It Could Happen Here

In the raging pile of slop that is social media, every once in a while you stumble across someone doing something genuinely amazing. That’s how Prop found Amanda Nelson, the creator behind Amanda’s Mild Takes, where she delivers comprehensive breakdowns of politics and history and artfully drags the trolls in her comment section while she’s at it. We had to get to know her.
In this episode, Amanda shares why she started making videos in the first place, what motivates her to clap back at haters, and what parallels she sees between the past and the current events happening in the US. She also offers her predictions for the upcoming midterm elections, and weighs in on who might throw their hat in the ring for president in 2028.
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James is joined by Sam Hamilton to discuss how people in Social Circle, GA are organizing against an 8,000 person detention facility that ICE is planning to build in a warehouse in their community.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/12/24/ice-immigrants-detention-warehouses-deportation-trump/?itid=lk_inline_manual_7
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Andrew and James talk about the idea of “normalcy” and the bias towards it.


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Garrison explains why the online right are memeing about a penguin who fled its colony to march to its own death, and how this deranged penguin reflects fascism as a suicidal state.
Sources:
Paul Virilio, “The Suicidal State,” in J. DerDerian, ed. The Virilio Reader
https://files.libcom.org/files/A%20Thousand%20Plateaus.pdf
https://contactos.tome.press/welcome-to-the-suicidal-state/
https://jacobin.com/2024/10/death-drive-trump-freud-liberalism
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trumps-penguin-breaks-internet-sends-left-frenzy
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/penguin-walking-toward-mountain-nihilist-penguin
https://trending.knowyourmeme.com/editorials/guides/what-is-the-nihilist-penguin-meme-why-a-video-of-a-penguin-walking-toward-a-mountain-from-a-werner-herzog-film-is-going-viral-explained
https://x.com/DOWResponse/status/2014869279850496358
https://x.com/HHSGov/status/2014772131242877320?s=20
https://x.com/policylaila/status/2015359679279337808
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2015068422980182214
https://x.com/RepMikeCollins/status/1954555969515450790
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Margaret continues to read you excerpts from a book explaining the ins and outs of mutual aid
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