Loading summary
A
Hi, this is Free Thinking through the fourth Turning. My name is Sacha Stone. Totalitarians at the gate. This is not the time for MAGA to devour itself. Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. End quote. Barry Goldwater. For a brief moment in time, the Democrats were humiliated in defeat. November of 2024 was the body blow necessary to end the war on Trump. They lost. Trump won, and that was that. They never absorbed that loss, however, except in the way that it made them meaner, angrier, and more willing to blow through norms and abandon what remained of their humanity, to chase victory by any means necessary. That would include spending hundreds of millions on Prop 50. It would include celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk and fantasizing about Trump's imminent death. It would be about sacrificing good people, doing good things to stop fascism. And somewhere in there, they took a dark turn. I watched it, I wrote about it, I warned about it. I could see it in their attacks on Tesla and their destruction of Elon Musk in an attempt to kill him and his business. I could see them at the no Kings rally, angry and motivated. Their desperation to find a Joe Rogan or compete with the memes on the right, failing at every turn. They looked to me like the monster in the movie, the thing that could imitate but could never be what they thought won Trump the election. You see, what we're talking about here is an organism that imitates other life forms, and it imitates them perfectly. When this thing attacked our dogs, it tried to digest them, absorb them, and in the process, shape its own cells to imitate them. This, for instance. That's not dog. It's imitation. We got to it before it had time to finish. Finish what? Finish imitating these dogs. Their men are attempting to appear more masculine. Gavin Newsom and J.B. pritzker have no problem fomenting insurrection against the government. And the newly elected mayor of New York just taunted Trump to turn up the volume. The women bask in it and pretend they're still feminists, when all they wanted all along was to be rescued by men. And here we are again. It's funny, but not so funny. To them, all is justified in the name of saving democracy. But that's never been what any of this has been about. They're totalitarians at heart, and they're prepared to sacrifice almost everything, friends, families, marriages, whole industries of culture and education to attain it. Absolutely. Utopias only have two potential paths. They become totalitarian, like the Soviet Union, like China, or they collapse. What you sacrifice in chasing utopia is personal freedom, art, journalism, comedy, and common ground with those who disagree with you. A totalitarian system wants it all and is prepared to take it if it isn't given willingly. They were already halfway there before Zorhan Mamdani became the new leader of the new left. Matt Taibi calls this the end of the Democratic Party, and he's right. Totalitarianism will mean giving up even that. It's all for one and one for all. And those who aren't on board will be left behind. Here is Ben Shapiro.
B
If you want to play, like, listen as a Republican, if you wish to embrace Mamdanism as your future, scary for the country, I don't think it's good for the country. I think we need two robust parties, neither of which is socialist or communist. But if you want to do this on an electoral level, then as somebody who wants Republicans to continue to win, I very much urge you to play this game, because play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Aoc, who is being widely touted as a presidential candidate in the next election, 2028, and again, I think she has some real strength in that area. She says that the entire party must surrender to Zoran Mamdani. Everyone must bow their heads.
A
He had to not just defeat a Republican, he had to defeat a Republican and the old guard of the Democratic Party at the same time. He was fighting a war on two fronts, and not just one. And he still won resoundingly. And I think the message that that sends is that the Democratic Party cannot last much longer by denying the future.
B
Okay, so, yeah, you're denying the future if you deny socialism. Well, actually, it seems to me you're more denying the past if you advocate socialism, because the history of socialism is literally tens of millions of bodies stacked. So there's that. But don't worry. Bernie Sanders, a complete, lifelong useless person who basically is like old Zormadani, like, never held a real job, complete useless artist type from when he was younger. Like, so useless he was kicked off a commune, but somehow has managed to turn that into a leadership position in American politics because it's a great country and anyone here can succeed. Here's Bernie Sanders saying his. His ideas aren't radical. It's not radical at all. To say that we should arrest the Prime Minister of Israel when they come. Well, it's not a radical thing to say that we should take all the rich people and we should catapult them into the ocean and steal them. That's not radical. What's radical is to say that not everybody deserves healthcare of their choice from the finest doctors, paid for by no one, by magic tree money. Here we go. These are not radical ideas. These are just mainstream good ideas for markets.
