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Jack Smith testified in front of the Senate yesterday & it was televised. 2 takeaways from the Jack Smith testimony, according to the media: 1. Missouri Sen. f*cks up & doubles down - could he be JD Vance’s VP pick in 2028? 2. Alabama Senator watches #1 in horror w/mouth agape. We zoom in!

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 14h

Last week's "Autocratic Despair: The Podcast" established a new high for first 7 day downloads. Improving on the previous high (from the week before) by 15%. We only advertise through our BlueSky feeds, so do us a solid and repost this, will you? I'll attach a link.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 14h

I don't know of any podcast that so regularly discusses the term "Remigration" as "Autocratic Despair: The Podcast", so I am sad that I missed that Miller is actually calling it an "Office of Remigration". Talked about the word at length in this episode: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

podcasts.apple.com

The True Texas Project is Our AfD & It's Taken Over Fort Worth

Podcast Episode · Autocratic Despair: The Podcast · September 10 · 1h 3m

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 29/09/2026

Most of your favorite characters from the Progressive and Democratic Socialist universe can be tied to the Singham Network in 3 or less hops. Just putting that out there so nobody is shocked when it happens.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 29/09/2026

Never ceases to amaze me that calling someone a “pussy” as an adult is a shot-for-shot remake of calling them a “scaredy cat” in 3rd grade.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 29/09/2026

None of us are obligated in any way, shape, or form to have an opinion on Pat McAfee. Free yourself from this burden.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 28/09/2026

Did I share my conspiracy theory about the WWE's Danhausen being a psyop on our children so that all of Peter Thiel's creepy mannerisms will read as "madcap"? Why, yes I did. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

peter theirl says evil can be kind of good

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 28/09/2026

Naomi Klein’s ‘Doppelgänger’ book about being constantly mistaken for Naomi Wolf had some fascinating turns, digressions, & meditations. No brainer to use a credit on Audible to purchase this one. Yet to start it, but I look forward to it.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 28/09/2026

Both Empower Field and Ball Arena are Jones Sports projects, if you’re watching football tonight and wondering who did all that signage. Never gets old pointing this stuff out. Should’ve a while ago, but it does not.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 28/09/2026

Do you guys think there are actually any people out there living their lives like they would have us believe the people who use Facebook’s ‘Muse’ A.I.? There’s gotta be a couple of people, right? 335 million people in this country, surely there are at least a few of every person. Right?

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 27/09/2026

Paxton’s ex-wife is telling people in Texas that they should “Vote Republican even if you are mad at them.” Tantamount to endorsing her ex-husband. Who she divorced on Biblical grounds.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 27/09/2026

I think this collective moment we’re about to have where we all point & laugh at Elon Musk won’t work. He’s capable of masking by being self-deprecating & that’ll be the only logical way to approach it if that doc comes out. We should be afraid of this guy. Anything less is denying reality 1/2

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 27/09/2026

5th consecutive week, “Autocratic Despair: The Podcast” has an all-time high in first 7 day downloads. Dr. Craig @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social stuck both the cold open and the landing this week. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autoc…

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Netanyahu directly attacks Zohran Mamdani (and his wife) from the UNGA podium, calling him the "antisemitic mayor of New York City," parroting The Free Press's stories about Rama Duwaji, tying Mamdani to Hasan Piker, and claiming the mayor is "buddies" with Hamas.

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mrspanstreppon @jamiepeppard.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I read this article about Oracle claiming force majeure on Project Jupiter, a proposed $22B data center in New Mexico that has stalled over permitting etc. I would think those issues should have been resolved first. www.krwg.org/krwg-news/20...

krwg.org

Oracle cites 'force majeure' on Project Jupiter, seeking protection from loan debt

Abigail Salas speaks with NMSU Economics Professor Dr. Chris Erickson about the state of Oracle's $18 billion loan.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 26/09/2026

My house just got bumrushed by a bunch of 15 year-old girls. Scavenger hunt for the local high school homecoming. Hope that means I’m a guy who reads as “adult & safe” but I don’t know because kids are so goddamn stupid now they may not even know they need to make that assessment at all.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 26/09/2026

