American Prestige

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Derek speaks with Danny and Mike Brenes about Cold War liberalism, its shaping of the American empire, and more from their new co-edited volume. They talk about the meaning of “Cold War liberalism,” the book’s essays, the relationship between liberalism and mass democracy, emergency politics, the continuity between New Deal liberalism and Cold War liberalism, military Keynesianism, U.S. empire, neoconservatism, Joe Biden, and the persistence of Cold War liberal ideas in long after the end of the Cold War itself.

Buy the volume Cold War Liberalism: Power in a Time of Emergency and use discount code BESSNER26 

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Danny and Derek welcome back to the show Becca Lewis, researcher of right-wing politics in Silicon Valley and online, to talk about the politics of artificial intelligence and Silicon Valley. They discuss AI as a marketing term, large language models, automation and white-collar labor, Silicon Valley’s relationship to the military, Palantir and Peter Thiel, AI targeting, Gaza and apartheid technologies, tech elites’ right-wing politics, the AI bubble, and left organizing among tech workers.

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Danny and Derek will livestream from Route 3 as they take to the World Cup on foot. This week’s news: in Iran, Trump extends the ceasefire after talks fail (1:02), Iran reimposes its Strait of Hormuz blockade (6:05), the Islamic Republic’s leadership rejects unilateral concessions (9:11), and Persian Gulf mines and oil spills threaten commerce (13:13); the UAE seeks a currency swap after the Iran war’s economic shocks (16:28); Israel violates the Lebanon ceasefire amid extension talks (18:11) while the IDF punishes soldiers over crucifix desecration (21:00); Gaza’s reconstruction costs cause problems, plus governance delays (24:13); the U.S. offers to send Afghan refugees to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (26:33); Japan lifts its lethal arms export ban (28:59); the Sudanese army retakes Moja from the RSF (30:22); the TPLF reasserts control over the Tigray government (32:55); Ukraine reopens the Druzhba pipeline for an EU loan (34:51); CIA deaths expose the United States’ role in Mexico drug raids (37:55); and boat strike survivors allege mistreatment in U.S. custody (40:59).

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Danny and Derek welcome to the show Oren Ziv to talk about Israeli settlement expansion and political changes in the West Bank. They discuss the legal and political structure of Areas A, B, and C; the proliferation of settler outposts; displacement of Palestinian communities; state support for settlers; Bezalel Smotrich’s sovereignty plan; new settlement approvals; the weakening of the Palestinian Authority; and potential future scenarios for the territory.

Read Oren’s article in The Nation, “Erasing the Lines.”

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Danny welcomes back to the show historian ⁠Anton Jäger⁠ to talk about the decline of mass politics and the rise of hyperpolitics across Europe and the United States. They explore the collapse of parties and unions, the neoliberal turn of the 70s and 80s, the 2008 financial crisis and the decade of protest that followed, social media and political expression, the far right’s ascendance and liberalism’s failure, why Trumpism lacks sustainable organization, the Democrats’ inability to build a governing coalition, and whether new political institutions can come out of the current chaos.

Grab your copy of Anton’s book ⁠Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences⁠.

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Danny and Derek are considering attending the Met Gala. In this week’s news: Iran talks amble along despite U.S. forces building up in the region (1:55); the U.S. blockade restricts oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz (9:49); Lebanon and Israel declare a 10-day ceasefire (12:23); Hamas meets U.S. officials in Cairo to advance the talks over Gaza (19:37); Iraq’s parliament elects Nizar Ahmed as president (21:52); Sudan’s war enters its fourth year as Berlin pledges aid (25:21); Libya’s rival governments approve a joint national budget (27:20); Hungary’s opposition defeats Viktor Orbán in parliamentary elections (30:28); Britain suspends the Chagos handover after Trump objects (33:39); Peru’s election continues into a second day and heads to a runoff (36:39); Trump and J.D. Vance feud with Pope Leo over the Iran war (39:39), leading Italian PM Giorgia Meloni to distance herself from Trump (43:49); and the Trump administration prepares military plans for an operation in Cuba (46:17).

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To new listeners: welcome to the greatest bi-monthly crossover in podcasting. Danny, Derek, and Robert Wright of the ⁠⁠NonZero Newsletter⁠⁠⁠ are back with the most scorching hot of insights.

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⁠Part One Video ⁠

0:00 Teaser
1:02 Trump’s Middle East chaos continues
6:04 Is Iran more about America’s hegemony or Israel’s?
13:22 Who will win the Hormuz blockade duel?
23:11 Ukraine, China, and the drone wars
27:58 America’s “emergency” emergency
32:11 Is an Iran peace deal possible?
43:34 Overtime preview: The Anthropic Mythos scare

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Danny and Derek welcome to the show writer Paul Heideman to talk about the transformation of the Republican Party from the main party of business interests to a fragmented, personality-driven coalition. They discuss the historical relationship between Republicans and capital, the disorganization of American employers, the political economy of the 1970s crisis, Reagan-era fragmentation, Gingrich and fundraising, globalization and bipartisan neoliberalism in the 1990s, the Koch network and Tea Party, Republicanism after Romney, the conditions that enabled Trump’s rise, and much more.

Read Paul’s book Rogue Elephant: How Republicans Went from the Party of Business to the Party of Chaos.

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Danny and Derek talk about where the ceasefire stands and the U.S. blockade.

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Danny welcomes back to the show historian Daniel Immerwahr to talk about the political and ideological themes of Star Wars, particularly The Phantom Menace. They discuss George Lucas’s Vietnam War influences and anti-imperial framework; myth and generational conflict in the original trilogy; the rise of intellectual property and Silicon Valley ideology; the shift from rebellion to bureaucracy in The Phantom Menace; its depiction of trade, governance, and liberal institutional decay; the racialized and cultural representations in the prequels; the transformation of the Jedi into enforcers; technology and scientism; and how The Phantom Menace reflects the politics of the late 1990s “end of history” moment.

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