History Impossible

This is the first installment of something that doesn’t really have a name; the Grad School Files? That sounds a little like a bad Netflix show. I’ll take suggestions, but in the meantime, we can simply define this as it is: the first adaptation of one of my academic papers from graduate school into an honest-to-goodness episode of History Impossible. The first thing I want to say is that it was more difficult than I expected to adapt an academic paper into a podcast than I expected. The material is all there, but speaking in formal academic language manages to put me to sleep, so I did my best to spruce things up with this episode.

The second thing I want to say is that a lot of the material in this one will be familiar territory, just more focused on a single event (or grouping of events) in Israel-Palestine history: that is, the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. This was something I hadn’t planned to do until inspiration smacked me upside the head in my second semester, largely propelled by the lack of awareness I was seeing some of my cohort-mates possessed about the conflict in general, to say nothing of the minutiae of its long, long history. As has been covered at length by me and many others, this has very clearly become a political issue with no tether to history, when that history matters more than the politics.

In any event, what resulted was this, but in paper form (that has also been published in written form on Substack and Patreon, as some of you may remember): an investigation into the formation of group identity—that is, of the declining British Empire, the Zionist movement, and the Arab nationalist movement—via the conflict that came to be known as the Arab Revolt of the 1930s. Apart from a few folks—like the awesome Oren Kessler, much of whose work I incorporated into this episode—very few scholars have focused their attention on this event, sandwiched as it is between the punctuated chaos of the 1920s and the Second World War. I hope looking at the event this way—as a crucible, to use a word Kessler has used—adds to the conversation. 

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History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:

David Adamcik
David Alsbach
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CR
B.Cyr
daddygorgon
Danny
Lynda Davis
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Dramicas
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Gavin Edwards
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Henry
Eric Hodges
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Joe6245
Russell Johnson
Lionel Joseph
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
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Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
Mel Padden
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Sharon Peplinski
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Matthew M. Rice
Phillip Rice
Terry Rosen
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
timetosuccedd1995
Thomas Squeo
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.

This episode of History Impossible is an adaptation of the historical polemic I wrote on the one-year anniversary of October 7th, 2023, examining the interpretation of genocide, as applied to the current war between Hamas and Israel, and to the devastation wrought against the Bosnian Muslims by their Serb counterparts in the early 1990s. This episode touches on some extremely upsetting and dark material, including descriptions of child death, mass killing, and rape, so please consider yourself warned if that sort of thing is something you might want to avoid.

This episode will serve as a polemical counterpart to the first installment of the graduate school trilogy I have in the works. The other adaptations will have their own thematic counterparts, and I hope to release those in the coming weeks and months, which will hopefully sate everyone’s interest until the next and penultimate episode of “The Muslim Nazis” is released.

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History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:

David Adamcik
David Alsbach
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Greg Bosai
Johannes Breitsameter
Carol ABC
Charles C
Clayton Connell
Cliffydeuce
CR
B.Cyr
daddygorgon
Danny
Lynda Davis
Paul DeCoster
Regina Dick-Endrizzi
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Henry
Eric Hodges
Carey Hurst
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Russell Johnson
Lionel Joseph
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
Mel Padden
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Sharon Peplinski
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Matthew M. Rice
Phillip Rice
Terry Rosen
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
David Schwedinger
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.

Hello all, hope you are doing well.

For a long time, I was skeptical of doing “re-runs” of History Impossible’s earlier episodes. I didn’t think that I had the “right” to do so, or something along those lines. Obviously, that’s a silly way of looking at things and, to be honest, it’s counterproductive. Many of you reading or hearing this have been with me since Day One (or near Day One) and many of you have likely gone through the entire show archive, and I love you all to pieces for it. But then I look at the calendar and I remember that it’s been nearly SIX YEARS since I started this little show. Six years is wild to think about. I was just breaking into the time period known as “real adulthood” in my early 30s. It’s certainly wild to think about where the time has gone and all the crazy things that have happened since then, both in my life and in the world around me.

