Give Them An Argument

Ben plays a sadly evergreen Michael Brooks clip about U.S. aggression toward Iran. Krystal Ball comes on to get into Biden's uninspiring firs two weeks in office. Ben and Forrest do a deep dive on Biden's terrible record. David Griscom talks George Jones. There's a preview of Ben's conversation with Doug Lain about free speech and tech censorship. Independent creators rely on y...

Amber A'Lee Frost from Chapo Trap House and Jacobin Contributing Editor Daniel Bessner chat with Ben about their co-written Jacobin article "How the QAnon Cult Stormed the Capitol." (https://jacobinmag.com/2021/01/q-anon-cult-capitol-hill-riot-trump) This is a free public preview. To get the full episode, support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis ....

Ben and Forrest break down Biden's inaugural address and his first week in office. Katie Halper, Daniel Bessner, and Rania Khalek come on for an all-star panel on Biden's foreign policy. Forrest plays a teaser of the patron-exclusive episode dropping Thursday with Ben's conversation with Bessner and Amber A'lee Frost about their excellent Jacobin piece exploring the insanity of...

Every month Nando Vila, Wosney Lambre, and Mike Recine have been joining Ben to discuss an episode of the Sopranos. This time they're discussing Season 1, Episode 3 ("Denial, Anger, Acceptance"). This is a free public preview of a patron-exclusive episode. To get the full episode and every other Thursday patron episode, support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.c...

Michael Albert talks about his model of "participatory economics." David Griscom talks about Kris Kristofferson and Vic Vaiana talks about Black Sabbath. Ben and Forrest talk about MLK's radical politics, the Great Trump/Fascism Debate, and how mafia movies give us a sense of what life might be like in an anarcho-capitalist "utopia." Independent creators rely on your suppo...

Dasha Nekrasova of the Red Scare podcast joins Ben Burgis to discuss Red Scare’s permanent ban from Twitter at the same time that Trump was banned. Later in the conversation they talk about Red Scare's politics and sense of humor, the prospects for a successful socialist project in the United States, and a lot more. This is a free public preview. Independent creators rely on your support to c...

Thaddeus Russell argues with Ben about socialism.  Ana Kasparian discusses the state of the left and the legacy of Michael Brooks. Bryan Atinsky shares a cautionary tale about free speech from his experience on the Israeli left. Ben previews his conversation with Dasha from Red Scare. Vic Viana has technical issues. Other than that last part, this one's ridiculously full of awesome things. Ch...

Professor Djene Bajalan ( https://twitter.com/djenebajalan ) joins Ben this week for a Patron-only episode that seeks to give a basic lay-of-the-land regarding Kurdish nationalism and the resultant liberation struggle. This is a free public preview. Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis...

In this first episode with the new live format, Marxist economist Richard Wolff talks worker coops. David Griscom talks John Prine. Forrest Miller debuts in his new role as on-air producer. There's a tribute to Ben's late mentor Quentin Smith and a preview of the first patron-exclusive bonus episode (Episode 21 - A Beginner's Guide to the Kurdish Liberation Struggle). Guys, it'...

In the second installment of the monthly series of Sopranos Recap Bonus Episodes with Ben, Nando Vila, Wosney "Big Wos" Lambre, and Mike Recine, the guys talk about Season 1, Episode 2 ("46 Long"). Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis . Patrons get early access to ev...

Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek talks about communism, the pandemic and many other things. Amber Frost talks about her article "The Problem with Hashtag Activism." David Griscom talks about Tom T. Hall. Various format changes are announced for January. This is good stuff, guys. Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on P...

Ben argues with libertarian Jason Lee Byas from the Center for a Stateless Society about whether privatizing all roads would be a dystopian nightmare. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professor and Fully Automated host Nicholas Kiersey comes on to chat about academia, identity politics, and the left. David Griscom talks about Doug Sahm in this week's Outlaws & Revolutionaries. Indepe...

Rudy Giuliani farts in court. Natalie Wynn ("ContraPoints") talks to Ben about persuasion, philosophy, reform and revolution, free speech and a whole lot more. Ben and David wrap up their discussion of Sturgill Simpson's discography. This is good stuff. Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.pat...

Current Affairs "House Economist" Rob Larson, historian and Jacobin Contributing Editor Matt Karp, and historian and Jacobin contributor Alex Gourevitch do a panel discussion of how to understand the concept of freedom in a way that doesn't just cede it to libertarians, how important that concept has been to left-wing movements from abolitionism to the early labor movement and how a...

Ben debates libertarian economist Walter Block on property rights and redistribution. Mike Recine comes on the podcast to chat about Goodfellas and The Sopranos. David Griscom is on vacation this week but he'll be back next week for more Outlaws & Revolutionaries. Gonna be honest, guys, this episode's a little disjointed, but it's all good stuff. Independent creators rely on you...

Dead Pundits Society host Adam Proctor joins Ben to talk about the state of the left, historian Daniel Bessner talks about his Jacobin article "The General Who Brought Down the American Empire," and in the Outlaws & Revolutionaries segment David Griscom explains why he texts Ben videos of Jamey Johnson songs when he's drunk.

Ben is joined by Nando Vila, Wosney "Big Wos" Lambre, and Mike Recine for the first in a monthly series of Sopranos Recap bonus episodes.

Glenn Greenwald! Matt Christman! Outlaws & Revolutionaries with David Griscom! Guys, there's a lot of good stuff in this episode. You should give it a listen. Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis . Patrons get early access to every episode as well as various forms of bonus cont...

Meagan Day comes on to discuss what we know so far about the election results and what a Biden Presidency and a Republican Senate could mean for the socialist left. Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis . Patrons get early access to every episode as well as a weekly bonus episode and regularly scheduled "Discord Office Hours" group voice chats. Follo...

Ben reacts to the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn. Greg Belvedere talks about worker coops. There's a panel on the Presidential election featuring Matt Lech, Zeeshan Aleem, Luke Savage, and Katie Halper. Finally, David Griscom memorializes Bill Joe Shaver in the Outlaws & Revolutionaries segment.

Ben talks about his  Jacobin review of Aaron Sorkin's "The Trial of the Chicago 7." Jeff Cohen talks about VoteTrumpOut. David Feldman comes by to explain that, despite being an "old lefty from way back," he wants Trump to serve a second term. Colette Shade makes her GTAA debut to talk about her New Republic article "Self-Help Hacks at the End of the World." Fina...

Samuel Moyn chats with Ben about why the judicial powers of the Supreme Court are an obstacle to social progress. We don't need to pack the Court. We need to find ways to disempower it.

Prager U gets the recent history of socialism very wrong. Ben is joined by Matt McManus to talk about the relationship between Marxism and philosophical liberalism and then by Matthew Sitman (and David Griscom) to talk about conservatism, country music, and why those are two very different subjects. Here's Matt McManus' latest article in Jacobin: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/karl-marx-...

Ben is joined by Daniel Bessner and Djene Bajalan to break down the Azerbaijan/Armenia conflict. Djene's article in Jacobin: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/azerbaijan-armenia-conflict-nationalism-colonialism

Scottish libertarian Antony Sammeroff comes on the pod to debate libertarian and socialist ideas about healthcare. Ben talks to Krystal Ball about the Presidential election and why right-wing populism is a political dead end. Finally, Cole James Cash fills in for David Griscom's usual music segment to talk about his album "2016." This is a good episode, guys. You should give it a li...