S8 Ep221: ELECTION NIGHT LANDSLIDE AND POLITICAL REALIGNMENT Colleague David Pietrusza. On election night, early returns from Connecticut signaled a massive victory for Roosevelt, contradicting the predictions of the Literary Digest straw poll. Roosevelt won a hist

S8 Ep221: THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: CLASS WARFARE AND THE BLACK VOTE Colleague David Pietrusza. Alf Landon proved a poor campaigner, taking long vacations and delivering ineffective radio speeches. Conversely, Eleanor Roosevelt became a powerful surrogate, campaigning fo

S8 Ep221: THE REPUBLICAN FIELD AND THE SELECTION OF ALF LANDON Colleague David Pietrusza. The Republican Party sought a candidate to challenge Roosevelt, dismissing a return of Herbert Hoover and bypassing isolationist William Borah. They settled on Kansas Governor

S8 Ep221: THE POWER AND DECLINE OF WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST Colleague David Pietrusza. Media magnate William Randolph Hearst, who controlled a vast empire of newspapers and radio stations, shifted from a Roosevelt supporter in 1932 to a fierce critic by 1936. Hearst

S8 Ep221: MANAGING THE LEFT: SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS, AND THE POPULAR FRONT Colleague David Pietrusza. Roosevelt contended with established leftist parties, including the Socialists led by Norman Thomas and the Communist Party USA under Earl Browder. While the Socia

S8 Ep221: THE TOWNSEND PLAN, FATHER COUGHLIN, AND THE THIRD PARTY THREAT Colleague David Pietrusza. Dr. Francis Townsend's popular plan for old-age pensions pressured Roosevelt, who disliked "the dole," into creating Social Security. Concurrently, Father Charles Co

S8 Ep221: POPULIST THREATS FROM THE SOUTH: HUEY LONG AND THE TALMADGES Colleague David Pietrusza. Roosevelt faced significant challenges from Southern populists who threatened to split his support in the solid South. The most dangerous was Huey Long of Louisiana, w

S8 Ep220: THE INAUGURATION RELEASE AND A PATTERN OF TREASON Colleague Craig Unger. Unger highlights the suspicious timing of the hostage release minutes after Reagan's inauguration, arguing a secret deal was undeniable. He connects this to a pattern of Republican i

S8 Ep220: INSIDE IRAN: CONFESSIONS FROM THE REVOLUTIONARIES Colleague Craig Unger. Traveling to Tehran, Unger visits the former US embassy and interviews Mohsen Rafighdoost, a Revolutionary Guard founder. Unger captured video where Rafighdoost seemingly admits to m

S8 Ep220: CONFIRMING MADRID AND THE PARIS MEETING MYSTERY Colleague Craig Unger. Unger asserts the Madrid meeting between Casey and Iranian cleric Karrubi definitely occurred to sketch the deal. While less certain about George H.W. Bush's presence at the subsequent

S8 Ep220: THE SECRET NETWORK: SAFARI CLUB AND ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE Colleague Craig Unger. The discussion examines the "Safari Club," an off-the-books network used by Casey to bypass oversight. Unger explains how Casey utilized John Shaheen as a cutout to communicat

S8 Ep220: MEDIA COVER-UPS AND THE LADIES' ROOM DISCOVERY Colleague Craig Unger. Unger recounts how Newsweek and a Congressional investigation suppressed the story, dismissing the "October Surprise" as a myth. Despite warnings from Seymour Hersh, Unger and reporter

S8 Ep220: INVESTIGATING THE MADRID AND PARIS ALLEGATIONS Colleague Craig Unger. Unger describes investigating allegations from rogue Israeli operative Ari Ben-Menashe, who claimed Bill Casey met Iranian representatives in Madrid to negotiate delaying the hostage re

S8 Ep220: BILL CASEY TAKES COMMAND OF THE REAGAN CAMPAIGN Colleague Craig Unger. Unger details how Ronald Reagan hired former OSS spy Bill Casey as campaign manager. Casey utilized a secret intelligence network involving Israeli agents to monitor the hostage situat

S8 Ep220: HOSTAGE CRISIS AND THE DESERT ONE TRAGEDY Colleague Craig Unger. Author Craig Unger discusses the 1980 "Desert One" rescue failure, a tragedy that crippled President Carter's re-election chances. He explains the geopolitical context, including the Shah's

S8 Ep219: COVID-19 AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF UNELECTED BUREAUCRATS Colleague Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson asserts that the COVID-19 pandemic empowered unelected bureaucrats to enforce lockdowns that disproportionately crushed the middle class while enriching large corp

S8 Ep219: NULLIFICATION AND THE WEAPONIZATION OF IMPEACHMENT Colleague Victor Davis Hanson. The discussion covers modern "nullification," where jurisdictions like sanctuary cities deliberately ignore federal immigration laws, creating a dangerous legal asymmetry. H

S8 Ep219: PROGRESSIVE ELITES AND CONSTITUTIONAL SUBVERSION Colleague Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson characterizes progressive elites as "evolutionaries" who seek to bypass Constitutional checks like the Electoral College and the Senate's structure because these system

S8 Ep219: THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE AND UNELECTED POWER Colleague Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson describes the "administrative state" or "deep state" as a permanent class of unelected bureaucrats who possess vast power without accountability to voters or Congress. He a

S8 Ep219: THE ABANDONMENT OF THE MELTING POT IDEAL Colleague Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson asserts that America is abandoning the "melting pot" ideal of assimilation—where diverse people integrate to become Americans—in favor of tribalism and identity politics. He cl