Emma hosts Astra Taylor, activist, and member of the Debt Collective, to discuss her new book Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions on how we can and must organize around each other to help lift ourselves out of the confining and isolating world that has only been exacerbated by the brutality of 2020. They look into the metaphor of conspiracy, stemming from its original meaning of “to breath together,” and how the U.S. government, since well before the pandemic, has constricted the organizing ability and space of workers and the left. They begin with the conspiracy doctrine, which prohibited workers from organizing starting in the colonial era, before looking into why conspiracy theories (in the modern sense) have taken such a hold on the Right, with capitalism helping to monetize confusion and conspiracy stemming from the center of power. Astra explores the devastating fact that we cannot fact-check ourselves out of this problem, and how collective action from the left is the only way to combat growing isolation, insecurity, and inequality before rounding out the discussion by reflecting on the lessons of the Occupy movement and the importance of messy organizing. Then, Emma gets into the Democrats’ unsurprisingly maddening choice to turn their back on Ilhan Omar, choosing to invite more violence against her over backing her completely balanced critique of Israeli and U.S. terrorism, and Mitch McConnell juggles Trump’s role in the party with maintaining his political course and continuing to fundraise.

And in the Fun Half: Brandon and Matt join Emma to chat early 2000s tv dramas before Andrew from Illinois calls in to give his takes on Manchin’s games from someone deeply embedded in West Virginian politics, and Dewey from Chicago jumps off that conversation to lead to crew into a discussion of potential Democratic ploys for the 2022 midterms. Next, JD Vance and Tucker Carlson bring out the dog whistles, Ben Shapiro finally finds a reason to crack down on the use of the N-word, and anti-vaxxers find inspiration in perspiration. Connor from NJ looks to the stars in discussing the growing technocratic surveillance state sponsored by SpaceX, the crew looks into the “look what you made me do” logic of policing, and Nancy Pelosi and co. jump on the bandwagon of using ingrained Islamophobia to bolster their own standing at the expense of Ilhan Omar, plus, your calls and IMs!