In Bed With The Right

Episode 149 -- Carl Schmitt, Part 1 Aug 18, 2026 4624 [REMINDER: We're less than 10 days away from the In Bed with the Right Live Show in San Francisco: August 27, 7:30 pm Swedish American Hall. Tickets are going fast, but still available -- get yours here!]This week, to prepare for Adrian's new book What Tech Calls Governing (available here, take 20% off at checkout with "daub20"), Adrian takes Moira back to Germany just before 1933 to discuss the l

Episode 148 -- JD Vance's Communion with Jamelle Bouie Aug 11, 2026 2945 Weird troll and sitting Vice President JD Vance's last memoir, 2016's Hillbilly Elegy, made him a household name and a darling with some surprising corners of American letters and politics. His new memoir-slash-retread, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith reheats the Elegy-pie to massively diminishing returns, and is likely to endear him to just about no one. In this episode, Moira and Adrian

Episode 147 [PATREON PREVIEW] -- Lesbian Nuns Aug 4, 2026 3171 For this episode, Moira walks Adrian through hundreds of years of history in search of lesbian nuns -- and in search of the various meanings that were attached to the lesbian nun throughout the centuries in a patriarchal system. Walk-on cameos by the Derry Girls, nunsploitation films, Canadian immigration law and an angel named Splendatello!This is a preview for a Patreon episode! So it'll cut off

Episode 146 -- Gender and Road Trips with Sarah Marshall Jul 28, 2026 3519 In America when the sun goes down and we sit in our apartments recording our podcast, watching the long, long skies over Oakland and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the East Coast, and all that road going, and all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, we think of Sarah Marshall of You're Wrong About, and we are seized with a desire to talk to her abo

Episode 145 -- Third Anniversary Mailbag Spectacular Jul 21, 2026 3955 To celebrate 3 years of podcasting together, we are going through some amazing questions our listeners posed! The results ran a little long, and so this is only the first part of the resulting mailbag episode (this one is main feed, the next one, in a few weeks, will be Patreon-only)! We decided to delve into more general questions first, so the topics under discussion include: Problematic faves,

Episode 144 [PATREON PREVIEW] -- J.K. Rowling Jul 14, 2026 2350 For the third installment of our TERF Island series, we use the case of JK Rowling herself to trace TERFism's "march through the institutions" in the UK and beyond. It's an episode about TERF self-staging as singular and "deeply personal" apostasy from "gender orthodoxy", which belies an increasingly sophisticated, well-connected and well-funded network pushing anti-trans talking points in public.

Episode 143 -- Joan Didion's California Jul 7, 2026 2889 It's Hot California Summer over here on In Bed with the Right! For this first installment (of probably three), Moira and Adrian delve into the work of noted California-native and inveterate California-explainer Joan Didion, whose conservatism was a central part of our episode on San Francisco in the conservative imagination. The episode's focus is on Didion's 2003 book Where I Was From, a brillian

Episode 142 -- Nancy Mace Jun 30, 2026 3854 For this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the troubled and troubling story of congresswoman Nancy Mace -- a moderate who first became MAGA, then a vicious transphobe, and then became a gendered apostate from that movement (while remaining hugely transphobic). Trigger warning: While we initially thought this would be an acerbic deep dive into an unusual MAGA politician, the portrait that emerged

Episode 140 -- Lena Dunham Jun 23, 2026 5060 For this episode, Adrian and Moira discuss the life, career and (many, many) opinions of Lena Dunham -- creator of Girls, writer of memoirs and the face that launched a million think-pieces back in the 2010s. They touch on the gendered attacks, questions of maturity and accomplishment, nepobabydom and the Apatow extended universe, as well as on the conspicuously different reception Dunham's new me

Episode 139 -- Mifepristone Jun 16, 2026 3856 In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the history of Mifepristone. Developed in France in the 1980s, this medication (which, together with Misoprostol, is used to end pregnancies) has been a flashpoint in Europe and the United States pretty much since it was first created. Today, it is the only way for millions of Americans living in states where abortion is illegal or impossible to get to s

Episode 138 -- The Politics of Plagiarism-Hunting Jun 5, 2026 4348 In this episode, Adrian walks Moira through the strange politics of plagiarism hunting -- an (initially non-partisan) German preoccupation that became another line of attack in the right wing assault on higher education in the United States. The episode details how legitimate concerns about academic fraud were fused with a broader populist critique of "university corruption", which effortlessly fu

