Know Your Enemy15 Sep 2021

Twenty Years of Terror (w/ Spencer Ackerman)

It's impossible to comprehend the state of conservative politics — or American politics in general — without looking closely at the wars we've been waging for the past two decades. The story we've been telling about American conservatism has been incomplete without a deep-dive on the so-called Global War on Terror. Luckily, Spencer Ackerman has written the perfect book to occasion such a dialogue. In Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump, Ackerman provides a richly detailed (and acutely frustrating) account of the perversions of justice, liberalism, humanity, and the constitution wrought by the forever wars. Our discussion with Ackerman goes from the Oklahoma City Bombing to the cancellation of Susan Sontag to the battles among neocons and paleocons to define the post-9/11 era. We also touch on the CIA's torture program, nation-building in Afghanistan, and the hypocrisies of the Trump-era Resistance. In typical KYE fashion, it's a complex and wide-ranging conversation you won't find elsewhere.

Further Reading:

Susan Sontag et al. "Tuesday, and After: New Yorker writers respond to 9/11." The New Yorker, Sept 16, 2001.

Bernard Lewis, "The Revolt of Islam," The New Yorker, Nov 11, 2001.

Jake Tapper, "Pat Buchanan: America First," Salon, Dec 4, 2001.

Spencer Ackerman, "The CIA’s Outsourced Torture Is Lost To History," Forever Wars, Aug 6, 2021.

Sam Adler-Bell, "How the War on Terror Fuels Trump," Jacobin, Aug 13, 2016.

...and don't forget to subscribe on Patreon to hear all of our bonus episodes!

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(266)

The Seven Year Anniversary Mailbag Episode

Not only was May 6th the seven-year anniversary of Know Your Enemy, an occasion to celebrate your support of our work, but it's been nearly a year since we last opened the mailbag and answered listene...

11 Mai 1h 16min

Reasons To Believe [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. REMINDER: COME SEE KYE x MIKE DUNCAN LIVE IN NYC Given the string of recent episodes that, in various ways, grap...

4 Mai 4min

Peter Thiel and the Antichrist

Over the course of the past year, Peter Thiel—the Trump backing, Vance boosting gay tech billionaire—has been delivering a series of lectures on the Antichrist, using an examination of the Biblical an...

27 Apr 1h 30min

The Pope and the President [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. Once more we take up religion and politics, this time a conversation about President Donald Trump's attacks on P...

17 Apr 4min

The Bund: Fighting Fascism, Fighting Zionism (w/ Molly Crabapple)

In 1897, a small group of Jewish Marxists on the outskirts of the Russian empire founded the General Jewish Labour Bund. The Bundists were revolutionary socialists, unapologetic internationalists, cha...

10 Apr 1h 25min

Misogyny, MAGA-style [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. Last month, our very own Sam Adler-Bell published a deeply reported article in New York magazine about "the wome...

1 Apr 5min

From Neocon to Never-Trump (w/ Bill Kristol)

There’s perhaps no living person who better embodies the themes, contradictions, ethos, and pathos of “Know Your Enemy” than William Kristol, this week’s guest. Today, Kristol is editor-at-large of Th...

23 Mar 1h 10min

James Talarico and the Politics of Progressive Christianity [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. In this episode, we shift our attention from the Trump administration to the winner of the Democratic primary fo...

16 Mar 4min