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Trump negotiates his big beautiful bill, Biden is diagnosed with cancer, and South African refugees resettle in the United States. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
The new pope has taken the name Leo, alluding to Pope Leo XIII who developed modern Catholic social teaching, and the Trump administration might accept the gift of a luxury airliner from Qatar. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
The AfD gets labelled an extremist organization, and Trump plans to reopen Alcatraz and to impose tariffs on foreign film production. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump makes a mineral deal with Ukraine, the liberal candidate wins the Canadian election, and Spain faces power outages. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Pope Francis passes, Elon Musk departs from DC, and Zelensky and the Trump administration argue over peace in Ukraine. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Controversy ensues over Trump's immigration policies and Lauren Sanchez leads an expedition to outer space. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump's Liberation Day tariffs garner mixed reactions and White Lotus Season 3's finale disappoints. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump imposes tariffs on US trading partners, Maurine Le Pen is banned from candidacy, and Musk turns X into an AI machine. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Bernie Sanders and AOC tour across the country, 23andMe goes bankrupt, and White House groupchats get leaked. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Jacob Savage joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss his new Compact piece "The Vanishing White Male Writer." https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-vanishing-white-male-writer/ Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Geoff Shullenberger is managing editor of Compact and co-host of the Blame Theory podcast.Find Geoff:https://x.com/g_shullenbergerhttps://www.compactmag.com/contributor/geoff-shullenberger/Mentioned in the episode:https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/https://www.amazon.com/United-States-Paranoia-Conspiracy-Theory/dp/0062135554https://www.amazon.com/Birth-Biopolitics-Lectures-Coll%C3%A8ge-1978-1979/dp/0312203411http://home.lu.lv/~ruben/Deleuze%20-%20Postscript%20On%20The%20Societies%20Of%20Control.pdf This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fromthenew.world/subscribe
A new report on funding for gender ideology in the EU comes out, a new progressive agenda focused around abundance rolls out, and the fifth anniversary of the Covid lockdown is upon us. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Geoff Shullenberger and Ashley Frawley continue to explore the crisis of liberalism. They begin by discussing recent reversals around free-speech debates in the United States and the odd fact that ostensible post- and anti-liberals have often positioned themselves as defenders of a central liberal value: free speech. They then begin to explore the postliberal critique and other blame narratives that have arisen around liberalism in recent years and ask whether the problem with liberalism is that it grants too much freedom, or too little. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe
The Trump administration makes moves against Columbia University's student protestors, Trump test drives a Tesla, and RFK has lunch at Steak 'n Shake. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
My guest on this episode of the podcast is William Deresiewicz, author of a number of books, most notably Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, and the Substack newsletter Derisivist.Bill and I end up spending a fair amount of time discussing an as-yet-untitled essay of his that's forthcoming in Salmagundi, and at what I'd say are the two poles of it. On the one hand, it's a lament for the decline of the left, which he argues has made itself the enemy of cultural vitality. On the other hand, it's an initial sketch of what he calls the "not left," which is some kind of loose constellation of people (including Bill and me) who still take their policy bearings from the left but who feel profoundly alienated from its current cultural and institutional manifestations. He writes:"It comes to this: the left has made itself the enemy of the life force—of vitality, of eros. It fears it and it wants to shackle it. It feels, with a deep, instinctive revulsion, that it is incompatible with goodness, with morality. So it subordinates it to morality, or rewrites it in its terms. … The not-left, like the left in the 60s and 70s, is the locus of openness, playfulness, productive contention, experiment, excess, risk, shock, camp, mirth, mischief, irony, and curiosity. As opposed to solemnity, self-censorship, defensiveness, literalism, and prudery. The left is 'no'; the not-left is 'yes.' The left is 'post-,' the prefix of imaginative depletion. The not-left is 'neo-,' the sign of new beginnings."I thought of waiting to send this out until his essay was available, but I decided not to. Our conversation stands on its own, and it also spends a lot of time on other topics, including Bill's childhood in a modern Orthodox Jewish home, his early efforts to be a good boy and pursue a career in the sciences, his transition to English literature, and then his eventual break from academia. And much more.It's a great conversation. Bill and I have been consuming a lot of the same stuff over the past few years, and the result is a shared frame of reference that allows us to bounce and spark off each other in a pretty ideal way. You can feel us arriving at new ideas, and nuancing old ones, in the moment, which is what the interview-style podcast achieves at its best.Essays and podcast episodes we mention during the conversation, in addition to Bill's forthcoming essay, are:Last Boys at the Beginning of History: Thymos comes to the capitalby Mana AfsariWhy I Left Academia (Since You're Wondering): I didn't have a choice. Thousands of people are driven out of the profession each year.by William DeresiewiczWhat Was the Post-Left?Geoff Shullenberger