Unruly Subjects

How Trump 2.0 Built a Vote Purging Machine with Abby Vesoulis

This week, we feature an interview with Mother Jones reporter Abby Vesoulis, who recently co-authored with Ari Berman the report “Your Private Data Is Building Trump’s Voter Purge Machine”. Vesoulis breaks down the Trump administration’s plans for election interference via voter suppression, the Department of Justice’s role in purging voters, and how we can try to fight back ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Also, Chenjerai previews a longer interview with veteran labor organizer and strategist Bill Fletcher Jr. about the purpose and power of general strikes. They discuss this in the context of the ongoing nurses strike in New York City and the statewide walkout planned in Minnesota this Friday, January 23rd in reaction to the violent ICE escalations that are ongoing in Minneapolis. ☎️ There’s still time to respond to our UNRULY HOTLINE question: Have you ever had a job that you would describe as a scam? Maybe it’s a role that was clearly bad for society. Or maybe work that was just alienating. Call us here if you had (or have) a job you want to tell us about:  215-436-9212Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge will join Chenjerai on an upcoming episode  to discuss the hotline responses. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s. We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently - support the show on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjectsFollow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.Buy No Neutrals There at Haymarketbooks.com Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly BeatzUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episodeNYC Nurses Strikehttps://www.thecity.nyc/2026/01/20/nysna-nurses-strike-mamdani-sanders/AARP calls for accountability over DOGE sharing Social Security data https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5699159-aarp-demands-doge-accountability/ICE out of Minnesota https://labornotes.org/2026/01/will-ice-ignite-mass-strike-minnesotahttps://www.left-horizons.com/2026/01/17/minneapolis-trade-unions-call-general-strike-over-ice/Register for Labor Notes Annual Conference! https://labornotes.org/2026 Support the show

Debate, Journalism, and Power in the Feed with George “Conscious” Lee

This week, we feature an interview with George “Conscious” Lee. He’s an orator, educator, and social media influencer who uses his platform to break news and promote dynamic understandings of justice. He’s built a massive, engaged audience on Instagram and TikTok  by highlighting social and political issues that demand widespread awareness. In his interview with Chenjerai, Conscious talks about why analyzing power is the center of his work, how joining his college debate team gave him lessons that organizers, journalists and all of us need right now, how he approaches interpreting the news, and the limitations and risks of social media. ☎️ We also introduce a new UNRULY HOTLINE question: Have you ever had a job that you would describe as a scam? Maybe it’s a role that was clearly bad for society. Or maybe work that was just alienating. Call us here if you had (or have) a job you want to tell us about:  215-436-9212Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge joins Chenjerai to set-up the hotline question. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjectsFollow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.Buy Solidarity with Children at Haymarketbooks.com Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly BeatzUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episodeCritical Debater’s Handbook - http://www.soonerdebate.com/SoonerDebate/Critical_Debaters_Handbook%21.html Support the show

*UNRULY HOTLINE* The Love Struggle

While we're cooking up our next full episodes of Unruly Subjects, we wanted to re-share our first UNRULY HOTLINE segment that we originally published in Episode 2. In this segment, Chenjerai listens and reacts to callers that responded to the question: "How do you balance your love life with the struggle?”If you have any questions, comments or thoughts to share with Unruly Subjects you can always leave us a message here: 215-436-9212 Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Become a Patreon supporter here: http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects  Support the show

How Civil Rights Law Became a Weapon Against Dissent—on Palestine and Beyond

As the assault on Gaza continues and the crisis deepens, our individual freedom to critique Israel’s actions has become more and more fraught. We have a deep commitment to anti-racism in all its forms on Unruly Subjects, including antisemitism. But we find ourselves in a place where condemning the actions of a country is falsely - and often frighteningly - equated with being anti-semitic.Darryl Li is an anthropologist and lawyer teaching at the University of Chicago. He's the co-author of a new study that puts this current moment in context. The study is titled  “Discriminating Against Dissent: the Weaponization of Civil Rights Law to Repress Campus Speech on Palestine”, published by the AAUP and Middle East Studies Association. We discuss the history of Title VI, academic freedom, and the ways that both Democratic and Republican administrations have been implicated in the suppression of free speech. Also in this episode: Following last week’s conversation with Daniel Coates about resisting ICE with Hands Off NYC, Chenjerai and his wife Saadiqa attend an action in Washington Square Park in NYC. Call into the UNRULY HOTLINE: Our current question is “Do you think differences in child rearing have more to do with race/ethnicity - age/generational differences or other factors?” Call us here for a chance to be featured on the show: 215-436-9212Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjectsFollow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.Buy After Savagery at Haymarketbooks.com Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly BeatzUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions Support the show

*BONUS EPISODE* News Fiend #3 (Dec 8-12, 2025)

NEWS FIEND is a weekly segment where Chenjerai offers his commentary and reflections on some of the week's headlines. This is a feature that is offered for all Patreon members of Unruly Subjects, but we wanted to give our listener's here a taste of the UNRULY SUPPORTER perks.  We're a completely independent show! Each new supporter helps us make this project possible. Become a Patreon supporter here: http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects Included below are links to some additional articles and resources about the topics covered in this week's segment.Afghan CIA fighters, like National Guard attack suspect, face stark reality in U.S.https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5637440/afghan-zero-unit-lakanwal-national-guardMore than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacentershttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/us-data-centersLouisiana v. Callais and voting Rightshttps://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-2-voting-rights-act-supreme-courtSpotify Unwrapped campaign calls for boycott over ICE ads and AI musichttps://www.nme.com/news/music/spotify-unwrapped-campaign-calls-for-boycott-over-ice-ads-and-ai-music-3915774Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions Support the show