Next Comes What

Demanding a perfect victim to justify outrage when law enforcement kills someone is a trap we don't have to step into. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/the-innocence-trap Watch YouTube: https://youtu.be/-z3OVVkJBXM TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews This week, Andrea Pitzer considers four recent killings by law enforcement officers responsible for apprehending or detaining immigrants. She goes through the huge outpouring of sympathy after the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, and notes the public tributes to them nationwide. The New Year's Eve killing of Keith Porter Jr., a Black man, drew outrage in Los Angeles, but did not get as much attention across the country for reasons that Andrea ponders. She then considers the ways the deaths of those seen as "good people" can galvanize Americans against state violence, but also run the risk of stepping into a trap. The case of the death at Camp East Montana in Texas of Geraldo Lunas Campos, who had served sentences for criminal conduct in the past, including sexual contact with a minor, is more uncomfortable to consider. But Andrea argues that his offenses don't justify the building of a vast system of concentration camps, his being swept into them years after serving his time, or his being killed by guards in detention. And she warns that he is just as much of a canary in a coal mine for the risks faced by all Americans, documented or not, if we allow agents of the government to execute people with impunity. The longterm law enforcement violence that has been cheered on from both sides of the aisle has set the stage for where we are at now, and is an issue we will have to address as a country before we can truly be safe from the nightmare that ICE and Border Patrol are inflicting on the country today. The episode closes with what you can do to deal with this government violence and immigrant detention operations that are still taking place nationwide.

The correct response to Dachau was not better training for the guards. We can end the current nightmare. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/into-the-abyss Watch this episode YouTube: https://youtu.be/L49CCANEbVI TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews This week's episode discusses how societies come to concentration camps, and the ways ICE is helping the US to solidify into a concentration-camp regime. Andrea Pitzer discusses the rapidly rising numbers of those detained in immigration detention--some 66,000 at the end of 2025--with the agency's already stated eventual goal of arresting millions. She looks at the kidnappings, deliberate blindings, the murders of detainees in Texas and of random people out on the streets, and the general terror currently unleashed on cities led by politicians opposed to Trump. Andrea explains how concentration camps aid the rise of police states, and the ways terror becomes entrenched into bureaucracy. We are already deep in that process, and this year is critical. We must stop the calcification of the detention-camp system before we lose the ability to fight back. The US is currently holding more than three times as many people in immigration detention as the Nazis held in their concentration camp system in the spring of 1939, more than six years into the Third Reich. This situation has come to pass, Andrea argues, because of long-standing deep weaknesses in our system that have enforced second-class citizenship for millions at each stage of American history, allowing politicians to manipulate public fears for their own gain. But we also have a heritage of extraordinary resistance from everyday people, and Andrea outlines ways that everyone can help shut down the authoritarianism that is already here and getting worse.

The US government is attacking its own people (and others), but you don't have to spend your life feeling helpless or marinating in fear and fury. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/what-just-happened-7ad4 Watch this episode YouTube: https://youtu.be/mSClVKYVFlU TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews/video/7596153371589987598?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc This week's episode covers the gravity of the moment in the US, the curse of glib centrist pundits, and how to come together in useful ways to fight the abuses the federal government is inflicting on civilians daily. Andrea Pitzer considers recent violence, particularly the murder of Renee Good, and looks at the ways we absorb current events and how we talk to one another and why they matter. Referencing the tendency to snipe at others who have similar views, Andrea addresses that the upside is that we do want to connect and change the current landscape. But the downside is that we often just go online to tear into or demotivate one other. Meanwhile, many pundits exist in some other universe entirely, where nothing changes or nothing matters. Dissecting a clip of David Brooks on the PBS NewsHour, Andrea outlines how his comparison of the conflict between ICE and unarmed civilians to an Ivy League football game reveals centrist pundit preoccupations and uselessness. They want to preserve a status quo in which there are two morally equivalent sides, while they get to referee. Yet the work of demonstrators and the brave people standing up to ICE across the country (especially in Minneapolis right now) are making a difference. US public opinion on ICE is shifting quickly and dramatically, which will help motivate politicians who haven't yet found a voice to protect the American people in the short run—and in the long run offers an opening to shatter the agencies that are methodically brutalizing the country. Andrea closes with an idea of how we might bring our voices together more powerfully going forward.