and I autopsy a movement, and moment, in timeNuance: A Love Story: My affair with the intellectual dark webBy Meghan DaumThese Hollow Halls: Whither the Academy, journalism, Substack, and the rest of it.I talk to Julianne Werlin and Sam Kahn about the state of the Academy and other things.Gatecrashers: A podcast about the hidden history of Jews and the Ivy LeagueBy Mark Oppenheimer.Show notes:00:00 Introduction and Welcome00:45 Early Life and Education01:15 Graduate School Challenges01:59 Career Beginnings and Dance Criticism02:26 Teaching at Yale04:04 Leaving Academia04:59 Transition to Writing06:46 Staying Relevant in Culture09:04 Podcasting and Media Consumption22:13 Critique of Elite Education32:24 The Pressure of High Achievement33:44 Navigating Anxiety in a Competitive World34:33 Personal Reflections and Self-Selection36:29 The Fascination with Emptiness39:36 The Elite and Their Inner Lives50:59 Jewish Intellectualism and Cultural Influence56:43 The Role of Physical and Virtual Intellectual Communities01:00:24 Exploring Jewish Identity and Continuity01:07:39 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans Get full access to Eminent Americans at danieloppenheimer.substack.com/subscribe
Liberalism is in crisis. Its parties and institutions are suffering one setback after another across the West, and forces described as “illiberal” are on the rise globally. But when did this crisis begin? Was liberalism ever not in crisis? Is liberalism itself a kind of crisis? In the first episode of a longer series on the meanings and legacies of liberalism, Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger lay out the themes and questions that will inform their exploration of an ideology that has received plenty of blame from both the right and the left—in part because it has been the dominant one for hundreds of years. In this conversation, Ashley explains why the conflict between social and political liberalism and economic liberalism is foundational to the modern world, and constitutes a crisis that liberalism has never been able to transcend. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe
Trump addresses a joint session with congress and has a dustup with Zelensky, and Meghan Markle releases a new Netflix series. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Andrew Tate makes his way to the United States, Trump institutes "golden visas," and the team discusses their Oscar picks. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Negotiations ensue between the United States and Russia, and the reproductive career of Elon Musk sparks controversy. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump and his DOGE team shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Super Bowl no longer features woke virtue signaling. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump plans to redevelop Gaza and poses a tariff stand-off with Mexico and Canada, and Dark Woke arises. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Thanks to the exponential growth of mass media over the last few decades, we find ourselves bombarded with information that is presented to us through a variety of framings. Whose narrative is most accurate? Which sources, if any, can we trust? Join Stephen G. Adubato and Geoff Shullenberger for a discussion on how mass media shapes the way we take in information. Thanks to Interintellect for hosting our salon!
Thanks to the exponential growth of mass media over the last few decades, we find ourselves bombarded with information that is presented to us through a variety of framings. Whose narrative is most accurate? Which sources, if any, can we trust? Join Stephen G. Adubato and Geoff Shullenberger for a discussion on how mass media shapes the way we take in information. Thanks to Interintellect for hosting our salon!
The confirmations hearing for Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. begin, and a woman is sued in France for refusing to have sex with her husband. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump is inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States, and the team breaks everything down from the attendees to the fashion. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Chris Cutrone joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss his new Compact piece "The Future Belongs to America. So Should Greenland." https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-future-belongs-to-america-so-should-greenland/ Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
The wildfires rage on in LA and corporate America undergoes a vibe shift in the aftermath of Trump's re-election. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trudeau resigns, right-wing populism triumphs (or gets tamed?), and and the rape-gang scandal continues. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
A terrorist kills revelers on Bourbon Street, debates over H1-B visas ensue, and "the Resistance" collapses. Geoff Shullenberger joins Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Gord Magill joins Geoff Shullenberger and Ashley Frawley to discuss the future of Trump's relationship with Canada. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
The team discusses CNN's video of the release of a Syrian captive, the "war on Christmas," and our favorite Christmas movies. Ashley Frawley, Stephen Adubato, and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
