1Dime Radio

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In this episode of 1Dime Radio, I am joined by David McKerracher, founder of  ⁨@theory_underground⁩  and author of *Timenergy*, to ask whether the post-left can finally be theorized beyond a dead internet scene, a vague political identity, or a euphemism for moving right. We discuss our upcoming book *Post-Left Theory*, the left as a master signifier, the post-left as a frontier rather than an ideology, the leftist industrial complex, the limits of anti-woke and PMC critique, why Marxism does not resolve the left’s impasse, and the possibility of recovering community and the good life beyond the political duopoly.

We also preview TUCON 2026 and CanonFest, taking place at McKerracher Family Farm in Northern Idaho from August 26–31. Get tickets and see the full schedule here: https://canontcg.com/canonfest

In the Patreon-exclusive Backroom, we ask why not move right, explain why neither Dave nor I are right-wingers, and discuss why recognizing the post-left impasse does not require joining the political right.

You can listen to 1Dime Radio on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts.

Timestamps:
0:00 Backroom Preview: Why Post-Left Does Not Mean Right
2:56 Intro
3:53 TUCON 2026 and Post-Left Theory
16:50 What Is the Post-Left?
25:55 The Post-Left Is not an Ideology
39:34 The Leftist Industrial Complex
51:00 Where Anti-Woke Critiques Fall Short
1:05:21 Why Not Just Marxism?
1:21:31 Why We Aren't Rightists (Continued in The Backroom, on Patreon)

GUEST:
David McKerracher, founder of Theory Underground, author of *Timenergy*, and chief editor of *Underground Theory*

* Theory Underground: https://theoryunderground.com/
* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theory_underground
* Substack: https://theoryunderground.substack.com/
* Underground Theory, Volume 2, featuring essays by Tony and Dave: https://www.amazon.ca/Underground-Theory-TIMENERGY-I-EDUCATION-ebook/dp/B0G19L25B4
* TUCON 2026 / CanonFest TICKETS: https://canontcg.com/canonfest

FOLLOW 1Dime:
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* X: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial
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* Main 1Dime YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@1Dimee

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Get access to The Backroom, with 100+ exclusive episodes of 1Dime Radio, on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDime

In this episode of 1Dime Radio, I am joined by Daniel Bitton from the YouTube channel What Is Politics?, a YouTube channel that uses anthropology, political theory, and evolutionary psychology to explain the basic questions most political discourse skips over: what is politics, what are left and right, where does hierarchy come from, and what does human nature actually tell us about socialism?

We discuss David Graeber and David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything, the “noble savage” myth, hunter-gatherer egalitarianism, why human beings are neither angels nor devils, how material conditions shape power, the difference between democratic hierarchy and domination, why Leninism failed, how left-wing ideas get captured by a new clergy class, and why the terms “left” and “right” have become so confused that they may now obscure more than they reveal.

There are two Backroom episodes from this conversation this week. In Part 1, we get into Canadian immigration, the new clergy, socially conservative leftism, wokeism and cancel culture, Iran, Zionism, Palestinian history, and the way anti-imperialism can collapse into third-world campism. In Part 2, we go deeper into desire, decay, democracy, dating apps, monogamy, the family, IQ, education, Enlightenment racism, political theology, property, and the limits of far-left projects.

Timestamps:

0:00 The Backroom Preview
03:16 Introduction
07:50 Graeber & Anthropology on The Left
21:58 Egalitarianism vs Hierarchy, Communism, Cults & Charismatic Authority
42:36 Delegated Power and Equality
47:46 What Is Politics?
50:39 The Distribution of Power
54:17 The New Clergy Class
01:05:40 Conservative vs Liberal is not Left vs Right
01:13:24 The Backroom Preview

GUEST:

Daniel / What Is Politics?
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WHATISPOLITICS69

FOLLOW 1Dime:

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyof1dime/
Main channel: https://www.youtube.com/@1Dimee

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Get access to 100+ exclusive episodes on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeThis bonus episode of 1Dime Radio was originally released as a Patreon-only Backroom exclusive, but I decided to make it public to give listeners a taste of what patrons get access to in The Backroom.In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Isabel Millar, author of *The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence*, for a conversation about AI girlfriends, sex robots, dating apps, psychoanalysis, feminism, gender, and love in the age of artificial intelligence.We discuss why AI girlfriends and AI boyfriends are becoming more popular, why this phenomenon cannot simply be reduced to loneliness, and how digital romance exposes something strange about ordinary relationships themselves. Drawing on Lacan, Baudrillard, and Badiou, we explore fantasy, desire, the gaze, sexual difference, dysphoria, sex work, the commodification of the body, and whether AI can ever truly replace human intimacy.We also get into dating apps, algorithmic matchmaking, the fantasy of the perfect partner, Bonnie Blue, sex positivity, the disappearance of eroticism, and whether AI chatbots could ever function as therapists or psychoanalysts.Listen to 1Dime Radio on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms.Timestamps:0:00 Why AI Girlfriends Are Happening So Fast2:56 OneDime Radio Intro3:54 Welcome to The Backroom5:00 Lacan, Sex, and Enjoyment11:44 Baudrillard and the Obscene15:14 Does the Female Gaze Exist?19:42 Femininity as Performance21:40 Dysphoria, Gender, and Subjectivity29:47 Motherhood and the Overcoded Body33:26 Bonnie Blue, Sex Bots, and Capitalism42:25 Sex Work and Sex Positivity46:27 AI Girlfriends and Romantic Fantasy54:09 Dating Apps and Algorithmic Arranged Marriage56:59 Badiou: Love as an Event59:08 Can AI Replace Therapy?1:06:40 Isabel’s Forthcoming WorkGUEST: Dr. Isabel MillarBook: *The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence*https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-67981-3FOLLOW 1DIME:X: https://x.com/1DimeOfficialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyof1dime/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeSubstack: https://1dimereview.substack.com/

