Best Ben Burgis Podcasts (2024)

1
Debunking Popular Talking Points on Israel-Palestine (w/ Ben Burgis) 1:35:29

15d ago1:35:29

1:35:29

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Ben Burgis is a philosopher and occasional contributor to Current Affairs, who runs the Philosophy for the People Substack and hosts Give Them An Argument. Today, Ben joins to respond to common arguments made to justify the policies of Israel and the United States in Gaza. "Israel has a right t…

1
Season 6 Episode 23: What the F*** Was That? (Ben's Debate w/Destiny) 2:17:38

2h ago2:17:38

2:17:38

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 …

1
Is Trump an "Aberration" Or the Logical Conclusion of the Right-Wing Project? (w/ David Austin Walsh) 41:40

1h ago41:40

41:40

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Today we talk to David Austin Walsh, a postdoc at Yale and the author of Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right, a new book about the history of the U.S. right wing. Walsh is particularly interest in what the boundaries are (if any) between "mainstream" conservatism an…

51
What Will New Weight-Loss Drugs Do to Us? (w/ Johann Hari) 1:03:34

20h ago1:03:34

1:03:34

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Bestselling author Johann Hari, whose Lost Connectionsand Stolen Focus have previously been discussed on this program, returns today to discuss his new book Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs. New weight-loss drugs have proved remarkably eff…

1
Inside the MAGA Movement on the Ground (w/ Isaac Arnsdorf) 26:04

3d ago26:04

26:04

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Who actually comprises the MAGA movement? Where do Trumpian politicians come from? How do they defeat "establishment" Republicans on the local and state level? How much is organized from above? What's the role of Steve Bannon in all this? In Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement's Ground Wa…

1
Season 6 Episode 22: The Vanquished (ft. Anders Lee & Freddy G.) 2:14:37

6d ago2:14:37

2:14:37

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 …

1
How The Dollar Became America's Most Powerful Weapon (w/ Saleha Mohsin) 30:14

6d ago30:14

30:14

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! When we think of American power, we often think of missiles, guns, and tanks. But operating in the background is an incredibly powerful weapon whose use often goes unnoticed: the dollar. In her new book Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the Dollar Changed the World Order, Bloomberg News …

1
In Praise of Excess (w/ Becca Rothfeld) 38:45

8d ago38:45

38:45

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Becca Rothfeld is the nonfiction book critic for the Washington Post. Her new essay collection, All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess, draws together and expands on some of her best work. It covers subjects including Marie Kondo and minimalism, the films of David Cronenberg, the …

1
What Would a Left Foreign Policy Look Like? (w/ Van Jackson) 41:10

10d ago41:10

41:10

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! We know the left is, generally speaking, anti-war and anti-imperialist. But if a left-wing government ever took power in the U.S., what would its foreign policy look like? How would it deal with, say, human rights abusing governments? Would it shun them? Sanction them? Would a leftist governmen…

1
How Cars Make Life Worse (w/ Daniel Knowles) 34:11

13d ago34:11

34:11

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Daniel Knowles is a reporter for The Economist (yes, that one). His book Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse argues that cars are a problem, and shows all the ways in which we could have more satisfying, sustainable, affordable lives with fewer cars. That's a tough sell in a car-loving countr…

1
Why We Need Solidarity Now More Than Ever (w/ Leah Hunt-Hendrix) 39:36

18d ago39:36

39:36

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! “While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” ―Eugene V. Debs "Are you willing to fight for someone you don't know as much as you're willing to fight for yourself?" —Bernie Sanders Political philoso…

1
Season 6 Episode 21: Jeet Heer on Marty Peretz 2:35:29

19d ago2:35:29

2:35:29

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…

1
How To Communicate Left Political Ideas to Gen Z (w/ Jessica Burbank) 33:32

20d ago33:32

33:32

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Jessica L. Burbank is a broadcaster and commentator who appears on The Hill's Rising, co-hosts the Funny Money podcast, and now hosts her own online news program called Weeklyish News. Jessica is also big on TikTok, where she produces remarkable short videos communicating left political and eco…

1
#052 - Antifragile: Nassim Taleb (Incerto Series) 3:42:56

21d ago3:42:56

3:42:56

Every episode we explore a Lindy book, and find Timeless ideas you can apply to business and life. We strive to become polymaths like our investing and business icons, pulling the Big Ideas from a wide range of disciplines to help us become better investors and operators. Join 3,000+ curious minds and avid readers by subscribing @ rationalvc.com to…

1
Why We Don't Need Borders (w/ John Washington) 38:35

23d ago38:35

38:35

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! John Washington is a journalist with Arizona Luminaria, whose new book The Case for Open Borders rebuts common anti-immigrant argument and shows that a world in which people can freely move from one territory to another will not create a "crisis" but will in fact benefit everyone. Today he join…

