Unf*cking The Republic

UNFTR Media
  • 4.8 (750)
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Unf*cking The Republic® (UNFTR) is dedicated to progressive politics, leftist economic theories, and social justice in the United States. Join us for deep dives into socialism, labor rights, climate justice, and the fight against inequality. Whether you're curious about Marxist ideas, modern social movements, or progressive policies, UNFTR delivers thoroughly sourced critiques, analyses, and interviews with the historical context mainstream media won't provide. Subscribe for informative and unabashedly progressive coverage of the leftist political and economic landscape.

  1. 1d ago

    Labor Daze: Trump’s Resident Idiot Says the Economy is a Gift.

    Trump administration official Kevin Hassett declared the latest jobs report as a “present to the American people” for Labor Day. Really, Kevin? Let’s dig into this claim by looking closely at the labor data. What you’ll find is that more Americans than ever are dislocated from the full-time employment picture in this country, and that this administration has zero idea how to fix it. And they’re not even trying. But, sure. Happy Labor Day, America. Enjoy the weekend worrying about how to pay your bills. Resources Bloomberg Television: NEC’s Hassett Says Inflation Is Under Control Vox: The Trump administration’s “cubic model” of coronavirus deaths, explained Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Labor Force Participation Rate NBC News: Trump’s new Fed chair walks fine line on inflation in key speech Bureau of Labor Statistics: The Employment Situation — August 2026 ADP Research: National Employment Report Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: All Employees, Manufacturing Peterson-KFF Health Systems Tracker: What are the recent trends in employer-based health coverage? KFF: Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance 101 Bureau of Labor Statistics: Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey Bureau of Labor Statistics: Frequently asked questions about data on contingent and alternative employment arrangements (May 2017) Bloomberg: Fewer Americans are Working or Looking for a Job. Experts Can’t Agree on Why PBS News: What the July jobs report reveals about the strength of the economy United States Census Bureau: Monthly Construction Spending, July 2026 UNFTR Resources Video: The Jobs Report Is A Scam: Here’s Why Episode: Merchants of Death. Essay: Labor Daze. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  2. 3d ago

    Omnibus (09-05-26).

    Max and 99 are back for another round of Omnibus. They hit headlines on the White House’s Venezuelan oil deal and the money launderer at its center, the Pentagon rolling out its own versions of ChatGPT and Grok, and a Gloria Steinem mantra. Then they tackle listener emails on what drives career politicians to serve billionaires, taxpayer exposure on the Venezuela oil deal, and Reagan’s popularity as a byproduct of mass media monoculture. Enjoy, Unf*ckers. Chapters Intro: 00:00:22 Headlines: 00:04:38 Emails: 00:18:54 Fake Outro: 00:38:12 Memberships: 00:43:14 Outro: 00:44:01 Resources Subscribe to the UNFTR Newsletter TechCrunch: The Pentagon now has its own version of ChatGPT and Grok ICIJ: White House pick to run Venezuela oil deal under investigation in two countries The New Yorker: Road Warrior Hold Fast UNFTR Resources Episode: F*ck Milton Friedman. Episode: Merchants of Death. Episode: Did Ronald Regan Destroy the American Dream? Video: The Jobs Report Is A Scam: Here’s Why -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  3. 3d ago

    Merchants of Death: The Men Who Killed Healthcare in America.

    The United States doesn’t have a comprehensive healthcare “system.” It has a patchwork of coverage options that come with heavy price tags and complicated processes. Consistent GOP attacks have made the entire framework untenable, and the results speak for themselves. Healthcare coverage is deteriorating rapidly under Trump and there’s no going back at this point. This might be the opening we need to finally have a real conversation about Medicare for All. But there’s going to be a lot of pain between now and then. Resources KFF: ACA Marketplace Enrollment Is Down By 3 Million After Big Jump in Premium Payments The New York Times: Uninsured Patients Rise Sharply, Hospitals Report, Citing Obamacare Cuts Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker: How much and why ACA Marketplace premiums are going up in 2027 Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker: How much and why premiums are going up for small businesses in 2027 American Medical Association: Changes to Medicaid, the ACA and other key provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Common Dreams: Nearly 2.5 Million Children Have Lost Medicaid and CHIP—So Far—During Trump’s Second Term STAT: The Trump administration is burying science and health care in paperwork Book Love Abdul El-Sayed + Micah Johnson: Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide Steven Brill: America’s Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System Paul Starr: The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry UNFTR Resources Video: Healthcare Is Broken—And It’s Not Getting Better. Essay: Merchants of Death. Series: Healthcare. Episode: Medicare for All. Episode: Pharmacy Benefit Managers. 5 Non-Negotiables. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  4. 5d ago

