Give Them An Argument

Eric Blanc joins Ben Burgis to talk about his new book "How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big." Then in the postgame for patrons, Ben and the crew will watch a bit of Ethan Klein vs. Hassan Piker for some reason.

Buy Eric's book:

https://www.ucpress.edu/books/we-are-the-union/paper

Read Eric's Substack:

https://www.laborpolitics.com/

Follow Eric on Twitter: @_ericblanc

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous...

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) comes on to talk about the swirling chaos of Trump 2.0 and where Dems are falling short in response. Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument about why the Left should trumpet the fact that social democratic policies are objectively pro-natalist. Pressuring people to have kids is obviously illiberal and bad, but we should take the W on the fact that the economic policies we want would make things a lot easier for people who want to make that choice (and the fact that this would be good for our society). Musician and commentator José Ayerve j...

First-time GTAA guest Borna Radnik and frequent GTAA guest Matt McManus join Ben Burgis to chat about Borna's book "Freedom, in Context:Time, History, and Necessity in Hegel." Before that, in lieu of an Opening Argument and for the first time on YouTube, we'll play a talk Ben gave a while back called "Karl Marx Deserves Better Critics."

...and, last but not least, Jason Myles hangs out in the postgame for patrons!

Check out Borna's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Context-History-Necessity-Hegel/dp/1350430048

Follow Borna on Twitter: @BornaRadnik

Follow Matt...

Matt Bruenig and Luke Savage join Ben Burgis to talk about their reviews of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's book, "Abundance," and what it all signifies about the drift of contemporary liberalism. Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument about why we should reject the false dichotomy of having to either support Donald Trump's "liberation day" insanity or neoliberal free-trade absolutism. Last but definitely not least, Victor Bruzzone and Ethan from Confronting Capital join for the postgame for patrons.

Ticket link for the San Francisco live show on April 17th:

https://www.universe.com/events...

Jake and Andy are joined by Teen Driver’s Mark Gurarie to talk about protest music. Ben shows up for a bit at the beginning but then disappears because he has bad priorities and chose to spend his birthday with his "literal" family instead of his podcasting family. We're not sure what's wrong with him.

Ticket link for the San Francisco live show on April 17th:

https://www.universe.com/events/is-trump-the-end-of-history-tickets-J30WT9

Check out Teen Driver:

https://teendriver.bandcamp.com

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GT...

Ben Burgis faces off with the Libertarian Institute's managing editor Keith Knight in a wide-ranging debate about capitalism, socialism, coercion, authoritarianim, exploitation, and more.

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com

Ben Burgis and philosophy professor and "Micro-Digressions" host Spencer Case hash out their disagreement on Zionism. Before that, Ben and the crew watch a fascinatingly strange AI video and Ben gives an Opening Argument on the Trump administration's authoritarianism, whether it's fascism, and why that even matters. Mean Djene Bajalan joins us for the postgame for GTAA patrons to break down GroupChatGate.

Tickets to the live show in San Francisco on April 17th:

https://www.universe.com/events/is-trump-the-end-of-history-tickets-J30WT9

Check out Micro-Digressions:

https://www.youtube.com/@Micro-Digressions

Follow...

Far-right Russian thinker Aleksandr Dugin just sat down with Glenn Greenwald for an extensive interview, and we can't look away. Deep State Kuba joins Ben Burgis to watch some of it and discuss. Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument on the issues raised by the outrageous assault on free speech at Columbia. At the end of the main show, we play some of Daniel Tutt's guest appearance on Ben Burgis's Sunday afternoon Zoom Capital class to talk about the lumpenproletariat and tease Richard Wolff's guest lecture next Sunday. (Anyone who wants can join the class at patreon.com...

A couple weeks ago, Ben Burgis and Jason Myles went to UC-Irvine to speak at a panel on neoliberalism at the West coast conference of the Platypus Affiliated Society. It was a pretty interesting conversation, and we're excited to finally be able to share it.

