NEW EP! Was Trump's China trip a Nothing Burger or a soy slop?

Why does the Deep State care so much about Taiwan?

And Sean's NY☭ hat came from WHERE?

All that plus choo-choo talk (LIRR Strike) in the bonus! For the full episode, sign up at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/nyregion/lirr-strike-long-island-rail-road.html

https://nypost.com/2026/05/16/us-news/hochul-pushed-lirr-strike-to-pick-up-votes-on-long-island-from-gop-opponent-transit-union-chief/

De-Tuckerized version of Sean's hat: https://www.neoliberalhell.com/shop/p/mysterious-hat

Song: Misfits - She (Demo version)

NEWS EP! Sean reports back from the a Beverly Hills Hedge Fund summit. Europe goes solar punk. US debt passes GDP as Project Freedom fails, and the Mideast bases lie in ruin. Is America through, or just through being cool?

Billionaires Unfazed by Iran: https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/19bda51e-fb62-4432-bc37-b9b425f19edd

Labor Market Unfazed by Iran https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/57482c61-164e-4f48-8214-370b269ac7b6

Europe Solar/Iran War: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/business/europe-solar-panels-iran-war.html

US Debt Milestone: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/business/us-debt-trump-policies-budget.html

This (US base) Wreckage: https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/01/world/video/us-military-bases-iran-strikes-images-invs-digvid

"Operation Trust Me Bro" : https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2026/05/07/top-iran-negotiator-mocks-operation-trust-me-bro-and-questions-reports-of-trumps-peace-proposal/

Saudi/Kuwait Cold Feet — Gulf states pulling back from US posture on Hormuz https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/us/politics/trump-strait-of-hormuz-saudis.html

Iran Economic Wreckage: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/world/middleeast/iran-economy-layoffs.html

America is through being cool? https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/opinion/vintage-clothes-america-cool-culture.html

Song: Nirvana - Milk It

We're joined by Henry Wallis of the FORMS podcast to guide us through one of the most obscure and challenging, yet arguably most consequential Biblical texts: the Book of Revelations.

For the FULL episode, Discord access, and all bonus content support the show at http:///patreon.com/ThisWreckage

Written by a Christian exile on an Aegean Island in a time of intense imperial Civil War and internal repression of Jews and Christians, the text is interpreted by scholars as a coded polemic against tyranny and assimilation, and by end-times preachers (and US officials) as a description of contemporary events. Now, Henry, the Orthodox scholar, Sean, the occasional Church-goer, and Andy, the non-practicing Reddit Athiest, will take on the text with fresh eyes.

We read from the King James Bible and David Bentley Hart's translation of the New Testament

Song: Blind Willie Johnson - John the Revelator

Interviews from this past weekend's Upstate Anarchist Bookfair with Riot Act Books, Solarpunk writer Phoebe Wagner, Flock Off Ithaca, Bolshevik Tendency, and Warzone Distro

For an extended version of this episode, sign up for FREE at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

At the end I include a snippet of our Armed Love interview with Ben Morea, who passed away this weekend. Check out the full interview here: Part 1: https://www.patreon.com/posts/65595770?collection=87680 Part 2: https://www.patreon.com/posts/65563424?collection=87680

Critique of "win" narrative in Minneapolis: https://illwill.com/proto-politics-in-purgatory

Song: Another Dimension - Twilight Zone (Remix)

We take another break from WW3 and various attempted assassinations with a sojourn into some economic shit with our guest Nicolas D Villarreal, an independent researcher focusing on the capitalist political economy.

For the full episode, support the show at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

Full piece: https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/the-capitalist-in-the-21st-century/

Response https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/letter-limiting-factors-in-capitalist-growth/

Counter-Response https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/letter-why-the-limit-is-not-a-lack-of-opportunity/

FT article in agricultural inflation: https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/e13369c2-edb8-4418-adfb-3496d2fae185

CBS News' penny pinching tips: https://x.com/TheRealVarnVlog/status/2048217038443991052

Song: Kinks - Maximum Consumption

Sean and Andy are joined by researcher A.J.A. Woods to discuss their new book The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West.

