Next Comes What

There are a lot of ways to cure our ailing country. Here's how to convince the patient to cooperate. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/a-sick-society WATCH on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vNY5K9g0Qgw Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/next-comes-what/id1779885475 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7lUaIWeKl0oET2DJVTWhy4 Everywhere else: https://pod.link/1779885475 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews Here's a link to the Duke panel on public health and families in immigration detention that Andrea mentions in the episode: https://warpwire.duke.edu/w/MUoJAA/ This week's episode of Next Comes What considers our crisis of democracy through the lens of medicine. Andrea Pitzer looks at recent rulings by U.S. courts on the Voting Rights Act and mifepristone, as well as a billionaire purchasing his second copy of the Constitution and suggests that what's wrong with our society will take more than just elections to fix (though elections remain critical!). Andrea uses a framework of public health to think about how improvements can happen. If diagnosis is understanding what's going wrong, what condition we're dealing with, prescription is figuring out what the best treatment options are. There's a lot of solid diagnosis out there from people doing incisive analysis of our democratic collapse, and a number of good suggestions on how to fix our systems and fireproof them from future authoritarian threats. But the hardest part of public health work is getting individuals and communities on board--getting people to buy in. Andrea runs through ways that do and don't work, arguing that there's no need to coddle racists or endorse hate to meet people where they're at. She argues for creating a vision of a society that people will want to be part of, one that will deliver for them and invites them to come along. In the end, we'll have to get some people involved who aren't on board yet. Andrea closes by arguing that the patient is treatable, and that in fact countless successful local examples of organizing and successful change are already happening around the country.

A guide to understanding our new concentration-camp era and how to fight it. A re-release of a Next Comes What from July 10, 2025. Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/what-s-in-a-name Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to this channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DegenerateArtNewsletter?sub_confirmation=1 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews In this episode, Andrea Pitzer lays out the definition of a concentration camp and breaks down each part of it. She looks at international trends in concentration camps across the last century and the specific U.S. history that has made the country vulnerable to propaganda demonizing immigrants and others. Addressing the advantages and disadvantages of comparing modern detention facilities to concentration camps and even Auschwitz, Andrea explores why what we choose to call these places matters. Coming to the conclusion that the new camp in the Everglades is a concentration camp and signals a massive expansion of extrajudicial detention that threatens all Americans, Andrea offers listeners a big-picture plan for how to strategically insert themselves into efforts to combat the concentration camp trend, from local projects to national movements.

A look at the ways that lives of tyrants come to an end, and how that might shape what you should be doing now. Re-release from August 28, 2025. Get more from Andrea and support Next Comes What: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/when-trump-is-gone Subscribe to this channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DegenerateArtNewsletter?sub_confirmation=1 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews A look at the ways that lives of tyrants come to an end, and how that might shape what you should be doing now. This week, Andrea Pitzer looks at Trump's recent signs of mental and physical decline and addresses the long history of authoritarians hiding infirmity and the resulting costs of their deception. She considers how the last Shah of Iran misled nearly everyone about his cancer, destabilizing his country, the Middle East, and a U.S. election in the wake of his lies. Andrea recalls officials' obsequiousness toward a series of late-Soviet leaders from Brezhnev to Chernenko, and the comic ways that leaders have lied to the nation. As Trump continues to dismantle so much of what's good about the U.S., with old outrages grinding on while new ones seem to arrive hourly, running from crisis to crisis can feel like using a thimble full of water to put out a forest fire. Considering the Miccosukee people of Florida's recent victory against the concentration camp in the Everglades, Andrea uses their focus on their values and their way of life to suggest an approach for people nationwide to find meaningful and effective paths to respond to Trumpism. One day, he'll be gone. What do you want to bring into being in the world that will outlast him?

