

Give Them An Argument
Ben Burgis
Give Them An Argument is a YouTube show and podcast dedicated to building a smarter, funnier and more strategic Left. New episodes are live on YouTube on Monday nights with an exclusive postgame for GTAA patrons after the main show. (To become a patron, go to patreon.com/benburgis and sign up for the monthly cost of a milkshake at a 50s nostalgia diner in 1994.) Past guests have included Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, David Pizarro, Gregory Sadler, Glenn Greenwald, Krystal Ball, Bhaskar Sunkara, Sam Seder, Ana Kasparian, Emma Vigeland, Matt Christman, and Amber Frost. The show has also featured debates between host Ben Burgis and opponents ranging from Walter Block to Charlie Kirk.Ben is a philosophy professor, Jacobin columnist, and frequent debater. He did a regular "Debunk" segment on the Michael Brooks Show until 2020. He's appeared on the Debate Night with Charlie Kirk, System Update with Glenn Greenwald, Rising, Krystal, Kyle & Friends, the Majority Report w/Sam Seder & the Joe Rogan Experience.benburgis.compatreon.com/benburgis
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 21, 2025 • 1h
Trump: We Lost Vietnam and Iraq Because of Woke
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

Oct 16, 2025 • 1h 32min
The Labor Theory of Value and Marx's Theory of Exploitation
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

Oct 14, 2025 • 52min
Krystal Ball vs. Saagar Enjeti: Is it “Neo-Confederate” to Refuse to Cooperate with ICE?
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

Oct 13, 2025 • 1h 7min
Curtis Yarvin Says We Can't Handle the Truth
Ben Burgis takes a deep dive into Curtis Yarvin's controversial essay, critiquing its Orwellian misuse and melodramatic tone. He questions Yarvin's disdain for revolutions while admiring capitalist elites and mocks the absurdity of his authoritarian fantasies. The discussion includes Yarvin's misunderstandings of history, particularly regarding McCarthyism and the War on Terror. As Burgis dissects Yarvin's rhetoric, he highlights the contradictions in his views on civil liberties and calls for clarity on his vision of a one-party state.

Oct 9, 2025 • 40min
Robert Nozick's Wilt Chamberlain Argument Against Redistribution
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:https://jacobin.com/2024/12/capitalism-freedom-nozick-cohen-philosophyFollow 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

Oct 7, 2025 • 1h 7min
Debunking Pro-Israel Talking Points on Gaza
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

Oct 6, 2025 • 37min
Democrats are Screwing Up the Shutdown
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

Oct 3, 2025 • 52min
Breaking Down Zohran on The View
It's Friday! Let's end the week with something fun and watch Zohran sparring with the ladies on The View about Palestine, electability, and more.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

Oct 2, 2025 • 1h 21min
Is Analytic Philosophy a Dead End for the Left?
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

Oct 1, 2025 • 56min
Trump Classifies "Anti-Capitalism" as Political Violence Pre-Crime
Trump's new national security directive classifies all of the following as indicators of incipient political violence that need to be investigated and disrupted before they come to fruition:• anti-Americanism,• anti-capitalism,• anti-Christianity,• support for the overthrow of the United States Government,• extremism on migration,• extremism on race,• extremism on gender• hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family,• hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and• hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.Beyond making the obvious point that this is almost cartoonishly authoritarian, Ben discusses the way this exactly reverses the real relationship between political violence and structural analysis.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