Episode 137 -- Catching Up with the Cinema of Cancellation May 26, 2026 3234 For a while now (though mostly on Patreon), Moira and Adrian have examined a strange canon of films and texts about. powerful people being taken down by forces of social justice. Many of these take place on college campuses or near them (Oleanna, Deconstructing Harry,The Human Stain, After the Hunt); others center figures of the art world (Tàr). There have been a few new entries in this genre, and

Episode 136 -- Marilyn Monroe May 20, 2026 3783 For this episode, Moira guides Adrian through the life, career and legacy of Marilyn Monroe, and the role gender played in all three. Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926 -- so her centennial is coming up in a few weeks. We touch on Monroe's suffering, her canny manipulation of her own image, and the political dimension of her public persona.Here are some of the boo

Episode 134: Natural Law May 5, 2026 3707 In this episode Moira and Adrian discuss the natural law tradition -- its origins, its long varied history, the many uses to which it has been put, and the way conservatives are trying to revive it in our own day.

Episode 132 -- "Repeal the 19th" Apr 28, 2026 4242 In recent months, the call to repeal the 19th amendment and rescind American women's right to vote, has proliferated as a hashtag, meme and a shibboleth in certain far-right spaces. But how serious are those championing the cause? In this episode, Moira explains to Adrian that while we needn't worry that the 1920 amendment is going anywhere soon, this demand is about jockeying within the masculini

Episode 131 [PATREON PREVIEW] -- Dining, Flavortowns and Gender Apr 21, 2026 1427 For this episode, Adrian and Moira talk about gender and food -- specifically about the figure of the chef, visible and invisible labor and masculinity. Their main exemplar is Guy Fieri, the self-declared Mayor of Flavortown, but they also discuss 2022's The Menu, Anthony Bourdain, #MeToo in the restaurant world, and the baffling appeal of Gordon Ramsay. Please note: this is a preview for a Patreo

Episode 130 -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton Apr 14, 2026 4367 For this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 - 1902). Famous as a pioneering feminist intellectual and crusader for women's suffrage, Stanton is today also remembered for the racism and anti-immigrant sentiment that dominated the second half of her incredibly long career. We explore how these two go together, and what Stanton's life tells us about the effec

Episode 129 -- Looksmaxxing Apr 7, 2026 4567 In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the strange, disturbing world of looksmaxxing. We try to spend less time asking where this phenomenon comes from, less time gawking at the weird terminology and rituals of this subculture (though we do spend some time, we're only human!)--but our main question is what a phenomenon like looksmaxxing says about masculinity, right-wing gender politics, and

From behind the Paywall: Episode 105 -- Richard Wagner's Parsifal Mar 31, 2026 2955 This week, Adrian and Moira are both traveling -- Adrian is finishing work on the newly titled Project 1933: Fascism Then and Now (available for preorder now). So, back by popular (?) demand (?), it's another Richard Wagner-focused episode of In Bed with the Right. Wagner's final opera, 1882's Parsifal, draws on the grail legends, various philosophers, Wagner's own aging process, and whatever the

Episode 128 -- Queer Women in Nazi Germany Mar 24, 2026 3895 Expanding on our Project 1933 series, for this episode we talked to historian Sam Huneke about the fate of queer women in Nazi Germany, 1933 and onward. This is a surprisingly contested history, because there was, for a long time, an assumption that women were not really persecuted for being queer in Nazi Germany. While the treatment of female homosexuality (and transgender people) in the Nazi sta

Episode 127 -- Bari Weiss, Part 2 Mar 17, 2026 4359 In the second half of our two-part series on one of In Bed with the Right's bêtes noires, Adrian and Moira chart the resistible rise of Bari Weiss's from her time on the canceled-person circuit to the pinnacle of American news media. Topics covered: the rise of the Free Press and the decline of the free press; how a certain kind of Silicon Valley creep fell in love with what Bari was selling; how

Episode 126 -- Bari Weiss, Part 1 Mar 10, 2026 4942 It's the first half of our (possibly? hopefully?) two-part series on In Bed with the Right final boss, Bari Weiss: reactionary centrist extraordinaire, #MeToo backlasher and the woman who parlayed a grifty "cancel culture" Substack into running pretty much 90% of the news you're still allowed to air on TV. This first episode deals with her origin story, up to her high-profile exit from the New Yor

