Ep 219: How Elites Concern Troll "Waste" to Gut Social Welfare and Divide the Working Class

"American Extremists Aiding Radicals Across Border," trumpeted the Detroit Free Press in 1919. "707 Illegal Aliens Arrested in Checkpoint Crackdown," reported the Los Angeles Times in 1987. "87 Bronx gang members responsible for nine years of murders and drug-dealing charged in largest takedown in NYC history," announced the New York Daily News in 2016. "'Top secret' Hamas documents show that terrorists intentionally targeted elementary schools and a youth center," claimed NBC News in 2023. 

Each of these headlines includes a label for a certain type of Bad Guy. Whether it’s the "Extremist," the "Illegal Alien," the "Gang Member," or the "Terrorist," these terms—and their cousins—seek to exceptionalize the alleged transgressions of their targets, separate them from both the law and history and dehumanize them, all while priming media audiences for crueler laws, harsher policing, longer incarceration and sometimes even extrajudicial punishment. The terms, of course, don’t have clear, universally accepted definitions—nor are they supposed to—their use is often heavily racialized and, by their very nature, subject to the whims and ideologies of the Security State and the media doing its bidding. 

What effects, then, do these Bad Guy Labels have on public perceptions? How do they serve to foreclose critical thinking about who is deemed inside the bounds of due process and humanization and who is categorically an other in urgent need of disappearing and punishment?

On this episode, we examine four thought-terminating Bad Guy labels, analyze their origins, why they rose to prominence and explain how they are selectively evoked in order to turn off people’s brains and open up space for quick and cruel state violence.

Our guest is attorney and author Alec Karakatsanis.



Episode 220: The Power of Thought-Terminating Bad Guy Labels

RFK Jr. is now running the Department of Health and Human Services. So we sat down with journalist and Conspirituality co-host Derek Beres to get an idea about how long it will take for Kennedy’s "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) agenda to revive the black plague. 

We chat about why Beres argues that Kennedy's wellness-sounding platform masks an exclusionary health vision which amounts to “soft eugenics,” RFK Jr’s endorsement of the MMR vaccine and how this angered his followers, harmful narratives about autism which will probably be endorsed by the federal government, and how the MAHA Commission's AI-generated report doesn’t seriously address health problems facing children.

Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
patreon.com/qaa

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Derek Beres on BlueSky
https://bsky.app/profile/derekberes.bsky.social

Conspirituality Podcast
https://www.conspirituality.net/

Re:frame substack
https://derekberes.substack.com/

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Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com


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SOURCES


Maga’s era of ‘soft eugenics’: let the weak get sick, help the clever breed
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/may/04/maga-soft-eugenics

Florida becomes second state to ban adding fluoride to drinking water
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/15/florida-fluoride-drinking-water

Health secretary RFK Jr. endorses the MMR vaccine — stoking fury among his supporters
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5354900/hhs-rfk-endorses-mmr-measles-vaccine-stoking-supporters-fury

RFK Jr. Misleads on Autism Prevalence, Causes
https://www.factcheck.org/2025/04/rfk-jr-misleads-on-autism-prevalence-causes/

Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26092033/

Effectiveness of fluoride in preventing caries in adults
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17452559/

National COVID-19 trends, May 27
https://thesicktimes.org/2025/05/27/national-covid-19-trends-may-27/

The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist
https://www.notus.org/health-science/make-america-healthy-again-report-citation-errors


MAHA Mia! feat. Derek Beres (E326)

Donald Trump “re-truths” a ludicrous claim about the former President, while being attacked by former bestie Elon Musk.  Travis explores historical body doubles that got away with it… kind of.  Jake wonders if movies are to blame.


Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
https://patreon.com/qaa


Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com




QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.


Body Doubles (E327)

In this public News Brief, we break down the selling of an unpopular, disastrous war in record speed. 

News Brief: Pundits Speed-run 15 months of Iraq War Propaganda for Iran in Five Days

"Facebook’s Zuckerberg backs online political ad regulations forwarded by Sen. Amy Klobuchar," reported the Associated Press in 2018. "CEO Sam Bankman-Fried says crypto needs to embrace regulation," announced Business Insider in 2021. "AI leaders: Please regulate us," read an Axios headline in 2023.

