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Trump's war on Iran has led to Iran closing the Strait of Homuz, and hence probably the worst single energy shock since oil became a bulk commodity. There is no end in sight. We discuss why it was such a catastrophically stupid decision, what it reveals about Trump's decaying brain, how Iran has gained the upper hand, and more. We also discuss the elections in Hungary and Mexico's forthcoming single payer healthcare system. 

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Today we have Rep. Rick Krajewski, who represents the 188th District--entirely contained within West Philadelphia--in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A DSA member and longtime organizer, Rick primaried the longtime incumbent in 2020, and has spent the last several years learning the political ropes. We discuss the state of play in Harrisburg, what he has learned and gotten done in office, the prospects of Democrats takin...

Zohran Mamdani is now arguably the most politically successful socialist in American history, having won the mayoralty of New York City. So we've got longtime socialist organizer and DSA member David Duhalde back on the podcast to discuss his recent review of Organize or Burn: How New York Socialists Fight for Climate Survival, by Fabian Holt, as well as the overall state of DSA nationally under the second Trump regime.

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Today we're zooming out and taking a broader look at the Jeffrey Epstein phenomenon. How did an evidently barely-literate freak end up as one of the linchpins of the global oligarchic elite? It's a highly telling indication of the rot in post-Cold War democracies, above all the United States.

Also, we are changing the way our Patreon tiers work. The Prospect is getting rid of digital memberships and subscriptions, so our $10 Leften...

Today we are unlocking our episode on the update on the situation in Minneapolis. Note that most of the episode was recorded before Alex Pretti was martyred by CBP thugs, but Ryan provides a brief update on that at the start. This might just be seen as the turn of the tide.

Then we move on to discuss Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's remarkable speech and Davos, what it revealed about the previous "rules-based international ord...

The dumbest people in politics are always going on about how we need more "debate" between various factions. But Stanford political scientist James Fishkin has a much more sophisticated argument that actual deliberation--not cable news morons shouting at each other--has a vital role to play in democratic functioning, and has actually carried out several experiments to that effect. He joins us to talk about his book Can Deliberation...

Today we've got Rutgers labor historian Eric Blanc back on to discuss his recent article on the sewer socialists of Milwaukee. Back in the early 20th century, Wisconsin was the epicenter of the most successful socialist movement in American history, with socialists running Milwaukee for nearly 50 years starting in 1910. How did they win, how did they build power, and what did they do with it? With Zohran Mamdani poised to take char...

Today we have Dr. Lucian Staiano-Daniels on to talk about his book The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War. It is something of an obscure conflict these days, but he explains why understanding it matters today, and in particular how the era is quite similar to 2025 in many ways—we also are experiencing a severely destabilizing revolution in information technology (social media now,...

Today we have economics professor Marshall Steinbaum on to talk about the potential fall of Larry Summers due to his association with Jeffrey Epstein, and what it reveals about the culture of the economics profession and policymaking in the Democratic Party.

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Here are the articles mentioned in the discussion:

1. Claudia Sahm’s initial post: “Economics is a Disgrace.”

2. Claudia’s account of t...