C
What is a radical idea, if I may say so, is Trump giving a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the 1% and throwing 15 million people off the health care they have. That is a radical idea. Thinking that climate change is a hoax is a radical idea. We cannot become accustomed to a nation in which one guy on top, Mr. Musk, owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American society. So I don't. I don't agree with you. It is not radical to say that we should have the best childcare system in the world if we believe in our kids and if we believe in the future of this country. It's not radical to say that we should have efficient and fast and free bus service. These are not radical ideas. What is radical is that we have more income and wealth inequality than. Than we've ever had.
A
For now, they're holding their not famous, bland, cookie cutter centrists like those who won in Virginia and New Jersey, whose names and faces no one remembers, close enough to not scare people away. They're centrists in name only. The new socialist wave will obliterate them. And if they don't realize that yet, they soon will. This came through my mail, even though I was never put on any list and I have no idea how it arrived. After five years of trying to leave the Democratic Party, our revolution organized to win. Earlier this year, Zorhan Mamdani was polling at 1%. This week, he won an overwhelming and inspiring victory against the establishment and the far right. And our revolution organizers and volunteers made half a million calls, techs and doorknocks, to help elect him. The surge of momentum didn't stop in New York. We were able to use the same strategies and tactics to win progressive victories up and down the ballot across the country, proving that when candidates from the working class, which Mamdani is not, offer real solutions and inspire voters, we win. And now we can't waste a second in channeling this momentum toward the 2026 midterms. Our next step is our first 2026 organizing call on Monday, when we'll hear from an amazing slate of exciting candidates for 2026, the next mom Donnies or how to build on this momentum, Organize and Win with Graham Platner, Cori Bush, Randy Brice, Robert Peters, Mae Vong. Does the Right have anything like that? Are they in any way prepared to go up against people this fired up? No, they aren't. They have Scott Pressler and they had Charlie Kirk and everyone else seems to be invested in building their platforms for clicks and views, not for votes. MAGA is on the ropes the heart of a totalitarian is that all things are necessary to achieve the singular goal of absolute power and dominance for the cause. The cause is usually a Marxist like government system, but it doesn't have to be. It can be fascist too. But even that has its roots in socialism, because in totalitarianism there is no power for the individual against the state. Over at the Free Press, Olivia Rheingold looked deeper into the dsa. The Free Press reviewed thousands of pages of internal Democratic Socialists of America documents which show that the organization's leader view Mondami as a tool in their agenda to abolish prisons and borders and ultimately end in what they call the barbaric order of capitalism. The DSA, founded in 1982, is a political body dedicated to the doctrine of democratic socialism, which is a variety of socialism that simply specifies how it would like revolution to occur peacefully through the subversion of democracy. Mamdani, a dues paying DSA member since 2017, is the tip of that spear. The Democrat machine cultivated cancel culture and used it as a method of societal control. No one would dare say anything that would get them banished from Utopia except those of us who did and were. That form of policing was straight out of the Cultural Revolution or Stalin's Komsomal or Hitler's Youth. In our bubble of the left we required no military because a system we built made it possible to destroy people with a single accusation. Over time our hearts and minds had to be captured or suppressed. If you could not go along with it, and I couldn't, you were out for a society that had migrated to the virtual frontier. That didn't mean you were sent to a gulag or killed, but it did mean you could lose everything and have to rebuild. Not the end of the world, but still. Imagine a system like that attaining absolute power because MAGA dropped the ball. That totalitarian practice of punishing thought crimes and dissent spread to government when Joe Biden took power, which is why they censored the Internet with impunity and would have continued to do it had the richest man in the world not bought Twitter and freed speech which allowed for a counter movement to rise and win. Joe Biden and his administration, along with the Democrats, thought nothing of indicting Trump on weak charges, raiding Mar a Lago to paint him as a criminal. Their dehumanization and rage for him knew no bounds. They wanted him in jail. They wanted him off the ballot. They wanted him out of their government, their culture and their country. They wanted him dead and still do. J. Jones Text Fantasizing about the death of Republicans and their children are not an exception. It's the rule. They openly talk about when it happens to Trump and plan to celebrate that day with playlists and dancing in the street. That is where they were mentally before this November 4th and their blue wave revived the movement. Now they are winning. You'd think, given that they would ease up on the ugliness, the dehumanization and the hate. Think again. These aren't people who want to share this country or even share the same restaurants as Trump and maga. You can't lie about a whole group of people like they have, calling them Nazis and racists and bigots and not have it end as easily as one election. This is to them, war. Mamdani's speech proved it. It was masks off and here comes the revolution and the enemies are the rich, the capitalists and the free thinkers.
