Caitlin and Trent chat with linguistics scholars Savithry Namboodiripad and Daniel Midgley on what word most exemplifies 2025. Was it a new coinage? A pre-existing word that gained a new meaning or usage this year? A word that seemed to be on everybody's lips in 2025?

Resources:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year

"6 7" song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xpV4ix2K8

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/27/more-than-20-of-videos-shown-to-new-youtube-users-are-ai-slop-study-finds

https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/12/03/and-the-economists-word-of-the-year-for-2025-is

https://www.dictionary.com/articles/word-of-the-year-2025

https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/

https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-dictionary-reveals-word-of-the-year-2025

https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/collins-word-of-the-year-2025-ai-meets-authenticity-as-society-shifts/

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2147118/is-that-grocery-product-really-canadian-or-is-it-maple-washing

"getting sendy" song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYAQEJyqR7E

group 7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/10/27/tiktoks-group-7-meme-explained/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/lore

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/unc

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/chopped

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/huzz

https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-performative-male-how-young-men-are-experimenting-with-masculinity-online-268742

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051221126040

https://dailyillini.com/opinions-stories/columns-opinions/culture/2025/10/25/opinion-unmasking-performative-male/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kianbakhtiari/2025/09/28/performative-males-gen-z-irony-and-the-death-of-sincerity/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/us/rapture-tiktok-sept-23.html

Epstein's email simulator https://www.jmail.world/

https://othermeans.io/p/the-glonzo-strategy

https://www.theverge.com/policy/798491/frog-portland-trump-national-guard

https://the-monsters.fandom.com/wiki/The_Monsters

https://lafufu.art/blog/labubu-vs-lafufu

https://www.thelist.com/1817157/what-is-mar-a-lago-face-who-has-tried-the-trend/

https://bsky.app/profile/canadiandictionary.bsky.social/post/3m7tf3jm2fc2c

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oprah-podcast-no-contact-adult-children-parents_n_69389e85e4b0fb6244b0daa8

https://fortune.com/2025/12/29/trump-tariffs-cost-25000-per-month-small-business-importers-center-american-progress/

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/us/politics/doge-musk-trump-analysis.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-doge-government-spending-2025-b2890243.html

https://www.vox.com/culture/376401/r-word-slur-return-euphemism-treadmill-cycle

https://www.lawdork.com/p/the-kavanaugh-stop-50-days-later

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/30/politics/trump-taco-angry-tariff

https://www.buzzfeed.com/abbyzinman/canadians-elbows-up-explainer

https://pen.org/banned-words-list/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2025/03/15/these-197-terms-may-trigger-reviews-of-your-nih-nsf-grant-proposals/

https://www.dailydot.com/memes/everythings-computer-trump-quote-meme/

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trump-promises-harsher-ice-crackdowns

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/27/chatgpt-suicide-openai-raine/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/snap-welfare-queen-ai-memes-1235460824/

https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/10022/who-coined-the-phrase-rapid-unscheduled-disassembly#10219

https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/rapid-unplanned-disassembly-rud

https://becauselanguage.com/131-wotwoty-2025/

Trent and Caitlin catch up with Greg Sargent from The New Republic about his recent piece exploring the family history and ideology of Stephen Miller. How did the product of Russian Jewish refugees come to see today's refugees as incapable of integration in American society? What are the white nationalist positions on who is a real American, and how does Miller navigate his position in relation to those ideologies? Why do these unlovable jerks insist on the myth that community and empathy are suicidal?

Resources:

The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com

The Daily Blast Podcast: https://newrepublic.com/podcasts

Greg's piece on Miller: https://newrepublic.com/article/204191/stephen-miller-maga-terror-state-dark-plot

Stephen Miller on Somali immigrants: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/politics/stephen-miller-trump-immigration-law-somalia

Facts about Somali community in MN: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/5-things-to-know-about-the-somali-community-in-minnesota-after-trumps-attacks

Hatemonger: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780062986726

When The Clock Broke: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781250390417

Furious Minds: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780691255262

DHS Twitter Account: https://archive.ph/Vg8c7

Stephen Miller's cousin: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stephen-miller-cousin-alisa-kasmer/

Caitlin and Trent speak with Mark Copelovitch, a political science professor from University of Wisconsin–Madison. They discuss the problem of a world power going rogue, the lack of viable responses for countries like Venezuela and Denmark, and the costs to international trust when the US is so unreliable.

Resources:

https://polisci.wisc.edu/staff/mark-copelovitch/

https://www.markcopelovitch.com/

https://bsky.app/profile/mcopelov.bsky.social

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfXZxn2z8U0

https://archive.is/OriWG

Trent and Caitlin check in with the Handbasket’s Marisa Kabas about the year that has been the first week of 2026. What are we doing in Venezuela, and why is corporate media being so weird about it? What are the ethics of publishing scoops that involve military actions? Why are we doing our war crimes from a resort ballroom in Florida?