    Did Ronald Reagan Destroy the American Dream?

    Ronald Reagan. Champion of neoliberalism. To some, the man who lifted the spirits of a nation and restored a sense of pride and optimism after a period of despair. To others, the Reagan years marked the death of liberalism. A dark turn toward unfettered capitalist exploitation and the decapitation of working class movements and civil rights. So, which is it? Was Ronald Reagan responsible for ushering in an era of prosperity and restoring national pride as his boosters maintain? Or was he indeed the harbinger of doom and the reason we have Donald Trump today? Like most things, it’s complicated. But there are three ways in which Reagan fundamentally altered the trajectory of the United States to the detriment of most American families. Max walks through each of them before offering a bit of context for the era and ends with an example of a modern political figure that borrows from Reagan’s political playbook but with a twist: this time it’s to do good in the world. Resources Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute: Americans Still Believe in Strong U.S. Global Leadership and Engagement, Including Young MAGA Republicans The New York Times: Javits Sees G.O.P. Hurt By Reagan NPR: 1976: The Last Time Republicans Duked It Out To The Last, Heated Minute : NPR 270ToWin: 1980 Presidential Election Interactive Map Center for Public Integrity: How four decades of tax cuts fueled inequality Roosevelt Institute: To Put Trickle-down Economics to Rest, We Need a New Tax Code Wikipedia: Americans for Tax Reform Brennan Center for Justice: Citizens United, Explained Heritage Foundation: Reagan And Heritage: A Unique Partnership The Nation: The Mandate for Leadership, Then and Now The New York Times: The Strike That Busted Unions Jacobin: The Legacy of the Crushed 1981 PATCO Strike NPR + Code Switch: The Truth Behind The Lies Of The Original ‘Welfare Queen’ History: Just Say No History of Cannabis Project: Reagan Drug Policy — Just Say No & the 1986 Act Wikipedia: Dark Alliance U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General: CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy PBS: The Iran-Contra Affair National Archives: President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address (1961) Peter G. Peterson Foundation: The United States Spends More on Defense than the Next 6 Countries Combined Frederic Lemieux: Militarization of Law Enforcement in America ProPublica: The Best Reporting on Federal Push to Militarize Local Police CounterPunch: The Hidden Cost of the U.S. Military: The Real Budget is Far Larger Than Reported UNFTR Resources Video: Did Reagan Destroy the American Dream? Essay: Did Ronald Reagan Destroy the American Dream? The Carter Series. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  5. 6d ago

    On The Record (09-01-26).

