Antifascist Dad Podcast

Canada's proto-fascist scorecard is racking up big numbers. Jasmine Peardon — organizer, policy researcher, and New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus candidate for party president — joins me to discuss this critical turning point. We look at Mark Carney's Davos speech as a case study in political dishonesty. We trace the NDP's founding compromise: born in 1961 as a merger with the anti-capitalist CCF, the party has always held its socialist roots at arms length.  Jasmine's out to change that. We discuss the presidential vote structure that stacks the deck against grassroots candidates, the Yves Engler vetting scandal, and the concept of movement capture — how progressive energy gets absorbed and neutralized by parties that want your vote but not your values or full-time organizing. Also: the solidarity economy's double-tax problem: ordinary people paying twice for dignity while their taxes continue to fund war. Part two is on Patreon now. Sources: New Democratic Party (NDP) Once upon a Waffle Canada's economy lost 84,000 jobs in February, unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7% The Military Wins and Public Programs Lose in Carney's Budget Canada releases Budget 2025: Canada Strong Budget 2025: A "historic moment" for the arms industry White nationalist fight clubs pose risk for 'extreme violence,' warns government report 'Active clubs' are all over Canada. What are they? White Nationalism in Canada: Organized, Emboldened, and Growing RCMP charges military members allegedly plotting to form militia and seize land How a White Nationalist Club Thought It Found Safe Haven in a Montreal Gym Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore Here's one easy trick to combat foreign political interference in our media Postmedia and the American Hedge Fund Takeover of Canada's Newspapers For the sake of our democracy, American hedge funds should be banned from owning Canadian newspapers B.C. premier says Alberta separatists seeking assistance from U.S. is 'treason' Canadian separatists optimistic after meetings with Trump officials Chapters (00:02:01) - Jasmine Peardon's challenge to the NDP(00:12:42) - Mark Carney's 'clear picture' of Canadian politics(00:14:39) - Is the New Democratic Party a Social Democratic Party?(00:24:38) - How the Old Guard Will Respond(00:39:04) - Party Politics and the Solidarity Economy

What does it mean to hold both clear-eyed despair and committed action at the same time? I trace the antifascist axiom "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" through my own life — my late mother's instinctive class consciousness, my writing teacher Luciano's daily creative discipline, and my early Buddhist practice of contemplating impermanence. I unpack Eve Sedgwick's concept of paranoid versus reparative reading, and why the left's hypervigilance can foreclose on the energy needed for repair. I correct the common attribution of the mantra to Gramsci, locating the phrase's origin in Romain Rolland's 1920 review of Raymond Lefebvre's WWI novel — a cry from Flanders Fields about bourgeois sacrifice of the young. And I map the tension between intellect and will onto bodily experience, arguing that theory and mutual aid aren't competing demands but two characteristics of how we already live. Sources Romain Rolland, review of Le Sacrifice d'Abraham, L'Humanité, 19 March 1920 — transcription and translation Antonio Gramsci, "Address to the Anarchists," L'Ordine Nuovo, 3–10 April 1920 Raymond Lefebvre (1891–1920), Le Sacrifice d'Abraham (Flammarion, 1919) Academic treatment of the phrase's history: "Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will," Rethinking Marxism (2019) Political reading of the slogan: "Pessimism of the Will," Viewpoint Magazine (2020) Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading," in Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity (Duke University Press, 2003) Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: antifascistdad TikTok: @antifascistdad Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad: Penguin Random House Chapters (00:00:06) - Mark Carney lib-fash dad reflections(00:01:56) - Pessimism of the Intellectuals vs optimism of the Will(00:18:23) - A Week in the Life of Fascism

