about foreign policy—a lot more. David Klion explains; he’s profiled Bernie’s foreign policy advisor, Matt Duss.
Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, free college tuition, a $15 minimum wage – and how about adding Child care for all to the Progressive agenda? That’s Katha Pollitt’s proposal—she argues it will help huge numbers of people. Also: Bernie’s foreign policy: in 2016 he ran on domestic issues almost exclusively. This time around, if he runs—and it looks like he will--he’s going to say more about foreign policy—a lot more. David Klion explains; he’s profiled Bernie’s foreign policy advisor, Matt Duss. Plus: Peace in Afghanistan? Trump says it’s close – and Antony Loewenstein says it will bring massive corruption around mining the minerals of that country—and do nothing to help local communities.
Independent journalist David Klion joins us to talk about his recent tango with Jake Tapper as well as the fact that Michael Cohen recently got the shit beat out of him. Follow David at @DavidKlion. Outro music by Bear Hat! Check them out here: https://bearhatproject.bandcamp.com/ @PodDamnAmerica @feraljokes @andersleehere @ACLUOfficial @ptakjokes AND FOR BONUS EPISODES: Patreon.com/PodDamnAmerica
Russiagate is basically a political corruption scandal, says David Klion. The basic facts have been obvious for a long time—and they should bring down Trump's presidency. Also: we ask Jane Mayer of the New Yorker what may be the most important question of the year: Would Pence be worse? Plus: Why are Danes so much happier than Americans? Is it just because Donald Trump is NOT their president? Joshua Holland says there's more to it than that. And we also have a history segment today: Sean Wilentz talks about the place of slavery in the origins of the United States--his new book is "No Property in Man."
Russiagate is basically a political corruption scandal, says David Klion. The basic facts have been obvious for a long time—and they should bring down Trump’s presidency. Also: we ask Jane Mayer of the New Yorker what may be the most important question of the year: Would Pence be worse? Plus: Why are Danes so much happier than Americans? Is it just because Donald Trump is NOT their president? Joshua Holland says there’s more to it than that. And we also have a history segment today: Sean Wilentz talks about the place of slavery in the origins of the United States--his new book is "No Property in Man."
For our year-in-review show, we open with a Russiagate update with David Klion – he says it’s basically a corruption scandal whose basic facts have been obvious for a long time—and one that should bring down Trump’s presidency. In a lot of ways, Trump himself was the biggest story in 2018--we ask Amy Wilentz the key question: “is Trump crazy?” She discusses the mental and emotional status of the president, as analyzed by 27 psychiatrists in ‘The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,’ a book edited by Bandy X. Lee. The book was number four on the New York Times bestseller list. And the biggest story of the year, for all of humanity, has been catastrophic climate change --Bill McKibben says “it’s not just an environmental issue.”
In this episode, we welcome new guest Emma Steiner to talk about Bernie Sanders' recent foreign policy speech, how leftists should think about the issue, David Klion's recent review of Obama adviser Ben Rhodes' new book, and finally the group blog Fellow Travelers (which just published a piece by Representative Ro Khanna). Then at about 31:00, we turn to Mr. End of History Francis Fukuyama's surprising support for socialism in a recent interview, and an atrocious apologia for the bank bailout he gave on another podcast. Keep your ears open for a special guest appearance from Ellie the cat at about 34:00. Finally, as listeners pointed out, we made a factual error in the last episode. It was not Franz von Papen who supported Hitler only to be assassinated in the Knight of the Long Knives, it was actually Kurt von Schleicher.
Today's guest is David Klion, a writer in Brooklyn whose work has appeared in The Nation, The New York Times, The Guardian, BuzzFeed, The Baffler, and many other publications. In mid-September, the website Coda published a story by David, titled “Russia, Hollywood's Mirror,” where he examines Russia tropes in American movies over the past six centuries. Here's the opening of the article: “If Russians didn't exist, Hollywood would have to invent them. In a sense, Hollywood has.”So what did David and Kevin talk about in this interview? They go through a whole laundry list of American movies about Russia, focusing on favorites like Rocky IV, Red Heat, GoldenEye, and others. David talks about what kind of Hollywood movies he'd like to see more of, and discussed at length how popular entertainment both feeds off and informs perceptions when it comes to how Russians and Americans think about each other.Follow David on Twitter:https://twitter.com/DavidKlionRead his Coda story on Hollywood and Russia:https://codastory.com/disinformation-crisis/rewriting-history/russia-hollywood-mirrorSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic:“Polyushka Polye” by The Red Army Choir, www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2YlbiyiuMcОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQ“Your Health,” Soyuzmultfilm, 1965, Ivan Aksenchuk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFKxyA81TtMSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
The gang is joined by writer David Klion (@DavidKlion) to talk New York's Democratic primaries, the socialist read on Trump/Russia, and the need for a left internationalism. The various reactions to Julia Salazar's NY State Senate win and what it means when the libs think they have to be nice to us. We all drag the fuck out of hasbara hack Bari Weiss, of whose bad takes Sean cannot get enough. Jamie and Sean get divorced x 2. What, if anything, can the left take away from the Trump/Russia story? David breaks it down with help from comrades Bill Maher and Rachel Maddow. Jamie goes off on a cowardly Harrington-ite for his smarmy, disingenuous, red-baiting, left-punching op-ed. International super-friends Bernie and Yanis spit hot bars on foreign policy. All this, plus a new commie karaoke! Outro music: Pulp - Common People Support the show at Patreon.com/TheAntifada to access bonus content, our Discord community and more!
In Episode Six of 49th Parahell, I talk about the disturbing developments in the US Child Separation story that broke this week, as well as Doug Ford's latest efforts to undermine democracy in Ontario and punish the province's most vulnerable citizens. Then David Klion joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation on why I and others on the left should care more about Russiagate, elite accountability, Obama, Israel/Palestine and more.
David Klion is a freelance writer (The Guardian, The Nation, Al Jazeera) in Brooklyn and a former editor for Al Jazeera America and World Politics Review. He has a master's degree in Soviet history from the University of Chicago and has lived and worked in Russia.David has been writing about Russia long before the Russia Hysteria of 2017. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the the discussion and argues the problem is a problem of global oligarchy and American Players. We discuss this as well as the DLC, the IDC and Nato.His recent articles:https://www.thenation.com/article/how-progressives-should-think-about-russia/https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidklion/russiagate-is-an-american-story?utm_term=.viK0ZwE2Gl#.cv3yLqnEDJ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
How the New York Times failed in 2016... ... …and how it is failing in its Trump coverage ... The core problem with the NYT Opinion columnists ... Requiem for the political blogosphere ... David's critique of NYT Opinion under editor James Bennet ... Why there's no real threat to free speech on college campuses ... Aryeh: NYT Opinion needs to hire a Trump supporter ...