The War on Terror Internalized the Machine of Hate, Trump Holds the Legal System Hostage & DeSantis Weakens

In this episode, Alex starts by discussing how the GOP is trying to undermine the New York investigation into Donald Trump after there have been growing talks about him getting charged. He also talks about how Ron DeSantis cannot commit to a stance on many issues and is constantly seeming more weak and indecisive. For the rest of the episode, Alex reflects on the Iraq War and the War on Terror, 20 years later. He argues that as the United States started to struggle in Iraq, it started to look for internal scapegoats. As the war got more costly and vague, the threat of the other became more radicalzied, internalized, and malleable. Alex discusses why he thinks that the current partisanship, populism, and xenophobia, have all stemmed from the war.