This week on Whatever Happens, Happens, we investigate the U.S. government’s shocking proposal to build a high-speed rail line from Texas to El Salvador—exclusively for so-called “enemies of the state.” Former President Trump calls it the “most efficient deportation system ever,” using modified cattle cars to transport alleged criminals, agitators, and political opponents to a one-way fate. But what happens when they arrive?

We trace the historical roots of forced relocation, examine El Salvador’s capacity to handle such an influx, and speak with legal experts, human rights advocates, and Central American policy analysts about the chilling implications.

For most of history, people lived in small cultural silos—tribes, villages, religious communities—each with their own language, customs, and beliefs. But in the 20th century, something changed. Mass media, economic prosperity, and a rising middle class created a shared American identity, a monoculture where everyone watched the same TV shows, believed in the same national myths, and followed the same rules.

Then it all fell apart.

This podcast explores how the rise of the middle class led to its own destruction, how the internet shattered our shared reality, and why society is now fragmented into millions of competing identities. From the rise and fall of empires to the internet’s disintermediation of culture, we’ll break down the forces that held us together—and the ones tearing us apart.

In a world where nothing is universally believed, where does that leave us?