Bad Faith

After being targeted by a congressional investigation headed by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith, journalists from independent left media outlet BreakThrough News join Bad Faith to discuss the subpoena and deposition requests against them, the targeting of Rep. Ilhan Omar by the Trump administration, and broader attacks against left media. Also, more on Zohran Mamdani's retention of Zionist billionaire police commissioner Jessica Tisch, and the hubris of working within the corporate Zionist democratic party. Link to petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-congress-stop-the-attacks-on-breakthrough-news-journalists/ Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast to listen to the full hour-plus episode. British journalist, Washington D.C. editor of Harper's Magazine and author of several books including, most recently, Washington is Burning: Corruption & Lies in the Age of Trump, returns to Bad Faith to talk about Democratic Party efforts to rehabilitate members of the establishment whose hands were made dirty by the Gaza genocide, and what lessons the veteran reporter learned from past cover ups to help us gain accountability this time around. Are Dems really going to make Rahm Emmanuel happen? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

On the 3rd anniversary of the start of the Gaza genocide, preeminent Gaza scholar Normal Finkelstein returns to Bad Faith podcast to discuss the co-option of the pro-Palestine movement, betrayals by NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani, & engage and debate the value of the UK Green Party resolution to define Zionism as racism. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Human rights activist, director of the Black Alliance for Peace North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights, and Green Party 2020 VP candidate Ajamu Baraka returns to Bad Faith to discuss Mamdani's controversial new anti-Semitism funding, his characterization of socialism on the Theo Vonn podcast, & Abdul El-Sayed's defense of capitalism on Higher Learning. Are these left electeds helping the movement by normalizing left politics, or are they evidence of how the left is being co-opted before our very eyes? Also, at what point is the left going to be able to articulate a vision for change as coherent as the electoralists' strategy? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Writer, pundit, & host of the Left Hook podcast Wajahat Ali joins Bad Faith to weigh in on Abdul El-Sayed campaigning with Kamala Harris, Mamdani's capitulations to the Zionist establishment, and whether the left is pulling the center left or whether they're slowly getting absorbed and disciplined. Hot off an interview with Joy Reid in which she disavows vote blue no matter who, Ali and Gray discuss whether that commitment will hold in the context of a 2028 general election when a "greater evil" is on the ballot. Finally, the two dig into the central premise of the harm reduction argument and debate whether it actually does what it purports to do. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Philosopher & intellectual historian Émile Torres returns to Bad Faith to weigh in on the intellectual and cultural movement that motivates the big tech billionaires who are threatening to end the world with artificial intelligence. What is transhumanism, what do these CEOs really mean by "human extinction," what does the future look like once the brains are uploaded to the cloud, and if and when that happens, what will it mean to be alive? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

On the heels of the Paramount/Warner Brothers takeover which while result a media behemoth owned by the Zionist Ellison family, former FTC commissioner Alvaro Bedoya returns to Bad Faith to explain the role Gavin Newsom, Rob Bonta, and other west coast Democrats played in undermining a lawsuit brought by 12 state attorneys general to block the merger. He also weighs in on the AI doomerist scuttlebutt of the last few weeks, and explains why he believes the big tech handwringing was about a desire for favorable regulatory conditions -- not stopping the robot take over of humanity. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

This is a premium episode UNLOCKED. If you enjoy it, consider subscribing so you don't miss any of these Monday episodes. One of Briahna's favorite sparring partners, Princeton professor, primetime pundit, and author of several books including, most recently, America, U.S.A. How Race Shadows The Nation's Anniversaries, returns to Bad Faith to offer a broader historical context for the ongoing debate around "woke 1" and defund the police. Is "defund" the left's "Sister Souljah moment" through which it proves its 'seriousness' to the liberal establishment? If so, what is there to be gained by doing so? Also, was Briahna wrong to provide racial cover for the DSA left for the first half of her public career? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Yemini-American Michigan State professor Shireen Al-Adeimi joins Bad Faith to explain how the July attack on Yemen's Sanaa international airport prompted a response from Ansar Allah that has resulted in Houthi control of Yemen's coastline including the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. How have Yeminis managed to be so successful despite the extreme poverty brought on by the years long blockade and constant bombing supported by four consecutive American administrations? Shireen provides broader historical context for the conflict, and opines on the inadequate support for Yeminis from the American elected left. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Author of Obsolete: The AI Industry's Trillion-Dollar Race to Replace Us joins Bad Faith to weigh in on Anthropic whistleblower Jacob Coxon's viral tweet warning that AI could lead to the end of humanity within the next decade. Is this false alarmism or a real threat? Is the threat real but exaggerated for the purpose of securing favorable anti-trust policies for AI leaders? What about tech writers like Cory Doctorow who have warned that tales of artificial intelligence advancement have been grossly overstated? And how would AI actually cause the "end of humanity" anyway? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

