Episode
Anti-Capitalism, Anti-Abundance, Anti-Chill (w/ Ben Dreyfuss)
- Podcast
- Uncertain Things
- Published
- Dec 28, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 4618
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Journalist Ben Dreyfuss (writer of Calm Down and co-host of Central Air ) joins us for a conversational grab bag: Zohran Mamdani’s agenda; the Left’s ideologues (and how to distinguish them from the cosplayers); the challenge of maintaining personal relationships across political divides; Luigi Mangione’s appeal; the dearth of humor amongst Millennials; and more. If these topics leave you spinning down a dark apocalyptic hole of cynicism, remember (as Ben reminds us at the end of this episode): calm the f*ck down. And consider telling a joke or two. On the agenda: -Mamdani, the DSA, and the Left’s ideologues [00:00-21:31] -Keeping friends after October 7th [21:32-29:30] -Fake, lying social media and the “noticers” [29:31-35:54] -Playing footsie with murders (the Luigi Mangione story) [35:55-45:21] -Changing people’s minds — and finding common ground [45:22-1:01:22] -NIMBYism, Abundance, and back to New York City [1:01:23-1:10:27] -Why it’s hard to be funny [1:10:28-1:14:31] -Blindspots on the Left & Right [1:14:32-1:22:00] Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe