What Would Karl Marx Do? cover art

All Episodes

What Would Karl Marx Do? — 103 episodes

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Title
1

The White House Ballroom (thread 7), Episode 5: Huey Long and the People's Ballroom: How Populism Loves Spectacle

2

The White House Ballroom (thread 7), Episode 4: Teddy Roosevelt’s Big-Show Presidency: Why He’d Love a White House Ballroom

3

The White House Ballroom (thread 7), Episode 3: Why Chester A. Arthur Would Approve of a Gilded White House Ballroom

4

WWKMD, Episode 17: Oil, Empires, and the Unstoppable Logic of Capital

5

Iran (Thread 10), Episode 5: When There's No Referee: Hobbes on the Iran Clash

6

Iran (Thread 10): Episode 4: “This Time It’s Different”? Erasmus Wouldn’t Buy It

7

Iran (Thread 10), Episode 3: Machiavelli in the Strait: Power, Fear, and the Politics of Oil

8

Iran (Thread 10), Episode 2: Aquinas on the Strait: Is the Iran Fight Truly Just?

9

Iran (Thread 10), Episode 1: Grotius in the Gulf: Rules, Rights, and the Strait of Hormuz

10

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 9: When 'Any Person' Wins: The Plyler v. Doe Breakthrough

11

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 8: When the Constitution Stops at the Shore: The Insular Cases Explained

12

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 7: Born Here, Belong Here: The Wong Kim Ark Case

13

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 6: All Persons, With an Asterisk: The Chinese Exclusion Act vs. the 14th Amendment

14

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 5: Separate But Equal: The Court That Sold Segregation

15

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 4: Slaughterhouse Surprise: How the 14th Amendment Was Gutted

16

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 3: Chase’s Caution: How the 14th Amendment Was Tempered

17

Vaccines (thread 4), Epsiode 10: Leicester's Rebellion: The Birth of the Anti-Vaccination League

18

Vaccines (thread 4), Episode 12: The Spine vs. Germs: D.D. Palmer’s Bold Rejection of Germ Theory

19

Vaccines (thread 4), Episode 11: The Shirtless Philosopher: When Abs Met Anti-Vax

20

Vaccines (thread 4), Episode 9: Survival of the Fittest: Spencer’s Case Against Vaccination

21

Vaccines (thread 4), Episode 8: Thoreau vs. The Needle: When Conscience Meets Contagion

22

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 12: FDR’s Lesson: You Can’t Tariff Your Way Out

23

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 11: Smoot-Hawley: The Tariff That Trapped Hoover

24

ICE (thread 8), Episode 7: When the Badge Becomes the Blame: What Abolitionists Would Say About ICE

25

ICE (thread 8), Episode 6: When Order Trumped Justice: From the Fugitive Slave Act to Modern Enforcement

26

WWKMD?, Episode 16: If Karl Marx Took On the Vaccine Debate

27

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 18: Whose Hands Built the Prosperity? Cesar Chavez’s Challenge

28

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 17: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Unapologetic Voice America Couldn't Ignore

29

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 16: If MLK Sat in the State of the Union: The Questions He’d Ask

30

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 15: If William F. Buckley Watched Trump's State of the Union

31

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 14: Goldwater Would've Nodded — Then Raised an Eyebrow

32

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 13: If Murrow Faced the State of the Union: Lights, Tape, Truth

33

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 12: When McCarthy Would Cheer: TV Rhetoric and the State of the Union

34

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 11: If JFK Watched the State of the Union: Ambition vs. Applause

35

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 10: FDR vs. Trump: What the King of Crisis Management Would Change About the State of the Union

36

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 9: If Jane Addams Sat in the State of the Union Gallery

37

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 8: What Ida B. Wells Would Ask at the State of the Union

38

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 7: If Mark Twain Attended the State of the Union

39

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 6: If Eugene Debs Watched the State of the Union: Who Really Holds Power?

40

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 5: Du Bois Takes the State of the Union: The X‑Ray Behind the Flags

41

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 4: If Teddy Roosevelt Watched Trump’s State of the Union

42

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 3: If Lincoln Watched Trump's State of the Union

43

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 2: If Andrew Jackson Watched Trump's State of the Union

44

SOTU (thread 9), Episode 1: If George Washington Watched Trump's State of the Union

45

ICE (thread 8), Episode 5: When Law Becomes a Boot: Patriots vs. the Empire

46

ICE (thread 8), Episode 4: If Britain Were Watching: 1770s Logic Meets Modern Enforcement

47

Historic Whimsey, Episode 3: If Nixon Watched Pam Bondi: Loyalty, Cover-Ups, and the Epstein Files

48

WWKMD?, Episode 15: If Adam Smith Walked Into Walmart

49

WWKMD?, Episode 14: If Marx Met AI: Why Machines Didn’t Surprise Him

50

Venezuela (thread 6), Episode 7: The Marine Who Exposed Empire: Smedley Butler's Reckoning

51

Venezuela (thread 6), Episode 6: Mark Twain vs. Empire: Why Venezuela Isn't America's to Save

52

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 10: Carnegie vs. Rockefeller: How Tariffs Rewrote American Capitalism

53

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 9: TR vs. Trump: The Tariff Test

54

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 8: McKinley vs. Modern Tariff Politics: What He'd Say About Trump's Trade War

55

ICE (thread 8), Episode 3: Kant vs. Deterrence: When Duty Checks Power

56

ICE (thread 8), Episode 2: Locke vs. Power: When 'Law and Order' Becomes Tyranny

57

ICE (thread 8), Episode 1: Leviathan at the Border: What Hobbes Would Say About ICE

