Give Them An Argument
Ben Burgis
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Give Them An Argument is a YouTube show and podcast hosted by Ben Burgis that aims to build a smarter, funnier, and more strategic Left. New episodes air live on YouTube on Monday nights, with a postgame segment for patrons. The show features interviews and debates with guests from left politics and media, including Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, Glenn Greenwald, Krystal Ball, and Sam Seder. Ben Burgis is a philosophy professor, Jacobin columnist, and frequent debater who previously did a regular segment on The Michael Brooks Show.
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What Would a Socialist Foreign Policy Look Like? (ft. Deep State Kuba and Jason Myles) (Podcast Version) 15.09.2026 1t 59minIn this crossover with THIS IS REVOLUTION podcast, Ben Burgis and Jason Myles chat with Deep State Kuba about socialist foreign policy and in particular how a post-capitalist society of the kind described in Ben's new book (co-written w/Bhaskar Sunkara and Mike Beggs) could interact with, and survive its interactions with, the surrounding capitalist world. Pre-order the book from worker-owned bookseller Red Emmas: https://redemmas.org/titles/52310-the-blueprint-how-socialism-can-work-in-the... -
Don't RETVRN: Liberal Modernity as the Basis for Socialism (ft. Matt McManus and Florian Maiwald) 10.09.2026 1t 25minFlorian Maiwald and Matt McManus join Ben Burgis to discuss Florian's essays in Matt's new book, "What is Liberal Socialism?" (and the larger themes of the collection). Order Matt's book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/826323/what-is-liberal-socialism-by-matt-mcmanus/ Pre-order Florian's new book: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/our-books/outsourced-emancipation And while you're pre-ordering books, preorder Ben's new book (co-written w/Bhaskar Sunkara ... -
Is Capitalism REALLY the Best We Can Do? (Ben Burgis Lecture in Michigan) 07.09.2026 1t 46minLast Thursday, Ben Burgis gave the first lecture of the new year at the Ethics Center at Western Michigan University, to talk about the themes of his new book (co-written with Bhaskar Sunkara and Mike Beggs), "The Blueprint: How Socialism Can Work in the Real World." (Lecture starts around the 5:30 mark.) Register to attend the launch event in September 29th in Los Angeles: https://moondough.i234.me/tools/tickets/buy.html?event=9H7UE84J Pre-order the book from worker-owned bookseller Red E... -
Ben Burgis Goes on Israeli TV and DEBUNKS Mayo-Brained Talking Points 24.08.2026 49minYesterday, Ben Burgis went on English-language Israeli cable channel i24 to argue about the role of Israel/Palestine in the rise of the democratic socialist left in the United States. We'll play the whole segment and break it down! Read the Jacobin article mentioned in the episode ("The Problem With Israel Is So Much Bigger Than Netanyahu"): https://jacobin.com/2025/08/democrats-bernie-netanyahu-zionism-apartheid Pre-order Ben (and Bhaskar Sunkara and Mike Beggs's) new book "The Blueprint:... -
Socialism and Human Nature (ft. Matt McManus) 03.08.2026 1t 12minMatt McManus joins Ben Burgis to talk about Matt’s new article “Socialists Aren’t Naive About Human Nature,” and more generally about why attempts to base anti-socialist arguments on human imperfection miss the point. Read Matt’s article: https://jacobin.com/2026/07/socialism-human-nature-morality Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous ben... -
A Socialist's Dialogue with Liberalism (ft. Matt McManus) 24.07.2026 1t 40minMatt McManus joins Ben to talk about Matt's new article on Marxist philosopher G.A. Cohen's "engagement with the best of the liberal tradition," and to wrap up Matt and Ben's conversation about Cohen from the last time Matt was on the show. Read Matt's article: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/a-socialists-dialogue-with-liberalism/?ref=articles-and-essays-newslettert Read Ben's essay "Justice and Virtue": https://benburgis.substack.com/p/justice-and-virtue Link you can give your library t... -
The Iran War’s Most Embarrassingly Wrong Pundits (ft. Branko Marcetic) 22.07.2026 1t 10minBranko Marcetic and Ben Burgis count down the commentators who were most embarrassingly wrong about Iran. Read Branko's article: https://jacobin.com/2026/07/iran-war-pundits-fox-trump Follow Branko on Twitter: @BMarchetich Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love an... -
Meet Socialist Congressional Candidate Oliver Larkin 17.07.2026 56minOliver Larkin is a DSA-endorsed candidate running for Congress in FL-25. Check out his campaign website: https://www.oliverforcongress.com/issues Follow him on Twitter: @OliverALarkin Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing go... -
The Myth of Red Texas (ft. David Griscom) 14.07.2026 1t 23minDavid Griscom joins us to talk about his excellent new book "The Myth of Red Texas: Cowboys, Populism, and Class War in the Radical South." Also, happy birthday to our Texan graphic designer J. Andrew World! Order the book: https://redemmas.org/titles/47536-the-myth-of-red-texas-cowboys-populism-and-class-war-in-the-radical-south/ Follow David on Twitter: @DavidGriscom Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a ... -
