This week’s live session picked up where “What Time is it?” left off—and went deeper into the anxieties we’re all sitting with.
I talked about authoritarian fragility (Putin paralyzed by his own rigidity, Trump humiliating allies he can’t consolidate, oligarchs discovering subordination) and democratic resilience (protests growing, institutions fighting, the pluralistic mess that throws grit in authoritarian gears).
We’re in a 1930 moment—too late for complacence, too early for despair. The exact inflection point where recognizing what time it is becomes essential to determining what time it becomes.
I defended liberalism as an act of love, not technocracy. Explained why ICE’s “administrative detention” regime is constitutional catastrophe wrapped in legal gibberish. Called out the crypto-libertarian fever dream that thinks technology makes states obsolete. And got angry about people who think cultural grievances justify constitutional destruction.
We closed with your questions: What enhances psychological function when the whole system fragments attention? What happens when Trump’s gone and more competent authoritarians position themselves? How do we build renewal when the epistemic environment is designed to prevent coherent thought?
It’s raw. It’s honest. It’s about courage, love, and the stubborn idea that consciousness choosing to remain conscious is still possible in conditions designed to fragment it.
The wire still holds—but only because we choose to hold it.
Go Deeper into the Circus
The Elite Precariat: The Betrayed Class That Will Decide America’s Next Revolution
Something is breaking in America. But it’s not where everyone’s looking.
The Liberal Populist Path
Gavin Newsom signed SB 79—a transit-oriented housing bill that overrides local obstruction to force construction near public transportation. Combined with dozens of other housing reforms, he’s using state power to break the homeowner cartels that have made California unaffordable for working people.