Episode 124 -- Wuthering Heights Mar 3, 2026 3969 Last week, Adrian and Moira went to the movies and watched director Emerald Fennell's version of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (trailer here). In this episode they explore the gender politics of the novel, of this adaptation and what it says about the fate of romance fiction in the 2020s.Here are some of the texts we refer to in the discussion or used in preparing for it:Elizabeth Hardwick, "Wo

Episode 123 [PATREON PREVIEW] -- The Botstein Files Feb 28, 2026 1927 One of the men whose presence in the Epstein Files has been making a lot of news is Bard College's forever president Leon Botstein. While there is no suggestion that Botstein participated in any of Epstein's crimes, his relationship with Epstein was longstanding and close. Revelations about their interactions have brought to the forefront several symptomatic issues about how colleges handle sexual

Episode 122 -- Tech's Vibe Shift and AI Discourse Feb 17, 2026 2368 A few months ago, as part of the research for his forthcoming book What Tech Calls Governing, Adrian took a drive down Highway 101 from San Francisco to Palo Alto and back. This episode is about what the billboards along that stretch of highway tell us about Silicon Valley, about our tech elites, and about how technology is remaking society (it's not in the way you think).If you'd like to buy Adri

Episode 121 -- Moira's in the Epstein Files Feb 10, 2026 4021 The Epstein files are many things: a study in elite impunity, a deep core sample of societal misogyny, a record of institutional failure. But they also give us a fascinating, if terrifying, alternate story of #MeToo and what came after. For this episode, Moira and Adrian take the recent drop of several million more pages of Epstein emails--and Moira's walk-on cameo in them--to think about networke

Episode 120 -- The Murder of Alex Pretti Feb 3, 2026 2521 On January 24, 2026, Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, was shot and killed by Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez in Minneapolis. In this episode, Moira and Adrian delve into questions of gender, solidarity, whiteness and the MAGA imagination as they pertain to the murder and the reacti

Episode 118 -- The Romantasy Boom Jan 27, 2026 4268 For this episode, Moira and Adrian are joined by Abby Kluchin from the Ordinary Unhappiness podcast to discuss a recent publishing phenomenon and its implications for gender politics: romantasy, a genre that's been emerging over the last 10 years with renewed force. Series like Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses and the Empyrian-novels by Rebecca Yarros mix fantasy tropes with costume dra

Episode 117 -- Birth Control Misinformation Jan 21, 2026 3587 For this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the conservative attack on birth control, and in particular the influencer-led, MAHA-adjacent surge of misinformation about menstruation and birth control. At issue is ultimately a deeply reactionary, and deeply troubling picture of the gendered body and women's autonomy. Topics covered include: cycle synching, the politics of "naturalness" and the wea

Episode 116 -- A Murder in Minneapolis Jan 11, 2026 3160 On January 7, 2026, Renee Nicole Good was murdered by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a killing that was captured by multiple camera phones and witnessed by dozens. Since the killing, the Trump administration has used several gendered lines of attack to discredit Renee Nicole Good, to celebrate the killing and to make propagandistic hay of this murder. In this emergency episode

Episode 115 [PATREON PREVIEW] -- Olivia Nuzzi's American Canto with Michael Hobbes Jan 6, 2026 1599 To start the year off right, Moira and Adrian were joined by Michael Hobbes to discuss Olivia Nuzzi's American Canto, the media hubbub about it, and what both artifacts say about our media environment, our elites, and about gender.Pieces we cite in the episode:Becca Rothfeld's review of the book in the Washington PostAlexandra Jacobs' review of the book in The New York Times

Episode 114 -- Project 1933, Part X: December 1 - December 31 Dec 31, 2025 3977 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This tenth installment covers December 1 to December 31, 1933. In this epis

From the Vaults: Andrew Sullivan, Part 2 Dec 26, 2025 5855 As a special Holiday treat, out from behind the paywall, here's the second part of our Andrew Sullivan episode -- or "Andrew 2: Electric Boogaloo", as we started calling it. Covering the full second half of the Life, Times and Opinions of Sullydish, Gentleman, aka the "We Didn't Start the Fire" of reactionary centrism: Barebacking, Substacking, Moira's misandry, 9/11, 5th Columnists, Other Columni