Before that, Ben gives us an Opening Argument about Jeff Bezos's diktat the Washington Post will no longer publish anything critical of "free markets" and look back at a moment from Ben's debate with Curtis Yarvin where Yarvin claimed that the Washington Post was so autonomous that Bezos was more like its "...

Last week, Ben Burgis debated libertarian economist Walter Block. Tonight, we're playing you the recording. (The debate was hosted by the magazine Merion West, which will be simultaneously releasing it on their podcast.) This was a continuation of a written debate that started with Ben's article "The Case for Democratic Socialism":

https://merionwest.com/2024/12/07/the-case-for-democratic-socialism/

...and continued with Walter's reply:

https://merionwest.com/2024/12/19/rejoinder-to-ben-burgis-the-case-for-laissez-faire-capitalism/

...and concluded with Ben's response to Walter:

https://merionwest.com/2024/12/30/in-reply-to-walter-block-defending-democratic-socialism/

Before the debate, Ben does an Opening Argument on why libertarianism has...

Vivek Chibber is an sociology professor at NYU, the editor the socialist journal Catalyst, and the host of Jacobin's new podcast "Confronting Capitalism." He's written a few books, including "The Class Matrix." Recently, a lot of the most unhinged people on Left Twitter got very mad at him for a "Confronting Capitalism" episode he did trying to analyze the historical origins, material dynamics, and counterproductive consequences for the Left of the phenomenon generally referred to by the imperfect name of "wokeness." He joins Ben Burgis to discuss the controversy, and how socialists can be more effective. Before that, Ben...

Philosophy professor and "Micro-Digressions" host Spencer Case joins Ben Burgis for a friendly debate on abortion rights. Before that, Ben talks about RFK's insane critique of Medicare for All. No postgame, sorry, but we'll make it up to our loyal patrons with a particularly awesome one next time!

Check out Micro-Digressions:

https://www.youtube.com/@Micro-Digressions

Follow Spencer on Twitter: @ADigressions

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night...

A lot has happened since the last episode of GTAA. Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America (thus ending our long national nightmare of having to accept an "of Mexico" body of water touching our sacred American soil), and Matt McManus came to L.A., where he and Ben Burgis did a live event to discuss Matt's book on liberal socialism. Ben's talks about the former (and other possibly more consequential aspects of Trump 2.0) in the Opening Argument, and then we play the full video of the latter. In the postgame for GTAA patrons, Ben and...

In our last episode before this year's season break, Matt McManus & Robert Myles join Ben Burgis to break down Jordan Peterson's new book "We Who Wrestle with God." (He doesn't seem to have read any more Marx since 2019.) Before that, Ben and the crew take a look at Ben's article at MSNBC about Obama and the various responses it's provoked--a disdainful sniff from uber-popular historian Heather Cox Richardson on her Substack, what can only be described as a right-populist haiku from Steve Bannon, and a whole lot of unhinged reactions from grassroots libs. In the postgame we're joined by...

[Many apologies about the delay! Lots going on lately. The other delayed ep will be posted by the end of the week.]

Jihadists are taking over Aleppo, US missiles are striking deep into Russia, and the atrocities in Gaza have reached the point that a *former Israeli Defense Minister* (and Likud Party member!) recently accused Netanyahu of "ethnic cleansing." This seems like a good time to bring in the foreign policy duo of Mean Djene Bajalan and Deep State Kuba to help Ben Burgis make sense of what the hell is going on around the world.
<...

Ben Burgis welcomes back major friend of the pod Matt to talk his new book:
"The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism," in which he "presents a comprehensive guide to the liberal socialist tradition, stretching from Mary Wollstonecraft and Thomas Paine through John Stuart Mill to Irving Howe, John Rawls, and Charles Mills."

Buy the book here:

https://www.routledge.com/The-Political-Theory-of-Liberal-Socialism/McManus/p/book/9781032647234?srsltid=AfmBOopS7HP7ywGhn4LB27-wBYa_vGV9tmNts-t-GIdllMV_bajrCsQr

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa...

