Podcast / American Prestige / Dec 30, 2025

Masculinity, the Manosphere, and Climate Politics

On this episode of American Prestige: Daniel Waite Penny discusses the new season of Carbon Bros.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Masculinity, the Manosphere, and Climate Politics w/ Daniel Waite Penny | American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

Danny and Derek speak with journalist and cultural critic Daniel Waite Penny to discuss the relationship between masculinity, the manosphere, and climate politics, as explored in the new season of Drilled, Carbon Bros. They talk about the “manosphere,” libertarians promoting techno-fixes, and Silicon Valley elites pushing solutions like space colonization; how gendered ideas about strength, autonomy, and grievance have fused with climate denial and hostility toward environmental regulation; where these dynamics fit within broader shifts in political economy and the interests of fossil capital; and the roots of these alignments, their role in contemporary right-wing politics, and what they mean for efforts to build public support for climate action.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Pumpjacks lift oil from wells at the Midway-Sunset Oil Field, California’s largest, in Fellows, near Taft, on October 17, 2025.

(Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images)

Danny and Derek speak with journalist and cultural critic Daniel Waite Penny to discuss the relationship between masculinity, the manosphere, and climate politics, as explored in the new season of Drilled, Carbon Bros. They talk about the “manosphere,” libertarians promoting techno-fixes; Silicon Valley elites pushing solutions like space colonization; how gendered ideas about strength, autonomy, and grievance have fused with climate denial and hostility toward environmental regulation; where these dynamics fit within broader shifts in political economy and the interests of fossil capital; the roots of these alignments, their role in contemporary right-wing politics, and what they mean for efforts to build public support for climate action.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

DRC Ebola Outbreak Surpasses 11,000 Cases, Nvidia CEO Resigns Amid Spy Allegations, Paraguay Impeaches President Peña / American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

Danny and Derek are taking tango lessons in preparation for the White House Ballroom launch. In this week’s news roundup: a climate update and the opening of COP31 in Turkey (1:04); Trump adopts a “forever war” posture on Iran (3:33); the U.S. plans to extend its blockade of Iran to land routes (7:59); winter storms kill displaced Palestinians in Gaza as Israel blocks shelter materials and continues its attacks (11:01); Israeli President Isaac Herzog selects Gadi Eizenkot to form a government (13:52); China extends its suspension of tariffs on U.S. goods (17:31); Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns amid Chinese espionage allegations and revelations of extramarital affairs (18:51); Sudan's military makes major gains in West Kordofan (22:00); the DRC's Ebola outbreak surpasses 11,000 confirmed cases (23:27), but Kenya discharges its last Ebola patient and begins the countdown to an Ebola-free declaration (25:44); U.S., Russian, and Ukrainian officials hold talks on a European security framework (26:41); hoax bomb threats disrupt flights and schools across Europe while French and U.S. authorities accuse Iranian hackers of cyberattacks on refrigeration systems (29:52); Paraguay's Senate removes President Santiago Peña from office (32:48); Salvadoran troops destroy the headquarters of Haiti's 400 Mawozo armed group (32:59); the U.S. military moves aircraft from a British airbase as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent relocates to a military base, both in response to alleged Iranian threats (37:39).

Watch last night's livestream⁠ with Sam Biddle on the Nvidia story.

Don't forget to subscribe to ⁠Welcome to the Crusades: The Second Crusade⁠!

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Daniel Bessner

Daniel Bessner is a historian of US foreign relations and is the author of, among other books, Imperialist Realism.

Derek Davison

Derek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.

More from The Nation

Oil wells at the Allen Co site in South Los Angeles on March 28, 2022.

Hollywood’s Hidden Oil Wells—With Nalleli Cobo Hollywood’s Hidden Oil Wells—With Nalleli Cobo

“We're real people with human lives and dreams and aspirations. Our lives should not be cut short because of our socioeconomic status or zip code.” 

Mindy Ramaker and Shilpi Chhotray

In Every City, There Is a Palestine—With Hatem Bazian 

In Every City, There Is a Palestine—With Hatem Bazian  In Every City, There Is a Palestine—With Hatem Bazian 

“The insanity of the settler colonial mindset has no limit.”

Shilpi Chhotray and Mindy Ramaker

Reparations as a Climate Solution—With Brea Baker

Reparations as a Climate Solution—With Brea Baker Reparations as a Climate Solution—With Brea Baker

“Those who own the land get to be decision makers over what happens to the land. They get to decide whether they‘re gonna frack and how much they’re going to pollute.”

Shilpi Chhotray and Mindy Ramaker

A protest against the proposed Cop City being built in an Atlanta forest on March 9, 2023, in New York City.

Building Power Against the State—With Kamau Franklin Building Power Against the State—With Kamau Franklin

“No one has a right to tell you how to organize, to free yourself, and to liberate yourself.”

Shilpi Chhotray and Mindy Ramaker

The Valero refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, on May 5, 2026.

Fighting for Our Lives in Fossil Fuel Country—With John Beard Jr. Fighting for Our Lives in Fossil Fuel Country—With John Beard Jr.

“This is about life. And this extractive industry is not a giver of life, it is a taker of life.”

Shilpi Chhotray and Mindy Ramaker

Demonstrators protest outside the US Supreme Court as justices hear the “Suncor v. Boulder” climate case in Washington, DC, on October 5, 2026.

Why SCOTUS Is Climate Action’s Biggest Threat—With Elie Mystal Why SCOTUS Is Climate Action’s Biggest Threat—With Elie Mystal

“If you don’t control the Supreme Court, you don’t control anything.”

Shilpi Chhotray and Mindy Ramaker

x