Are Socialists Actually Leaving Wokeness Behind?

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Are Socialists Actually Leaving Wokeness Behind?

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Summary

The panel treats AOC’s “woke one was kind of crazy” admission as a self-serving repositioning ahead of a Senate or presidential run, arguing the DSA left (Mamdani, Francesca Hong, Abdul El-Sayed) has swapped pandemic-era identity politics for an “affordability” pitch built on Medicare for All, anti-Israel “genocide” rhetoric, and confrontation — while both parties, in the panel’s view, push price-raising policies (Republican tariffs and the Iran war, Democratic taxes, regulation, and housing scarcity) then blame high prices on someone else. They dismiss the right’s “$20 burrito” discourse as a proxy fight between international hawks and nationalist populists, call Trump’s new birthright-citizenship orders unconstitutional “political theater” reflecting Stephen Miller’s continued influence, and answer a listener’s CEO-pay complaint (EA’s Andrew Wilson getting $38 million after ~300 layoffs) by rejecting the labor theory of value and defending capitalism as the system that created the industry in the first place. They close on the Jason Arday scandal — a Cambridge sociologist who resigned over plagiarism and wild fabricated claims — as evidence of lingering “woke one” group-think in academia, aided by England’s plaintiff-friendly libel laws.

Top 5 Key Topics

• AOC, DSA, and “woke 2.0”: Gillespie argues distancing from “woke one” is smart politics for AOC and Bernie Sanders, who declined to endorse Hong; the new formula is affordability, Medicare for All, and anti-Israel messaging, which he calls the DSA “secret handshake.” Welch counters that Democratic leaders like Kamala Harris still close ranks around radical members because they need Senate seats in a “Democrats plus five” year.
• Bipartisan cost-of-living blame-shifting: Mangu-Ward and Welch contend no faction in either party wakes up trying to put more money in Americans’ pockets, invoking the “banana guy meme” of everyone raising prices then complaining prices are too high. Gillespie frames affordability as a generational fight — a way for younger voters to “expropriate old people” — noting no boomers brag about houses that went from $18,000 to millions.
• Trump birthright citizenship and Stephen Miller: The panel calls the new executive orders unconstitutional theater that won’t take effect but must be taken seriously, comparing Trump’s approach to rewording tariff policy after courts strike it down. Welch argues Miller remains one of the most influential advisers in modern history, citing ~300,000 Haitians losing temporary protected status and slashed refugee intake except for white South Africans.
• CEO pay and the defense of capitalism: Responding to a game developer upset that EA’s Andrew Wilson earns ~250x the average developer’s ~$150,000 salary, Mangu-Ward rejects the idea that compensation tracks intrinsic value or labor input, framing pay as a solution to the principal-agent problem. Welch notes seven of the ten largest gaming companies originate in market economies, not Venezuela or Cuba, and tells the writer to start his own venture.
• Jason Arday scandal and academic group-think: Arday, celebrated in 2023 as Cambridge’s youngest Black full professor, resigned after verbatim plagiarism and implausible biographical claims (nonverbal until 11, 30 marathons in 35 days, appearing in Seven Up before he was born). Mangu-Ward argues the “woke one” equilibrium rewards sociopaths on both sides because only people with nothing to lose — sometimes themselves discredited race-and-IQ figures — will raise concerns, and Gillespie notes UK libel law where truth isn’t an absolute defense helped shield him.