1
How Everyone Misunderstands Capitalism (w/ Grace Blakeley) 35:41

25d ago35:41

35:41

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Grace Blakeley is one of the left's leading economic thinkers. In her new book, Vulture Capitalism, Blakeley explains how capitalism really works and gives a crucial primer on the modern economy. She joins today to explain why conceiving of "free markets" and "government planning" as opposites …

1
Season 6 Episode 20: Exiting the Vampire's Castle (ft. Daniel Tutt) 2:09:18

30d ago2:09:18

2:09:18

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 postgam…

1
Why Animal Liberation Is A Crucial Moral Issue For Our Time (w/ Lewis Bollard) 33:20

28d ago33:20

33:20

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Lewis Bollard directs the farm animal welfare program at Open Philanthropy, and writes the organization's farm animal welfare research newsletter. In the newsletter, Bollard has argued that animal welfare is a crucial moral issue and tried to explain the dissonance between people's stated compa…

1
How The Gains of 20th Century Feminism Are Under Threat (w/ Josie Cox) 31:15

30d ago31:15

31:15

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Journalist Josie Cox is the author of the new book Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality, a history of the 20th century women's movement that documents the remarkable courage of the women who gave us suffrage, abortion rights, and greater equality across many dimensions of s…

1
Inside The Chaos at Elon Musk's Twitter (uh, "X") 39:43

1M ago39:43

39:43

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs !Zoë Schiffer is the author of the new book "Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk's Twitter," which tells the full story of how the richest man in the world took over a major piece of the 21st century "public square." Schiffer does not take a nostalgic view of pre-Musk Twitter, showing that the c…

1
Season 6 Episode 19: Tucker Carlson & Dugin (ft. Matt McManus & C. Derrick Varn) 2:29:27

1M ago2:29:27

2:29:27

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 d…

1
The Infamous, Blood-Soaked Legacy of Henry Kissinger (w/ Jonah Walters) 39:17

1M ago39:17

39:17

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! The day Henry Kissinger died, Jacobin magazine released a book, which they had completed years before, called The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger. In the book, edited by René Rojas, Bhaskar Sunkara, and Jonah Walters, a group of foreign policy experts trace Kissinger's career fro…

1
What The Labor Movement Can Do For You (w/ Hamilton Nolan) 43:12

1M ago43:12

43:12

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Hamilton Nolan is a leading labor journalist whose new book The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor is both a study of recent labor organizing in our time and a strong case for why unions are vital to the health of the country. Hamilton goes around the country, fro…

1
A Leading Philosopher Makes The Case for Degrowth (w/ Kohei Saito) 39:18

1M ago39:18

39:18

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Marxist philosophers do not often write bestsellers, but as the New York Times wrote in a profile of today's guest, Kohei Saito's work has unexpectedly taken Japan by storm: "When Kohei Saito decided to write about “degrowth communism,” his editor was understandably skeptical. Communism is unpo…

1
Season 6 Episode 18: Ben's Munk Debate w/Jamie Kirchick (ft. David Griscom & Matthew Whalan) 2:36:01

1M ago2:36:01

2:36:01

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) an…

1
Understanding the Genocide Case Against Israel (w/ Jeremy Scahill) 46:04

2M ago46:04

46:04

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Originally aired January 29, 2024 There is an ongoing case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by South Africa against Israel, which alleges that Israel's conduct in Gaza constitutes a serious breach of the Genocide Convention. The Court recently issued a preliminary ruling allo…

1
The Case for Limiting Wealth (w/ Ingrid Robeyns) 44:22

1M ago44:22

44:22

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Ingrid Robeyns is a professor at Utrecht University, where she specializes in political philosophy and ethics. She's the author of Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth, a new book which argues for rational limits on how much money a single person can amass. Today on the podcast, Dr. R…

1
How the "Squad" Discovered the Reality of Power in D.C. (w/ Ryan Grim) 43:38

2M ago43:38

43:38

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs ! Ryan Grim is the Intercept's D.C. bureau chief and the author of The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution. Ryan's book chronicles the rise of the "Squad" in Congress, but also chronicles the entire recent history of left politics in the United States including the Bernie Sanders ca…

1
Season 6 Episode 17: Bill Maher & Morning Joe are Full of Sh*t on Palestine/Jordan Chariton on Flint 2:09:50

2M ago2:09:50

2:09:50

Jordan Chariton comes on GTAA for the first time to chat about his new documentary "Flint Fatigue." Before that, RM Brown comes by to watch some Bill Maher and Morning Joe. Last but not least, we watch Ben's keynote speech at last week's convention of the Green Party of New Jersey. (No postgame this week, sorry!) Watch the documentary: https://www.…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Ben Burgis Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide