It was the 24th anniversary of Sept. 11, and “TrueAnon” had boldly departed from the usual patriotic narrative. Instead of offering solemn reflections, the podcast’s hosts declared that the liberal state was in a state of decay.
“And it’s making the state more brutal, more agile,” co-host Liz Franczak told an audience of approximately 800 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture near Central Park. “Permanent war has given way to permanent governance.”
Then, as is often its custom, “TrueAnon” veered off its own planned course.
The global war on terror? “It feels powerful to call it the GWOT,” Ms. Franczak said, pronouncing it like “gee what.” “Why would you say the first letter and then pronounce the rest of it?” her co-host, Brace Belden, asked with a disbelief that drew cackles from the packed room.
They then launched into mock hysteria over Zohran Mamdani’s Muslim faith. “Once he gets elected, you know he’s going to wake up those ISIS cells,” Mr. Belden deadpanned. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was dismissed as a “drunk freak.” Comedian Sarah Sherman, from “Saturday Night Live,” delighted the crowd with a rendition of Creed’s hit “With Arms Wide Open” while sporting a hot pink Juicy Couture tracksuit.
This scene encapsulates a typical “TrueAnon” event, the irreverent political podcast led by Mr. Belden, 35, and Ms. Franczak, 40, and produced by Steven Goldberg, 40, known by his alias Yung Chomsky. This chatty, conspiracy-curious show, playfully named after the pro-Trump QAnon movement, has cultivated a devoted following by plunging headfirst into topics like the Jeffrey Epstein case, the opioid crisis, and Hunter Biden’s laptop. It masterfully combines absurd humor, meticulous research, and serious left-wing commentary.
“What I would say is that the liberal state is decomposing,” Ms. Franczak explained to the audience that evening. “That’s what I would argue. And now it’s kind of churning into something else, and this was a process that started back on 9/11.”
The podcast’s style perfectly suits an era where politics permeates every aspect of our culture. In a new media landscape, where right-wing influencers and streamers in the so-called manosphere have increasingly entered the mainstream, Mr. Belden and Ms. Franczak assert that cynicism, paranoia, and dissatisfaction aren’t exclusively the domain of the online right.
They delight in mocking a recurring cast of centrist politicians, billionaires, and Silicon Valley executives, yet they avoid relying on rage-baiting content or celebrity appearances. The show’s most prominent guests include the late Marxist writer Mike Davis and political scientist Norman Finkelstein.
Mr. Belden, Ms. Franczak, and Mr. Goldberg launched the podcast in 2019, just before the tumultuous events of the coronavirus pandemic and the George Floyd protests. During this period, the clear lines of the social justice movement and the early Biden administration quickly blurred into an anti-“woke” backlash, widespread conspiracy theories, and a pervasive distrust of institutions across the political spectrum.
It was around this time that Mr. Belden and Ms. Franczak, who first connected during San Francisco’s punk scene as teenagers, reconnected over the unfolding Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Captivated by the story of a global sex trafficking conspiracy involving political elites, they began dissecting the details via text message.
Mr. Belden suggested they create a podcast about the saga. “A true-crime sort of thing, but our version of that,” he recounted in an interview. “And it just snowballed from there.”
Six years after that debut episode, where Mr. Belden and Ms. Franczak first aired their theories about potential links between Mr. Epstein, the C.I.A., private islands, and the Clintons, “TrueAnon” is now focused on deciphering another unfolding saga of our time: what they term the “mass onboarding event.” This refers to the period, beginning with the pandemic, when millions of Americans transitioned to primarily online lives. They argue that the internet has since radicalized virtually everyone, from moderate liberals to conservative middle-class voters.
This “content political ecosystem,” as Ms. Franczak describes it—and the deluge of reactionary “infotainment” it has unleashed—is proving to be one of the most intricate systems they’ve tackled yet. This challenge is heightened by the fact that “TrueAnon” itself operates as a small content venture thriving within the peculiar dynamics of this very environment.
“I always think about the Rush Limbaugh talk-radio revolution and that pales in comparison to this,” she remarked. “This ecosystem is so much thicker and so much more pervasive. It’s devouring everyone and feeding on itself.”
The podcast has cultivated an ardent audience of young leftists, informed media watchers, and listeners who have come of age amidst overlapping global crises. On Patreon, “TrueAnon” is now among the top five podcasts, boasting over 40,000 paid subscribers, which translates to approximately $180,000 in monthly revenue for the hosts.
With over 500 episodes under its belt, “TrueAnon” has solidified its position as a staple in today’s niche world of left-adjacent podcasts and online media. It is often grouped with the “dirtbag left,” a label for creators and consumers of mid-2000s podcasts that advocated for democratic socialism and Bernie Sanders, often with blunt language aimed at their predominantly white male audience.
The show’s hosts, however, reject this label. Not because they are shy about their political convictions, but because “TrueAnon” does not aim to champion a specific political agenda.
Joshua Citarella, host of “Doomscroll,” a leftist YouTube show focused on online political cultures, noted that “TrueAnon” has attracted a “heterogenous audience” that includes libertarians and conservatives.
“Brace and Liz fearlessly delve into these profound, ideologically complex questions that their listeners seek help in processing,” Mr. Citarella stated. “Topics like accelerationism and fringe theories. Yet, they bring to it a relevant and radical analysis, without resorting to grandstanding.”
Despite their broad appeal, their political stances are quite specific. Mr. Belden identifies as a Marxist and has a varied professional background, including florist, union organizer, and merchant marine. In 2017, he famously traveled to Syria to volunteer with Kurdish rebels against ISIS, chronicling his experiences online, which brought him notoriety among the online left.
Ms. Franczak recounted how her mother allowed her to miss school to participate in the 2003 Iraq war protests, sparking her political awareness. Later, she immersed herself in online discussions surrounding the 2008 financial crisis, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and critiques of the Obama-era Democratic Party, avidly studying monetary policy.
Their intertwined pasts have fueled their insatiable curiosity and their often obsessive approach to subjects that captivate them. In 2021, the duo produced a 19-part series on Ghislaine Maxwell’s federal trial on sex trafficking charges. Mr. Belden and Ms. Franczak attended every day of the proceedings at the federal courthouse in downtown New York.
“So much of what we do is grappling with the world we live in in a rigorous and serious way,” Ms. Franczak said. “But so much of it is also just how our friendship works, and I think people really respond to that.”
Days after their New York Society for Ethical Culture event, the trio convened in their Williamsburg studio to record an afternoon episode about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Gathered around a coffee table, Mr. Belden puffed on a vape pen as he and Ms. Franczak discussed the bewildering flood of conspiracy theories, political accusations, blame-shifting, and myth-making that erupted in the hours following Mr. Kirk’s death. Nearby, Mr. Goldberg quietly adjusted a digital camera, listening intently.
The hosts concurred that the left seemed to underestimate Mr. Kirk’s significance to the conservative movement. Mr. Belden then pointed out that some far-right social media accounts were advocating for Mr. Kirk’s killer to be publicly executed on television.
“See, this is such a prime example of this information ecosystem we live in,” she observed. “There’s the networked reaction, the reaction to the reaction. There’s all the various forms of psychosis happening all across the political spectrum. It’s a major event.”
“It’s just weird, weird times, man. Things are getting weirder by the week,” Mr. Belden added, shaking his head.
They agreed on the necessity for “more theorizing” to comprehend the moment, yet they also acknowledged that there was already an overload of theorizing, too many books, and too much content.
In other words, it was the perfect moment for “TrueAnon” to record an episode.