Category: Podcast

Trumpists stormed the US capitol this week in the worst national insurrection since 1877. That’s it. That’s the episode.

This week, Paul and Sean discuss why they are optimistic about the 2020s given innovations in mRNA vaccines and battery technology. They also tease a special Patreon episode about the classic Christmas (?) movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

What’s your favorite Christmas movie? Die Hard? NO! Die Hard is over; done; played-out! The definitive 80s-action-cum-Christmas-movie is now and will forever be Lethal Weapon (1987). Join Paul and Sean on a holly, jolly tour through the be-mulleted, cocaine-fueled, wet, glistening 1980s, with Danny Glover and pre-cancellation Mel Gibson as your guides. Come for the riffs about men’s poor skin care in the Reagan era; stay to find out if this is or is not a real Christmas movie!

It’s the election recap episode, with Paul and Sean’s thoughts on which White House flunky will stick by Trump the longest, Donald’s next career move, and the election’s biggest surprises. They also discuss whether having Trump on a ballot is electoral NOS for the GOP or a dead weight holding b and close with some thoughts on how Dems can grow their coalition.

This week, Paul and Sean accidentally stumble into a long-planned discussion of institutional and electoral reforms that might reinject life into the shambling body of US politics, from ranked-choice voting and packing the House to reapportioning Senate seats by population and instituting term limits for SCOTUS.  

Look, it’s not really that hard to figure out what this episode is about from the title, but listen in and you’ll also find out the secret for why Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion can’t win the Great British Baking Show and suss out the difference between Prodigal Son George W. Bush and Fail Son _______ [insert various and sundry Trumps].

Paul and Sean grapple with the historical memory(hole) of 9/11; Sean asks what the Whig Party’s demise in the 1850s says about the future of the Dems and GOP; and Paul warns about a California pastor whose anti-mask campaign may tip the 2020 election.

Paul and Sean check in on school reopenings and Jerry Falwell Jr. Both are faring poorly. They then cast their eyes upon the bleak landscapes of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, consider the mounting carnage of both police and paramilitary violence, and close by reflecting on the ideology of theme parks – a topic inspired by the HBO documentary Class Action Park about notorious New Jersey pleasure palace Action Park.

Sean and Paul discuss a little pandemic reading, including Elena Ferrante’s novels about post-WW2 Italy and the work of the recently deceased historian of American Revolution, Bernard Bailyn. That leads into a discussion of whether Bailyn’s liberal legacy will endure new/old challenges from the New York Times’s 1619 Project and other more radical histories. Oh, and the two rhapsodize about how great SimCity is and whether it is the most or least neo-liberal video game ever created.