The Realignment

192 | Jonathan M. Katz: Reckoning with American Empire + Debating “War Is a Racket”

Episode Summary

Liked this (or any other episode)? Send us a tip: https://buy.stripe.com/bIYdRx0gc6qjaEEcMM Subscribe to The Realignment’s Substack newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Visit our Bookshop storefront and support the show: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Plus, here are the links to Jonathan’s Substack: https://theracket.news/ and his Gangsters Movie Night episode on Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay: https://theracket.news/p/gangsters-movie-night-harold-and Jonathan M. Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Remaking of America’s Empire and The Racket Substack, joins The Realignment to discuss the legacy of General Smedley Butler (the most decorated U.S. Marine in history) through the lens of his involvement in early 20th century interventions in Cuba, the Philippines, China, and Haiti, how we should reflect on America’s imperial legacy in the context of 21st century Chinese and Russian aggression, and how (or should) we evaluate present and future wars under his famous “War Is a Racket” speech/pamphlet.