

Left Anchor
Ryan Cooper & Alexi the Greek
Philosophy, politics, and the left.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 21, 2025 • 10min
The Biggest Asshole in History PREVIEW
Today we are discussing the book Assholes: A Theory, by Aaron James. It turns out there are important distinctions between the asshole, the douchebag, the jerk, and the psychopath, and they are highly relevant to the men (they are usually men) running the American government.
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Feb 13, 2025 • 60min
The Tech Oligarch Consent Machine - 341
This time we've got Eoin Higgins on to talk about his book Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. He uses Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi as case studies in how shifting monetary incentives created by tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen combined with certain personal pathologies turned formerly respected progressive journalists into right-wing blowhards.
Coincidentally, Ryan also made videos on both Greenwald and Taibbi, which make for a nice pairing.

Feb 4, 2025 • 32min
The Elon Musk Coup - 340 PREVIEW
This time we are taking a step back to consider just what is going on with shadow president Musk and his gang of thugs seizing control of core government functions. It's important, we feel, to foreground the grave political implications of what is happening.
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Jan 25, 2025 • 1h 4min
Trump's First Days - 339
Today we're bringing back Professor Harvey Kaye to talk about Trump's inaugural address and some of his first executive orders.
Check out the Prospect's coverage of Trump's actions: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4.

Jan 18, 2025 • 6min
Public vs. Private Virtue - 338 PREVIEW
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Jan 10, 2025 • 1h 4min
The Trump Tsunami Approacheth - 337
Alexi is off, so David Dayen joins Ryan to discuss the events over the holiday. What are Republicans going to do? Is anyone driving the GOP train--maybe Elon Musk? And what in God's name is Trump going on about with conquering Greenland, Canada, and Panama? We live in hell.

Jan 4, 2025 • 1h 5min
The Oligarch Class - 324 UNLOCKED
Today economics professor Rob Larson comes on to discuss his new book Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More. We discuss how the ultra-rich got their money, what they do with it, why it's a problem, and what to do about it. Enjoy!

Dec 24, 2024 • 8min
National Lampoon's Left Anchor Holiday Special - 336 PREVIEW
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Dec 20, 2024 • 1h 5min
Bidenomics Retrospective - 335
What worked and what didn't about the Biden administration's program, and why didn't it pay off politically? We discuss, and at the end we give a brief update on what's going on in Syria.
Read President Biden’s defense of his record here.

Dec 9, 2024 • 8min
Chaos on the March - 334 PREVIEW
Today we are talking the United Healthcare CEO assassination, the attempted coup in Korea, and the revolution in Syria. Subscribe now to listen to the whole thing!