Sitting down today with racial equity educator and spiritual director Michelle Cassandra Johnson about what she calls the “hierarchy of bodies” — the long-standing social logic that determines whose lives are protected, valued, and believed. Against mainstream claims that rising authoritarianism is shocking or unprecedented, Michelle argues that today’s crises reflect very old patterns of domination rooted in race, power, and proximity to privilege. Why do some communities experience the current political moment as rupture while others recognize it as continuity? What are the downstream effects of the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion work? What does anti-racism training actually look like on the ground — and why re relationship, solidarity, and accountability more important than shame or guilt? Is multiracial community grounded in care the strongest inoculation against fascism? Part 2 now up on Patreon. Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant and educator, and intuitive and shamanic healer. For over 25 years as a racial equity educator, she has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups. Michelle is a six-time published author, and in May 2025, her sixth book, The Wisdom of the Hive, co-written with her best friend, Amy Burtaine, was released. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, sweet dog, Jasper, and her honeybees.  https://www.michellecjohnson.com/. Notes:  All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:02:06) - Carney Takes all that stuff he said about Davos back(00:08:46) - Michelle on Anti-Fascism(00:11:09) - White Shock to the System(00:20:53) - Anti-Racism Training(00:32:03) - Understanding Whiteness

Back with Michelle, and pivoting from diagnosis to practice. We get a powerful story from her anti-racism work about calling someone into accountability without shaming or discarding them — and what real healing can look like in the room. We explore how multiracial, multicultural communities of care are built on the ground through shared language, listening, and repair. Why is the backlash against DEI and why relationship remains a quiet, radical force against fascism. Michelle also reflects on growing up in the Black Baptist church, how her spiritual life has always been inseparable from her political life, and why faith — in something beyond what we can currently see — may be essential to sustaining resistance.  CODA: A story from Antifascist Dad about the first inklings I had as a kid that I was white, and what that meant. Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant and educator, and intuitive and shamanic healer. For over 25 years as a racial equity educator, she has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups. Michelle is a six-time published author, and in May 2025, her sixth book, The Wisdom of the Hive, co-written with her best friend, Amy Burtaine, was released. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, sweet dog, Jasper, and her honeybees.  https://www.michellecjohnson.com/. Notes:  All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:02:15) - The Secret to Anti-Racism Healing(00:06:59) - The Community of Anti-Fascism(00:12:08) - Collective Care and Community Care(00:15:58) - Inter-Spiritual Direction(00:20:57) - The Use of Religion as a Tool of Oppression(00:23:08) - Religion and Political Life(00:27:29) - The End of Capitalism(00:35:14) - How I first realized I was white

Back for Pt 2 of my conversation with Blair Hodges—Salt Lake City journalist, former Mormon insider, and dad to a trans kid—by digging into Mormon masculinity. Blair explains how Mormon emotional vulnerability descends from early charismatic revival culture, but also how a rising alt-right strain inside the church is pushing toward a more punitive “muscular” Christianity. On parenting: why children’s rights and autonomy require dismantling authoritarian habits, how neurodivergence exposes the cruelty of “normal” discipline, and how institutions often treat kids as property. Also: the privilege of political disengagement, what it feels like when the “flood” of fascism reaches your floor, and why listening to marginalized people is the starting point for real antifascist practice. I close by reading a short excerpt from my upcoming book, a section on gender performance and why trans liberation matters to all of us. Notes:  Relationshapes: Blair Hodges All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:02:50) - Mormons' Emotionality(00:07:25) - In Defense of Children's Rights(00:13:59) - The Time of a Parent's Death(00:16:10) - White People's Feelings About Fascism(00:22:01) - The Concerns of a More Moderated Mormon(00:31:14) - The Moment of Becoming Aware of Trans People