From the Vaults: Andrew Sullivan, Part 1 Dec 23, 2025 5730 Happy Holidays from In Bed with the Right!!! Unfortunately, the festive season has gotten away from us and the two remaining episodes on our schedule are absolute monsters (the two-hour final (!) installment of Project 1933, and our episode on the media hubbub around "American Canto"), so to tide you over while we record and edit we thought we'd do a re-release of one of our Patreon magna opera fr

Episode 113: The 2025 Daytime Cursties (with Michael Hobbes) Dec 16, 2025 5853 It's cold outside, the Holidays are here, and you know what that means: It's Cursed-Discourse Awards-Season, motherf@ckers! Not-even-close-to-live from a theatre miles away from the Dolby Theater, it's the Third Annual Cursties!!! For the third year in a row, Moira, Adrian and special guest Michael Hobbes give out awards for the most cursed discourses around sex and gender for 2025. Problem is: we

Episode 112 -- The Natural Childbirth Movement Dec 9, 2025 4317 Moira walks Adrian through the strange, diagonalist history of the idea of "natural birth" -- from 1930s eugenicists to hippie communes, from radical feminist spaces to MAHA and the "wild birth"-movement. This episode comes with a bunch of trigger warnings -- please make sure you're in the right headspace before diving in!Some of the texts we refer to in the episode:Grantly Dick-Read, Natural Chil

Episode 110 -- Project 1933, Part IX: November 1 - November 30 Dec 2, 2025 3406 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This ninth installment covers November 1 to November 30, 1933. It's about d

Episode 108 -- Live from San Francisco, It's Moral Panic Bingo Night! Nov 25, 2025 6068 To celebrate our 100th episode (belatedly), your intrepid hosts recently took to the stage of San Francisco's Swedish-American Hall for a special live Moral Panic Bingo Night. Moira and Adrian were joined by the amazing Sarah Marshall (of You're Wrong About) and Matt Bernstein (of A Bit Fruity) to talk about moral panics big and small, and how they continue to fuck up our lives. Stanley Cohen's Fo

Episode 107 -- Did Women Ruin Everything? Nov 18, 2025 4249 In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through "The Great Feminization" -- a recent talk/essay that took the right wing by storm, and that subsequently got its author invited to discuss women ruining things in the New York Times. The essay posited that women's entry into the American workforce is to blame for ... wokeness? General societal disorder? The Decline of the West (TM)? Among the topics this

Episode 106 -- Spousal Rape and the Rideout Case Nov 11, 2025 4180 In this episode, writer Sarah Weinman walks Moira and Adrian through the story of the 1978 case Oregon v. Rideout and how spousal rape became a crime in the US. Weinman's book about the case -- Without Consent -- is out now. A moving, upsetting story about how the judicial system keeps pace (or doesn't) with legislation; how media shape how we think about social progress; and how that progress can

Episode 104 -- Project 1933, Part VIII: October 1 - October 31 Nov 4, 2025 4677 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This eighth installment covers October 1 to October 31, 1933. It's all abou

Episode 102 -- Powers of Horror (Film), Part 2 Oct 28, 2025 3367 To get you ready for spooky season, here's In Bed with the Right with a second look at some classic horror films, asking: What's scary about gender? And what's gendered about fear in these movies? The second part of our "Powers of Horror (Film)" two-parter dives into two more classic 1970s horror, into changing workplaces and fairy tales, into gialli and mouths with mouths in them. Our focus is on

Episode 101 -- Powers of Horror (Film), Part 1 Oct 21, 2025 3385 Just in time for spooky season, here's In Bed with the Right with a look at some classic horror films, asking: What's scary about gender? And what's gendered about fear in these movies? In keeping with the Halloween theme, we got way into this and watched way too many scary movies. And so we made a two parter. This first part dives into 1973's The Wicker Man and 1976's Carrie. The second part will

Episode 100 -- Mailbag, Part 2 Oct 14, 2025 3997 You guys, IBWTR just hit 100 episodes! And we'll be honest, this milestone snuck up on us. We'll be celebrating this anniversary over the next few episodes -- including a deep dive into CBS News' new boss, another Wagner-show, and a Live Show in San Francisco! But for now we thought we'd kick off our festivities by tackling more questions from you, our amazing listeners! We ended up with a far-ran

Episode 99 -- Fetal Personhood Oct 7, 2025 4545 Fetal personhood is one of those doctrines that have moved from the fringes of the conservative legal movement (and even from the fringes of right wing theology) to the center. While it is not clear how much support there is at the US Supreme Court for the idea that fetuses are people and have rights under the 14th Amendment, this once-obscure doctrine has been filtering into abortion and pregnanc