Debate Breakdown: Batya Ungar-Sargon vs. Brad Lander (ft. Cynthia Cook) 10.07.2026 2t 5minPro-Trump pundit Batya Ungar-Sargon sat down with left-wing Congressional candidate Brad Lander to berate him about Israel and other subjects. Ben Burgis and Cynthia Cook give it a watch. Read Ben's article "DSA’s Critics Are Missing the Point About the Working Class" in Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2026/07/class-politics-dsa-media-criticism Read the Michael Lange breakdown of the exit polling data Cynthia mentioned ("When Narratives Meet Facts"): https://www.michaellange.nyc/p/when-narra... -
Matt McManus and Ben Burgis Have a New Book on G.A. Cohen, Out Today! 02.07.2026 2t 16minBen Burgis chats with Matt McManus about Matt's Jacobin article "Gad Saad Is Very Mad That His Books Are Bad and Sad." Read the article: https://jacobin.com/2026/05/saad-empa... Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude fo... -
Gad Saad Is Very Mad That His Books Are Bad and Sad (ft. Matt McManus) 25.06.2026 1t 13minBen Burgis chats with Matt McManus about Matt's Jacobin article "Gad Saad Is Very Mad That His Books Are Bad and Sad." Read the article: https://jacobin.com/2026/05/saad-empathy-conservatism-book-review Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undy... -
Debate Breakdown: Medhi Hasan vs. PBD 22.06.2026 2t 13minVictor Bruzzone joins Ben Burgis to break down Medhi Hasan's recent conversation with Patrick Bet-David about Israel, free speech, imperial expansionism, and more. Follow Victor on Twitter: @victorbruzzone Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping u... -
Well, That Went Well: Talking Iran with Mean Djene Bajalan 18.06.2026 1t 3minWhen Trump announced the war at the end of February, he said the goal was to bring "freedom" the people of Iran. Over and over again in the weeks of fighting, he said he'd settle for nothing less than "unconditional surrender." At one point, he said that if Iran didn't bend the knee he would "destroy" their "civilization." So...what happened? And what's going to happen now? Djene Bajalan joins us to break it all down. Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked... -
Dialogue on Left and Right Populism w/Sohrab Ahmari (YouTube Version) 11.06.2026 2t 13minLast month in New York City, Ben Burgis and Sohrab Ahmari sat down for an in-person dialogue on left- and right- "populism." Here it is! Follow Sohrab on Twitter: @SohrabAhmari Follow Cynthia on Twitter: @c_cook1988 Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude fo... -
Hegelian Marxism vs. Analytical Marxism (ft. Matt McManus + Michael Lazarus) 08.06.2026 1t 23minBen Burgis is joined by Michael Lazarus (author of "Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel and Marx") and Matt McManus (who needs no introduction to GTAA fans) for a fun three-way exchange on "analytical Marxism" (the tradition Ben works in), Michael's more Hegel-inflected version of Marxism, and Matt's sympathies with both sides. Order Michael's book: https://www.sup.org/books/politics/absolute-ethical-life Follow Michael on Twitter: @Mblaz39 Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow... -
Debate on Socialism with Jillian Michaels 07.06.2026 2t 33minLast week Ben Burgis and Jillian Michaels hashed out their disagreements on socialism in an in-person debate in Michaels's studio in LA. Here it is! Follow Jillian on Twitter: @JillianMichaels Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this t... -
Western Marxism Through the Looking Glass (ft. Matt McManus) 14.04.2026 1t 16minMatt McManus discusses his review of Gabriel Rockhill's Temu-Stalinist conspiracy theory of "western Marxism." Read Matt's review of Rockhill's "Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?" in Damage magazine: https://www.damagemag.com/p/western-marxism-through-the-looking Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Consider donating to Andy's GoFundMe so he can replace his computer and fully go back to doing what he does best: ... -
Philosophers Debate the War in Iran 09.04.2026 2t 8minA day late because Ben had to write a Jacobin article about all this instead of doing the episode (sorry about that!) but there's a lot to cover. Last Friday he recorded a debate on the war in Iran (hosted by philosopher Spencer Case). In this episode, we play the debate and chat a little bit about the truly bizarre developments since it was recorded. Ben argues that it's good to be clear on what TACO Tuesday was, because that strengthens the anti-war case going forward. Watch the debate on ... -
Analytical Marxism and Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century: Revisiting G.A. Cohen 01.04.2026 2t 33minLast week at York University in Toronto, there was a panel to pre-launch a book of essays called "Analytical Marxism and Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century: Revisitng G.A. Cohen" co-edited by Ben Burgis and Matt McManus. Contributors Les Jacobs and Christine Sypnowich spoke first, then Matt and Ben. Q&A includes some spicy exchanges on dialectics and whether analytical Marxism is too academic to be of much use to the workers' movement. In this episode, Ben starts with some context o...