The Grayzone founder Max Blumenthal returns to Bad Faith to discuss the Laura Loomer-backed attack on his freedom of speech following his return from an Iran reporting trip, liberal Democrats weaponizing the specter of anti-Black racism to fracture Black & Palestinian solidarity (e.g. Hakeem Jeffries & AIPAC monkey-gate), & the new bombshell reporting out of Haaretz that Netanyahu was warned about October 7th and chose not to tell anyone. Does the new reporting indicate that Netanyahu wanted 10/7 to happen so that he had a pretext to genocide Gaza? Or is that an overly simplistic reading? Does the reporting provide opportunities for the US left to make the case for ending aid to Israel? Will they do it? https://thegrayzone.com/subscribe/ Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Unlocked for your Labor Day listeneing pleasure! Palestinian-American journalist Sam Husseini is known for his press conference confrontations and willingness to hold power to account. He recently went viral for confronting Chuck Schumer at an anti-corruption event over Israel's genocide in Gaza, and during the Biden administration, suffered injuries after being hauled out of a State Department briefing where he confronted Antony Blinken. Now, as DSA candidates win elections and quickly distance themselves from the DSA platform, the independent journalist has announced his campaign to run as a Green Party candidate in Maryland's 4th Congressional District. He breaks down the limits of DSA Democratic Party entryism, and how he plans to win. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Historian & journalist Esha Krishnaswamy returns to Bad Faith to apply a historical lens to the Jacobin-left's argument that the left needs to moderate in order to become more palatable to normie audiences. Applying lessons from the Bolsheviks and other actually-existing-socialist states, Esha argues that the role of leftists in the imperial core is heighten the contradictions of capital and support imperialist struggles -- not to sacrifice that support in the hope of gaining acceptance by zionist corporate elites. What do we make of elected leftists who can't clearly answer a question about whether Netanyahu should be arrested, or say 'the IMF is bad"? While the right is forcing the vote on condemning socialism, will elected leftists ever use their leverage for...anything at all? With Zohran & AOC-endorsed Hakeem Jeffries meeting with the informal lord-regent of Gaza, & the DSA electeds disclaiming, not defending, socialism, does history provide some guide posts to help the left reorient itself at a time when world events are exposing the vulnerabilities of capitalism & imperialism? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Organizer, writer, political commentator and Philly DSA member James Ray joins Bad Faith to help us understand camps and factions within the DSA as they fight to determine the direction the organization takes following it's successful primary season. As the Atlanta DSA launches a "Run AOC" campaign & Jacobin Magazine publishes reformist manifestos, James Ray represents the left flank of the DSA and one of it's more left-leaning chapters. On using leverage, leaving the Democratic Party, the incongruity of being pro-Palestine and supporting Hakeem Jeffries, & the mystifying reformism of much of the American left. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Marxist historian, journalist, and political commentator weighs in on the recent controversy surrounding a letter, published in The Guardian and signed by a number of respected leftists including Angela Davis & Mumia Abu-Jamal. The letter drew criticism for drawing false equivalence between US empire and Iran as Iran resists the US war of aggression. Now, several signatories have disclaimed the letter, saying they misled about it's final contents before they signed, but others, including Davis, have not. To what extent is this letter evidence of an effort to create a permission structure to break solidarity with Iran? Does existence of a campaign to do so reflect the vulnerability of US empire amid growing bipartisan distaste for the Iran war? Prashad talks us through his response piece, Against the False Symmetry of the Scissors: An Open Letter While Iran Resists an Illegal War of Aggression, & weighs in on the US left's insufficient commitment to anti-imperialism. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

