#005 - 2024 Election Special: Choose Your Hitler

#005 - 2024 Election Special: Choose Your Hitler

This week on Fourth Reich Archaeology, we take a brief hiatus from Jerryworld and travel back to the present day for a special episode on the 2024 election cycle.


A true American spectacle, the sights and sounds of the 2024 campaign trail appear to have been inspired by the pomp and circumstance of modern professional wrestling. In fact, with a steady bombardment of character arcs, secret alliances, double-crosses, over-the-top walkout songs, cheesy catchphrases, and interludes from rappers and comedians to boot, you’ve been so busy being entertained this election cycle that you don’t even realize your favorite politician hasn’t said a lick about policy. While we otherwise may not know exactly what kind of terrible shit is going to come out of the mouths of our political leaders, you can always count on it being unhinged.


But lest you think we are departing from our favorite object of study... to the contrary, we apply the artifacts we've unearthed in the first three episodes of Jerryworld to help make sense of the senselessness of the 2024 presidential election. Indeed, the life and times of Jerry Ford are as relevant as ever. Whereas Gerald Ford's eventual identity as a mere brand ambassador for the entrenched powers that be had a ring of tragedy to it, Kamala and Donald inhabit a world of hyper-farce, playing the role of carnival-barker for feuding (but ultimately compatible) factions of the ruling class. Moreover, while there are issues each nominee has championed for their respective financial backers, or to pacify or incite their faithful followers, the substance of their actual policy positions on the things that really matter don’t meaningfully differ.

Like every election before it, 2024 will likely once again break the record for most expensive election ever. But in our view, money in politics nowadays isn't so much about swaying elections as inflating the spectacle of "democracy," generating viewership through the corporate media machine, and imposing hard limits on what is considered acceptable political discourse. Thus, to paraphrase our favorite Thomas Pynchon quote once again, the true election cycle is not the culmination of a democratic process but a celebration of markets.


And to all our Jerry heads out there, don't fret—we will return to our regularly scheduled program next week with Jerryworld Episode 4.

Meanwhile, check out our Patreon, which we're finally rolling out. We won't paywall any content just yet, but we do invite and encourage you all to get in on the ground floor. The sooner we can quit our day-jobs, the more time we can pour into the pod, and the deeper we can dig into the hellscape of the Fourth Reich.


* * * * * * *

Song List:

Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime

Bob Dylan – Masters of War

Metallica – For Whom the Bell Tolls

Neutral Milk Hotel – Oh Comely

Trey Parker and Matt Stone - I’m a Little Bit Country

David Bowie – Five Years


Opening Clip is from Dr. Oblivion’s monologue in David Cronenberg’s Videodrome

Jaksot(85)

#066 - FAUX Kings

#066 - FAUX Kings

This week we are calling an audible and deviating again from our regularly scheduled programming to do a special episode on the (spectacle of the) No Kings March.  As we are always looking for opportu...

24 Loka 20251h 40min

#065 - The New Western Frontier w/ Matt Farwell (@HuntClancy)

#065 - The New Western Frontier w/ Matt Farwell (@HuntClancy)

We are absolutely brimming with joy this week as we welcome back the indomitable journalist, researcher, and all around swell dude, Matt Farwell.  Our day one homies will know that Matt was the very f...

17 Loka 20251h 59min

#064 - She Harvey Oswald 3: Sex and the Spectacle

#064 - She Harvey Oswald 3: Sex and the Spectacle

We are back with another installment of our ongoing miniseries about the two women who pointed a gun at President Gerald Ford in the fateful month of September 1975.  This week we continue our explora...

10 Loka 20251h 43min

#063 - Fourth Reich Geopolitik 6

#063 - Fourth Reich Geopolitik 6

This week, we return with another installment of “Geopolitik,” our ongoing examination of the modern geopolitical landscape with a focus on matters both foreign and domestic. We would just as soon kee...

3 Loka 20251h 34min

#062 - She Harvey Oswald 2: Squeaky's Origins (Side A)

#062 - She Harvey Oswald 2: Squeaky's Origins (Side A)

We are back with another installment of our new series-within-a-series, beginning our excavation into the first lady-shooter who took aim at Gerald Ford in September 1975, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (pr...

26 Syys 20251h 12min

#061 - She Harvey Oswald, Part 1

#061 - She Harvey Oswald, Part 1

Well, folks, we are back in Jerryworld, and we are right on to the next series within a series. The one you’ve been waiting for. The one we’ve been waiting for. It’s She. Harvey. Oswald. Our deep dive...

19 Syys 20251h 42min

#060 - The Warren Commission Decided 14: Deep Cover(up)

#060 - The Warren Commission Decided 14: Deep Cover(up)

The time has come to say farewell to our ragtag team of commissioners and to close out our ongoing miniseries, The Warren Commission Decided. We wrap things up much as we started them, with Commission...

12 Syys 20251h 22min

#059 - You Don’t Know Jack (Ruby), Part 6–Side B

#059 - You Don’t Know Jack (Ruby), Part 6–Side B

Here it is folks! The end of the line for our series within a series within a series, You Don’t Know Jack (Ruby). Finally, we reach Jack’s tragic end. Just months after his conviction was overturned i...

5 Syys 20251h 36min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
totuus-vai-salaliitto
mystista
tsunami
konginkangas
rss-ikiuni
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rouva-diktaattori
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-peter-peter
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
apinan-vuosi
maailmanpuu
rss-iltanuotiolla
rss-outoja-uutisia-pohjois-suomesta