Diet Soap - a podcast

Episode 687: Project Freedom? (War is Politics by Other Means)

Douglas Lain — Tue, 05 May 2026 01:21:39 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Trump's new gambit: Project Freedom. Has this already led to an escalation back into combat? Is Trump falling into the escalation trap? What will this do to the markets? Are the walls finally closing in on Trump?

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Episode 686: An Example of Petulant Millennial Statism

Douglas Lain — Sat, 02 May 2026 21:45:52 +0000

Chris Cutrone and "Tibor Szamuely" discuss the essay Belinksy Meets MAGA, which was recently published on the Sublation Substack. This Substack will be changing its character this month as Expansive Realism is introduced.

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Episode 685: Spencer Leonard on Why Rousseau Still Matters

Douglas Lain — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 18:15:28 +0000

Spencer Leonard follows up on Monday's livestream on Bonpartism with a conversation about the concept of society, the significance of modernity, and the question of Rousseau's anarchism.

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Episode 684: Jeffrey Epstein's Necrophilia

Douglas Lain — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 20:11:43 +0000

Ashley Frawley returns to discuss her recent essay for Compact entitled "Jeffrey Epstein's Necrophilia."

Ashley's Essay at Compact:
https://www.compactmag.com/article/jeffrey-epsteins-necrophilia-and-ours/
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Episode 683: Chris Cutrone on Trump's Version of "Regime Change"

Douglas Lain — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 22:34:32 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses his essay for Sublation Magazine based on his recent presentation at the Platrypus Affiliated Society convention.

Trump's Not Regime Change at Sublation Magazine
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/trump-s-not-regime-change-in-iran-name-vs-substance
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Episode 682: Noam Chomsky and an Emasculated Left?

Douglas Lain — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:32:14 +0000

Arturo Desimone discusses how the contemporary left targets individuality, creativity, and masculinity for cancellation. He uses Noam Chomsky as an example.

His Essay at Counterpunch:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/13/against-cancellation-chomsky-and-the-cyclical-emasculation-of-the-left/
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Episode 681: Spencer Leonard on Habermas

Douglas Lain — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:49:31 +0000

Spencer Leonard from the Platypus Affiliated Society discusses the politics of Habermas and how Moishe Postone's critique of Habermas both landed and missed.

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Episode 680: Chris Cutrone on the Democrats and Iran

Douglas Lain — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:13:29 +0000

In this episode of the Cutrone Zone, the Last Marxist describes how to separate the propaganda from reality, and declares that this is Trump's World and we're just living in it.

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Episode 679: Analyzing the FRIENDS Technique

Douglas Lain — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:12:36 +0000

Rudi Grieser and Douglas Lain discuss the history of the sitcom and the techniques deployed in the television show FRIENDS. How did the FRIENDS machine operate? What were the elements deployed in the production of FRIENDS?

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Episode 678: Reproductive Freedom in a Wrong Life?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:48:41 +0000

Ethan Linehan discusses his 2022 essay for Sublation Magazine entitled, "Wrong Life and Abortion." In the essay he critique's Conrad Hamilton's article "Abortion, Capitalism, and Demographic Control" and discusses how a living socialist movement would approach the question of reproduction and freedom.

Wrong Life and Abortion at Sublation Magazine
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/wrong-life-and-abortion
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Episode 677: Cutrone asks: What if the US wins?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 18:29:58 +0000

In this Cutrone Zone, the Last Marxist asks: What if Trump and America actually win this conflict with Iran?
Cutrone insists this is Trump's world and we just live in it. Not because this is a good thing, but because it's a political reality (Cutrone says).
Who does it serve to think otherwise?

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Episode 676: The Death of Habermas

Douglas Lain — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:23:29 +0000

In this episode of Sublation Magazine, Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the significance of Habermas. Can we still learn from the junior member of the Frankfurt School? Can there be Communicative Action?

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Episode 675: Iran Still Under the Islamist Thumb

Douglas Lain — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:09:51 +0000

Mani is a member of the Expansive Realist Workshop in Portland, Oregon, an Iranian ex-pat, and an MD. In this episode of the Diet Soap podcast, he discusses the attacks on Iran, the Islamic Republic, Christopher Hitchens, and his hopes for an emancipated Iran.

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Episode 674: The Anti-War Movement?

Douglas Lain — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 02:15:01 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain continue to discuss the war on Iran. How should the left respond to the war on Iran? What was revolutionary defeatism? Will there be a draft? Can the US avoid a ground war?

