Nostalgia Trap

By joining Israel in a reckless attack on Iran, Trump has put the entire global system in the kill box, which begs the question, what's more dangerous: Trump when he's winning or Trump when he's trapped like a dog? And what happens when the material realities unleashed by this attack come home to roost? Click here to listen to the whole episode

This week Justin and I game out scenarios unfolding from the U.S./Israel attack on Iran. Is it all about Epstein? (LOL) Or might China and Russia have something to do with Trump's latest insane wager? Let's take a look at the imperial chessboard. Listen to the whole episode here.

My late night adventures into the local jazz underworld have introduced me to some fascinating new friends, and I wanted to bring two of them into the Nostalgia Trap universe. Monte Montgomery and Alan Burgess are old pals whose frequent conversations often veer into the uncomfortable territories of race, culture and politics that will be familiar to Trap listeners. In this first episode in a series with Monte and Alan, we tackle the idea of "cultural appropriation" within the context of "race music," from Elvis to Eminem. Check out Monte's first appearance on Nostalgia Trap here. Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon for access to our regular News Trap episodes and a whole world of bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

This is a preview clip from a subscribers-only episode. Check out our Patreon and subscribe to listen! On this week's News Trap Justin and I talk about the delicious crash of the crypto hustle, the sinister promise of "agentic AI," the human wreckage of Silicon Valley's utopian projects, the sad fall of Noam Chomsky, and the larger implications of Jeffrey Epstein's legendary run as the elite's favorite BFF.

When I was growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, Rolling Stone magazine was an indispensable resource for discovering the hip edge of American pop culture. Of course, I didn't realize at the time that the magazine had its roots in the 1960s counterculture, crafted by entrepreneur Jann Wenner as a subversive Trojan horse within the staid landscape of Cold War America. On this episode, historian Charles L. Ponce de Leon joins me for a conversation about his new book Rolling Stone and the Rise of Hip Capitalism: How a Magazine Born in the 1960s Changed America (UNC Press 2026), as we explore the magazine's complex evolution and the ironies of "counterculture" becoming "mainstream." Check out my '90s music podcast/video series with John Lombardo, 120 MONTHS: https://substack.com/@120months Subscribe to Nostalgia Trap to listen to our News Trap freakouts and other bonus content: https://patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

This is a brief clip from a full episode on our subscribers feed. Subscribe to hear the whole thing! This week Justin joins me to consider what would happen if the post-1945 "rules based order" really does collapse -- something that seems more inevitable with each passing moment. With the Trump administration acting in severely irrational ways, how will the global system react? In addition to thinking about Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's dire warning at this week's Davos conference, we talk about the wider chaos unleashed by ICE in Minnesota, Trump's attack on the Fed, and the continued dive into the abyss of 19th century imperial logic.

This week we're talking with Aaron G. Fountain, Jr. about his new book High School Students Unite! Teen Activism, Education Reform, and FBI Surveillance in Postwar America (UNC Press, 2025). By shifting focus from college campuses to American high schools, Fountain's work uncovers a whole world of 1960s and 1970s activism by young people around the country, who fought for their own rights within a larger struggle for social, racial, and economic justice. In this conversation, he shares some of the most compelling revelations he's discovered in oral history interviews, underground newspaper archives, and FBI records, and reflects on the role that high schoolers play in today's chaotic political landscape. Become a Nostalgia Trap Patron to access all our bonus episodes, including weekly News Trap updates.

This is a preview of a subscribers-only episode. Click here to listen to the whole thing, and access our big library of bonus content. 2026 is leaping out of the gate with a flood of chaotic news stories, from Minneapolis to Greenland, from Venezuela to Iran. Justin joins me to look for the patterns uniting this increasingly jarring geopolitical reality, and to consider the poisonous cocktail of psychological, economic and historical forces that are launching us into a seemingly bleak future.