Welcoming friend and colleague and fellow dad Brad Onishi (Straight White American Jesus, Preparing for War), to explore the parallels between evangelical conversion and fascist recruitment. Brad was a convert to evangelicalism at 14 and shares how teenage anxiety, alienation, and the search for belonging made him vulnerable to a worldview that offered refuge, certainty, and an enemy to fight. Bottom line: both fundamentalist religion and far-right movements promise clarity in chaotic times—binary thinking, moral urgency, and cosmic stakes. At the top: I trace the historical roots of the Satanic Panic and connect it to the current flood of conspiratorial reactions to the Epstein files. If we're parenting or mentoring, we have to recognize spiritual warfare narratives when they resurface on social media. They only confuse things.  Part 2 now up on Patreon. Brad Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, and co-host of the Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ) podcast. He founded Axis Mundi Media in 2023 in order to provide a platform for research-based podcasts focused on safeguarding democracy from the threats of extremism and authoritarianism. His writing has appeared at the New York Times, Politico, Rolling Stone, NBC News, HuffPost, and many other outlets. Onishi is a frequent guest on national radio, podcast, and television outlets, including “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross and MSNBC. His podcast, SWAJ, ranks in the top 50 of Politics shows on Apple’s podcast charts – ahead of programs from NPR, the NYT, and other national outlets. His book, Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next is available now. CORRECTION: In the intro, I said that Paul 23 presided over Vatican 2. It was actually John 23.  Notes:  Satanic Panic archive on Conspirituality. The Devil You Know — Sarah Marshall  The Smoke of Satan on the Silver Screen: The Catholic Horror Film, Vatican II, and the Revival of Demonology | Journal for the Academic Study of Religion All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Antif... Chapters (00:00:07) - Fascist Pipeline, Evangelical Pipeline With Brad Onishi(00:02:04) - The Satanic Panic Content on Instagram(00:03:35) - The Catholic Church and the Sexual Abuse(00:10:19) - The Satanic Panic Commentaries on the Epstein Files(00:14:21) - Brad Onishi(00:16:26) - Anti-Fascist Dad Podcast(00:16:42) - There Are A Few Anti-Fascists In Portland(00:17:16) - Nobody Is Born a Fundamentalist(00:26:06) - Former Patriot Front Member on The Fear of the Enemy(00:33:14) - Bradley on Antifascist Ideology(00:43:17) - How multicultural and multi ethnic communities inoculate against fascism

Part 2 with Brad Onishi. What interrupts extremist pipelines? Brad dishes on his Japanese American family and how multicultural, multiethnic community might inoculate against fascist identity formation. I discuss the flip side: whiteness as the erasure of roots, the vulnerability of deracinated teens searching for story What are the healthier forms of religion—traditions that invite complexity, mystery, and emotional range rather than binary thinking and enemy-making?  The coda is on self-regulation, frugality, and inner renewal as part of antifascist life. Do we need antifascist spirituality?  Brad Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, and co-host of the Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ) podcast. He founded Axis Mundi Media in 2023 in order to provide a platform for research-based podcasts focused on safeguarding democracy from the threats of extremism and authoritarianism. His writing has appeared at the New York Times, Politico, Rolling Stone, NBC News, HuffPost, and many other outlets. Onishi is a frequent guest on national radio, podcast, and television outlets, including “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross and MSNBC. His podcast, SWAJ, ranks in the top 50 of Politics shows on Apple’s podcast charts – ahead of programs from NPR, the NYT, and other national outlets. His book, Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next is available now. Notes:  Satanic Panic archive on Conspirituality. The Devil You Know — Sarah Marshall  The Smoke of Satan on the Silver Screen: The Catholic Horror Film, Vatican II, and the Revival of Demonology | Journal for the Academic Study of Religion All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:00:09) - Antifascist Dad: The Evangelical Pipeline(00:02:26) - A Japanese American Family's Love(00:10:54) - How to Grow Up When You're 14(00:14:09) - The Pathways to Religious Solidarity(00:19:45) - Emotions of Black Church Worship(00:23:49) - Brad Onishi on Religion and the Trump Era(00:29:48) - Michael Parenti on Soviet Socialism

What happens when a person we admire is implicated in networks of abuse? How can kids navigate guilt by association without sliding into cynicism or spectacle? Using Deepak Chopra’s Epstein emails to Jeffrey Epstein, we can see what charisma offers people in pain, what red flags look like, and how media culture trains us to confuse popularity with truth. Finally: how much apocalyptic evidence do we need before we pivot from doomscrolling to building durable forms of hope? I draw on Dahr Jamail’s arc catastrophe reporting to documenting Indigenous wisdom to explore the question. Notes:  Occult Features of Anarchism | The Anarchist Library The End of Ice - The New Press — Dahr Jamail We Are the Middle of Forever Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth — Jamail and Rushworth  All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:00:09) - How to Talk To Young People About The Epstein Files(00:02:08) - Two Issues of Intergenerational Weight(00:03:03) - Deepak Chopra and the New Age Industry(00:10:58) - Coming soon: A Midlife Crisis(00:19:48) - The Weight of Information

I’m joined by my friend Blair Hodges—Salt Lake City journalist, nonprofit comms pro, and dad to a trans kid—for a conversation that starts with his powerful public testimony opposing Utah’s anti–gender-affirming-care bills. Blair unpacks what it’s like raising a trans child in a “blue dot” city under a hostile state supermajority, and how the so-called “Utah Way” pairs polite PR with targeted cruelty—from flag bans to efforts to rename Harvey Milk Boulevard in the centre of town. We also trace Blair’s journey from Mormon priesthood culture to trans advocacy: how missionary life cracked his worldview open, how Mormon theology hardens into cis-hetero supremacy, and how real relationships—and research—changed his mind. Part two (now on Patreon) goes deeper on Mormon masculinity, authoritarian parenting, children’s rights, and why protecting his kid ultimately mattered more than reforming an institution from within.PS from Blair!On Mormons not being considered white, see W. Paul Reeve, Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness (Oxford University Press).The best current one-volume history of the church in its American context, its political realignments, etc., see Benjamin E. Park, American Zion: A New History of Mormonism (W.W. Norton). The best history of Mormon thought on sexuality and gender is Talor G. Petrey, Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism (UNC Press). For a firsthand account of the church's chief architect overseeing its temple building program who came out as trans and subsequently lost her job and church membership, see Laurie Lee Hall, Dictates of Conscience: From Mormon High Priest to My New Life as a Woman (Signature Books). I interviewed her about the book on Relationscapes, "Trans In the Latter Days." Notes:  Relationshapes: Blair Hodges All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:00:59) - Blair Hodges at the Utah State House(00:07:49) - Utah's anti-LGBTQ policies(00:11:07) - Mormons on Their Mission(00:17:15) - Mormons' perspectives on minority rights(00:18:42) - Mormons on Gender and the Family(00:24:20) - Mormon theology of the nuclear family(00:28:47) - What Started to Break Down The Mormon Gendered Experience

I'm back with Part 2 of my conversation with Dale Beran, turning to what happened to the people he followed while reporting on early 4chan, and what it means to grow out of a life shaped by anonymous online worlds.  Some were able to step away as their offline lives improved, but others remained tied to screens in cycles of  addiction. I also share how Dale’s work has helped me talk with my own kids about online culture, bullying, and the attention economy, as a form of inoculation against extremism and despair. This episode ends with an informal report on how conversations about online spaces are going in this antifascist house.  Notes: It Came from Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump into Office —Beran All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:00:08) - Boys and Men of 4chan grow up and move on, or don't(00:04:12) - Stuck in Screens(00:11:31) - The Alt-Right and Accountability(00:21:30) - Are Parents Too Protective?(00:26:38) - Ideas for 12-Year-Old Me(00:32:36) - How We're Talking to Our Kids About the Internet

An audio essay on how to talk with young people about the Epstein files from an antifascist perspective. How to hold questions without amplifying sensationalism. How to name harms amidst the absence of accountability. Also: fragmented Epstein File discourse could trigger a QAnon-style wave on the left, unless adults provide steadier sources, context, and care. Notes:  Occult Features of Anarchism | The Anarchist Library All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:04:44) - Talking To My Kids About Epstein(00:15:28) - QAnon 2.0

As he laid it out at Davos, Carney’s prescription for avoiding fascist chaos is more of the same conservative capitalism that accelerates fascism: tax cuts, deregulation, fast-tracked investment in oil, AI, and minerals, and new trading blocs with the more stable “middle powers.” He’s not talking about or taking action domestically to support labour unions, redistribution, social safety nets, or anti-racist and democratic protections.  Carney’s calm, paternal style makes his status quo vision emotionally appealing to liberals seeking stability. Antifascism cannot be a gentler version of domination. We don’t need a kinder patriarch inside the sweatshop. We need politics and parental figures that lead us out of it. CODA: Alex Pretti was a hero, but the straightforward normalcy of his decent actions tell us something about the contested territory of masculinity in this fascist era. Notes: Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems Jessica Hauser (friend of Alex Pretti) statement. All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:00:08) - Carney's New Medicine, Same as the Old(00:06:21) - Trudeau and Mark Carney: Secure Attachment?(00:20:43) - Alex Pretti: The Normalcy of Heroism