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Episode 673: Trump's Plan for Iran is Rational and Coherent

Douglas Lain — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 21:19:49 +0000

Chris Cutrone and Douglas Lain discuss Trump's invasion of Iran as an example of bourgeois politics. Rather than condemning the invasion from the perspective of neoliberalism, they neither condemn nor support but describe.

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Episode 672: How To React Without a Left?

Douglas Lain — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 23:28:57 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the likely effect of the attacks on Iran. Where will this go next? What motivated the Trump administration? Who will run Iran now?

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Episode 671: C Wright Mills & Sociology's Problem With Marx

Douglas Lain — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:18:32 +0000

Join Spencer Leonard and Douglas Lain on "The Spencer Leonard Hour" as they engage in a systematic study of the history of sociology. They explore the intricate relation between sociological imagination and Marxist theory. This discussion offers a clear perspective on the economy through a socialist lens.

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Episode 670: Why Socialists Should LOVE America

Douglas Lain — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 20:39:41 +0000

Chris Cutrone speaks out in defense of the American Revolution as vital to the struggle for socialism.

Why Marxists loved America
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/why-marxists-loved-america

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Episode 669: Try Being Civil?

Douglas Lain — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 04:06:42 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the question of civility in politics. What is the purpose of the principle of charity? Is civility a hindrance to politics?

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Episode 668: Noam Chomsky’s reputation will never recover

Douglas Lain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:55:52 +0000

Ralph Leonard, freelance writer for Sublation Magazine and the New Statesman among other publications, joins Doug to discuss the career and reputation of Noam Chomsky and discuss his recent article on Chomsky that appeared in the New Statesman:

Ralph Leonard on Chomsky in the New Statesmanhttps://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2026/02/noam-chomskys-reputation-will-never-recover-from-the-epstein-files

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Episode 667: Is Trump Ushering In an AI Dystopia?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:41:38 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses how Trump, Elon, International Capital, and Capital itself are ushering in a world littered with personal robots, self-driving cars, AI therapists, and other Kitsch Crap that could easily have been lifted from an old issue of Amazing Stories.

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Episode 666: Are You ALREADY Dead?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 18:27:09 +0000

Danny Mulligan and Douglas Lain discuss Ernest Becker, death anxiety, and modernity in this episode of the Diet Soap Podcast.

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Episode 665: Chris Cutrone on IRAN

Douglas Lain — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 19:43:31 +0000

Douglas Lain and Chris Cutrone discuss the uprisings in Iran and their meaning within the history of the left.

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Episode 664: Chris Cutrone on Jared Kushner and Gaza

Douglas Lain — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:33:00 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses the recent peace deal in Gaza and how it came about. Doug and Chris discuss a recent 60 Minutes interview with Kushner and Witkoff.

Interview on 60 Minutes:
https://youtu.be/dNa6PcU1Ke0?si=IrN7-Gy9XPzaTU0w
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Episode 663: Spencer Leonard on Trump's Attacks on the Left

Douglas Lain — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 19:08:42 +0000

In this episode of the Spencer Leonard hour Professor Leonard discusses the new executive orders from the Trump administration, orders that specifically target "anti-capitalists" and "antifa."

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Episode 662: Did Marxism Die With Charlie Kirk?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 15:52:16 +0000

In this Spencer Leonard Hour, we discuss how Marxism rose up in the last fifteen years only to fall away again. What destroyed the burgeoning neo-Marxist movement?

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Episode 661: Why We Can't Think About Charlie Kirk

Douglas Lain — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 20:18:43 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the aftermath. Is America entering into a rerun of the Years of Lead? What was Operation Gladio?

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Episode 660: After Charlie Kirk: a Strategy of Tension?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 16:25:49 +0000

Sublation Magazine editor Wyatt Verlen discusses who Charlie Kirk was and why he is beloved on the right. Wyatt left socialism to join the right a few years ago and is making his way back to the left now as he works for Sublation.

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Episode 659: Forming a Socialist Cult, Forming a Socialist Strategy

Douglas Lain — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:07:38 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses how socialists should create a movement and party in the United States that will resemble, and potentially even be, a religious cult as it gets started.

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Episode 658: How to Debate a Zoomer "Liberal"

Douglas Lain — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 16:28:03 +0000

This is the first half of a podcast Doug recorded with Dillon of the Untrodden podcast. It includes comments from Doug along the way.
Dillon defines himself as a "liberal," but by the end of the conversation, it is clear that he is a product of our authoritarian times and not self-reflective enough yet at the age of 21 to overcome the ideological machinery he's trapped in, even in terms of his own thought.

