Dirty Moderate with Adam Epstein

"Flesh is interesting. it comes in different sizes and colors and shapes but the bones are the things that bind us and hold us up and also what is left of us when we are gone. Happy to have the flesh be part of the culture, I want the politics to focus on the bones because that’s the only place that you get a sense of common human dignity and common human rights." -Susan Neiman “Susan Ne...

As former Democrats with some Republican leanings, we no longer swear allegiance to any party. We find ourselves out in this new wild west of a middle, carving out a lane for the growing number of Americans who are leaning, even if ever so gently, into identifying as independents. It's not where many of us are comfortable. Not having the ability to say we are a D or R can be disconcerting for...

Is a wealthy black kid from an upper income household more disadvantaged than a Bangladeshi immigrant’s kid whose parents work multiple jobs to stay afloat? That’s the conundrum in using race as a factor in college admissions, especially in an increasingly multi ethnic society.  In a 6-3 SCOTUS decision, the court on Thursday ruled that Harvard and the University of North Carolina race-conscious a...

Chris Christie is the big mouthed public servant we’ve all been waiting for. And yes, that’s a compliment. Since entering the 2024 GOP presidential fray, Christie has been unsparing and relentless in his attacks on Trump. Yes, he should have done it sooner, and, no ,he should have never cozied up to the former president. But Christie’s tenure as a take no prisoners GOP governor of deep blue New Je...

"A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." As the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once wrote, "Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited." The Founding Fathers, if they could have foreseen the terror of today, would surely have revi...

There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity. You can smell it. It smells like death.” -Harvey "Big Daddy"Pollitt in Tennessee Williams' brilliant Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Important reminder: Trump could have returned the documents when asked ( they aren't his, they belong to 'we the people,') rather than defying subpoenas and leaving. The FBI n...

The man charged in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history is currently on trial for the heinous act of shooting to death 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue simply because they were Jews. Adam has a lot to say on the subject and the myriad political agendas attached like gun control, the death penalty, Trump's nauseating validation and encouragement of radical and fascist behaviors,...

The fear, loathing and bigotry of Ron DeSantis’s culture war against the LGBTQ community has sparked a national debate, and for many on the reactionary right, a national reckoning. But an entirely different narrative is emerging in the form of resistance: Even parents in deep red Hernando County, FL ( north of Tampa ,) are rising up and declaring that they’ve had enough, as a recent contentious sc...

Happy Memorial Day to all. May we all honor and remember those who have served to protect this beautiful experiment we call democracy. Thank you to our servicemen and women, and the families who keep things going in their absence. We salute YOU.  Ron DeSantis on the other hand is a dangerous pudding eater, who has unsurprisingly (and in poor form really) declared himself a candidate for the presid...

For many Americans, President Gerald Ford was the genial accident of history who controversially pardoned his Watergate-tarnished predecessor, presided over the fall of Saigon, and became a punching bag on Saturday Night Live. Yet our revered guest nationally recognized authority on the American presidency, a familiar face to viewers of C-SPAN (our nerd tv mecca) and an absolute national treasure,...

While not exactly exposing the "crime of the century" that Trump promised *eyeroll- the Durham report, not unlike it's cousin Mueller does play a role in our favorite pastime, saving democracy, but the execution doesn't look to be a shining moment for  the FBI as it’s trying to persuade Congress that it is a responsible steward of intelligence.  Have you checked us out on Tik T...

Asylum officers, Secret Service agents and troops, oh my.  The end of Title 42 in a few short hours will reveal the plethora of issues not just this country, but the thousands who attempt to get here face and none of it is pretty folks. This episode shines a bright light on to the influx issue that COVID just kicked down the road.  Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great litera...

Neither party gives a shit about the debt. Our spending spree is a bipartisan production—both parties spend like drunken sailors. Here’s a little reality check, for those (sane) Americans who still live in a non-partisan reality. Are you subscribed to the podcast?  Have you seen us on TikTok?   https://www.tiktok.com/@dirtymoderatenation?lang=en Are you registered to VOTE?  https://www.vote.org/ T...

While the 2024 presidential election is more than 18 months away, primaries begin in less than a year and let's face it, we who are plugged in know it's already begun. Trump's campaign is already smearing DeSantis's yet to be declared candidacy and Biden declared with the plea to let him finish the job.  Public approval of Biden’s job as president has been pretty lackluster for...

Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and the rest of the Fox Network lied to your fucking faces. Instead of being responsible humans and calling for calm (the calm they were certainly texting each other about OFF camera we later learned) they lied to your fucking faces. They perpetuated a mob. They endangered lives. They spun a tale of lies and nonsense. FOR RATINGS! They didn’t even beli...

Jack Teixeira, 21-year-old low-ranking member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard is the third asshat in 13 years to have the ability to access and leak classified material. He faces two criminal counts: unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material for publishing top-secret Pentagon docume...

Professor, political theorist, and author, Aurelian Craiutu, who has been researching the elusive virtue of moderation for over a decade sits down with Adam to discuss the complexities, richness, and virtue of our very favorite approach to politics. Despite being a complex virtue with a rich tradition and unexplored radical sides, Moderation is often presented as a simple virtue for lukewarm and i...

Happy Indictment Day to those of you who celebrate.  Popping in with my thoughts on today's historical arrest. Thanks for helping us save democracy one episode at a time! Join the Dirty Moderate Nation on Substack !  Tell us what you think on Twitter !   Check out our YouTube channel ! Are you registered to VOTE ? 

Ben Brantley was the chief theater critic of The New York Times for more than 20 years. He wrote more than 2,500 reviews over 27 years beginning in 1993. During Adam’s first act as a Broadway Producer, Ben and Adam “passed each other in the theater aisle” so to speak. Ben reviewed some of Adam’s biggest hits and being consummate professionals, they would not engage while reviews were underway. But...

News media outlets in America have their own self-serving agendas. It's no secret MSNBC leans left and yes; surprise, surprise, FOX leans right and so on. When it comes to delivering the news to the citizens of this fine nation, the current day media are most certainly spinning it through their own lens which is irresponsible, and in some instances; dangerous. For example, Ivermectin anyone?...

This episode we are going to talk about the total fuckery of FOX News. I'll share some of my front line observations from my time as a regular in 2019 on Trish Regan's now defunct FOX News show. It wasn't all pretty, folks, but this Dominion lawsuit? WOW... In March 2021, Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News Network for the false claims the network pus...

It was announced earlier this week that the Roald Dahl Story Company, which controls the rights to the late author’s books, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda , and The BFG in conjunction with Puffin, the books’ publisher, and a collective who campaign to make children’s literature more inclusive, intended to change the wording in these and other classics in “small and carefully consi...

So many on the MAGA right  are less than enthused about Nikki Haley’s run for president. But the great irony here is that if she were the nominee ( and she won’t be,) she’d be the strongest GOP candidate to win back independents and moderates in the suburbs that Trump drove away. For in-depth coverage of the political landscape, actionable ways to make a difference, random dad jokes, endless remin...

When well-designed institutions function properly, people thrive. Few institutions have been more ingeniously designed than the U.S. federal government via the Constitution in 1787. This auspicious beginning more than two centuries ago helps explain why the U.S. remains a magnet for opportunity seekers, students, entrepreneurs, dissidents, and persecuted believers. Yet for decades now, America’s f...

Today’s poisonous partisan divide is perilous in at least two key ways. First, it divides a country with 330 million into categories in which a majority of them don’t fit. But second, and perhaps more importantly, the Republican/Democrat cleavage consigns issues which are full of implications, moral, political or otherwise, into reductive boxes entirely hostage to groupthink. The 2024 Presidential...