Radio War Nerd EP #485 — Meet The Trumpists, feat. Kelley Vlahos

Which episodes have undesirable guest interactions?

She was wrong when you had her on before Trump 1.0 and nothing has changed here.

What was with all the unchallenged Tulsi glazing?

This is def one of those episodes where the comments section has better analysis than the episode itself.

I liked this episode but if you think Vivek or Vance or Gabbard are actually anti-war and pro-peace then you're a grade-A moron. These cretins have no actual values but they'll do and say whatever sounds good in the moment. They don't believe in anything. I'm not saying that all politicians are de-facto liars and frauds, but these people in particular have a track record that makes it ok to dismiss anything they say. There are a very small number of pro-peace people in DC (like Rashida Tlaib and Ihan Omar) but they aren't mentioned in this ep. Maybe that's because they don't wield a lot of power, and hey fair enough, but it's not like those 3 will either.

Can we get an update on Aleppo and the movement in Syria in the next episode? Could be a BS moral operation, could be a significant movement in the war? Probably the former, but it's crazy that any news from Syria is even happening. Throwback to the first 50 episodes

The tulsi gabbard enthusiasm is very misguided. Still a member of her Hawaiian anti-gay surfer cult she was born into and a clear intelligence asset. She will not be different and is leading gullible liberals by the nostrils

I feel myself get frustrated with episodes like this and it’s hard to remember that in some cases, factual accuracy is t as important as understanding that this is how a segment of the population thinks. Like is Vivek a moderate on isreal? Doesn’t matter - they think he is one

Great ep, I loved hearing this guest’s perspective. This is very out of left field but I would like to make a suggestion for an episode. Forgive me if you’ve already had one on this topic but I think a history of the White House press briefings would be pretty interesting. This is something I have thought about particularly since the Gaza genocide began: why can’t journalists really just tear into people like Matt Miller or Karine Jean-Pierre when they spout their lies? We see the journalists try their best to use the blatant hypocrisy of US policy in these briefings and they do a good job of that but since we began a literal population liquidation the likes of the eastern front in WWII you would think we would see more outbursts like what came from Liam Cosgrove which gained some amount of publicity. Obviously, he’ll never be able to ask another question ever again but why do they have such power to limit questions? Was it always like this? Thanks for allowing me to vent this honest frustration here. Thanks for everything you guys do, you are my favorite podcast and I’ll never stop being a supporter.

The answer to the question “how does the war in Israel benefit America” is that it keeps the Epstein videos from coming out

Welcome back to my hometown!

Analyzing Donald Trump as a rational actor with a plan, as was done in this episode, seems to me very problematic. What makes Trump so uniquely dangerous is that he is not in any way a thinker. He is profoundly ignorant of history, knows less than nothing about science, and seems almost pathologically incurious. For a man who grew up with great wealth and privilege (in the words of a friend, he has always known where the next Bentley was coming from), he is remarkably insecure and defensive. He has no convictions that he is not willing to change instantly if he thinks it will benefit him. Such a person cannot have a policy or policies. He will make one erratic decision after the next, and all utterly unconcerned with consequences to anyone except himself. Einstein may have said that God does not play dice with the universe, but he had not met Donald Trump. Add the soupcon that Trump is just as far into senile decline as Biden (although it manifests itself in different ways) and you have trouble, right here in River City. Or in the words of Bette Davis, "Fasten your seatbelts. It is going to be a bumpy night."

“Hell-O?”, the Kelly Vlahos signature line

It seems incredibly, incredibly naive to me for people to keep listing Tulsi Gabbard as some sort of moderating influence. She's an intense hawk on Iran and China, a craven opportunist and an active US Psyops officer lol. Could not imagine a more deep state neocon figure if you tried

So is there going to be a Victoria help John move event? Count me in.

“It’d be so great if capital didn’t accumulate wealth at the expense of the workers” yeah, wow, thanks for that insight

Thinking about what Annibale said in a previous episode about how “colonizing countries become infected with the disease of racism”. DC is the site of American tertiary imperial syphilis, an oozing, toxic, psychotic buboe (I went to college in DC during the Trump years)

It’s super informative to hear from an observer/participant with her finger on the pulse (slime?) of the blob. Please consider unlocking this post.

"Hesgeth"

Kelley is a great guest and I think knows what she's talking about - but I totally disagree with her take on Tulsi. She may not be a Christian, but she's definitely a Zionist, and she too believes in "civilizational struggle" against Muslims.

Vivek went on a blood thirsty zionist tirade at either cpac or aipac recently, so I'm not sure where this guest is picking up his moderate views on Isreal from. And JD Vance changes his views based on who he is talking to to best fit his goals, he called trump Hitler in 2017!

The cold logic of military Keynesianism being the backbone of American hegemony means that money will continue to go into the DMV area

Is there a picture of John's massive battle painting posted anywhere? Would love to see it!

I think Kelly Vlahos really knows what she's talking about (and, maybe more importantly, doesn't try to say too much about subjects she *doesn't* know about), but at the same time I don't understand why she can't see the imperial logic behind the ruling class's decisions. Drawing down and retrenching America's overseas commitments might benefit the American people in some abstract sense, but it's not as if it would be accompanied by increased investment in public welfare. The ruling class *can't* reallocate resources from the empire to the metropole. Even if they wanted to, the United States's power and wealth is based mostly on its status as global hegemon and, more crucially, the ultimate global consumer. If somehow we lost our empire, and tried to compensate by reinvesting in domestic industry and whatever, the entire world order would collapse. Who would buy all of China and Europe's crap? All the other major economies in the world are premised on exporting garbage to the United States. The global economy is tenuous enough as it is. American currency would become worthless. If we made our own products, we wouldn't be able to afford them. It took *three* apocalyptic global conflicts (counting the Cold War) to build the modern world. At the moment, everyone, including the ruling class, is just along for the ride. If we're going to change the course humanity has chosen for itself, it will take some kind of societal upheaval and break with the status quo far bigger than picking between two completely disgusting freaks to be POTUS for four years. We can discuss the peculiarities and fortunes of this or that administration or regime, but it should always be with that understanding in mind. It might be worthwhile to try and nudge the powers-that-be in a saner direction wherever possible (I'm skeptical, but at the same time it's not like I have any better ideas) but the overall trajectory of history at the moment is pretty clear and, I would argue, almost 100% irreversible.

A guest from the institute of responsible statecraft? That's the kind of statecraft that I've yet to see in this bizarre nation.

Correct your guest - Zelensky isn’t hopped up on adrenaline. It’s probably cocaine or meth

I had a dream about pod save America. I am not well but I am here. Safe. With Mr. BRECHER

I always enjoy being told that the lawyers are parasites.

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