westernkabuki

Introducing Ill Conceived, a podcast about natalism

Added 2025-06-11 21:01:34 +0000 UTC

Hi everyone, June here! About 2 months ago I published a piece with the title Donald Trump: The Fertilization Administration. While working on this piece that analyzed Donald Trumps second term through the lens of a natalist ideology, it inspired a collaboration with Josh Boerman of The Worst of all Possible Worlds to develop a new podcast about natalism—the ideology that sees declining birthrates as the most important issue in modern American politics—and how it's a skeleton key to understanding both the MAGA movement and reactionary conservatism more broadly. We'll be releasing new episodes every Friday, starting on June 20.

If you enjoy the Western Kabuki episodes that take a deep dive into an ideology or type of community, you'll enjoy this show. Our pilot episode will talk about the Promise Keepers, the evangelical men's organization that enjoyed a brief moment of national popularity in the 90s and has since become a rudderless MAGA satellite. Our second episode is going to discuss the history and purpose of the organization called Childrens Health Defense, the anti-vaccination and all around conspiracy group chaired by RFK Jr. before he became the HHS in Trumps administration.

This is going to be an incredibly fun project, I hope you all tune in with us and check it out on our launch June 20th! In the meantime, check out our trailer and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts!

To subscribe and listen to the trailer, follow the link in the header to our Apple Podcasts listing or check us out wherever you get your podcasts:

You can also follow us on the web: