Give Them An Argument

Pro-Trump pundit Batya Ungar-Sargon sat down with left-wing Congressional candidate Brad Lander to berate him about Israel and other subjects. Ben Burgis and Cynthia Cook give it a watch. Read Ben's article "DSA’s Critics Are Missing the Point About the Working Class" in Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2026/07/class-politics-dsa-media-criticism Read the Michael Lange breakdown of the e...

Ben Burgis chats with Matt McManus about Matt's Jacobin article "Gad Saad Is Very Mad That His Books Are Bad and Sad." Read the article: https://jacobin.com/2026/05/saad-empa... Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging f...

Ben Burgis chats with Matt McManus about Matt's Jacobin article "Gad Saad Is Very Mad That His Books Are Bad and Sad." Read the article: https://jacobin.com/2026/05/saad-empathy-conservatism-book-review Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive nu...

Victor Bruzzone joins Ben Burgis to break down Medhi Hasan's recent conversation with Patrick Bet-David about Israel, free speech, imperial expansionism, and more. Follow Victor on Twitter: @victorbruzzone Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patr...

When Trump announced the war at the end of February, he said the goal was to bring "freedom" the people of Iran. Over and over again in the weeks of fighting, he said he'd settle for nothing less than "unconditional surrender." At one point, he said that if Iran didn't bend the knee he would "destroy" their "civilization." So...what happened? And w...

Last month in New York City, Ben Burgis and Sohrab Ahmari sat down for an in-person dialogue on left- and right- "populism." Here it is! Follow Sohrab on Twitter: @SohrabAhmari Follow Cynthia on Twitter: @c_cook1988 Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from...

Ben Burgis is joined by Michael Lazarus (author of "Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel and Marx") and Matt McManus (who needs no introduction to GTAA fans) for a fun three-way exchange on "analytical Marxism" (the tradition Ben works in), Michael's more Hegel-inflected version of Marxism, and Matt's sympathies with both sides. Order Michael's book: https://w...

Last week Ben Burgis and Jillian Michaels hashed out their disagreements on socialism in an in-person debate in Michaels's studio in LA. Here it is! Follow Jillian on Twitter: @JillianMichaels Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive...

Matt McManus discusses his review of Gabriel Rockhill's Temu-Stalinist conspiracy theory of "western Marxism." Read Matt's review of Rockhill's "Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?" in Damage magazine: https://www.damagemag.com/p/western-marxism-through-the-looking Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter:...

A day late because Ben had to write a Jacobin article about all this instead of doing the episode (sorry about that!) but there's a lot to cover. Last Friday he recorded a debate on the war in Iran (hosted by philosopher Spencer Case). In this episode, we play the debate and chat a little bit about the truly bizarre developments since it was recorded. Ben argues that it's good to be clea...

Last week at York University in Toronto, there was a panel to pre-launch a book of essays called "Analytical Marxism and Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century: Revisitng G.A. Cohen" co-edited by Ben Burgis and Matt McManus. Contributors Les Jacobs and Christine Sypnowich spoke first, then Matt and Ben. Q&A includes some spicy exchanges on dialectics and whether analytical Marxism...

Matt McManus joins to discuss the complicated legacy of philosopher Jürgen Habermas, who died last Saturday. Read Matt's article "Jürgen Habermas Showed What Philosophy Could Be" in Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2026/03/habermas-obituary-critical-theory-philosophy Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Consider donati...

Returning champ Matt McManus joins us once again, this time to explore a reactionary weirdo who somehow hasn't been the subject of a GTAA episode yet! Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Consider donating to Andy's GoFundMe so he can replace his computer and fully go back to doing what he does best: https://www.gofundm...

We're back, baby! Ben Burgis breaks down the idiotic arguments made by the MAGA faithful in defense of Trump's decision to wage an unprovoked, illegal, open-ended war against a country with far more capacity to defend itself than Afghanistan had in 2001 or Iraq in 2003, and makes the case that opposing it isn't just a question of anti-imperialism or harm-minimization (though it cert...

Ben Burgis and Matt McManus chat with Laura K. Field about her excellent new book "Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right." Order the book:: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691255262/furious-minds Follow Laura on Twitter: @lkatfield Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and r...

Deep State Kuba and New York Cynthia join Ben Burgis to talk about Curtis Yarvin's demented new essay "The Situation and the Solution." Follow Kuba on Twitter: @DrKuba2 Follow Cynthia on Twitter; @c_cook1988 Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to acces...

Marxist Twitter has been fighting about Vivek Chibber lately. Ben Burgis takes the opportunity to address the immediate controversy but also the much broader value of Chibber's work. Read the Jacobin Chibber interview on the origins of capitalism that everyone is freaking out about: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/colonialism-transition-feudalism-capitalism-history-economy Read Ben's essay &...

Ben Burgis talks about why he doesn't buy Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò's defense of identity politics in Táíwò's book "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)." Check out the book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1867-elite-capture Read Ben's review: https://damagemag.com/2025/06/11/uncaptured-identity-politics-is-no-substitute-for-...

Are service workers part of the "productive" part of the working class? And what does that mean? How about public sector employees--if they're not productive workers, does that mean that their interests don't align with productive workers and socialists shouldn't support the welfare state after all? Ben Burgis talks about what the Trotskyist leader and Marxist economist Er...

Many-time GTAA guest Ana Kasparian went on Bill Maher's podcast Club Random. Ben Burgis watches the part where they argue about Gaza and breaks it down. Read Ben's article "The “Human Shields” Defense of Bombing Gaza’s Civilians Is Morally Bankrupt": https://jacobin.com/2023/11/human-shields-bombing-gaza-palestine-israel-defense-forces-morally-bankrupt Follow Ben on Twitter: @B...

Nick Fuentes is comically vile. So, why is it so hard to exile him to whatever dark corner of the discourse he deserves to go back to? One problem is that, when the whole landscape is soaking in ethnic essentialism, it's hard to draw the line at one particular version. Read Ben's essay: https://benburgis.substack.com/p/fuentes-is-a-symptom Link for Andy's show: https://www.facebook....

The new edition of "Capital" has been getting a lot of buzz. But...guys...it's really bad. Read Ben's essay: benburgis.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-the-fowkes-translation Read Matt Huber's thread: https://x.com/Matthuber78/status/1962512243343385070 Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits rangi...

Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani's critics on the Left think he's a sell-out for not backing a primary challenge against Hakeem Jeffries or firing Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Some of them are about ready to denounce him as a fascist collaborator for sitting down with Donald Trump. Do any of these arguments add up? Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Beco...

Donald Trump, who we keep hearing is a peacemaker, said his speech for the 250th anniversary of the founding of Navy that the U.S. only lost the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan because we got too "woke" about war tactics. Ben Burgis breaks it down. Get tickets to the election night show in NYC: https://www.barfreda.com/#/events/156966 Read Ben's article in Jacobin: https://jacobin.c...

Both supporters and opponents of the Labor Theory of Value often assume that the LTV and Marx's theory of capitalist exploitation are a package deal. Others, like G.A. Cohen, have questioned that link. Ben Burgis takes a look at the debate, arguing that these two ideas are related...but not in the way a lot of people assume. Sign up for Ben's Capital classes at patreon.com/benburgis Foll...