Shows / Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Stare into the abyss of the United States' descent into Authoritarianism with a truly funny comedian from Green Bay, WI and a very serious PHD in Global Fascism Studies from Cal-Berkeley.
Very Funny. Very Serious.
Episodes
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastWe’re Doing Dog Armies Now, Dr. Craig
Some weeks the abyss stares back. This week it blinked. Dr. Craig Johnson, the UC Berkeley lecturer with a PhD in Global Fascism Studies, opens this episode of…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastThe Most Spatially Aware Man in France
France is on fire, and the most thoughtful Frenchman alive has thoughts. Dr. Craig Johnson, UC Berkeley lecturer and PhD in Global Fascism Studies, opens at a…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastGrandparents' Rights According to Jared Yates Sexton & Nick Hauselman of The Muckrake podcast
Dr. Craig Johnson opens this week’s Autocratic Despair at a seven, and he gets there fast. On the morning they recorded, federal agents searched the Washington…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastThe Bay Area AI Orgy Scene as Scouted by Dr. Craig
Dr. Craig Johnson opens this week’s Autocratic Despair at a seven, which on his logarithmic scale is as low as he’s ever been, and the reason is Brazil. The…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastAn Elite Fraternity of Pants-Knowers
Netanyahu came to New York, and Nick's number held at six. That's where this week's Autocratic Despair begins: with the Prime Minister of Israel on the floor…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastWhat Really Happened in Butler, Pennsylvania?
Two very online brothers stood behind a podium at the Pentagon last week, and a sitting president accused the opposition party of trying to murder him. Only…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastAgent Fetterman & No Kings: Controlled Opposition?
Nick and Dr. Craig come down from the ledge this week. Both hosts drop to a five, back from the 7.5 they each posted last episode — the highest Dr. Craig had…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastThe True Texas Project is Our AfD & It's Taken Over Fort Worth
Both hosts at 7.5. Craig's highest number in 9 months of the show. Nick Mortensen and Dr. Craig Johnson both come in at seven and a half this week. That number…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Laura Loomer is Trump's Rasputin
Every court gets one eventually. The unvetted outsider who holds no office, runs nothing, answers to nobody, is despised by the entire palace — and has the…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Germany's AfD: A Glimpse Into Our Future
Nick Mortensen and Dr. Craig Johnson arrive at the same number this week — a six apiece — but the sixes are doing different jobs. Craig's is about Canada. The…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Tucker Carlson is not Kidding
Nick Mortensen and Dr. Craig Johnson open the week split. Craig comes back from a weekend in the wilderness at a four personally, then looks at the rest of the…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Trump's Hair Was a Longtime Subscriber to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter
This week opens not with despair but with vanity — specifically, the sudden and much-discussed fullness of the President's hair. Somewhere around the Vegas…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Sluggish Schizophrenia = Trump Derangement Syndrome?
We open, as always, by taking our own temperature. Dr. Craig lands on a five and immediately gets talked up to a six, because he started rubbing his eyes…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Curtis Yarvin & Mike Gallagher Run Into Dr. Craig & Nick
This week is about a question neither of us expected to spend an episode on: what do you actually do when you find yourself sharing a room with someone who's…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Hunter Biden & Nick Fuentes Walk Into a Hotel Room
This week's episode opens with an unusual reading on the despair scale: Dr. Craig is mellow, down to four, buoyed — improbably — by the conclusion of the World…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastGruff Leftist Sweetheart Jared Yates Sexton
Dr. Craig is out this week. Turkish hair surgery. Sitting in for him is Jared Yates Sexton, and he's been staring into this particular abyss a lot longer than…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Beefin' With The Bulwark
This week on Autocratic Despair, the comedy podcast about surviving American authoritarianism, Nick Mortensen and Dr. Craig run a leaner three-segment episode…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Been Living Off Wealth
This week on Autocratic Despair, the comedy podcast about surviving American authoritarianism, Nick Mortensen and Dr. Craig open on a rare thing in 2026: a…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
America. Do Something About It.
This week on Autocratic Despair, the comedy podcast about surviving American authoritarianism, Nick Mortensen and Dr. Craig open on the strangest sales pitch…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Higher & Wider.
Craig's back from the desert and stuck at a four — buoyed by the World Cup, dragged down by the "National State Fair" spectacle. Nick's at a seven, and it's…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Oops! All Talarico Talk
We had a whole episode planned. A Delaney Hall follow-up with court receipts. A cold open about a flesh-eating parasite crawling north through Texas. A thing…
Autocratic Despair: The PodcastThe World Doesn't Stop...But it Should
DR. Craig returns from the wilderness this week — literally. After a week in the desert painting rocks, running trails, and pointedly not looking at his phone…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Dave Troy Sounds Off
S-Tier Autocracy Knower Dave Troy sits in for Craig this week while Dr. Craig is on assignment (Turkish Hair Restoration Surgery). Troy is a technology…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
The Rizz Minister Has Been Getting it On!
This week on the Autocratic Despair podcast — a comedy about fascism, autocracy, and trying to have fun while the country falls apart — Nick opens at a seven…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
A Whole Potato or a "Hole in a Potato"?
In which the boys debut a new shorthand for the show's central feeling: the moment you realize there are now so many golden statues of Donald Trump scattered…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Is That How You Get Your Jollies?
Episode 1 of Autocratic Despair opens with co-hosts Nick and Dr. Craig Johnson defining the show's central concept through two visceral scenarios: the…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Preview: Dr. Craig is Fun at Parties
This week on the Autocratic Despair podcast, Nick and Dr. Craig take an unusually nuanced look at Cole Allen — the 31-year-old Caltech-educated tutor from…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Preview: Uncle Energy + All Aboard the Talarico Train
This week on another preview episode of the Autocratic Despair podcast, Nick and Dr. Craig start with a confession: they both enjoyed the Atlantic's report on…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Preview: The Prairieland Railroading Happening Right Now
The Autocratic Despair Podcast launches in May. Until then, enjoy this practice episode. This week on Autocratic Despair, Nick and Dr. Craig open with…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Preview: Has Seth Rollins Gone Fashwave?
When the weight of watching democracy erode gets to be too much, where do you go? In this episode, Nick and Dr. Craig Johnson explore the surprisingly serious…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Preview: Danhausen as the New Guy Fawkes?
In this preview episode of the Autocratic Despair podcast, host Nick Mortensen introduces Dr. Craig to Danhausen — a magical fun character from the WWE who is…
- Autocratic Despair: The Podcast
Autocratic Despair Trailer
A 3 minute preview of our podcast - The Autocratic Despair Podcast - with Nick Mortensen and Dr. Craig Johnson that takes an excerpt from a podcast where we…