What was the first American Reconstruction after the Civil War? Why are some historians suggesting we just left a second sort of Reconstruction Era?

Join Caitlin and Trent as they got into it all with Historian Thomas Zimmer, going from the first period of reconstruction, across the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before pressing through this second reconstruction, which Thomas considers as being from 1965 to 2026.

They then turned their attention towards what lays ahead for the United States, as well as why some Germans just don’t care about what’s going on across the Atlantic Ocean.

Resources:

democracyamericana.com

www.thomaszimmer.online

What was Andrew Jackson's favorite gelatin-based meal? Why did Hilary Clinton feel a deep and urgent need to tell everyone about her fantastic chocolate chip cookie recipe? Did Ronald Reagan really eat that many jelly beans? We answer these questions and more with Bennett Rea, creator and host of Cookin' With Congress. Plus a little taste test!

Resources

https://www.cookinwithcongress.com/

https://www.instagram.com/cookinwithcongress/?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/@cookinwithcongress

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

https://cookinwithcongress.substack.com/

Is this chatbot sentient? Is AI my friend? Is isolation hackable? Trent and Caitlin discuss recent AI news, Sam Altman's troubles legal and otherwise, labor organizing as a strategy against the worst fears of AI experts, and whether Richard Dawkins is conscious, in this news digest episode with linguist and AI researcher Hagen Blix.

Resources

https://bookshop.org/p/books/why-we-fear-ai-on-the-interpretation-of-nightmares-hagen-blix/377a4501006cfc55?ean=9781945335174&next=t

Letter to Meta leadership https://mcipetition.com/

https://jacobin.com/2025/02/tech-workers-silicon-valley-trump

https://jacobin.com/2025/12/hype-artificial-intelligence-vc-capital

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/meta-start-capturing-employee-mouse-movements-keystrokes-ai-training-data-2026-04-21/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/18/sam-altman-house-attack-ai

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/12/technology/openai-trial-sam-altman-elon-musk

https://www.wired.com/story/meta-layoffs-bad-vibes-mark-zuckerberg-ai/

https://tech-insider.org/meta-layoffs-8000-employees-135-billion-ai-capex-2026/

https://unherd.com/2026/05/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/?edition=us

https://unherd.com/2026/05/when-claudia-met-claudius/

In a time when the ruling party seems to be totally fine with breaking every law, every rule, and every norm that was holding our country in the general shape and consistency of a democracy, what should the opposition party be willing to do? Are there times when retaliation that goes against one of our principles might serve a greater purpose? Are there times when it would only further erode our values? Trent and Caitlin ask Political Theory Professor Jacob T. Levy what he thinks.

Resources

jacobtlevy.com

https://bookshop.org/p/books/rationalism-pluralism-and-freedom-tomlinson-professor-of-political-theory-jacob-t-levy/70b7b87a3f2b1667?ean=9780198717140&next=t

https://bsky.app/profile/jacobtlevy.bsky.social

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/06/supreme-court-john-roberts-voting-criticism-00909592

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a71244450/john-roberts-scotus-political-power/

https://ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/louisiana-v-callais-opinion-recap-voting-rights-act/

https://theconversation.com/racial-gerrymandering-may-be-here-to-stay-282349

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/trump-civil-service-schedule-f/682609/

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/house-lawmakers-press-paramount-ceo-warner-brothers-acquisition-2026-05-12/

SCOTUS photo By Fred Schilling - https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/justices.aspx, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=124352288

Progressive messaging is so hot, the cynical opportunists are appropriating it for mass appeal. A combat surgeon returned from Gaza has found financial support in a pro-Palestine super PAC. Public pressure may prevent new ICE facilities. Journalist Whitney Curry Wimbish walks us through these and other recent stories she has worked on for The American Prospect.

Resources

https://am-quickie.ghost.io/

https://prospect.org/2025/12/26/profiting-off-immigrant-illness-abuse-and-terror/

https://www.vera.org/news/a-blueprint-for-resistance-how-residents-and-local-governments-are-shutting-down-ice-detention-in-warehouses

https://prospect.org/2026/04/30/palestine-super-pac-new-jersey-12-district-adam-hamawy/

https://prospect.org/2026/04/28/pennsylvania-congressional-race-pits-corporate-defender-crosswell-against-union-organizer/

Apartheid and incursions into Palestinian territory are accomplished by a specific set of tactics. Oren Ziv, an Israeli photojournalist, joins Trent and Caitlin to describe some examples of the strategies he has seen in person and learned of in his reporting.

