#1759 Why Dictators Are Lunatics and Their Followers are Fools

Original Air Date: 7/4/2022 Today, for this milestone episode, I attempted to squeeze in as many clever and interesting ideas as I could and ended up writing a starter guide to understand the United States. Plus, there are jingles! Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! In honor of our 20th birthday, we're giving new Members 20% OFF FOR THE LIFETIME OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP...this includes Gift Memberships! (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience! Join our Discord community! SHOW NOTES (00:01:30) Ch. 1: Political Structures of Our Country Tracking the political eras that proceeded our current situation and looking at what may come next. Jingle 1: Strawman (00:13:09) Ch. 2: Progressives and Progress Looking at a progressive perspective of the last 20 years and the process of progress itself Jingle 2: Defer to Authority (00:24:25) Ch. 3: Understanding Race, Gender, Privilege and Power Understanding why our understanding of the world is often insufficiently complicated Jingle 3: Just Asking Questions (00:37:06) Ch. 4: Progressives in Politics Tracing the fissures on the political left from Bush to Biden Jingle 4: Manipulating Data (00:46:45) Ch. 5: Republican Transformation Tracing conservatism from mid-century Republicans to 21st-century insurrectionists Jingle 5: Appeal to Emotion (00:59:32) Ch. 6: Foreign/Power Looking at various forms of power and how they play out on the international stage Jingle 6: Passive Voice (01:08:52) Ch. 7: The Progress Trap The progress traps of new technology and why we're not defending against them Jingle 7: Clickbait (01:19:07) Ch. 8: Structural Thinking and the Alternative What happens when an individualist thinker is faced with problems that only structural thinking can handle? Jingle 8: Conspiracy Theories Jingles: Concept and Some Lyrics by Jay Tomlinson, Music and Most Lyrics by Jonathan Mann   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Air Date 12/22/2025 It's said that mockery is one of the most effective weapons against dictators. I guess it depends on your goal, but still, there's truth there. And the good thing in that regard is that they are so very mockable. No really nice, likable, non-clownish people make themselves dictators and so the people who do are, without exception, absolutely ridiculous lunatics who deserve all the mockery and disdain in the world. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes In honor of our 20th birthday, we're giving new Members 20% OFF FOR THE LIFETIME OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP...this includes Gift Memberships! (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: Worlds Most Peaceful Man Finally Wins Peace Prize - Weekly Weird News - Internet Today - Air Date 12-6-25 KP 2: Why Is Trump so Obsessed with the Kennedy Center? - Post Reports - Air Date 8-14-25 KP 3: The Secret Life of Dictators with Frank Dikötter | Andrew Roberts | Hoover Institution Part 1 - The Secrets of Statecraft - Air Date 10-31-25 KP 4: A Guide to Propaganda - Shawn Grenier | The Canvas - Air Date 1-29-23 KP 5: How Dictators Really Control the World I Anne Applebaum Part 1 - Brad Carr - Air Date 9-18-25 KP 6: On The Epstein Loop and Parallel Improvisation - Robert Arnold - Air Date 12-20-25 (00:47:46) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On Trump's narcissism DEEPER DIVES (00:55:26) SECTION A: MADE UP AWARDS (01:18:24) SECTION B: MONUMENTS TO SELF (01:40:40) SECTION C: PROPAGANDA WORKS (02:08:56) SECTION D: DICTATORS ARE ALL THE SAME MAN (03:04:50) SECTION E: DICTATORSHIPS ALWAYS END HOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Cartoon image of Trump in the famous portrait of King Louis XIV, with a giant long curly wig, tights and robes. Credit: "donald-trump-louis-xiv-létat" by heblo, Pixabay | Pixabay License   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]  

Re-Air Date: 12–18-25 Unless you were a member in December of 2024, this episode of SOLVED! will be brand new to you! If you were a member back then, THANK YOU and this one is worth a re-listen. We're slowing down production for a little bit to reorganize our production processes, so enjoy this episode from our archives (and before YouTube) where Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:   Ch. 1 -  What the orcas are up to Ch. 2 -  Confronting the truth about eating meat Ch. 3 -  How to not let grief destroy leftist movements Ch. 4 -  Living a better life by accepting our own mortality   FOLLOW US ON: In honor of our 20th birthday, we're giving new Members 20% OFF FOR THE LIFETIME OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP...this includes Gift Memberships! YouTube (This full episode premieres on YouTube on Friday - please share!) Bluesky Instagram Facebook Mastadon   REFERENCES: Confessions of a Former Carnivore - The New Republic For Our Movements to Win, We Must Learn How Not to Let Our Grief Destroy Us - TruthOut You Are Going to Die - The Atlantic EXTRAS: 00:50:04 - Best of the Left Ep. #1672   - "Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out' (11-26-24)   TAKE ACTION: No Kings Next Steps Free DC Project: FOR ALLIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY - Tell Congress to stand down the federal escalation One Million Rising Trainings In a blue state? Help stop ICE overreach     Join our Discord Server Reach us via Signal: Bestoftheleft.01 Leave a message at 202-999-3991   Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Contact me directly at [email protected] Review the show on Apple Podcasts!

