Know Your Enemy

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Tuesday night was the most unambiguous joyful election night, for Democrats, of the Trump era: no "red mirage," no days of waiting for good news to be confirmed as votes were counted, no polling errors that somehow, yet again, missed voters Trump summoned to the polls. It was a blue wave too big for Trump and his pathetic followers to plausibly resulted from massive, widespread fraud, and we break it down for you. Amid all the good news, what stood out to us? What did Democrats do right, especially when it comes to populist economic messaging? How much did "candidate quality" matter? And of special concern to this podcast, how is the right—their MAGA intellectuals especially—processing such a profound rebuke? Is this the end of the Trump era? We take up these questions, and more!

Sources:

NBC News: National Exit Polls, 2026 Midterm Elections, Nov 4, 2026

J.D. Vance post on the midterms, the war with Iran, and the reason for Republican losses.

Sohrab Ahmari, "It's the War, Stupid," Unherd, Nov 4, 2026

Dan McLaughlin, "No, It Wasn't Just the War," National Review, Nov 4, 2026

Daniel McCarthy, "How Lindsey Graham Lost the Midterms," Compact, Nov 4, 2026

Jesse Bedayn & Barbara Ortutay, "Elon Musk Gambled $445 Million to Boost Republicans in the Midterms. It Came Up Short," Associated Press, Nov 5, 2026

Christopher Rufo, "Reprisals Are Coming: After the Midterms, the Left Will Seek Revenge," Substack post, Nov 3, 2026

Benjamin Moser's provocative, exquisitely written new book, Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History, couldn't be a more timely intervention in debates over Israel, Zionism, and the U.S.-Israeli relationship. It's a series of portraits of various Jewish people who came to oppose Zionism. Some are religious, some secular; some began as Zionists then changed their mind, others found it dubious from the get-go. Arranged in rough chronological order, together they make for a bracing tour of arguments against a Jewish state, especially in Palestine, along with the sordid history of the modern nation's origins. It's not a short conversation, but it's a necessary one (and with a great conversationalist).

Sources:

Benjamin Moser, Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History (2026)

— "We Have Talked Enough About Ourselves," Equator, Oct 29, 2025

— Sontag: Her Life and Work (2019)

— Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector (2009)

Isaac Chotiner, "How Hamas Used Sexual Violence on October 7th," New Yorker, Dec 10, 2023

— "Is Zionism’s Moral Crisis About Roads Not Taken—or Original Sin?" New Yorker, Sept 13, 2026

Barnaby Raine, "Encountering Zionism," Ideas Letter, Oct 1, 2026. 

Sam Adler-Bell, "Jews in the Diaspora Must Resist the Inhumanity Being Done by Israel in Our Name," New Statesman, Nov 29, 2023. 

M. Gessen, "What We Know About the Weaponization of Sexual Violence on October 7th," New Yorker, Jul 20, 2024.

Arno J. Mayer, Plowshares into Swords: From Zionism to Israel, (2008) 

W.H. Auden, "September 1, 1939"

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Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy.

Many listeners will have seen the recent protests in France, protests that began with high school students marching out of classrooms for better conditions in them, then grew to a broader backlash against the cost of living and a crisis of affordability in the country that filled the country's streets—protests that sometimes were accompanied by violence and looting, and that ultimately were met with a brutal police crackdown and mass arrests. All this, of course, comes just months before the French presidential elections, which polls show National Front candidate and longtime tribune of the far-right in France, Marine Le Pen, comfortably leading. To help us understand the situation, we again call on our French connection, Marseilles-based journalist and friend-of-the-show Cole Stangler. We get his on the ground report from the protests as he experienced them in Marseilles, discuss the brutality of the government and police's response, parse how the French right, center, and left have reacted, parse what it all might mean for the country's upcoming presidential contest, whether the profound crisis might lead to fundamental constitutional reforms, and more!

Watch Cole's show, What Do We Want? here.

