Trent and Caitlin talk with author and journalist Andrea Pitzer about the modern concentration camp model, its history and public perception, and the concentration camps the United States government is operating and hopes to open in the near future.

Resources

https://andreapitzer.com/

Andrea's newsletter: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/

Andrea's book on camps: https://bookshop.org/p/books/one-long-night-a-global-history-of-concentration-camps-andrea-pitzer/ea53c06c993f6ad0?ean=9780316303569&next=t

Andrea's book on Nabokov: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-secret-history-of-vladimir-nabokov-andrea-pitzer/fe47f57e9a2b2a73?ean=9781639361182&next=t

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-buys-warehouses-immigration-detention/

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/us/politics/ice-warehouses-trump-voters.html

https://bookshop.org/p/books/friendly-fascism-the-new-face-of-power-in-america-bertram-gross/414671ea6a34dd2c?ean=9781497689404&next=t

https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/black-lives-matter-movement-not-covid-19-encouraged-voters-toward-biden-2020-election

Trent and Caitlin chatted with Hunter CG of RoteRote Media and Democrats Abroad, looking at the GOP's latest assault on voting rights, the SAVE America Act. This act has passed the House of Representatives and will be addressed by the Senate in the next couple of days. They talk about all the different ways this piece of legislation disenfranchises voters in the US and abroad, and they exhort everyone to reach out to their senators and make it clear that its passing would be unacceptable.

Resources:

https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/9-things-to-know-about-the-proposed-save-america-act

https://www.tiktok.com/@roterotemedia

https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/save-act-lgbtq-voters

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/nation-world/senate-to-vote-on-save-america-act-as-voter-id-debate-intensifies-susan-collins-chuck-schumer-photo-id

Caitlin and Trent talk with journalist Amanda Moore about her work tracking the DHS "surges" all over the United States, her efforts to get close to former commander at large Gregory Bovino, and her experience trying to form conclusions about the broader patterns of immigration forces' violence over time.

Resources:https://substack.com/@noturtlesoup17https://www.instagram.com/noturtlesoup17/?hl=enhttps://bsky.app/profile/noturtlesoup17.bsky.social

Bovino's legacy of violence https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUbhHF7jCI8/

Trump's War on History https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/america-freedom-task-force-250-trump-anniversary-history-smithsonian-kennedy-center/

The Horns and Whistles Work https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/the-horns-and-whistles-work/

Trent and Caitlin boogie with friend-of-the-program, journalist Jonathan M. Katz of The Racket. They talk Super Bowl, Bad Bunny, the TPUSA halftime safe space show, and immigration detention.

Resources:

theracket.newshttps://bsky.app/profile/katz.theracket.news

https://www.tiktok.com/@katzonearth?lang=enSchools

Closed in Puerto Rico: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/12/magazine/puerto-rico-schools-hurricane-maria.html

Infrastructure in Puerto Rico: https://katz.substack.com/p/the-cluster-in-puerto-rico?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Gangsters of Capitalism: https://bookshop.org/p/books/gangsters-of-capitalism-smedley-butler-the-marines-and-the-making-and-breaking-of-america-s-empire-jonathan-m-katz/c1ca55fd36f1b6d4?ean=9781250135599&next=t

The Big Truck That Went By: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-big-truck-that-went-by-how-the-world-came-to-save-haiti-and-left-behind-a-disaster-jonathan-m-katz/b3ca7a131069f3ac?ean=9781137278975&next=t

Trent and Caitlin catch up with political science assistant professor Matt McManus. They discuss the narratives surrounding resistance in the twin cities, the loud and ugly voices on the right describing an ideology of cruelty and dehumanization, and the power of regular people to puncture false claims from the government.Resources: https://www.factcheck.org/2026/01/as-ice-arrests-increased-a-higher-portion-had-no-u-s-criminal-record/https://im1776.com/2022/07/01/christopher-rufo-interview/https://bookshop.org/p/books/what-is-post-modern-conservatism-essays-on-our-hugely-tremendous-times-matthew-mcmanus/270db00d6106d9a7?ean=9781789042450&next=thttps://bookshop.org/p/books/the-political-theory-of-liberal-socialism-matthew-mcmanus/f7f9b79be796b7ec?ean=9781032647234&next=t

Trent and Caitlin talk to Chris Geidner of Law Dork about the absolute deluge of legal news that seems to be crashing over us like a tsunami. What are the current assaults on our constitutional rights? What are judges and lawmakers doing to defend those rights? Why is Mike Johnson pretending the Fourth Amendment doesn’t exist?

Resources: https://www.lawdork.com/https://bsky.app/profile/lawdorknews.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.socialMike Johnson being wrong about the 4th amendment: https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mdxoltnsyz2aPerdomo decision: https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-files/noem-v-perdomo/Bondi demands voter rolls: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/pam-bondi-letter-to-minnesota-voter-roll-data-alex-pretti-ice-midterms-trump/MN US attorneys resigning: https://www.startribune.com/another-wave-of-departures-in-minnesotas-us-attorneys-office/601575569Mark Zaid security clearance case: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/13/trump-mark-zaid-restore-clearanceTulsi Gabbard at Georgia elections office raid: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/29/tulsi-gabbard-georgia-fbi-elections-raid

Caitlin and Trent talk with journalist Gillian Brockell about her work tracking the flights and airline companies that move people in unsafe conditions to third-party recipient countries, where they will be imprisoned, mistreated, tortured, and possibly sent to their country of origin in violation of international law.

