Antifascist Dad Podcast

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. 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

Happy New Year, everyon! This is Part 2 of my conversation with Richard Gilman-Opalsky on the “Communism of Love."Love isn’t something to trade, measure, or deserve, and this makes it incompatible with capitalism, and how it gets distorted into obligation, sacrifice, and unpaid, gendered domestic labor. We talk about improvisation in music, parenting, and politics. Suppressing improvisation is rooted in an obsession with control, predictability, and rigid developmental maps—hallmarks of fascist thinking. Against that are openness, uncertainty, and experiment as conditions of human flourishing. We talk family and education, where communistic relations already exist in partial, uneven ways. What would it mean to de-privatize care—while recognizing, as bell hooks warned, that family is not a reliable site of love for everyone? Richard Gilman-Opalsky at UIS  Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/antifascistdadpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@antifascistdadTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@antifascistdadMatthew on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/matthewremski.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/matthew_remski  Preorder Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times Chapters (00:03:01) - Piano Lessons & Improvisation(00:04:23) - Jazz against the Fascists(00:07:58) - Anti-Fascism and Humanism(00:13:56) - The Right to Not Control Love(00:23:44) - The Right to Deprivatize Love(00:31:00) - The Communism of Christmas

Happy Solstice, Holiday, Christmas, Deep Winter, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa to you all. A familiar short story today, this time ending in revolution—not sentimentality. Notes: H.C. Andersen : The Little Match Girl (Hersholt translation) Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/AntifascistDadPodcast  TikTok and YouTube: @antifascistdad  You can still pre-order my book and as a gift, and let them know in a card! Chapters (00:00:00) - Intro(00:06:42) - Little Match Girl: a Rewrite

In Part 2 of my conversation with Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano, we move from the critique of debate and “critical thinking” into the deeper question: what actually radicalizes us? Sarah talks about the moments that changed her politics—teaching in prisons, supporting a student after sexual violence—and why no amount of abstract knowledge could have done the same work. I share how parenting an autistic kid has transformed my sense of who the world is designed for, and what it means to resist capitalist norms around productivity, learning, and success. Also: why televised debates and “reasoning as warfare” formats (ahem, Jubilee) are great entertainment but terrible tools for social change, how the marketplace-of-ideas myth functions as liberal ideology, and why protest rarely changes governments or “the public” directly, but can permanently change the protesters themselves. For Lubrano, good politics looks a lot like good friendship: long-term, non-transactional, joyful where possible. She offers advice to a hypothetical 15-year-old on how to enter political life without burning out: learn to be a good friend, find a broken part of the world you care about, and commit to fixing it together. I close with an in-person story about meeting my previous guest, Sarah Rose Kaplan, and watching her improv a small act of mutual aid with three hungry kids in a Toronto restaurant—a live illustration of Lubrano’s thesis that new social experiences can change lives. Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano is a political theorist and organizer with a background in feminist mutual aid, local grassroots work, and teaching in prisons. She holds a PhD from Oxford and a master’s degree from Cambridge, and works with the Sense and Solidarity Initiative and the Future Narratives Lab. Her first book is Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds (Bloomsbury). – Website: https://www.sarahsteinlubrano.com – Substack: https://sarahsteinlubrano.substack.com – X (Twitter): https://x.com/SSteinLubrano – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahsteinlubrano/ – Sense and Solidarity Initiative: https://senseandsolidarity.org – Sense & Solidarity podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/2dcKkTCJNZM2j2CLKJZS3W Buy Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds – Publisher (Bloomsbury – main hub): https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/dont-talk-about-politics-9781399413923/ – Support the pod on Patreon! – Preorder: Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (out April 26, 2026).  – TikTok: @AntiFascistDad – If you have an antifascism story to share—especially about relationships, generations, or parenting—leave me a voice message on Signal at username: antifascistdad71. Chapters (00:03:05) - What Really Changes Our Minds?(00:06:47) - Criticism of Argument as Warfare(00:12:35) - Liberal's Biggest Mistake(00:18:08) - The Long Term Strategy of Occupy(00:21:46) - What Would You Tell the 15 Year Old About Political Life?(00:25:06) - I Met Friend of the Pod Sara Rose Kaplan IRL!

