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Duck Superman Jul 23, 2025

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The new Superman is a critical hit and box-office smash—despite conspicuous Republican efforts to discourage people from seeing it. It’s the GOP vs. truth, justice, and the American way!

In this episode, Matt and Brian explore all the reasons the modern right might have been put off by this movie, and Superman’s longer-running themes:

* To what extent are right-wing critics really just evincing old, philosophical conservative misgivings about liberal empathy and compassion?

* Are today’s Republicans really upset to learn that Superman is pro-immigrant (as he has been for almost 90 years, or is that just a red herring?

* Or is it really just that this particular adaptation is an unsubtle send up of several recent, high-profile, right-wing corruption scandals (though not, unfortunately, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal)?

Then, behind the paywall, in a recent interview, Hunter Biden of all people challenged Democrats to appeal to people’s better natures, rather than appeasing their prejudices—just like a certain superhero…

The younger Biden’s broader judgment aside, his comments raise pretty profound questions for the party as it wrestles with how to broaden its appeal in the Trump era. Should Democrats be Superman to Trump’s Lex Luthor? How far will uncut virtue get them? And who’s the best avatar for Democrats to broadcast empathy across the board: Another old white guy with cultural roots in white working class America? Or a next-generation Obama-like figure who leans on respectability politics to appeal to cultural conservatives?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Brian on why Republicans are right to dislike the new Superman (because it rightly depicts their political values in an unflattering light).

* Matt argues Democrats should just throw Joe Biden under the bus.

* The Hunter Biden interview.

* The canonical Matt Bors cartoon.

Files And Tribulations Jul 16, 2025

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

The race is on between Donald Trump, who’s desperately trying to put down the raging scandal surrounding his Jeffrey Epstein lies (whatever they happen to be) and Democrats who are finally engaged, and trying to pry the truth loose. Who’s gonna win?

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* How has the Epstein scandal developed over the past week?

* Why have Democrats been uninterested in all matters Epstein, both recently and over many years of right-wing conspiracy theories?

* What’s the likeliest explanation of why Trump is behaving so desperately now?

Then, behind the paywall, we tackle a bunch of pressing questions: what have Democrats done thus far to move the story forward? What more could they do? Will the files be released, or will the story fizzle? Could “the Epstein files” be the thing that finally creates real, lasting political problems for Trump? And what would it say about America if this—rather than matters of major civic significance, like COVID failures and the insurrection—becomes the thing that finally brings Trump low?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Matt wrote, “I’m not deeply invested in any theory about Epstein, but I always thought Democrats blew it by not pushing for some oversight here,” way back in 2021.

* Brian on how the Epstein saga illustrates the need for Democrats to get outside their comfort zones, and how they might use this opportunity to wage war on the entire right-wing bad-faith media complex.

* The 2002 Epstein profile that started it all: “‘I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,’ Trump booms from a speakerphone. ‘He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.’”

* Julie Brown, the reporter who broke the real Epstein trafficking scandal, weighs in with The Bulwark.

Complements to the Jeff Jul 09, 2025

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

The Trump administration suddenly wants you to stop asking questions about Jeffrey Epstein. Case closed. Nothing to see here. That client list we promised to release? It doesn’t exist.

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* What is the Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theory, and why has it persisted so long?

* Why are Epstein’s old, wide-ranging associations distinct from all the other rich guys who hobnob with politicians and powerbrokers?

* How should Democrats react to Trump administration efforts to sweep this under the rug, after dangling it so conspicuously.

Then, behind the paywall, Zohran Mamdani and the shortcomings of institutional diversity efforts: the perspective of two white, Jewish, latinos who’ve grappled with a few box-checking exercises themselves. What’s wrong with the assumption that Mamdani must have been trying to game the affirmative-action system? Zooming out, are institutions that request demographic data (universities, employers) doing so for the right reasons? Is there a better way to recruit, or to take account of applicants who’ve had a rough go in a country with plenty of racial discrimination, than asking them to approximate their ethnic identities?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* From Brian’s archives: Call MAGA’s Jeffrey Epstein bluff.

* Matt: Yes DOGE failed, and it matters.

* Nothing fishy about this!

Til The Murkows Come Home Jul 02, 2025

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

Minutes after recording this episode, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) provided the decisive vote for GOP legislation to kick 15-20 million people off their health insurance and give rich people a trillion dollar tax cut, along with many other horrors.

