Unf*cking The Republic

Hey Unf*ckers. We have a new “inter-episode” format - Unf*cking Quickies - meant to parachute into more current events by looking at three different, but related things happening in the world right now. In this inaugural Quickie we take a topical look at three members of the Democratic Party that are having very different experiences of late: embattled New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, failed O.M.B. appointee Neera Tanden, and Senator I’m-so-fucking-important Joe Manchin. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” These are the nine words Ronald Reagan called “terrifying.” Just another brick in the wall of disdain and deflection politicians use to get elected to the government they hate so much. Cascading structural failures in the system appears to give credence to claims of government incompetence but how much of it is actually by design? This week we unfuck the corporate attack on the system and break down the inherent evils of privatization and deregulation, the dreaded sisters of oligarchy. Show Notes: The Lewis Powell Memo: A Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy Capitalizing on Mass Incarceration: U.S. Growth in Private Prisons From Pittsburgh to Flint, the Dire Consequences of Giving Private Companies Responsibility for Ailing Public Water Systems Towns sell their public water systems — and come to regret it -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Congress is a quirky place. The rules are arcane. The people are diverse. The power struggle is real. We take a brief, and sometimes ridiculous journey through history to examine the beating heart of our democracy to find out whether or not Congress has always been this fucked up. We call out some of the best and worst actors in the 117th Congress, why it’s impossible to get anything done these days and look back at some of the biggest assholes that ruined it for everyone else. (Hint: Newt Gingrich has a starring role.) We finish with the biggest hurdles we face in straightening out this whole mess and the one priority that supersedes all else. Show Notes: The text of H.R. 1: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1/text NYT Kinzinger Profile: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/us/politics/adam-kinzinger-republicans-trump.html Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy by Adam Jentleson: https://bookshop.org/a/23377/9781631497773 The Man Who Broke Politics Story by McKay Coppins: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/ NYT Op-Ed. Former Congressman Steve Israel: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/09/opinion/steve-israel-confessions-of-a-congressman.html -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we covered in our insurrection episode, it’s actually quite difficult to take down an Empire, particularly one as fortified as the United States. But that hasn’t stopped one family from trying. If you haven’t met them yet, it’s our pleasure to introduce you to the Mercer family. The patriarch Robert is a reclusive billionaire—we think—who uses his fortune to fund fun initiatives like, rolling back Civil Rights legislation, climate change denial and alt-right white supremacist groups. His willing co-conspirator is his middle child, Rebekah, who is the subject of this episode and recipient of our love letter. Join us as we unfuck the Mercer fortune and discuss chaos is their chief desire. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The minute the election was called, the GOP went into high gear reshaping its image for the next cycle. Because nostalgia is its single greatest weapon, they’ll be digging into the archives to revise history once again. Nixon’s still forever off the table. George W. Bush will have Iraq hanging over him for decades to come. Bush Sr. was so forgettable he couldn’t win a second term. So that leaves the Gipper. Mark my words, the beatification of Ronald Reagan is already underway so it’s time to brush up on Dutch and remember his most fucked accomplishments, including one caper so diabolical we’re still living with it today.  -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is he gone yet? I mean really gone? Okay. Wow. So that happened. Holy shit, what a four years. This episode of Unf*cking The Republic briefly encapsulates the utter shit show that was the Trump administration while pointing out that we ultimately dodged a massive bullet precisely because it was a shit show. But while Trump’s stupidity is ultimately what saved the republic, he left behind a playbook for a more capable authoritarian to dismantle our democracy. Lastly, we’ll review the conditions necessary for a proper collapse and the one surprising factor that is ironically holding it all together.   -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of UNFTR we unfuck the theory of “objectivism,” a movement inspired by novelist Ayn Rand in the 1950s and talk about how it still influences our politics today. We’ll uncover how this little Russian chain smoking gnome garnered a massive American following from her crappy novels and inspired generations of politicians who see themselves as the embodiment of John Galt, the protagonist of her most famous novel Atlas Shrugged. Who IS John Galt? Answer: Who gives a shit? -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prior to the 20th Century evangelical Christians were seen as the babbling mystics and frauds that they were. Then something happened in the 1920s to legitimize these maniacs. Since then, conservative Christians have been inserting their throbbing dogma into America’s policy womb and transforming the nation. In this episode we trace the journey of the Christian Fundamentalist movement from its origins through to today where millions of Americans believe that a thrice divorced cheater who shits on a gold toilet is somehow a modern day savior in the image of Jesus Christ. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The left claims America is proof that Capitalism is destroying the working class and the planet. The right claims America is proof that Capitalism is the most successful economic model in history. How much do we really understand about Capitalism? In this episode we unfuck Adam Smith’s chief contribution to the world and show how both sides are wrong because America is far from a capitalist economy. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week in Unf*cking the Republic we dive into U.S. interventions in the post-Vietnam War era. Starting with our recent meddling in Bolivia we work our way through the past few decades to review how the United States has either directly invaded, bombed, helped overthrow the governments of Laos, Cambodia, Lebanon, Syria, Grenada, Haiti, Cuba, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Iran, Guatemala, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Venezuela, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia and Yemen. Don’t worry, it’s just our way of spreading democracy and showing how much we love you. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by adding this direct RSS link into your podcast app. Full instructions here. Unf*cking the Republic is produced and engineered by Manny Faces Media, and written, hosted and distributed by Nunya Fuckin’ Bidness. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.