Sources:

Cole Stangler, Le Miroir Américain (2025)

— Paris Is Not Dead: Surviving Hypergentrification in the City of Light (2023)

— "France Needs More Than a New Leader. It Needs a New France," New York Times, Dec 22, 2025

Emile Chabal, "Why Is France Perpetually Rioting?" Foreign Policy, Oct 19, 2026

In this episode, we're joined by Rozina Ali for a conversation about Seasons of Fury, her new book about the rise, persistence, and changing contours of Islamophobia in the United States, a story she tells through the lives of four very different American families. It's an elegantly written feat of reporting that is depressing, moving, and enraging, and a damning portrait of the bigotry, surveillance, harassment, and criminalization directed at Muslims—long before 9-11 and in that day's wake, a poison in our public life that afflicts us still today.

Sources:

Rozina Ali, Seasons of Fury: Four Families and the Rise of Islamophobia in America (2026)

Spencer Ackerman, "A Harrowing Look at How Muslim Americans Became Targets After 9/11," New York Times, Sept 30, 2026

...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy.

In this episode we talk to our friend John Ganz about the nature and function of conservative intellectuals—or "intellectuals," whichever you prefer—past and present. In particular, the Trump era has been a kind of real-time experiment in seeing how rightwing writers and second-hand dealers in ideas degrade, contort, and reinvent themselves. From there we consider what intellectuals, right and left, actually do and what influence, if any, they (we?) have, and how that's changed from the halcyon days of midcentury generalists to our fragmented and mind-numbing "media landscape" today. It'll be a fun one, for some of you!

Subscribe to Unpopular Front here.

Sources:

John Ganz, Unpopular Front:

— "America is Mine, and it Owes Me a Living," Oct 5, 2026

— "From Shitpost to Bullshit: The Function of Conservative Intellectuals," Sept 30, 2026

— "Better Late Than Never? The Right Wakes Up to Fascism...Kinda," Sept 22, 2026

A.J.A. Woods, The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West (2026)

Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton (1993)

— Presidential Leadership in Political Time: Reprise and Reappraisal (2020)

George Scialabba, What Are Intellectuals Good For? (2009)

Dave Weigel is a longtime favorite political reporter of ours—someone we've both read for years, and find unusually unblinkered by partisan loyalties—so we couldn't think of a better guide to the 2026 midterms elections than him. What everyone knows is that, right now, polls show a possible Democratic wave in the offing; we try to understand why, and the ways both parties are responding to a genuinely new phenomenon of the Trump Era: the economy struggling, and voters blaming Trump directly. We discuss the flop of a GOP convention in Texas; how Republicans seem to be re-running outdated campaigns—in part because they've already achieved so many of their policy goals on "hot-button cultural issues"; the Democratic strategy of conceding on such cultural issues to seem "normal" and focus on the economy; and more. 

Register to see Matt and Sam live and in person at Jewish Currents Live on Sunday Oct 11 here.

Sources:

Read all of Dave's reporting and columns at Semafor here. 

David Weigel, "Researchers Probe How Democrats Could Win Working-Class Voters," Semafor, Sept 14, 2026

— "Candidates Contend with the Rise of 'Resurfaced' Old Clips," Semafor, Sept 9, 2026

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Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy.

A sundowning, octogenarian president radically out of step with the country's mood, surrounded by Yes Men (and Women), cowards, and idiots, whose administration and party are plunging in popularity as war rages on: it's deja vu all over again, this time expressed through the pathological personage that is Donald Trump. As his second term fails and his attacks on the very foundations of effective government becoming ever-more apparent, the morbid symptoms are piling up—Trump's fantastical retreat into building projects, his posting through the A.I. revolution, ongoing obsession with JFK and the Kennedys, and more—we take stock and discuss the perils of this moment, as people who believe in nothing surround a president who knows nothing, and the situation gets desperate.