This is a promo of a full length episode. Subscribe to patreon.com/badfdaithpodcast to listen in full. One of Briahna's favorite sparring partners, Princeton professor, primetime pundit, and author of several books including, most recently, America, U.S.A. How Race Shadows The Nation's Anniversaries, returns to Bad Faith to offer a broader historical context for the ongoing debate around "woke 1" and defund the police. Is "defund" the left's "Sister Souljah moment" through which it proves its 'seriousness' to the liberal establishment? If so, what is there to be gained by doing so? Also, was Briahna wrong to provide racial cover for the DSA left for the first half of her public career? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Co-author of Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power, and co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible State craft joins Bad Faith to not only unpack the history of the Israel lobby and the roots of its enormous influence, but to diagnose how the lobby is evolving to respond to the fact that it has become a liability for politicians who receive its support. How does Clifton explain Zohran & AOC's commitment to AIPAC's biggest recipients, like Hakeem Jeffries? Why does Bernie, who takes no AIPAC money, frequently narrow his criticism to "Netanyahu?" Can following the money help explain the mystery of Hunter Biden's departure from his father's foreign policy? And what should the left look out for as the Israel lobby finds new ways to influence US policy without causing political damage to the candidates its buying? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast to catch Monday premium episodes every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe Palestinian-American journalist Sam Husseini is known for his press conference confrontations and willingness to hold power to account. He recently went viral for confronting Chuck Schumer at an anti-corruption event over Israel's genocide in Gaza, and during the Biden administration, suffered injuries after being hauled out of a State Department briefing where he confronted Antony Blinken. Now, as DSA candidates win elections and quickly distance themselves from the DSA platform, the independent journalist has announced his campaign to run as a Green Party candidate in Maryland's 4th Congressional District. He breaks down the limits of DSA Democratic Party entryism, and how he plans to win. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). .Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Prolific video essayist FD Signifier returns to Bad Faith Pod for a comprehensive analysis of the controversy surrounding left electeds' abandonment of 2020 era policy commitments and principles coined "Woke 1" by New York City Council member Chi Ossé, and made viral by AOC on the Sunday news last weekend. While members of the Platner left have argued that rejecting "woke one" simply means abandoning the excesses of cancel culture and identitarian jargon like "Latinx," several DSA candidates or electeds, from Francesca Hong and William Lawrence to AOC and Zohran Mamdani himself, have explicitly rejected firm BLM-era policy commitments like defund the police. And some, like Lawrence and AOC, even explicitly rejected their DSA affiliation in part or in whole. This brings a question we've been asking for about a year now front and center: Is it worth it to "win" if you have to sacrifice your principles to get there? If Zohran can do such a 180 on defund, how much confidence do we have with respect to his solidarity with Palestine? Why call yourself "socialist" if you're unwilling to stand behind the DSA platform, or if you're going to become an NPYD booster? And how did the left media ecosystem let this happen? Does "winning" within the Democratic party, in fact, help the left? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

This is a promo clip. Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast to hear this full Monday episode. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Dr. Trita Parsi, Executive VP of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author behind the Trita Parsi Substack, returns to Bad Faith to provide an update on Israel's aggression in Iran, Gaza, & Lebanon. Importantly, he offers some perspective on how US/Israeli aggression is being normalized, US funding is being invisibalized, and what demands the left should make to ensure that Gaza isn't abandoned in the push by the electoral left to "win" during midterms or in 2028. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

FL-25 Congressional candidate Oliver Larkin has been going viral over the past week for his exceptional skill at parrying bad faith corporate media questions about the DSA platform without throwing his principles under the bus. But when he's not shutting down Fox news interviews by pivoting to MAGA's Epstein-affiliated leader, he's fighting to win Debbie Wasserman Schutlz's old district and join the House as a committed DSAer. Unlike Michigan's Will Lawrence, who has immediately distanced himself from DSA post-win, saying his membership has "lapsed" while pledging to vote for Hakeem Jefferies as speaker, Larkin says he'll defend the platform, would vote with other left candidates as a bloc, and will not pre-endorse Jeffries. Is this was a genuine adversarial entryist candidate looks like? For more about Oliver Larkin's race: t.co/Co3N8zLPfn Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

As progressives candidates have made electoral gains across the country over the past few weeks, Democrats are once again attempting to discredit the left by pointing to a poor showing with Black voters. For example, attempts have been made to ding Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed with this charge, even as polls show Black voters prefer him to his opponent, and the old "Bernie Bro" smear has even been trotted back out by Maine's Susan Collins . Jim Clyburn went viral for insinuating that Black electeds are justified in selling out because it's harder to fundraise from disproportionately low income Black voter bases, while Cori Bush is facing heaps of AIPAC-funded opposition laundered through a Black political opponent. Meanwhile, factions of the establishment-left are abandoning BLM-era causes like "Defund" in the name of "pragmatism" -- saying these issues hurt prospective DSA electeds. So what's the future of the Black left? I asked Yvette Carnell, co-founder of the ADOS movement -- African Descendants of American Slavery, to join Bad Faith to discuss what ADOS is and isn't, and whether there are opportunities for political allyship between ADOS and the Green Party, given both support reparations, single-payer healthcare, and other policies that corporate Democrats reject. Is it too factional to be part of a broad left movement? Or would the left benefit from diversifying it's tent? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