Resources

ICE flight monitor https://humanrightsfirst.org/ice-flight-monitor/

Unsafe Conditions on Deportation planes: https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-ice-air-deportation-flights

Gillian "interferes" in illegal ICE flight https://bsky.app/profile/gbrockell.bsky.social/post/3lpnjho77jc25

Linda Brent (Harriet Jacobs) autobiography https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780486419312

Protest Key Lime Air Jan. 31 in Alamosa https://arkvalleyvoice.com/demonstration-against-key-lime-airs-ice-connections-set-for-january-31-in-alamosa/

Key Lime Air https://boulderreportinglab.org/2025/12/28/cu-boulder-keeps-key-lime-air-contract-as-denver-ends-its-deal-over-ice-flights/

Denver Air Connections https://cnycentral.com/news/nation-world/denver-colorado-city-council-rejects-airline-contract-for-its-association-with-president-donald-trumps-administration-ice-immigration-agenda

Gillian's Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/gbrockell.bsky.social

What is ICE Air? https://gillianbrockell.ghost.io/what-is-ice-air/

Trent and Caitlin ask Evan Urquhart about his 2025 wrap up piece on Assigned Media: "The Year We Lost Everything." They discuss the need to take stock of where we are on trans rights, autonomy and the various freedoms we hold dear, and the value of acknowledging that we are not hysterical or out of touch with reality when we feel those freedoms being wrenched from our grasp. We talk about the intense pressure in corporate media to maintain anti-trans bias and the wonderful work independent journalists are doing to find and share the truth.

Caitlin and Trent chat with linguistics scholars Savi Namboodiripad and Daniel Midgley on what word most exemplifies 2025. Was it a new coinage? A pre-existing word that gained a new meaning or usage this year? A word that seemed to be on everybody's lips in 2025?

Resources:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year

"6 7" song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xpV4ix2K8

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/27/more-than-20-of-videos-shown-to-new-youtube-users-are-ai-slop-study-finds

https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/12/03/and-the-economists-word-of-the-year-for-2025-is

https://www.dictionary.com/articles/word-of-the-year-2025

https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/

https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-dictionary-reveals-word-of-the-year-2025

https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/collins-word-of-the-year-2025-ai-meets-authenticity-as-society-shifts/

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2147118/is-that-grocery-product-really-canadian-or-is-it-maple-washing

"getting sendy" song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYAQEJyqR7E

group 7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/10/27/tiktoks-group-7-meme-explained/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/lore

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/unc

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/chopped

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/huzz

https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-performative-male-how-young-men-are-experimenting-with-masculinity-online-268742

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051221126040

https://dailyillini.com/opinions-stories/columns-opinions/culture/2025/10/25/opinion-unmasking-performative-male/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kianbakhtiari/2025/09/28/performative-males-gen-z-irony-and-the-death-of-sincerity/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/us/rapture-tiktok-sept-23.html

Epstein's email simulator https://www.jmail.world/

https://othermeans.io/p/the-glonzo-strategy

https://www.theverge.com/policy/798491/frog-portland-trump-national-guard

https://the-monsters.fandom.com/wiki/The_Monsters

https://lafufu.art/blog/labubu-vs-lafufu

https://www.thelist.com/1817157/what-is-mar-a-lago-face-who-has-tried-the-trend/

https://bsky.app/profile/canadiandictionary.bsky.social/post/3m7tf3jm2fc2c

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oprah-podcast-no-contact-adult-children-parents_n_69389e85e4b0fb6244b0daa8

https://fortune.com/2025/12/29/trump-tariffs-cost-25000-per-month-small-business-importers-center-american-progress/

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/us/politics/doge-musk-trump-analysis.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-doge-government-spending-2025-b2890243.html

https://www.vox.com/culture/376401/r-word-slur-return-euphemism-treadmill-cycle

https://www.lawdork.com/p/the-kavanaugh-stop-50-days-later

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/30/politics/trump-taco-angry-tariff

https://www.buzzfeed.com/abbyzinman/canadians-elbows-up-explainer

https://pen.org/banned-words-list/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2025/03/15/these-197-terms-may-trigger-reviews-of-your-nih-nsf-grant-proposals/

https://www.dailydot.com/memes/everythings-computer-trump-quote-meme/

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trump-promises-harsher-ice-crackdowns

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/27/chatgpt-suicide-openai-raine/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/snap-welfare-queen-ai-memes-1235460824/

https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/10022/who-coined-the-phrase-rapid-unscheduled-disassembly#10219

https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/rapid-unplanned-disassembly-rud

https://becauselanguage.com/131-wotwoty-2025/

Trent and Caitlin catch up with Greg Sargent from The New Republic about his recent piece exploring the family history and ideology of Stephen Miller. How did the product of Russian Jewish refugees come to see today's refugees as incapable of integration in American society? What are the white nationalist positions on who is a real American, and how does Miller navigate his position in relation to those ideologies? Why do these unlovable jerks insist on the myth that community and empathy are suicidal?

Resources:

The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com

The Daily Blast Podcast: https://newrepublic.com/podcasts

Greg's piece on Miller: https://newrepublic.com/article/204191/stephen-miller-maga-terror-state-dark-plot

Stephen Miller on Somali immigrants: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/politics/stephen-miller-trump-immigration-law-somalia

Facts about Somali community in MN: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/5-things-to-know-about-the-somali-community-in-minnesota-after-trumps-attacks

Hatemonger: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780062986726

When The Clock Broke: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781250390417

Furious Minds: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780691255262

DHS Twitter Account: https://archive.ph/Vg8c7

Stephen Miller's cousin: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stephen-miller-cousin-alisa-kasmer/