Bad Faith

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast NYT journalist and author of Uninhabitable Earth David Wallace-Wells returns to Bad Faith to talk about his ongoing coverage of public health and RFK Jr.'s recent upsets at the CDC. He's joined by epidemiologist Gabrielle Perry. We debate the root cause of public mistrust in public health and whether Democrats are failing again as they attempt to respond to the CDC fiasco. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Former Al Jazeera journalist Sana Saeed joins Bad Faith to discuss comedian Adam Friedland's viral interview with Zionist Representative Ritchie Torres and the internet's harsh reaction to Sana and other critics who questioned whether the enthusiastic reaction to this particular interview is reflective of the disproportionate value the West places on the feelings of Jewish people versus the Arab victims of Israel's genocide. Also, Sana digs into Taylor Lorenz' viral story exposing a number of liberal content creators as paid mouthpieces for the DNC and ends with Kshama Sawant's takedown of Rep. Adam Smith's rhetorical shift "left" on Palestine. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Former United Stats Marine Corps intelligence officer, former UN Special Commission weapons inspector, author, & commentator Scott Ritter joins Bad Faith to discuss Trump's recent summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, claims that Trump is being persuaded by the war machine around him to draw out the war despite his alleged "America first" or anti-war leanings, what a realistic end to the conflict looks like, and more. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast The American labor organizer who founded the first independent, worker-led union at a Staten Island Amazon warehouse Chris Smalls recently made headlines when he was illegally detained by Israel after joining the recent Gaza Freedom Flotilla headed to Gaza to break Israel's illegal siege, and deliver food and medical supplies. Smalls explains how he and the one Arab member of the flotilla were treated differently from his fellow crew members, how he was assaulted & strip searched, and how he was abandoned by the US embassy (in contrast to how other governments supported their nationals). Moreover, he dives deep into his betrayal by labor leadership and leftists leaders like Bernie Sanders and AOC who remain silent on Small's capture and assault to date. Chris reveals plans to develop a new labor party that cannot be ignored by Dem-captured labor leadership, the need to leave the Democratic Party "plantation," and why he won't be supporting an AOC 2028 run.  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 Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Founder and editor-in-chief of Current Affairs Nathan J. Robinson returns to Bad Faith along with CA associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss the buzz around the new Substack "magazine" The Argument, which makes the case that "liberalism deserves better." This collection of former Atlantic and Vox journalists (including Derek Thompson and Matt Yglasias) has $4 million in backing, has launched with a piece against cash payments to the poor, and is led by a woman who earlier this year famously wrote the case for Democrats to support DOGE. Nathan and Alex weigh in on the battle independent journalism like Current Affairs is waging against well-funded, billionaire-backed media, and whether outlets like The Argument will successfully launder a Newsom 2028 candidacy to the left -- even though Gaza has emerged as a litmus test that has already tripped up Mayor Pete. Why are liberals so damn gullible, why is the left always right before the libs, and why are conservatives so much better at ideological consistency when compared to the empty, superficial takes coming out of liberals? We discuss Zach Beauchamp's latest piece on that very question ("How conservatives help their young thinkers — and why liberals don’t"), along with Alex's "The Left is Always Right Too Early," and CA's takedown of Gavin Newsom. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Recorded just days after Trump sent the National Guard into DC, civil rights lawyer, author of Copaganda, & co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law Alec Karakatsanis returns to Bad Faith alongside Worth Rises executive director Bianca Tylek, leading expert and author of The Prison Industry: How it Works and Who Profits, to explain the bigger picture of how the private prison lobby is driving the crackdown on immigrants, the rise in cop cities, and creeping authoritarianism in the United States. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Retired U.S. Special Forces officer Anthony Aguilar was hired by private contractor UG Solutions to provide security for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a for-profit entity funded to the tune of $30 million by the U.S. government to distribute food aid in Gaza. But the project was ill-fated from its inception. A good faith commitment to feeding Gazans would been leaving the U.N. Relief and Works Agency intact. Four hundred distribution sites under UNRWA became just four under GHF's control, and Palestinian corpses accumulated at distribution sites as contractors shot at crowds and distributed meagre meals to a starving population. Meanwhile, contractors being paid $1200 per day slept in luxury across the border in Israel, while they ordered Domino's Pizza to feed Palestinian staffers that had not been provided for. In his shocking testimony, Aguilar blows the whistle on offenses more egregious than you can imagine. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Hubert Henry Harrison was a writer, orator, & political activist who played a crucial role in the rise of Marcus Garvey and was a influential voice in the Socialist Party and in Harlem during the famed "Renaissance" of the early 20th century. And yet, as Dr. Brian Kwoba argues, Harrison has largely been erased from contemporary memory because he consistently challenged orthodoxy within both socialist and Black liberation circles, pressuring the Socialist Party to attend to the specific needs of America's most proletarian group -- Black Americans -- and scrapping with W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey over their reformist and imperialist turns, respectively. Harrison and his erasure provide a stunning example of what happens to leftist figures who are not so easily sanitized, and Kwoba's book Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism reveals a history that we are regrettably reliving today. This episode addresses how to break the cycle of the endless "race first vs. class first" debate, Harrison's heterodox views on sex and non-monogamy, & more. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Scholar of Israel's occupation, genocide, and apartheid, and former coordinator for the BDS weapons embargo campaign Shir Hever returns to Bad Faith to offer insights into the politics on the ground in Israel, the interplay between the Iran war and Netanyahu's political ambitions, the implications of polls showing overwhelming majorities of Israeli's support Israel's genocide and even expulsion of Arab Israelis from the country, and the status of BDS campaigns around the world. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Internet culture journalist and opinion columnist Taylor Lorenz returns to Bad Faith to discuss the rise of tech policies like mandatory ID legislation that threaten free speech and social movements which, over the last few years, have grown with the aid of independent media. But first, we discuss the viral New York Times article "The Trouble With Wanting Men," which examines why women are "fed up" with dating men, and whether this "heterofatalism" is surmountable. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Professor of media and Africana Studies at Morgan State University Dr. Jared Ball, responds to Norman Finkelstein’s recent debate with Briahna about whether the assassinations of civil rights activists and politicians in the 60s had a significant effect on left movements of the time. But first, after mentioning last year’s episode on Oscar-winner American Fiction, the pair get sucked into a lengthy media critique of Superman, Judas & the Black Messiah, and the new Sydney Sweeney American Eagle jeans ad that’s been described as "eugenic." Can popular media of any kind can ever really be radical? 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 Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Independent investigative journalist and author of One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union between Intelligence & Crime That Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein Whitney Webb returns to Bad Faith to weigh in on Donald Trump's unwillingness to release the Epstein files and the connection between Trump, Epstein, Israeli intelligence, and America's unwillingness to break from Israel as it escalates its genocide in Palestine. Webb clarifies that Epstein provided secret info to the FBI in 2008 as part of his plea deal, making him an informant (as was Trump-booster Peter Thiel) and connects the dots among key players. She also unpacks her new bombshell reporting on Italy's Donald Trump Flavio Briatore, his connection to Epstein benefactor & Victoria's Secret owner Les Wexner, & offers evidence that Trump may be a material witness to Epstein's sex crimes. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Co-founder of Justice Democrats and former communications director for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Corbin Trent talks AOC’s excuses for voting against Marjorie Taylor Greene’s amendment to pull weapons funding to Israel, whether AOC’s failures are evidence that it’s impossible to work within the Democratic Party, the Democrats’ hesitation to exploit Epstein, and how establishment Dems work to defeat not only progressive electeds but bedrock progressive policies like expanding abortion access. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Nearly two hours with America's favorite podcast guest, Norman Finkelstein, on Epstein, Tucker Carlson & the conservative conflation of anti-Zionism w/ actual antisemitism, whether the left is too sanguine about Zohran Mamdani, how not to repeat Bernie's failures, and a debate on the effect of the political assassinations of the 60s on the lefts' progress. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Tech millionaire, co-founder of Justice Democrats, and former chief of staff to AOC Saikat Chakrabarti joins Bad Faith to explain why he's running to oust Nancy Pelosi from the San Francisco congressional seat she has held for almost as long as he has been alive. Saikat offers his takeaways from Zohran Mamdani's success, and evaluates the replicability of Zohran's approach when it comes to social media, his "toxic positivity," and his army of volunteers. Saikat also addresses concerns from the left that he is not a DSA candidate and has, in fact, donated to opponents of DSA candidates in the past. Can Saikat do what former Bad Faith guest Shahid Buttar couldn't quite manage? Will Pelosi also ignore Saikat? Or can he capitalize on normie Democrat frustration with an establishment that's all talk and no action when it comes to fighting back against Trump? Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Scholar of Middle East history Dr. Assal Rad returns to Bad Faith to discuss Israel's Rafah concentration camp, the IDF's admission that it targets civilians, the latest Gaza massacres and the "ceasefire" talks between Trump and Netanyahu last Monday. Also, how Zohran Mamdani's win has Ritchie Torres and other Zionist Dems on the back foot, and a forensic take down of why BreadTube star ContraPoints' viral Gaza take is a disaster. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast The right faces a crisis of faith following Trump's backtracking on the Epstein files, Matt Taibbi is bearish on Zohran Mamdani, & Glenn opines on whether Briahna would do better dating a conservative than another Warren bro. It's an action packed, sprawling, intimate episode the likes of which only these two can have. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Formerly an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Muhlenberg College, Maura Finkelstein is thought to be the first tenured professor to be fired for pro-Palestine speech in the US. She joins Bad Faith to talk to Briahna Joy Gray about the state of academic freedom, predictions for college campus protests come fall (including in NY, where Zohran Mamdani may soon be mayor), the role of Hillel & other institutional pro-Zionist actors in influencing campus speech, and the struggle to keep the faith as Israel continues to be able to execute its genocide with impunity. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast In 2021, DSA candidate India Walton successfully won the Buffalo, NY primary over establishment incumbent mayor Byron Brown. She would have been the first socialist mayor of a large city since Frank Zeidler left office as mayor of Milwaukee in 1960. But she never became mayor. Brown sued to get on the ballot, failed, but then launched a successful write in campaign. Though she was backed by WFP and had secured endorsements from Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, and AOC, Governor Hochul declined to endorse Walton, Echoing the current Zohran Mamdani moment. Now, Walton returns to Bad Faith to give her unique perspective on what it's like to win a Democratic Party primary, only to be beaten by the Democratic Party establishment, to offer advice to Zohran Mamdani, who once campaigned for Walton in Buffalo, and to unpack her feelings on the viability of using the Democratic Party as a vehicle for real change. 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 Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Bernie 2020 speechwriter and founder of The Lever David Sirota returns to Bad Faith to confront a quickly emerging consensus among centrist politicos: "we were right all along." Now that the energy is behind a charming Socialist mayoral candidate, the Pod Save bros, Abundance Libs, & MSNBC "progressives" are all rushing to offer explanations for why Zohran Mamdani won that downplay his substantive politics and elide the fact that, for years, they have supported candidates who are the antithesis of Zohran, all while claiming that a move to the center is the only way to win. Sirota, who has long been an advocate for more adversarial politics, pushes back against efforts by the center-left to co-opt Zohran's win, and breaks down how it happened with Briahna Joy Gray. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).