DSA co-chair Maggie Romer joins Bad Faith in the wake of her viral Fox News appearance in which she was asked about DSA platform planks like abolishing the Senate, abolishing ICE, defunding the Pentagon, and prison abolition. Predictably, the right wing dragged the clip, but so did many on the "socialist left" who are, apparently, ashamed of the DSA platform voted on by its members. I ask Romer the questions I had for fellow DSAer Dan Denvir: What are the goals of the DSA, and are those goals frustrated by a slate of electeds who frequently put distance between themselves and the DSA platform, or between themselves and socialism entirely? Is DSA's function to gate keep the progressive movement and sheepdog voters who are frustrated with the duopoly back into the duopoly? Will the DSA discipline elected members who undermine the DSA's principles? Should the DSA embrace Democratic centralism? Will it support third party candidates, or is DSA a "clique" that wears red on Wednesdays -- no Greens allowed? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Listen in full by subscribing to Bad Faith Patreon at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Associate Professor of Political Economy & UK Green Party advocate Ashok Kumar joins Bad Faith to explain the successes of UK Greens, and weigh in on the insurgent DSA left and whether it hurts or helps the prospect of an independent left party. He weighs in on Mamdani's viral video explaining why he can't arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, DSA-left consolidation around AOC 2028, AOC's response to establishment red-baiting, and how we address accusations that we're accelerationists. An extremely validating and delightful, inside-baseball episode. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University & author of Black Scare Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States, Charisse Burden-Stelly, returns to Bad Faith to discuss the new 100 page State Department report accusing American leftist groups of being part of a "sustained campaign of subversion" against the United States. This new Red-Scare blacklist names Code Pink, the DSA, Hasan Piker, Ben Cohen, Zohran Mamdani, and even Maxine Waters. What does this mean for left movements, & does the liberal response to these accusations, which is largely to distance "Communism" from Scandinavian-style social democracy, help or hurt the cause of the socialist left? We examine a series of Red-Scare articles, including a viral Atlantic Piece titled "The DSA Is a Parasite," along with clips from Jon Stewart, Abdul El-Sayed, & more. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Comedian, actor, and musician Amanda Seales returns to Bad Faith to talk about her new album and the value of revolutionary music, Jay Z's controversial freestyle about Colin Kaepernick, Graham Platner fall-out and the left's unsettled racial politics, & the state of love on the left. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Senior editor at Playboy, Magdalene J. Taylor, returns to Bad Faith to discuss her viral (and somewhat infamous) New York Times essay, "There's Nothing Wrong With Wanting Men." Responding to a trend toward "hetero-pessimism," or a cynical feeling that heterosexual relationships are beyond repair due largely to something 'wrong' with men, she offers a counter argument: There's never been a better time to be straight. Reasonable minds can disagree. You can read her opinion piece here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/opinion/heteropessimism-straight-dating-love.html Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Legendary drag queen, comedian, & DJ featured in Sex and the City, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, & RuPaul's Drag Race, is the rare pop-culture maven willing to be loud and proud about her left-politics in the entertainment world. She weighs in on recent left wins and the future of left politics, the state of identity politics -- specifically as they play out in the LGBTQ community, her upbringing & path to left politics, and more. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Former socialist Seattle city council woman Kshama Sawant returns to Bad Faith podcast to break down the fall out from the latest Graham Platner scandal and how the establishment-left media that made him is responding. Should they have supported him in the first place given his unrepentant enthusiasm for war? Did left media figures abandon their responsibility to vet his anti-imperial bonafides? If they had, could they have avoided the embarrassment of defending a man who once said he'd rape a home intruder to demonstrate dominance? Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, founder of The Intercept, and host of System Update, Glenn Greenwald, returns to Bad Faith to discuss the likelihood that Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other disaffected, America-first conservatives are planning to break from the Republican Party to start a new, anti-war third party. Will Tucker do what entryist left orgs like DSA has refused to try? Will he successfully capture the plurality of voters who do want an anti-war party? Would Tucker's party be genuinely imperialist or just anti-Israel? What do we make of his history of China hawkery, or his mea culpas for a history of Islamophobia and support for the Iraq war? Can Tucker be trusted? Do we have a choice? Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Host of The Dig podcast, Daniel Denvir, joins Bad Faith to discuss the DSA sweep and whether the new elected socialist candidates might be willing to act as a block to change the Democratic Party before the Democratic Party changes them. Is DSA wrong to refuse to act as a party, or to support candidates running outside of the Democratic Party, like Andre Easton? What is the strategy there? And if the DSA refuses to take party building seriously, will the Tucker Carlson right be first to harness imperialist, working class energy to achieve a third party break from the duopoly? What happens to the left then? Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Independent researcher Tonery Rose & political scientist & host of The American Exception Podcast, Aaron Good, return to Bad Faith to breakdown the story behind Peter Thiel's secret society, Dialog, and the various "conspiracies" that help to fill in the gaps in mainstream realpolitik analysis. But before I ask them to run through their favorite conspiracy theories, we run through the establishment meltdown over the Mamdani-slate's victory last week in New York from the ladies of The View, to James Carville. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Author of We Were Never Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite, and professor in the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University, joins Bad Faith to discuss his historical review of the history of "wokeness," why it cyclically emerges and declines over the decades, and the dangers the "symbolic capitalism" class present to the pursuit of economic equality. Though there's much agreement on the pernicious effects of woke identity politics, we debate our different theories of who is responsible for "woke," and assess whether Tuesday's big DSA wins in New York herald the end of the establishment's superficial identity driven "woke" politics. https://musaalgharbi.com/paperback-edition-we-have-never-been-woke/ https://musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/book-announcement-those-people "On the Cultural Contradictions of the Antiwoke" "Putting the 'Culture' in the Culture Wars" "On the Cultural Contradictions of the Antiwoke" "Putting the 'Culture' in the Culture Wars" "On Redistribution" "How We Lived in NYC" Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

