This week, we feature an interview with Mother Jones reporter Abby Vesoulis, who recently co-authored with Ari Berman the report “Your Private Data Is Building Trump’s Voter Purge Machine”. Vesoulis breaks down the Trump administration’s plans for election interference via voter suppression, the Department of Justice’s role in purging voters, and how we can try to fight back ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.

Also, Chenjerai previews a longer interview with veteran labor organizer and strategist Bill Fletcher Jr. about the purpose and power of general strikes. They discuss this in the context of the ongoing nurses strike in New York City and the statewide walkout planned in Minnesota this Friday, January 23rd in reaction to the violent ICE escalations that are ongoing in Minneapolis.

☎️ There’s still time to respond to our UNRULY HOTLINE question: Have you ever had a job that you would describe as a scam? Maybe it’s a role that was clearly bad for society. Or maybe work that was just alienating. Call us here if you had (or have) a job you want to tell us about: 215-436-9212

Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge will join Chenjerai on an upcoming episode to discuss the hotline responses. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s.

We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently - support the show on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy No Neutrals There at Haymarketbooks.com

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

Further reading & sources from this episode

NYC Nurses Strike

https://www.thecity.nyc/2026/01/20/nysna-nurses-strike-mamdani-sanders/

AARP calls for accountability over DOGE sharing Social Security data

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5699159-aarp-demands-doge-accountability/

ICE out of Minnesota

https://labornotes.org/2026/01/will-ice-ignite-mass-strike-minnesota

https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/01/17/minneapolis-trade-unions-call-general-strike-over-ice/

Register for Labor Notes Annual Conference!

https://labornotes.org/2026

Support the show

This week, we feature an interview with George “Conscious” Lee. He’s an orator, educator, and social media influencer who uses his platform to break news and promote dynamic understandings of justice. He’s built a massive, engaged audience on Instagram and TikTok by highlighting social and political issues that demand widespread awareness. In his interview with Chenjerai, Conscious talks about why analyzing power is the center of his work, how joining his college debate team gave him lessons that organizers, journalists and all of us need right now, how he approaches interpreting the news, and the limitations and risks of social media.

☎️ We also introduce a new UNRULY HOTLINE question: Have you ever had a job that you would describe as a scam? Maybe it’s a role that was clearly bad for society. Or maybe work that was just alienating. Call us here if you had (or have) a job you want to tell us about: 212-436-9212

Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge joins Chenjerai to set-up the hotline question. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy Solidarity with Children at Haymarketbooks.com

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

Further reading & sources from this episode

Critical Debater’s Handbook - http://www.soonerdebate.com/SoonerDebate/Critical_Debaters_Handbook%21.html

Support the show

While we're cooking up our next full episodes of Unruly Subjects, we wanted to re-share our first UNRULY HOTLINE segment that we originally published in Episode 2. In this segment, Chenjerai listens and reacts to callers that responded to the question: "How do you balance your love life with the struggle?”

If you have any questions, comments or thoughts to share with Unruly Subjects you can always leave us a message here: 215-436-9212

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

Become a Patreon supporter here: http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects

Support the show