What makes John Candy such a unique figure in American pop culture? And why are we still talking about him in 2025? In this episode, Justin and I discuss the new documentary John Candy: I Like Me (dir. Colin Hanks) and reflect on Candy's outsized space in the cultural imagination, while exploring some of the darker elements of our paternal attraction to specific celebrities. Check out our previous episode all about Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (dir. John Hughes), a key work in the Candy oeuvre. Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon to access our vast library of episodes and bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

This is a preview clip from a subscribers-only episode. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN. It's time once again to sip some eggnog and survey the wreckage of the past 12 months, as Justin joins us for a conversation about the continuing (though anti-viral) insanity of the Russia-Ukraine War and its significance within the larger framework of Europe's decline. We also talk about the strength of the MAGA project in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination and the rising cost of living, and consider the disturbing implications of the "Fuck Around and Find Out" philosophy as applied to political violence. Happy Holidays!

This is a clip from a subscribers-only episode. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN. As we continue our exploration of various forms of intoxicants, I share some personal stories and insights about America's favorite mind-altering substance: alcohol. From teenage experiments with wine coolers to the tipsy world of New York City dive bars, I've collected some hard-earned perspectives on the complicated role booze plays in our lives and the wider world. Cheers!

This is a preview clip of a subscribers-only episode. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE AND ACCESS OUR LIBRARY OF BONUS CONTENT. Is the Trump Reich in terminal decline? Have we entered a new stage in the madness of this administration? This week Justin joins me to catalog some of the important points of failure and retreat in the White House and beyond, from Trump's faltering ballroom construction project and the quiet shuttering of DOGE, to tech psychos like Sam Altman and Elon Musk selling increasingly unrealistic visions of the future (OpenAI dominance and Nazified white supremacy, respectively). Meanwhile, China sharpens the blades of its own tech projects and Europe casts its eyes eastward.

This is a preview of a subscribers-only episode. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN. Lots of fun stuff today: slavery in the tuna industry, monetized Nazi content driving engagement across every major social media platform, the idea of "moving where it's cheaper" meets open ridicule, poetry as a way of hacking AI systems into encouraging self harm, Iran faces truly apocalyptic drought conditions, and worldwide murder rates decline precipitously because there aren't enough kids around to do the killing anymore.

Have you ever seen A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies? It's an epic documentary whose title says it all: a legendary director tells his life story while sharing ideas about the history of cinema. Kind of a two-for-one. I highly recommend it. Anyway, that's what I'm going to do with this series, except instead of movies I'll be talking about drugs. I don't think my drug experiences are particularly unique, but I do have a lot of drug experiences, and I think I've got some insights to offer that extend beyond memoir; that is, I'm going to attempt to connect my own highs and lows with the broader history and politics of the past couple decades. So, in this first episode, I share some stories and thoughts about the world of pills: uppers, downers and, um, in-betweeners. I hope you enjoy...and stay tuned for more adventures in intoxication. This series is, for obvious reasons, only for subscribers. Click here to check it out

The latest Jeffrey Epstein email dump brings up some intriguing ideas about the shadowy financier's actual role among all his elite friends, from Donald Trump to Noam Chomsky. Why did so many powerful people seek his advice and companionship, despite knowing the details of his dark crimes? As Justin Rogers-Cooper explains, the answer raises uncomfortable questions about American history, "cancel culture," and the depths of inhumanity we're willing to forgive in our heroes, leaders, and friends. Check out the Nostalgia Trap Patreon page and support the show by SUBSCRIBING!

This is a preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit the Nostalgia Trap Patreon. This week Justin and I talk about the Mamdani victory in NYC; the shifting dynamics of the much hyped "civil war" within the Democratic Party; how to read the Trump administration's weak response on elections and the government shutdown; Marjorie Taylor-Greene's pivot away from QAnon world; the Heritage Foundation's fight over Nick Fuentes and Nazi influencers; bombshell news about Nayib Bukele and his El Salvador prison project.

The US government shits the bed, Trump dumps AI feces on protesters, the East Wing of the White House gets flushed down the toilet, Mamdani squeezes out a floater upon a dying Democratic Party, and something stinks about the US dropping bombs on "drug dealers" off the coast of Venezuela. Listen to the full episode on the Nostalgia Trap Subscriber Feed