American Prestige

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In a break from the (overtly) political, Derek and Danny are joined by The Ringer’s Alan Siegel to talk about his new book Stupid TV: Be More Funny, a cultural history of The Simpsons and how it changed American comedy. They discuss how a bunch of Harvard Lampoon alumni turned the show into art, the role of Fox and Rupert Murdoch in promoting a show that mocked them both, how Bart Simpson once terrified America’s parents (and George H.W. Bush), the show’s postmodern worldview, and the moment The Simpsons went from anti-establishment to establishment.

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Derek speaks with Sami Al-Arian, Public Affairs Professor and Director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Istanbul Zaim University, about the forthcoming Gaza talks and the prospects for a ceasefire.

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Derek welcomes back to the show Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation and professor at Johns Hopkins, to talk through the slow demise of the Iran nuclear deal. They delve into Europe’s decision to trigger the UN “snapback” mechanism, factors that lead to this moment, from Trump’s withdrawal and Biden’s hesitation to Europe’s impatience and Iran’s deepening ties with Russia and China, the effects of sanctions being imposed without diplomacy, and why the JCPOA’s collapse is a symptom of a wider breakdown in the international order.

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Danny and Derek update everyone on what we know about the Gaza ceasefire that Hamas just accepted and where things go from here. Then, for subscribers, they speak with Mohammad Alsaafin, journalist at AJ+, and Dalia Hatuqa, a journalist specializing in Israeli/Palestinian affairs and regional Middle East issues, to unpack the finer details.

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Danny is back on American soil and joins Derek to bring you the news. This week: Trump circulates a Gaza ceasefire proposal with Hamas’ response pending (2:39), Israel issues its final evacuation notice for Gaza City (9:30), and the Samud flotilla is intercepted (11:04); Trump forces Netanyahu to apologize to Qatar while also giving Doha a NATO-style defense pledge (14:06); the UN reimposes sanctions on Iran (16:55); Trump pushes to retake Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan as the country briefly loses internet access (20:49); starvation worsens in Sudan’s al-Fashir (27:02); “Gen Z protests” erupt in Madagascar and Morocco (29:56); Trump declares Ukraine can retake all lost territory (33:13) while the EU eyes frozen Russian assets (37:04); Argentina’s Milei seeks a U.S. bailout (39:51); Washington considers strikes inside Venezuela (42:51); and Pete Hegseth’s generals’ rally falls flat as Trump muses about using the military in U.S. cities (44:01).

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Danny welcomes to the show journalist and historian Garrett Graff, host of the podcast Long Shadow. They talk about the show’s latest season on the internet, tracing how its promise of democratization and liberation devolved into an engine of polarization and conspiracies. Topics include: Facebook’s cynical algorithmic choices, Watergate’s enduring influence on American political culture, the economic wreckage of deindustrialization and deregulation, the rise of Trumpism as a “burn it down” vote, and the coming AI disruption that threatens white-collar work.

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Danny and Derek talk with writer Ross Barkan about his new essay collection Fascism or Genocide. They get into the “uncommitted” revolt during the 2024 primary and what that says about the Democratic Party’s failures, the decline of party elites from the Hillary coronation in 2016 to Biden’s cognitive decline, generational change inside the party like Zoran Mamdani, Democrats resistance to their own base, Trump’s enduring but limited appeal, the failures of “woke” politics to build lasting institutions, and the need for a future progressive president to wield executive power as ruthlessly as the right does.

Ross’s Substack Political Currents.

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No news today because Derek needs a break!

Danny and Derek speak with historian Gretchen Heefner about how the U.S. military (unsuccessfully) set out to conquer extreme environments and what those efforts reveal about empire, climate, and power. They discuss the U.S. Army training for a desert war that turned out to be mud, the Pentagon’s disastrous attempts to master Greenland’s ice, early blueprints for building on the moon, efforts to gather “environmental intelligence” across the globe, and other failed endeavors showing the limits of American military power.

Read Gretchen’s book Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How U.S. Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments now!

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Danny and Derek once again speak with historian Greg Grandin about his recent book, America, América: A New History of the New World. In this second part of the conversation, they follow US–Latin American relations from the American Civil War through the present. The discussion covers the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the contradictions of U.S. expansion cloaked in the language of human rights, the Mexican Revolution as a defining challenge to US power, Woodrow Wilson’s and FDR’s occupations and the Good Neighbor Policy, the Cold War, the neoliberal turn, the endurance of social movements in the face of American-backed violence, and why contemporary Latin American politics still display revolutionary undercurrents.

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Derek welcomes back Gabriel Hetland, associate professor at the University at Albany, and Alex Aviña, associate professor at Arizona State University, to talk about America’s latest moves against Venezuela. They discuss the long US campaign to topple Nicolás Maduro, Washington’s resurrection of the “narco-terrorism” label, the oil politics behind US incoherence in the region, Maduro’s domestic maneuvering, and how Trump’s recent assertions of dominance risk sparking a wider regional crisis.

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