Centered From Reality

In this episode, Alex talks about the tragic collision at Reagan National Airport in DC. He argues that a network/system of failures led to this tragedy and it is clear that there isn’t one thing to point the blame on. However, Trump has blamed DEI and the Biden Administration; Alex thinks the right has its own form of DEI. Next, Alex gives some analysis surrounding the confirmation hearings of RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel. He hopes that one of these three will not be confirmed and gets into why each one of them has a uniquely bad qualifications. Finally, it looks like the Trump Administration has found a place to send the deported immigrants. Trump plans to use a holding facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to put up to 30,000 criminal migrants in until they can be sent to another country. It doesn’t take much creativity to think about how this “out of sight, out of mind” policy could turn into a legal black hole and an humanitarian crisis. 

In this episode, Alex talks about the chaos that has occurred in Washington D.C., and around the country, as the Trump Administration released a memo on Monday that temporarily froze all funding towards federal grants and other large programs. Since this memo was released, the Trump Administration has scaled many of these freezes back. However, Alex talks about the Project 2025 side of this and why he thinks that the chaos is the point. 

In this episode, Alex poses to his audience whether Donald Trump’s current administration is imposing a “Neo-Monroe Doctrine” on the Americas. Whether it is Trump’s spat with Colombia or the massive deportation campaign that has begun in the United States, it seems like Trump thinks he has an “international bully pulpit” that can be used to intimidate other countries while also using domestic issues to do so. 

In part two of his conversation with Martin Benes, Alex and Martin talk about why it is chilling that Trump has removed security protection for Anthony Fauci, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton. They talk about this is the worst time for Trump to send a message like this as he has pardoned violent criminals, shown militias that he has their backs, and has radicalized some in his movement against people like Fauci. 

In the first part of Alex’s conversation with Martin Benes, the two allow reality to take the driver’s seat as they talk about everything that has happened over the last week. They talk pardons, J6, hiring freezes in the government, performative deportation, foreign policy blunders, and some desires for people to realize this is bad. They also reflect on John Boehner smoking stooges with Barack Obama. 

In this episode, Alex gives a few quick updates. Trump has purged around 17 inspectors general in the federal government. They are seen as important, nonpartisan watchdogs. Also, Alex talks about how the Lab-Leak Theory is back in the news, after a CIA report has been released stating that it was the most likely cause for the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

In this episode, Alex laments that Roseanne Barr is featured in a rap song and can’t believe that Trump has only been president for a few days. Then he spends the podcast talking about how Marco Rubio has made some bold (and dangerous) policy decisions in the State Department, how Eric Adams has made an (unsurprising shift towards MAGA), and why it is chilling that Trump has removed security protection for Anthony Fauci, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton. 

In this episode, Alex tries his best to keep everyone updated on what is going on in the Trump 2.0 Administration. Trump has sent troops to the border, practically threatened disloyal government workers, reassigned nonpartisan national security experts to non related departments, and has rescinded the ability of thousands of approved refugees to come to the country. At the same time, Israel is involved in a new conflict in the West Bank as Marco Rubio is heading to Panama after Trump’s conspiracies over control of the Panama Canal. Alex also talks about the Stargate Project. The Trump Administration is looking to give over $100 billion to OpenAI and Oracle to help build data facilities for AI. These events come as Trump is looking to deregulate the AI field and compete with China. 

In this episode, after taking a week off of podcasting, Alex tries to make sense of what has happened over the last 24 hours. Since the second inauguration of Donald Trump, he has renamed the Gulf of Mexico, pardoned over 1500 J6 insurrectionists, declared an emergency at the Southern Border, frozen hiring in the federal government, and so much more. Alex argues that the country has changed since 2017, as the Overton Window has surged rightwards. He thinks that we are no longer the frog in boiling water, the frog is dead, it has been cooked, and the water has mostly evaporated. 

In this episode, Alex talks about loneliness and how it can radicalize our politics. Then he talks about some of the crazy theories around the LA fires that try to blame everything from DEI hires to our involvement in Ukraine. Alex thinks that these fires are going to get worse and finger pointing will get in the way of finding public policy solutions. Later, Alex talks about how Elon Musk has headed to Europe to try to put pressure on European governments. After he helped Trump get elected, it seems like he wants to find the same success in Europe. Finally, Alex reacts to an interview Biden did with USA Today and is enraged that he still thinks he could have won the election. He also talks about how Biden failed to realize the moment, failed to recognize that the two parties were facing a political realignment, and that he was a late regime president right before a big change.