Responding to our haters
In the immortal words of (disgraced) former mayor Eric Adams, "All my haters become my waiters at the table of success."
The New York Times profiled UNASB last week, and the online left had a field day calling us secret fascist right wing agents. Specifically, this post on Bluesky got traction (over 4k likes—we are FAMOUS!), with political commentator Jamelle Bouie1 writing,
“very classic case of unserious people who do not take anything seriously and see politics as a little game, and they are almost certainly listening for the vicarious thrill of hearing people voice and affirm their personal prejudices. they’ll be openly fash in a few years”
Several other users, across multiple platforms, expressed concern that we are inadvertently red-pilling ourselves. One user on Instagram wrote,
“Sounds tedious and an awful use of time. Why would you intentionally [expose] yourself to media designed to radicalize people and distort reality? Do you think [you’re] immune to the effects?”
I’m going to take this comment at face value and address this fear head on for myself. After 12 years of closely studying American history with a focus on the intersections between racism, social justice movements, and mass media, not to mention myriad radicalizing personal experiences; am I worried that a few hours of listening to Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes is going to suddenly flip my entire value system, worldview, and deep convictions around right and wrong? No.
If anything, my year in UNASB has helped me to be more grounded in my leftist beliefs and community, and therefore take my activism offline. I’m even making new friends in my thirties(!!!!)— one drove me to my first DSA meeting on Saturday, another that committed to canvassing with me for a progressive council member2 running in our neighborhood.
Every accusation is a confession. If you are concerned that you may accidentally become a fascist due to living in fascist times…I fear your politics may be merely reactionary to this moment, and not rooted in deeply held beliefs. There is deep spiritual work for you to do before wading into Nick Fuentes’s Youtube comments.
Once you do that, I encourage you to face your fears and look the enemy in the face directly, so you can counter it more effectively. (That’s what we’re doing in the club…duh!)
A few of our haters actually did a great job spelling out what UNASB does: seriously study right wing creators such that we can have more effective conversations with people we disagree with.
One of the main purposes of the club is a commitment to deep canvassing3 and relational organizing. Rather than knocking on strangers’ doors every four years and demanding their vote (the traditional model of political canvassing), start having real conversations, today. Lengthy, two-way conversations sans judgement, where you ask lots of questions and get vulnerable yourself.
When you do, you are going to hear echoes of talking points peddled on these podcasts: MAHA moms’ concerns about chemicals in foods, conspiratorial suspicion of big government institutions, fears about loneliness and a decline in community bonds, and a lot of (mis)interpretations of Christian doctrine. Your conversations will yield better results when you come armed with the knowledge of what ideas your fellow Americans are swimming in, and if you have developed an action plan of how to combat that messaging with your friends (aka UNASB).
Every month, our co-founders remind us of the “evergreen homework assignment”: talk to someone right-leaning or apolitical about what’s going on. And every time, someone shares that an idea, a tactic, or messaging strategy they learned in the club changed the way they spoke to a loved one and achieved a positive outcome. They got their in-law to call their senator about ICE funding, they were able to share a factual news source with an acquaintance drowning in disinformation, they had a productive conversation with a stranger on a train.
We’re not asking you to build bridges with fascists or try to rationalize their beliefs. We’re asking you to get serious about how Americans are getting their information and the deep parasocial bonds they form with podcasters. Out of the top 10 podcasts Spotify users listened to in 2025, 7 are right-wing or right-adjacent. 7/10!!!!!
You can keep your head in the sand and shit on what we do in the comment section, or you can face reality.
For a closing action item, a few commenters suggested we may be funded by malevolent right-wing forces…
If anyone has any Thiel bucks to share, pls DM.
In all seriousness we are looking for donations and would love if a larger media org wanted to work with us… .. … :)
btw Jamelle Bouie has 722.3k followers on Bluesky and has posted 22 times just in the past 24 hours.
Faizah for LA City Council. There are a million local elections, city councils, school board meetings happening your community RIGHT NOW you can get involved in!