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Episode 657: Leftist Theory in Crisis: Wallerstein’s Unfulfilled Transition

Douglas Lain — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 18:22:27 +0000

In this episode of the CutroneZone, Chris and Doug revisit "The Age of Transition: Trajectories in the World-System" by Immanuel Wallerstein. They walk through Wallerstein’s forecasts for the year 2025 and examine where World Systems Theory succeeded, where it fell short, and what the failures tell us about the Left’s theoretical models.

The Age of Transition by Immanuel Wallerstein: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1563245022
Chris Cutrone’s Marxism and Politics: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1789047455

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Episode 656: Finkelstein, Burgis & McManus Misunderstand Marx

Douglas Lain — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 16:50:13 +0000

Spencer Leonard responds to a recent episode of Give Them an Argument. Norman Finkelstein, Matt McManus, and Ben Burgis all attempted to defend J.S. Mill from Karl Marx, and in the process demonstrated their failure to understand Marx's criticisms of Mill.

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Episode 655: Why International Law Won't Help Gaza

Douglas Lain — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 22:02:27 +0000

Douglas Lain speaks with writer and artist Arturo Desimone, who recently attended the Emergency Conference of the Hague Group on Palestine, held in Bogotá, Colombia, in July 2025.

Billed as a bold step by Global South nations to enforce international law and support Palestinian rights, the summit ended with non-binding measures, including calls for an arms embargo and support for ICC/ICJ rulings. But beyond strong rhetoric and symbolic gestures, little of substance emerged.

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Episode 654: A Call for Socialist Unity

Douglas Lain — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 16:53:58 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses his recent essay in Sublation Magazine entitled "Socialist unity!"

Excerpt:
The current framework of politics and law in capitalism is severely limited, and geared to other needs: the needs and “rights” of capital. But the workers depend on capital and capitalism: their contradiction must be brought about; for now there is an apparent identity of interests — which capitalist politics exploits. The workers are bound to support capitalism out of self-interest.

Read the call for "Socialist Unity" at Sublation Magazine:
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/socialist-unity

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Episode 653: The Left is Stuck in a Time Loop with Zohran

Douglas Lain — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:30:52 +0000

Dan Davison discusses his essay for Sublation Magazine entitled "Stuck in a time loop? Mamdani and the Left’s Amnesia" on this episode of Diet Soap.
Here's an excerpt:
Leftists are brimming with joy that Mamdani’s platform has (apparently) shown the world how to build a winning socialist campaign that brings together and highlights the connections between “material” concerns on the one hand and “identity” concerns on the other. Predictably, much of this has been framed in terms of lessons for the Democrats in how to take on Trump. “You see!” cries the would-be left to the Democratic Party. “This is the kind of bold, positive alternative you should present to voters if you want to win! Here are the policies you should adopt, and here’s how you should campaign for them!”
Much like the Enterprise crew in the later repetitions of their time loop, my first thought upon seeing all this was “Haven’t I been here before?”

Stuck in a Time Loop Essay:
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/stuck-in-a-time-loop-mamdani-and-the-left-s-amnesia
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Episode 652: What Musk and Trump Still Have in Common

Douglas Lain — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 16:21:51 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses his recent essay for Compact entitled "What Musk and Trump Still Have in Common." Why did Musk and Trump break up? What can we learn about capitalist politics by asking this question? Is Musk mentally ill? Is Trump sad? Find out.

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Episode 651: Are We Still Living After the End of History?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 15:48:06 +0000

Stanley Sharpey joins Douglas Lain to discuss Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book "The End of History and the Last Man," as well as Fukuyama's attempt to defend and return to this work over the last 33 years.

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Episode 650: What is History?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Spencer Leonard discusses Walter Benjamin's "On the Concept of History" with Douglas Lain. He raises the question, "Can a Marxist be an historian?"

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Episode 649: Big Beautiful Politics (Same as it Ever Was?)

Douglas Lain — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 20:58:49 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Elon Musk's new political party, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, and Walter Benjamin's On the Concept of History.

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Episode 648: The Last Marxist Explains the conflict with IRAN

Douglas Lain — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 15:37:26 +0000

Chris Cutrone describes how the left's history of supporting right-wing reaction in the Middle East has led to this moment of conflict, whether Trump was planning the attack on Iran all along, and the reason we should assume good faith on all sides when considering world politics.

