The Muckrake Political Podcast

Nick Hauselman is still out of pocket, leaving Jared Yates Sexton to record another Professor Jared episode. Here, he begins with a look at climate change as a historical El Niño churns in the Pacific, then brings the issue into a larger context with breaking news that OpenAI meddled with governmental data (putting the blame where it belongs there), and the very sinister trend of tech oligarchs becoming weapons developers as democracy erodes. Oh, and there's a real big deep dive into the history of the military-industrial complex thrown in for good measure. If you haven't already, head to http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast and become a patron. You'll get the bonus Weekender episode every Friday, as well as access to specials and livestreams, which will come in handy during the Midterm season.

Nick Hauselman is still out of country, leaving Jared Yates Sexton to tackle the Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros., the monopolistic environment, the denial of journalists in the White House, and the economic system blinking in warning that the whole thing could come down at any moment. To support the show and also listen to the entire episode, head over to http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast and become a patron.

Nick Hauselman is out for the next two weeks, so Jared Yates Sexton takes the opportunity to draw together the plethora of breaking news stories and connect the dots. This is a table-setting episode dissecting how geopolitical chaos and U.S. decline is tied together in an agenda to destroy liberal democracy and create a techno-feudal, authoritarian order. If you haven't already, head over to http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast to support the show and gain access to the patreon-exclusive Weekender episodes on Friday.

This is a preview of The Weekender. Sign up for our Patreon and get access to the full episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman open on Kevin Warsh raising interest rates when Trump appointed him to cut them, and why a rate hike can't do a thing about: record diesel prices, the war in Iran, or an economy already flirting with stagflation (not necessarily in that order). The Supreme Court keeps the Postal Service's mail ballot rule on hold through the midterms, with Thomas and Alito still on board (because of course) and a whistleblower alleging the USPS built the system anyway. Jared predicts November is headed for a mess no matter what the courts say. Speaking of a mess, Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate looking a lot like Grandpa at the dinner table in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which Jared and Nick see as proof of a machine that grinds the humanity out of everyone who serves it. A new report that JD Vance tried to advise the Clinton campaign in 2016 shows exactly who he is: a striver (on a couch) with no principles who could just as easily have ended up a Democrat, and Hillary's own 9/11 essay in The Atlantic proves the striver class is bipartisan (good times). In What We're Watching, Nick catches The Odyssey a second time to get ready for his trip, and Jared is slowly working through For Whom the Bell Tolls and finally watched season one of The Rehearsal. Nick is off to Greece for two weeks, so Jared will hold down the fort until he's back in October.

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman open on Dario Amodei's call to slow down AI development and why we should be worried when both Sam Altman and Elon Musk agree with him. Donald Trump responded that the whole thing is a sick conspiracy because, of course he did. They work through who actually benefits when an industry starts begging to be regulated, why a bubble this size might need to become a national security emergency to survive, and what it means that the quickest way to get what you want is to frighten people out of thinking. Then the Middle East, where the Houthis took Mayun island and closed the Red Sea route that was supposed to be the answer to the Strait of Hormuz, while drones launched out of Iraq and tore up the East-West pipeline . From there, the BRICS nations met in New Delhi and called for a multipolar world while Donald Trump blames Volodymyr Zelensky for diesel prices: good times. They make the case that the alternative order arriving now isn't better, only newer, and that the United States has spent the past year assembling it on the other side's behalf. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon to hear the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast