Centered From Reality

Arraigned and Confused: Trump Travels to Miami & Disney Travels into the Uncanny Valley

In this episode, Alex sits in his car during his lunch break and listens to a huge thunderstorm come in while he talks. He discusses Trump’s appearence in a Miami court, which starts on Tuesday. Trump has plead not guilty and is also struggling to get a good attorney with national security experience. Alex shares his thoughts on the potential for violence, Judge Cannon, and more! Finally, Alex tells the audience why the new live-action Disney movies scare him. 

Fox News Politisizes Wildfires, Trump is a National Security Nightmare, Ukraine Strikes Back & the 2024 Circus Intensifies

In this episode, Alex starts by going over how Fox News hosts like Jesse Watters are using the COVID lies playbook to politisize the smoke from wildfires in Canada and downplay the impact of climate change. Once again, Fox News is politisizing an unnecessary issue. Next, Alex discusses how New Hampshire’s governor, Chris Sununu, has said he will not run for president in 2024. Sununu changed his mind, admitting that all efforts must be made to stop Trump from becoming president. Also, Chris Christie and Mike Pence are in the race. Alex notes that Mike “Milquetoast” Pence has no hope, and while Christie does not either, he has an agenda and a goal to attack Trump. Later in the podcast, Alex talks about Jack Smith’s indictment of Donald Trump over his mishandling and coverup of classified documents. While the coverup seems to be part of the issue, Alex is more concered about the national security fiasco that Trump has created. Finally, Alex looks into who blew up the Kakhovka dam in Southern Ukraine and discusses how the Ukrainian counter-offensive is going. 

Driving Through Utah w/ Cole Costello: The National Parks Problem, Mike Pence Announces, Trump Embraces Kim Jung Un & RFK Jr. Issues

In this “Driving Through” episode, Alex and Cole drive through Utah, riffing about their recent experience in Zion National Park and why it seems like national parks are getting too busy and chaotic. Does the government make more parks? Does it abolish them? They also talk about their fascination with Utah, Mike Pence running for president, and why RFK Jr. may be a thorn in Joe Biden’s side. 

Driving Through Nevada (with Cole Costello): Chasing Giants & Challenging Misconceptions

In this new installment of Alex’s “Driving Through” series, he is in the car with Cole Costello. Cole literally takes the driver’s seat. He is a frequent guest, has a history graduate degree, and is a history expert living in Los Angeles. As they drive through Nevada’s Great Basin, they discuss why mining movements are important for labor, why socialism has been misconceived (Alex pushes back), and why democracy is failing (they can’t find one defintion that works). The two discuss how late-era Rome provides a mirror into America’s failures (as ideology becomes isolated, parties alientate the other). They also talk about the Lovelock caves (and REAL legends of giants), why autocracy is appealing (because people don’t trust the other), why Trump is eroding our institutions, and how religious fundamentalism led to radical individualism (think the Dutch and British imperialism). The two also touch on Cleopatra, social identity, reparations, and why Joe Biden has been better than expected (though he still shouldn’t run again). 

Tara Reade Defects to Russia, Drones Over Moscow, Djokovic Stirs the Pot & Donald Wants a Debt Default

In this episode, Alex starts by discussing/celebrating the news that the House of Representatives passed the Biden-McCarthy debt resolution. However, over 70 Republicans and almost 50 Democrats voted against it. Donald Trump also has come out against the bill. Next, Alex talks about the drone strikes in residential buildings in Moscow and what it means for the war. Later, Tara Reade, a woman that accused Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s, is now moving to Russia to get citizenship. Alex things she is a fraud and liar. Finally, Alex reacts to Novak Djokovic’s comments regarding ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo. Once again, Djokovic has been controversial and is pissing off the tennis community. 