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Episode 647: How Socialists Should Understand American Conservatism

Douglas Lain — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 19:07:33 +0000

What is American conservatism, and how should socialists understand it? In this interview, Wyatt Verlen offers a historical overview of conservatism in the United States, from the Bourbon Democrats and Robert Taft to William F. Buckley and the rise of the New Right. We explore how conservatism evolved in response to the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Cold War, and examine the role of political machines, laissez-faire ideology, and anti-communism in shaping the American right. This is a conversation about history, ideology, and strategy through a socialist lens.

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Episode 646: Bonapartism is not Bonaparte

Douglas Lain — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 16:49:12 +0000

Chris Cutrone explains why the left needs to abandon the liberal conception of "Bonapartism" and take up a Marxist understanding instead.

Bonapartism is not Bonaparte at the Platypus Review
https://platypus1917.org/2025/06/01/bonapartism-is-not-bonaparte/
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Episode 645: The Discreet Charm of the PMC

Douglas Lain — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 18:14:41 +0000

Stanley Sharpey is a writer and a socialist living in London. His essay for Sublation Magazine, "The Discreet Charm of the PMC" explains the history of the term and ends up sympathizing with the Ehrenreichs given the political dilemma they faced in the 1970s.

The Discreet Charm of the PMC at Sublation Magazine
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-discreet-charm-of-the-pmc
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Episode 644: History, Matter, Marx

Douglas Lain — Fri, 30 May 2025 16:40:06 +0000

Spencer Leonard discusses the meaning of the term "Historical Materialism," and how it emerged through the historical struggle for socialism.

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Episode 643: When Critical Theory is Confirmed

Douglas Lain — Tue, 27 May 2025 15:44:38 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Adorno's essay "Commitment" and the failure of leftist politics over the last decade. What level of regression can we expect?

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Episode 642: Chris Cutrone is Always Right, and Always Depressed

Douglas Lain — Fri, 23 May 2025 16:07:04 +0000

In this episode of the CutroneZone, we dive deep into Chris Cutrone’s essay "On Philosophy and Marxism: Response to Suther and Velissaris"—a characteristically sharp and mournful defense of the dialectic against the return to philosophy. As always, Cutrone’s critique is uncompromising, clear, provocative, and melancholic.

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Episode 641: Trump Wins Again and Again?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 22 May 2025 17:17:23 +0000

Philip Cunliffe discusses his recent essay at COMPACT entitled "How Trump Won the Canadian Election." He explains what constitutes sovereignty, why sovereignty is necessary for democracy, and why Trump turned Canada away from cosmopolitan internationalism and towards patriotic nationalism.

Philip Cunliffe at Compact
https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-trump-won-the-canadian-election/

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Episode 640: Neither the US nor China

Douglas Lain — Fri, 16 May 2025 14:24:50 +0000

Fabio Vighi returns to throw cold water on the notion that capitalism can be saved. The crisis is terminal. The financialization will continue. In this era of Emergency Capitalism, the crisis will only deepen in the US, in Europe, and in China.

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Episode 639: How Society Got a Sex Change

Douglas Lain — Thu, 15 May 2025 15:04:48 +0000

Ashley Frawley is senior editor of Compact. She is the author of two books, Semiotics of Happiness: Rhetorical Beginnings of a Public Problem and Significant Emotions: Rhetoric and Social Problems in a Vulnerable Age. Her writing has appeared in UnHerd, and the New Statesman. She is also the former co-host of Sublation Magazine and in this episode she returns to discuss her latest essay in Compact.

How Society Got a Sex Change by Ashley Frawley
https://www.compactmag.com/contributor/ashley-frawley/

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Episode 638: Studebaker Says Democracies Can Cry

Douglas Lain — Mon, 12 May 2025 21:03:55 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Benjamin Studebaker's latest essay for Sublation Magazine in this week's Sublation Magazine podcast. Are the Republicans and especially Trump, acting in an anti-democratic manner? What threatens democracy today?

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Episode 637: Tariffs and Thought Taboos

Douglas Lain — Fri, 09 May 2025 15:44:04 +0000

In this episode of the Cutronezone, the Last Marxist discusses his latest essay for Sublation Magazine and speculates on why COMPACT magazine rejected it for publication. How is it that established opinion is incapable of taking up and thinking through the significance of Trump's Tariffs?

Read Cutrone's Essay "Fear" in Sublation Magazine:
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/fear-itself

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Episode 636: The Prophecy of Walter Kirn

Douglas Lain — Thu, 08 May 2025 14:25:44 +0000

Novelist and journalist Walter Kirn discusses his 2006 novel "The Unbinding" and answers questions like:
Was Holden Caulfield a revolutionary?
What is the role of the outsider?
Can we escape the Spectacle?

