They aren’t going to stop killing people because escalation is what they seek. This isn’t about norms or institutions. Miller, Bannon, and the whole Trump machine don’t care about rules. And the base is being trained to accept “emergency” measures, extreme violence, even murder, as normal.

Some mail today

As I said in this article... open.substack.com/pub/theright...

This piece explains how binary depictions of Venezuela produce false analysis by examining the grassroots left and its role in the Bolivarian Revolution. Groups like Marea Socialista represent a left that opposes both Maduro’s regime and U.S. imperialism. open.substack.com/pub/theright...

This piece argues that Trump’s approach to Venezuela reveals a convergence w right-wing geopolitics and some anti-imperialist left. It is not ideological but structural and focuses on shared rejection of neoliberal globalization with implications for universalism. open.substack.com/pub/theright...

I wrote an article about the weapon nation of ICE last summer. It showed the escalation and predicted it would soon converge on political enemies. Migrants are easy scapegoats to justify the expansion of power. Today a woman was killed by ICE. newpol.org/issue_post/i...

Rejecting Trump's imperialism doesn't require laundering Mauduro's legitimacy. Beneath the deluge of state-centric accusations and counters are people whose lives are shaped by forces they don't control. Any serious critique must center them, not competing political or IR narratives.

A resolution for 2026 is to do more guest spots and collabs on the podcast. I’ve honestly neglected it while focusing first on YouTube and then writing, but despite that, it hit a listens milestone last night. If you’re interested or know someone who might be, check out my website and reach out.

The grift that keeps on grifting.

🧵 I've been trying to articulate this for some time. Definitions matter. Each small precedent leads to the next and snowballs. This started with naming cartels terrorist orgs. Then drug runners "terrorists." reason.com/2025/12/26/j...

I'm very skeptical of images circulating due to AI but this seems real. Correct me if you know otherwise. Steve Bannon and Noam Chomsky in the latest Epstein documents:

Wow, you can replace "Greenland" with "Ukraine" and United States with Russia and this looks - WORD FOR WORD - like something Zelenskyy wrote in 2021 or 2022. Word. For. Word.

Who doesn’t love the Twilight Zone marathon? This podcast is based on two of my articles. It looks at the politics and global events reflected in these TZ episodes, and what it feels like to watch them first as a child and now as a parent. Have a listen. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Reminder that in the late ’80s, an entire major studio movie with A-list stars was built on the idea that kidnapping a CEO who didn’t give out Christmas bonuses was a holiday comedy premise.

Who doesn’t love the Twilight Zone marathon on New Year’s Eve? I wrote about it last year and ended up writing a Part 2. It’s about the politics reflected in the show, and how differently the episodes land when you watch them as a child versus as a parent. open.substack.com/pub/theright...

Ya...

Watching AfD move from Chan boards to X to GOP recognition has been surreal. Now boomers on Facebook defend them in comment sections. Normalization in real time is surreal.

Just published a follow-up to my last article. This one asks why relation is not as simple as caring about people and leaving politics aside. Levinas, Butler, and Fanon help explain what happens when recognition collapses before it even begins. open.substack.com/pub/theright...

I've worked with them and if the Epstein files are a topic that you're interested in then you SHOULD contact them.

My god, why are these people still taken seriously by anyone?

news.sky.com/story/meet-t...

From an October 2nd opinion piece comparing fascism in the USA and Hungary: “But what they [MAGA and other Trumpian imitators] fail to notice are the long-term consequences of corruption, poverty, diminished living standards — and, crucially, a soured public.” #USDemocracy

The new year is approaching. I've had success in writing goals recently and have some objectives for next year. I wrote this article last Dec. It's part nostalgia and part political analysis. I'll be writing a part 2 sometime next month. Who loves the Twilight Zone? open.substack.com/pub/theright...

