Episode 583 - Debate: Should Democrats Campaign on Climate Change Anymore? (W/ Matt Huber & Aaron Regunberg)

Bad Faith

News, Politics, Comedy

4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2026

⏱️ 96 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A few weeks ago, we had an all star panel to discuss AI data centers and the pivot in both liberal and left publications away from embracing climate change as an issue. One of those articles was written in the New York Times by Syracuse professor Matt Huber, who teachers in the geography and environment department. Today, Huber joins the podcast with AI panelist Aaron Reguberg to push back on how his argument was characterized, and to defend his take that Democrats don't have to campaign on climate change anymore because they can win by prioritizing economic issues. Are these ideas in tension? Does opposing AI data centers constitute both a material and environmental issue? Did Green New Deal advocacy hurt Democrats? Was it unpopular, or was it thwarted by the Democratic establishment before it had a chance to be explained? Is the takeaway from Mamdani's success in New York City that Democrats should decenter climate? Why is Briahna defending AOC?

Transcript

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0:00.0	I fundamentally cannot wrap my head around how someone can, a smart person can in good faith
0:09.1	simultaneously make the argument that in order to build a working class politics, Democrats
0:16.0	need to abandon climate, stop talking about climate, stop prioritizing climate, a widely thrilled to bring together a little bit of a back and forth, a tiff, if you will, that started on Al Gore's internet, on the app formerly known as Twitter.
1:07.9	After our recent episode, I had an all-star panel of folks, including Aaron
1:13.2	Reaganberg, talking about AI data centers. We talked during that time about an article in the New York
1:21.4	Times titled Democrats don't have to campaign on climate change anymore by Matthew Huber.
1:27.3	It's such a pleasure to be able to bring disparate voices together to talk through where
1:32.0	we agree, disagree, or misunderstand each other on today's episode of the podcast.
1:35.9	So I'm happy to welcome for the first time Matt Huber, who is a professor at Syracuse
1:40.2	University in the Department of Geography and the Environment and also the author of
1:45.8	Climate Change as Class War, Building Socialism on a War, Matt Huber, welcome to Bad Faith Pod.
1:52.9	Thank you for having me.
1:54.7	All right.
1:55.1	In returning, as one of the most frequent bad faith guests I've recently learned, Aaron Reaganberg, he is a former state rep.
2:03.3	He is a contributing editor to the new republic and co-host of Fighting Fascism Podcast. Welcome back.
2:10.0	Just can't keep me away. Apparently, I can't quit you. Okay, Matt, I'm going to start with you since this is your first bite of the apple of correcting the record or pushing back against us or what was said on the last
2:23.5	podcast. So I see the floor to you. What did you make of that episode, our conversation, and why did
2:29.8	you end up having a bit of a back and forth with Aaron on the internet. Well, it's a long story.
2:36.1	I mean, the first thing that I just couldn't let stand was I was compared to Hillary Clinton's
2:41.5	discourse about, you know, if you break up the banks, you're going to, and I am a, you know,
2:45.4	original Bernie Bro from 2016.
2:48.2	So that really, that cut deep.
	...

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