That includes a historic presidential election this year, in which for only the second time in American history, a man has been elected for a non-consecutive term. It’s also historic because of his convicted criminal status (putting aside how one might feel about the validity of those convictions or the trials that produced them; this is historically significant no matter how you slice it or how much your mileage may vary). I have had several people ask me for my take on everything that has happened, and I have given it in small doses, but I’ve also had people ask me how I feel about the man—that is, Donald Trump—himself. I don’t have an answer that has pleased many people, but only a fair few likely know it has not changed since 2019, when I started History Impossible.

When I started this show, I came very close to beginning it with the “Muslim Nazis” series. But thanks to the advice of my good friend and guru Daniele Bolelli, I came to realize that I would be essentially imposing myself on the historical podcasting audience by asking them to commit to a series that, at the time, I assumed would take a few years (and boy was I right on that estimate, more than I knew). So I went with one-off’s for a while, occasionally foraying into thematic trilogies and two-parters. Some of these were my favorite stories to delve into, even until this very day. But my very first episode was one where I tried to unpack my feelings on Donald Trump from a historically comparative perspective, and looking back on that first episode, I think most of my feelings have remained consistent.

I have never liked the “fascism” comparison, much less the “Nazi” comparisons (I think that should just be obvious by now). But historian Niall Ferguson, many years ago now, helped break down just what kind of historical figure Donald Trump is. It inspired me, and, after a couple months of frantic research into the period of time Ferguson discussed in his above-linked talk, I was able to pull together a story about a next-to-unknown man from American history; the “Original Donald Trump,” if you will. And the first episode of History Impossible was born.

Because that was so long ago, and because I realized the idea of re-releasing episodes is really no big deal, I figured I would re-release that episode. Also, to be honest, because it has been a while since I released an audio episode for the podcast. Being trapped by a looming thesis prospectus in graduate school and the ongoing writing and research I am doing for my proper class has eaten up large amounts of my time, as has other projects to which I have committed. We still have some episodes coming before the end of the year and—god willing—an interview or two (though those are less certain), but I wanted to give something to those of you who have only recently found my work and just have not found the time to work your way back through six years of content.

Now like I said, I essentially endorse everything I researched, wrote, and said from this episode I did so many years ago, at least in broad strokes. I do not necessarily endorse the quality—either my delivery, or production. I cannot promise that will stand to scrutiny compared to my more recent work; it was my first stab at historical podcasting after all. But I think this re-release—relevant as it is to the results of the 2024 election—can serve as a nice time capsule that answers some lingering questions my followers and listeners might have regarding my feelings on our 45th, and now 47th, President of the United States. At the very least, it can serve as a nice historical comparison to the first Trump administration, and the years that led up to it (I do believe, for what it is worth, things are different in 2024 American society than they were in 2015-2016, but not by much; in some ways, they are heightened). 

So please, enjoy this throwback (posted on a Thursday!) of the very first episode of History Impossible, “The Original Donald Trump.”

History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:

David Adamcik
David Alsbach
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Cliffydeuce
CR
B.Cyr
daddygorgon
Danny
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Neil Dickens
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Bob Downing
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Mounty of Madness
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Skip Pacheco
Mel Padden
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Sharon Peplinski
Sr. Powell
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AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Matthew M. Rice
Phillip Rice
Terry Rosen
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
David Schwedinger
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
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F. You
Greg Zink

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I have, for many years, recommended Darryl Cooper’s hit podcast Martyr Made to the relative handful of people kind enough to listen to my own show and read my thoughts on various publications, including my own Substack. And not to fully bury the lede, I still do, though admittedly with a little more reservation than I might otherwise have only a month earlier.

This comes from the piece I wrote for the good folks at Merion West which takes a close look at the claims made last month by my podcasting comrade Darryl Cooper while he was being interviewed on Tucker Carlson’s X show. This is the podcast version, with some tweaks and expansions, but I highly recommend you go read the polished piece over on Merion West.

Thank you all for reading and listening.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.

In this newest special episode of History Impossible, I sat down to discuss a super-light topic, one not fraught with intense controversy and tragedy, with my long time friend and podcasting comrade, CJ Killmer, of the Dangerous History Podcast: that is, the topic of eugenics! More accurately, we discussed a particular man in that noteworthy field who CJ discussed on his second-most recent episode (as of this writing; the 12th and newest epic installment of the Woodrow Wilson series he’s been working hard on just released), Dr. Edwin Katzen-Ellenbogen.