D
Together we will usher in a generation of change. And if we embrace this brave new course rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismissing dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump, it's how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you. Turn the volume up.
A
You think Cancel culture was bad? Just wait until they have control of AI, YouTube, Facebook, and all social media platforms. Not to mention all of Hollywood, book publishing, Universal preschool and the universities. And what happens when the money runs out? Even now, Mom, Donnie needs money and he's asking for it to help pay for his transition team. Get used to it, rich people. You're the ones who will have to fund this production. Here is Ben Shapiro again.
B
All it's going to cost you if they win is all your money and all your freedom. This is basically the platform. Zoramdani. Well, one of the fun things about the socialists when they campaign is they campaign on Happy Dappy, do as I say. And then the mask comes off and they say, give me your money. So yesterday, Zormadani did that. Yesterday, he said he needed money from two separate sources. First, working people needed to donate money to his transition team because, you know, sure, you're poor, but he needs your money. And second, he needs money from the rich people to pay for all of his plans to, you know, destroy the rich people.
D
You know, there were a few months ago where I told supporters across the city to stop donating. And today I am asking them to start once again, and I am asking them to do so because of the fact that a transition that can meet the moment of preparing for January 1st is one that will require staff, it will require research, it will require infrastructure. And those are things that we will have to provide. And I'm excited for the fact that it will be funded by the very people who brought us to this point, the working people who have been left behind by the politics of the city.
B
I mean, that is very exciting. I'm sure they are very, very happy to fund Zoran Manani. I mean, obviously they're concerned with affordability. And when you are concerned with affordability, then you want to give money to people's transition teams. Just in my personal view, like, there were times, you know, early on in my marriage when my wife and I, we were basically down to, like, our last couple thousand dollars in, in savings. And we were starting to trying to have to figure out, you know, taking out second credit cards and moving some, moving some credit around, all that. And I, and I remember at that time, I was very much interested in giving money to the transition team for a political candidate of my choice. But don't worry. Let's be real. The people he wants money from are all the people that he also wants to destroy. And so he's not asking, he is telling.
A
Dig into that, because you're talking about a rent freeze. You're talking about free buses, you're talking about free childcare.
E
Can you do that without raising taxes?
F
I think you can do that. And I think you have to raise taxes on the top 1% of New Yorkers, New Yorkers who make more than $1 million a year. And you do that by raising taxes by them, 2%. And then you also increase the corporate tax of New York State to match that of New Jersey. So that takes us from about 7.25 to about 11.5%, which is what we see in New Jersey. These things together raise about $9 billion, which more than pays for our economic agenda and also starts to Trump proof our.
A
But are you worried that could drive.
G
A lot of job creators out of New York?
F
So what I've heard from a number of business leaders is that the affordability crisis is also affecting their ability to to attract and retain talent. The city's inability to provide childcare means that businesses often have to provide stipends for that child care. Right now, the absence of universal child care means that a family will pay around $22,500 a year, which is more money than many of them would spend if they sent that same kid to college. 18 years.
A
The policies matter less than their total control of the country they believe belongs to them. But the one person they can't control is Donald Trump. And that's how he's gotten the better of them again and again. They believe this time they finally got him. They think the time has come to declare victory. I wouldn't be so sure. And when you control the corporate press, the universities, the public schools, the culture, you can create any reality you want. That's a totalitarian paradise. And why they've constructed it that way. A Trump win was never in the plan. It took them a while to find just the right narrative to preserve utopia, which was in a state of collapse. All it took was for Trump to focus on tariffs and not the economy, to celebrate a lavish Halloween ball amid a government shutdown, and most of all, for voters to get a taste of Republicans ripping away SNAP benefits and rising health care costs. So they shut down the government to manufacture a crisis. Because, of course, they did. It was DEFCON 1. Here is Victor Davis Hanson on Emily Dzerzhinsky's afterparty.