My guest on the show today is Geoff Shullenberger, managing editor of Compact magazine and host of their Blame Theory podcast. Geoff emailed me a few months back, after a post of mine that touched on the the risks of hitching one's identity too thoroughly to hating on the left. What do I think, he asked, about the “post-left.”To which my answer was, “What's that?”That's the topic of much of this episode of the podcast. One answer comes from a piece on the phenomenon that Park MacDougald wrote a few years ago for Unherd. In it, he wrote:The core assertion of the post-Left is relatively simple: The real ruling class in America is the progressive oligarchy represented politically by the Democratic Party. The Democrats are the party of Silicon Valley, Wall Street, the Ivy League, the media, the upper layers of the national security state and federal bureaucracy, and of highly educated professionals in general. The Republicans, however loathsome, are largely a distraction — a tenuous alliance between a minority faction of the ruling class and petit bourgeois.… Although professing commitment to traditionally Left-wing goals such as anti-capitalism, the post-leftists are defined mostly by their aggressive hostility to both the Democratic Party and the radical Left — including the Democratic Socialists of America and the academic-literary Left of magazines such as Jacobin, n+1 and Dissent.Aside from Cryptofash, other leading lights include What's Left? co-hosts Aimee Terese and Oliver Bateman, editor of The Bellows Edwin Aponte, the Irish writer Angela Nagle and a coterie of pseudonymous Twitter accounts, such as @ghostofchristo1. Red Scare co-hosts Anna Khachiyan and Dasha Nekrasova might be considered fellow travellers.To put it another way, this was not the class-first, anti-woke internal critique that I think is more familiar to many us. It shares some DNA with that critique. Like that crew, the post-lefties thought identitarian politics were a fraud, a way for already elite actors to make themselves out to be tribunes of the people, to claim oppressed status in order to advance themselves. But unlike that class firsters, the post-lefties also thought the class first critique was a fraud too. It's all fraud all the way down, wholly disconnected from the vulnerable people it claims to represent, all a project of the elite for the elite. Geoff and I talk about the origins of this group, his own adjacency to it for a little while, the distinctions between the post-left and other post-something groups, including his own crew at Compact, the dangers of finding your identity in pure critique, and just in general the challenges of staying thoughtful in a politically chaotic time. Get full access to Eminent Americans at danieloppenheimer.substack.com/subscribe
Ashley Frawley, Compact's new senior editor as well as a new co-host of Blame Theory, joins Geoff Shullenberger to explore how collective social and political problems have been blamed on individual psychic and emotional defects. We discuss her two books on this subject, examine the history of therapeutic culture, and explore to what extent particular thinkers—Pareto? Freud?—bear some of the blame for this set of developments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe
Bashar al-Assad is ousted from Syria, Daniel Penny is acquitted, and the assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is found. Ashley Frawley, Sohrab Ahmari, and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Holly Jean Buck joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss her new Compact piece “The Rise of Green MAGA." https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-rise-of-green-maga/ Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
The UK considers assisted-suicide legislation and President Biden pardons his son, Hunter. Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump announces more cabinet picks, and Sohrab shares a big announcement. Sohrab Ahmari joins Geoff Shullenberger. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
In this next to last Ashley Frawley episode of the Sublation Magazine Show we'll discuss Compact Magazine, my recent debate with Ashley's next co-host Geoff Shullenberger, the escalation in Ukraine, and what's next for the Campaign for a Socialist Party.Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Compact editor Geoff Shullenberger debates Douglas Lain about what Michael Shellenberger calls "The Censorship Industrial Complex." How bad was it and will it continue (along with the surveillance state) under Trump. Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Biden authorizes escalations in Ukraine, Trump picks more cabinet members, and leftists debate among themselves. Geoff Shullenberger joins Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump announces his new cabinet appointments. Sohrab Ahmari and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
The team breaks down Trump's victory and Harris's loss. Sohrab Ahmari and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Seneca Scott joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss his new Compact piece “Black Oaklanders' Political Revolution." https://www.compactmag.com/article/black-oaklanders-political-revolution/ Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Trump and Harris put forth their "closing arguments," but suffer distractions that have sent the media into a frenzy. Sohrab Ahmari and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
The team takes a break from the election and, in honor of the upcoming festivities, chats about some of their favorite horror books and films. Sohrab Ahmari and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Harris's media blitz explodes, Sohrab Ahmari announces his new book, and several new Hollywood films flop. Sohrab Ahmari and Geoff Shullenberger join Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
William Thibeau joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss his new Compact piece “How the US Military Ditched Merit.” https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-the-us-military-ditched-merit/ Read William's full report at The Claremont Institute. https://dc.claremont.org/identity-in-the-trenches-the-fatal-impact-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-on-u-s-military-readiness/ Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe
Hurricane Helene hits the South, Harris is wary of threats from Iran, and "deepfakes" are suppressed. Geoff Shullenberger joins Matthew Schmitz. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access.
The vice presidential debate is shockingly tame, and longshoremen flex their labor power. Sohrab Ahmari joins Geoff Shullenberger. Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access.
Ross Barkan joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss his new Compact piece “The Death and Life of Progressive Urbanism.” Compact Magazine is reader-supported. Become a member and gain unlimited access. https://compactmag.com/subscribe