Air Date 12/14/2025 The sad ease with which we manage to ignore some atrocities, even while paying much attention to others, has to do with how visible or invisible to us the systems are that are propping up those events. Nothing happens in a vacuum and in our world, if you're willing to dig deep enough, you'll always find how we're all connected - across both time and geography. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: Will the International Community Act Preschool Massacre & Large Piles of Bodies in Sudan Part 1 - Democracy Now! - Air Date 12-10-25 KP 2: Sudan Civil War the Terrifying Escape From El Fasher - Global News Podcast - Air Date 12-1-25 KP 3: Can Trump Help Sudan Part 1 - Today, Explained - Air Date 11-19-25 KP 4: The War In Sudan with Khalid Medani Part 1- American Prestige - Air Date 5-10-24 KP 5: South Sudans Failed Peace Deal with Joshua Craze Part 1 - American Prestige - Air Date 5-27-25 KP 6: Decolonise Sudan - The Sages Cabin - Herbs & Liberation - Air Date 11-6-25 (00:45:33) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On the past 20 years of politics DEEPER DIVES (00:50:08) SECTION A: VIOLENCE NOW (01:12:13) SECTION B: HISTORICAL ROOTS (01:51:58) SECTION C: OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE (02:12:01) SECTION D: RESOLUTION AND SOLIDARITY HOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Photo of Sudanese refugee women, one with her baby, standing in line for food aid in Chad carrying bags, and boxes. Credit: "24 January 2025, Adre, Chad. Sudanese refugees who have fled the conflict in Sudan register for food aid in neighbouring Chad." by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UK), Flickr | CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Air Date: 12-10-25 Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin was out this week) discuss: Ch. 1 - Generational humor, and analysis of Gen Z's absurdist humor and the impact it's having Ch. 2 - The unexpected social side effects of NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's campaign on Gen Z volunteers Ch. 3 - The "App"stinence Movement helping people get off of social media Ch. 4 - How the peak Millennial humor mobile game "Sword and Sworcery" has evolved with the times SOLVED! Backstage: Behind the Algorithm: Elon Musk's "Grokapedia" reminding us of the "Conservapedia" of 2010s punchlines, and the co-opting of Gen Z meme humor by right wing extremists to normalize hate.   REFERENCES Gen Z Humour: What's so funny about something so unfunny? - Hayden Lim Khai Eun via Medium Inside 'Gen Z humor,' the layered and absurdist internet jokes millennials are struggling to keep up with - Business Insider A crash course in Gen Z humor - Pion We Laughed Into The Void—And It Laughed Back: Understanding Gen Z Humor - Berkeley Political Review A Little-Noted Element Propelled Mamdani's Rise: Gen Z Loneliness - The New York Times A mass exit from social media - Mashable Should you practice Appstinence? Gen Z and Gen Alpha are embracing this Harvard student movement - Fast Company 7 Reasons to Think Social Media Has Peaked The platforms have serious problems. - New York Magazine The Mysteries Of Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP - Waltorious Writes About Games Social media is dead – here's what comes next - New Scientist EXTRAS NOT SPONSORS/AFFILIATES Appstinence Brick - Device to help you manage phone use Freedom - App to help you manage device use How to make your smartphone into a dumb phone - (Modern Dumbphone)

Air Date 12/14/2025 Albert Einstein said, "Life is just like a game, first you have to learn rules of the game, and then play it better then any one else." (Or just get some insider knowledge about which team is paid off to lose and bet on the game rather than playing it, am I right?) Now, while it's well known that sports gambling has great potential to corrupt the game, I'm sure being able to bet on literally anything in life all the time right from your phone with billionaires funding persuasion campaigns to convince you to do it will probably work out fine. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: America Is Losing Big on Sports Betting Part 1 - The Gray Area with Sean Illing - Air Date 8-11-25 KP 2: The Nuzzi-Lizza Show & CNN's Prediction Play - The Powers That Be: Daily - Air Date 12-5-25 KP 3: Welcome to the Casino Economy - On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti - Air Date 11-13-25 KP 4: Is the Sports Betting Industry a Huge Mistake? - Good Work - Air Date 2-9-24 KP 5: Why The New Gambling Epidemic Should Terrify You - GEN - Air Date 11-8-25 (00:46:01) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On Best of the Left turning 20! DEEPER DIVES (00:49:22) SECTION A: GAMBLING ON EVERYTHING (01:30:27) SECTION B: THE UBIQUITY OF SPORTS BETTING (01:56:28) SECTION C: SPORTS BETTING IS BAD FOR SPORTS 02:34:14) SECTION D: GAMIFYING LIFE SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Photo of a man staring up at multiple screens showing sports betting updates, along with a live football and hockey game, above the betting counter in a Las Vegas casino. Credit: "Sports Betting at a Las Vegas Casino" by Baishampayan Ghose, Flickr | CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Air Date 12/10/2025 Dick Cheney used to be thought of as Darth Vader but did he have an end-of-life conversion back to the light side of the force? No, he was bad all along and only thought Trump was worse. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience! Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: Dick Cheney Invades Hell - Colonial Outcasts - Air Date 11-4-25 KP 2: Weapons of Mass Distraction with Chris Toensing - This Is Hell! - Air Date - 3-23-23 KP 3: Obama Admin: Torture Not Illegal, Just A "Disagreement" - The Young Turks - Aired 3-27-10 KP 4: Living and Reliving the U.S. Invasion of Iraq with Rasha Al Aqeedi - This Is Hell! - Air Date 4-10-23 KP 5: Shock Corridor with Naomi Klein - Blowback - Air Date 8-19-20 KP 6: Never Forget: Lessons of the Post-9/11 Warpath - Empire Files - Air Date 10-1-21 (00:48:24) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On the legacies of Dick Cheney and Darth Vader DEEPER DIVES (01:00:59) SECTION A: LEGACY (01:54:23) SECTION B: IRAQ (02:11:15) SECTION C: USING 9/11 FOR POWER & PROFIT (02:31:51) SECTION D: NO ACCOUNTABILITY SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Sidewalk graffiti stencil of Dick Cheney's face and the word "Terrorist" underneath Credit: "Terrorist" by David Drexler, Flickr | CC BY 2.0 | Changes: Slightly cropped   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]

Re-Air Date: 12–2-25 Unless you were a member in May of 2024, this episode of SOLVED! will be brand new to you! If you were a member back then, THANK YOU and this one is worth a re-listen. We're slowing down production for a little bit to reorganize our production processes, so enjoy this episode from our archives (and B.Y: before YouTube) where Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss: Ch. 1 - How supply and demand economics is not about "distribution of goods with the greatest efficiency" and is instead about nothing more than predatory greed Ch. 2 - How what we value as humans goes far beyond the price of commodities Ch. 3 - More examples of "enshitification" as companies reach inside our homes to control things we already bought Ch. 4 - How companies are restricting functionality to extract even more from us FOLLOW US ON: YouTube (This full episode premieres on YouTube on Friday - please share!) Bluesky Instagram Facebook Mastadon   REFERENCES: WELCOME TO PRICING HELL - The Atlantic The Gap Between the Price You See and What You Pay Is Getting Worse - The Wall Street Journal Welcome to the Golden Age of User Hostility - The Atlantic My Printer Is Extorting Me - The Atlantic Bought a Model Y? Tesla may charge you to use the battery's full range - Yahoo! Finance Corporate America Knows We're Miserable. Is a Toilet Bomb the Answer? - The Wall Street Journal   EXTRAS: 00:12:53 "Not everything that counts can be counted" by Billy Bragg 00:42:41 Best of the Left Ep. #1629 - "Hitting Where it Hurts in Our Era of Negative Partisanship: Messaging left-wing politics amid cultish politics" (Air Date: May 2024) 00:48:44 Best of the Left Ep. #1628 - "New Era of Antitrust for a New Era of Capitalism, Mega-Corporations and Big Tech" (Air Date: May 2024)   Join our Discord Server Reach us via Signal: Bestoftheleft.01 Leave a message at 202-999-3991   Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening!