G
The problem was, first of all, the Republican Party did not understand the purpose of the shutdown. It was completely incoherent. And they kept trying to find a reason. And they kept trying to say, well, they've signed on to these continuing resolutions X number of times in the past. Or they. This was a Obamacare subsidy that they voted with a window when it would shut down. So. So it was all adjudicated. Why are they. They did it because it was part of a larger strategy of chaos, bedlam. So you attack Tesla dealerships, you riot against ice, you drop F bombs. Gavin Newsom says that he wants to punch Trump in the mouth. Nancy Pelosi Says he's the most. Vi. You create all of this chaos. You don't have a. They don't have an agenda that most people want. If you look at the actual issues, they're. I know Trump people say they're 70, 30. They're probably 55, 45. Close the border. Most people want that. But when they keep. When they created so much chaos, the Republicans didn't know what they were doing. So basically, this shutdown was to get people who are on federal entitlements in these states very upset that they were going to lose their checks, and it was a Republican's fault. And second, the federal employees, especially in Virginia, but also were going to be laid off or losing. And then the ICE stuff was that ICE is a gestapo, and it's not going after criminals or people who have previous deportation orders are. Which 75, 80% do. But they're, you know, it's Herlinda on her way to keep your house clean, who has been here 40 years, and oh, my gosh, I just forgot to fill out my green card. And they. And they hit her over the head. And that's the narrative they were doing. And so the American voter was kind of saying, well, before Trump, there was not this chaos. And now everything is. There's people protesting, and the Congress people are using F bombs and they shut down the government and they're. They're running Tesla people. And that was the. What they wanted to create. And I will guarantee you that after these elections are over, they're going to. They're going to resume the government because the purpose is no longer needed to shut down and cause chaos and win an election. And they know, and they know what Obama said himself when they shut down the government under him, that this is a renegade action. You better win elections. If you don't win elections, you try to shut down the government. It works for a while. Then finally people say, and I think the polls are showing that there was enormous support for the Democrats, and it's gradually starting to get even or even favor. And they're going to get to a point very quickly, and they're going to say it served its purpose. We created chaos. We. We have momentum. Let's get the government, because the longer it's shut down, we're going to be blamed.
A
That handed the Democrats their oppression. Cosplay lining up the shot perfectly. How did the GOP not see this coming? They became too arrogant and too comfortable with the idea that the Democratic Party had imploded. The only reason they imploded is that they didn't have the right script. Now they do. For podcast listeners, a tweet from Arianna Jasmin. Democrats won this election across the U.S. mark my word, Trump will be gone. And when he is, we are coming. For every single ICE agent. The forces at play to destroy MAGA are everywhere. Do you think totalitarians play around? They do not. Now that Tyler Robinson conveniently assassinated Charlie Kirk, the vultures have flown in and there is division everywhere. Nick Fuente's, boosted by the New York Times, will become the face of MAGA over the next few years, excusing him, excusing those who interview him, or apologizing for him as a gift handed to the left on a silver platter like the Epstein files. Don't say I didn't warn you. The more people try to censor someone like Fuentes, however, the more energy and popularity he will attain. Anger among the public, especially the young, will find its way out and land somewhere. It will be sucked up by the totalitarians on the left or the identity obsessed faction of the right. Here is Vivek Ramaswamy.
H
We got our asses handed to us in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City. Democrats swept all three. There's two key lessons for Republicans. Listen carefully. Number one, our side needs to focus on affordability. Make the American dream affordable, bring down costs, electric costs, grocery costs, health care costs and housing costs and lay out how we're going to do it. And number two, cut out the identity politics. It doesn't suit Republicans. It's not for us. That's the woke left's game, not ours. We don't care about the color of your skin or your religion. We care about the content of your character. That's who we are.
A
Fuentes is popular and no amount of scolding will change that. Shutting people up will never be the answer, and it won't work anyway. In the age of influencers, clicks and views, Brett Cooper and others will want a piece of that audience. And so they will placate, they will lean in and they will excuse. But Affuente's right plays like a Reichstag fire for the totalitarians. MAGA will not survive unless they have some beacons of morality, of true virtue, like Charlie Kirk guiding them. Here is Konstantin Kissing.
