Our abbreviated second season of Oppo Research wraps up with Bad Brain writer, Twitter celebrity, and former Jezebel blogger Ashley Reese, who joins us on a journey through Vice President Kamala Harris’ storied ascent from California prosecutor to maybe becoming our first female president. Including: Harris’ debut on the Bay Area social scene (you’ve seen the photos of her with Montel!); her crusade against school truancy; the Kavanaugh hearings; and her meme-paved path to the White House.

Subscribe now

Mentioned in this episode:

• “​​Feinstein's surprise call for death penalty puts D.A. on spot” [SF Chronicle]

• “Sen. Boxer joins throng calling for death in killing of cop” [SF Chronicle]

• “S.F. cites parents of chronically truant kids” [SF Chronicle]

• “Fighting truancy yields big dividends” [SF Chronicle]

• Kamala Harris says she regrets ‘unintended consequences’ of 2011 California truancy law” [CNN]

• Willie Brown: “The Speaker appoints his frequent companion and a longtime friend to state boards as his hold on his own powerful position wanes” [LA Times]

• “Kamala Harris Once Dated Talk Show Host Montel Williams” [Inside Edition]

• “Exchange between Sen. Harris and Judge Kavanaugh on Mueller Investigation” [C-SPAN]

• “When Kamala Harris took on Brett Kavanaugh and Bill Barr’ [ABC News]

• 'That little girl was me': Kamala Harris, Joe Biden spar over desegregation at Democratic debate [ABC News]

• Biden’s 2007 racist comment about Obama [NPR]

• “What Is the KHive?” [NYT]

• “We did it, Joe” [Instagram]

• “"Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking": Kamala Harris rebukes Pence's interruptions during debate” [CBS News]

• “Kamala Harris tells Guatemala migrants: 'Do not come to US'’ [BBC]

• “Exasperation and dysfunction: Inside Kamala Harris’ frustrating start as vice president” [CNN]

• “Big Lib Energy is a Double-Edged Sword” [Discourse Blog]

• “The Myth of Kamala Harris's Gaza Shift” [Discourse Blog]

• Coconut tree [CBS News]

• Unburdened [The Independent]

• I love Gen Z [Forbes]

• I love Venn Diagrams [Daily Mail]

• Wheels on the Bus

• “Kamala Harris, gun owner, talks firearms at debate’ [AP]

• “Kamala Harris' Deeply Demoralizing Campaign” [Discourse Blog]

***

Oppo Research credits:

Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Ashley Reese [Substack | Twitter]

Share

Subscribe now

Mentioned in this episode:

• Hillbilly Elegy [HarperCollins]

• Hillbilly Elegy, directed by Ron Howard [Netflix]

• “How the 'Tiger Mom' Convinced the Author of Hillbilly Elegy to Write His Story” [The Atlantic]

• "6 Books to Help Understand Trump's Win" [NYT]

• “How Yale Propelled J.D. Vance’s Career” [NYT]

• “Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance” [WaPo]

• “The Real Winner of the Ohio Republican Primary Is Peter Thiel” [Mother Jones]

• “JD Vance, Trump’s VP pick, once called him a ‘moral disaster,’ and possibly ‘America’s Hitler’” [CNN]

• “I’m a Never Trump guy’: All of J.D. Vance’s Trump quotes that could come back to bite him” [Politico]

• “The Stages of Vance’s Political Conversion” [NYT]

• “J.D. Vance’s journey from a ‘Never Trump’ guy to Trump’s VP pick” [WaPo]

• “Trump endorses J.D. Vance, wading into Ohio's contentious Republican Senate primary” [NPR]

• “Nancy Pelosi Beats Back House Democratic Leadership Challenge” [NYT]

• “J.D. Vance's anti-drug charity enlisted doctor echoing Big Pharma” [AP]

• “McConnell allies launch ad blitz to prop up J.D. Vance's Senate campaign in Ohio” [NBC News]

• “The Official Trump VP Tier List” (2023) [Ettingermentum]

• “The New Official Trump VP Tier List” (2024) [Ettingermentum]

