American Prestige

Subscribe now for immediate access to all of our bonus episodes. Danny and Derek welcome back Brendan James and Noah Kulwin, of the Blowback podcast, for a tour through their latest season, which takes the show to Angola. They discuss how Angola became one of the largest and least-remembered battlefields of the Cold War, Reagan’s return to proxy wars, Cuba’s decision to send troops without Soviet approval, South Africa’s “total onslaught” ideology, the Reagan era’s fanaticism, its echoes in today’s politics, and what happens when the U.S. exports its wars (and mythology) across continents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get more content. Don’t forget to download our Chinese Prestige miniseries, currently on sale for $5. Annual subscribers get the series free! Despite sitting on a large surplus of Labubus, Danny and Derek work hard to bring you the news. This week: in Russia-Ukraine, new US diplomacy goes nowhere (1:08), Ukraine is now attacking Russian commercial ships (5:55), and the EU moves to phase out Russian natural gas (8:35); in the DRC-Rwanda conflict, Trump hosts a peace deal signing as fighting resumes with M23 in the eastern DRC (11:17); new fighting erupts in southern Yemen (14:19); Lebanon and Israel hold ceasefire talks as the IDF resumes strikes (17:08); in Gaza, new clashes leave a gang leader dead (19:45), the ceasefire implementation sees minimal progress (23:48), and Israel reopens the the Rafah checkpoint (26:24); Sudan’s RSF claims a new advance in the Kordofan region (28:40); a bizarre coup unfolds in Guinea-Bissau (30:40); Trump moves closer to military action against Venezuela (36:55); Honduras heads toward a contentious election (40:17); the US pauses entry from 19 countries after the DC National Guard shooting (43:46); and a double-tap strike on a boat in the Caribbean raises new legal questions (45:43). Join the Discord (subscribers get access to all channels). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek welcome to the show Molly Lambert, creator of the JENNAWORLD podcast, to talk about the rise of the modern porn industry and its roots in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. They discuss the medium’s origins in underground stag films and the porno chic era; the shift to home video and the corporate studio model; breakout stars like Ginger Lynn Allen and Jenna Jameson; porn as an outsider industry mirroring Hollywood; gender, labor, and power in late-20th-century media; the relationship between pornography and evolving feminist politics; porn’s role in the VHS–Betamax war; and how the internet, OnlyFans, and content platforms have affected a formerly professionalized industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to listen to the full episode and get access to all of our Sunday bonuses. Danny and Derek speak to Ilias Alami, assistant professor of political economy at Cambridge, about the global shift from neoliberalism to new forms of state capitalism. They discuss the rebalancing of economic power toward East Asia; sovereign wealth funds, policy banks, and state-owned enterprises; and the role of states in industrial strategy, technology, and supply chains. They also touch on China, AI, and the overlap between economic rivalry and geopolitical confrontation. Check out the book Ilias co-authored, The Spectre of State Capitalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Instead of a news roundup, we are releasing the second episode of our new miniseries ⁠Chinese Prestige⁠. Annual subscribers already have access, while everyone else can get the 8 episodes for $5 for two weeks only. This conversation examines China’s early post-Korean War period and the political and social campaigns that defined the new PRC. The group discusses land reform, the Three-anti and Five-anti campaigns, Soviet-style economic planning centered on heavy industry, and the technocratic overhaul of higher education. They also explore China’s deteriorating relationship with the United States, shifting ties with the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death, early signs of the Sino-Soviet split, and Mao’s tightening control. Theme music by Jake Aron, based on the song “The East is Red.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danny speaks with Alex Goldman about his new podcast ⁠Hyperfixed⁠, in which he works to get to the bottom of listeners’ complex problems, or at least enough of an explanation that they’re ok with the annoyance. We have then provided the full episode of “Third Eye Blind,” where one Mitchell finds out he's missing something almost everyone else has, and he wants to know -- who would I be if I had it? If you like what you hear, why not support Alex and ⁠join Hyperfixed⁠? Otherwise, have a great holiday, and keep your eyes peeled for the second episode of ⁠Chinese Prestige⁠ on the AP feed tomorrow! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In lieu of a typical Tuesday episode this week, we are releasing the first episode of our new miniseries Chinese Prestige. Annual subscribers already have access, while everyone else can get the 8 episodes for a whopping $5 for two weeks only. Enjoy! In this first episode of Chinese Prestige, Yidi, Danny, and Derek trace the origins of the Chinese Communist Party from the May Fourth Movement to the civil war with the Nationalists. They explore the party’s strategic shift from cities to the countryside, the role of land reform and mass mobilization, the impact of the Japanese invasion and World War II, and the rise of Mao Zedong. The episode follows the party through its victory in 1949, the founding of the People’s Republic of China, early state-building, and China’s entry into the Korean War. The group concludes in 1953 with the launch of the first five-year plan and its push for rapid industrial development. Theme music by Jake Aron, based on the song “The East is Red.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Ames of Radio War Nerd is on the program to tell us a little about the new book penned by his partner in podcast crime, John Dolan, titled They Should Have Been Hanged: War Nerd Essays on the U.S. Civil War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our bonus Danny and Derek speak with writer and editor David Klion about the collapse of the liberal Zionist project and how the moral and political implication of the Gaza genocide have reshaped American Jewish identity. They discuss how October 7 and Israel’s assault on Gaza forced a reckoning among liberals who once believed in the two-state promise; the fracturing of institutional life and why so many public figures have avoided accountability; the generational realignment in American Judaism; legacy news organizations managing and obscuring this shift; x and also Bari Weiss’s rise to CBS and what it tells us about the future of American media. Read David’s piece in The Nation, “To Those Who Have Just Awakened to the Horrors in Gaza.” Note: This episode was recorded on October 20, 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to listen to the full episode. Danny and Derek are joined by the writer ⁠Emily Tamkin⁠ to discuss Sarah Hurwitz’s comments on the Holocaust, education, and the Jewish people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek are praying for Kim Kardashian to pass the bar. In this week’s news: Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia visits the White House (1:56); the U.S. pushes a new Ukraine peace deal (8:58); Israel continues killing people in Gaza (12:30), Palestinians’ shelters are failing in heavy rain (13:57), the UN votes on Trump’s Gaza plan (15:22), and Palestinians seeking relief are put on flights to South Africa, raising ethnic cleansing concerns (18:11); Israel continues to bomb and move borders in Lebanon and Syria (21:50); the U.S. and South Korea agree on a nuclear submarine deal (25:21); an attack on a church in Nigeria draws international attention (27:46); the DRC and M23 sign a new peace framework (29:53); an elections update for Chile (31:17) and Ecuador (33:03); Trump reopens a backchannel to Venezuela (34:47); and an update on Operation Southern Spear (38:14). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek speak with political theorist and author Lea Ypi about her new book Indignity: A Life Reimagined, which explores how personal memory intersects with imperial collapse, nationalism, and the surveillance state. They discuss her grandmother’s journey from Ottoman Salonika to Albania amid the rise of competing political projects; archives and the stories they erase; the challenge for universalist ideals in a capitalist world; the parallels between the 1930s and today’s anti-migrant politics; and whether collective political action remains possible as we’re shaped by platforms, algorithms, and anonymous economic power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danny and Derek welcome back historian Nick Mulder, writer at Weltinnenpolitik, to discuss Trump’s new tariff regime. They get into Trump’s focus on taxing goods while leaving finance untouched; how U.S. allies are obediently eating higher economic costs; why this approach resembles a “subscription model” of empire rather than a coherent industrial strategy; early signs of backlash in places like India, Brazil, and Europe; how immigration enforcement and H-1B restrictions now operate as tools of economic coercion; and why sanctions under Trump increasingly fall on partners instead of adversaries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all news specials. Danny and Derek sit down with journalist Murtaza Hussain of ⁠Drop Site News⁠ to talk about his ongoing reporting on Jeffrey Epstein’s extensive political and financial influence. They get into how Epstein operated as a fixer and connector for powerful people and entities around the world; the private meetings and backchannel negotiations he helped facilitate, from Israel to Russia to Côte d'Ivoire; the role he played in brokering surveillance and security agreements; and why this part of his life went unreported or was dismissed for so long. Be sure to check out Murtaza’s reporting in Drop Site’s series “Epstein and Israel.