Listen again: "The Kennedy Imprisonment" (w/ Jeet Heer), Nov 17, 2023

Sources:

"Trump Renames A.I. and Threatens to 'Annihilate' Iran in U.N. Speech," ABC News, Sept 22, 2026

Ryan J. Foley, "AP Exclusive: ICE Hides Locations of Thousands of Detainees with Final Removal Orders," Associated Press, Sept 21, 2026

Greg Jaffe, Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper, & Adam Entous, "Hegseth’s Purge of Top Generals Leaves the Army Rudderless," New York Times, Aug 25, 2026

Christine Hauser, "U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln Sailor Says Father Was Arrested by Border Patrol," New York Times, Aug 24, 2026

Gina Ragusa, "Trump's White House Event Fails as Audio Cuts Out During Helipad Unveiling," Yahoo News, Sept 21, 2026

Miranda Jeyaretnam, "DOGE Initiative Resulted in Federal Employees Getting Paid Billions to Not Work, New Government Report Finds," Sept 15, 2026

John Ismay, Helene Cooper, & Eric Schmitt, "Concerns Grow Over Conditions on Navy Carrier," New York Times, Aug 13, 2026

Michael S. Rosenwald, "David George Gordon, Apostle for Bugs on the Dinner Plate, Dies at 76," New York Times, Sept 21, 2026

Leo Strauss, Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958)

This episode is a free-wheeling conversation with Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor about their superb (and superbly written) new book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World. Both terms in its title—"end times" and "fascism"—are ones we've discussed at length in previous episodes, but what insights are gained from exploring their dynamic relationship, now? What is new about this combination? How does it help explain the rightwing coalition—religious fanatics, tech billionaires, and ethno-nationalists—now in power in the United States, and not only here? And what can we do to fight back and fight for the living world? We take up all these questions and more.

Listen again: "The Prayers and Prophecies of Pat Robertson," June 17, 2023

Sam's Brooklyn Book Fest Event

Sources:

Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World (2026)

Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (2004)

...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy.

In this conversation, Matt and Sam range widely, beginning with Sam's recent NYT review of a book explaining how Hitler "dismantled a democracy in 53 days" then discussing the late, great conservative historian John Lukacs's Hitler of History, a survey of the many biographies written of the Nazi dictator. What makes for a useful historical analogy, especially in our age of the "fascism debate"? What about the past can we truly understand? And what should induce us to humility? From there, your co-hosts press on to more contemporary matters: Charlie Kirk's assassination, one year later, and how its consequences seem so different now than in the days after his death; how to know what truly matters now, to say nothing of hindsight; the slopification and inundation of our political consciences; and more!

Sources:

Sam Adler-Bell, "What the Third Reich Can Teach Us About America Today," New York Times, Sept 1, 2026

Timothy W. Ryback, 53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy (2026)

— "How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days," The Atlantic, Jan 8, 2025

John Lukacs, The Hitler of History (1997)

— The Last European War: September 1939–December 1941 (1976)

— Historical Consciousness: The Remembered Past (1968)

Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy (2006)

Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in American history, and it isn't close. Between his family's crypto business — designed to enable foreign oligarchs, criminals, and state actors to bribe the administration while enriching Trump and his family — his insider trading and manipulation of the stock market, a tariff regime designed to bind business interests to Trump's personal whims, and the advent of a virtual market for criminal fraudsters to purchase pardons from the president himself, Trump and his family have accrued billions of dollars while hollowing out the rule of law and corroding what's left of our democracy. It is brazen, appalling, and poisonous.

To guide us through this many-circled hell, we're joined by Jacob Silverman, author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, who's been covering the crypto beat and the Trump-family corruption for years. Jacob helps us wrap our heads around the immensity of this problem — and what, if anything, can be done about it. 

Further Reading:

Jacob Silverman, "Teapot Dome. Watergate. They’re Nothing Compared With This." NYTimes, Oct 17, 2025.

— "Zyn and hustling in Las Vegas: Three days at the world's biggest Bitcoin party," Business Insider, Jun 6, 2025. 

— "Binance’s MAGA-Branding Strategy," The Nation, Feb 27, 2026. 

— "He Will Steal As Much As You Let Him," Jacob Silverman Substack, Jul 11, 2025.

Thomas Edsall, "‘A Blatant and Gargantuan Conflict of Interest,'" NYTimes, Aug 18, 2026.

U.S. House of Representatives, Judiciary, Democrats. "Trump, Crypto, and a New Age of Corruption," Nov 24, 2025.

Michael Waldman, "Epic Corruption in Plain Sight," Brennan Center, May 19, 2026.

John Ganz, "Trump's Third-Worldism," Unpopular Front, Aug 24, 2026.

...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!