Give Them An Argument

On the main show, GTAA host Ben Burgis debates Los Angeles GOP Vice Chair + Prager U and Babylon Bee contributor Siaka Massaquoi. (Note: This was originally scheduled elsewhere but we ended up having to move it to just do it tonight int he studio, which is bad news for LA listeners who wanted to see it in person--sorry about that!--but good news for listeners everywhere else who now get access to...

Victor Bruzzone and Ethan from the Confronting Capital channel once again join Ben Burgis for a Thursday Night Debate Breakdown. This week they're taking a look at a Cambridge Union debate from 5 years ago where Norman Finkelstein, left-wing Israeli journalist Gideon Levy and several other speakers debate the question of whether the two-state solution is dead. [Note: The original plan was to...

In the main show, Current Affairs editor Nathan Robinson joins us to talk about his magazine's newly released "A Student's Guide to Resisting PragerU propaganda." In the postgame for patrons, we're joined by Katie Halper to talk about Palestine. Tickets for Ben's debate with Siaka Massaquoi: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09005F42FFCD2E9B Order the Student's...

GTAA host Ben Burgis and Current Affairs magazine house economist Rob Larson continue the weekly series of Thursday Night Debate Breakdowns by watching Bernie Sanders' 2017 debate with Ted Cruz. On October 22nd at 7 PM (doors open at 6:30 PM) Ben is going to be debating Los Angeles County GOP Vice Chair (and Prager U & Babylon Bee contributor) Siaka Massaquoi: https://www.ticketmaster.com...

[Just realized we didn't put this out on Tuesday like usual. Sorry about that!] Read Matthew's Substack: https://matthewvernonwhalan.substack.... Follow Matthew on Twitter: @VernonWhalan Follow Jake on Twitter: @yakobabbot Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every M...

Tickets for Ben's debate in LA with Siaka Massaquoi on October 22nd: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09005F42FFCD2E9B Hamas and the Israeli state escalated this weekend into all-out war. We start with some thoughts on that from Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew, and then go to Ben's conversation with his fellow Ben, Benjamin Fong, about Fong's book "Quix Fixes Drugs in America fr...

Matt McManus's long awaited book "A How To Guide to Cosmopolitan Socialism: A Tribute to Michael Brooks"--with an introduction by GTAA host Ben Burgis--was officially released on October 1st. Matt joins us to talk about the ideas about socialism, internationalism, universal values and cultural peculiarity and more that fill the book, and for Matt and Ben to talk all things Brooks. D...

Ben Burgis and Producer Jordan watch Socialist Alternative leader Kshama Sawant's debate with Eric Blanc (author of "Revolutionary Social Democracy Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire (1882-1917)") on the relevance of the Russian Revolution today. The debate was moderated by Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara. Follow Jordan on Twitter: @jayohardeeayen Follow Ben on Twitter:...

Journalist, activist, and novelist Cory Doctorow joins Ben Burgis to talk about Cory's new book "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation." Ben and the GTAA crew play some clips from Ben's debate with Adam Friended & PSA Sitch on anti-CRT laws and "Cultural Marxism." Norman Finkelstein joins us in the postgame for patrons. Buy Cory's book: http...

Ethan from the Confronting Capital channel and Victor Bruzzone once again join Ben Burgis for GTAA's weekly series of debate breakdowns. This week they watch the recent debate between Krystal Ball & Kyle Kulinski on one side and Briahna Joy Gray on the other about Biden and third party voting. And yes, we just ran a clip where Matt Christman argued forcefully that this is a silly topic to...

Chapo Trap House host Will Menaker joins Ben Burgis for a conversation about the GOP primary field and Thomas Friedman's latest Thoughts About Ukraine in the New York Times. Before that, Jacobin columnist Liza Featherstone talks about her In These Times article "New York Socialists Won Big On Climate. How Did It Happen?" Last but definitely not least, comedian Robert Yasumura joins...

Producer Jordan and Current Affairs magazine's House Economist Rob Larson join Ben Burgis to continue the weekly series of Thursday Night Debate Breakdowns by watching the classic impromptu debate between Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and then-Vice President Richard Nixon at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow on July 24, 1959. It's a short deba...