As an abolitionist professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and member of Zohran Mamdani's transition team advising on community safety, Alex Vitale is the perfect guest to help us understand some concerning choices Mamdani has made with respect to policing since becoming Mayor of New York City. In addition to the mystery of why he kept on billionaire zionist police commissioner Jessica Tisch, Mamdani is now being questioned over his choice to violate his campaign promise not to expand the police force. Earlier this month, Tisch announced that the NYPD would be hiring 580 more officers -- a choice met with rare rebuke from the DSA. Vitale offers his perspective on what might be going on here, and engages with the perennial question: Why has the left abandoned defund? Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Short-form socialism-explainer Chris Alfonso, aka Jean-Paul Fartre, returns to Bad Faith pod to noodle on the nature of US empire and answer a question recently presented in a conversation between NYT podcaster Ezra Klein & Bernie foreign policy advisor Matt Duss: Is the left's goal a left nationalism or a left internationalism? What does left internationalism mean if raising workers' standards of living is the sine qua non of left advocacy, but doing so sometimes comes at the expense of the global south? But first: The Knicks win, and why JLo's controversial Subway Takes take is right. Also, we weigh in on progressive wins on election day, Graham Platner's origin story, and two recent cop killings that demonstrate why the defund movement should not die. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Philosopher and author of Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?, Gabriel Rockhill, returns to Bad Faith to expand on his criticism of the "compatible left" -- a type of reformist leftist who is elevated by the establishment due to their unwillingness to support actually existing socialism. A recent hit piece on Chris Smalls in Jacobin, unqualified support for mercenary Graham Platner -- how does Rockhill interpret what's going on with the establishment left, and what does he make of the right's leadership on criticism of Palestine? Is Tucker's "America First" politics fundamentally incompatible with imperialism? Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

A few weeks ago, we had an all star panel to discuss AI data centers and the pivot in both liberal and left publications away from embracing climate change as an issue. One of those articles was written in the New York Times by Syracuse professor Matt Huber, who teachers in the geography and environment department. Today, Huber joins the podcast with AI panelist Aaron Reguberg to push back on how his argument was characterized, and to defend his take that Democrats don't have to campaign on climate change anymore because they can win by prioritizing economic issues. Are these ideas in tension? Does opposing AI data centers constitute both a material and environmental issue? Did Green New Deal advocacy hurt Democrats? Was it unpopular, or was it thwarted by the Democratic establishment before it had a chance to be explained? Is the takeaway from Mamdani's success in New York City that Democrats should decenter climate? Why is Briahna defending AOC?