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Episode 635: Can We Critique Rather than Complain?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 02 May 2025 18:11:50 +0000

Wyatt Verlen's essay in Sublation Magazine instructs the left to quit complaining and start critiquing.
History gave Trump a right. As of the moment of writing, this right continues to be denied to him. That right is the right to be critiqued."

Read the new Sublation Essay by Wyatt Verlen:
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-right-to-a-critique

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Episode 634: Shibboleths, Customs, and Lies

Douglas Lain — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 23:05:24 +0000

Thomas Peermohamed Lambert discusses his novel, Shibboleth, with Nina Power and Douglas Lain in the Culture Corner. What does it mean to go to Oxford? What is the future of the elites and elite education? Can you find love on campus?

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Episode 633: What did Marx think about the American Civil War?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 17:39:30 +0000

In this week's Spencer Leonard Hour, he discusses the meaning of the Civil War in relation to the struggle for socialism.

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Episode 632: Trump's Tariffs Are Smart?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 16:25:08 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses just what the aim of Trump's Tariffs might be. Will there be a new global order with the US still at the center? What does it mean to say that the United States is "FREE"? Is Trump just an idiot?

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Episode 631: Tariffs, First Amendement, and Due Process

Douglas Lain — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 22:41:49 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Trump's Tariffs, the attacks of law firms such as Perkins Coie, and how the deportations of MS-13 gang members undermine Due Process.

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Episode 630: Understanding the Marxist Revisionism Dispute

Douglas Lain — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 16:24:07 +0000

William Stratford discusses the dialectics and the revisionism dispute. What lessons can we learn from it today, after the long defeat of the 20th century and the Millennial left?

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Episode 629: Do Young Americans Have a Manifest Destiny?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 14:59:29 +0000

Hamilton Craig is a Compact columnist and a doctoral student at CUNY researching farmers’ movements in the United States. In this episode of Diet Soap, he discusses his recent essay for Compact entitled "The Democratic Promise of Manifest Destiny" with Douglas Lain and tries to consider just how seriously to take Trump's effort to revitalize and reinvent our Manifest Destiny and discuss Cutrone's essay "The Future Belongs to America. So Should Greenland."

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"The Democratic Promise of Manifest Destiny" - Hamilton Craig
https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-democratic-promise-of-manifest-destiny/

Episode 628: Trump is ENDING Neoliberalism as the Left WATCHES

Douglas Lain — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 18:26:13 +0000

Chris Cutrone and Douglas Lain discuss the meaning of the term "neoliberalism" and the ignominious end of the previous regime of accumulation. Cutrone takes Studebaker to task over their differences in conceptualizing neoliberalism, highlighting contrasting interpretations of its historical and ideological implications.

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Episode 627: Experiencing the Symptoms of the Left

Douglas Lain — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 23:56:01 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the Platypus Affiliated Society convention and a few of the questions raised on our panels:

What was neoliberalism?
Why does Society have Politics?

Join the Sublation Patreon for a second hour of discussion:
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 626: Horkheimer on Reason, Egoism, and Freedom

Douglas Lain — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 19:37:10 +0000

Spencer Leonard discusses the Frankfurt School's Marxism, how these Marxists are still relevant to us today, and explains Horkheimer's "Egoism and Freedom Movements: On the Anthropology of the Bourgeois Epoch."

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Episode 625: From FAKE NEWS to a FAKE WORLD

Douglas Lain — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 17:15:54 +0000

David Shields, author of "How We Got Here," returns to discuss how Trump has destroyed our reality and how our sensemaking institutions are in crisis. How can we educate ourselves and get a grip on the world if everything is FAKE NEWS?

Get a copy of Shield's book "How We Got Here"
https://sublationmedia.com/product/how-we-got-here-melville-plus-nietzsche-divided-by-the-square-root-of-allan-bloom-times-zizek-squared-equals-bannon-by-david-shields/

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Episode 624: A New World Order or a New Chaos?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 16:44:00 +0000

Chris Cutrone assuages Douglas Lain's fears as they survey the wreckage of Trump's first 50 days in office. Is Trump an amateur just throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks? Yes? Is he a world historic figure who aims to rearrange the world order? Yes again?