{Sorry, we forgot to upload this on Tuesday--that's when the debate breakdowns are going out now!] Matthew Whalan joins Ben Burgis to continue the weekly series of Thursday Night Debate Breakdowns by watching Sohrab Ahmari's recent appearance on "Krystal, Kyle & Friends" to argue about right-populism. Follow Matthew on Twitter: @VernonWhalan Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgi...

Self-described conservative social democrat Sohrab Ahmari comes on to talk to Ben Burgis about Sohrab's new book "Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty--and What to Do About It." Ben and Sohrab agree about a lot when it comes to what's wrong with our late capitalist hellhole but disagree on both halves of "conservative social democrat"--the "c...

Ben Burgis and Victor Bruzzone continue GTAA's weekly series of Thursday Night Debate Breakdowns by watching a recent debate between podcaster (and former Manhattan Institute fellow) Coleman Hughes and New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie on the topic "Does Color-Blindness Perpetuate Racism?" (Bouie says yes, Hughes says no.) They both say partially true things, but this voice cou...

Ben Burgis, Jason Myles, and Jordan Dubin are all in studio together. (Matt Christman was originally scheduled but he had to reschedule for late September.) After a half-hearted attempt to talk about a couple of Jacobin articles, they unbutton their metaphorical top buttons and talk about exactly the kind movie the three of them would likely spend an evening talking about off-air, or, OK, maybe th...

Tibor Rutar is the author of a book called "Capitalism for Realists: Virtues and Vices of the Modern Economy" in which he argues that the best system is a moderate, social democratic form of capitalism. In making that case, he heavily relies on "economic freedom" rankings. In the book, Rutar criticizes an article Ben Burgis wrote for Jacobin arguing that such rankings are worth...

Freddie de Boer is back to talk to Ben Burgis about his new book, "How the Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement": https://www.amazon.com/How-Elites-Social-Justice-Movement/dp/166801601X Before that, we play Ben's appearance on Monday morning's Majority Report to talk about Michael Brooks (yesterday would have been Michael's 40th birthday) and Ben and the crew talk a litt...

Ben Burgis debates New York Post writer Brad Polumbo on student debt forgiveness. Before that, Ben and the GTAA crew look back at Norm Finkelstein's feud with Christopher Hitchens and talk about Ben's article on the Trump indictment: https://jacobin.com/2023/08/donald-trump-prosecution-election-crimes-justice-department Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show...

Matt McManus comes back for the fuller discussion of his new book "The Political Right and Equality: Turning Back the Tide of Egalitarian Modernity" we teased a few weeks back, and then Ben and the crew switch to a distinctly more low-brow look at the strangest aspect of Matt Wlash's interests in the postgame. At the beginning of the main show, they talk about two of Ben's rece...

This is Revolution podcast host and Sublation magazine columnist Jason Myles returns to talk about his latest for Sublation, "The Grifters: The Capitalist Realism of Left Media": https://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-grifters-the-capitalist-realism-of-left-media We've all heard the term "grifters" thrown around as an all-purpose insult for whatever figures in left-wing med...

Cedric Johnson is a professor of African-American studies and political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of, most recently, After Black Lives Matter: Policing and Anti-Capitalist Struggle from Verso Books: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3057-after-black-lives-matter Ben Burgis chats with Cedric about his book. Before that, Ben and the GTAA crew talk about Ben's...

Returning champion Matt McManus, Jacobin contributor lecturer on Political Science at the University of Michigan, discusses his brand new book "The Political Right and Equality: Turning Back the Tide of Egalitarian Modernity." It officially releases on the 21st, but you can pre-order it here: https://www.routledge.com/The-Political-Right-and-Equality-Turning-Back-the-Tide-of-Egalitarian-...

Norman Finkelstein comes back to GTAA to discuss recent Supreme Court rulings and some themes from his book "I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom" with Ben Burgis. This is Revolution host and Sublation magazine columnist Jason Myles rides shotgun. The film criticism of one Noah Berlatsky, scourge of &qu...

James Lindsay went on Jordan Peterson's podcast. Matt McManus joins us to break down the resulting typhoon of reactionary pseudo-intellectual nonsense. Before that, Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew cover the controversy over the new documentary "Israelism," Charlie Kirk's reaction to Juneteenth, and a highlight of Emma Vigeland's recent conversation with Tim Pool. Last but def...