Jacobin columnist Luke Savage joins us to talk about Luke's article "Modern Liberalism Has Become a Defense of Hierarchy and Deference to Elites" and the incoherent 34-point lib manifesto in the New York Times Luke was responding to--Cass Sunstein's "Why I Am a Liberal."  Before that, host Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk Trump, immigration, Biden sleepwalking us into yet another war in the Middle East, and Ben's recent appearance on Woke Bros. Last but definitely not least, Ben subjects the crew to more of Bill Maher's Club Random podcast than anyone should be expected to endure in the postgame for patrons. We do it for you, dear viewers. We do it for you.

Check out Luke's book The Dead Center:

https://orbooks.com/catalog/the-dead-center/

Read his Jacobin article:

https://jacobin.com/2023/12/cass-sunstein-liberalism-theses

Read the Cass Sunsetin article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/20/opinion/cass-sunstein-why-liberal.html

Follow Luke on Twitter: @LukewSavage

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

We're baaaaack!

In the first GTAA episode of 2024, host Ben Burgis debates op-ed columnist Will Cooper, a liberal Democrat who nevertheless thinks that Ron DeSantis is more "competent" than Biden or Trump. Ben wrote a Jacobin article a while back responding to Will and arguing that this zany take is an extreme symptom of a much larger problem with mainstream technocratic liberalism. Caucus night in Iowa seemed like an excellent time to revisit the argument!

Before that, we talk about Ben's run-in with Red Scare host Dasha Nekrasova and a few other interesting developments that happened while we've been off the air. At the end of the main show, Damage magazine editor Benjamin Fong talks about his fascinating new limited-series podcast on the history of the CIO. And in the postgame for patrons, we have some fun with Alex Jones's appearance on the Jimmy Dore show.

Read Will's original op-ed ("A Democrat's Case for DeSantis"):

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/06/18/democrats-case-for-desantis/

Read Ben's response ("Why Are Liberals' Constantly Fixated on 'Competence' Instead of Politics?"):

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/06/18/democrats-case-for-desantis/

https://jacobin.com/2023/06/liberals-competence-democrats-ron-desantis-biden-trump-presidential-election-2024

Check out Ben (Fong)'s new show ("Organize the Unorganized"):

https://shows.acast.com/619be5c0705138001b9c8479/episodes/659337cd906c7e0016284aaa?

Follow Ben (Burgis) on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

Ben Burgis and Slavoj Zizek talk about everything from Israel/Palestine to quantum physics to the triumph of a libertarian nutjob in Argentina and what kinds of social freedom are worth wanting. It's a *really* good conversation.  It had to be prerecorced because of the extreme time difference between Los Angeles and Ljubljana and it went long enough that the last portion couldn't be played on the show. It'll be released next Friday for patrons and we'll probably run it in full for everyone on the YouTube channel a couple weeks after that.

Before playing (most of) the interview, Ben and the GTAA crew watch Ben and break down appearance on News Nation last Thursday, where host Dan Abrams moderated a debate between Ben and a writer from the American Conservative on the legacy of Henry Kissinger. To end Season 5 on a high note, we even got a special postgame appearance from Big Wos.

(Note that there's still going to be one last regularly scheduled debate breakdown this coming Thursday and one last regularly scheduled philosophy stream this coming Sunday. After that, regularly scheduled episodes and streams are on hiatus until January but we'll for sure have clips to get you by plus probably a couple of bits of prerecorded fresh content and maybe even a debate. We'll see.)

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

David Griscom joins Ben Burgis to continue GTAA's weekly series of Thursday Night Debate Beakdowns by watching a very short, brand-new one--the debate between Breaking Points hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on the legacy of Henry Kissinger.

Follow David on Twitter: @DavidGriscom

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

The directors of the documentary "Israelism," Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen, come byto talk about the film itself and the recent rash of attempts to censor screenings of it with GTAA host Ben Burgis. Ben reviewed the movie for Jacobin earlier this year:

https://jacobin.com/2023/06/israelism-documentary-pro-apartheid-indoctrination-israeli-occupation-palestine

In the postgame for patrons, This is Revolution host Jason Myles comes by to hang out and chat about rock music, authenticity, left politics, and his new pamphlet "I Was a Teenage Anarchist":

https://everyday-analysis.sellfy.store/p/i-was-a-teenage-anarchist-by-jason-myles-print-and-digital-issue-pre-order/

In between Ben and the GTAA crew will be talking about Norman Finkelstein's recent run-ins with Piers Morgan and throw in a comic relief breakdown of Dave Rubin warning of the dangers of Fruit Loops being excessively woke.