Episode 98 -- Project 1933, Part VII: September 1 - September 30 Sep 30, 2025 4522 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This seventh installment covers September 1 to September 30, 1933. It's abo

Episode 96 -- Phyllis Schlafly, Part 2 Sep 23, 2025 4725 This is the second part of our epic deep dive into the life of Phyllis Schlafly -- the far-right firebrand who brought down an amendment and arguably helped transform a political party. In Part 2, Moira walks Adrian through Schlafly's attack on the Equal Rights Amendment, and how she pioneered a whole new style of politics to defeat what had been essentially a done deal -- or carried it into the m

Episode 94 -- Phyllis Schlafly, Part 1 Sep 16, 2025 4424 In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the life and times of Phyllis Schlafly -- the far-right firebrand who brought down an amendment and arguably helped transform a political party. This first part charts Schlafly's path before she launched her crusade against the Equal Rights Amendment, focusing on: Paleoconservatism, America First, the John Birch Society, Cold Warriors, Goldwater Gilrls a

Episode 93 -- Project 1933, Part VI: August 1 - August 31 Sep 2, 2025 4448 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This sixth installment covers August 1 to August 31, 1933. Meaning: This is

Episode 91 -- The Mailbag Episode, Part 1 Aug 19, 2025 4197 It's taken us forever to do this, but here it is at last: In Bed With the Right's first ever mailbag episode! We asked our Patreon supporters to send in questions, and they sent tons and tons. All of them were brilliant and fun, and because we wanted to answer as many of them, and because we couldn't shut up when answering them, it's only Part 1! This episode delves into how the podcast came to be

Episode 89: IQ Fetishism with Quinn Slobodian Aug 13, 2025 2922 Historian Quinn Slobodian (Crack-Up Capitalism, Hayek's Bastards, and the forthcoming Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed) walks Moira and Adrian through the fate of IQ on late 20th century and early 21st century right wing thought. How did this concept bring together the nationalist right and self-described libertarians? How did it become a load bearing self-identifier for many a "gifted" kid of t

Episode 88 -- Project 1933, Part V: July 1 - July 31 Aug 5, 2025 5369 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This fifth installment covers July 1 to June 31, 1933 -- and is devoted ent

Episode 87: The Epstein Files with Patrick Blanchfield Jul 29, 2025 3979 2025's strangest scandal involves facts that have been known for years and absolutely no new information. And yet it has managed to keep consummate bullshitter Donald Trump seemingly flatfooted. In this episode, Patrick Blanchfield (co-host of Ordinary Unhappiness) joins Moira and Adrian to talk Epstein, the files, the coverup, Trump and the return of the not-at-all repressed. The conversation tou

Episode 85: The Moonies Jul 22, 2025 4690 Moira walks Adrian through the long, twisty story of the Moonies -- a story that, somewhat improbably, brings together North Korea, the Hudson Valley, the murder of Shinzo Abe and New England fisheries. And weddings. Just so many weddings.

From behind the Paywall: Episode 51: The George Circle Jul 8, 2025 5720 We first recorded this episode -- on the gaggle of bizarre right-wing cranks around the German poet Stefan George (1868 - 1933) -- for IBTWR's Patreon. It's one we're very proud of, and it's also an interesting complement to our ongoing Project 1933. Hope you like it!

Episode 82 -- Project 1933, Part IV: June 1 to June 30 Jun 24, 2025 6259 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This fourth installment covers June 1 to June 30, 1933 -- above all the rol

Episode 81: MLM Nation with Bridget Read Jun 17, 2025 3172 Journalist Bridget Read talks with Moira and Adrian about the most American of scams, the multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme. Companies like Amway, Mary Kay and Herbalife have had an outsize impact on American politics, and have been an insidious and at times covert part of the backlash against women's liberation, labor organizing and civil rights. This one has it all: eugenics, scammy Stanford-gr

Episode 78 -- Project 1933, Part III: May 1 to May 31 May 28, 2025 5703 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This second installment covers May 1 to May 31 -- the fate of trade unions,

Episode 77: San Francisco May 20, 2025 4779 Moira and Adrian tackle the longstanding conservative fixation on the city of San Francisco, its people and its mores. From demographic anxieties, via Joan Didion's hippie-hate, to disaster movies, doom loops, and progressive prosecutors -- the history of SF-hate is a history of US politics. Books and media cited in this episode: Joseph Plaster, Kids on the Street: Queer Kinship and Religion in Sa

Episode 76: Depp v. Heard with Kat Tenbarge May 13, 2025 4014 In this episode, Moira and Adrian are joined by journalist Kat Tenbarge for a look back at the media spectacle that was actor Johnny Depp's April/May 2022 defamation suit against his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard. The conversation touches on #MeToo backlash, what counts as evidence in the social media age, content creation and YouTube commenting, and why some women find online misogyny persuasive.