Juan David Rojas joins Ben Burgis at the top of the show to discuss the reasons Claudia Sheinbaum romped to victory as an economic populist in Mexico's presidential election a few months before Kamala Harris crashed and burned. (Some liberals would prefer to blame sexism for the latter, but the contrast makes that...a bit implausible!) After that Vanessa, Wills joins us to talk about her fascinating new book "Marx's Ethical Vision." 

David Lay Williams comes on to talk about his excellent new book, "The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx."

Order the book:

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691171975/the-greatest-of-all-plagues

Read Ben's review of the book in Compact:

https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-ancient-curse-of-inequality/

Order Ben's pamphlet "Four Essays on Palestine":

https://everyday-analysis.sellfy.store/p/four-essays-on-palestine-by-ben-burgis-print-and-digital-edition/

Follow David on Twitter: @LayWilliams

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show
<...

Deep State Kuba joins Ben Burgis for a deep dive into the ongoing atrocities in Palestine--both debunking Zionist apologetics and pushing back against the dumb and counterproductive things leftists sometimes say in the name of Palestine solidarity and crafting a better and more effective message.

Order Ben's pamphlet "Four Essays on Palestine" from Everyday Analysis:

https://everyday-analysis.sellfy.store/p/four-essays-on-palestine-by-ben-burgis-print-and-digital-edition/

Follow Kuba on Twitter: @DrKuba2

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from...

First-time guest Tony Annett and Matt "I Brought My Own Mic" McManus return for an in-depth look at thinkers like Alasdair McIntyre and Paul Tillich, the relationship between left-wing economic ideas and Catholic social teaching, and more. (Turns out that, while an adamant atheist when "in the streets" arguing about philosophy, Ben is "in the sheets" of political practice extremely friendly to this kind of thing.)

The launch event for Ben's pamphlet "Four Essays on Palestine" is going to be in October 22nd at 7:30 PM in Los Angeles (at Lawless Brewing Co. in North Hollywood) w/a...

On the one-year anniversary of Hamas's atrocities on October 7th, which have been used as a pretext for unfathomably worse atrocities for the last year, Ben Burgis does an on-air version of his lecture "Debunking the Many Bad Arguments Made By Israel’s Apologists in the West" which he gave as a teach-in at the encampment at Princeton last April, and before that as a presentation to Metro Detroit DSA & Wayne State University YDSA. (Sadly, we couldn't line up anyone to record either of those!) Before that, Ben and the crew talk about the VP debate, the successful strike th...

We talk some Marxism, and then Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison of the American Prestige podcast join us to talk about their article "America Must Grapple With the Limits of Ukraine's Kursk Offensive":

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/america-must-grapple-limits-ukraines-kursk-offensive-212795

Order Ben's Palestine pamphlet:

https://everyday-analysis.sellfy.store/p/four-essays-on-palestine-by-ben-burgis-print-and-digital-edition/

Petition for the Smith College workers:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJQYFJvYHoxnVFEBJfKqNR3eeyvWrc5RTw4zsYpBcEgSZpyw/viewform

Follow Danny on Twitter: @dbessner

Follow Derek on Twitter: @dwdavison

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis
<...

Will Cooper, op-ed columnist and author of "How America Works ... And Why It Doesn't," joins Ben Burgis for a friendly debate on how much economic inequality is too much. In an article for Newsweek, Cooper argued that America is much too unequal but he also said that:

"And, importantly, there's nothing necessarily wrong with some people getting rich. A relatively large amount of inequality should even be encouraged. Hard work and ingenuity should be rewarded, as wealth first needs to be created before it can be redistributed. And business success stories motivate others to innovate and take...

Stormin' Norman Finkelstein joins us in the first half of the show to talk to Ben Burgis about the rise and fall of Robin DiAngelo. Then for the second half we switch to examining the other side of the aisle with a conversation with Matt McManus about his very funny review of Charlie Kirk's latest....let's just say "book," "Right-Wing Revolution: How to Beat the Woke and Save the West." Last but not least, Matt's sticks around the postgame for patrons, where we may look into Matt Walsh's thoughts about movies.