Executive director of the Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah, returns to Bad Faith to break down the latest attempt by Zionists to push the "mass rape" narrative that has greased the runway for Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, but stays to debate the role Tucker Carlson should play in advancing the lefts anti war and anti imperialist aims. A fascinating exploration of ethnics, media, and progressive values with one of the left's best journalists. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Spelman College professor and author of The Political Right & Equality, & The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism, returns to Bad Faith to to discuss his recent article on the Gad Saad, the poor man's Jordan Peterson, his case against "suicidal empathy," and what it shows about the status of the conservative movement. But first, we cover the latest Graham Platner sexting scandal, the NYC Israel Parade, & the California election results. https://jacobin.com/2026/05/saad-empathy-conservatism-book-review Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Dr. Margo Paez, an expert on climate change modeling & water resources & fellow at the Bitcoin policy institute, joins with Jae Holzman, a journalist reporting on climate change for Heatmap news, for a surprising conversation about AI data centers and how they're being litigated across the political identity spectrum. Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to listen in full. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for an extended video clip of this episode that's longer than this promo. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Poet, musician, actor, & writer Saul Williams joins Bad Faith podcast for the first time to talk about how art can help feed this revolutionary moment and expand our understanding of our potential as a global community. But also, Briahna is still hyper-fixated on the prominent role the Israel-critical right is playing in the anti-war space, and what the implications are for building a left, anti war, internationalist movement that can't be "America first" insofar as our way of life is dependent on the immiseration of the global south. We work through all of this in a deeply nuanced, compassionate, and musical 2 hour chat. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube to listen to this episode in full. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). California-based leftist comedian median & film maker Ron Placone joins Bad Faith to help us laugh through what feels like America's curtain call. We cover the DNC autopsy report which was, fittingly, dead on arrival, the California mayoral and gubernatorial elections, and why billionaire Tom Steyer is winning so much support from the left despite opposing Bernie's AI data center moratorium. For Tour Dates : ronplacone.com @RonPlacone on IG/Substack/Twitter Left At Wall on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQgYuiln4N0 (edited) Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

We've assembled an all-star panel of journalists to break down the controversy around the AI data centers being built across the country. We start with a discussion of the curious & controversial Jacobin piece by Holly Buck in which she opposes Bernie Sanders' data center moratorium. Why would a left publication advance a take that so obviously benefits big AI? Journalists Levine, Ongweso & Regunberg go on cover Tucker Carlson's take down of Billionaire Kevin O'Leary over O'Leary's Utah data center that's anticipated to be twice the size of Manhattan, the surveillance implications of said centers, the media campaign to get Democrats to stop talking about all environmental issues, the ratcheting up of criminal penalties for protestors, and what this means for millions of Americans who find themselves living in the shadow of these AI energy hogs. Further reading: https://jacobin.com/2026/04/data-center-ai-moratorium-bernie https://aaronregunberg.substack.com/p/corporate-dems-are-climate-scapegoating https://jacobin.com/2024/08/climate-crisis-disinformation-fossil-fuels Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Biotech entrepreneur and producer of The Voice of Hind Rajab, Rami Elghandour, was scheduled to speak at his alma mater, Rutgers University, but two weeks before graduation his appearance was canceled -- apparently due to complaints from a small number of students on campus. Though never given a clear explanation, some have pointed to Israel-critical social media posts relating to Nicholas Kristof's viral op-ed about IDF rape culture as the reason. In other words, he was targeted for anti-Zionist speech. Rami joins Bad Faith to discuss what happened, the fall out from the Kristof piece, and the future of the party politics post-Gaza. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Independent journalist, formerly of Al Jazeera, Sana Saeed returns to Bad Faith to break down Benjamin Netanyahu's 60 Minutes interview on Bari Weiss's CBS, the New York Times finally covering Israel's mass rape of Palestinian hostages in an opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof, & the internecine debate on the left about AOC's feud with Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the utility of acknowledging that some conservative figures have gained rhetorical high ground over some on the left when it comes to Israel. Also, Stephen A Smith on wishing Black Americans would vote Republican, Zohran Mamdani balancing NYC's budget, and Saeed's latest article on whether charismatic leftists like Mamdani serve to normalize establishment politicians like Barack Obama. https://sanasaeed.substack.com/p/the-charisma-of-empire-obama-mamdani Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).