Now it’s back to the House, where hope, which springs eternal, goes to die!

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* What more could have been done to stop this?

* By whom?

* Given GOP margins and Donald Trump’s warlord-like control over the GOP, would it have made any difference?

Then, behind the paywall, could Zorhan Mamdani kill this bill … by endorsing it?

And, more seriously, what does his victory in the New York mayoral primary mean for Democrats post-2024? Is there anything Democrats in more conservative places can learn from a primary in a very blue city? Can the Democratic Party be a genuinely big tent, where centrists abide progressives (even self-avowed socialists) and progressives give red-state Democrats room to run on cultural issues?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Matt on the sewer socialists Mamdani can (and hopefully will?) learn from.

* Brian on whether Republicans’ continued obsession with “starving the beast” will return us to the era of New Deal politics.

* Matt, again, on the moderate-left synthesis: The view that an obsessive focus on cost-of-living issues is a winning move across factions.

* Brian, again, on the hard truths progressive and moderate leaders should tell their fellow travelers, for the sake of unifying against right-wing extremism.

All Iran The Botchtower Jun 25, 2025

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

Welcome to hell, because we’ve reached the hot war phase of the second Trump presidency. Or have we?

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* What has actually happened, both since 2018, and just in the past couple weeks, and why it’s so unlikely to have left the U.S. and the world better off.

* Is there any upside to Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu using and playing each other in a way that undermines both of their political goals?

* What’s the least worst and worst worst possible near-medium term outlook?

Then, behind the paywall, how opponents of Trump and his war can balance political and substantive objections? Is it possible to oppose/criticize/mock Trump for his spastic, failed policy without driving him toward further hostilities? Is that even a consideration Democrats should heed? What about the fact that Trump and his administration lied to justify the attacks? That the strikes were illegal? That they may lead to American civilian deaths?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Brian on how Trump’s evolution from shitty president who posts a lot to shitty president who wields dictatorial power should bring an end to the Democratic tick of brushing off all of his outrages as “distractions.”

* Matt’s 21 thoughts on Trump’s Iran war.

* Chris Murphy: 8 Things You Should Know About Trump's Strikes on Iran.

Hot Stove Summer! Jun 18, 2025

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

Donald Trump may not always chicken out, but his on again/off again, advance-retreat dance does seem to insulate him from lasting blowback. It seems the only way to drag Trump’s popularity down low enough to really hem him in is for his supporters to find out the hard way.

In this episode, Matt and Brian tackle the questions:

* Does the hyperbolic claim that “Trump Always Chickens Out” serve to insulate him from public backlash, while also perversely encouraging him to prove his haters wrong?

* Would we be better off if he stopped chickening out?

* Does defeating Trump (in Congress, the courts, etc.) weaken him, or does it protect him from his own unsustainable policies?

* If we’re all accelerationists now, where would failure (or catastrophic success) undermine Trump most? Economic mismanagement? Medicaid cuts? Mass deportation? War?

Then, behind the paywall, some considered thoughts on how the Trump opposition would respond if Trump didn’t chicken out. What can Democrats as a whole learn from the handful of leaders (most recently Alex Padilla and Tina Smith) who’ve drawn attention to their causes in productive ways? Are Democratic political fortunes best served if Trump’s Medicaid cuts fail, or if they succeed? And how, in this hothouse environment, can progressives and moderates align to help Democrats recruit viable Senate candidate in red states?

Further reading:

* Matt argues you’re not really alarmed about the slide into autocracy if you aren’t willing to make ideological sacrifices to help Democrats win the Senate.

* Brian’s schema for when to try to stop Trump, and when to let him step in it.

* Noah Wyle helps get the word out about looming Medicaid cuts. (Paging George Clooney, Jimmy Kimmel…)

Lights, Camera… Distraction? Jun 11, 2025

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

Since last week’s episode, Donald Trump and Elon Musk had a bitter falling out, Republicans encountered new obstacles to enacting their top priorities (cutting rich people’s taxes and poor people’s Medicaid) and Trump ordered a federal siege of Los Angeles.

Also, Brian got his first taste of sweet, sweet European health care.

What do these things have to do with one another? Arguably not much, arguably quite a lot. If safety nets weren’t valuable and important, Republicans wouldn’t be lying about the contents of their budget reconciliation bill. And if their reconciliation bill was wise, popular, and on the glide path to passage, Trump (really, Stephen Miller) wouldn’t be trying to whip up a violent pretext to squeeze Republicans on Capitol Hill into voting for a reckless, terrible bill.