Writer Dale Beran visits to discuss the far-right online subcultures he documented in his excellent 2019 book, It Came from Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump into Office. I ask whether the cohort of alienated, terminally online young men still exists and whether it lost power after gaining it. TLDR? The specific 4chan generation has aged or splintered, but the type endures, and its ideas have been mainstreamed—especially through Elon Musk’s transformation of Twitter into a platform that rewards provocation and misinformation. Did these young men ever face a real ideological fork? Do they regret that meme-friendly scapegoating traveled faster than deeper structural explanations? We also whether the left should start meming harder.  DALE BERAN is a writer and artist whose work has been published in McSweeney’s, Quartz, The Huffington Post, The Daily Dot, The Nib, and The Baltimore City Paper. He has a BA in classics from Bard and a JD from Fordham. He lives in Baltimore. All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:02:34) - From Something Awful(00:11:19) - Anti-Fascists Dad on The Alt-Right(00:19:19) - The Left and the Far Right(00:24:45) - The Memes on the Shooting(00:28:19) - On Mediums and the Left(00:38:06) - 4chan: Anonymity and the Alt-Right

I'm back with Rev. Angela Denker, discussing antifascist faith under pressure. Angela names the misogyny threaded through white Christian nationalism—from “submission” theology to the contempt aimed at women who refuse it—and explains why the killing of Renee Good landed as specifically gendered terror. We talk about the double-bind of ministry: how churches can be both sites of harassment and, in places like Minneapolis, hubs of women-led resistance and care. Then I ask Angela to “translate” an antifascist Jesus for nonreligious young people by riffing on familiar parables—the Prodigal Son, Workers in the Vineyard, and the Talents—as lessons about mercy, economic fairness, and the moral danger of hoarding. The conversation turns to the hardest question: where nonviolence meets its limits, and how Lutheran traditions wrestle with power, resistance, and the realities of state violence. I close with reflections on Bishop Rob Hirschfeld’s call for clergy to “get their affairs in order” and what that kind of embodied witness implies about capitalism, solidarity, and the spiritual scar tissue we carry. Notes: Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood | Broadleaf Books All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:00:08) - Mother and Minister in Minneapolis(00:02:03) - White Christian Nationalism(00:04:32) - Building Ministry Away from Misogyny(00:10:19) - The Prodigal Son(00:12:12) - Workers in the Vineyard(00:13:47) - Parable of the Talents(00:18:27) - Jesus and the Problem of Nonviolence(00:28:16) - Hirschfeld's Advice to the Christian Clergy(00:33:44) - Theological Scar Tissue

Carney’s recent speech at Davos really is as important as everyone’s saying it is. But in my view, it’s not important for the obvious truth we just heard him confess, but for the lessons it provides about the deep contradictions and hypocrisies of liberal politics, and how when it pretends to stand up to fascism it’s really asking that the capital order return to an era of better optics. Carney told a truth about neoliberalism that conceals a bigger lie about capitalist inevitability, and how pulling this off with the affect of a more benevolent patriarch can be really attractive and distracting. Part two, available now on Patreon, explores Carney’s masculinity and paternal political style in depth. Does he offer secure attachment? Notes ICE taps Canadian firm for 20 armoured vehicles despite Trump trade war | Globalnews.ca ‘Deeply troubling’: Canadian legislators call for halt to ICE armored vehicle sale after report by The Independent Leadnow. “Stop the Contract: No Canadian Weapons to ICE.” “Principled and pragmatic: Canada’s path” Prime Minister Carney addresses the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting  The Power of the Powerless  ECONOMIC WARFARE. (Hansard, 17 January 1940) All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:00:07) - Mark Carney Is Not Your Anti-Fascist Dad(00:03:14) - Roshel Selling Armored Vehicles to ICE(00:08:31) - Havel's Power of the Powerless(00:19:31) - Carney's Policies(00:25:16) - A Kinder Father Figure?

