Podcast Summary: How Is This Better?

Episode: A Surprising Grade for 2025

Host: Akilah Hughes | Guest: Ryan Broderick
Date: December 19, 2025

Overview

In this year-end special, Akilah Hughes and media analyst Ryan Broderick (Garbage Day, Panic World) dissect 2025 from every angle: politics, pop culture, media cycles, major protests, economic shifts, and the psychological toll of a tumultuous year. From the chaos of Trump’s second term and Project 2025, to the strange highs of Katy Perry in space, to the unexpectedly consequential No Kings protests, they constantly ask: was 2025 actually better? Or just more eventful? And what does all this chaos mean for the future? The conversation is honest, punchy, and rich with memorable insights as both try to “grade” the year and find hope for 2026.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Grading the Year: The 2025 “Scorecard”

• Opening banter on whether 2025 was “the best year.”
  • Ryan initially rates it “an 8” but downgrades as serious events are recalled. (00:32, 03:56)
• Memorable quote (Ryan):

  “This was the first year since 2019 that felt like a year.” (01:53)

• Both agree: 2025 wasn’t great but was undeniably eventful, ending with a “6/10” (Ryan) and a “strong four” (Akilah).
  • [Summary segment: 52:09, 54:58]

2. The Second Trump Administration & Project 2025

• Reflecting on Trump’s re-inauguration, drastic executive orders, “cozying up” to tech CEOs, and the symbolic “Doge era.”
• Memorable quote (Ryan):

  “The major difference between Trump 1 and Trump 2 … is Project 2025. … Around 50% of what Project 2025 wanted to accomplish has been accomplished in some form in the first year. That’s really scary.” (05:26)

• The role of “logislation”—the feedback loop between online right-wing memes and actual policy.
  • [Explained: 10:59–12:10]

3. Right-wing Internet Influence and Media’s Shift

• The White House and federal agencies mimicking “influencer” culture (e.g., ICE posting “Pokémon cards for immigrants”).
• Surge of conservative influencers in the press corps, state media isolation.
  • [Discussion: 13:16]
• The influence of Barron Trump in recruiting new digital allies (Dana White, the Nelk Boys, Andrew Tate).
  • [Mentioned: 13:16]
• Akilah:

  “Trying to make anything stick to his [Trump’s] ideology since there’s nothing there. It can be amorphous and change with the trends.” (12:10)

4. Geopolitics: From Greenland to Venezuela

• Trump’s “random” attempts to pick foreign fights: Greenland, Canada as the 51st state, eventually settling on Venezuela.
  • [Recap: 06:58–09:34]
• Ryan:

  “Trumpism, there’s no heart to it, there’s no center… it’s just whatever he thinks will keep people distracted and engaged with him…” (09:34)

• Spoofing Trump’s lack of understanding of tariffs and global affairs.
  • [08:58–09:16]

5. The Epstein Files & Right’s Narrative Failures

• “Logislation” seen in fast policy reactions to right-wing conspiracies (e.g., the Epstein files “binders”).
• Embarrassment and hypocrisy as the Trump team clings to secrecy despite MAGA influencer demands.
  • [Discussed: 10:26–12:10]
• Ryan:

  “The binders thing is embarrassing and stupid and everyone involved is an idiot. But as… a broader narrative… it is successful.” (14:07)

6. Authoritarianism’s Inherent Stupidity

• Comparing the administration’s blunders (Signalgate, Pete Hegseth’s war crimes) to the historical messes of other dictatorships.
  • [Insights: 14:31–15:49]
• “They’re inherently stupid. There’s a big brain drain that happens when you consolidate power… especially as quickly as Trump has.” (14:31)

7. Pop Culture Moments: Distraction & Privatization

• Katy Perry’s “corporate space flight” as a symbol of public goods being privatized for spectacle.
  • [16:11–17:28]
• The “Chicago Pope” and his unexpected role as a progressive voice on AI and the dignity of labor.
  • [18:07–19:38]
• The farcical saga of Trump’s desperate pursuit of awards and recognition.
  • [20:22–22:06]
• Akilah:

  “The FIFA Peace Peace Prize.” (20:55)

8. The No Kings Protests & the Limits of Visibility

• Largest protests in American history, yet they barely registered online.
  • [24:22–26:34]
• Theories about the “whisper networks,” Facebook and listservs powering offline organizing.
• Ryan:

  “It fundamentally changed my opinion of how the Internet has factored into the story of the Year… I think it’s actually less important than we think it is.” (25:38)

• Impact still unclear, but possibly crucial to later anti-Trump momentum.