Read Matt's Kirk review:

...

Do Palestinians have the same rights as everyone else, or have they collectively forfeited these rights by being "criminals"? In an article for Merion West, libertarian economist Walter Block argued the latter:

https://merionwest.com/2024/06/07/yes-to-a-palestinian-state-just-not-inside-or-right-next-to-israel/

Ben Burgis responded:

https://merionwest.com/2024/06/10/in-reply-to-walter-block-relocation-should-be-off-the-table/

...and Walter responded to that:

https://merionwest.com/2024/07/06/why-i-stand-by-relocation-a-rejoinder-to-ben-burgis/

Now here's the debate.

Link for Andy's fundraiser so he can keep making art for this show!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-j-andrew-world-replace-his-ipad

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis
<...

The people's econ prof, Rob Larson, joins us to talk about his new book, "Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do With Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More." Before that, Ben and the crew talk about the highlights and the (sadly more numerous) lowlights of the DNC. In the postgame for patrons, they watch Tim Pool be very confused about labor unions.

Contribute to Andy's GoFundMe so he can continue making great art for this show, for his own show, the Substack, etc.:

https://www...

Current Affairs editor Nathan J. Robinson joins us once again to talk about Peter Thiel's favorite "populist," J.D. Vance, the (sadly inaccurate) hysteria from Trump, Musk and the New York Post about Kamala Harris being to the left of Bernie and possibly even a revolutionary communist, and his "anti-socialist bingo" card. Before that, Ben and the crew take a moment to remember Michael Brooks, whose 41st birthday would have been last Tuesday. No postgame this week--sorry about that, it's Ben's neighbor on Podcast Street Jason's birthday today so Ben promised to wrap things up by 7 West Coast time--but...

Matt McManus and Daniel Tutt join Ben Burgis to talk about Marxist theoretician Georg Lukács's analysis of right-wing thought in his book, "The Destruction of Reason."

Preorder Ben's pamphlet "Four Essays on Palestine" from Everyday Analysis:

https://everyday-analysis.sellfy.store/p/four-essays-on-palestine-by-ben-burgis-print-and-digital-edition/

Read Daniel's article on Lukács:

https://cosmonautmag.com/2022/02/the-question-of-worldview-and-class-struggle-in-philosophy-on-the-relevance-of-lukacss-worldview-marxism-and-the-destruction-of-reason/

Read Matt's article on Lukács:

https://jacobin.com/2023/09/georg-lukacs-irrationalism-right-wing-thought-philosophy

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf

Follow Daniel on Twitter: @DanielTutt

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTA...

This is Revolution host Jason Myles joined Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew to chat about his new essay "This is What You Want, This is What You Get," which uses the classic Eddie Murphy "We've got McDonalds at home" bit to talk about the election and the overall state of American politics at a moment when hope for anything substantially better than what we've got is rapidly leeching away.

Preorder Ben's pamphlet "Four Essays on Palestine" from Everyday Analysis:

https://everyday-analysis.sellfy.store/p/four-essays-on-palestine-by-ben-burgis-print-and-digital-edition/

Read Jason's essay on TiR's Patreon:
<...

Prof. Richard Wolff came back on the show after a too-long absence to talk about his (as you'll see, apparently quite dangerous) new book "Understanding Capitalism." We talked with him him in the first hour and then our friend RM Brown came by to chat about the election in the second hour and into the postgame for patrons. 

Follow Prof. Wolff on Twitter: @profwolff

Follow RM Brown on Twitter: @xrmbrownx2

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits r...

In the first half hour of the show, the GTAA crew takes a look at the insanity at the RNC and Biden dropping out. Then director Kavitha Chekuru chats with Ben about her very good but extremely disturbing Al Jazeera documentary, "The Night Won't End: Biden's War on Gaza."

Watch the documentary here:

The Night Won’t End: Biden’s War on Gaza

Follow Kavitha on Twitter: @KaviChek

Follow RM on Twitter: @xrmbrownx2

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

...

