Trump's Holy War on Iran

In what may, or may not, be the final episode of this podcast as currently/previously constituted, we appropriately spend much of the time pontificating on the future. Will we transition into being the Chapo Trap House of Wisconsin politics? Will we turn to streaming? Will Nick name his political consulting agency Driftless Forward or Forward Driftless? Will Apple's foldable iPhone turn out to be a dud like the iPhone Air? Only time will tell. But one thing is certain, times are changing and after 4 long years it's time we start changing too.

No longer bi-coastal, never elite; for the first time outside of our annual X-mas/New Year special, we are both coming to you live from Wisconsin. We get into everything from Alex’s chaotic move and frugal furniture shopping to Nick’s disappointing election loss and cowardly democrats, to meeting uninspired artists to MAGA dudes upset at their wives’ deportation, and more.

This week, we are joined by Tom Sexton, co-host of the Trillbilly Workers Party, one of our favorite independent leftist podcasts. We talk to Tom about everything from the proliferation of chiclet-like veneers (see Harry Kane at the World Cup) to the apparent extinction of properly-sized button down collars, and much in between.

We're trying to get back into the swing of things coming to you live and uncut from the Bushwick Rooftop (and Nick's couch), covering such cutting edge topics as Alex's baseball adventures and Nick's way too deep in the weeds breakdown of grassroots Wisconsin politics, to the newest LinkedIn game that has us asking 'Is this too hard?' and 'Does LinkedIn have too many games now?', among other things.

ATTENTION: if your name is Alex Hysel and/or Nicholas Padesky, or any variant spelling thereof, we would like to podcast with you. If not, we still invite you to listen to us muse this week about everything from the recent Republican primaries to our recent hand injuries to our shared disinterest in Drakes surprise triple album release, with much more in between.

We are joined this week by Courtney Rawlings, co-host of the Quincy Institute podcast Always at War. After briefly discussing the similarities between her valley and our Wisconsin accents, we discuss how she ended up as a podcaster, her relatable way of communicating about foreign policy, the shadowy AI blame game gripping our military, the cost of living crisis and its suspected effects on birthrates, the urban/rural divide, reality TV, what its like living with a fellow podcaster, and more.

We discuss making your own creme brûlée at home (and other things you can do with a kitchen torch), Alex's men's league baseball highlights, and the hottest reality show on TV (Barstool Beach House, airing on X the everything app).

We react to the new MLB City Connect jerseys, Michigan winning the NCAA Tournament, How Long Gone TV, our shared disinterest in Ye's new album, the dire outlook of the next generation of internet celebrities and who follows them, NASA's trip back to the moon, and Trump delaying Armageddon for at least two weeks.

In a sports heavy episode this week, we discuss MLB Opening Day and Alex's thoughts ahead of the Brewers season. We also follow up on last episode's discussion about the WBC, with team USA recovering from the brink of elimination but falling short in the championship. Then we discuss March Madness and Nick's idea to revamp the bracket scoring format. We also discuss the hilarious Afroman trial, ICE doing TSA's job because TSA isn't being paid because no one wants to pay ICE, and 2,000 special ops paratroopers reportedly being deployed to the Middle East.

Well, he finally did it folks! Some are calling it a "short term excursion", but it's already been almost 2 weeks at a cost of $1-2B per day to the American taxpayer - with no end in sight - so we're calling it a war. We debate whether this is a signal that Trump and MAGA have fully shed their GOP exoskeleton as a distinctly fascistic movement, and whether calling that out is even helpful in making the case for a left alternative to the status quo. We also discuss Ben Shapiro's eyebrows, Marco Rubio's ears, ill-fitting, cheap shoes on cabinet members, Bam Adebayo's insane night, the U.S. team's near-collapse in the WBC, and Timmy Chalamet in hot water on the internet ahead of the Oscars.