Ken Paxton Impeached, Debt Ceiling Deal Reached & Erdogan Declares Victory

In this episode, Alex starts by brushing over the election in Turkey that went into a runoff on Sunday. Unfortunately, Erdogan won once again and is now going to enter into his third decade as the leader of Turkey. Alex questions whether the election was truly fair, but either way he knows that it will be bad for democracy and bad news for secularism. Next, Alex dances in a small puddle of Schadenfreude because Texas’ Attorney General, Ken Paxton, was impeached for violating numerous policies involving a powerful real estate developer. Moderate Republicans even voted to impeach Paxton as MAGA Republicans are threatening those that voted to impeach him. As the impeachment now moves to the senate for the trial, Alex is worried that Paxton could still survive. Finally, Alex is surprised but happy that Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy ended up striking a deal over the debt ceiling debacle. After all the chaos and looming deadline, the deal is actually not bad for either side and has some moderate spending cuts along with sustained programs that Biden pushed forward in the Inflation Reduction Act. Alex argues that the agreement was good for the center of American politics but could be bad for the Republicans. 

Bombs in Belgorod: Cross-Border Chaos, Emboldened Russian Nationalists & Troubling Alliances

In this episode, Alex talks about his concerns surrounding a cross-border raid into the Russian border region of Belgorod. The details are still murky, but it looks like different paramilitary, nationalist legions wanted to destablize Russian forces, liberate villages, and take Russian reserves off of the front lines. According to the Econonomist, the fighting included “an illegal crossing from Ukraine into Belgorod, a Russian region on the border, by tanks and infantry fighting vehicles; the death of at least one border guard; farm buildings on fire; a downed helicopter; traffic jams of fleeing locals; and the reported evacuation of a nuclear-arms facility several kilometers into Russian territory.”  Alex discusses how it appeaars that most of these fighters were far-right Russian nationalists that have been working with the Ukrainian government. Alex is concerned that some of these paramilitary groups have white supremacist and far-right ideologies and want to topple the Putin Regime so that they can make Russia a mono-ethnic state. Alex argues that while the Ukrainian government and this forces have shared interests right now, once the war settles down there may be a new power vacuum created in Russia that could cause chaos and violence. 

The Politics Nextdoor: The Erosion of Local Politics, Vinicius Jr. Faces Brutal Racism & Meatball Ron is no Alternative to Don

In this episode, Alex starts by wondering why Russia just signed a deal with Belarus to store nuclear weapons there. Next, he looks into atrocious reports of racism towards Real Madrid’s star, Vinicius Jr. As Spain wants to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Morocco, many are concerned that racism at football matches is prevalent, and the Spanish football league, La Liga, can’t do anything about it. Alex then gets into the hyperlocalized social media app Nextdoor. He discusses how recent news events have shown that local elections have been influenced by misinformation that has been spread and supported on Nextdoor. He looks into solutions and how the app is bringing illiberalism to local politics. Finally, Alex takes a deep dive into Ron DeSantis and why he is not a good alternative to Donald Trump. It seems like both Trump and DeSantis have harnessed a dangerous form of populism and DeSantis is not a viable alternative to anyone. 

Failure to Launch: A DeSantis DeBacle in Twitter’s Airspace

In this last minute episode, Alex does an emergency episode reacting to Ron DeSantis’ chaotic presidential campaign announcement that just finished on Twitter Spaces. It was a disaster and Alex thinks this shows how incompetent DeSantis is. 

The Feinstein Cover-Up, DeSanctus is Likely to Declare & The Problem with RFK Jr.

In this episode, Alex focuses the events of the podcast on three politicians. He starts by going over why he thinks RFK Jr. is not a strong candidate and would not be a good president. Alex plays a recent interview where RFK Jr. shows that his views on vaccination could be a problem if a global health crisis occurred. It seems like his distrust in government instititions could backfire. Next, it looks like Ron DeSantis is going to officially announce his presidency next week. Alex still wonders who will vote for DeSantis — he has no appeal, no backbone, and has alienated both Trump supporters and Never-Trumpers. Finally, Alex looks into new revelations around Dianne Feinstein. A new interview is very troubling where she seems unaware that she was not in the senate over the last few months. She also claims she was working and voting the whole time.