Episode 74: The Trustees (with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd) May 6, 2025 3014 Have you been enjoying stories about all-powerful student activist groups shutting down vigorous debate on college campuses? Of the insidious cabals of Performance Studies professors thwarting the progress of science? Well, wait till you get a load of the people who actually run the show. In this episode, Moira and Adrian are joined by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd (of the American Campus podcast) to di

Episode 73 -- Roy Cohn with Matt Sitman (Part 2) Apr 29, 2025 2835 The second part of Moira and Adrian's long conversation with Matt Sitman of Know Your Enemy on Roy Cohn -- lawyer to various deplorables, closet case and mentor to a young Donald Trump. This part deals with Cohn's return to New York, his work for the mob, the Church, and the drugs. Here are the books and documentaries we discuss in this first half:-- Nicholas von Hoffman, Citizen Cohn: The Life an

Episode 71 -- Roy Cohn with Matt Sitman (Part 1) Apr 22, 2025 3104 Moira and Adrian are joined by Matt Sitman of Know Your Enemy to discuss the life of Roy Cohn -- lawyer, closet case and ratfucker extraordinaire. This first part deals with Cohn's childhood, the Rosenberg trial, and his time with Sen. McCarthy.Here are the books and documentaries we discuss in this first half:-- Nicholas von Hoffman, Citizen Cohn: The Life and Times of Roy Cohn (1988)-- Ivy Meer

Episode 70 -- Project 1933, Part II: March 15 to April 15 Apr 17, 2025 4668 For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This second installment covers March 15 to April 15.

Episode 68 -- Republican Makeup with Jessica DeFino Apr 8, 2025 2349 When it comes to the protagonists of MAGA world, they -- like Roxette circa 1990 -- have THE LOOK. You know the one: hair that rises and crests like a mountain range, lips that are strangely beige and eyes that really show off how dead the person is on the inside. How did this style come to define the modern conservative aesthetic? What are its influences? What are its messages? Jessica DeFino (o

Episode 67 -- Project 1933, Part I: January to March 15 Apr 1, 2025 5393 Germany 1933 is having a bit of a moment. Which made us at In Bed with the Right decide to explore that year in detail. In this series, Adrian and Moira tell the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. We will be going month by month for these episodes, but this first instal

Episode 65 -- "So Long, Pamela Paul" with Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri Mar 25, 2025 4059 Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri of If Books Could Kill visit In Bed with the Right to talk about the life, times and very, very milquetoast opinions of Pamela Paul, who recently departed from her perch as the New York Times columnist Bluesky loves to hate. Paul emblematizes many aspects of public discourse over the last 5-10 years -- from the emergence of "reactionary centrism" to the renewed f

Episode 64: Whither the Preachers? With Kristin Kobes Du Mez Mar 18, 2025 3031 Moira and Adrian welcome historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez (Jesus and John Wayne) to talk about what happens to conservative "preacher" masculinity in the age of swaggering, crass and often libertine sexuality.

Episode 62: AI Slop and the New Fascist Aesthetic with Roland Meyer Mar 11, 2025 4473 Why have our new right-wing overlords taken such a shine to chintzy, shiny AI slop? What is persuasive about these phony, artless, slightly desperate images? How do they originate, and how do they circulate? For this episode, Moira and Adrian are joined by Roland Meyer, who is a professor of digital cultures and arts at the University of Zurich and the University of the Arts in Zurich, Switzerland

Episode 60: Emergency Episode: The German Elections Feb 28, 2025 4617 Germany voted for a new parliament last Sunday, and if you weren't ready for the words "far right" "Germany" and "20% of the vote" to pop up on your doom bingo, well, then you don't know 2025. Journalist Annika Brockschmidt stops by the pod to talk Adrian and Moira through Germany's political system, how the election results will impact it, and what the results suggest about Germany's future.

Episode 58: The Pelicot Trial with Manon Garcia Feb 18, 2025 4071 TW: This episode is almost entirely about a horrifying case of sustained and organized rape. On December 19, 2024 a court in Avignon, France convicted Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men of rape. It was the conclusion to a spectacular case and trial that galvanized (parts of) France. The victim, Gisèle Pelicot, chose to allow the trial to be public, flipping the script on the way France had thus f

Episode 57: Mark Zuckerberg Feb 11, 2025 3988 Moira and Adrian delve into the career and political trajectory of Mark Zuckerberg. From Facemash to The Facebook to the Metaverse to putting on an absurd amount of sunscreen, they trace Mark Zuckerberg's (and Silicon Valley's) complicated relationship to gender. They explore how data, platforms, innovation and disruption, and guiding Silicon Valley figures like the genius and the drop-out are gen

Episode 55: Emergency Episode: Mark Joseph Stern on Executive Action Jan 29, 2025 2905 Donald Trump is issuing executive orders faster than people seem to be able to metabolize what's happening. And many of them have to do with gender, sexuality and wokeness! So Moira and Adrian turn to an expert -- Slate.com's intrepid legal reporter Mark Joseph Stern -- to make sense of at least some of the ones we know about in this special emergency episode. Check out Mark's article on the bizar

Episode 53: The Moynihan Report Jan 21, 2025 5859 The Moynihan Report (1965) written by later New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) is an important document in the backlash against the Civil Rights era, but it constitutes an important document in gender conservatism as well. In this episode, Adrian and Moira read through the report in some detail, and talk about the many brilliant critiques level at Moynihan and his project pretty

Episode 50: The Second Annual Cursties, Part II Dec 24, 2024 3298 In what is already being described as a Festivus miracle, we present you -- at long last! -- the second part of the Second Annual Cursties! It's Moira, Adrian and special guest Michael Hobbes doing the annual airing of the grievances (we're deferring the feats of strength until next year). Featuring the most cursed discourses of this particularly cursed-discourse rich year: with walk-on cameos by

Episode 49: The Second Annual Cursties, Part I Dec 17, 2024 2827 2024's hottest awards show is THE SECOND ANNUAL CURSTIES. Conjured up by Adrian, Moira and special returning guest Michael Hobbes, this all-gay gabfest has everything. Rapid onset transphobia! How to divorce Matt Walsh! The White Lotus! That thing where a heterosexual is so heterosexual it ... seems kind of gay? Stay tuned for the second half of this episode (and for another Episode Note referenci

Episode 47: Trans Kids Dec 10, 2024 2803 Moira walks Adrian through the right wing fixation on trans kids and the way it is reshaping our politics. In early December, the US Supreme Court heard US v. Skrmetti, and is almost certain to uphold a Tennessee law banning most forms of gender-affirming care for minors. In 2016, a trans bathroom ban in North Carolina led to a nationwide outcry and boycotts. Eight years later, laws like Tennessee

Episode 46: Live from City Lights Books it's THE CANCEL CULTURE PANIC Dec 3, 2024 4626 Back in September, Adrian and Moira did an event at San Francisco's legendary City Lights Bookstore for an event launching Adrian's new book The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession went Global. It was a memorable, energized and often delightfully weird evening that we're thrilled to bring you (slightly edited) as a special episode of In Bed with the Right.

Episode 44: So You Want to be a Right-Wing Grifter... with Matt Bernstein Nov 26, 2024 3132 As a special holiday treat, podcaster extraordinaire Matt Bernstein (A Bit Fruity) joins Moira and Adrian to talk about the right wing grift machine. It's a tough world out there, so here's your step by step guide to completely selling your soul for some sweet, sweet reactionary billionaire cash! Detours include: Candace Owens, Oli London, Riley Gaines, Chaya Raichik, and various Twinks for Tr**p.

Episode 42: 2024 Election Debrief, Part I Nov 19, 2024 2311 Moira and Adrian delve reluctantly into the horror, the horror -- aka the results of the 2024 presidential election. We didn't realize it when we recorded it, but this will be first installment in a series. This episode touches on split ticket voting, post-election anti-wokeness debates, the "tech bro" narrative. In the episode, we also mention Kate Manne's Substack essay "Trump's Election is a Tr

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