Give Them An Argument

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

Jacobin writer and editor Meagan Day joins us to talk about what reactionary "tradwife" influencers are latching onto, and how social democracy can actually help families in a way that ugly anti-feminist culture war can't. Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument on what the Epstein scandal says about our late capitalist hellscape. (No postgame tonight, sorry!)Read Ben's Epstein Files article:https://jacobin.com/2025/08/epstein-scandal-trump-clinton-bipartisanshipRead Meagan's article "The Norwegian Route out of Tradwife Hell":https://jacobin.com/2025/04/norway-trad-pappaperm-paternity-leaveFollow Meagan on Twitter: @meagankdayFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.co

The crossover event the world has eagerly awaited is here (OK, well, some of us are excited)--Matt McManus and Stormin' Norman Finkelstein on the same podcast episode. As it turns out, they share an interest in John Stuart Mill, so we thought it might be interesting to explore that. Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument on Bret Stephens's absurd genocide denialism.Watch Norm deliver a lecture on Mill to the Communist Party of Great Britain:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt3WmzLM5G0Read Matt on Mill's liberal socialism in Jacobin:https://jacobin.com/2021/05/john-stewart-js-mill-liberal-socialism-locke-madisonFollow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProfFollow 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.co

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

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

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

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

Philosophical and comedic YouTube person Michael O'Neill Burns comes on GTAA for the first time and political science professor Matt McManus comes on for the billionth time (rough approximation) so they can discuss Marx and ideology. Before that, Ben and the crew break down some of the worst pro-war talking points wrt Iran. In the postgame, we continue our long march through Jordan Peterson vs. 20 Atheists.Watch Michael's channel:https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelOBurnsFollow him on Twitter: @michaeloburnsFollow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProfFollow 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

Natasha Hakimi Zapata joins us to chat w/Ben about her important new book "Another World is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe." From Britain's NHS to Singapore's publicly-leased housing system to New Zealand's egalitarian pensions to Norway's family policies, her book documents the way that countries around the world have proven that social problems that seem intractable in America are in fact perfectly fucking tractable given the political will. Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument on the ongoing insanity in Los Angeles and how to think about the class politics of ICE raids and resistance to them. In the postgame for patrons, we continue to watch Jordan Peterson vs. atheists.Read Ben's article on the ICE raids:https://jacobin.com/2025/06/la-unions-immigration-huerta-trumpBuy Natasha's book:https://thenewpress.org/books/another-world-is-possible/Follow Natasha on Twitter: @natashakimizFollow 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

Bruno Leipold joins Ben Burgis to talk about his excellent book "Citizen Marx: Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx's Social and Political Thought." Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument responding to Jodi Dean on "neofeudalism." In the postgame for patrons, RM Brown joins Ben and the crew to break down some more of Jordan Peterson's bizarro debate with 20 atheists. And, oh yeah, scattered around all this there's some discussion of the spiraling insanity and authoritarianism going on outside our windows in Los Angeles.Read Ben's review of "Citizen Marx" and Jodi Dean's "Capital's Grave":https://unherd.com/2025/05/the-21st-century-belongs-to-marx/?us=1Read Dean's response to Ben:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/analogies-and-tendencies-a-response-to-ben-burgisRead Ben's response to Dean:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/service-workers-aren-t-servants-a-response-to-jodi-deanOrder "Citizen Marx":https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691205236/citizen-marxFollow Bruno on Twitter: @BrunoLeipoldFollow 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.com