
Brief: Watching Andor with the Kids (Pt 1)
Matthew continues the Antifascist Woodshed series with a two-part analysis of an extraordinary cultural event: rebellions within rebellions—or how a ragtag band of writers and worldbuilders Trojan-horsed an antifascist masterpiece into the Empire of streaming content.

260: Aubrey Marcus's Polyamory God Bomb
Megamillionaire supplements and New Age life coach tycoon Aubrey Marcus recently claimed the goddess Isis told him that he must impregnate both his wife and the third member of their throuple while doing spiritual tourism in Egypt. We pick apart the spectacle.

Brief: The FDA Amateur Hour Podcast
Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad claim they're going to open the "black box" at the FDA. Derek and Julian listen in to see how much of that box is actually being opened.

259: MAHA is Project 2025’s Trojan Horse
RFK Jr is only gaining power and influence. We cover the last month of MAHA at the helm of public health.

Brief: The Gospel of MAHA Apologetics
After being confirmed as Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr started installing his cabal of wellness influencers and contrarian doctors across the government's many public health agencies. And that means they have to apologize for their boss. Derek and Julian listen in on some of the most outrageous takes so far.

258: Pope Bob Vs. Trump World
Matthew and Julian discuss America’s first pope in a nation gone MAGA.

Brief: Beyond Violence and Nonviolence (Part 1)
Matthew’s guest today persuasively shows that the movements we think of as “nonviolent” never really are. Why don’t we know this? Through a tangle of academic malpractice, spiritual bypassing, liberal wish fulfillment, and erasing anticolonial voices.

257: AI Gurus
The AI nonsensient flattery machine is designed to hook you into the regurgitative process of self-seduction. Is this a new spiritual delusion, or more of the same? And what does that kind and agreeable bot conceal?

Brief: What Will Universal Healthcare Actually Require?
Derek is joined by two members of the nonprofit organization, Health Care for All Oregon: Collin Stackhouse, the Social Media Coordinator, and Rebecca Schoon, an Associate Professor of Public Health at Pacific University, who’s on the board. Together, they map out Oregon’s journey to universal health care.

256: Quacks, Cancer, and Kangen Water (feat Mallory DeMille)
Mallory DeMille returns to discuss one of the most insidious wellness grifts: selling ionized water to “treat” cancer.

Brief: The New Media Order
Julian looks into this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner—and Substack’s rival event.

255: A MAHA Wellness Scam at Ontario Place
Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government in Ontario has leased the public space of OP to the Therme Spa company, which promises to bring wellness and democracy to the good citizens of Toronto, for a price.
Bruce Van Dieten and Ann-Elizabeth Samson of Ontario Place for All join Matthew to discuss the history and possible future of Toronto's cherished public space.

Brief: How To Talk To Your Son About Fascism (Pt 1)
Historian Craig Johnson joins Matthew to discuss his new book, How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism.

254: The Great MAHA Purity War of 2025
Someone’s got dirt on RFK Jr. We cover the cursed game of telephone that bounced around right-wing podcasts speculating on who that is—as if the blackmail is real to begin with.

Brief: The Cult of Crossfit
Cultural and psychological anthropologist Katie Rose Hajtmanek joins Derek to discuss her new book, The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon.

253: The Politics of Abundance
Derek and Julian discuss Abundance, the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson.

Brief: Karma & Christ at the NIH
Derek and Julian discuss new NIH director Jay Bhattacharya first official interview—with Bari Weiss of the Free Press.

252: Netflix vs. Andrew Tate (On “Adolescence”)
Today we look at “Adolescence”: the origin story, the strengths and liabilities of its one-take technique, and its deceptively conservative messaging.

Brief: Antifascist Woodshed 3: The Kids are Alright
Matthew's third edition of the Antifascist Woodshed.

251: Who Is Curtis Yarvin?
We look at Curtis Yarvin, a man who has the ear of those reshaping our world at breakneck speed.