This man’s storied career included being a pioneer in promoting the pseudo-scientific field that gripped the hearts and minds of American and European elites in the early 20th century, as well as having the worst luck in escaping the Nazis as their reach expanded across Europe while placing Jews like him in the crosshairs. This ultimately worked out for him, in a sick sense, because shortly after being captured and tossed into a camp, he began working with them on some of their notorious human experiments. It has been alleged that he personally murdered at least 1,000 human test subjects by lethal injection. Unlike many of the other Nazis’ collaborators, he was purely in it for himself, and, based on his activities before the war, likely agreed with many of their conclusions.

CJ and I spoke not just about this man, and not just about eugenics, but how they—especially eugenics—fit into the broader schema that is the philosophy of progress, that is, Progressivism. It’s at once obvious and shocking. And to help hammer the point home, we close by discussing an underrated piece of 1990s cinema that not only remains great nearly 30 years later, but eerily prescient. So please sit back and enjoy this conversation with CJ Killmer.

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History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:

David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Johannes Breitsameter
Carol ABC
Charles C
Clayton Connell
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Danny
Lynda Davis
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Eric Hodges
Carey Hurst
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Russell Johnson
Lionel Joseph
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Terry Rosen
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.

To say historians can be pedantic is like saying water is wet. To say gamers and gaming commentators can be pedantic is yet somehow even more of an obvious understatement. So what happens when these two communities clash and/or blend? You get what we could charitably call the Yasuke Conspiracy.

As many gamers likely know by now, the insanely popular and long-running Assassin’s Creed series of games has explored multitudes of time periods, aesthetics, and characters from across history, ranging from Renaissance Italy, to Revolutionary America, to Victorian London, to Roman Empire-era Egypt, to, most recently, Viking England. The newest, upcoming game in the series, Assassins Creed Shadows, promises more of this trend, this time taking us to medieval Japan during the Sengoku Jidai, or Warring States period. Sounds all well and good, right? There was one problem, at least in the eyes of many gamers: that one of the two playable characters was not, in fact, Japanese, but African. And not only was he African, he was a purportedly real person from history (a first for the series, whose protagonists have always been fictional). This person was the so-called “African samurai,” Yasuke. And what followed was a firestorm of controversy, bad corporate crisis management, and a historian’s credibility being thrown in the direction of a woodchipper.

Being a gamer, and one who enjoys the Assassin’s Creed series, I was aware of the Yasuke controversy, and I was also aware of Yasuke, having come very close several years ago to covering him, but opting instead to cover the far less vague and mythological-seeming story of William Adams, the supposed British samurai. Part of the reason for this choice was due to the fact that there was indeed only one secondary source on Yasuke, and it didn’t seem completely reliable. And sure enough, it was that source that, four years later, became the source of the controversy at hand. To help me make sense of this story, I needed to reach out to someone far more familiar with the material and, more importantly, someone who understood the power of historical myth. I could not find anyone better than my comrade-in-historical-podcasting-arms, Sebastian Major, the host of the phenomenal Our Fake History podcast. Sebastian had indeed covered Yasuke before, so I picked his brain and we discussed the true story of Yasuke and the controversy itself as well as the writer at its center, the now-unfortunately-controversial Thomas Lockley.

So please enjoy, as we are joined by Sebastian Major, and attempt to plumb the depths of our fake (impossible) history.

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History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:

David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Johannes Breitsameter
Charles C
Clayton Connell
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Danny
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Eric Hodges
Carey Hurst
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Russell Johnson
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.

The following is the audio version of the recent essay addendum to the most recent episode of History Impossible, “The German Voice of Islam.” Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and listen and, when at all possible, support my work. Please consider becoming a patron or paid subscriber to History Impossible at whatever level you feel comfortable.

History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:

David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Johannes Breitsameter
Charles C
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Danny
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Eric Hodges
Carey Hurst
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Jim Miller
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.

The Third Reich’s so-called war on the Jews was not one that they fought alone.

In fact, their war had been being fought for decades before Hitler even took power, perhaps even a full generation. The fight began in the late 19th century in Jerusalem, within the office of the mufti of that city. He was an elderly, serious man who, unlike everyone around him, believed he could read the tea leaves and explain where these land sales to an ever-increasing number of Jews was supposedly heading (despite the fact that he himself was also taking part in these land sales). By the early 1900s, a young boy—the elderly, serious man’s son—was sitting in this office with his father, taking all of this in. No one at the time could have possibly known that this man would come to represent one of the most controversial parts of the Third Reich’s war three quarters of a century after its conclusion, thanks almost entirely to the words he spoke and wrote.

