
Advertise on podcast: Current Affairs
Rating
4.6from
This podcast has
600 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Current AffairsExplicit
No
Date created
2018/05/14
Latest episode
2026/11/06
Average duration
34 min.
Release period
5 days
Description
A podcast of politics and culture, from the editors of Current Affairs magazine.
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Podcast episodes
Check latest episodes from Current Affairs podcast
The Case for Centrism Is Collapsing
2026/11/06
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
There is no such thing as a red state. The toxic Republican Party can be defeated everywhere. But Democrats have to show they can deliver. If they squander this moment, it will be short-lived.
🌹 Full article by Nathan J. Robinson: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-myth-of-red-states-has-collapsed
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
🦩 Merch: https://shop.currentaffairs.org/
Mamdani’s “Richard Scarry Socialism” Can Make City Life Simple Again
2026/10/30
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
The NYC mayor is trying to build a city that functions like a city in a children's picture book, where people aren’t caught in a web of lies and scams.
🌹 Full article by Nathan J. Robinson: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/mamdanis-richard-scarry-socialism-can-make-city-life-simple-again
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
🦩 Merch: https://shop.currentaffairs.org/
Zombie Simpsons and How Capitalism Killed Culture
2026/10/28
🌹 Use the code "ZOMBIES" for a 20% discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Jon Greenaway is a writer, critic, and co-host of the podcast Horror Vanguard. He joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson, along with editors Emily Topping and Alex Skopic, to discuss his new article “Zombie Simpsons and the Cultural Undead,” which appears in the upcoming print issue of Current Affairs.
🧟 Buy Jon Greenaway's book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/740011/capitalism-a-horror-story-by-jon-greenaway/
🧟 Jon Greenaway's article on Obsession: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/obsession-and-the-horror-of-treating-people-as-products
🧟 Jon Greenaway's article on Backrooms: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/backrooms-shows-the-vast-meaningless-maze-of-capitalism
0:00 Monopoly Go and the Death of Culture
6:05 How Culture Becomes Intellectual Property
12:28 “Zombie Simpsons” and Capitalist Realism
24:14 Why the Left Needs a Critique of Culture
31:39 The Pointless Harry Potter Reboot
38:09 The Hollowness of Jimmy Fallon
44:48 Horror Movies You Should Watch
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Why We’re Banning AI
2026/10/23
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
We urgently need to protect human thought and creativity. Our magazine is committing itself to remaining handmade. Ensure every publication you support does the same.
🌹 Full article by Nathan J. Robinson: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-were-banning-ai
🌹 Read our full union contract: https://846b2cdd-82e3-4b3b-845b-e8a090468421.filesusr.com/ugd/942719_5a7419ea2cbd45fbb225d6f3f67c7d46.pdf
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
🦩 Merch: https://shop.currentaffairs.org/
How Bill Maher Lost His Mind (w/ Kyle Kulinski)
2026/10/20
🌹 Use the code "KRYSTALKYLE" for a 20% discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Kyle Kulinski is the host of The Kyle Kulinski Show, co-host of Krystal Kyle & Friends, and a co-founder of Justice Democrats. He joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss his new article on Bill Maher, which will appear in the next print issue of Current Affairs!
🔥 Subscribe to the Kyle on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SecularTalk
0:00–4:38 Why Bill Maher Used to Matter
4:38–10:49 How Bill Maher Moved Right
10:49–16:37 “Progressive Except for Palestine”
16:37–21:20 Abdul El-Sayed
21:20–26:04 Idiocracy
26:04–27:42 When “Skepticism” Becomes Anti-Science
27:42–31:04 Apocalypse
31:04–37:18 The U.S. the World’s Biggest Terrorist
37:18–40:55 “Centrism” Isn’t Actually Moderate
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Israel’s Election Won’t End the Genocide
2026/10/16
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Will McCaffery is a leftist content creator focused on anti-imperialism, anti-Zionism, and anti-capitalism, and the author of a new Current Affairs article on Israel’s upcoming election.
He joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss what Israel’s elections reveal about the limits of liberal democracy, the political consensus behind apartheid and occupation, and what those same dynamics can teach us about elections and empire in the United States.
🔥 Read Will's Current Affairs article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/israels-elections-like-ours-show-how-much-the-parties-agree-on
🔥 Follow Will on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willz.talks/?hl=en
🔥 Subscribe to Will's Substack: https://willztalks.substack.com/
0:00–4:52 How Western Media Frames Israel’s Election
4:52–7:53 Can an Apartheid State Be a Democracy?
7:53–9:54 Why Have Arab Parties in an Ethnostate?