I
As an influencer who makes money getting views online, Fuentes is incentivized to do the exact opposite. But the reason he delights in saying Hitler was very cool is not only a transgressive revolt against the puritanical gay race. Communism rammed down his generation's throat during the woke era and a desire for clicks. It's also because to a generation which lacks the deeply ingrained taboo against fascism, there is no reason why fascism wouldn't be the answer. Some of their great grandparents thought fascism was a great idea for many of the same reasons they do. Don't believe me? Look at the other side of the political spectrum. The British and American left is rapidly rediscovering its love for communism. Old ideas and old hatreds are returning across the Western world. No matter your views on illegal immigration, nobody who understands history can hear the AFD chanting Auslander Raus in Germany without feeling at least some instinctive discomfort. I've called this faction the Woke Right. It is a term many are desperate to argue with me about, but few deny the phenomenon I'm describing. A white identitarian movement which, like the woke left, believes in oppressor, oppressed dynamics, racial justice and a conspiratorial force that's holding them back. On the woke left, the root of all evil was the patriarchy imagined as a cabal of white men whose sole purpose was to deny equality to women and minorities. On the woke Right, it was initially the globalists, but as I predicted in a different video, it has now evolved into simply the Jews who are responsible for the suffering of the disadvantaged and oppressed white man. This is what people actually mean when they talk about the collapse of the post World War II orders. Shocked by the desolation caused by that war and the evils of fascism, and coming so soon after the war to end all wars, the west decided it might be a good idea to lay down some spoken and unspoken rules about what we can and can't do. One conclusion was that we let down a persecuted minority and we must never do so again. By the mid-90s, the conclusion remained, but the rationale began to slip from our collective memories. The lesson of the Holocaust became quasi religious dogma, culminating in the deranged notion that no human is illegal. The result was mass uncontrolled immigration into every western country for the ensuing decades. Another was the increased focus on compassion and inclusion. It's baddies like Hitler that are obsessed with strength and purity went to logic. Therefore, we must instead embrace empathy and diversity. This is what historian Tom Holland means when he says that we no longer ask what would Jesus do? And instead ask what would Hitler do? And then do the opposite. These well intended norms have now been taken to such extremes that that they increasingly produce extreme results such as open borders, legalized crime rampant homelessness and gender ideology. The backlash against all of this was eminently predictable. So much so that many of us have warned for many years that wokeness would produce an equal and opposite reaction on the right. How could it not? Did you really think that telling one group that they're bad because of their sex and skin color while celebrating and promoting other groups for for their sex and skin color would not produce an identitarian backlash? In any case, Groipers, as Fuente's fans are known, are not conservatives. They are the voice of a generation which feels ignored, mistreated and unfairly maligned. They don't want small government. They want revenge. The bulwark against us. Voice of Cain was shot in the neck and killed on a college campus a few weeks ago. Charlie Kirk was single handedly leading the Zuma right away from bitterness and resentment towards God, family and service. How and whether the remaining principled conservatives tried to resolve this attempt to take over their movement remains to be seen.
A
But there is no saving the totalitarians. They already thought Charlie Kirk was as bad. Even now, none of them felt his assassination in any way. They did not tone anything down. They justified their celebrations and are determined to smear his legacy in death. They would watch and laugh if hundreds of Trump supporters were lined up and shot. Podcast listeners, a tweet from Harrison Smith the assassination of Charlie Kirk has been a resounding success for the left. They got to kill one of our shining lights, divide the right and normalize political violence. And the only backlash they receive was Jimmy Kimmel's show got suspended for two days, end quote. Totalitarians want all of you. They want your mind, your heart, your devotion, your loyalty, your past, your present and your future. They want it all and they will take it all. And if you aren't on board, out you go. The only hope we have is a sane and common sense alternative, which we have in Donald Trump. Somehow in this mess, he comes out as the normal one. If Charlie Kirk were here right now, he'd be on the phone with Trump and urging him to address the economic woes that just lost Republicans a landslide election. And ask him to say to the people, I know you're suffering. I hear you. Here is our action plan to bring down costs and boost the economy. Here is our plan for health care. Here is why we won't let anyone starve in the richest country in the world. But Charlie isn't here. Trump is relying on a team of yes men who will not pick up the phone and challenge him like Charlie would have, but someone must MAGA must have in place right now a mobilized effort to win in 2026, enlisting all influencers who want to help in the effort to beat back the totalitarians and their massive alignment of power and their army of fired up zealots. Otherwise, the totalitarians take America back. They'll raise the drawbridge and that will be that. They will have whole generations in their universal preschool shaping those minds however they please. Choose your gender. Never think for yourself. Do as you're told. Utopia. If they take control of AI, that's it for free thought in America. And none of them realizes it or even thinks about it. The heart of a totalitarian is not to question, but to obey. Gen Z is facing nothing but a depressing future. No home, AI coming to take the jobs, crippling student debt, and a magic man handing them everything they could ever want for free. Except it's not free. It will cost you everything because it will cost you your freedom. It will sound great at first, like those early enthusiastic speeches in Animal Farm. But if and when the money runs out, if and when there isn't enough for everyone, well then it becomes the stuff of nightmares. America wasn't built for totalitarianism. It was built to be exactly the opposite. Just visit a socialist country, any one of them, and you'll see why Charlie might be gone. But thousands of others have risen and attempted to fill his shoes. Like Benny Johnson announcing this homeownership program for young people at Turning Point.