Resources:

https://www.thehandbasket.co/

https://www.semafor.com/article/01/03/2026/new-york-times-washington-post-held-off-on-reporting-venezuela-raid

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/politics/video/trump-mar-a-lago-war-room-maduro-venezuela-vrtc

https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/trumps-donroe-doctrine-aims-to-dominate-the-americas-b31208dd?mod=Searchresults&pos=3&page=1

Trent and Caitlin talk with philosophy of science expert Nathan Oseroff-Spicer about his review of the book "The War On Science," how the book misses the mark, what strategies its authors use to downplay the threats from the right and fabricate a threat from the left, and what motivations could possibly lead thirty-nine scholars to create such a meritless collection of propaganda under the leadership of someone like known pest Lawrence Krauss.

Resources:

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/wars-on-science-real-and-otherwise/

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/

https://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/administration/breaking-this-hurts-unl-eliminates-4-programs-despite-faculty-student-pleas/article_e0d11a61-0fcc-4e66-b364-d16e89bea336.html

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-chatbot-journal-research-fake-citations-1235485484/

https://blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/13/llm-usage-and-manipulation-in-peer-review/

https://www.advocate.com/news/second-ou-instructor-suspended

https://www.facebook.com/OUNightlyTV/posts/pfbid02nieL7PmXwUDAnNcHzK9HLBWdCQ1EyjA7S1pDvrRxEaGw7qkqAR3oGtjXwFXkb4KBl

UPDATE: grad student no longer teaching https://www.koco.com/article/samantha-fulnecky-professor-graduate-instructor-no-longer-at-ou-oklahoma/69841882

https://pen.org/trumps-compact-for-higher-education-faq/

https://www.science.org/content/article/nsf-pares-down-grant-review-process-reducing-influence-outside-scientists

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/17/aap-hhs-funding-rfk/

https://bsky.app/profile/crampell.bsky.social/post/3ma7aivcros2a

https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-shutdown-has-led-to-hundreds-of-thousands-of-deaths/

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/rumeysa-ozturk-what-i-witnessed-inside-an-ice-womens-prison?srsltid=AfmBOoqRks5pzgFv2QyjsvuUvNt6E41InSCPQmXwWOoFvxftjMoRvkSy

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/judge-releases-palestinian-student-at-columbia-who-was-arrested-at-citizenship-interview

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/11/20/columbia-denies-mahmoud-khalil-sipa-24-campus-access-for-planned-events-citing-security-reasons/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-emails-reveal-ties-to-prominent-scientists/

Caitlin and Trent talk with Matthew Sheffield about his experiences as a former Republican strategist and the information he wants progressives to know about their strategies and successes.

Resources:

https://plus.flux.community/p/what-republicans-know

https://www.patreon.com/posts/142008768?utm_campaign=postshare_fan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr4qwwk0g0yo

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/sinclair-

known-for-conservative-political-tilt/

https://deadline.com/2025/12/nexstar-trump-tegna-merger-trump-1236642435/

https://www.xfang.studio/books/we-are-definitely-human-wcnat

Trent and Caitlin catch up with journalist Amanda Moore to hear about her tour of American cities that have been targeted for ICE and Border Patrol operations.

Resources:

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/broadview-ice-cbp-gregory-bovino/

https://www.clippings.me/users/noturtlesoup17

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/29/us/illinois-broadview-ice-protesters-charged

https://abcnews.go.com/US/border-patrol-commander-admitted-lied-tear-gas-incident/story?id=127283392

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-top-border-patrol-goon-gregory-bovino-roasted-for-nazi-look/

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/02/nx-s1-5627502/national-guard-shooting-latest

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-plastic-whistles-are-becoming-an-anti-ice-resistance-tool-chicago-2025-10-23/

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/new-orleans-immigration-raids-operation-catahouls-crumch/

Caitlin and Trent talk with Jonathan Howard, a neurologist, psychiatrist, and author of *Everyone Else Is Lying to You* and *We Want Them Infected*, both books analyzing the policies and discourses around the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resources

Science-Based Medicine website: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/

*Everyone Else Is Lying to You*: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781959346999

*We Want Them Infected*: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781959346036

Zeb Larson, "Propaganda, Rather than Pandemic Policies, Caused the War on Public Health" https://www.liberalcurrents.com/propaganda-rather-than-pandemic-policies-caused-the-war-on-public-health/

"crank magnetism" https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/crank-magnetism-weston-price-foundation