I asked communist philosopher and jazz drummer Richard Gilman-Opalsky a deceptively simple question: What do we actually mean when we say “love”?  Richard’s "Communism of Love," insists that love is an active, non-exchange relation that contradicts the logic of capitalism. You can’t measure or spreadsheet it, or cost it out. Unfortunately, this fact can also curdle into an excuse for sidelining and ignoring the vast amount of unpaid, often gendered, domestic labor—the "secret workshop" described by feminist marxists—where the concept of love is abused and "weaponized" to justify working for free, claiming that love is its own reward. We talk about how real caregiving love requires parents to actively participate in their children's becoming—what they are not yet. That means getting over the anxiety of control and the tendency to treat children as emotional/financial investments. Parenting, like revolutionary politics and improvisational jazz, requires a constant, collective improvisation and a love for possibilities over rigid predetermined structures. In “Fascist, Squish, and Antifascist News of the Week” I focus on Ontario Premier Doug Ford responding to reporting about a Canadian armored vehicle manufacturer supplying ICE. Part Two is up now on Patreon, where Richard and I go deeper into improvisation, music, and why fascist control hates the freedom required for human flourishing. Richard Gilman-Opalsky at UIS  Support the show and hear Part Two on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/antifascistdadpodcast Show Notes: Canadian Defence Review. “Roman Shimonov: 2025 Defence Executive of the Year.” Canadian Defence Review, 2025.https://canadiandefencereview.com/roman-shimonov-2025-defence-executive-of-the-year/ Canadian Press. “ICE Ordering Fleet of 20 Armoured Vehicles from Canadian Firm.” CityNews Halifax, December 2, 2025.https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/12/02/ice-ordering-fleet-of-20-armoured-vehicles-from-canadian-firm/ Canadian Press. “ICE Says Armoured Vehicles Ordered from Roshel Produced in U.S.” CityNews Toronto, December 4, 2025.https://toronto.citynews.ca/2025/12/04/ice-says-armoured-vehicles-ordered-from-roshel-produced-in-u-s/ Canadian Press. “Sale of Canadian Armoured Vehicles to ICE Agency ‘Deeply Troubling’: Kwan.” CityNews Toronto, December 3, 2025.https://toronto.citynews.ca/2025/12/03/sale-of-canadian-armoured-vehicles-to-ice-agency-deeply-troubling-kwan/ CPAC. “NDP MP Jenny Kwan Discusses Arms Exports Bill (C-233).” Headline Politics, September 19, 2025.https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/ndp-mp-jenny-kwan-discusses-arms-exports-bill--september-19-2025?id=755fc44b-a0b7-4bb1-b972-855c673ec354 Duggan, Kyle. “Anita Anand Won’t Say Whether Canada Would Block Export of Armoured Vehicles for Use by ICE.” The Globe and Mail, December 2025.https://www.theglobeandmail.com/pol... Chapters (00:00:00) - The Communism of Love with Richard Gilman Opalski(00:01:47) - Canadian Arms to Fascists(00:12:34) - Interview(00:15:16) - Antifascist Dad: Love and the Right(00:16:16) - Defining Love in the Culture(00:20:51) - The Capitalist Theory of Love(00:30:12) - Uncertainty and Parenting

In part two, Sara and I open with the question Matt Walsh can’t stop weaponizing: “What is a woman?” Sara walks me through her one-woman show that answers Walsh by shifting the frame to a deceptively simple word—“chair.” Through a live game with the audience, she demonstrates how even basic terms are messy, negotiated, and context-bound, and how fascist language games depend on pretending that words like “woman” have timeless, universal meanings. We dig into why bad-faith questions are a form of bullying, what it means to feel the ground of language fall away under your feet, and how that eerie feeling can also open up freedom and solidarity. We talk about affect as antifascist strategy—why Sara cultivates a calm, philosophical delivery online, how it relates to depression, privilege, and safety, and how it offers a model of trans dignity that refuses both panic and “debate me, bro” energy. I end with a reflection on coming to understand gender performativity as a cis guy. Links from Sara:https://equalitytexas.org/give/501c3/https://hcb.hackclub.com/donations/start/lastreetcarehttps://www.instagram.com/sararosecaplan Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski  YouTube: Antifascist Dad on YouTube  TikTok: @antifascistdad Support the project/instant access to Pt 2. Patreon: patreon.com/AntifascistDadPodcast  Preorder the book that this podcast is building toward: Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times. If this episode helped you think or talk differently about fascism and gender, you can: • follow the show in your podcast app • leave a rating or short review • share this episode with a friend, comrade, or family member who’s struggling to talk about trans issues and fascism Chapters (00:00:09) - Anti-Fascist Dad: Trans People Drive Fascists Bananas(00:01:56) - What is a Matt Walsh?(00:12:20) - Does Philosophy Help Manage Anger?(00:19:56) - Queer Advice for 13 Year Olds