E
Final thing I'm going to say here is that in the Constitution it says life, liberty and the pursuit of property in certain other instances. And that's something that we've lost in this country. I'm particularly horrified that the American dream of owning a home is so out of reach for all of the young people here. If you are 35 and younger, homeownership rates are at 30%. That's down by half from a generation ago. And we need to fix that. Who here wants to own a home one day? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not one to break news in front of massive stadiums of people, but I want to announce right now a massive interagency and inter institutional effort in order to encourage and provide resources from a massive federal level and a legislative level to ensure that we reignite the American dream. For first time young home buyers. It will happen in this administration. We are going to make the American dream affordable again. We are going to make owning a home great again. And we are going to be able to raise our families, our Labradors in these beautiful houses with white picket fences. And we're gonna live like our grandparents.
A
Because you know what?
E
They had a lot of nice things figured out. And you can sit on your front porch here in Alabama with your shotgun, happy in your truck home.
A
America is always changing, evolving, and recreating itself. People come here to make their dreams come true. A republic if you can keep it. Godspeed, Maga. Godspeed. Thank you for listening to my podcast, sashastone.com. if you like my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thank you for your donations and your subscriptions. I appreciate it. There's a tip jar on the main page. And remember to thine own self be true.
J
Show me the meaning of the word? Cause I feel so much about it. Welcome to the human race.
A
With its.
J
War, disease and brutality? You with pure innocence and dryness? Restore some pride and dignity to a world in decline? Welcome to a special place.
A
In a.
J
Heart of stone that's cold and gray? You're with your angel face? Keep the dis, send it away and show me the meaning of the word? Show me the meaning of the wor? Cuz I've heard so much about it? I don't want to live without it I don't wanna live without it? I won't love I won't love I won't love. Welcome here from outer space? The milky way still in your eyes you found yourself a hopeless gaze.
C
Only.
J
Seeking perfection on earth or some kind of great B star? Show me the meaning of the word? Show me the meaning of the word? Cause I've heard so much about it? Don't make me live without it.
G
I.
J
Want love I won't.
Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
Episode: Totalitarians at the Gate
Date: November 7, 2025
In this episode, Sasha Stone explores the post-2024 U.S. political landscape following a Trump victory and the subsequent aggressive realignment of the American left, warning of rising totalitarian tendencies within the new generation of leftist movements. Stone critically examines the implications for American democracy, the shifting dynamics within both major parties, and the dangers posed by ideological zealotry on both sides. The episode features commentary and notable guest voices, focusing on the existential threat of political extremism—especially the willingness to sacrifice individual liberty, culture, and dissent in the pursuit of utopian visions.
“Those who seek absolute power... must be suspect and must be opposed.”
— Barry Goldwater, quoted by Sasha Stone (00:49)
“Utopias only have two potential paths. They become totalitarian... or they collapse.”
— Sasha Stone (03:30)
“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
— Ben Shapiro (04:37)
“[Cancel culture] was straight out of the Cultural Revolution or Stalin’s Komsomol or Hitler’s Youth.”
— Sasha Stone (11:11)
“What is radical is that we have more income and wealth inequality than... we’ve ever had.”
— Bernie Sanders (07:21)
“They want your mind, your heart, your devotion, your loyalty, your past, your present and your future. They want it all and they will take it all. And if you aren’t on board, out you go.”
— Sasha Stone (30:00)
“America wasn’t built for totalitarianism. It was built to be exactly the opposite.”
— Sasha Stone (33:34)
Throughout, Sasha Stone delivers a frank, cautionary, and sometimes sardonic appraisal of America's political moment, conveying urgency, skepticism, and a call for common sense resistance to ideological extremes—whether left or right.
For listeners:
This episode delivers a compelling, if at times polemical, analysis of post-2024 American politics, focusing on the threat of ideological totalitarianism, the collapse of the center, and the stakes for American liberty and identity in coming years. It weaves together personal reflection, political journalism, and external commentary for a vivid narrative on our nation’s crossroads.