I sure do not think it is a good thing that 90% of the most legitimate thinkers & writers about our current slide into Authoritarianism are using Substack as their platform. Seems like a mistake. Would be good for them to parallel publish on a different platform less problematic than Substack.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 26/09/2026

Dr. Craig - @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social & I looked at the attempted assassination of Trump at a Butler, PA campaign rally in summer 2024. No conspiracy theories. It is weird, though. Invites them podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autoc…

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 26/09/2026

I have been thinking about QAnon lately & how many people were desperate to play that mixed-reality game without understanding what they were getting themselves into. This kind of seems like that, on a micro scale. Especially the people unwilling to believe her when she tells them the truth.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 25/09/2026

If this dude cared at all, he’d have spent the last year getting jacked. You know the dude understands what works and what doesn’t in short-form video. If he doesn’t, he’d have had to have been avoiding the data. It’s not the content, it’s the presentation. This is bad presentation.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 25/09/2026

Gratifying to see Jared discussing some of the topics @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social have been diving into over at “Autocratic Despair: The Podcast”. Tells me that we are on the right track. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autoc…

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 25/09/2026

I appreciate the Green Bay Packers giving me a heads up that I don’t have to be emotionally involved with the team this season. I’m not calling for any firings. The Parsons trade was a big balls move that hinged on him being in the lineup for a whole season.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 24/09/2026

You do not - under any circumstances - “just gotta hand it to” Giorgia Meloni. Always be suspicious of people & Orgs that begin social media posts with: “🚨BREAKING:🚨”

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rad uncle @raduncle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

when the far-right piles on other rightwingers for not being racist enough, that's called getting reesmogged

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 24/09/2026

If Paxton wins, it’s a literal fork in reality. You don’t wanna know what the knock-on effects of it are. We’re going to know Paxton cheated. Paxton is going to know we know he cheated. Then he’s going to ask us what we think we can do about it & cackle at whatever the answer to that is.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 24/09/2026

Does anyone else get subjected to that Coke Zero commercial where it’s all in the King’s English, except the lady pronounces “Coca-Cola Zero” in Spanish? Always tickles me enough to listen to it all the way through. Well played Coke Zero. Well played.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 24/09/2026

Looked in on X today as every week to promote Autocratic Despair: The Podcast. Looks like @davetroy.com has good the goods on Russia jettisoning Trump in favor of that Carlson/Massie/MTG thing. This one is from early 2026. america2.news/thomas-massie-is-no-a…

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 23/09/2026

This week on "Autocratic Despair: The Podcast": Dr. Craig @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social and I go deep on the brothers Paul visiting the Pentagon & the mustache sincerity of Generation Z. Plus: Have we hit a SNEAKY NEW LOW ⁉️ ✔️(WE HAVE!) podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

podcasts.apple.com

Jake & Logan Paul Bro Down w/Pete Hegseth

Podcast Episode · Autocratic Despair: The Podcast · September 23 · 35m

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 22/09/2026

If you’ve got the ESPN app, you simply must avail yourself to the National Hackey-Sack finals. Teams of 4 players played jacket sack among themselves for 5 minutes and were rated on how many times the bag hit the floor + creativity. Top prize was $1,200.00. Split among themselves 4 person team.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 21/09/2026

10 years in & after trying literally everything else, they’ve decided that the resonant framing for this to break through is “THEY ARE GETTIN’ THINGS WE AREN’T GETTIN”. Coincidentally, the exact framing those same politicians used on the rest of us in order to get elected in the first place.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 21/09/2026

German elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern tonight going 38% to the AfD, but you should be numb to at this point - which is terrible.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 20/09/2026

Dude at the gym got mad at me for using a machine when he was on a different machine because he left his towel there. He was using 10 lb weights on the inclined squat, so he obviously wasn’t a gym guy & clearly a recent joiner, but my God what a spectacular breach of gym etiquette!