Original Air Date: 1-23-2024 The recent discovery of hundreds of bodies buried behind a jail in unmarked graves sparks a renewed discussion about the futility and counter-productiveness of our system of incarceration and the context of our history that has brought us to this point. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Families in disbelief after hundreds of bodies found buried behind Mississippi jail - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 1-10-24 Ch. 2: The Most Infamous Jail in America - Olurinatti - Air Date 3-29-23 Ch. 3: Behind the News: The State of the Carceral State w/ Wanda Bertram - Jacobin Radio - Air Date 3-20-23 Ch. 4: Angela Davis on the argument for police and prison abolition | UpFront - Al Jazeera English - Air Date 12-17-21 Ch. 5: The Part of History You've Always Skipped | Neoslavery - Knowing Better - Air Date 4-4-22 Ch. 6: Penitence for the privileged - Beyond Prisons - Air Date 7 Ch. 7: Debunking "Norwegian Prison Reform" As Propaganda with Oakland Abolition and Solidarity - Millennials Are Killing Capitalism - Air Date 3-28-23 EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE 8 Ways You Can Advocate for Justice Reform in 2024 (Vera) Prison and Jail Reform (Brennan Center for Justice) Criminal Justice Reform (Equal Justice Initiative) Cutting Jail and Prison Populations (Brennan Center for Justice) SHOW IMAGE Description: Photograph of the outside of Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. Barbed wire lines the fences of the entrance in front of the dark gray cement building with tinted windows. Credit: "A sagebrush sea change from behind barbed wire" by U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Flickr | License: CC BY 2.0 | Changes: Cropped   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Air Date 12/2/2025 If you need more evidence for just how far from rationality our politics have slid in recent decades, Zorhan Mamdani is seen by many as a radical for mostly just saying that people should be able to afford to buy the things they need to live. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email [email protected] Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: Affordability & Trump: Here's How Democrats Won Big Across The Country In 2025 Elections - Forbes Breaking News - Air Date 11-6-25 KP 2: How Trump's 2024 Coalition Is Already Falling Apart - TLDR News Global - Air Date 11-12-25 KP 3: Democrats Snatch Defeat From the Jaws of Victory (again) - The Rachel Maddow Show - Air Date 11-11-25 KP 4: Trump's Affordability Tailspin: 50-Year Mortgages, Tariff Checks & Maybe Socialism - The Daily Show and Josh Johnson - Air Date 11-11-25 KP 5: Kurt Andersen & Josh Turek - Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast - Air Date 9-9-25 KP 6: Can Zohran's NYC Win Spark a New Era for Democratic Socialism? - UNFTR Media - Air Date 11-6-25 (00:49:49) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On the path forward for the Left: Targeted Universalism DEEPER DIVES (01:07:50) SECTION A: AFFORDABILITY (01:43:42) SECTION C: DEMS CAVE (02:24:44) SECTION D: SYSTEMIC RESISTANCE TO CHANGE SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: A vibrantly colorful artistic rendering of Zohran Mamdani at a podium speaking into a microphone with his hand up. The edges appear to vibrate outwards. Credit: "Zohran Mamdani" by Taymaz Valley, Flickr | CC BY 4.0 | Changes: Expanded background with layers and smudging   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]