• “How Trump’s Florida residency complicates Rubio’s path to VP” [The Hill]

• “For Democrats, JD Vance Is the Gift that Keeps On Giving” [The Nation]

• “Childless cat lady” [Fox News]

• “JD Vance spreads debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets” [NYT]

• “JD Vance suggests Democrats would label drinking Mountain Dew 'racist'” [Reuters]

• “Why Can’t J.D. Vance Tell a Joke?” [Slate]

• “J.D. Vance Can’t Explain Why Trump Threw Him Under the Bus in Debate” [TNR]

• “The inside story of how Trump chose JD Vance as his running mate” [NBC News]

• “Trump rally shooting upends Democrats' Biden crisis” [Axios]

• “J.D. Vance Goes Nazi” [Discourse Blog]

• Kamala Harris on Call Her Daddy [Spotify]

• The Podcast Era Is Horrible For Our Politics [Discourse Blog]

***

Oppo Research credits:

Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Josh Cohen, Ettingermentum [Substack | Twitter]

Subscribe now

Mentioned in this episode:

• “John Fetterman, American Jagoff” [The Nation]

• “John and Gisele Fetterman Are Fighting for the American Working Class” [Teen Vogue]

• “Who Is the Biggest Israel Weirdo?” [Discourse Blog]

• “Everything to know about the 2013 John Fetterman jogger incident” [Philadelphia Inquirer]

• “Mayor of Rust” [The New York Times Magazine]

• Levi’s Go Forth commercial [YouTube]

• “Levi's Gives Struggling Town Cinderella Treatment” [NPR]

• The Atlantic’s “Brave Thinkers” issue [The Atlantic]

• “John Fetterman: The Mayor of Hell” [Rolling Stone]

• “Lt. Gov. Fetterman defies law to mark start of Pride Month” [Penn Live]

• “Mehmet Oz’s crudité video gave opponent John Fetterman a golden opportunity” [NBC News]

• “John Fetterman and Social Media: How His Campaign Built a Winning Strategy” [Teen Vogue]

• “The John Fetterman Problem” [Discourse Blog]

• “'I'm not a progressive': Fetterman breaks with the left, showing a maverick side” [NBC News]

***

Oppo Research credits:

Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Kim Kelly [Twitter | Patreon]

Share

OK, so, here’s what happened: We recorded a very special episode of Oppo Research—the season finale even!—where we decided to mix it up a little and have our usual host Jack sit in the, get this, GUEST chair and have inimitable Discourse Blog co-founder Katherine Krueger be the host. We recorded perhaps our best episode yet tracing the absolutely power-mad rise of California’s longest-serving senator, Dianne Feinstein.

And then, while we were in post-production for the season……….she died.

Subscribe now

We’re bringing you this episode anyway, because there’s no question Feinstein played an immensely influential role during her time in San Francisco and her illustrious and frequently ignoble tenure in the Senate shaped a generation (TBT to her hugging Lindsey Graham after the confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett!!!!!!!!!!). All with the caveat that, well, this episode features us talking about her as if she was, well, alive.

Share

Anyway, enjoy! We loved working on this podcast and hope to make another season. (This will only happen if more people listen. Tell your friends…)

***

Oppo Research credits:
Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Katherine Krueger

OUR GAVIN NEWSOM AND PAT MCRORY EPISODES ARE NOW AVAILABLE TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS! CLICK HERE AND HERE OR FIND US WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS.

OK, so, here’s what happened: We recorded a very special episode of Oppo Research—the season finale even!—where we decided to mix it up a little and have our usual host Jack sit in the, get this, GUEST chair and have inimitable Discourse Blog co-founder Katherine Krueger be the host. We recorded perhaps our best episode yet tracing the absolutely power-mad rise of California’s longest-serving senator, Dianne Feinstein.

And then, while we were in post-production for the season……….she died.

We’re bringing you this episode anyway, because there’s no question Feinstein played an immensely influential role during her time in San Francisco and her illustrious and frequently ignoble tenure in the Senate shaped a generation (TBT to her hugging Lindsey Graham after the confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett!!!!!!!!!!). All with the caveat that, well, this episode features us talking about her as if she was, well, alive.