What if the entire “marketplace of ideas” story about how people change their minds is mostly wrong? In this episode, I talk with political theorist and organizer Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano about why debate, podcasts, and “critical thinking” rarely shift anyone’s core political commitments. Sarah and I dig into her book Don’t Talk About Politics: Changing 21st Century Minds, the limits of political education, the classed nature of “critical thinking,” cognitive dissonance and cult dynamics, and why good politics begins with friendships, cooperative projects, and building a different world together. Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano is a political theorist and organizer with a background in feminist mutual aid, local grassroots work, and teaching in prisons. She holds a PhD from Oxford and a master’s degree from Cambridge. Sarah works with the Sense and Solidarity Initiative and the Future Narratives Lab. Her first book is Don’t Talk About Politics: Changing 21st Century Minds (Bloomsbury). Website: https://www.sarahsteinlubrano.com Substack  https://sarahsteinlubrano.substack.com  X (Twitter): https://x.com/SSteinLubrano  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahsteinlubrano/  Sense and Solidarity Initiative: https://senseandsolidarity.org  Sense & Solidarity podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2dcKkTCJNZM2j2CLKJZS3W  Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds: https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/dont-talk-about-politics-9781399413923/ (Bloomsbury Publishing) Mentioned in this episode– Olivia Nuzzi, American Canto– Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (audio excerpt)– Leon Festinger, When Prophecy Fails and the origins of cognitive dissonance theory– Thomas Kelly’s archival critique of Festinger’s study (discussed further on Conspirituality)– System justification theory– Aristotle on friendship and the “friend of virtue”– The Dig podcast (as a political education project)– The School of Life – Please leave a rating and review so more people can find the show!– Preorder my book Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (out April 26, 2026)– Become a supporter on Patreon.– If you have an antifascism story to share – especially about relationships, generations, or parenting – leave me a voice message on Signal at username: antifascistdad71. Chapters (00:00:38) - Don't Talk About Politics With Sarah Stein Lubrano(00:02:50) - Olivia Nuzzi's American Canto(00:07:14) - "Don't Talk About Politics"(00:12:50) - How Do People Change Their Minds?(00:17:42) - What's Hard in the World?(00:26:44) - Cognitive dissonance and the conversion(00:38:54) - Fascist Dad of the Week

Donald Trump casually embraces the word “fascist” in front of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and doesn't bat an eye when Mamdani accuses him of funding genocide. This smug absorption of rhetorical confrontation is something we need to think about.   On the same day Mamdani brought socialism discourse to the Oval Office, the Democratic leadership voted in favour of House Resolution 58, “Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism,” which features Jordan Peterson’s favorite “100 million deaths” talking point from the dodgy stats of 1997's Black Book of Communism. But guess what? this same week, the province of Kerala, which has be led by democratically-elected communist parties since 1957, declared that it had eradicated extreme poverty for 64K households through an intensive micro-plan program involving helping folks making like than $3/day get good documents, ration cards, travel allowances, health care, house repairs, and palliative nursing.  And: I'm joined today by trans philosopher and performer Sara Rose Caplan. We explore why trans people drive fascists bananas; fascism as a fear response to freedom and uncertainty; C.T. Nguyen’s idea of “games as existential balm”; the Cassandra feeling of warning about fascism while no one listens; philosophy as “thinking in slow motion”; and why you can’t win arguments with bad-faith actors like Matt Walsh. Part 2 is available now on Patreon. Sara Rose Caplan is a trans woman, performer, and educator originally from Houston, Texas. She studied philosophy in undergrad before spending a decade in LA as an improv comedian. This fall, she started working on a MA in philosophy at Cal State LA under the mentorship of trans philosopher Talia Mae Bettcher, though she has sadly had to put her studies on hold as she and her wife, also trans, have decided to leave the United States for safer, hopefully less christofascist shores up North. Sources: Text - H.Con.Res.58 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Denouncing the horrors of socialism.  The Right Can’t Figure Out What to Do With Zohran Mamdani   Jordan Peterson: The right to be politically incorrect | National Post  The Black Book of Communism Is a Shoddy Work of History  How Kerala eliminated extreme poverty | Brookings Kerala becomes the first state to eradicate extreme poverty | Peoples Democracy Links from Sara:https://equalitytexas.org/give/501c3/https://hcb.hackclub.com/donations/start/lastreetcarehttps://www.instagram.com/sararosecaplan Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski  YouTube: Antifascist Dad on YouTube  TikTok: @antifascistdad Support the project/instant access to Pt 2. Patreon: patreon.com/AntifascistDadPodcast  ... Chapters (00:02:58) - Trump Is Making the F word Okay(00:06:33) - House Resolution 58 Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism(00:17:54) - Intro: Sara Rose Caplan(00:18:39) - Why Do Trans People Drive Fascists bananas?(00:27:26) - What Does It Mean to Be Trans in America?(00:34:08) - Why I Studied Philosophy(00:39:19) - Matt Walsh on Philosophy

In Part 2, David and I go deeper into the contradictions, tensions, and possibilities of the Catholic Church at this political moment. We discuss ideological purity, coalition building, critiques of capitalism, the role of synodality, and how leftists and religious radicals can meet each other in common struggle. What are the spiritual and emotional dimensions of direct action? What gives people courage to resist? The effort to bring communion to detainees is not a stunt but a deeply rooted pastoral act grounded in human rights, sacramental practice, and a public demonstration of both humility and defiance. What happens when people of very different beliefs show up at the same protest? What does collaboration look like when disagreements run deep? What happens if coalitions fracture? The right is always ready to fill the vacuum when the left stumbles backwards. Finally: a diary entry on post (?) religious antifascist parenting. David's excellent podcast on Liberation Theology Chapters (00:00:08) - Anti-Fascist Father(00:04:02) - The Mass Against ICE Detention(00:13:25) - Lazarus and Violence in the Catholic Church(00:26:12) - The issues of labor and social justice(00:27:01) - A More Joyful Side to Political Action(00:31:53) - Pope Francis on Fighting for Christ(00:32:39) - The Value of Religion for Our Kids