Actions to take while Andrea takes the rest of April off to finish her next book, SNOWBLIND. Subscribe to support this podcast and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe You can find all the links Andrea mentions here: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/april-10-friday-roundup Movement Call: National Day of Action to Stop ICE Warehouse Detention, April 14 https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/932124/ Communities Not Cages: National Day of Action to Stop ICE Warehouse Detention, April 25 https://www.mobilize.us/notabovethelaw/event/934571/ MayDay Strong, May 1 https://maydaystrong.org/

Trump is using deportations to create an international concentration camp system. We need to shut it down. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/planet-of-the-camps WATCH YouTube: https://youtu.be/UWjrDtHkPwg TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews This week, Andrea Pitzer looks at third-country deportations of immigrants under Trump—when detainees are forced out of the U.S. but can't be sent to the country they emigrated from. Washington now has agreements in place with dozens of countries, and reports about the conditions of detention are grim. Delving into the history of cross-border camps, from Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in the 1940s to Operation Condor in South America decades later, Andrea shows the past harms that have occurred in these systems. Moving closer to the present day, she identifies the War On Terror after 9/11 as a pivot point for the creation of third-country black sites in the name of counterterrorism. Noting the lasting damage of those sites both to the host countries and back in the U.S., Andrea explores the current trajectory of third-country transports, which have been limited thus far. But 13,000 immigrants are currently at risk for this kind of deportation. The episode closes with suggestions on how to take action and a referral to the Third Country Deportation Watch website, as well as listing some successes in fighting back against deportation to high-risk settings like Libya. 0:00 Trump's Reckless War and the Road to Madness 0:43 Wars Abroad and Concentration Camps at Home: The Historical Link 2:44 ICE Violence, Kidnappings, and Citizens Shot in the Street 3:02 Trump and Miller's Global Concentration Camp Network 4:25 Third-Country Deportations: Exporting Cruelty Around the World 6:22 The CECOT Prison Deal: Venezuela, El Salvador, and the Disappeared 10:49 13,000 Immigrants Targeted for Third-Country Deportation 12:31 Historical Precedents: Nazi Transit Camps and Soviet Deportations 15:23 The War on Terror's Black Sites and the Legacy of US-Backed Torture 19:16 How to Fight Back: Legal Aid, Journalism, and Organizing

Coast-to-coast No Kings demonstrations and who turned out to protest. Firsthand reporting from a Memorial Bridge march and early survey data on protesters' motives. The role of decentralized, leaderless action in knitting local communities into a national movement. How protests feed broader civic engagement, mutual aid efforts, and plans to convert marches into sustained organizing.

People who aren't already standing up against fascism can be persuaded to. Here's how to reach them without having to embrace hateful policies. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/no-thing-that-they-believe WATCH YouTube: https://youtu.be/oVb88YNIeBA TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews This week's "Next Comes What" focuses on the work and ideas of Anat Shenker-Osorio. A cognitive linguist, Shenker-Osorio has made a career of seeing what kinds of messaging help persuade the public to support progressive issues and candidates. Host Andrea Pitzer talks to her about the tactics activists used to win abortion rights in Argentina, and how a series of campaigns in Australia helped free people seeking asylum who were held offshore in concentration camps for years. They discuss why embracing hateful views in the name of convincing "moderates" is a dead-end strategy, because moderates—at least in the way they're trotted out for these debates—don't really exist. "It's not the job of a good message to say what's popular," Shenker-Osorio says. "It's the job of a good message to make popular what we need said, because we have an agenda we need to enact, and because that's how we win." The episode closes with Shenker-Osorio herself making suggestions about effective terms for everyday folks to use in speaking out against Trump and his minions, as well as specific actions we can take to push back right now—including taking some joy in resistance. 0:00 - Why Words Matter: Introducing Anat Shenker-Osorio & the Science of Political Messaging 3:43 - What Is the Race Class Narrative and How Did It Change Progressive Strategy? 7:03 - Abortion Rights in Argentina: How Organizers Won with Values-Based Messaging 8:29 - Australia's Offshore Detention: A Case Study in Messaging Failure and Victory 11:20 - Base, Persuadables, and Opposition: How to Target Your Message for Maximum Impact 15:16 - Why Hyper-Moderation Fails: Stop Copying the Right to Beat the Right 22:08 - How Shifting Culture Shifts Votes: The Power of Social Proof and Same-Sex Marriage 26:34 - Drop "Administration," Say "Regime": The Language We Need Right Now 30:13 - Hope vs. Despair: What to Do When Change Feels Impossible 34:35 - Action Items: Protests, Boycotts, and Nonviolent Resistance You Can Join Today