58

Ukraine (thread 1), Episode 18: Emma Goldman on War: Bodies, Obedience, and Power

59

Ukraine (thread 1), Episode 17: What W.E.B. Du Bois Would Say About the Ukraine War

60

Ukraine (Thread 1), Episode 16: The Ukraine War Through a Socialist's Eyes

61

The White House Ballroom (thread 7), Episode 2: Jefferson vs. Washington: Why the White House Shouldn’t Dance

62

The White House Ballroom (thread 7), Episode 1: Why George Washington Wouldn’t Let the White House Have a Ballroom

63

Historic Supreme Courts--Obamacare (thread 8), Episode 7: When the Court Changed the Rules: How Hughes Made Regulation Constitutional

64

Historic Supreme Courts--Obamacare (thread 8), Epsiode 6: Taft vs. Obamacare: When the Court Clung to Old Order

65

Historic Supreme Courts--Obamacare (thread 8): Episode 5: The Fuller Court vs. Obamacare: How 19th‑Century Judges Would Have Said No

66

Historic Supreme Courts--Obamacare (thread 8), Episode 4: Reconstruction Court vs. Obamacare: When Liberty Meant Being Left Alone

67

Venezuela (thread 6), Episode 5: When Headlines Start Wars: Hearst’s Venezuela Playbook

68

Venezuela (thread 6), Episode 4: Moral Imperialism: Beveridge’s Divine Case for Empire

69

Venezuela (thread 6), Episode 3: Henry Cabot Lodge: When Empire Felt Like Duty

70

WWKMD?, Episode 13: Marx vs. Obamacare: The Market’s Medical Band‑Aid

71

WWKMD?, Episode 12: Marx vs. Bitcoin: What the Bearded Prophet Would Say

72

Historic Supreme Courts--Tariffs, Episode 7: Rehnquist’s Ruling: Why Trump’s Tariffs Would Hold

73

Historic Supreme Courts--Tariffs, Episode 6: When the Burger Court Said 'Not Our Job': Why Deference Won

74

Historic Supreme Courts--Tariffs, Episode 5: If Earl Warren Could Judge Trump: Tariffs Through the Warren Court Lens

75

Tariffs (thread 3): Episode 7: Henry Clay vs. Trump: Tariffs That Build — Not Blow Up — the Union

76

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 6: Jackson Would Hang the Dissenters: How Tariffs Become a Power Play

77

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 5: Calhoun vs. Trump: Tariffs, Power, and a Fracturing Union

78

Venezuela (thread 6): Episode 2: How the U.S. Quietly Stole Hawaii: Power, Profit, and a Coup

79

Venenzuela (thread 6): Episode 1: Banana Wars: How Fruit Fueled an American Empire

80

Obamacare (thread 2), Episode 9: Jane Addams and Obamacare: Building Democracy Through Care

81

Obamacare (thread 2), Episode 8: Emma Goldman vs. Obamacare: Why a Tourniquet Isn't Liberation

82

Obamacare (thread 2), Episode 7: When Gompers Met Obamacare: Gilded Age Labor’s Mixed Verdict

83

Obamacare (thread 2), Episode 6: How Gilded Age Leaders Would React to Obamacare

84

Vaccines (thread 4), Episode 7: Remove the Pump Handle: John Snow’s Blueprint to Stop Measles

85

Vaccines (thread 4), Episode 6: Florence Nightingale vs. Measles: Counting the Cost of Hesitancy

86

Vaccines (thread 4), Episode 5: If Pasteur Saw the Measles Come Back

87

Ukraine (thread 1), Episode 15: Wilson vs. Lodge: The Moral Choice That Shapes America's Response to Ukraine

88

Ukraine (thread 1), Episode 14: When Headlines Start Wars: Hearst and the Russia-Ukraine Story

89

Ukraine (thread 1), Episode 13: Henry Cabot Lodge's Hard Realism: Power Over Piety in Ukraine

90

Ukraine (thread 1), Episode 12: Albert Beveridge: Evangelist of Empire and the Case for Unapologetic Power

91

Ukraine (thread 1), Episode 11: Nicholas Murray Butler and the Realpolitik of Ukraine

92

WWKMD?, Episode 11: Adorno's Christmas: When Cheer Becomes Conformity

93

WWKMD?, Episode 10: Walter Benjamin's Christmas: Capitalism's Phantasmagoria

94

WWKMD?, Episode 9: Marx and the Christmas Illusion: Gifts, Gold, and Commodity Fetishism

95

WWKMD?, Episode 8: Rousseau's Christmas: When Festivity Becomes Performance

96

Historical Whimsey, Episode 2: TR's Big Stick: Why Venezuela Tests America's Resolve

97

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 2: Birthright and Revolution: How Reconstruction Rewrote American Citizenship

98

Historic Supreme Courts--14th Amendment, Episode 1: How Taney Tried to Block Birthright Citizenship — and How the 14th Overruled Him

99

WWKMD?, Episode 7: Marx in the Pharmacy: Why Insulin Has a Price Tag

100

Historic Supreme Courts--Obamacare, Episode 3: Salmon P. Chase and the Court That Rewrote the Union

101

Historic Supreme Courts--Obamacare, Episode 2: Taney vs. Obamacare: A Constitutional Showdown

102

Historic Supreme Courts--Abortion, Episode 5: Contracts, Not Bodies: How the Fuller‑Lochner Court Would've Rejected Roe

103

Historic Supreme Courts--Abortion, Episode 4: If the 'Weighty' Court Had Ruled on Roe: Federalism Over Privacy