A Violent Yet Flammable World (w/ Kristaps Andrejsons & Daniele Bolelli)

A Violent Yet Flammable World (w/ Kristaps Andrejsons & Daniele Bolelli)

From History Impossible by Alexander von Sternberg

September 18, 2025 · 1h 40m

About this episode

The episode discusses the rise of political violence in the U.S. and features insights from two international podcasters.

In light of the recent killing of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk and the realization among many that the United States is facing a stark rise in the possibility of greater political violence than any other time in its recent history, it became clear that a deeper conversation on the nature and, more importantly, the reality of political violence was necessary. This became even clearer as the flippancy with which people were treating violence—both the violence that had befallen Kirk and the violence that was being encouraged by the most enraged elements of the American right, including the state—increased in the week that followed. Thanks to this disconnect from reality, it seemed apparent that some outside and unique perspectives were needed, so I gathered together two of my favorite fellow historical/sociopolitical podcasters whose backgrounds as non-American and immigrant American give them such perspectives: the excellent Kristaps Andrejsons of The Eastern Border podcast and the excellent Daniele Bolelli of the History on Fire and Drunken Taoist podcasts. In this special conversation, we discussed the overall nature of political violence (“existential rhetoric” became the…

People in this episode

Host: Alexander von Sternberg

Guests: Kristaps Andrejsons, Daniele Bolelli

Topics covered

  • political violence
  • sociopolitical perspectives
  • American politics
  • historical context
  • existential rhetoric

Keywords

  • political violence
  • Charlie Kirk
  • sociopolitical
  • American right
  • existential rhetoric
  • historical perspectives

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Eastern Border, History on Fire, Drunken Taoist

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