Against the Grain

Matthew Schmitz and Julia Yost
  • 4.8 (22)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

How the right is remaking America. A podcast hosted by Matthew Schmitz and Julia Yost.

  1. The Epstein Skeptics

    3D AGO

    The Epstein Skeptics

    The release of the Epstein files has been met by an outpouring of paranoid speculation—and a growing chorus of expressing justified skepticism. Matthew and Julia welcome the newcomers to the party and rebuke the holdouts. For more like this, become a member at patreon.com/againstthepod.

    11 min
  2. Melania Mania

    FEB 2

    Melania Mania

    Amazon Studios’ documentary about Melania Trump exceeded box-office expectations in its first weekend, despite being panned by critics and review-bombed by (non-)viewers. Matthew and Julia discuss the First Lady as style icon, fashion-industry professional, and culture-war flashpoint. For more like this, become a member at patreon.com/againstthepod.

    49 min
  3. Close Encounters with Ross Douthat

    JAN 20

    Close Encounters with Ross Douthat

    Are we living in a secular age? Organized religion has suffered decades of decline. But belief in conspiracies is on the rise, amid UFO disclosures, satanic panics, and lab-leak theories. Among intellectuals and elites, the New Atheism of the Aughts has been replaced by a trend toward traditional belief. Ross Douthat, New York Times columnist and author of Believe, joins Matthew and Julia. For more like this, become a member at patreon.com/againstthepod.

    23 min
  4. Norman, Conqueror

    JAN 1

    Norman, Conqueror

    Orgies, amphetamines, stabbings, and an even more scandalous turn to the right: Matthew and Julia discuss how Norman Podhoretz survived the sixties and defined the decades that followed. For more like this, become a member at patreon.com/againstthepod.

    55 min
  5. Jacob Savage on the Lost Generation

    12/16/2025

    Jacob Savage on the Lost Generation

    In 2014, prestige institutions decided they had to become much more diverse—and quickly. They didn’t purge established Boomers. Instead, they did everything they could to avoid hiring white millennial men. Jacob Savage joins Matthew and Julia to tell the story of a generation derailed by DEI.  For more like this, become a member at patreon.com/againstthepod.

    24 min
  6. How Hipsterism Led to Trumpism

    12/01/2025

    How Hipsterism Led to Trumpism

    Millennial Brooklyn may be left-coded, but with its nostalgic masculinism, organic food obsessions, and rural white aesthetics, the hipster era anticipated the MAGA right. Matthew and Julia explain the connection by digging into the life and influence of the original millennial-era hipster, the alternative magazine publisher Jim Goad. For more like this, become a member at patreon.com/againstthepod.

    59 min
  7. The Great Helenization

    11/24/2025

    The Great Helenization

    Are women ruining the workplace? Are meme-makers ruining conservative intellectual culture? Is our literature better off without litbros like David Foster Wallace? Matthew and Julia talk with Helen Andrews, author of the viral Compact essay “The Great Feminization.” For more like this, become a member at patreon.com/againstthepod.

    12 min
  8. World War What?

    11/03/2025

    World War What?

    The legacy of World War II seems unsettled as never before. Figures on left and right flirt with fascist iconography, and influencers question who the war’s true villain was. Are these signs of a growing discontent with the conventional lessons of the “Good War” and the postwar settlement they support? To sort fact from falsehood, Sean McMeekin, professor of history at Bard College and author of Stalin’s War, joins Matthew and Julia. For more like this, become a member at patreon.com/againstthepod.

    1 hr
See All (18)

4.8
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

How the right is remaking America. A podcast hosted by Matthew Schmitz and Julia Yost.

Information

  • Creator
    Matthew Schmitz and Julia Yost
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Matthew Schmitz and Julia Yost
  • Show Website
    Against the Grain

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