Concentration camps are spreading across the US today. Here's why it matters what we call them. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the February post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/what-counts-as-a-concentration-camp WATCH YouTube: https://youtu.be/W3aMgiR9mMI TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews This week's episode is a response to Jake Tapper discouraging the use of the term "concentration camp" on CNN while interviewing a bookstore owner describing people in his community being sent to concentration camps during ICE operations. Andrea Pitzer looks at Tapper's consistent stance and traces it back to at least 2019 in an interview with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in which he acknowledges she might be using the term "concentration camp" correctly on a technical level. But he points out that most Americans think of death camps when they hear those words. And he talks about the pain that overuse inflicts on those who suffered in Nazi camps and on their families. Andrea looks at Dachau in particular, which was not a death camp, and wonders whether Tapper would consider it a concentration camp or not, and whether it only became a concentration camp nearly a decade into its existence, after the extermination camps were set up. If Dachau can be called a concentration camp, then what about the camps with similar conditions and similar functions that were operating in other parts of the world. She considers what actually constitutes a camp, at what point those camps can accurately be named, the uses of doing so, and the risks of not seeing what is happening before our eyes.

Is there a link between a specific subset of men who resent their exes and everything wrong in the country today? Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/the-most-divorced-men-in-history WATCH YouTube: https://youtu.be/srV7aQcE7mA TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews The latest "Next Comes What" considers Trump and his lackeys through the prism of being the most divorced guys in history. Andrea Pitzer points out how reckless and chaotic the administration's actions are, and notes the oft-discussed concept of divorced-guy energy, in which some men adopt self-destructive behaviors and become resentful of their exes. She offers up Trump himself, Russell Vought, Pete Hegseth, and RFK Jr. as examples. JD Vance and Stephen Miller qualify in their own ways, despite not being divorced. Andrea considers Elon Musk perhaps the most divorced guy in the world. The episode then covers a recent study from Rural Sociology actually identifying a pattern among some (but not all) men in communities undergoing social or economic shifts, in which they embrace risk-taking and often self-destructive behaviors. When the researcher asked why in interviews, this particular group of men often brought up a partner they were no longer with, and expressed resentment about that person. She considers them in light of the already-identified concept of reactive protest masculinity. Andrea takes a hypothetical leap (because the study was quite small), and wonders whether this is a scientific identification of divorced-guy energy, and suggests what it might mean for the country if a similar pattern is happening in and around the White House. She closes with thoughts on how to push back on what Trump is doing if this administration is in fact acting out reactive protest masculinity on a global scale.

Classic authoritarian tactics reveal what Trump is hoping to do, but they may backfire. Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer's Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What and get Andrea's posts first: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/starting-wars-and-spying-at-home WATCH Watch Andrea as part of the 50501 call "Fighting and Winning Against Trumpʻs Concentration Camps" https://youtu.be/IyszCsiUq2U?si=HB1te6l_tfRog3b4 YouTube: https://youtu.be/5y4aB70ZcFA TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@degenerateartnews The latest "Next Comes What" covers two significant events from the last week: the massive bombing attack conducted by the U.S. and Israel on Iran and OpenAI's announcement that it would partner with the government just hours before the attack began. Andrea Pitzer looks at the guardrails OpenAI competitor Anthropic had attempted to set up in recent weeks, drawing red lines around fully autonomous weapons and any use of its products for domestic surveillance. And she outlines how Open AI appears to have agreed to something that Anthropic would not in order to seal the deal with the government. Both the bombing of Iran and the possible opening of floodgates for increased domestic surveillance reflect two classic strategies of wannabe and established authoritarians. Andrea explains how such leaders use external conflict to try to unify the people behind problematic policies, and expand domestic surveillance to suppress dissent. But right out of the gate, the war on Iran is unpopular with the American public. And recent work from Marcel Dirsus suggests that increased surveillance can actually work against tyrannical aims over time, creating the illusion of control, as governing elites become more isolated and paranoid. Trump may very well not get what he wants out of either tactic. Andrea closes the episode with some thoughts for how to take action.