This discussion launches into the implications of the recent U.S. actions in Venezuela, posing it as part of a larger national issue. It explores how oil interests and historical U.S. intervention shape current policies under Trump. Andrea highlights the dangers of a media landscape that enables authoritarianism and emphasizes voting alone won't undo systemic problems. The podcast also calls for reimagining governance and implementing evidence-based policies to restore public trust and counter billionaire influence.

The tactics Trump allies are using to gin up hate against trans people reveal how propaganda works and why it's so dangerous. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/you-re-soaking-in-it TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews In this week's episode, In this last episode for 2025, Andrea Pitzer reviews recent actions by the US and state governments targeting trans women and trans youth, showing how propaganda takes root and becomes effective over time. She considers the recent announcement by RFK Jr., the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the government's direct targeting of medical care for trans kids. Bizarre bathroom measures taken in Texas also get a mention, and show how politicians use these measures to garner political power for themselves. Turning to the UK, Andrea explores how quickly propaganda can shift a country's baseline acceptance for rights of minority groups when staff at key news outlets actively embrace exclusion. Considering how the recent shift in the US toward transphobia is being generated--especially the wave of anti-trans legislation--Andrea discusses evangelical Christianity's strong tradition of policing gender roles. From women's rights to the acceptance of gays and lesbians in the US, she shows how the expansion of rights is being strategically undone today. Rep. Sarah McBride's informal speech on the Capitol states last week about being trans, as well as her prior public statements, offer useful ways to think about sidestepping the kind of back-and-forth that's unlikely to be productive in addressing transphobia. Andrea considers the value and shortcomings of shitposting in offering solidarity and changing hearts and minds. She closes with a look on how to find the most effective means to help close to home, where propaganda is weakest and easiest to undo.

Why the Trump administration (and a lot of other people) are trying to kill journalism, and what we can do to stop them. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/shredding-public-knowledge Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/s768y0SrCp8 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews In this week's episode, Andrea Pitzer looks at a new report on journalism from the Roosevelt Institute that reveals how corporate interests have prioritized power and profit, shattering news organizations and journalism itself. She goes further than the report to suggest that the current attack is not just on journalism but all public institutions in the US, from universities to public schools, hospitals, and the very idea of independent knowledge. This suppression of the right to know facts and establish reality is a hallmark of authoritarians, and Andrea outlines a few past examples from around the world. Journalism in the US has faced creeping destruction for decades, but now it's all accelerating with devastating speed, not only on the corporate side, but as a direct result of White House actions: through personal attacks on journalists, the recent White House "media bias" project, the stripping of credentials from any real Pentagon Press Corps, and more. The Roosevelt Institute report outlines how public-interest obligations have been ignored, and media institutions have been made vulnerable to capture in ways that leave them unable to withstand authoritarian pressure. Andrea looks at those reporters and outlets who are still fighting the good fight, and closes with what you can do to help. Get the full report: https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/political-economy-of-us-media-system/

None of us know what exactly will end Trump's rule. But we can keep expanding the possibilities. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/this-may-be-the-last-time Watch: https://youtu.be/TOrj4Yfp9JY TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews Our episode this week is a deep dive into the variety of ways the president's current authoritarian overreach is meeting blowback. Andrea Pitzer covers developments from recent days, including a Washington Post report about the deliberate execution of two shipwreck survivors in September after the U.S. military destroyed their boat at sea. She notes that Trump policies have already brought death to hundreds of thousands of civilians around the globe, but these two casualties seem to be particularly unsettling to a number of officials, as well as elected officials. Walking through many other recent ways that Trump's allies have refused to go along with his attempts to maintain or even expand his powers, Andrea speedruns multiple Senate votes aimed at upending Trump's tariffs, a state politician rejecting the call for gerrymandering, the blue wave in last months' off-year elections, the defeat of his attempt to keep the House from voting to release the Epstein files, and more. She continues by singling out other roadblocks, from CEO refusal to fund Trump's ballroom and the endless parade of judges attempting to hold the president to the rule of law, in some ways that appear to be sticking. Going through examples from history in Kenya, Argentina, and right here in the US, Andrea finishes by talking about how no one knows the moment when a demagogue's movement will collapse, and suggests some ways for us to speed up the process along through local actions on the ground.

Trump's denigration of women is part of the authoritarian playbook. Here's how to stop it. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/quiet-piggy Watch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4s0_Cx5rYM TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews Our episode this week looks at Donald Trump saying "quiet, Piggy" to a reporter aboard Air Force One and the larger context of what the president is doing. Andrea Pitzer looks at Trump's long history with denigrating women, from journalists who ask him hard questions to his ex-wife Ivana, who at one point asserted in a sworn deposition that he had raped her. Andrea explores how Trump's behavior with women represents more than just his own perverse attitudes; it's a recognizable element of authoritarianism. And the pattern of how people in power are currently speaking about and treating women is a political bid to roll back the clock on half a century of progress for women, from Title IX to abortion and job security. Looking at everything from tradwives to attacks on trans women, Andrea sketches out how the larger wave of those in charge trying to force women into specific roles and keep them there is a naked bid for power—one we should resist. The episode ends with a list of ways to support women in the workplace and in daily life, whether it's speaking up when they're denigrated or standing up for abortion rights, access to child care, and basic dignity. 00:00 Trump's Piggy-ness 00:40 Trump's Disrespect Towards Female Reporters 01:16 Trump's History of Misogynistic Remarks 07:36 Historical Context of Misogyny in Authoritarianism 11:10 Modern Impacts of Trump's Rhetoric and Policy 24:28 We Can Do Better

What if you threw a party to transform the country—or at least your little corner of it—and everybody came? Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/of-by-and-for-the-people TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews This week's "Next Comes What" is a snapshot of a city responding to the havoc of the second Trump administration, and follows the drafting of a candidate for Congress who aims to flip the tables. Andrea Pitzer visited Roanoke for the fourth time in the last year, having been intermittently involved in a group of do-gooders who gathered to support the vulnerable groups Trump had specifically targeted in the runup to the 2024 elections. Later, as the administration and its allies took aim at federal workers, farmers, Medicaid, and more, the group realized everyone was at risk. Their movement grew from meetings coordinating with existing nonprofits to protests and educational programs. This week, the core protest group formally drafted journalist and author Beth Macy to run for Congress, opposing a Republican incumbent who has stopped holding town halls for months at a time and refuses to meet with his unhappy constituents. Andrea traces the growth of the movement to reclaim Virginia's sixth district for the people, and attends Macy's coming-out party as she announces her candidacy. The episode closes with what it all means for the rest of us.

Standing up for trans folks isn't just the right thing to do—which it is!—it's also a way to win elections. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/stop-trans-scapegoating TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews Our episode this week focuses on how trans people have been demonized by politicians, and why that approach backfired in elections around the country last week. To find out why this kind of hate mongering seems to be a weapon of choice for the Republican Party right now, Andrea Pitzer looks at the many prejudices that transphobia taps into, going back to the Lavender Scare, McCarthyism, and beyond. She considers how part of the hostility to trans identities also rises out of women gaining civil rights, and Republican frustration that they can't slot everyone into the roles they prefer. Andrea looks at two trans lawmakers in office now, and suggests they (and trans people as a whole) shouldn't have to shoulder the burden of carrying the banner for trans rights. Recalling an interview with researcher Mike Jones from more than a decade ago, Andrea recounts how he found that heroes in policy narratives are even more effective than villains in getting people to come aboard. She analyzes the different ways that Abigail Spanberger and Zohran Mamdani addressed trans issues. Both campaign styles, she finds, offer strategies to effectively counter Republican demonization of vulnerable groups in America. Andrea ends by discussing ways that we can all embrace the hero narrative and show that we're strong enough to stand up for everyone's rights.