How did this basket of conspiracies come together in the post-60s moment? Who was Lyndon Larouche and how did he provide a bridge from quasi-Leninist elitism to the Reaganite New Right? What does culture even mean for the right and how has it taken such outsized importance for them?

And, in the bonus for subscribers, what might an actual Marxism that is cultural look like and how many Beatles songs was Theodor Adorno responsible for writing?

Become a supporter of our work at www.patreon.com/thiswreckage

Song: Alien Nosejob - Kinks vs. Stones

&y & &ers celebrate weed's birthday with our annual reading of "Wally B" (Walter Benjamin)!

This year, we read Leon Wieseltier's weasel-tier preface to Benjamin's Illuminations, then "Unpacking My Library" and a section of Berlin Childhood.

For the full episode, subscribe at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage & listen to the end for a story of Anders' Benjamin-inspired direct action against Rahm Emmanuel.

Song: Eminem - Cleanin' Out My Closet (Slowed)

NEWS EP! Andy is a bestseller. Sean becomes a Luddite Gnome. Orbon is Or-gone. Situation monitoring Hormuz, and looking back at the Suez crisis.

In the bonus we discuss AI-generated Iranian propaganda. To hear that, support the show at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

Metropolitans B&N event with Noah Kulwin: https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062206054-0

‘Summer of Ludd’ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/style/lamp-club-luddites.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Orban Loss: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/us/politics/orban-trump-maga.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Audio of Iranian warning that scared away US Navy warship https://x.com/eternalphysics/status/2043309125572936047?s=46

Suez and Iran by Niall Ferguson https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/america-suez-crisis-trump-presidency-world-order-iran-cqrfs86z0

Central banks sell US Treasuries in wake of Iran war: https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/6fac51c8-b650-48d4-82eb-e6e66f75dd2fForeign

Iran plans permanent changes to world economy https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/04/10/766586/why-no-matter-can-undermine-iran-eternal-dominance-over-strait-hormuz

Catching up with Molly Crabapple about Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund, available TODAY!!

See also Molly's "My Great Grandfather was a Bundist" in New York Review of Books

Support the show / get bonus content at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

Song: New Yiddish Chorale/Workers Circle Chorus feat. Adrienne Cooper - Barikadn (Barricades)

Sean and Varn are joined (eventually) by Henry Wallis, official France correspondent of This Wreckage and Varn Vlog, to talk about upcoming elections on the commune level and France Unbowed's plan to grow from municipal power to a mass political movement.

Beforehand we had a brief discussion of the economic fallout from the Iran war which has subsequently went into a tentative two-week ceasefire.

For access to this and all our bonus content become a supporter at www.patreon.com/thiswreckage

For the video of this episode and lots of great educational material become a supporter of C. Derick Varn over at VarnVlog

You can support Henry's work over at the excellent magazine https://newint.org/

Everybody preorder Metropolitans now!!!!

One of the longest and weirdest baseball books ever written, METROPOLITANS is a marxist history of America’s pastime in which the Mets serve a messianic main character.

Check out this excerpt, this interview, or this Adam Gopnik New Yorker review.

PREORDER from Penguin, Bookshop.org, Amazon and/or find me at one of the following launch events:

April 1: Official book launch! w/ Bradford William Davis at Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO, Brooklyn (Ticketing information: https://powerhousearena.com/events/book-launch-metropolitans-by-a-m-gittlitz/)

April 3: Release celebration at Lou’s Athletic Club in Bushwick more info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DWPKFCQCp5r/

April 4: Tabling with Books and Rooks at Ft. Green Farmer’s Market around 11am April 12: Paper Moon in Troy, NY April 13: B&N in Albany

April 16: B&N Brooklyn with Noah Kulwin! https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062206054-0

April 20: B&N in Carle's place LI with Greg Prince

April 27: B&N in Paramus, NJ April

30 Mets vs. Yankees debate at Le Pere on 90 Orchard St., moderated by Mattie Lubchansky!

More info will be posted at Astra House’s IG

Monologue adapted from Jean Shepard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz0pnq3ijfs

Tipping Pitches: https://tippingpitch.es/

Go to Greenpoint/Williamsburg/Bushwick/Ridgewood History nights: https://www.instagram.com/gphistorynight/

Songs: The Strokes - Ode to the Mets

The 1986 Mets - Get Metsmerized