Anyway, enjoy! We loved working on this podcast and hope to make another season. (This will only happen if more people listen. Tell your friends…)

***

Oppo Research credits:

Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Katherine Krueger

Read more

In this week’s episode of Oppo Research, More Perfect Union staffer (and Discourse Blog co-founder!) Paul Blest joins Jack to talk about the godfather to right-wing, anti-trans hysteria: former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory. Plus: Why it seems like every Republican behaves like a loser freak in college; McCrory’s very horny relationship with Dow Chemical, the roots of the trans bathroom bill, and McCrory’s ignominious fall from glory.

***

Oppo Research credits:

Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Paul Blest

In this week’s episode of Oppo Research, fellow Discourse Blogger Jack Crosbie (aka Cros) joins Jack to get into what the absolute fuck is up with California Governor Gavin Newsom, including his hmmm upbringing around the Getty family (yeah, from the watermarks), his sicko obsession with bad names for his businesses (PlumpJack???), THAT photo, that HAIR, and his inevitable run for president.

***

Oppo Research credits:

Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Jack Crosbie

In this week’s episode of Oppo Research, More Perfect Union staffer (and Discourse Blog co-founder!) Paul Blest joins Jack to talk about the godfather to right-wing, anti-trans hysteria: former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory. Plus: Why it seems like every Republican behaves like a loser freak in college; McCrory’s very horny relationship with Dow Chemical, the roots of the trans bathroom bill, and McCrory’s ignominious fall from glory.

***

Oppo Research credits:
Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Paul Blest

Read more

In this week’s episode of Oppo Research, fellow Discourse Blogger Jack Crosbie (aka Cros) joins Jack to get into what the absolute fuck is up with California Governor Gavin Newsom, including his hmmm upbringing around the Getty family (yeah, from the watermarks), his sicko obsession with bad names for his businesses (PlumpJack???), THAT photo, that HAIR, and his inevitable run for president.

Share

Read more

PAID SUBSCRIBERS GOT THIS EPISODE A WEEK EARLY, WITH NO ADS. IF YOU WOULD ALSO LIKE AN EARLY, AD-FREE EXPERIENCE, JUST CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW.

Subscribe now

***

Oppo Research credits:
Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Samantha Schuyler

In the season premiere of Oppo Research, our new podcast about the sins and scandals of your least favorite politicians, Jack and guest Samantha Schuyler, the research director at The Nation, dive deep to figure out: For just how long has Florida Governor Ron DeSantis been a big ‘ol freak? Plus, DeSantis’ inglorious baseball career, sending people pieces of his boots (real), weird lip sweat, Gitmo bona fides, taking a big dose of red pills, and your general Florida insanity. Meatball Ron!

***

Oppo Research credits:
Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Samantha Schuyler

Read more

Our podcast is finally here. It’s called Oppo Research. Our editor Jack Mirkinson is the host and in each episode, he and a guest will talk about the biggest sins and scandals of a specific politician. And no, not just MAGA freaks, because that gets boring; so many Democrats suck, too. In season one, we cover Ron DeSantis, Gavin Newsom, Pat McCrory, and Dianne Feinstein (timely!).

Here’s how this will work:

• If you are a paid subscriber: You can listen to new episodes a week early, starting this Friday, October 13, ad-free, here on the site and on the Substack app. (We’re working on getting this ad-free version onto the other podcast apps, so bear with us in the meantime.)

Subscribe now

• If you are not a paid subscriber: You can listen to new episodes (with ads, sorry) here on the site, on the Substack app, and wherever you listen to podcasts (Spotify, Apple, etc.) starting Friday, October 20.

This podcast is truly a looooooooooooooooooonnnnnnggggggtime coming, so I hope you love it as much as we do. Our brilliant art director Sam Grasso engineered and edited every episode and I for some reason produced them. (If you don’t like, don’t tell us.)

Share

P.S. We WILL do host-read ads for mattresses, hint hint.