1/2 I have been working on a long book about Chomsky for a year. When I began, the Epstein rumors were quiet background. Now that they have been confirmed, I am not planning to include them in the book. Though one part interests me. amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

Franco nostalgia swells among disaffected Spanish youth amid cost-of-living and housing crises Social media spreads AI Franco clips and revisionist narratives. www.reuters.com/world/far-ri...

Academic friends, I need a few suggestions for outside peer reviewers for my article on the far right’s reaction to economic downturn and themes of collapse/rebirth. This would be for the Journal of Right-Wing Studies. Replies or DMs with suggestions would be appreciated. Feel free to share.

Current DND character themed for Halloween. Original art by Bubblelazer. A reborn shadow sorcerer/phantom rogue in the style of Eric Draven. Halloween themes are AI.

New substack article and podcast asking "What happens when politics forgets the face?" I explore this drawing from Levinas, Butler, Fanon and more. 🎧 Pod apple.co/4npZzg3 📰 Article bit.ly/4oH5XjY

I'm sorry.... what? "ICE’s Spending on Weaponry Is Up More Than 700 Percent Over Last Year The $71.5 million spent so far has paid for guns and armor, chemical munitions, “guided missile warheads,” and “explosive components.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

This is devastating. RIP @igd.bsky.social.

🧵The right is attempting to depict No Kings Day protesters as old and white as a grab to younger voters. Most people see the humor in that as it's also these protesters who are supposedly dangerous, members of Antifa, terrorists etc. open.substack.com/pub/theright...

"Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway. They referred to Black people as monkeys and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers." www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Russian politicians, Orthodox priests, and far-right ideologues hosted international fascist groups in St. Petersburg with Dugin, Malofeyev, and others invoking “Christian sovereignty.” mdza.io/k/4QhrGlgfmQ

Before Trump's inauguration, I wrote how there would be movement with Israel and Russia concurrent with his timeline as President. War didn’t start on Oct 7, and peace doesn’t end with a photo-op. Peace isn’t the pause between wars. It’s the work that follows. open.substack.com/pub/theright...

I came late to Achille Mbembe, but his reflections on borders, mortality, and enclosure resonate deeply with themes I’ve been developing in my own work.

I had one of those difficult conversations on Venezuela with my dear @ayoub.bsky.social in @thefirethesetimes.com. I deeply appreciated having a welcoming space for such a complicated conversation and being able to keep calling attention to what is going on. thefirethesetimes.com/2025/06/10/a...

"Edward Said reminded us: the task of the intellectual is to confront orthodoxy and dogma, not to produce them.” open.substack.com/pub/theright...

The roll hasn't been that slow.

Can't wait for the "veteran of the ANTIFA War" patches, hats and badges to drop.

An audio reading of my latest piece “In Defense of Leftist Self-Critique.” I reflect on my activism, research on Ukraine, and how those experiences shaped a more philosophical path focused on solidarity over reaction. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

We talk about confronting power, but rarely about confronting ourselves. This essay is about why self-critique is as important as exterior critique. open.substack.com/pub/theright...

Next chapter in the 2025 remake of "The Trial" by Kafka. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Fear of death is the moral architecture of domination. A politics that denies mortality, even of itself, becomes secular theology, as a totalizing system, and will defend itself as such.

“The obvious next step in that playbook is to expand from targeting immigrants to go after anarchists, leftists, and other opponents of the regime…” What does that mean? How can we prepare to weather the storm? Read this @crimethinc.com how-to guide

My latest: "Tech oligarchs are coopting fictional universes to sell us a false story of their inevitability. To defeat them we need to reclaim the power of fiction to imagine a world beyond their grasp." Also available in the latest issue of @newint.bsky.social, issue 557, on the global far right

When institutions capable of higher forms of evidence, such as systematic reviews, lose trust, the order of evidence flips. The strongest are dismissed for their source, while anecdotes circulate as their antithesis. The loss of trust can be valid, or arise from abstractions based in symbolism.