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 20/09/2026

I know all the cool people think she’s awesome, but she just floated out the idea that certain Americans should have rights rescinded based on infirmity. I know it doesn’t work out great for us in McConnell’s current case, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 20/09/2026

Neagley is good until it convinces me otherwise. I’m choosing to like it and I expect to be rewarded by the end of season 1.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 20/09/2026

[looking around at all this literal Nazi behavior] I’d like to posit the notion that maybe we didn’t go far enough with all the ‘cancel culture’. blabbermouth.net/news/megadeths-dav…

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 19/09/2026

Converse is owned by Nike. It was its own company once, but now it’s just a sub brand for Nike. Haven’t looked into it, but I would believe that ad was a hoax before I ever believed it was a real advertisement.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 19/09/2026

‘Autocratic Despair’ is a term I coined to describe this based on the Edward’s Deming principle of ‘Operational Definitions’. We cannot begin to solve a problem without first defining the problem. Or as my father often says: ‘Give it a name’.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 18/09/2026

Wow! 👓 Elizabeth Milch just announced that she’s put the 4 videos from David Milch’s legendary “The Writer’s Spirit” lectures from 2001 on YouTube. Milch is the writer of things you’ve loved, my favorite being HBO’s “Deadwood” youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH48KJUl…

youtube.com

David Milch -- The Writer's Spirit -- 2001 Lecture Series - YouTube

David Milch began this course one week after September 11, 2001, and the first thing he talks about is the despondency of being unable to act. The Writer's S...

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 17/09/2026

Nice to know there are levels to the "Pooped my pants one time and now that is the only thing anybody knows about me" game.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 17/09/2026

Dr. Craig made this same argument in this week’s episode of “Autocratic Despair: The Podcast”. It is worth emphasizing that this is not a winning political strategy. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autoc…

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 17/09/2026

I want everyone to know that it is me - and (for now) only me - that recognizes that John Fetterman has both infiltrated AND gained the confidence of the upper echelons of the Trump regime. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autoc…

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 16/09/2026

"Autocratic Despair: The Podcast" is live! @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social & I talk Elephant Graveyard, No Kings & I introduce him to 2 new conspiracy theories: 1. Fetterman is infiltrating the GOP 2. Danhausen is a psyop to make Peter Thiel code as 'madcap'. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

podcasts.apple.com

Agent Fetterman & No Kings: Controlled Opposition?

Podcast Episode · Autocratic Despair: The Podcast · September 16 · 47m

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 14/09/2026

Ashamed to admit this, but this week's episode of "Autocratic Despair: The Podcast" is within 5 downloads of setting an all-time best for downloads in the first 7 days. I want that to happen. Will you re-post this to your followers? I'd consider it a solid. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

podcasts.apple.com

The True Texas Project is Our AfD & It's Taken Over Fort Worth

Podcast Episode · Autocratic Despair: The Podcast · September 10 · 1h 3m

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 15/09/2026

This is the best written piece I have seen on this topic. Until Dr. Craig exposed me to this way of thinking on the topic, I admit that I didn’t see the harm in candidates conceding some space if it meant winning an election. Very happy to have been straightened out, at any rate.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 15/09/2026

Still weird to get married at Madison Square Garden. Once you start involving publicists in your personal relationships, you’re in some pretty strange territory.

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 14/09/2026

Special place in my heart for these screens

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 14/09/2026

podcasts.apple.com

The True Texas Project is Our AfD & It's Taken Over Fort Worth

Podcast Episode · Autocratic Despair: The Podcast · September 10 · 1h 3m

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 13/09/2026

Bo French got cut for time in last week’s “Autocratic Despair: The Podcast”, but he’s courtesy of the True Texas Project. Absolute monster that we’ll be seeing on the national stage soon enough. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autoc…

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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 13/09/2026

Ossoff has shifted his vocal cadence?! That’s good. A flat cadence being a telltale sign of Sociopathy had me wondering whether Ossoff’s previously flat cadence was going to be a problem when he joins the big-time.

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