9. Pop Culture Backlash & Weaponization of Outrage

• Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad and the right’s tactic of amplifying minor “leftist” moments as touchstones.
  • [July segment: 31:45–35:55]
• The left’s dilemma: keep infighting public at the risk of being the right’s “LOLcow,” or go covert.
  • [36:11–37:47]
• “There’s this entire right wing concept called a LOLcow … what they’ve done that’s very powerful is turn our official accounts on X for the White House… into one of these social media tabloid libs of TikTok style accounts.” (34:47)

10. The Assassination of Charlie Kirk: MAGA’s Overreach?

• Kirk’s killing, the MAGA cult’s frenzied reaction—punishment, canonization, national holiday—turns off younger supporters.
  • [Main segment: 40:58–44:18]
• Ryan:

  “If you had asked me in September where that was going, I was like, okay, this is the Reichstag fire… I now actually think that… it will be historically looked back on as the end [of MAGA].” (41:48–42:45)

• MAGA’s struggle to maintain power without a charismatic digital heir, alienates the base by overly venerating “old people” and not delivering.
  • [Elaborated: 43:21–44:18]

11. Major Themes: Power, Protest, and Social Change

• The recurring American fascination with how “normal people” deal with mega-powerful figures (from movies like “Weapons Eddington” to real-world Coldplay CEOs).
  • [38:42–40:14]
• Powerlessness, anger, and comedy as emotional responses to entrenched elites.
• Ongoing struggle to organize a coherent left response; slow emergence of new leftist and younger candidates in politics.
  • [50:32–51:27]

12. Government Shutdowns & Electoral Shifts

• The fall government shutdown (longest in U.S. history), further unraveling “Project 2025.”
  • [49:03–50:06]
• Early “blue wave” rumblings in fall elections, progressive victories even in “red” states.
  • [50:06–50:32]

13. AI, Economic Malaise, and the End of the Trump Era?

• AI as a background “bubble,” destabilizing media and labor but not the existential threat some fear.
  • [56:00–57:15]
• Fatalistic yet hopeful: both see early signs of America “waking up” to what’s been lost, with activist energy returning, and the Trump era’s end in sight.
  • [52:44–54:58, 57:26–59:41]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “This was the first year since 2019 that felt like a year.”
  — Ryan Broderick (01:53)

• “Around 50% of what Project 2025 wanted to accomplish has been accomplished in some form in the first year. That’s really scary.”
  — Ryan (05:26)

• “Trumpism… is just whatever he thinks will keep people distracted and engaged…”
  — Ryan (09:34)

• “The binders thing is embarrassing and stupid and everyone involved is an idiot. But as… a broader narrative… it is successful.”
  — Ryan (14:07)

• “They’re inherently stupid. There’s a big brain drain that happens when you consolidate power.”
  — Ryan (14:31)

• “It fundamentally changed my opinion… I think [the internet] is actually less important than we think it is.”
  — Ryan (25:38)

• “We fucked around. Now we gotta find out.”
  — Akilah (62:08)

Timeline & Timestamps for Key Segments

00:30 – Grading 2025: Initial reactions
03:00–09:34 – Trump II: Early days, executive orders, Project 2025
10:01–12:29 – Epstein files, “logislation,” and influence loops
13:16–15:35 – Barron Trump, influencer pipelines, “state media” tactics
16:11–20:55 – Katy Perry in space, Chicago Pope, Trump “award season”
24:22–26:34 – No Kings Protests, analog organizing
31:45–37:47 – Sydney Sweeney/LOLcow strategy, leftist infighting
40:58–44:18 – Charlie Kirk’s assassination and MAGA’s unraveling
49:00–51:27 – Government shutdown, blue wave midterms, Party futures
56:00–59:41 – AI, economic woes, prospects for 2026
61:50–62:10 – Final reflections: “2025, the year we found out”

Tone Notes

• Conversational, sardonic, yet grounded in analysis. Both hosts blend dark humor and genuine concern, flipping between American pop absurdity and the gravity of democratic backsliding.
• Ryan often brings in sweeping context and historical analogies; Akilah grounds with pop culture references and a sharp eye for hypocrisy and injustice.
• A throughline of fatigue, disbelief, and a hunt for cautious optimism runs throughout.

Conclusion

2025 was not “better”—but it was certainly more awake, more contested, and possibly the turning point for American resistance to authoritarianism. If nothing else, it was the year the country “found out.”

Akilah and Ryan close on the possibility of real democratic awakening—though Akilah’s grade goes no higher than a “four.” The real test, they agree, is ahead in 2026.