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDime

In this episode of 1Dime Radio, I am joined once again by Benjamin Studebaker to discuss the new Iran deal, the growing rift between the United States and Israel, and what this all reveals about American power, Israeli leverage, and the limits of elite theory.

We break down why the so-called Iran deal is really a memorandum of understanding, whether Trump has effectively recreated the Obama Iran deal after a disastrous war, why Israel is so angry about the terms, and whether the United States can actually discipline Israel when it comes to Lebanon, Hezbollah, and the broader regional conflict.

From there, we zoom out into the realpolitik behind the U.S.-Israel alliance, the history of Israel’s strategic function in the Middle East, nuclear weapons, Palestine, the Gulf states, and the international pressure behind the Islamabad Accords. We then turn to Cuba’s sudden market reforms, the collapse of Cuba’s external support, Venezuela, China, Vietnam, North Korea, and why so many Western leftists turn foreign regimes into fantasy objects of anti-imperialist spectatorship.

In The Backroom, this week’s bonus discussion is split into two exclusive episodes. In the first, Ben and I have a cordial debate about the narrative of the so-called Epstein regime, Israel, conspiracy thinking, and whether there is a rational kernel of truth in some conspiratorial interpretations of politics. In the second, we continue into elite theory, scapegoating, and why elites may not actually be as powerful, coordinated, or all-controlling as people often imagine.

Timestamps:
0:00 The Backroom Preview: “The Elites” Aren’t That Smart
3:43 The Iran Peace Deal, Israel, Cuba
6:13 A Massive L For the USA and  Israel?
14:11 Regime Change Fail & Trump’s Midterm chances
22:10 Israel Doesn’t Control the USA
30:36 Can the U.S. Discipline Israel?
39:33 The Necessity of a One State Solution
43:03 Did Israel Drag America In the War?
50:17 Lebanon & the Iran Deal’s Weak Spot
1:02:02 The Islamabad Accords
1:11:04 Cuba’s Market Reform Shock
1:25:22 The Truth about Cuban Socialism
1:34:32 Anti-Imperialism & Spectator Politics
1:39:36 Conspiracies & Elite Theory
1:44:51 “The Epstein Regime” Narrative (The Backroom Transition)

GUEST
Benjamin Studebaker
Political theorist and author of Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies
Substack: https://substack.com/@bmstudebaker
X/Twitter: https://x.com/BMStudebaker
Website: https://benjaminstudebaker.com/
Buy Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-legitimacy-in-liberal-democracies.html
Affordable paperback now available for $24.95.

FOLLOW 1DIME
X: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial
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My Substack: https://1dimereview.substack.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDime

#IranDeal #IsraelIranWar #USIsraelRelations

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Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDime

Benjamin Studebaker joins me on 1Dime Radio for another episode in our regular series of wide-ranging conversations. This time we get into the geopolitical situations in Iran, Ukraine, and Cuba, asking whether the U.S. and Russia are both stuck in wars they cannot neatly win. We analyze how Iran’s power structure has changed, what Ukraine’s drone strategy signals about the war with Russia, and how North American energy business interests fit into the picture. We also touch on Cuba’s demographic pressures, the influence of the “success” of the Venezuela action, and the limits of the U.S. legislative system.

In The Backroom on Patreon, Studebaker and I dig into a simple, yet highly nuanced question: what is politics, actually? What does it mean to DO politics? What makes something, or someone, political? When is something politics, and when is it not? What is the difference between Politics as usual, administration, and real politics? What differentiates Politics from social justice activism?

Timestamps:
00:00:00 The Backroom Preview: A Better Future
00:03:48 Intro
00:06:07 Has Regime Change Already Occurred In Iran?
00:15:00 Will Iran Spike Oil Prices?
00:17:48 Israel vs America’s Interests
00:24:12 Trump’s Gas Price Problem
00:37:00 Iran’s Legitimacy Crisis
00:50:11 Can Cuba Survive?
01:05:42 Ukraine’s Drone War
01:11:37 The Energy Politics Behind Ukraine
01:20:00 Is America Politically Paralyzed?
01:28:37 Can Ukraine Still Negotiate?
01:35:00 Was Mearsheimer Right About NATO?
01:40:00 China, Trade, and Global Power
01:54:23 Backroom Preview: What Is Politics?

GUEST:
Benjamin Studebaker
• Website: https://benjaminstudebaker.com/
• Substack: https://substack.com/@bmstudebaker
• Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-legitimacy-in-liberal-democracies.html
• Political Theory 101: https://open.spotify.com/show/3JwcqFCSwC9gwR6rUXwFFQ

FOLLOW 1Dime:
• Substack: https://1dimereview.substack.com/
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1dimeman/
• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1Dimee

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