#136: CIA-Backed Nazis? In MY Rotunda?
You did a racism. You did an imperialism. You did no growth. You did a white fragility. You did a "come right on in, everybody." You did an "also present on the scene were groups of anti-Castro Cubans."
Comments (46)
Listening to this in 2026: The last 10-15 minutes or so are just incredibly prophetic. Michael I’m grateful for what you do and getting the opportunity to listen and engage with these ideas and theories that truly feel so personal and exact. Describing the modern movement of capital in an extreme push toward fascism that will ultimately turn the world into a “high-tech third-world” is fucking right on the nose. Thinking of AI as inevitable, flock cameras, Palantir, the breakdown of the almighty dollar. We’re not seeing progress in meaningful political or social change; the conditioning over time has really entered us into an entirely new existence of technocratic rule that doesn’t abide by any sense of common historical codes of morality, decency, or traditional economics. God bless you.
Listening back to this the nasaliness of whatever you had going on gives your voice a Patrick Bateman waspy affect almost like it's a deliberate character. Kind of jarring
Re-listening to this for the first time in a long time. The Michael Hastings reference is brief but damn if it isn't a good reminder. Cheers, Michael!
41:00
Hey, I was daaaaaang right
New listener here and just want to say that as a 22yo the conclusions of this episode are massively fucking depressing
Can you try to incorporate a singapore accent into an upcoming episode
“It had to be allowed to happen!” Huge.
Man I’m sorry to keep wracking up questions (extraordinary episode, by the way) but I have to ask for the next Q+A: You often use the language of horror, and a (botched, in memory) phrase you’ve used, “the world works in truly horrifying ways”, has really stuck with me. What do you think is the central fulcrum of horror, both as a literary and moral/ontological expression? It’s a concept that I think has unfortunately been ceded in some part to the Right - think the Lovecraftian influences on Nick Land and company, but it clearly has potential for radical critique. I’ve been very touched by the way you’ve talked about the humanity of art, and I wonder if you have any lowercase-U utopian impulses, when you juxtapose art, justice, and compassion with the very real horrors of the nuclear and post-nuclear age? Do you think you could examine this through the lens of the sort of “death of God”/“death of the Sun” theology you’ve approached, as both metaphor and figure?
Did you happen to read Max Blumenthal's article about John Sullivan on The Grayzone? That made me (even more) insane. I don't think I've ever seen a clearer example of COINTELPRO-type shit happening today.
Episode Title: Sublime callback b/w Episode Content:Bottomless pit. Liner notes: My balls and benis.
Lmao this outro was dark as fuck lolool
The concept of Iconosphere reminds me of DeBord's Spectacle, and his (edit: MSJ's) analysis of American political culture with respect to the Iconosphere reminds me of DeBord. I don't mean to suggest that this analysis is derivative; I mean it as a genuine compliment.
Ikonosphere... I too found out too late, myself. But I mean, the man is a Hellenist and we shoulda known
If I do not get at least 5 full minutes of content re: your guitar pedal collection/wishlist/thoughts/etc in the next Q&A, I am going to go on a balls AND benis rampage that will make 1/6/21 look like an episode of Barney. I have zip ties and I know how to use em, MJ.
we need a rig rundown and noodling or something to that effect
My balls and benis
Q&A: Gibson/Mesa merger expectations?
Generally, fuck Gibson, but I kind of semi-know a guy at Mesa who says that their daily operations aren't changing at all and it's just about getting access to Gibson's distribution in exchange for a cut of the profits, plus I think they're going to end up making some "Gibson Custom Shop" signature amps and such. I would normally be very unhappy, but I don't think Randy Smith, Doug West, Mike Bendinelli, et al, do any of this casually
I still maintain the opinion that Qanon started as a way to troll right wingers/chan dorks and then it got hijacked several times
MJ, do you have any good sources for learning about project CHAOS?
I've started thinking about it as the Principle of Tension to take it out of the framework of the 20th century stay-behinds/Gladio expanded universe and "Gladio B"/Islamic terror phase to talk to people about how seemingly 'uncontrollable' or 'stochastic' violence can be an intentional calculated factor in the tool box of control/security/power
This is so excellent. Thank you.
