Not satisfied with dominating US politics, billionaire Elon Musk has decided to wield X as a tool for regime change in Germany and the UK. In both nation’s, he is promoting far right reactionaries he believes will best service his oligarchic interests. British journalist Owen Jones joins us to help make sense of what Elon is up to in Britain, whether his boost of the far right Reform Party will prove successful, and what to make of his falling out with Nigel Farage.

Watch below:

We’re so grateful to have Owen back on the pod to share his thoughts on everything from Elon’s British Invasion to the current state of the far-right frenzy that skyrocketed Trump back into the White House. He describes what it’s been like, from the perspective of a leftist British journalist, to watch Trump’s second ascendancy to power and to interview Americans espousing views that, in the U.K. and elsewhere abroad, would be considered even farther-right than they are here in the U.S. We’ve normalized that as part of our daily post-2016 political discourse, but it’s a sobering reminder that what we’re living through isn’t in fact normal — it’s a significant right shift that the left will be fighting for decades. What can we do to reverse those trends and rebuild class consciousness?

Owen also gives us meaningful insight into British class politics and the way that these dynamics, so different from the American obsession with deserving, displaying, and celebrating wealth, have led to a different and complex political situation in the U.K. Social class, as a much stronger and more recognizable cultural phenomenon in England, comes with unique sets of social behaviors and expectations that have shaped British culture and politics, and we talk about the presence of this force in British politics writ large.

We hope you enjoy the conversation! This episode will be available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other streaming platforms tomorrow night.