Resources

https://www.activestills.org/

https://www.972mag.com/writer/orenziv/

https://www.972mag.com/israeli-settler-violence-condemnations-smokescreen/

https://www.972mag.com/israel-settler-outposts-west-bank-area-b/

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-disinherited-journal-of-a-palestinian-exile-fawaz-turki/0d994329d6134ffc?ean=9780853452485&next=t

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1114702

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/08/israeli-lawyer-arrested-for-peaceful-protest-leaves-prison-after-110-days

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2026-04-22/ty-article/.premium/israels-independence-day-ceremony-would-inspire-even-pyongyang/0000019d-b479-dbb2-a19d-b77f446d0000

https://www.ft.com/content/2f826acb-c1d2-4144-a9cc-73d008a727a3?syn-25a6b1a6=1

https://www.972mag.com/march-of-return-nakba-2026/

Map of areas A, B, and C

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-of-Areas-A-B-and-C-after-Oslo-II_fig1_276258691

You can't say anything these days! Especially not on a college campus, and especially not if you're a white man. For evidence, please enjoy this loose assemblage of sixth-hand anecdotes with no detail or reporting to back it up. This is the discursive form that Caitlin and Trent brought Stanford professor Adrian Daub on to discuss, described in his 2024 book, The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global.

Resources

The Cancel Culture Panic: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-cancel-culture-panic-how-an-american-obsession-went-global-adrian-daub/7c3bcd17c60f4e52?ean=9781503640849&next=t

Academic paper on Caitlin's cancellation story: https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/PLSA/article/download/5257/4885/10012

In Bed With The Right podcast https://gender.stanford.edu/podcasts

Assorted cancel culture discourse 2020-2022

https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/new-puritans-mob-justice-canceled/619818/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/steven-pinker-will-be-just-fine/614323/

https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/07/09/steven-pinker-wont-be-cancelled-but-you-could-be/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/opinion/campus-speech-cancel-culture.html

https://www.motherjones.com/recharge/2020/07/factually-flawed-anti-pinker-letter/

Caitlin's answer to the MJ thing https://c-moriah-green.medium.com/bad-news-about-that-pro-pinker-mother-jones-piece-it-doesnt-make-any-fucking-sense-5efb27a72495

Cancel Culture is Over

https://www.persuasion.community/p/why-woke-failed

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/04/graham-platner-nazi-tattoo-democrats-voters-maine.html

We're fixing it with the help of our wealthy donors

https://www.chronicle.com/article/meet-the-donors-funding-the-civil-dialogue-boom-at-colleges

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/15/harvard-donors-viewpoint-diversity/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/university-intellectual-freedom-center-creates-100000609.html

https://stevenpinker.com/files/pinker/files/documents/steven-pinker-im-pinned-between-cancel-culture-and-trump-002.pdf

Thank you Mr. Trump BUT

https://ash.harvard.edu/articles/why-im-excited-about-the-white-houses-proposal-for-a-higher-ed-compact/

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/opinion/democrats-trump-midterms-future.html

Charlie Kirk Acts

https://wpln.org/post/tennessees-charlie-kirk-act-bans-student-walkouts-protects-conservative-speakers/

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/free-speech/2026/04/21/tenn-passes-charlie-kirk-act-defending-campus-speakers

Look at my Iran negotiator, dawg, we’re never getting through the Strait of Hormuz. Friend of the program Y. L. Al-Sheikh helps us understand the unfolding diplomatic and military nightmare that is the Middle East, and how the United States plays a role in each.

Goodbye to Viktor Orban! Don't let the door hit you! Trent and Caitlin bring you a discussion with resident Europe expert Hunter CG (also known as @roterote).

Resources

https://bsky.app/profile/roterote.bsky.social

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

https://linktr.ee/roterotemedia

https://19thnews.org/2026/04/voting-citizenship-proof-laws-trump-save-america-act/

https://www.newsweek.com/viktor-orban-hungary-election-jd-vance-rally-11804123

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-cash-shipment-detained-hungary-745c17643b9a0965024d7a8410c5fc17

https://www.euandyou.eu/

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-owned-continent-dave-keating/8629bc69280d3c81?ean=9782960407303&next=t

https://www.rev.com/transcripts/vance-and-orban-press-conference

https://newrepublic.com/article/179776/heritage-foundation-viktor-orban-trump

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/opinion/magyar-orban-hungary-trump-defeat.html

A bloodthirsty, homicidal maniac is in charge of our nation's military for some reason, and he just can't stop saying stuff that confirms that he deeply believes that extreme violence is awesome and God likes it a lot. Trent and Caitlin ask Greg Sargent of the New Republic what he learned from experts about the ideology that underpins Pete Hegseth's attitude toward violence.

Resources:

https://newrepublic.com/article/208322/pete-hegseth-religion-war-iran-sadism-rage

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh7CFELPzz6ZOwhBZ4h7d84m8Lg1oTKKa

https://bsky.app/profile/gregsargent.bsky.social

"back to the stone age" tweet https://archive.ph/cWADP

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/14/analysts-say-us-threat-of-no-quarter-for-iran-violates-international-law

"Reign of Error" book https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780345806352

"Creating the Credibility Gap" book https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781249405627