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It’s a Halloween Weekender so co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman start with candy talk, then dive into the Pentagon’s plan for a 23,500-troop National Guard “reaction force” slated to spin up Jan 1 and be fully operational by Apr 1, and what that signals about ballot boxes, civil unrest, and creeping authoritarianism. They hit Trump’s chest-thumping about reviving nuclear testing, the tech-military money pipeline, and why eugenics-flavored rhetoric keeps popping up. Then it’s SNAP benefits triage, emergency funds that won’t cover the full need, and the cruelty baked into the politics. For dessert, Nick’s West Wing binge meets Jared’s analog-horror picks, plus a quick Nightmare on Elm Street rewatch pitch.

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