Watch the second half of this podcast on Patreon, and join a Zoom call afterparty conversation with other socialists and thinkers.
https://pareon.com/dietsoap

Chris Cutrone's "Marxism and Politics" was paused for a time as we made some revisions to the text. It is available again now:
https://sublationmedia.com/product/marxism-and-politics-essays-on-critical-theory-and-the-party-2006-2024/

Episode 623: Unpacking Anti-Imperialism and the Labor Aristocracy

Douglas Lain — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 20:35:37 +0000

The historian Spencer Leonard joins Doug to discuss the history of the term "labor aristocracy" and unpack the meaning of anti-imperialism today.

Episode 622: Arturo Vs. Grok 3- Fact Checking Redux!

Douglas Lain — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 17:32:06 +0000

In this week's Diet Soap podcast, Arturo Desimone returns to set the record straight about the Monroe Doctrine and the character of American power while Doug fact checks him again in real time using Elon's newest wonder: Grok 3!

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 621: Should the Democrats Cooperate with RFK Jr?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:26:45 +0000

Zaid Jilani joins Douglas Lain to discuss his two recent articles for Compact:

The Democrats’ RFK Dilemma
https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-democrats-rfk-dilemma/
Democrats Should Work with Trump
https://www.compactmag.com/article/democrats-should-work-with-trump/

Patrons are invited to discuss these podcasts by Zoom every week.Support Us on Patreon to join the conversation.
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 620: Information Overload and Demagoguery

Douglas Lain — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 18:54:15 +0000

This episode of the Sublation Magazine show will attempt to sort through the questions and narratives that are bombarding those of us who are trying to pay attention to the political situation, especially in America. Is Trump a dictator, after all? Is Elon any good with computers? Did Vance make a speech in support of Nazis and Fascists? Are the Democrats rebooting the resistance, and if so, what does that mean for the left?

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 619: On Trump's Plan for Gaza

Douglas Lain — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:25:07 +0000

Chris Cutrone returns to discuss his recent essay for COMPACT entitled "
Mar-a-Gaza." How should socialists understand Trump's proposal? How should the ethnic cleansing of Gaza be resisted now that it is uninhabitable? What went wrong with the pro-Palestinian protest movement?

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 618: A Marxist Platypus?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 17:18:54 +0000

Erin Hagood is the president of the Platypus Affiliated Society and in this episode she explains how this growing Marxist group is intervening on the left. Are they up to no good? Are they saving the world and our collective memory?

Episode 617: Elon Musk and His Lost Boys Take Over the World

Douglas Lain — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 15:50:15 +0000

This week's Sublaton Magazine stream will include a discussion with Benjamin Studebaker about Elon Musk's takeover of the Federal Government. Are we now entering an era of high-tech feudalism? Do we like the taste of it?

We will also be discussing Rob McCleary's Short Story "Nixon in Space"
https://electricliterature.com/nixon-in-space-rob-mccleary/

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 616: On Marx's Critique of Political Economy

Douglas Lain — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 17:54:03 +0000

Following up on Reid Kane's podcast discussing the Marxist Value Critics, Spencer Leonard discusses Marx's critique of political economy and its relevance today.

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 615: Trump, Tariffs, and Executive Orders

Douglas Lain — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 18:29:40 +0000

Douglas Lain and Benjamin Studebaker discuss the prospects for the US and Canada. Who will win the coming trade war? What is the point of blaming Canada?

Story of the Week:
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"
https://fullreads.com/literature/the-lottery/

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 614: Quentin S Crisp Remembers Hamsters

Douglas Lain — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 23:29:47 +0000

Nina Power and Douglas Lain discuss Quentin S. Crisp's novel "Hamster Dam," Neo-Decadence, and the life of the writer in the 21st century. Questions asked include: Do we misremember ourselves? What is frightening today? Do the seventies live on?

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 613: Why Are Conservatives so WOKE for Israel?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 17:20:58 +0000

Joseph (Jake) Klein explains the history of DEI and how riots in the 60s led to redefinitions of racism. A conservative libertarian, Klein also criticizes his colleagues for their hypocrisy. They are WOKE for Israel.

Patrons are invited to a follow-up discussion on Zoom at 2:30pm Pacific.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 612: Curtis Yarvin, JD Vance, and the New Trump Era

Douglas Lain — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 22:00:11 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the meaning of the "left's" fear of a Yarvinized America. Will Trump realize "neo-feudalism?" Is this the dawning of the Dark Enlightenment? Were the Democrats correct when they argued that Trump was going to be a DICTATOR?

Support Sublation Media and Join the Conversation
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 611: Did Chris Cutrone Jump the Shark?

