Half the Answer

Caitlin and Trent talk with independent journalist Amanda Moore about the groypers and their peers, the self-serving micro-celebrities who profit from them, and the media’s mad scramble to make the latest assassination fit into the left-right paradigm without consulting experts.

Amanda’s work: https://www.clippings.me/users/noturtlesoup17

Pepe Jack-o-lantern image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95654958

Trent and Caitlin speak with political science professor Lindsey Cormack about her analysis of the DCInbox database of political communications, focusing especially on the memo from Third Way advising Democrats to avoid certain words that make them sound out of touch, elitist, or insincere. Where did these words come from? And do Democratic politicians actually use words like “heteronormative” and “postmodernism”?

Resources:

DCInbox database: https://www.dcinbox.com/

Lindsey’s analysis: https://dcinboxinsights.substack.com/p/was-it-something-the-democrats-said?r=53lhp&utm_campaign=post&triedRedirect=true

Third Way memo: https://www.thirdway.org/memo/was-it-something-i-said

Politico coverage: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/22/democrats-woke-language-blacklist-00519421

Lindsey’s book: https://howtoraiseacitizen.com/

Caitlin’s introduction resources: https://vpc.org/publications/cease-fire-a-comprehensive-strategy-to-reduce-firearms-violence/a-brief-history-of-firearms-law/

https://www.thirdway.org/memo/how-to-embrace-commonsense-gun-safety-legislation

https://www.thirdway.org/about/staff/jonathan-cowan

Caitlin and Trent speak with Jacob T. Levy, Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory at McGill University, about the state of democracy in the U.S. How did we get here? What are the tools and motivations of the people working to dismantle the institutions that make us a democratic nation? Is there a way out of it?

Resources:

Jacob's website: https://jacobtlevy.com/

Jacob's book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rationalism-pluralism-and-freedom-9780198717140

Jacob's work with Niskanen Center: https://www.niskanencenter.org/author/jacob-t-levy/

That GAP ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwzF26o0AuU

Subsequent Abercrombie ad: https://youtube.com/shorts/14sXRgWTfdk?si=CWT_dEqXzbE77H8C

Trent and Caitlin talk with author, journalist and historian Adam Hochschild about the historical periods that most inform his view of today's disturbing American politics. What tactics and goals does Trump 2.0 have in common with Woodrow Wilson's post-WWI administration? What is different? What inspiration and warnings can we take from that dark period to help us survive this one?

Resources:

https://journalism.berkeley.edu/person/adam_hochschild/

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/american-midnight-adam-hochschild?variant=41003534123042

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/grip-there-are-many-programs-trying-to-reduce-recidivism-this-one-works/

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/bury-the-chains-adam-hochschild

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000271627240300155

"radicals awaiting deportation" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Radicals_awaiting_deportation.jpg

Trent and Caitlin ask Steven Monacelli about his recent work documenting the history and present of the American anti-vaccination movement. Who is drawn into it? How did we get here? What happens now that representatives of anti-vaccine beliefs now have the power to cut off the funds and regulatory processes that allow us to access immunization and disease management?

Resources:

Podcast: "Anti-Vax America" https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-it-could-happen-here-30717896/episode/anti-vax-america-viral-texas-281085170/

Steven Monacelli on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/stevanzetti.bsky.social

Pox by Michael Willrich https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/298913/pox-by-michael-willrich/

RFK Jr. on experts, free speech https://www.scrippsnews.com/health/rfk-jr-in-interview-with-scripps-news-trusting-the-experts-is-not-science

CDC shooting https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/us/gunman-cdc-shooting-vaccines.html

mRNA research defunded https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/08/06/nx-s1-5493544/rfk-defunding-mrna-vaccine-research

H1N1 research canceled https://www.npr.org/2025/05/28/nx-s1-5414642/trump-vaccine-bird-flu-mrna

RFK Jr. is executing Trump’s vision https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/9/how-rfk-jrs-vaccine-funding-cuts-fit-with-trumps-vision

Trent and Caitlin chat with James Palmer about China, the current state of America's relationship with China, and what it means for the U.S. to be constantly proposing wild tariff hikes, changing and pausing those hikes, and effectively withdrawing from international trade.

Caitlin and Trent check in with Hagen Blix about the ways we talk about AI, the most prominent angle its critics take, and the angle that’s often missing. When AI is advertised as a tool for generating journalism or research, what is the social and political order that use would entail? When the press hypes AI weapons dealers as the new vanguards of technology, what does it mean in terms of a vision for the world to come?

Resources:

Palmer Luckey speaks to Taiwan students https://www.thefp.com/p/palmer-luckey-i-saw-the-future-of-war-taiwan

Anduril gets big US contracts https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/startup-anduril-becomes-third-us-srm-supplier-amid-rising-defense-demand-2025-08-05/

Peter Thiel and tech fascism https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk

Grok makes nonconsensual nudes https://gizmodo.com/groks-spicy-mode-makes-nsfw-celebrity-deepfakes-of-women-but-not-men-2000639308

American Historical Association https://www.historians.org/resource/guiding-principles-for-artificial-intelligence-in-history-education/

British MP launches bot of himself https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5pr3q6lrpo

Automating Inequality https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250074317/automatinginequality/

Mutually Assured AI Malfunction https://dev.ua/en/news/eksholova-google-zasterihaie-proty-agi

Trent and Caitlin talk with communications strategist Lexi Koren about the Democratic Party obsession with blaming wokeness and “the groups.” Should they be listened to? Why not? What should Democrats do instead?

Resources:

The Rhetoric of Reaction https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674768680

Bill Maher on Pod Save America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEKyn9NL46U

Trans rights as “hard to defend” https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/transgender-rights-election-public-opinon/680813/

NYT on immigration https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/us/politics/democrats-immigration-trump.html

Third Way on immigration https://www.thirdway.org/memo/running-on-immigration-the-gallego-blueprint

Briahna Joy Gray: Not the hill to die on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyIqL2Jh8xk

Trent and Caitlin talk to Greg Sargent, journalist and podcaster with The New Republic, about recent stories including the striking failure of the president to be cool about the newest round of Jeffrey Epstein news, the bizarre time dilation of being a conservative, and the childish insistence that every bad thing on the right is because of an overreach on the left.

Resource:

https://newrepublic.com/article/198247/trump-epstein-fiasco-ron-wyden

Caitlin and Trent chat with civil rights lawyer Joshua Erlich about the state of civil rights under Trump. What civil rights has this administration targeted? How are they achieving their goals? Is there anything that can be done to get in their way?

Resources:

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, by Richard Hofstadter: https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Intellectualism-American-Life-Richard-Hofstadter/dp/0394703170

“Alligator Alcatraz” conditions https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/allowed-lawmakers-split-conditions-alligator-alcatraz-rcna218498

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alligator-alcatraz-florida-detainees-conditions-fungus-mosquitoes-rcna220205

SCOTUS education ruling https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/07/supreme-court-clears-the-way-for-trump-administration-to-massively-reduce-the-size-of-the-department-of-education/

Dept. of Ed can’t resolve civil rights complaints in a reasonable time https://www.wxyz.com/us-news/education/civil-rights-work-is-slowing-as-trump-dismantles-the-education-department-agency-data-shows

Lawsuit against DOGE https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/01/20/trump-will-face-first-lawsuit-targeting-elon-musks-doge-moments-after-taking-office/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/20/doge-trump-musk-ramaswamy/