But siccing federal troops on American citizens is a big deal, whether it’s intended as a diversion or an inducement or not. Should Democratic leaders have seen it coming? Should they have been more prepared? Are there ways for them to increase public awareness of the looming decimation of Medicaid without falling back on the trope that everything else is a “distraction?”

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Brian argues Democrats overweighted the importance of “issue salience” and it left them unprepared to wage unavoidable political battles with Trump.

* Matt argues that if progressives understood FDR’s legacy more accurately, they would be more tolerant of Democratic efforts to widen the party’s appeal.

* No Kings protests across the country on Saturday.

Trump's low-energy vision Jun 04, 2025

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

Brian’s European Vacation continues as Matt is joined by special guest Jane Flegal of the Blue Horizon Foundation to break down the energy provisions of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.

The energy cuts have attracted less attention than the health care provisions in part because they were made much more severe at the last minute. Jane breaks down how the Inflation Reduction Act changed America’s approach to clean energy subsidies — making them more durable, more flexible, and more inclusive of the full range of technologies including nuclear, geothermal, and carbon capture — and how it connects to larger industrial policy questions related to supply chains and battery production. Repealing these measures will leave America worse off than it was pre-Biden in terms of clean energy production, which is going to lead to higher levels of air pollution and higher energy bills as Americans face a generational increase in electricity demand from AI and data centers.

After the break, Matt and Jane analyze the broader philosophy of investment-led climate policy — what’s the right lesson to learn from the failure of Obama-era carbon pricing and what can we do about the flood of extremely dirty Chinese steel on world markets?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* How Republicans turned against energy programs in their Big Beautiful Bill.

* The impact of repealing energy credits on electricity prices.

* Dylan Matthews on the geopolitics and environmental economics of steel.

Discipline and Punish May 28, 2025

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

Brian is on vacation, so special guest McKenzie Wilson joins Matt to talk about Blue Rose Research’s retrospective on the 2024 election and their work on message-testing. McKenzie came to Blue Rose after working in the private sector, working for Jamal Bowman, and working in the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services — she believes in progressive values and she wants to win elections.

In this episode, Matt and McKenzie discuss:

* The central role of the cost of living in the 2024 election.

* The importance of partisan realignment based around engagement with news and politics.

* The deep unpopularity of Joe Biden and the need for Democrats to internalize that as they move forward.

Then, behind the paywall, what are the Trump administration’s biggest points of vulnerability? What are Democrats getting right and wrong about highlighting those issues? Most of all, McKenzie makes the case for a disciplined approach that ties everything back to core values that motivate progressives and also resonate with swing voters.

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* The full Blue Rose slide deck.

* Matt’s article on Republicans’ Medicaid cuts.

* A corporate marketing guru’s appreciation and praise of Bernie Sanders’ message discipline.

Prostate of the Union May 21, 2025

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

By the time you listen to this episode, the Republican bill to give rich people trillions in tax cuts, and throw millions of people off of Medicaid will be…somewhere. It could be on the glide path to passage in the House, or on life support, or somewhere in between. But the basic shape of what Republicans want to do, and what Donald Trump wants them to do, is clear.

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* How this terrible bill, which many Republicans really do not like, might become law anyhow.

* Should this bill, if it passes, change the way Democrats think about the social compact, where productive, younger, more tolerant Americans underwrite Republican populations and politicians that despise them?

* Will Republicans be committing political suicide by passing a huge, debt-financed tax cuts given inflation pressures and high interest rates?

Then, behind the paywall, the renewed but cursed Joe Biden discourse. Did Biden or his advisers actually perpetrate a coverup of any kind, or is that just hype from reporters and Republicans trying to sell books and hurt Democrats? Do Democrats really need to have any kind of “reckoning” or are the lessons of 2024 and electing extremely old presidents pretty obvious to everyone? And how should they go about engaging in this and other forms of discourse that are frustrating and unhelpful, but impossible to avoid.

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Update: Biden says his last PSA was in 2014.

* Greg Schultz on the REAL reason Democrats lost the 2024 election. (The real reason was that Biden was very old.)

* Brian argues Democrats should spend less time staking out positions on controversies, and more time reflecting privately on what their real views are.

* Jonathan Cohn on the highly irregular way Republicans are trying to force their tax and Medicaid cuts through the legislative process.

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