It Could Happen Here – 2025 Q&A (Jan 5, 2026)
Podcast: It Could Happen Here
Host: Robert Evans, Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, James Stout
Producer: Sophie Lichterman
Production: Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts
Episode Overview
This special Q&A episode brings together the full It Could Happen Here team—Robert, Garrison, Mia, James, and producer Sophie—to respond to listener questions sourced from Bluesky, Instagram, and elsewhere. In classic ICHH style, they mix seriousness and irreverent humor, reflecting on collapse, media, politics, and the peculiarities of daily life on a show that chronicles "the burning ruins" and the possibilities of a better future.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Fun, Non-incriminating Youth Stories
- James: Gored by a bull while young, recounts rib injuries and the "karmic justice" of messing with animals (03:13).
“I was gored by a bull when I was younger... First of all, you shouldn’t be unkind to animals. So I did deserve it... if you do, it’s kind of your fault.” — James [03:26]
- Sophie: Skinny jeans ripped in front of her 8th-grade class, a "millennial trauma" (04:42)
- Robert: Lost his pants to the Ganges river while rafting in India, improvised pants from his shirt to avoid indecency in a holy city (06:48)
“My pants immediately are gone, like, just instantly as soon as I get in the water, torn off by the Ganges. And then I am... naked from the waist down... I take my shirt off and I put my legs through the armholes and I get to tie the neck hole. And I’m just wearing... my shirt as pants.” — Robert [07:02]
2. Literary and Media Recommendations
- Fiction Books:
- Mia: Enjoyed Children of Time (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
- James: Winter in Madrid – Spanish Civil War fiction
- Robert: Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut; Warhammer books
- Mia: The Kate Daniels urban fantasy series, applauding its “magic apocalypse” and werecreatures (12:52)
- Favorite Media of 2025:
- Robert: Andor (Season 2) [16:00]
- Mia: Rehearsal (Season 2); “Tim Robinson’s new show Chair Company... gets to the American conspiracy mindset better than almost anything I’ve seen.” [16:41]
- Sophie: The Pit (medical show); Netflix’s Adolescence miniseries
- Mia: Hades 2 (game); One of the Boys (Victoria Zeller) – insight into trans, sports, and group chats [17:43]
- James: Zaragosa Bound and Sons of Night (AK Press historical translations around the Durutti Column and Spanish anarchists) [19:01]
3. Canada Coverage
- The show will continue covering Canada, with a focus on Alberta politics, Conservative Party, and unique figures like the “Queen of Canada” (Romana Didulo). Garrison mentions interest in more field pieces given geographic proximity (09:05).
“As a general rule, if you’re ever asking, hey, this major thing is happening in another country, are you guys going to cover it? The answer is probably yes... but there are, I believe, 10 countries in the world at least.” — Robert [10:31]
- Sidebar on odd celebrity news: Sophie is upset about rumors of Justin Trudeau dating Katy Perry (09:47).
4. Concerns About Media Censorship Under a Trump Administration
- Sophie and Robert affirm that iHeart has not censored their content and sees no reason for that to change; the financial success and independence of the show buffer them.
“At the moment... we make them money and they in return say, keep doing what you’re doing, kid. Kiddos. Buckaroos.” — Robert [20:16]
5. Most Impactful Work of 2025
- Garrison: Proud of the Dog Whistle Politics episode, decoding messaging from the Trump administration and DHS (20:55).
- Robert: Zizian episodes and supporting Ed Zitron in exposing OpenAI’s excesses [22:36].
- Mia: Episode on the Elon Musk Nazi salute and media spectacle, and coverage of halted Medicaid cuts to trans healthcare [23:37].
- James: Border reporting, seeing real on-the-ground impacts and audience members engaging in mutual aid as a result [25:06].
- Sophie: Commissioned Anti Vax America series by Steven for its thorough work [26:02].
6. Recent “Jokerification” Moments
Each host reflects on what radicalized or emotionally scarred them most in the last year.
- The DNC experience (2025), especially being shut out of Kamala Harris’s speech, deeply demoralized Sophie and Garrison (27:04).
“That hurt me so much. Because the DNC was so depressing.” — Sophie [27:05]
- Garrison: Left-wing conspiracism around the Charlie Kirk assassination and the flattening of left/right tactics (29:31)
“Working on the Democrat left wing conspiracy stuff really did a number on me... seeing the scale of that stuff, especially around the Charlie Kirk assassination... was like, just drilling into my head.” — Garrison [27:39]
- James & Robert: Frustration over the abandonment of fact-checking, the “uniformity of the embrace of counterfactuals” (28:14), and hollow discourse around guns and ICE “guided missiles” conspiracy (31:19).
“I just find that frustrating. Like, we cannot have a reasonable discourse around guns in this country.” — James [33:04]
- Sophie: Anger at routine transvestigation every time there’s a mass shooting in the news (31:45)
7. Dual Power in the Modern Era
- Mia: The Zapatistas exemplify adaptive, lasting dual power by decentralizing and outlasting state violence (33:37).
- Robert: The PKK, YPG/J in Rojava, and their ability to mimic/replace state function for millions (34:10).
- Garrison: NYC DSA’s recent local dual power initiatives and community mutual aid defense strategies (34:44, 35:09).
“...community safety... to keep their community safe when the state has failed... And like, especially I think it is kind of heartwarming to me to see people who were just like straight up statist liberals. Right. Realizing that actually the cops aren’t going to come and arrest ICE.” — James [35:30]
- Robert: “A downstream change” from 2020’s uprisings: “A huge number of people who hadn’t thought about the cops, realized what the cops are.” [36:52]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- On News Fatigue:
“Now anyone who goes to a party that I am at knows that there’s a gun on the table if anyone asks me how the news is.” — Robert [02:22] - On US News at Parties:
“When people just ask you to summarize the fucking news. Yeah. Not good is the answer.” — James [02:08] - On Canadian Political Gossip:
“My recent political development in Canada that I would like to talk about is... what’s his name? Dating Katy Perry. Because it makes me upset.” — Sophie [09:42] - On Fact Checking Culture:
“The uniformity of the embrace of counterfactuals is like, I don’t even know what to do about it anymore. I don’t feel like fact checking works.” — Robert [28:00] - On Changes Post-2020:
“...the most long term positive change from the 2020 uprisings, which is a huge number of people who hadn’t thought about the cops, realized what the cops are.” — Robert [36:52]
Timestamps for Important Segments
- Opening Banter & Party Stories: 00:42–07:35
- Book/Media Recommendations: 12:01–13:38, 15:50–19:55
- Canada Segment: 09:00–10:54
- On Media Censorship: 19:55–20:43
- 2025 Proudest Work: 20:55–26:02
- Jokerification Moments: 26:32–33:14
- Dual Power Discussion: 33:19–37:07
- Accents Fun/Closing: 37:12–End
Overall Tone & Style
Casual, self-deprecating, and darkly humorous. The hosts strike a balance between jaded post-collapse analysis, biting satire, and sincere engagement with activism and mutual aid. The interplay among hosts makes even serious topics lively and approachable.
Suggested Listens/References
- Dog Whistle Politics episode
- Anti Vax America series
- One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller
- Coverage of the Zapatistas and Rojava
This summary presents a comprehensive, timestamped guide to the It Could Happen Here 2025 Q&A episode, capturing the team’s wit, media insights, and reflections on the realities of collapse and community resilience without missing their signature personality.