This episode of History Impossible returns to the first long-form series, “The Muslim Nazis”, that started it all, three years ago. In this episode, we’ll be looking at what happened when the Nazis began to craft a nearly unprecedented propaganda campaign directed primarily at the world’s Arabs, but also the world’s Muslims as a whole. The propaganda itself—filled with unparalleled invective, racism, and conspiracy-mongering—was not invented whole-cloth by the Nazis. Indeed, it was fine-tuned by the Nazis’ growing cast of Islamic allies, most of whom from embattled nations struggling under the weight of empire and civil war. This cast included that young boy all grown up: the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini.

Not only is the Grand Mufti’s role in the propaganda campaign examined in this episode, but so are the most consequential claims ever made about the man—namely, his alleged role in the Shoah, which does not cease to cause massive, angry debates around the world. With claims ranging from those made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2015 when he alleged that Hajj Amin is who inspired Hitler to commit the Holocaust, all the way to the Grand Mufti’s dwindling handful of apologists, who either ignore his time spent with the Axis or even outright minimize its importance; this part of our story endeavors to get to the bottom of it all.

History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:

David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Johannes Breitsameter
Charles C
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Danny
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Eric Hodges
Carey Hurst
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Jim Miller
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.

Considering what happened…some thoughts needed to be shared. I’m already working on something for the Substack, and believe it or not, the next episode of the “Muslim Nazis” will actually be up and available for paid supporters of the show within the next day or so.

However, given what indeed has happened, involving the former president almost getting his head taken off, a lot of conversation has appeared. My dear friend Kristaps Andrejsons and I decided to sit down to add our voices to this choir (after overcoming some tech-related SNAFU’s that finally resolved themselves). This conversation is also on the Eastern Border feed, but please make sure to subscribe to his podcast because it is among the best out there.

Much of what has been said here is likely to change over time, but those in the history and politics space have nothing else to talk about. Please enjoy (as much as one can) this discussion, and consider becoming a paid sub or Patron in order to access an ad-free version of this and the newest proper History Impossible episode.

Thank you all for listening.

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For this next special installment of History Impossible, we’re joined by the journalist, writer, and fellow podcaster David Josef Volodsko, one of the most well-traveled individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking to (both in and out of the United States). He is the man behind The Radicalist Substack (which I encourage all of you to subscribe to), but he has also contributed to the Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Foreign Policy Magazine, The Nation, Bari Weiss’ The Free Press, and most famously (thanks to his abrupt 2023 ouster, which he explained here), the Seattle Times, where he served on the Editorial Board. His sole article under his own byline—“Dear Fremont: We need to talk about Lenin and your statue of the genocidal tyrant”—ignited a firestorm of a historical debate on, where else, Twitter/X, where Washington tankies decided to make it their mission to cost David his job, and for which they ultimately succeeded. He has thankfully bounced back, founding The Radicalist, and appearing on other, far more prestigious podcasts than my own, and spending his time doing deeper dives on political extremism throughout history, as well as provocative examinations of present events, particularly lately Israel’s war in Gaza.

David and I spent a little time discussing his ouster, but we spent the majority of the three hours we spoke discussing the deeper themes of some of his essays—namely, his essay discussing how anti-Zionism has, in practice, become anti-Semitism, and his even more provocative but well-considered essay, why colonizing (or occupying) Gaza is likely the only solution moving forward. Much more came up naturally during the conversation, including where the consistently anti-Zionist Christopher Hitchens might have landed in this political moment of ours, the casual and performative cruelty of Briahna Joy Gray and leftists like her, the anti-Israel leftist tradition and the different varieties of protester, and, of course, the legacy of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin al-Husseini.

This was a thoroughly enlightening, at times depressing and upsetting, but ultimately productive conversation that I was more than thrilled turned into a three hour epic (after assuming it would likely be less than 90 minutes). Many thanks to David for being so generous with his time and being willing to engage with such difficult subjects.

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