    This week we tore apart The Heritage Foundation’s spin on the Venezuela oil deal—the “world’s gas station” line slogan, the math on what Venezuela gets back is embarrassing, and what’s really happening is a century-old colonial playbook dressed up in PR language. Then we looked at a Pew chart: global favorability of the U.S. just dropped below China’s for the first time. That’s where dollar dominance eventually ends—not in the bond market, but in reputation. And we’re burning through ours fast. Chapters Intro: 00:00:38 Quick Takes: 00:01:43 Max Notes: 00:06:13 Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:20:47 Chart of the Week: 00:22:17 Outro: 00:24:20 Resources NBC News: Far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos detained by ICE at New Orleans airport The New York Times: Milo Yiannopoulos, Right-Wing Agitator, Deported Home to U.K. U.S. Democratic Socialists: Angie Nixon DESTROYS Laura Loomer After Disgusting Comments! The Omission: 78 Days NBC News: Kalshi permanently bans George Santos after he secretly bet on himself WGRZ-TV: Seneca nation President reacts to Lake Ontario name change The Progressive: The Long Con of John Roberts CNN: Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ in US searches Bloomberg Podcasts: Venezuela Oil Deal Raises Questions Over US Role PBS News: What we know about Trump’s deal giving U.S. access to vast oil reserves in Venezuela The Heritage Foundation: Why American Energy Dominance Is a Strategic Imperative Reuters: Venezuela PDVSA’s 2011 net profit rises 42 pct El País: Venezuela’s economic crisis fueled by looting of its state-owned oil company The Heritage Foundation: Fighting a Just War in Iraq ConocoPhillips: International Arbitration Tribunal Orders Venezuela to Pay ConocoPhillips $8.7 Billion for Unlawful Expropriation of Company’s Oil Investments Al Jazeera: ‘Profoundly pro-American’: Machado outlines a vision for Venezuela’s future CNBC: Venezuela’s interim president says U.S. energy deal will last 25 years Marketplace: Earnings show why big oil isn’t eager to go all-in on Venezuela Council on Foreign Relations: The U.S. Took Over Venezuela’s Oil Industry. Where Has All the Money Gone? Vox: How success in Venezuela set Trump up for disaster in Iran Brittany Page: The Exact Moment Darline Graham Fumbled Her Campaign Pew Research Center: Views of China have turned more positive – and views of the U.S. more negative – across 20 countries UNFTR Resources Video: On The Record 09-01-26 (The Real Story Behind the ‘Great’ Venezuela Oil Deal.) Essay: Iraqezuela. Video: Did Reagan Destroy the American Dream? -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  6. Aug 29

    Omnibus (08-29-26).

    Max and 99 are back for another round of Omnibus. They hit headlines on John Roberts’ 40-year project to kill the Voting Rights Act and Spirit Airlines selling decades of flight attendant data to Google to train AI. Then they tackle listener emails on wage labor as a central issue, whether UNFTR is a GRU op (lol), and tech bros engineering technocratic feudalism. Enjoy! Chapters Intro: 00:00:40 Headlines: 00:07:38 Emails: 00:31:04 Memberships: 00:59:34 Outro: 01:00:33 Resources Frazier Chorus: Dream Kitchen Wired: Spirit Airlines Wants to Sell Its Data to Google. Former Flight Attendants Are Freaked Out The Progressive: The Long Con of John Roberts FiftyPlusOne: We tracked every candidate in the 2026 primaries. Here’s who voters are nominating. UNFTR Resources Video: On The Record 08-25-26 (Scott Bessent is a Loser Who Wants to be President.) -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  7. Aug 25

    On The Record (08-25-26).

