13 May 2026 | Hard Reset

The American Radicals Podcast delivers a blistering critique of the U.S. government’s abandonment of its core constitutional duties, arguing that the nation is in a state of systemic decay. Host Steve Friend calls for a 'hard reset'—a metaphorical head-punch to jolt the country out of complacency—after a year and a half of Republican leadership failing to deliver on the promise of mass deportations, despite a landslide electoral mandate. He dismantles the NPR-backed argument that deportations harm the labor market, exposing economist Chloe East as a far-left ideologue with ties to Brookings and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, and dismisses her unpeer-reviewed research as politically motivated. The episode then pivots to a broader indictment of federal overreach: the government subsidizing rural air travel through programs like SCASDP, which rewards communities that don’t want airports with taxpayer money, and the $7 trillion budget—3,300% higher than 1912—fueled by endless taxation, inflation, and the creation of unaccountable spending mechanisms like the Highway Trust Fund. The host condemns President Trump’s endorsement of Dell stock as a fascist symbiosis between state and private industry, and laments the failure to prosecute Anthony Fauci despite a five-year statute of limitations, calling it a symbol of a broken accountability system. Ultimately, Friend argues that Americans have abdicated personal responsibility—dialing 911 over domestic disputes instead of resolving them—just as they’ve handed over sovereignty to a bloated, unaccountable government that sees citizens not as partners, but as sources of revenue and control.