Prolific video essayist FD Signifier returns to Bad Faith Pod for a comprehensive analysis of the controversy surrounding left electeds' abandonment of 2020 era policy commitments and principles coined "Woke 1" by New York City Council member Chi Ossé, and made viral by AOC on the Sunday news last weekend. While members of the Platner left have argued that rejecting "woke one" simply means abandoning the excesses of cancel culture and identitarian jargon like "Latinx," several DSA candidates or electeds, from Francesca Hong and William Lawrence to AOC and Zohran Mamdani himself, have explicitly rejected firm BLM-era policy commitments like defund the police. And some, like Lawrence and AOC, even explicitly rejected their DSA affiliation in part or in whole. This brings a question we've been asking for about a year now front and center: Is it worth it to "win" if you have to sacrifice your principles to get there? If Zohran can do such a 180 on defund, how much confidence do we have with respect to his solidarity with Palestine? Why call yourself "socialist" if you're unwilling to stand behind the DSA platform, or if you're going to become an NPYD booster? And how did the left media ecosystem let this happen? Does "winning" within the Democratic party, in fact, help the left? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

This is a promo clip. Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast to hear this full Monday episode. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Dr. Trita Parsi, Executive VP of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author behind the Trita Parsi Substack, returns to Bad Faith to provide an update on Israel's aggression in Iran, Gaza, & Lebanon. Importantly, he offers some perspective on how US/Israeli aggression is being normalized, US funding is being invisibalized, and what demands the left should make to ensure that Gaza isn't abandoned in the push by the electoral left to "win" during midterms or in 2028. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

FL-25 Congressional candidate Oliver Larkin has been going viral over the past week for his exceptional skill at parrying bad faith corporate media questions about the DSA platform without throwing his principles under the bus. But when he's not shutting down Fox news interviews by pivoting to MAGA's Epstein-affiliated leader, he's fighting to win Debbie Wasserman Schutlz's old district and join the House as a committed DSAer. Unlike Michigan's Will Lawrence, who has immediately distanced himself from DSA post-win, saying his membership has "lapsed" while pledging to vote for Hakeem Jefferies as speaker, Larkin says he'll defend the platform, would vote with other left candidates as a bloc, and will not pre-endorse Jeffries. Is this was a genuine adversarial entryist candidate looks like? For more about Oliver Larkin's race: t.co/Co3N8zLPfn Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

As progressives candidates have made electoral gains across the country over the past few weeks, Democrats are once again attempting to discredit the left by pointing to a poor showing with Black voters. For example, attempts have been made to ding Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed with this charge, even as polls show Black voters prefer him to his opponent, and the old "Bernie Bro" smear has even been trotted back out by Maine's Susan Collins . Jim Clyburn went viral for insinuating that Black electeds are justified in selling out because it's harder to fundraise from disproportionately low income Black voter bases, while Cori Bush is facing heaps of AIPAC-funded opposition laundered through a Black political opponent. Meanwhile, factions of the establishment-left are abandoning BLM-era causes like "Defund" in the name of "pragmatism" -- saying these issues hurt prospective DSA electeds. So what's the future of the Black left? I asked Yvette Carnell, co-founder of the ADOS movement -- African Descendants of American Slavery, to join Bad Faith to discuss what ADOS is and isn't, and whether there are opportunities for political allyship between ADOS and the Green Party, given both support reparations, single-payer healthcare, and other policies that corporate Democrats reject. Is it too factional to be part of a broad left movement? Or would the left benefit from diversifying it's tent? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

DSA co-chair Maggie Romer joins Bad Faith in the wake of her viral Fox News appearance in which she was asked about DSA platform planks like abolishing the Senate, abolishing ICE, defunding the Pentagon, and prison abolition. Predictably, the right wing dragged the clip, but so did many on the "socialist left" who are, apparently, ashamed of the DSA platform voted on by its members. I ask Romer the questions I had for fellow DSAer Dan Denvir: What are the goals of the DSA, and are those goals frustrated by a slate of electeds who frequently put distance between themselves and the DSA platform, or between themselves and socialism entirely? Is DSA's function to gate keep the progressive movement and sheepdog voters who are frustrated with the duopoly back into the duopoly? Will the DSA discipline elected members who undermine the DSA's principles? Should the DSA embrace Democratic centralism? Will it support third party candidates, or is DSA a "clique" that wears red on Wednesdays -- no Greens allowed? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)

Listen in full by subscribing to Bad Faith Patreon at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Associate Professor of Political Economy & UK Green Party advocate Ashok Kumar joins Bad Faith to explain the successes of UK Greens, and weigh in on the insurgent DSA left and whether it hurts or helps the prospect of an independent left party. He weighs in on Mamdani's viral video explaining why he can't arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, DSA-left consolidation around AOC 2028, AOC's response to establishment red-baiting, and how we address accusations that we're accelerationists. An extremely validating and delightful, inside-baseball episode. Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University & author of Black Scare Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States, Charisse Burden-Stelly, returns to Bad Faith to discuss the new 100 page State Department report accusing American leftist groups of being part of a "sustained campaign of subversion" against the United States. This new Red-Scare blacklist names Code Pink, the DSA, Hasan Piker, Ben Cohen, Zohran Mamdani, and even Maxine Waters. What does this mean for left movements, & does the liberal response to these accusations, which is largely to distance "Communism" from Scandinavian-style social democracy, help or hurt the cause of the socialist left? We examine a series of Red-Scare articles, including a viral Atlantic Piece titled "The DSA Is a Parasite," along with clips from Jon Stewart, Abdul El-Sayed, & more. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Comedian, actor, and musician Amanda Seales returns to Bad Faith to talk about her new album and the value of revolutionary music, Jay Z's controversial freestyle about Colin Kaepernick, Graham Platner fall-out and the left's unsettled racial politics, & the state of love on the left. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Senior editor at Playboy, Magdalene J. Taylor, returns to Bad Faith to discuss her viral (and somewhat infamous) New York Times essay, "There's Nothing Wrong With Wanting Men." Responding to a trend toward "hetero-pessimism," or a cynical feeling that heterosexual relationships are beyond repair due largely to something 'wrong' with men, she offers a counter argument: There's never been a better time to be straight. Reasonable minds can disagree. You can read her opinion piece here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/opinion/heteropessimism-straight-dating-love.html Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Legendary drag queen, comedian, & DJ featured in Sex and the City, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, & RuPaul's Drag Race, is the rare pop-culture maven willing to be loud and proud about her left-politics in the entertainment world. She weighs in on recent left wins and the future of left politics, the state of identity politics -- specifically as they play out in the LGBTQ community, her upbringing & path to left politics, and more. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).