Picking it back up with historian of fascism Craig Johnson with the question of why fascism can feel cool—especially online—and how we might interrupt that appeal without fighting on fascism’s terms. But fascism isn't just pretending to be cool: it’s popular, aesthetic, and subcultural, and it sells itself through speed, power, transgression, and a sense of newness. There's a tactical dilemma: how to puncture influencers like Andrew Tate or Nick Fuentes without reinforcing their own status metrics (looks, dominance, sexual access). Craig feels, for instance, that jawline mockery backfires, and why we have to keep the critique on what actually matters: cruelty, exploitation, and fascist politics. No one organizes alone: tactics are collective, context-dependent, and always strategic. We close on coalition-building and why real, lived diversity makes fascist lies harder to sell. I end with a brief coda on talking with my kids about the attack on Caracas. Notes: How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism — Johnson Fifteen Minutes of Fascism — Johnson's podcast All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:01:07) - Does Fascism Pretend to Be Cool?(00:10:23) - Andrew Tate and the Politics of Influence(00:18:17) - Does the Left Have a Natural Immunity to Fascism?(00:25:16) - Anti-Fascism: The Transgressive Value of Slog(00:29:19) - On the Strategy of Protest(00:32:48) - On Diversity and Anti-Fascism

I’m joined by Rev. Angela Denker,  Lutheran minister, journalist, and mom in Minneapolis, as the city groans under intensified ICE activity. We discuss realities on the ground for families and schools, how she talks with her own kids about fear and safety, and why she believes clear, steady adult context matters in a fragmented media world. As a minister, Denker's visitation and public theology assignments weave pastoral care and sacramental life into public resilience. As a journalist, the core revelation of her book Disciples of White: The Radicalization of American Boyhood, revolves around her framework of “White Jesus” as a cultural product that sanctifies hierarchy, masculinity, and domination. We talk about how that distortion links to the wider ecosystem of white Christian nationalism. Part 2 now up on Patreon, explores misogyny in the church, antifascist readings of parables, and hard questions about force, nonviolence, and witness. Notes: Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood | Broadleaf Books All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:00:05) - Mother and Minister in Minneapolis(00:15:06) - Lutheran and Catholic clergy: an ecumenical conversation(00:18:23) - What Does a Visitation Pastor Do?(00:25:15) - White Jesus: The Story of Christian Nationalism(00:32:42) - White Jesus and the Right

I'm back with Sarah Jaffray to probe the aesthetics of fascism and the politics of cultural memory. We talk about how fascist movements rely on a triumphalist victim complex that cannot tolerate vulnerability or disability, and how this connects to the Nazi impulse to purify society through the language of degeneracy and the “enemy within.” Of course we also ping Hitler’s own frustrated artistic ambitions and the nineteenth-century “beautiful ruin” vibe, tracing how nostalgia for an imagined past becomes a visual template for authoritarian order. I close out with a personal coda on writing, mentorship, attention, and rebuilding an inner voice after a personal collapse—through time and cursive. About — Sarah Jaffray  You can support the show on Patreon! All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Notes Barron, Stephanie, ed. “Degenerate Art”: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.https://www.getty.edu/publications/virtuallibrary/0892362651.html Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung. “Bauhaus History 1919–1933.”https://www.bauhaus.de/en/das_bauhaus/21_history/ Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” 1935.https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm Dixon, Paul. “Uncanny Valley.” Encyclopaedia Britannica.https://www.britannica.com/science/uncanny-valley Dix, Otto. “War (Der Krieg), 1929–1932.” Dresden State Art Collections.https://skd-online-collection.skd.museum/Details/Index/334771 Evans, Richard J. The Coming of the Third Reich. New York: Penguin, 2003.https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297974/the-coming-of-the-third-reich-by-richard-j-evans/ G... Chapters (00:09:29) - The Reich's critique of modern art(00:16:03) - The Problem With Art History(00:23:19) - In the Elevator With Art Historians(00:23:54) - Antifascist Art(00:27:14) - Advice for Young Writers(00:32:48) - How to Rescue Your Inner Voice

