#1727 Super-Powered Men For Good and Ill: Fascism, Media, and the Manoshpere
Air Date: 8-6-2025
Today's slate of topics may feel disjointed at first until you realize that they're not. We set out to produce an episode in which we explored powerful men and those who look up to them from various angles and so that ended up including both real and fictional men from supervillains to superheroes.
Read more#1375 The Militia Movement is Having a Moment (Throwback)
Original Air Date: 10–16-2020
Today we take a look at the history and origins of the American militia movement right up to the recent plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, the likelihood of more violence and the high probability that they will show up at polling places on Election Day.
Read more#1719 The Fascist Playbook: Immigrants, Brown Shirts, and the Backlash
Air Date: 6-28-2025
The militarization of Trump's deportation regime and response to protesters is the clearest example of his desire to implement a fully authoritarian government. Pure and simple.
Read more#1718 On the Path to Destruction: Israel Attacks Iran as Support for War on Gaza Drops
Air Date: 6-25-2025
We thought we were going to have an episode about the war Israel is conducting ready for you last week but then they started another war. So, it would have felt odd to release an Israel episode without the latest major updates including Iran. I can only imagine what will happen between the time I speak these words and when you hear them that will make this episode feel out of date.
What Happens When Bereaved Israelis and Palestinians Share Their Pain?
Read more#1716 The Fight for Workers: Oligarchy and its Bipartisan Enablers
Air Date: 6-18-2025
Critics of capitalism like us often advocate for the system to come to an end and be replaced with another that aligns better with human needs and continued existence. Well, it's possible that the system is close to having run its course and will be making way for something different. Unfortunately, the natural course of capitalism is to concentrate wealth and, by extension, power so that's what's happened and we're now getting close to basically reinventing feudalism. So, wrong direction.
Read more#1597 The rise of fascism around the world driven by economic insecurity (Throwback)
Original Air Date: 12-8-2023
Neoliberalism has created a lot of economic suffering and insecurity in addition to weakened social ties over the past few decades. And now, in what may be the most devastating result of the ideology yet, neoliberalism may be leading much of the world toward fascism bolstered by legitimate grievances about economic precarity which are coopted by the false promises of right-wing populism.
Read more#1701 Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way: Installing the Backbone Democrats Need
Air Date: 4-2-2025
Love them or loathe them, the Democratic Party is the political institution available to the left to structurally take on Trumpism but we need a whole lot of new energy and new commitments to the fight to turn them into an opposition worthy of the moment we face.
Read more#1700 Dehumanizing Trans People is Always the First Step for Fascists
Air Date: 3-29-2025
You might not be trans yourself but that's just like how coal miners aren't canaries because when they saw that the canaries were under threat, they knew the danger was all around them. Fascists always start with those who are the easiest to dehumanize, but they never stop there.
Read more#1698 Resistance is Not Futile: Support the collective revolt against Trumpism (Special Podcasthon!)
Air Date: 3-18-2025
SUPPORT INDIVISIBLE WITH A DONATION AND SIGN UP WITH YOUR LOCAL CHAPTER!
In this special Podcasthon episode, we're joining thousands of podcasts around the world in taking the opportunity this week to support a cause or organization that we believe in. In this time of fighting fascism, Best of the Left has chosen to support Indivisible, the grassroots organizing team that's working to resist Trumpism and pressure Democrats to do the same. Follow the link in the description of this episode to make a donation but also take a moment to find and join your local Indivisible chapter to stay engaged.
Read more#1695 Trump's Corruption As A Matter Of Course and a Strategy to Hold Power
Air Date: 3-7-2025
Corruption, for those who indulge, isn't just a perk of power, it can also be a method of maintaining it. Trump is not bothering to hide the corruption he's working to facilitate or how it's geared toward supporting his desire for unchecked power.
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