Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast. It’s a full mailbag Weekender and it starts with Jared Yates Sexton hitting the wall after another long day on the road and Nick Hauselman catching heat for being too friendly with the devil machines. A listener asks whether the Democratic Party can be rebuilt or if it has to be replaced and the answer is not comforting. Another wants to know what it looks like when elections stop being free and fair, and they talk through the warning signs and why the “somebody will step in” instinct isn't realistic. Then a higher ed administrator writes in about the AI push inside colleges and why the people selling efficiency are really selling layoffs and hollowed out institutions. The questions keep coming on surveillance tech, local wins that feel too small, and what happens when public pressure stops working. They get into burnout, dissociation, and which Star Wars prequel we’re living through right now. They also hit the California governor race and why Jared treats every billionaire like a crime scene. It wraps with a question about where their politics came from and why the neoliberal era is decaying into something meaner. Happy Valentine’s Day, to all you lovers out there.