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our content! Danny and Derek are vigorously programmed to bring you the news headlines. This week: the Thai-Cambodia ceasefire breaks down as border fire and incidents escalate (0:30); in Gaza, Trump’s framework stalls while governments debate the shape and purpose of an international security force (4:27); Syria’s President Ahmed al-Shara visits the White House (13:49); Iraq’s elections conclude with Prime Minister Sudani claiming victory despite an uncertain coalition (17:37); suicide attacks in Pakistan raise tensions with Afghanistan (20:11) while a constitutional amendment increases military rule (23:00); in Sudan, new reports suggest the RSF is burning bodies and digging mass graves to obscure its actions in al-Fashir (25:30); Russia advances in Ukraine with movement around Kupyansk, Pokrovsk, and Zaporizhia (28:02); Nathaniel Powell returns to the show, this time to delve into the unrest continuing in Cameroon after Paul Biya’s contested reelection (29:56); and the U.S. moves the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier into the Caribbean as international criticism grows over strikes on alleged “drug boats” (50:42). Don’t forget to join our Discord. Subscribers get access to all channels! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to listen to the full episode. Danny talks with Jamie Beran, CEO of Bend the Arc, about the political and generational tension reshaping the American Jewish community. They discuss the fallout from Zoran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in New York; the role of legacy institutions like the ADL; how debates over Israel-Palestine, antisemitism, and safety are redefining American Jewish political identity; and what these shifts mean for progressive movements and Jewish organizations navigating rising authoritarianism in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the commercials and get all of our content. Derek is joined by Omar Zahzah, Assistant Professor of Arab Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies at San Francisco State University, to talk about his book Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism. They discuss the Sheikh Jarrah uprising and the digital front of the Palestinian struggle, the difference between “digital apartheid” and “digital settler colonialism,” Meta’s censorship, the IDF Unit 8200–Silicon Valley pipeline, how AI and tech infrastructure are being weaponized, the legacy of Edward Said’s “Permission to Narrate,” and how Palestinians have used social media to change the narrative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for all of our breaking news specials. Danny and Derek talk with journalist Jasper Nathaniel about his reporting from the West Bank on settler attacks that have become routine and state-backed. They discuss the town of Turmus Aya, the far-right ministers pushing annexation, a mob attack on an American‐Palestinian lawyer’s neighbor, and Jasper’s firsthand account of a violent mob assault during the olive harvest. Stop demolitions in Umm al-Khair. Help free Mohammed Ibrahim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode! Danny and Derek speak with historian Tim Shenk of George Washington University about how American liberalism lost its way. They discuss the Cold War purge of the left and the rise of the “vital center,” the Clinton-Obama years and the hollowing of class politics, the Democratic Party’s embrace of the professional-managerial elite, meritocracy, the implications of organized labor’s decline, the financialization of everything, and whether a new populist coalition can still be built. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our content! Air travel might grind to a halt, but our news roundup marches on. After reflections on the Mamdani victory (0:30), Danny and Derek get into this week’s stories: Trump threatens to invade Nigeria (10:10); in Israel-Palestine, a Gaza ceasefire update (19:31) and West Bank olive harvest violence (26:06); Afghanistan and Pakistan resume ceasefire talks (27:10); Sudan’s IPC declares famine as the RSF prepares a new siege and agrees to a ceasefire (29:11); a new report details the UAE’s role as a global gold smuggling hub (33:40); attacks on civilians continue in Ethiopia (36:30); Ukraine braces as Pokrovsk is about to fall (38:53); the Netherlands confirms a centrist election win (40:59); Putin orders plans for nuclear testing in response to Trump (43:23); reports suggest the U.S. may deploy special forces to Mexico (45:25); the U.S. is preparing strikes on Venezuela, though Trump is hesitating (47:45); and new revelations emerge about drug boat operations (51:23). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices