Pod Damn America

We catch up on the latest Trump follies in American empire: the 2019 North Korea revelations and Department of War name change. Then Financial Times writer David Bradley Isenberg joins the show to talk about the looming economic crisis, the AI bubble and what the SEC is letting Wall Street do to 401ks. Find David's work: https://www.davidbradleyisenberg.com/ Paid Protest Queens 10/18: https://qedastoria.com/products/paid-protest?event=2025-09-18T21:00:00 Subscribe to our bonus feed for full episode catalog: Patreon.com/poddamnamerica

Anders tells Jake about the legacy of McCarthyism and the problems with its modern implications and Jake says "HUAC Tuah" a lot. full ep at PATREON.COM/PODDAMNAMERICA

Jarrod Shanahan returns to the show to talk about his new book, Every Fire Needs a Little Bit of Help. But first, we are owed dark money where is our dark money Every Fire Needs a Little Bit of Help collects a decade of reflections on recent US struggles—Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and the George Floyd Rebellion—alongside accounts of the rise of Trumpism, the alt-right, an apocalyptic shift in popular culture, to paint a dense and complex portrait of a decade of protracted social crisis. Jarrod Shanahan reports from the ground. On the streets in 2014, from the depths of the Rikers Island penal complex, inside the alt-right underground and the carnival of Trump rallies, and in the line of fire in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020, among other scenes that Shanahan accessed not as a credentialed observer but an active participant: prisoner, infiltrator, activist. The resulting essays outline the pitfalls and opportunities facing those seeking to reverse the suicidal course of capitalist society and build a liberated world. JARROD SHANAHAN jarrodshanahan.com MERCH poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com PATREON + DISCORD patreon.com/poddamnamerica

Marshall Macluhan, Dracula, and a children's TV show called Tomorrow's Pioneers. FULL EP AT PATREON.COM/PODDAMNAMERICA

Historian Andrew Hartman tells us about his fascinating new book "Marx in America" but first we talk about the Minneapolis DFL Party reneging its endorsement of Omar Fateh and Jake's ass getting frozen and continentally drifted over on "Ice Age 4" Twitter. Andrew's book: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo245100866.html Come to Laff Bloc: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/laff-bloc-comedy-against-ice-tickets-1583014321449?aff=oddtdtcreator Subscribe to our bonus feed at Patreon.com/poddamnamerica

We discuss what Gavin Newsom, Andrew Cuomo, and to a lesser extent, Eric Adams are up to on the internet. FULL EP AT patreon.com/poddamnamerica

BIG ASS SPOILER ALERT: Second half of this podcast is about the movie Weapons (2025), but first, a millennial saint? a zoomer's take on AI? Holy Moly ANDERS' MOVIE https://partiful.com/e/i1akP15eUFHnZZN9yTBY PAID PROTEST https://qedastoria.com/products/paid-protest?event=2025-08-21T19:30:00 LAFF BLOC https://www.eventbrite.com/e/laff-bloc-comedy-against-ice-tickets-1583014321449?aff=oddtdtcreator MERCH patreon.com/poddamnamerica PATREON + DISCORD patreon.com/poddamnamerica

We discuss Trump's authoritarian clamp down on Washington DC as well as Marc Maron, and wheelies.f FULL EP AT PATREON.COM/PODDAMNAMERICA

We talk with Jake Ephros and Joel Brooks who are both DSA backed candidates for Jersey City City Council. They tell us about their campaigns and give us an overview of NJ's fascinating political scene, a sometimes mobbed up, always motley band of characters including Jersey's own disgraced former Governor turned Mayoral candidate, Jim McGreevy. DONATE TO JAKE AND JOEL https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jakeandjoelforjc SIGN UP TO CANVASS https://joelforjc.com/volunteer https://www.jakeforjc.com/volunteer SUBSCRIBE TO OUR BONUS FEED Patreon.com/poddamnamerica

Let's talk about Michael Parenti's 1997 book Blackshirts and Reds FULL EP AT PATREON.COM/PODDAMNAMERICA