Radio War Nerd EP #648 — Elections: The RWN Global Report, feat. John Dolan, Annibale, Aamer
Guests: Annibale, Aamer
Recorded: November 4, 2026
The RWN Global Network correspondents phone in with reports from 3 continents on the US midterm stomping of MAGA.
First - John reports from Oceania
At 44:35 - Annibale live from Eurasia
At 1:32:13 - Aamer joins us from the northern shores of Lake America
Further election listening:
-RWN #58 - Kelley Vlahos on DC Reaction to Trump Election (2016)
-RWN #253 — Election Violence & Election-2020
-RWN 481 - Hamilton Unplugged: Election Coverage 1789-2024, feat. William Hogeland
Total time: 1:42:27
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (59)
I don't know how things work in Italy but in Poland far right's defining characteristic is pro-russian and anti-ukrainian attitude. Every conspiracy kook, anti-establishment grifter and racist is eating up russian online agitprop. Besides recent spat with Zelensky over honoring UPA fighters both mainstream options gave Ukraine overwhelming support, polish train depots, airports are instrumental to Ukraine's survival. Both polish citizens and gov't gave them a lot of things and money for free - they really should owe Poland eternal gratitude.
"From over 80% of Poles feeling positive about Ukrainians four years ago, that figure has fallen to 40%, according to opinion polls, while around half of Polish people express anti-Ukrainian sentiment." https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0pbr7n5
Nothing on NZ election?
Mr. Ames, as someone who has reviewed the bible, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's in Leviticus where The Lord tells the Hebrews "Thou Shalt Vote Democratic unto the Generations.". So with the Jewish vote so on lock for the Dems, why did the GOP destroy their political chances chasing the Jewish vote by bombing Iran for Israel? Particularly given that from what I can tell, most American Jewish people don't really care all that much about Israel.
Not sure how much the GOP was behind the Iran war. Seems like it was a two-man operation, Trump and his second banana Hegseth, thinking they'd make history and make pro-Israel donors and Christian Zionists happy.
Pimps, murderers and fraudsters all pissing and moaning about etiquette in between bloodbaths
The essence of conservatism is the belief that if you can hurt, you should do it, it worships violence and control as their source of spiritual nourishment. If you are Born Right you are allowed to be arbitrarily violent as your birthright. No consequences for me, only for thee!
Laura is PRAYING to every demon she can think of for all those gun humpers to snap and murder their libtard neighbors. She needs the fucking Mussolini Harness.
Check out Nayib Bukele if you want to know what will happen after Trump (and after the democrats). There is someone who does Trump the way Trump only wish he could.
That's when the Obamas will take selfies with Trump and the Dems will talk about how they wish they had "the old MAGA back".
Mark, a quick thanks from a trans listener for not letting folks forget us. I appreciate that you don't let it overtake the purpose of the show, but refuse to not name how blatantly we've been thrown under the bus. It's been really hard to see a lot of people disregard what's being done to us as "*just* a distraction" (emphasis mine) in a way that ignores the very very real harm that we're experiencing right now. I'll digress sooner than later.
“Enjoy the blood from this stomping and the tears.” Great and wise words.
Mark saying Stevens is considering “converting to Israel” is my all time favorite RWN mis-speak!
not a misspeak
Every single mainstream media interview of el sayed leading up to the election is like the house committee red scare of Paul Robeson. Fuck these people and the establishment for their red baiting and racism towards a very decent man that just wants to help regular people in the context of the most hyper capitalist, imperialist state that has ever existed. Don’t ever forget this shit.
Dems going all in on Ukraine is my favorite sober take on the election right now. They will always discipline their base after a big win by doing nothing.
Hate to rain on the parade but AES is in no way a ''radical'' and his politics, aside from principled opposition to Israel which I credit him for, are reheated Bernieism and not meaningfully different from any other ''progressive'' Dem right now. He is a gifted and charismatic political communicator in the vein of Obama and I have no doubt that he will continue tacking to the center as his national star rises, exactly as Obama did. I hope I'm wrong but let's not get over our skis at the first articulate anti-Zionist Democrat to dunk on Ross Douthat.
I could be wrong but I actually doubt this. Watch more of his interviews. He has articulated more on corporatism on American life than Obama ever did and tied it to wars abroad. He literally has called Israel a genocidal apartheid state on mainstream programs with panels of the most hideous people imaginable. That takes balls. He sounds like the second coming of FDR. He’s still a capitalist but the guy knows where we are at this moment. He’s just one senator out of what 99? But he seems like the real deal imo. It’s very unlikely he will bow to corporate pressure like Obama did. Different functions as a senator vs a president. We gotta wait and see obviously but this post is all coming from an actual socialist.
I fuckin love these guys
I love episodes like this where we can hear Mark dunk on “dumbfuck” trump and the the Haley Stevens “goblin couple”
you guys are so right about the cowardice !
Bill Bellechick, last American leader of orginizarional napoleonic kind, has autistic obsession with game of lacrosse, the lacrosse is speaking for the dead ritual, this is why the Arab has respect as opposed to contempt for American Plebeian class, the natives were killed for us to be here, but only those who play lacrosse or immigrant understand this, and succeed at identity politics from left like the Arab and African Gujurati havw
Alas I expect to see the ruling class on the "progressive" side to interpret the election as that playing dead on Trump worked, and that sacrificing trans people was an election winner. Great to have John back.
yep, it's grim
Really can't take the Dem glazing. Knew that I shouldn't have clicked and been disappointed. Dems suck. AES sucks. Mamdani sucks. You guys will be lamenting them in a few years.
