2417 - The Crypto Scam Presidency & Justice Dems 2.0 w/ Jacob Silverman; Usamah Andrabi

It's Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Jacob Silverman, author of the upcoming book Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley and co-writer of the AM Quickie newsletter, to discuss his recent piece in the Baffler entitled "Mr. Grift Goes To Washington." Then, they speak with Usamah Andrabi, communications director & spokesperson for Justice Democrats, to discuss the group's outlook going into the 2nd Trump administration. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Police Unions’ reaction to Trump pardoning J6 rioters, Pete Hegseth’s extensive history of alleged abuse, Trump’s assaults on the administrative state, the US public health regime, and immigration, and a national Costco strike, before briefly parsing through Hamilton Nolan’s recent plea for America to move beyond the greater fool fallacy and Trump’s pissy response to being preached at by a Reverend. Jacob Silverman then joins, as he dives right into the absurdity of the growth of crypto “Meme Coins” – cryptocurrencies (generally started by celebrities) with little to no use (outside of pump and dumps) and tied to quite literally nothing but their own hype – looking more particularly into the recent launch of Trump’s own (second) cryptocurrency with the World Liberty Financial Token (WLF). Expanding on these WLF tokens, Silverman explores how this “tender” is, in fact, non transferrable, with all proceeds going directly to Trump and his billionaire big tech backers, and the possibility for this product to act as an infrastructure for backroom financial dealings during Trump’s presidency. Wrapping up, Jacob, Sam, and Emma explore the growing threat of greater US government involvement in crypto, with state and local governments pondering active investments in the scam-centric industry, and how a Trump presidency will likely expedite that. Usamah Andrabi then joins, first reflecting on the astounding failure of the national Democratic Party over the 2024 election cycle, and the pressing need to usher in a new era of the mainstream left in America, walking through how Justice Dems are working to work with and fund genuine progressive candidates to challenge the party’s moderate institutionalist status-quo, with focuses on both labor/economic issues and social progressivism. After briefly touching on the strategic guide for Justice Dems as they start working toward the midterms, Andrabi explores the importance of having a progressive counter (albeit a drastically lower-funded one) to primary heavyweights like AIPAC, particularly when it comes to pressuring Democrats actually to speak out on progressive issues.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma unpack the absurd gaslighting around Elon Musk’s obvious Nazi salute and the abject refusal of the media to outright label racist things racist. AOC reflects on the Democrats’ complete bungling of the TikTok ban and the MR Crew unpacks Trump's MAHA betrayal, Dave Rubin’s embarrassment on Piers Morgan, and Pete Hegseth’s ever-growing web of abuse. They also cover Elise Stefanik’s unapologetic support for Zionist fascism, and Russell Brand’s messianic praise for Donald Trump, plus, your IMs!

Follow Jacob on Twitter here: https://x.com/silvermanjacob

Pre-order Jacob's new book here: https://www.amazon.com/Gilded-Rage-Radicalization-Silicon-Valley/dp/1399419986

Check out Jacob's Baffler piece here: https://thebaffler.com/latest/mr-grift-goes-to-washington-silverman

Follow Usamah on Twitter here: https://x.com/usamahandrabi

Find about more about Justice Democrats here: https://justicedemocrats.com/

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