Dirty Moderate with Adam Epstein

Tina Nguyen is a national correspondent for Puck covering the world of Donald Trump and the American right for their The Best & The Brightest newsletter. Previously, Nguyen was a White House reporter for Politico, a staff reporter for Vanity Fair Hive, and an editor at Mediaite.

Her new book, The MAGA Diaries: My Surreal Adventures Inside the Right-Wing (And How I Got Out) is a dazzling memoir of Tina’s fast, furious, stressful and altogether bonkers time in the world of the Conservative movement long before it was destroyed and devoured by Trumpworld. 

Tina talks to Adam about her growing up in Boston as the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, how she ended up at the prestigious but right-wing Xanadu known as Claremont McKenna College, and her short but not insignificant stint at The Daily Caller working for its then founder, Tucker Carlson. They explore her front row seat to the rise of what is now the MAGA movement, and how she ended up on the other side of this dystopia, mostly unscathed, but nonetheless loaded with insight as how to best cover Trumpism with all the scrutiny it most definitely deserves.

Tina also gives Adam the tea on some of the more sobering realizations which came to her in her post-Conservative days about some of her previous colleagues and their not so nice agendas. Tina’s story, which is indeed essential reading , is also a must listen for Dirty Moderates everywhere. 

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Philip K. Howard is a lawyer, author and chair of Common Good (www.commongood.org), a nonpartisan organization aimed at replacing red tape with human responsibility and agency. 

In his discussion with Adam, Philip discusses his latest book “Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society,” which argues that the post 1960’s legal framework which has guided government policy for 60 years has been a failure. Philip persuasively argues that humans have been disempowered and common sense has been thrown out the window. Inertia and powerlessness have overtaken our politics because so called ‘good government’ has come to be synonymous with red tape and inefficiency. Philip calls this stasis a “disease consuming the American spirit,” and that “Modern law fails because it is dehumanizing, and, however hard this may prove to be, it must be replaced by a framework that empowers everyday freedom.”

As engaging and incisive a discussion as we’ve had on this podcast, Adam and Philip’s dialogue is essential food for thought. Have a listen!

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James Kirchick is a columnist for Tablet magazine, a writer at large for Air Mail, and author of the instant New York Times bestseller, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington.  Jamie( as he is known,) sits down with Adam and details why he wrote “Secret City,” discusses his longtime interest in Cold War history and assesses the intersection of anti-Communist and anti-gay hysteria and the toll it took on so many gay people in government during the immediate years following World War II and beyond. Jamie also is a widely published journalist and historian, and he has reported from over 40 countries, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Atlantic. In their wide-ranging conversation, Adam and Jamie also analyze the current state of American politics , the dangers of Trumpism and the menacing illiberalism which has metastasized on the left. 

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As the host of the podcast History of the Land of Israel, and his own YouTube show, Israel Explained, Shaiel Ben-Ephraim spends his time thinking about Israel, assessing Israel’s long term goals and strategies and nuancing a discussion about Israel and the Palestinians which blessedly sheds more light than heat.

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 At once passionate and eloquent, Kaivan Shroff may just be the Democratic Party’s most effective communicator. A onetime digital strategist for Hillary Clinton, Kaivan is now the Press Secretary for Dream for America, a Gen-Z movement for freedom, democracy, & progressive government. 

As a regular pundit and commentator, Kaivan regularly and forcefully makes the case for Biden’s re-election. Kaivan sits down with Adam and they engage in a spirited conversation about all things Democratic, political and of course, democracy.

Follow Kaivan on Twitter 

Learn more about Dream for America 

Listen to Adam’s interview with Dream for America founder William He here

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Before we all settle in to watch Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, check out Adam’s recent discussion about immigration with the second best blonde of the day, his Executive Producer, Dawn Sorokin in this special edition of Stay Dirty, Stay Moderate   

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With the 2024 election less than a year away, Kyle Kondick, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ nonpartisan election forecasting newsletter joins the podcast to look at our electoral landscape—both presidential and congressional—from 30,000 feet. Have a listen as Kyle and Adam discuss Biden’s vulnerabilities as an incumbent, the precarious senate map for Democrats and whether or not the youth vote can really tip the scales next year at the ballot box. 

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A Libertarian and a Dirty Moderate have drinks After Dark

KOA Colorado Talk Show Host and longtime friend of Dirty Moderate , Ross Kaminsky returns to the podcast for a special, boozy episode. Swiveling bourbon as they shoot the shit about the shitshow that is today’s politics, Ross joins Adam for a sprawling convo about Trump v Biden, Trump’s many legal challenges, and the state of our perilous world, especially since the recent killing of 3 American soldiers by an Iranian backed terrorist proxy. As always, Ross persuasively makes the case for a libertarian America and he and Adam toast to the preservation of the American experiment.

Explore some of the things mentioned in the episode and more at: www.dirtymoderate.com

Listen to Ross on KOA and give his podcast a listen here:

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When you finish listening to Joe on Dirty Moderate, head over to his amazing podcast White Flag and give him a Follow on X/Twitter @walshfreedom

We are covering the election through to the end, folks, so subscribe, follow, chime in and for goodness sake, please be registered to VOTE!

Stay dirty stay moderate, and stay safe. www.dirtymoderate.com @dirty_moderate

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When it comes to profiles in courage, few people fit the description more aptly than former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who also happens to be a quintessential Dirty Moderate!  

His new book, “Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty In Our Divided Country,” charts Kinzinger’s journey from a 20 year old member of the County Board to his service in the Air Force in Afghanistan and Iraq, to his election to Congress in 2010 as a moderate conservative from Bloomington, Illinois and on through the work he did  on the January 6th Committee that alienated him from the party he once loved.  

The two Adam's make a simpatico team of democracy warriors, as this lively and important episode reveals. They discuss the future of the American experiment, what a dangerous loser Trump is, and the political future of Kinzinger himself. 

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