In recent years, major U.S. companies, especially in the tech industry, have given new life to a longstanding corporate PR strategy: self-regulation. It's a common tactic. After a scandal — say, revelations about pollution, rampant scams, or large-scale invasions of privacy — corporations rebrand as repentant and disciplined, ready to pay their debts to society and embrace the public good. "No need for oppressive and overly burdensome regulation", they insist, "we can handle it ourselves."

This, of course, isn't the real intention. Historically, this corporate voluntarism has generated little more than a few cosmetic reforms, if that, and allowed the continuation of business as usual in every industry from slavery to oil to tobacco to crypto, save for the occasional sacrificial lamb. So why, and how, do media keep assuring their audiences that, This Time, It's Different? That this time corporate America has learned its lesson and can be trusted to regulate itself?

On this episode, we examine the centuries-old damage-control strategy of industry self-regulation, looking at how corporate claims of self-policing, aided by news media, buy time and goodwill while concealing an agenda of weakening pre-existing regulations, manipulating new laws to the benefit of the private sector, or, often, preventing regulation altogether. Our guest is the Revolving Door Project's assistant director Timi Iwayemi.

Episode 224: Corporate Self-Regulation and the Fine Art of 'Preempting" Public Outrage

Crime, Ozzy & Hulk Hogan, Rerun, Drake & Kendrick, Paranormal beliefs, Eddington, how we need a new separation of church & witchcraft, the new trad pop song burning up the streets, we live in hell

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 402: The Secret Wisdom Of The Ages

Chapo Senior Foreign Policy correspondent Derek Davison is back once again to talk about the escalating possibility of war in Venezuela. We discuss the recent strike on a Venezuelan boat by Trump and his newly-Christened Department of War, a botched raid into North Korea, our collapsing relationship with India, China’s SCO summit with Russia, and conflict on the Thai-Cambodia border. Plus: a Matt Christman prediction comes true…

Find all of Derek’s foreign policy coverage at:
www.foreignexchanges.news
www.americanprestigepod.com

967 - Whitehat feat. Derek Davison (9/8/25)

Will Sommer of The Bulwark returns to Chapo to talk about the right’s reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk as well as his funeral proceedings in Arizona. We recap the Groyper War that preceded the assassination and the pressure it put on Kirk to move right, as well as the conspiracies surrounding his shooting. Was Israel involved? Why was there no exit wound? Did Charlie have a late-in-life conversion to Catholicism? And which faction of the right will be able to define the man’s legacy?

Follow Will Sommer on Twitter/X: https://x.com/willsommer 

971 - The Years of Whatever feat. Will Sommer (9/22/25)

We’re joined by Jasper Craven to talk DoD Chief Peter Brian Hegseth, warfighting, women, mothers, fathers, alcoholism, infidelity, and more.

Check out Jaspers new article on Pete Hegseth's war on women in the Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/battle-of-the-sexes-craven

Hit the tip line: (646) 801-1129 | tips@trueanon.com

Discover more episodes at podcast.trueanon.com

Episode 491: One Bottle After Another

It’s Chapo—in person! Will, Felix, and Brendan James of Blowback (formerly Chapo Trap House) gather at Will’s apartment to talk about Eric Adams dropping out of the NYC mayoral race. They then read a profile of Adam Jentleson and his new PAC, Searchlight, and its novel plan to win elections by pulling Democrats to the right. Also this episode: Pete Hegseth’s mysterious all-hands meeting, Trump finally releasing the files, and Peter Thiel’s obsession with the antichrist.

And be sure to vote for American Prestige at the Signal Awards: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting?utm_campaign=signal4_finalists_finalistnotification_092325&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cio#/2025/shows/genre/news-politics

And check out the new Blowback season! https://blowback.show/

973 - Cross on the Moon feat. Brendan James (9/29/25)

Citations Needed is a podcast about the media, power, PR, and the history of bullshit. It is hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson, and produced by Florence Barrau-Adams.

Ep 219: How Elites Concern Troll "Waste" to Gut Social Welfare and Divide the Working Class

Citations Needed Podcast

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