How Clinton, Trump, and Epstein Rewired America’s Moral Compass
We revisit the scandal-soaked 1990s—Packwood, Thomas, Clinton—and explore how failing to enforce norms around abuse of power helped create the world in which the Epstein scandal could flourish. This episode traces the unraveling of political accountability from the Clinton impeachment to the Trump Access Hollywood moment, and finally the global Epstein reckoning. We show how feminists in the ’90s and evangelicals in the 2010s made parallel bargains—each excusing their champion’s abuses for political gain. The result is a culture that normalized impunity for the powerful, and primed America for a populist revolt against a ruling class that protects its own.
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CREDITS
Executive Producer: Poppy Damon
Associate Producer: Adam Feldman
Sound Designer and Composer: Tony Peer
Original theme songs by Eli Lake
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Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s Socrates
We are coming up on the 50th anniversary of punk, the genre that smashed the old rock gods and stripped down the music to its essence. In this episode of Breaking History, we examine the examined life of the original punk: the loudmouth philosopher who defied the authorities, refused to conform, and paid the ultimate price for speaking the truth. Yes—it can only be Socrates. Grab your leather jacket and your hemlock, we’re going hardcore philosophical.
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CREDITS
Executive Producer: Poppy Damon
Associate Producer: Adam Feldman
Sound Designer and Composer: Tony Peer
Original theme songs by Eli Lake
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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41:52
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41:52
Beautiful Losers: Mamdani & The End of Socialism’s Losing Streak
For 124 years, the American socialist movement has been defined by defeat. From Eugene Debs’ doomed presidential runs to Michael Harrington’s quiet organizing, it’s been a story of almosts: almost mainstream, almost powerful, almost relevant. Until now. In this episode, we look at how Zohran Mamdani’s likely mayoral victory marks the first real crack in America’s century-long resistance to socialism—and why its impact will reach far beyond New York City.
CREDITS
Executive Producer: Poppy Damon
Associate Producer: Adam Feldman
Sound Designer and Composer: Tony Peer
Original theme songs by Eli Lake
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Trailer | Spiral: Murder in Detroit
On October 21, 2023, beloved Detroit community leader Samantha Woll was found brutally stabbed to death outside her home—two weeks to the day after the October 7 attacks on Israel. It looks like an open-and-shut case—a hate crime. But swiftly the police rule that out. Instead they eventually find themselves with two unrelated suspects. When they charge one with murder, the case takes a turn that raises questions about antisemitism, race, and justice in America.
Hosted by The Free Press’s Frannie Block, this podcast features exclusive interviews and explores the remarkable, too-short life of Samantha, and the impact she had. And Spiral tells the bizarre twists and turns of one of Detroit’s most haunting recent crimes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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London Falling: How the Birthplace of Free Speech Became a Censor’s Paradise
Once, Britain was the cradle of free speech- the land of Milton, Orwell, and John Stuart Mill. But in 2025, police are arresting citizens for tweets, comedians are detained for jokes, and ordinary people are jailed for words deemed “hateful.” In this episode, we trace how the birthplace of liberty became a censor’s paradise - and what it reveals about a Western world that’s forgotten Mill’s warning: that without dissent, truth itself cannot survive.
CREDITS
Executive Producer: Poppy Damon
Associate Producer: Adam Feldman
Sound Designer and Composer: Tony Peer
Original theme songs by Eli Lake
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sometimes the news moves so fast, you have to look closely to know if you’ve seen it before. And that’s what this show is about. Breaking History breaks down the news, by breaking down history. We cover everything from LBJ and the Roman Republic to Donald Trump and the chaos at Columbia. This twice a month show from The Free Press delivers the best historians, authors, and reporters by mining the archives of human experience to figure out the present. George Santayana wrote, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Tune in to Breaking History to resist the repetition.
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