The Canadian tilt to the EU seems like a massive cope exercise for its elderly population. The EU elite is determined to stick with the USA and these mid term results will only encourage them to believe that a USA that does not too obviously exploit them is still possible. The end goal would be to just adding more middle EU management in between Canada and the USA.
Great to hear from John. I live in France over 20 years now and I haven't heard of any right wing admirers of Iran. Quite the opposite. The right here see Iran through their islamophobe lens.
Christian Bouchet would be an example. They are not so prominent in electoral politics but there is an illiberal rightwing subculture that is sympathetic to Iran and which has not been swallowed up entirely by pro Israeli counter jihad tendencies.
Carry on my wayward son, there’ll peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest, John Dolan has returned to the nest
re: polling, it's tough to get accurate numbers because almost nobody responds at all to polls, let alone honestly. so every modern poll is based on getting a few hundred responses from the sort of weirdos who are actually willing to answer your texts/calls, then aggressively using math and/or vibes and/or magic to try and extrapolate from that to get a picture of what you think the actual voters will do
Hey Mark, last I checked “cadre” is pronounced “kad-ray” in US English, not “kad-er.” Comrade to comrade.
Don't get started trying to correct Comrade Ames's pronunciations, it's a long road to nowhere
I hope this midterm victory helps put a bit of a damper on the far right in Europe generally
Oh man a War Nerd episode with the actual War Nerd
I am very impressed by El-Sayed tho cannot yet muster hope. One thing that is very depressing is the extent to which he is hemmed in by imperialist realism (thank you D Bessner), specifically in terms of how he talks about wanting to return to "nuclear containment" with Iran à la JCPOA. I see no reason - even from a cynical perspective - why he can't just say "we need to stop meddling in other countries affairs" instead of continuing to operate from "do something-ism"
Well said.
RWN All Stars
guess I'm supposed to be happy about the blue wave but had to text this to my best friend morning after election: "all this blue and red political campaign shit with thr signs and the guys wearing t shirts under blazers contorting their vocal cords to mimic obama is so aesthetically outmoded bro"
wait, are we doing the AOC thing with el-sayed's name too now? at least "alexandria ocasio cortez" has kind of a lot of syllables. like i still don't respect the abbreviation but i get it. but "abdul el-sayed" has less than half as many syllables. what are we doing here? please don't let this catch on. it's already caught on, hasn't it?
Um, he has a three-word name. I’m pretty sure that, based on international law, you do the three letter thing
Thanks Ames for the immediate “you’re wrong” at 14:09 or so, giving John the correction he needs for being so far from America
Thank you for unpacking the Israel vs Saudi war crime/ genocide question and bringing in the facts of why the electorate is/ was activated about Israel is the loud way with which aipac works vs the quiet way that Saudi government wields influence in America. It has to do with the mythology of WW2 being an American Victory and white American militarist/ nationalist identity being wrapped up in that so naturally also needing to push back against that while most Americans do not understand and are bored by the premise of the Saudi subjugation of Yemen
"i know now why you vote" as a leather gloved thumbs up descends into a blue wave
20 minutes in and it's a great episode so far. A small matter in the scheme of things, but God is it good to see Douthat get stomped in public by his betters. FYI i'm reliably informed that his actual nickname in college was "douchehat" [P.S. The Wonkette article on that episode, of all things, had a few lines that reminded me of the Exile ("To watch Douthat try to interview someone is like watching a black hole suck in every nearby star. It’s like staring into a cup of wheat germ until you go cross-eyed. It’s like seeing two Galapagos tortoises trying to fuck.")]
Atlas Intel has done the best polling the last two cycles, very accurate.
Wtf does stroppy mean
kiwi speak for obstreperous
Trump's secret is he's America's first honest president. He's the first one who isn't pretending to be the President, he's just doing it; wielding power, going after whatever he wants, insulting everyone. He is honest, and that simply let him use the Imperial Presidency to it's full extent.
As far as I know left was the only people raising concerns about Saudi Arabia for about 20-30 years ….?
Dude doesn't have any idea rhat the international left has been allied with Palestine for decades, and likewise that Ansarallah just doesn't have the same English language media reach as Palestine. Plus everyone already hates the KSA, no one is trying to justify what it does. They media has just successfully not beought it up for a decade and that's mostly kept it out of the headlines. And finally; Ansarallah is doing quite well against the US and KSA. The US Establishment doesn't want eyes on Yemen because rhey're getting slapped around by an indigenous resistance in one of the poorest countries on earth. That's embarassinf.
Stroppy… gotta love that the antipodes can pull on a poets language…
Oh and I would argue that Dr. El-Sayed has swagger, which, against the backdrop of the lamest dorks and losers ever born, looks like arrogance
This. I wanted to comment on the arrogance claim but you said it better.
What is.. pride.. as a Texan?
Correct. You may now choose your next category
We love John Dolan don’t we folks?
just a theory but i’m sure that in america if you buy a false poll w a good enough lead it will happen in real life bc no one picks up phone calls anymore
Good to hear Dolan
Ooo number 1!