Neon Liberalism cover image

Neon Liberalism

Latest episodes

undefined
Jun 29, 2025 • 60min

A New Nuclear Age

Since the end of the Cold War, it's been easy to see nuclear competition as a thing of the past. As the dust settles over Iran—as Russia rattles the nuclear saber in Ukraine—it's increasingly clear that the question of nuclear weapons has been re-opened. Join Samantha and guest Matthew Downhour as they talk the fundamentals of nuclear strategy, how "red lines" are not natural but socially constructed—and how Trump's reckless actions have degraded the social order that has kept the world from nuclear war since 1949.
undefined
Jun 24, 2025 • 1h 5min

The Inner Philosophy of the Far Right

The reactionary right is in ascendance in the Trump administration. It's easy to dismiss them as a cabal of incoherent fools scrambling for Trump's ear. But there is a deeper philosophy animating their political project: one based on a longing for an imagined aristocratic past, a craving for hierarchy and certainty, and simultaneously a deeply ambivalent relation to modernity. Samantha is joined by political theorist Professor Matt McManus for a discussion of his recent essay, "The Far Right Canon."https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-far-right-canon/#/portal/signup
undefined
Jun 13, 2025 • 1h 18min

Rethinking International Trade

Are Trump's tariffs a personal madness, or a response to deeper dysfunctions in the world trade system? Yes. Join Samantha and guest Steven Randy Waldman as we talk about why global trade has become so imbalanced, what kinds of dysfunctions that creates, and why a tax on the flow of capital rather than goods is a policy to work towards. The takeaway: it's still John Maynard Keynes' world, we're just living in it. As promised, the book whose name Samantha blanked on in the episode: Robert Allen's *Global Economic History* https://www.amazon.com/Global-Economic-History-Short-Introduction/dp/0199596654
undefined
Jun 8, 2025 • 1h 1min

Immigration and Terror

Amidst escalating ICE raids, lawless deportations, and the horror of CECOT, immigration has moved to the center of American politics. Join Samantha and guest Adam Gurri, editor-in-chief of Liberal Currents, as we talk about the ground truth: policing immigrants requires restricting the freedoms of citizens. Authoritarianism for the out-group inevitably trends towards authoritarianism for the in-group. Chandran Kukathas was right all along.Read Adam's essay on the subject here: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-totalitarian-logic-of-immigration-controls/
undefined
Jun 2, 2025 • 1h 10min

Has Feminism Run Out of Steam?

Join Samantha and guest Talia Bhatt as they discuss the state of feminism under Trump II, the enduring relevance of radical feminist ideas, and the uses and abuses of intersectionality in contemporary leftist thought.
undefined
May 26, 2025 • 1h 8min

How to Fix Democracy

Join Samantha and guest Kevin J. Elliott as we talk about the history of democracy as a form of government, why it has no longer has any competitors, and how the structure of our democracy has nevertheless become a site of political contestation. Elliott also swings for the fences and offers some deep reforms we need to restore fairness and competition to our system—a fascinating conversation!
undefined
May 18, 2025 • 1h 3min

Against Hyperlocalism

Join Samantha and guest Ned Resnikoff as they discuss why Americans are so cynical about politics—and how a movement that began with the goal of returning control to the people has spiraled into the opposite outcome. Along the way they talk Robert Moses, "citizen voice" politics, how free markets and functional governments support each other—and why we have neither of them in America today.
undefined
May 4, 2025 • 1h 11min

Does the Narrative Matter?

Join Samantha and guest Will Stancil as they talk the vexed question of whether politics is driven by merely material conditions, ask why tyrants are obsessed with their own popularity, and assess why the Democratic budget standoff fizzled while Chris Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador broke through—and shifted public opinion on Trump's immigration policies.Link to Stancil's essay, referenced in the podcast: https://www.offmessage.net/p/kilmar-abrego-garcia-public-opinion
undefined
Apr 27, 2025 • 1h 2min

The Border Crisis Is an Everything Crisis

Join Samantha and guest Professor Anna Law as they talk about the exploding constitutional crisis over Donald Trump's deportation program, exemplified by the removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Along the way they address the importance of due process, the Fugitive Slave Crisis and the origins of birthright citizenship, and the meaning of American citizenship in the twenty-first century.References:"The Present Crisis and the End of the Long '90s": https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-present-crisis-and-the-end-of-the-long-90s/Professor Law's website: https://www.annaolaw.com/Corrigendum: Professor Law adds, "I made a factual error. The 100 mile zone is only along the nation’s land borders not the airports. BUT, as this CNN article states, 'Two-thirds of the US lives inside this so-called 100-mile border zone, which includes several entire states, including Florida, Michigan, Maine and Hawaii, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.'" https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/us/border-zone-immigration-checks/index.html
undefined
Apr 19, 2025 • 1h 3min

The Porn Brain of the New Right

Content warning: rape, pedophilia, and historical atrocities. Join Samantha and guest Alan Elrod as they talk about the role of rape in conservative ideology, biopolitics as the Rosetta Stone of authoritarian reaction, and the pornographic fantasies that pervade the new right. Alan is the president and CEO of the Pulaski Institution, as well as a contributing editor at Liberal Currents.Links to essays on the subject from Alan and Samantha:https://www.liberalcurrents.com/guys-win-andrew-tate-rape-politics-and-the-authoritarian-right/https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-new-gender-synthesis/

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app