9:54–13:37 “Pragmatic” vs. “Evocative” Fascism
13:37–19:08 The Ethnic Supremacist Consensus in Israeli Politics
19:08–22:13 Why Israel’s Far Right Is More Honest About Zionism
22:13–29:28 Bringing the Critique Home to the American Empire
29:28–32:43 The Iran War and Whose Lives American Politics Values
32:43–37:54 The Victims of Empire Don’t Get a Vote
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Drop Site's Julian Andreone on His Wildest Capitol Hill Encounters
2026/10/16
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Julian Andreone is a Capitol Hill reporter for Drop Site News, where he confronts lawmakers with tough questions they’re often unprepared to answer.
He joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss his approach to journalism and why ordinary people can do this kind of accountability reporting too. Julian’s piece on his experiences reporting from Capitol Hill will appear in the next print issue of Current Affairs!
🎤 Read Drop Site News: https://www.dropsitenews.com/
🎤 Follow Julian Andreone: https://www.instagram.com/thejulianandreone/
0:00–7:57 What Julian Andreone Does on Capitol Hill
7:57–14:56 How He Prepares to Confront Politicians
14:56–17:48 Exposing How Little Politicians Actually Know
17:48–23:31 John Fetterman’s Hostility to Drop Site
23:31–26:21 Shri Thanedar Chooses Party Leadership Over His Voters
26:21–30:21 James Clyburn: “I Don’t Do Foreign Policy”
30:21–34:45 Shontel Brown’s Contempt for Her Constituents
34:45–40:45 Why Anyone Can Do This Kind of Journalism
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Before Bernie and Mamdani, There Was Eugene Debs
2026/10/09
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Shawn Gude is the former editor of Jacobin and author of American Socialist: The Life and Legacy of Eugene V. Debs. He joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss how Debs went from moderate railroad unionist to one of America’s most influential socialist leaders.
✊ Get the book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/American-Socialist/Shawn-Gude/9781668056738
0:00–3:51 Why Eugene Debs Still Matters
3:51–10:10 How Debs Became a Socialist
10:10–18:30 Debs’s Personality and Political Appeal
18:30–25:28 When Socialism Thrived in the Midwest
25:28–29:24 What Socialism Meant to Debs
29:24–35:31 The Defeat and Decline of Debs’s Movement
35:31–40:26 What Debs Can Teach the Left Today
40:26–43:28 What Shawn Learned About Debs While Writing the Book
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
The Consultants Will Kill You
2026/10/08
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
In Michigan and Maine, a tale of two campaigns.
🌹 Full article by Nathan J. Robinson: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-consultants-will-kill-you
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
🦩 Merch: https://shop.currentaffairs.org/
In Praise of Suit Socialism
2026/10/05
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
If there’s a visual language that connotes credibility and authority, why not take advantage of it?
🌹 Full article by Nathan J. Robinson: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/in-praise-of-suit-socialism
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 🦩 Merch: https://shop.currentaffairs.org/
Democrats Paved the Way for Fascism — Jennifer Welch on MAGA, Socialism, and Political Revolution
2026/09/29
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Jennifer Welch, co-host of I’ve Had It and author of Not Today, Fascists, joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss the rise of Christian nationalism, her political evolution from establishment Democrat to outspoken progressive, and why she believes the Democratic Party needs a radical overhaul.
🔥 Not Today, Fascists: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/not-today-fascists-jennifer-welch?variant=45897489088546
🔥 Subscribe to I've Had It: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ5cvDR2HhVUcdVoTvvQKLw
0:00 Trump and the Megachurch Pastor Mentality
4:08 How Should Progressives Talk About Religion?
6:27 Can Bernie-Style Populism Win in Red States?
8:21 Kamala Harris in 2028?
10:41 Gaza and the Democratic Party’s Moral Failure
13:45 Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, and Democratic Leadership
16:46 Jennifer Welch’s Political Radicalization and Kamala’s Liz Cheney Strategy
24:59 Why Democrats Need to Offer a Real Alternative
29:28 Billionaire Influence, Money in Politics, and the Supreme Court
31:50 Should Progressives Embrace the Word “Socialism”?
34:51 JD Vance and the Future of MAGA
40:19 Rapid-Fire: Newsom, Buttigieg, AOC, and More
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Israel Is Stealing the West Bank in Plain Sight (w/ Jasper Nathaniel)
2026/09/19
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Jasper Nathaniel is an independent journalist who recently returned from reporting in the occupied West Bank, where he documented Israeli settler violence, land seizures, military raids, home demolitions, and the daily realities of life under occupation.
🇵🇸 Subscribe to Infinite Jaz: https://www.infinitejaz.com/
🇵🇸 Follow Jasper on Twitter: https://x.com/infinite_jaz
0:00-6:01 The escalating situation in the occupied West Bank
6:01-8:29 How Israeli politics enables settlement expansion
8:29-11:32 What the West Bank’s fragmented zones feel like on the ground
11:32-13:54 Why settler violence so often goes unpunished
13:54-18:52 How violence and displacement work together
18:52-26:55 The double standard on Palestinian self-defense
26:55-30:44 Western governments’ empty posturing on settlements
30:44-37:05 Palestinian resilience under occupation
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
How 9/11 Normalized Endless War
2026/09/15
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, along with national co-director Danaka Katovich, join Current Affairs to reflect on 25 years of the post-9/11 War on Terror, the founding of CODEPINK, and the politics of fear that have fueled endless war.
