Dirty Moderate with Adam Epstein

Today’s episode is a little different… It’s a collab with David Armstrong’s Broadway Nation.  

David Armstrong’s Broadway Nation is all about the history of the Broadway Musical, and today we combine forces to discuss the many connections and intersections between the Broadway Musical and American politics. 

Twenty years ago Adam and David had the tremendous good fortune to both be involved in the creation of the Tony Award winning “Best Musical” HAIRSPRAY.  Adam was part of that show’s original New York producing team, and David was the Producing Artistic Director of Seattle’s 5th Av...

Listen to every second of former White House aide to Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, give her bombshell testimony in the 6th January 6th Committee Hearing with commentary from everyone's favorite Dirty Moderate. Our special coverage was broadcasted LIVE to the @dirtymoderate Twitter page and continues LIVE only on our Twitter page.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In the 11th installment of Stay Dirty, Stay Moderate, we continue our coverage of the 5th January 6 Committee Hearing with immediate reaction including summary, analysis, and opinion from Adam. You can catch the entire broadcast of the 1st January 6th Committee Hearing right here on the podcast or watch every second of our Special Coverage on the @dirtymoderate Twitter Page.

Blanket. Pardons. Listen to every  second of the 5th January 6th Committee Hearing with commentary from everyone's favorite Dirty Moderate. Our special coverage was broadcasted LIVE to the @dirtymoderate Twitter page and continues LIVE only on our Twitter page.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Li...

Listen to every intense second of the 4th January 6th Committee Hearing with commentary from everyone's favorite Dirty Moderate. Our special coverage was broadcasted LIVE to the @dirtymoderate Twitter page and continues LIVE only on our Twitter page on Thursday, June 23rd, at 3pm ET.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In the 10th installment of Stay Dirty, Stay Moderate, we continue our coverage of the 3rd January 6 Committee Hearing with immediate reaction including summary, analysis, and opinion from Adam. You can catch the entire broadcast of the 1st January 6th Committee Hearing right here on the podcast or watch every second of our Special Coverage on the @dirtymoderate Twitter Page. Our Special Coverage continues Tuesday, June 21, at 1pm ET of the 4th January 6th Committee Hearing only on our Twitter page.

Listen to every second of the gripping 3rd January 6th Committee Hearing with commentary from everyone's favorite Dirty Moderate. Our special coverage was broadcasted LIVE to the @dirtymoderate Twitter page and continues LIVE only on our Twitter page on Tuesday, June 21st, at 1pm ET.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen to every second of the sobering 2nd January 6th Committee Hearing with commentary from everyone's favorite Dirty Moderate. Our special coverage was broadcasted LIVE to the @dirtymoderate Twitter page.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In the 9th installment of Stay Dirty, Stay Moderate, we continue our coverage of the 1st January 6 Committee Hearing with summary, analysis, and opinion from Adam. You can catch the entire broadcast of the 1st January 6th Committee Hearing right here on the podcast or watch every second of our Special Coverage on the @dirtymoderate Twitter Page. Our Special Coverage continues tomorrow at 10am ET of the 2nd January 6th Committee Hearing only on our Twitter page.

Listen to every second of the emotional 1st January 6th Committee Hearing with commentary from everyone's favorite Dirty Moderate. Our special coverage was broadcasted LIVE to the @dirtymoderate Twitter page.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In the 8th installment of "Stay Dirty. Stay Moderate" we're 1 week out from the 2nd worst school shooting in U.S. history, as of Thursday we've had a mass shooting every day this week, and gun violence is the #1 cause of death between ages 1-19, according to the CDC.

Maya May, the always optimistic, but tell it like is, co-host of the Lincoln Project’s powerhouse shows We’re Speaking and The Game We’re In brings her brilliance, beauty, comedy, and candor to the table and Adam is ALL IN. Don’t miss Maya’s new podcast, We Gonna Fix This or Nah?  which aims to solve this country’s problem-solving problem, which if you can say 5 times fast, will earn you accolades from Maya, perhaps in Espanol, which she is fluent in from her former life as a successful ex-pat in Argentina. Grab some pop...

In the 7th installment of "Stay Dirty. Stay Moderate" Adam discusses the 2nd Amendment in the wake of the 2nd worst school shooting in U.S. history at Robb Elementary School and the importance of common sense gun laws.

Three weeks after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Steve LeVine started an 11-year journey as the region’s foreign correspondent for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Prior to that, Steve served as Newsweek’s foreign correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Think he’s learned a thing or two about power struggles? Speaking of power, Steve currently serves as the Editor of The Electric, a newsletter discussing all aspects of the burgeoning electric industry. He joins Adam to discuss myriad topics including the way Elon Musk is following Henry Ford’s script, how electric...

In the 6th installment of "Stay Dirty. Stay Moderate" Adam warns of Doug Mastriano, the first open seditionist nominated to a gubernatorial election, and the pending demise of the Blue Wall protecting Democracy from an authoritarian cult.

Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist, having won many awards and accolades for both his journalistic prowess and as Adam says his “gorgeous” fiction. His latest novel, What Strange Paradise, was released in July 2021 and won the Giller Prize. It was named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and several other publications. His debut novel, American War, is an international bestseller and has been translated into 13 languages. Omar the person is even better, as you will come to understand when listening to this episode. His brilliant, observational approach and...

In the 5th installment of "Stay Dirty. Stay Moderate" Adam spells out the mistake of nominating Progressive candidates in a Moderate country and challenges us to stay focused on the real enemy of Democracy.

America’s first contested election was in 1800 and shit was only getting started... Political Scientist and world-renowned expert/professor/author, James Morone, brings his incisive analysis the current tribalism of American politics and walks through over 250 years of partisan discord our young country has displayed. Race and immigration are two things that have always been at the core of decision making in America, and clearly that still rages today. As Morone says: "Partisanship is not a fever. It’s what democracies do.” Join Adam and Professor Morone as they dig through the past to find answers for our splintering presen...

In the 4th installment of "Stay Dirty. Stay Moderate" what the fuck do you think we're going to talk about? Adam dissects the meaning of rescinding Roe v Wade and has a very important reminder about what you can do about it.

Take 2 parts Ford v. Ferrari, 2 parts Dewey v. Truman, add a dash of WSJ and mix in the wildest story about the other Walter White, shake it up and pour these fascinating topics out of a brilliant journalistic mind and what do you get? You get our new favorite cocktail; The A.J. Baime! NY Times Best Selling author of THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT, THE ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY, and GO LIKE HELL joins Adam to share the story of his latest book: WHITE LIES: THE DOUBLE LIFE OF WALTER F. WHITE AND AMERICA'S DARKEST SECRET which will absolutely...

In the 3rd installment of "Stay Dirty. Stay Moderate" Adam explains our endorsement of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (gasp!!!) and explores the true Centrist, Moderate nature of the great experiment called America.

Filmmaker AJ Schnack has documented some of the biggest election cycle moments of the last 10 years. From his award-winning films Caucus and Nomination to his 2016 Amazon Series Primaries, A.J. transports us to the front lines of American politics.

In the 2nd installment of "Stay Dirty. Stay Moderate" Adam examines how bullying culture has become the norm since the 2016 election and shares insights into the bleak outlook for the Dems in the upcoming Midterms.

Rate and Subscribe!

Ruth is a professor, author, historian and cultural critic. She is the recipient of the Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other fellowships, is an expert on fascism, authoritarianism, war, propaganda, and Donald Trump. And she’s just getting started…Her book, Strongmen: Mussolini to Present, is an in-depth look at the blueprint authoritarian leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and hopefully prevent yet another (cough *Trump cough cough) disastrous rule in the future.

The number of people in prisons and jails has increased 500% over the last 40 years, resulting in prison overcrowding, fiscal burdens on states, and an enormous strain on the imprisoned individuals, their families, and communities. Nicole Porter, Senior Director of Advocacy at The Sentencing Project, sits down with Adam to discuss the work they do as advocates for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.

What happens when you put a gay, Jewish, Tony Award winning, politically homeless podcast host from Miami in conversation with a born and bred Missourian podcast host who’s tagline is “fuck ‘em”? Fire. You get, fire.

Born in Scotland, Ben is a gay, Jewish, internationally renowned author, educator and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion specialist focusing on Jewish identity, combatting Jew-hatred and raising awareness of the Holocaust. He is the founder of the modern Jewish Pride movement and the author of the Jewish Pride manifesto, Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People, released in February 2021 to great international acclaim. Ben and Adam discuss anti-Zionism, Israel, and the complexities of being a modern day Jew. 

One of the country’s foremost education and employment law attorneys, having formerly served as Deputy General Counsel, and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. during the Trump administration, Candice comes to discuss how she navigates a world in which she is a lesbian, a mother, and a renowned attorney with some very specific viewpoints that may not immediately make sense to some, but of which she is fully and intelligently behind. 

Historian and Professor Peter Fritzsche lays out how an unimaginable political transformation can quickly take an authoritarian turn as it did in Germany in 1933. Adam and Professor Fritzsche discuss how the Nazi’s courted support by cultivating the electorate’s paranoia and gullibility-2 traits that are more compatible than they sound, and some might say, the same traits throughout the underbelly of the January 6th insurrection. Professor Fritzsche’s latest book,

Steven B. Smith’s book, Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes, highlights how the concept of patriotism has fallen on hard times. What was once a value that united Americans has now become so politicized by both the left and the right that it threatens to rip apart the social fabric. On the right, patriotism has become synonymous with nationalism and an “us versus them” worldview, while on the left, patriotism is seen as an impediment to acknowledging important ethnic, religious, or racial identities and a threat to cosmopolitan globalism. Adam and Pr...