I sit down with historian of fascism Craig Johnson to talk about one of the hardest and most urgent questions facing parents right now: how do we talk to our sons about fascism in a world where so much political socialization happens online, fast, and without supervision? I open the episode in the shadow of the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE—and how disorienting it feels to say what we plainly saw while powerful institutions deny it. As a parent of two sons, I think out loud about what it means to slow things down, to regulate myself first, and to create a space where fear, grief, anger, and dignity can all be held without panic or cynicism. Johnson argues that fascist movements have always relied on young men to do their dirty work, and traditional Western masculinity—organized around power, domination, speed, and violence—creates a gateway. Boys aren't inherently fascist, but gendered expectations are easily exploited. We talk about how platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Discord are dense ecosystems where irony, transgressive humor, and memes function as social signals. Racist or sexist jokes are designed to pull kids in quietly, and how adult outrage can sometimes backfire by confirming the fascist story that these ideas are “forbidden.” When a kid brings a meme to you, that moment is a crossroads. Punishment and shutdown don’t work. Curiosity, care, and asking a child to explain the joke can slow everything down and open space for honesty.  Notes: How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism — Johnson Fifteen Minutes of Fascism — Johnson's podcast Part 2 now up on Patreon. All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad  Chapters (00:04:20) - How to Talk to My Son About Renee Good(00:09:55) - Why Fascism Targets Boys(00:14:39) - Are These Political Spaces Safe for Kids?(00:23:15) - How to Talk to Your Child About Social Media(00:28:10) - Hacking Virality

What makes art politically dangerous to fascism—and why does empathy now count as transgression? Today I'm joined by art historian, educator, and curator Sarah Jaffray for a wide-ranging conversation about modern art, fascism, and the politics of perception. Starting from the Nazis’ infamous “Degenerate Art” campaign, Sarah traces how artists in the aftermath of World War I deliberately abandoned realism, narrative, and institutional aesthetics in order to resist authoritarian power. We explore why fascist movements obsess over image control, why abstraction and disorientation can be politically subversive, and how artists make the invisible visible—in part by slowing us down and drawing out deeper levels of attention. We discuss Dada, Surrealism, New Objectivity, Otto Dix, and George Grosz alongside contemporary struggles over AI-generated art and outcome-driven creativity. We talk a lot about time: the time art requires, the time empathy needs, and the way authoritarian systems try to eliminate both. Sarah argues for art as witness, process, and lived testimony in the face of political dehumanization. Part Two of this conversation, available now on Patreon, continues into practical guidance on aesthetic freedom and creative survival under pressure. Antifascist Dad is out on April 26! You can preorder here. Notes About — Sarah Jaffray  Barron, Stephanie, ed. “Degenerate Art”: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.https://www.getty.edu/publications/virtuallibrary/0892362651.html Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung. “Bauhaus History 1919–1933.”https://www.bauhaus.de/en/das_bauhaus/21_history/ Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” 1935.https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm Dixon, Paul. “Uncanny Valley.” Encyclopaedia Britannica.https://www.britannica.com/science/uncanny-valley Dix, Otto. “War (Der Krieg), 1929–1932.” Dresden State Art Collections.https://skd-online-collection.skd.museum/Details/Index/334771 Evans, Richard J. The Coming of the Third Reich. New York: Penguin, 2003.https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297974/the-coming-of-the-third-reich-by-richard-j-evans/ Gross, George. “Background and Biography.” Tate.https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/george-grosz-1188 Harrison, Charles, Francis Frascina, and Gill Perry. Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300055191/primitivism-cubism-abstraction/ Hitler, Adolf. Speech at the opening of the Entartete Kunst exhibition, Munich, July 19, 1937.English excerpts reproduced at:https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/entart.htm Holbein, Hans (the Younger). “The Ambassadors... Chapters (00:02:03) - Vanity Fair's Anti-Fascist Portraits(00:07:17) - Interview(00:08:22) - What Makes Transgressive Art Impactful?(00:11:04) - In the Elevator With Art That's Transgressive(00:12:59) - Art in the Age of AI(00:18:34) - Art and the Uncanny Valley(00:22:51) - The Shift in Modern Art History(00:30:12) - The Degenerate Art Exhibition