Great ep. I dug your russiagate take. Whether moving liberals to the right was the ultimate goal, that’s certainly what it did. I can appreciate your conjecture on gladio-esqu moves via the capitol riot. It had the immediate effect of expediting the certification of the EC. I’d suggest that the police stand down could be explained by plain ol’ ideological affinity with MAGA, though. Ideology and stupidity are a heady combo.
The Yardbirds sing mr you’re a better man than I.
Top notch episode & insight. WTF is with the left crying to daddy FBI to arrest these people? This event definitely helped bring more people to the far center. What comes next is the Patriot Act 2.0 - The Woke Act.
this is such a fucking good take I wish it was a free ep so i could share it far and wide.
Great episode, anyone know how we know Anti-Castro Cubans, that Iranian group, & Falun Gong were involved?
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3116725/china-one-many-gripes-trump-supporters-capitol-siege Here's falun gong at least
The vids of the police letting the mob in while telling journalists "you can't go in, no one can go in" was my third-eye opener
already cackling @ "AR-15s they don't know how use" - love you, love from Montana, thanks for the catharsis my friend
While this was still happening I said "yup, this is a certain train station in Bologna."
love to see 'years of lead' commentary in the wild
MSJ, i gotta say, you claim to have a broken brain, but you articulated every fear of mine before i really understood them. You're the smartest and most cynical man I've ever heard speak. And it seems like you have a finger on the pulse.
Seconded. In the same day as witnessing this MAGA mob spectacle at the capitol, I strongly felt what I would call a semi-conscious animal apprehension of purpose and meaning behind the spectacle I was witnessing, but it takes someone with Michael's breadth of knowledge and faculty of language to convert that same apprehension into a form which is specific enough to communicate with others.
Proud Boys did two trips into DC in November and December. At the time they went in groups through DC, rampaging through the streets with the cops mostly standing by. These included stabbings. Destruction of BLM banners. People following message boards indicated that when these people returned home, they communicated that there was no effort to stop them. In the December visit, one of the Proud Boys had a meeting with Trump and bragged about it on social media (Roger Stone it probably should be noted is also reported to be part of the group). These guys were present at the rally. One of the things that was noted was that there was no apparent air cover on the day of Trump's rally. In some of the BLM protests over the summer, people were teargassed for throwing water bottles. Helicopters were overhead constantly. None of that was apparently present. A guy who was present covering Charlottesville in 2017, a bunch of rallies and protests in DC and this event, said that the police response reminded him of what happened in Charlottesville, where at least some of the police seemed to be operating with stand down orders (some clearly were doing some fighting back and were just overrun). There are reports that Trump's Secretary of Defense wasn't returning calls in connection with calls for sending in the National Guard. You might be correct about the practical effect of the likely crackdown. But I think the most obvious motive is that Trump has made abundantly clear again, and again and again, that he won the election, that he has been robbed, that he has no intention of stepping down from power voluntarily. His speech itself was a clear incitement and people were more than happy to follow his orders. The timing of the event was no accident. The proximate cause of the riot was obviously a move to stop the counting of electoral votes. Was Trump stupid enough to follow through with this? You had a guy dying because he acccidently tasered himself and died of a heart attack. A woman in a "don't tread on me" flag, was stampede to death. It was pretty much par for course with the Trump administration's interventions elsewhere in the world. There is clearly a legitimacy crisis. However, I don't think you can fix it with just pure spectacle. Fundamentally, material conditions have to get better. If they don't. Then the legitimacy crisis won't go away. I also don't think the universal reaction was fear or horror. On some level I think it was a total humiliation. On another, it was just pure absurdity.
Big up yourself Michael.
Me at the start of D//C- :) Me at the end of D//C- :(
That's the D//C promise!
Well at least the stock market did great
Yess! Needed the deep take on this.
Some of your best titling and description work yet.
hahahah yeeeeeeaaahh booiiiiii
ya sounds good Mike <3
Hell yes!!!! Thank you!
Thank you for the fresh slop