    This week we staged an intervention for Scott Bessent—the failed hedge fund manager who lost 90% of his assets during the greatest bull run in history and is now the most interventionist Treasury Secretary in decades, scoring own goals in the bond market, undermining the new Fed chair, and threatening Iran with sanctions while refusing to answer a single question about China. Then we checked in on the Trump family stablecoin, which has quietly doubled in market cap. It’s a reminder that the most corrupt president in American history is building the most powerful personal wealth machine in the world, and Congress is about to hand him the legislation to run it. Chapters Intro: 00:00:38 Quick Takes: 00:01:28 Max Notes: 00:10:28 Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:21:28 Chart of the Week: 00:23:05 Outro: 00:24:19 Resources Jimmy Carter Presidential Library: Economic Sanctions of Iran Associated Press: Bush Prods Allies for Tougher Stance on Iran American Rhetoric: Barack Obama - On United Nations Sanctions Against Iran C-SPAN: President Trump announces sanctions on Iranian National Bank Bloomberg Podcasts: US to End Dollar Access to Those Laundering Iran Money Says Bessent The New York Times: Jeffries and Kushner Meet Privately as Midterm Attacks Fly The New York Times: Court Allows Trump to Pursue Mail Voting Limits, for Now Politico: Trump votes by mail again in his home state of Florida Financial Times: Natalie Harp, the devoted ‘human printer’ in Trump’s entourage PBS NewsHour: The potential economic fallout of Trump’s trade war with Canada Charles Booker for U.S. Senate Daily Kos: Sean Duffy afraid Harvard will ‘corrupt’ daughter’s brain Mother Jones: It Just Got Way Easier to Sue Fossil Fuel Companies Over Climate Change Bloomberg: Bessent Becomes Most Interventionist Treasury Chief in Decades Fortune: Scott Bessent is using moves from his hedge fund days to prop up Japan’s yen—and America’s $40 trillion national debt The New York Times: He Helped ‘Break’ the Bank of England. Now He May Run the U.S. Treasury. The Bulwark: How Trump’s Treasury Secretary Crashed His Own Hedge Fund (w/ Marshall Brandt) Bloomberg: Will Bessent’s Old Trump Jokes Make His Treasury Job Tricky? Bloomberg: Bessent Is Stealing a Playbook He Didn’t Even Like AlterNet: Trump Treasury secretary torn apart for leaving out ‘to-do’ list ‘on-purpose’ Reuters: US will do ‘whatever it takes’ to support Japan after yen intervention, Bessent says CNBC: Bessent’s efforts in the Treasury market so far haven’t worked. Here’s what else he can try The Hill: Federal Reserve shifts away from forward guidance under new chief Kevin Warsh Politico: Bessent’s ‘economic D-Day’ against Iran begins with a ‘warning shot’ Straight White American Jesus: Christian Nationalists and Tech Lords: Derek Chauvin Should Go Free & George Floyd Wasn’t Murdered Reuters: Trump’s stablecoin chosen for $2 billion Abu Dhabi investment in Binance, co-founder says CoinGecko: USD1 UNFTR Resources Video: On The Record 08-25-26 (Scott Bessent is a Loser Who Wants to be President.) Essay: President Scott Bessent. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  8. Aug 24

    Don’t Tax the Rich. Cut Them Off.

    Billionaires are easy to hate. And there are several efforts underway to get them to pay their “fair share.” In this episode, Max argues that focusing on taxing billionaires is the wrong discussion and distracts from attaining the tax policy we truly need. Instead of focusing on the individual billionaires, focus on preventing individuals from becoming billionaires. The real story is corporate taxes. Resources Legal Information Institute: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: The 2017 Trump Tax Law Was Skewed to the Rich, Expensive, and Failed to Deliver on Its Promises Tax Policy Center: What is the TCJA repatriation tax and how does it work? Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: U.S. Corporations’ Repatriation of Offshore Profits: Evidence from 2018 The White House: White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Releases End of Year Deregulatory Stats: Showing the Trump Administration Has Best Deregulation Year in History The Washington Times: Impact of Trump’s 646 deregulatory actions diluted by tariffs, executive orders Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Who Is Paying for the 2025 U.S. Tariffs? Elizabeth Warren: Warren Pushes Giant Corporations to Give Billions in Tariff Refunds Back to Consumers npr: Companies are getting tariff refunds of up to $2 billion from the Trump administration CNN: Corporate America got billions of dollars in tariff refunds. Where’s your cut? Congressional Budget Office: Monthly Budget Review: February 2026 Wall Street Journal: Tariff Revenue Exceeded Corporate Taxes as 2025 Ended npr: Proposed California wealth tax sparks debate: Will billionaires leave the state? The New York Times: Founders Wade Into the Wealth Tax Debate Democratic Socialists of America Democracy: A Journal of Ideas: Why Corporations Must Pay More UNFTR Resources Video: Why Taxing Billionaires Won’t Save Us. Essay: Don’t Tax the Rich. Cut Them Off. Episode: Updated Tax Evasion Figures. Video: On The Record 8-17-26 (The AI Bubble is About to Burst | Corporate Control of Trump.) 5 Non-Negotiables -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Unf*cking The Republic® (UNFTR) is dedicated to progressive politics, leftist economic theories, and social justice in the United States. Join us for deep dives into socialism, labor rights, climate justice, and the fight against inequality. Whether you're curious about Marxist ideas, modern social movements, or progressive policies, UNFTR delivers thoroughly sourced critiques, analyses, and interviews with the historical context mainstream media won't provide. Subscribe for informative and unabashedly progressive coverage of the leftist political and economic landscape.

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