Despite more technical difficulties than usual this week (skip the first 5 minutes of the recording here), Anat and I covered some good ground, including:
It’s great to see the growing use of “the Epstein class” as a term (thanks Anand Giridharadas). But even better would be “the Epstein regime.” It captures not only the many connections between members of the Trump regime and Epstein, but also the group of billionaires and billionaire-adjacents who function as a continuous regime responsible for much of society’s evils — worst of all the abduction and abuse of children (from Epstein’s island to ICE concentration camps).
The advice of reactionary centrists boils down to “Don’t make the argument” — shy away from fighting for your values. But all that does is cede (winnable!) rhetorical terrain to the opposition. Make the argument for things like bodily autonomy, the awesomeness of immigrants, corporate accountability, and women’s and children’s safety.
What several news stories from the last week (new polling showing low-information voters turning on Trump, the continuing debate over whether Harris was too centrist or too left, new economic data showing that the job market was getting worse in 2024-25, and more) say about the political and pundit class that has been continuously wrong for the last 20 years, yet continuously refuses to own up to its mistakes or give space to voices who have gotten it right.
Think bigger than ending ICE: demand closing the concentration camps and bringing home the people that are in them.