[Note: This episode was recorded before the coconut dropped on Biden actually dropping out.]

We had something else planned but between the assassination attempt, the JD Vance pick, the RNC, and Biden continuing to do his best impression of an extra from Night of the Living Dead, it seems like the universe really wanted us to just talk about the election tonight. So fine. You win this one. Guest is the one and only Deep State Kuba.

Follow Kuba on Twitter: @DrKuba2

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf

Follow Ben on Twitter...

Matt McManus returns to hash out the arguments in G.A. Cohen's book "Karl Marx's Theory of History" with Ben Burgis. Before that, Ben and the crew take a look at Ben's post-debate interactions with YouTube personality Steven Bonnell ("Destiny"). No postgame on this one, but we make the main show count!

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping...

Last week Ben Burgis had a debate on Israel/Palestine with YouTube personality Steven Bonnell ("Destiny").

It went...oddly.

In this episode we break it all down.

Watch the debate at MDD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdMRphk7ij4

Follow Destiny on Twitter: @TheOmniLiberal

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing...

Anders Lee and Freddy G. come on to chat with Ben Burgis about their new-ish podcast The Vanquished, where they profile losing presidential candidates over the decades. We'll dig into a handful of their favorites. Before that, Ben and the crew talk about his upcoming Israel/Palestine debate with YouTube personality Steven Bonnell ("Destiny"). Last but definitely not least, returning champ Ryan Zickgraf hangs out in the postgame for patrons. This is a fun one.

Listen to The Vanquished:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vanquished/id1735216373?i=1000651259339

Follow Anders on Twitter: @andersleehere<...

The Nation's Jeet Heer joins Ben Burgis to discuss his article "Friends and Enemies: Marty Peretz and the Travails of American Liberalism." You might not know who Marty Peretz is but you've unfortunately seen his handiwork--Anthony Blinken, for example, is a Peretz protege. So is Jim Cramer. The man's got a lot to answer for, and Jeet gets into all of it.

Before that, the great RM Brown joins us for a freewheeling discussion of Dave Rubin, Jimmy Dore and much more. And in the postgame for patrons, Ben and the crew watch a very different Jeet...

Daniel Tutt joins us again for a deep dive on Mark Fisher's classic essay "Exiting the Vampire's Castle" (heavily featured in Ben Burgis's book "Canceling Comedians While the World Burns: A Critique of the Contemporary Left"). Before that, Ben and the crew talk about NYU's bizarre reeducation program for student Palestine protesters. In the postgame for patrons, Matthew Whalan joins us to watch the last part of Cenk Uygur and Dave Smith's debate on Israel, Palestine & Iran with Batya Ungar-Sargon & Dennis Prager.

Read Fisher's essay:

https://opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/exiting-vampire-castle/

Buy Ben's...

This time we bring on the big guns--political science professor Matt McManus and Varn Vlog host C. Derrick Varn--to help Ben Burgis watch Tucker Carlson's interview with Russian fascist intellectual Aleksandr Dugin. This interview is basically GTAA catnip. Before that, we introduce new GTAA intern Aidan, talking about the protests at UCLA, and we do a quick wellness checks on Dennis Prager. Last but definitely not least, Varn and Jason Myles hang out in the postgame for patrons.

Watch Varn Vlog:

https://www.youtube.com/@VarnVlog

Follow Varn on Twitter: @VarnVlog

...

David Griscom and Matthew Whalan join Ben Burgis to listen to Ben's debate on the Munk Debates podcast with neoconservative commentator Jamie Kirchick on, "Be it resolved, the campus protesters are on the right side of history."

Before that, Ben and the crew talk about Biden's reception by anti-war students at Morehouse (where Ben used to teach) and Ben's Jacobin review of Mark Robert Rank's interesting but flawed book "The Random Factor: How Chance and Luck Profoundly Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us." Rank stops short of realizing that, if wealth and poverty have as...