🌸 Pam Bailey's Current Affairs Article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/9/11-began-25-years-of-nonstop-war-and-abuses-of-power
🌸 Danaka Katovich's Common Dreams Article: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/un-american-to-care
🌸 Medea Benjamin's Common Dreams Article: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/was-the-us-reaction-to-9-11-wrong
0:00-10:56 Barbara Lee, 9/11, and the politics of fear
10:56-19:59 How CODEPINK was born from the War on Terror
19:59-25:51 Being smeared as foreign agents and terrorist sympathizers
25:51-32:30 Fighting fear and reclaiming political power
32:30-35:12 What CODEPINK is organizing around now
35:12-37:15 Why Yemen matters to the antiwar movement
37:15-45:42 Lessons from 25 years of antiwar activism
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
How Trump Made a Broken DOJ Even Worse
2026/09/09
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Rachel Cohen is an attorney and organizer who previously resigned from the law firm Skadden Arps amid the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against major law firms.
She joins Current Affairs to discuss her article “Business as Usual at the Department of Injustice,” which examines how Trump has intensified the politicization of the Justice Department while relying on prosecutorial powers, institutional habits, and forms of state violence that long predate his administration.
🏛️ Follow Rachel on Instagram: https://cohen489.substack.com/
🏛️ Subscribe to Rachel's Substack: https://www.instagram.com/cohen.489/?hl=en
0:00-5:20 What’s happening at the DOJ under Trump?
5:20-8:08 Disturbing trends under Trump
8:08-13:36 What Trump didn’t change
13:36-18:21 The injustice was already built in
18:21-23:06 The problem goes beyond Trump
23:06-25:40 The “presumption of regularity”
25:40-31:26 Resistance and refusing conformity
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
MAGA Stole Animal Rights from the Left
2026/09/02
🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Astra Taylor is a writer, activist, and co-author of End Times Fascism, and Aaron Regunberg is a climate lawyer and contributing editor at The New Republic. They join Current Affairs to discuss how the right has begun co-opting animal welfare politics, why the left has neglected animal rights, and how abandoning climate politics risks leaving an opening for a much darker ecofascist response to ecological crisis.
🐄 Read the article: https://newrepublic.com/article/213747/maga-stole-animal-rights-left
🐄 Get Astra's book: https://naomiklein.org/end-times-fascism/
0:00-8:25 How MAGA is co-opting animal rights
8:25-14:18 P’Nut the Squirrel and the right’s animal politics
14:18-18:29 MAHA and the political vacuum on animal welfare
18:29-33:05 Why animal rights belong in left politics
33:05-37:59 Why the left stopped talking about climate
37:59-42:44 Ecofascism and the politics of climate collapse
42:44-49:14 Making climate politics impossible to ignore
🦩Subscribe to Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership
Podcast reviews
Read Current Affairs podcast reviews
DogDove 2026/05/05
Hit and Miss
The points raised are often spot on and insightful, but the host has a “1930’s baseball announcer” affectation which will drive you absolutely nuts.
WilderLander 2026/04/16
Ben and Jerry
Haha he sounds extremely ignorant. He sold it thinking the corporations would respect the values, but he also says they don’t know values. He says he ...
AllTheNickNamesAreTaken,HowAboutThisOne? 2026/03/13
Well written, poorly delivered
Well written but the guy who does the podcast sounds like he’s doing satire – indeed, a parody of himself. Hard to take this podcast seriously.
Prof. Critical-Thinking 2025/09/25
Much needed moral as well as logical clarity
Short, punchy (in a fair way), and on important and timely topics. Always a treat to listen to.
Jack Blair 2025/06/26
Honest engagement in accessible format and language
I am increasingly fond of this podcast. The latest episode where Nathan offers his perspective on “Abundance” is fantastically detailed, earnest, and ...
Crystalash 2025/05/26
Mislabeling
Glenn Greenwald isn’t a conservatist. He’s more liberal, in its traditional sense, than most libs these days. And Nathan should’ve well known this, gi...
VietSchlong 2024/09/03
Yellow journalism
A good example of why we don’t like journalists
bebet2 2024/07/28
Great content, rough production
I really appreciate these interviews! This show fills in a lot of gaps in information you might not get from anywhere else. That being said, I really ...
H0neycrisp4life! 2024/05/29
Socialist who fired staff for organizing
It’s really hard for me to listen to episodes encouraging people to start a union when the editor-in-chief fired five staff members for organizing. In...
AmeliaInTheForest 2024/03/18
Consistently great
Nathan always asks the question I was thinking of next, and is one of the best interviewers out there. This podcast is essential to understanding the ...
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