Douglas Lain — Sat, 18 Jan 2025 00:52:36 +0000

Amid renewed calls for his cancellation, Chris Cutrone addresses his critics about an essay that was to be entitled "Why Not Greenland?" Also discussed: How can we understand this moment without tailing any capitalist party? What about the Labor Theory of Value? And did Fonzie even "jump the shark" in the sense the phrase is usually meant?

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 610: Jacob Shell talks Geography and Trump

Douglas Lain — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 20:25:57 +0000

Jacob Shell is a professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University. He is also addicted to X (Twitter) and a critic of the left and the Democrats. Shell insists he's not a leftist, but if the left were alive, I believe he would be.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 609: Greenland, Canada, Panama and the MAGA Monroe Doctrine

Douglas Lain — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 20:13:50 +0000

In this episode of Sublation Magazine, we discuss Trump's intention to expand America. Is he trolling? Is he serious? How seriously should we take Chris Cutrone's defense of Trump's plans? Is there a chance for an "Empire of Liberty?" What does it take to be a Marxist (first or last) in the age of Trump?
Also, what is the meaning of a Vanishing Elephant?

Story of the Week:
The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/11/18/the-elephant-vanishes

Chris Cutrone's controversial essay at compact:
https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-future-belongs-to-america-so-should-greenland/

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 608: What is "Bonapartism"?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 18:42:59 +0000

Spencer Leonard joins Douglas Lain for the first "Spencer Leonard Hour." Spencer will be appearing on the channel monthly going forward in order to educate us about the misunderstood and neglected history of Marxism.

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 607: Reid Kane on Marx and the followers of Postone

Douglas Lain — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 21:51:55 +0000

Reid Kane and Douglas Lain discuss the Wertkritik or "value critics" of contemporary Marxism in this episode of the Diet Soap podcast.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 606: Recapping 2024 with Derick Varn

Douglas Lain — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 18:01:09 +0000

Doug's old co-host joins him to think over the last year and the prospects for a new new left in 2025.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 605: Leaving Woke, Finding Peace

Douglas Lain — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:34:19 +0000

Umut Özkýrýmlý reveals how the Left has been sucked into a spiral of toxic hatred and outrage-mongering, retreating from the democratic ideals of freedom and pluralism that it purports to represent. Exploring the similarities between right-wing populism and radical identity politics, he sets out an alternative vision. It is only by focusing on our common humanity and working across differences that the Left will find a constructive and consensual way back from "woke".

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 604: Lukács, Literature, and Cutrone

Douglas Lain — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 18:32:47 +0000

Douglas Lain and Chris Cutrone discuss György Lukács' "The Theory of the Novel: A Historico-philosophical Essay on the Forms of Great Epic Literature," which provides Doug an opportunity to reminisce on his long-lost vocation as a novelist.

Link to Lukacs' Theory of the Novel
https://analepsis.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/georg-lukacs-the-theory-of-the-novel.pdf

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 603: Drones, Assassins, and Pseudo-Events

Douglas Lain — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 23:10:45 +0000

Benjamin Studebaker takes on the co-host role in this first of the new Sublation Magazine streams. In this episode, we'll discuss the idea of the pseudo-event, the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, and the meaning of the East Coast drone invasion while also covering Toby Green and Thomas Fazi's essay for Sublation Magazine entitled: "A Victory for the Covid Policy Skeptics?" Is Neofeudalism ending, or is it merely rebranding? We will also discuss Donald Barthleme's short story, "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby."

Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby
https://www.jessamyn.com/barth/colby.html

A Victory for Covid Policy Skeptics essay:
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/a-victory-for-covid-policy-skeptics

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 602: Is Transgender a Sexual Orientation?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 13:30:44 +0000

Phil Illy is the author of the book "Autoheterosexual: Attracted to Being the Other Sex" and in this week's podcast, he discusses the theory that the transgender phenomenon is best understood through the lens of human sexuality. He argues that by covering up what he calls "autoheterosexuality" the culture is harming trans people.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 601: Spencer Leonard asks "Is Capitalism Ending Itself?"

Douglas Lain — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 00:57:40 +0000

The Sublation Magazine Show will be moving to Mondays starting on the 16th of December as we transition from the era of Ashley Frawley and welcome Benjamin Studebaker as the new co-host.
In this Tuesday transition episode, Spencer Leonard and Doug will discuss the ideas of Henryk Grossman, the Marxist radical who believed that capitalism would eventually lead to a terminal crisis.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 600: Chris Cutrone on Chris Cutrone

Douglas Lain — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 15:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Cutrone Zone Chris discusses how he came to be a target on the left. Why was he pre-canceled in 2013? What is it about him that drives people so crazy?