Find an IRL or virtual screening of Israelism:

https://www.israelismfilm.com/screenings

Follow Sam and Erin on Twitter: @IsraelismFilm

Follow Jason on Twitter: @J_Myles_TiR

Follow RM on Twitter: @xrmbrownx2

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

Samuel Moyn joins us to talk about his fascinating new book "Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times." In it he argues that liberalism today is shaped by the shift made by many liberal intellectuals who turned their backs on the radical aspirations of earlier liberalisms during the Cold War.

One of our favorite recurrent guests, Matt McManus, just reviewed Moyn's book for Liberal Currents. Both of them have a lot to say about liberalism, socialism, and how we think about rights and human liberation

Before that, Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk about Ben's Jacobin article today about the "human shields" defense of Israel bombing civilians in Gaza, and Ben and the GTAA crew watch a debate between Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti about whether what Israel is doing rises to the level of "ethnic cleansing." (She says yes, he says no.) In the postgame for patrons, we relax with some Ben Shapiro nonsense.

Order Samuel's book:

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300266214/liberalism-against-itself/

Read Matt's review:

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/samuel-moyn-on-the-abandonment-of-revolutionary-liberalism/

Follow Samuel on Twitter: @samuelmoyn

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

Ben Shapiro just debated...well, the only people he ever seems to want to debate these days--college students. But this time at a fancy setting!

Ben Burgis and Victor Bruzzone break it down.

Follow Victor on Twitter: @victorbruzzone

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

One of our favorite guests, Ana Kasparian, returns for a conversation about the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Gaza and a variety of related issues. She and Ben Burgis watch some of a recent debate she did on the subject with the hosts of the PBD podcast. Before that, Ben and the GTAA crew break down a right-wing video about Rashida Tlaib's censure and talk about "from the river to the sea," and Ben's recent articles in Jacobin. In the postgame for patrons, they watch a video on why "anti-capitalism is anti-vegan" (??) and get into Ben's recent sparring on social media with theoretical physicist and capitalism-loving YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder.

Watch Ana's full PBD appearance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKxElFQHYzs

Follow Ana on Twitter: @AnaKasparian

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

Current Affairs magazine's House Economist Rob Larson and journalist Matthew Vernon Whalan join Ben Burgis to continue the weekly series of Thursday Night Debate Breakdowns by watching a brand-new one for once--Norman Finkelstein's debate on Gaza with Eli Lake.

Read Rob at Current Affairs:

https://www.currentaffairs.org/author/rob-larson

Read Matthew's Substack:

https://matthewvernonwhalan.substack.com/

Follow Rob on Twitter: @IronicProfessor

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @VernonWhalan

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com

Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage joins Ben Burgis for a look at (among other things) the sad pointless writing of NYT columnist David Brooks & physicist and science educator Sabine Hossenfelder's late-career pivot toward apologetics for capitalism. Before that, This is Revolution host Jason Myles joins Ben and the GTAA crew to talk about Jason's upcoming show in the San Francisco Bay Area on November 18th (a book launch for Jason's "I Was a Teenage Anarchist" + meet and greet featuring Jason, Ben, and several bands you've heard of!) and take a look at the rapid progression of Jordan Peterson's symptoms. Last but definitely not least the one and only Conan Neutron hangs out with the gang in the postgame for GTAA patrons.

Read Luke at Jacobin:

https://jacobin.com/author/luke-savage

Tickets to Jason's show:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-was-a-teenage-anarchist-book-launch-partymeet-and-greet-tickets-739577424987?aff=oddtdtcreator

Follow Jason on Twitter: @J_Myles_TIR

Follow Luke on Twitter: @LukewSavage

Follow Conan on Twitter: @conanneutron

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Visit benburgis.com