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 599: Daniel Tutt, Anti-Imperialism, and the Frankfurt School (Horkheimer vs. Losurdo)

Douglas Lain — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 16:06:15 +0000

Daniel Tutt and Douglas Lain discuss Losurdo's Western Marxism and Postpone's critique of "Anti-Imperialism" in this special edition of Diet Soap. What is the substance of the new "anti-Imperialists"? What is cherry-picking? Was Losurdo charitable enough in his reading of the Frankfurt school?

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 598: Leaving the Left to Find God?

Douglas Lain — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 16:42:28 +0000

Mir Bal is a former socialist podcaster from Sweden, a former social worker, and a Jesuit. This episode of Diet Soap is from the unpublished archive, and in it, Doug and Mir discuss just why he's left secular life and, with it, the left.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.con/dietsoap

Episode 597: The Penultimate Ashley Frawley Episode

Douglas Lain — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 22:00:22 +0000

In this next to last Ashley Frawley episode of the Sublation Magazine Show we'll discuss Compact Magazine, my recent debate with Ashley's next co-host Geoff Shullenberger, the escalation in Ukraine, and what's next for the Campaign for a Socialist Party.

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 596: The Mass Psychology of Capitalist Politics

Douglas Lain — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 18:41:11 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses his essay from Marxism and Politics entitled "The mass psychology of capitalist politics" as well as his essay "Critical authoritarianism." We are all living with the fear of freedom and this leads us to embrace authoritarian solutions to political and social problems.

Buy Chris's Book:
https://sublationmedia.com/product/marxism-and-politics-essays-on-critical-theory-and-the-party-2006-2024/

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 595: Is There a Censorship Industrial Complex?

Douglas Lain — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 17:41:38 +0000

Compact editor Geoff Shullenberger debates Douglas Lain about what Michael Shellenberger calls "The Censorship Industrial Complex." How bad was it and will it continue (along with the surveillance state) under Trump.

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 594: Trump Won (What now?)

Douglas Lain — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:55:49 +0000

Chris Cutrone discusses the meaning of the Trump victory, how politics really works, and what is coming for the Campaign for the Socialist Party.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 593: Will There Be A Trumptastic Censorship Industrial Complex?

Douglas Lain — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 23:55:36 +0000

Ashley Frawley and Douglas Lain evaluate the chances for a rollback of the censorship apparatus and point to a few major threats that are flying under the radar. We'll also discuss how to create independent thinking and independent media in a statist society.

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 592: Avoiding Hysteria in These Final Days

Douglas Lain — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 20:18:34 +0000

In seven days, America will choose between Fascism and Joy, but how do we know which is which? David Shields joins Douglas Lain and Ashley Frawley to discuss how the Democrats are making their closing arguments against Trump. (And we introduce the return of Sublation Magazine on its own website.)

Watch the second hour on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/parroting-chaos-114941879

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 591: The SECRET Meaning of the 2024 Election

Douglas Lain — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 18:35:00 +0000

Chris Cutrone explains the post-neoliberal era and the meaning of Trump as America approaches the conclusion of the 2024 election. Would a second Trump term indicate that the Obama era will finally be tossed into the dustbin of history?

Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 590: Elon Musk: How Oligarchs are Controlling America

Douglas Lain — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 01:44:26 +0000

Doug and Ashley discuss the meaning of Elon Musk in the context of the American empire and consider going to PA in order to register to vote and win a million dollars.

Join Us for the Sublation Discussion Hour in the Parrot Room
https://www.patreon.com/posts/rousseau-and-114497159

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 589: Do We NEED A PARANOID Politics?

Douglas Lain — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 19:18:57 +0000

Fabio Vighi is a professor of Italian and Critical Theory at Cardiff University and the author of the upcoming book "Emergency Capitalism" coming from Sublation in December. In this episode of Emergency Capitalism, Fabio discusses when and why paranoia can be rational, why de-dollarization is on the horizon, and how the mass production of wealth leads to poverty under capitalism.

Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap

Episode 588: Can we ESCAPE the Society of the SPECTACLE?

Douglas Lain — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 21:31:40 +0000

Douglas Lain will present a series of clips this week as Ashley Frawley is at the Battle of Ideas in London and unavailable. He'll be asking the question: How can we escape from the spectacle of petite bourgeois ideology and really "touch grass."