Walter Rhein Podcast

Powerful Voices | Courage Candidates with Keira Havens

1 h 3 min · 4. juli 2026
episode Powerful Voices | Courage Candidates with Keira Havens cover

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Pay what you can: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

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episode Easing Economic Anxiety in the Collapse With Mutual Support and Fearlessness artwork

Easing Economic Anxiety in the Collapse With Mutual Support and Fearlessness

Hello Everyone! I really appreciate all the wonderful people I’ve gotten to meet on Substack. I first met A. Eevie Bateman [https://substack.com/profile/443649430-a-eevie-bateman] because one of my readers recommended one of her articles. It was a thoughtful piece on how white women maintain the patriarchy, and I brought Natasha K. [https://substack.com/profile/177254780-natasha-k] on to discuss it. Eevie’s been writing a lot of provocative pieces and she’s gaining a lot of followers. It’s been great to see. This was my first time meeting Derek of The Omission [https://substack.com/profile/476890041-the-omission]. He’s absolutely fantastic and he kept making me laugh (which is the best thing to do when confronted with the challenges we face today). This conversation went all over the place and I’m grateful for it. I am looking forward to more talks with these two wonderful people! Thank you LC - Silence is Complicity [https://substack.com/profile/498003941-lc-silence-is-complicity], Chris Resists [https://substack.com/profile/315050911-chris-resists], Rick Kohut [https://substack.com/profile/461104-rick-kohut], LeftieProf [https://substack.com/profile/116079548-leftieprof], Stuart Cohen [https://substack.com/profile/351205065-stuart-cohen], and many others for tuning into my live video with A. Eevie Bateman [https://substack.com/profile/443649430-a-eevie-bateman] and The Omission [https://substack.com/profile/476890041-the-omission]! Join me for my next live video in the app. Please support me if you can! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

8. juli 20261 h 28 min
episode The Right Is Actively Building Concentration Camps and Plotting Genocide While the Media Attacks the Left artwork

The Right Is Actively Building Concentration Camps and Plotting Genocide While the Media Attacks the Left

Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] Let me be clear. I denounce hate. I denounce racism. I denounce antisemitism. I denounce genocide. We are living through an era of intense stress. I’ve personally had to keep my children home from school at times because there were rumors we were going to be raided by the masked gestapo. Every day I’m terrified that armed men will knock down my door and murder my family. The threat is real. We’ve seen innocent people get shot in the streets. There have been reports of children being abducted and raped. The entire right wing of our political spectrum is enabling child abusers by violating the Epstein files transparency act. Yet, when I log into social media I keep seeing false accusations directed at the left. Absolutely nobody is talking about how neo-nazi groups have infiltrated law enforcement and our centrist politicians refuse to even discuss police reform. But when a lawyer says she wants to learn the facts of a crime before she settles on labels, she gets accused of antisemitism. True incidents of antisemitism are ignored by the media, while a disproportionate response is directed at the innocent. We are being manipulated. Do not allow yourself to be controlled by the well-funded masters of deceit. It’s especially distressing to me when former legacy media journalists engage in reckless accusations designed to launch a narrative of division. It’s so obvious. We’re not going to be safe until everyone can recognize the pattern. With every day that passes, it’s clear that the center of our political spectrum is just as corrupt as the right. They use the exact same tactics of division. It could be argued that the center is worse because they’re so calculating. Remember, every accusation is a confession. So, before you believe the lies and manipulation, take a moment to trace back the narrative to its origins. All roads lead to the Heritage Foundation. Neo nazis absolutely love it when the left starts infighting. They come into the room to stir up a conflict, then retreat out the back to steal our money and continue their cruel plotting. Do not be duped. Do not assume the worst of your allies when you KNOW who the enemy is. I realize that we’re all under enormous stress. Slowly, we’re all coming to realize that many of the people we trusted have been working against us this whole time. The right is going to use some extremely underhanded tactics. They are duplicitous. They are liars. They are schemers. We all need to take a deep breath and step back from the distractions. The right always knows that they can leverage fear, shame, and anger to get you to react to their lies. Above all else, they don’t want you thinking rationally. When you are reacting, they can provoke you to do their dirty work for them. Do not allow neo nazis to make you turn against your allies. This week, I had a wonderful phone conversation with a creator friend who was worried about the antisemitism narrative. We talked for about a half hour and assured each other of our allegiances. I repeatedly told him that I loved him (and I do). I also thanked him for just taking the time to talk with me. As long as the line of communication is open, we have a chance. When people hear a fraudulent accusation that makes them unwilling to listen, we become captured. That’s how we lose. The right is trying to divide us. They’re well-funded and they’re using every trick in the book. As we get closer and closer to the end, their tactics will only become more desperate. Remember who your friends are! Today, I woke up to a comment that left me deeply disturbed. I’d written the following note: Our opponents don’t want you listening to progressive voices so they’re accusing them of “antisemitism.” This predisposes the public to not even give progressives the benefit of the doubt. The right contains the neo nazis. The right actively plots genocide. Don’t let lies and right wing purity tests manipulate you into fighting with your allies. We need unity. I immediately received an accusatory response. It was a lengthy response where the writer declared his religious affiliation multiple times. The essence of the comment was, “Many of us don’t support the genocide, please don’t lump us all together. Do not attack us.” It’s such a malicious comment because I hadn’t made any attacks and I hadn’t lumped anyone together. The comment itself demonstrated a predisposition of mistrust. The writer, based entirely on his own misconceptions, assumed I’d harbored malicious beliefs, and scolded me. In times such as these, we have to be very precise in our language. We can’t let our assumptions about other people cloud our interpretation of their language. I deleted the response. When I came back twenty minutes later, I found the response had been reposted word for word. This suggests it wasn’t a spontaneously written response. Instead, it was something that was being cut and pasted all over the internet. This is bot behavior. The left is currently the target of a malicious hate campaign. This is a right wing campaign that’s designed to divide us. Do not fall for it. Remember, the RIGHT has an antisemitism problem. By definition, the left stands for diversity, equality, and basic humanity. Do not be tricked into doing the division work of neo nazi groups. Even as I type this, the right is actively engaged in genocide all over the world. The right is building concentration camps and funding a secret army right here at home. Do not equate that with the offense of misleading quotes taken out of context. They are not the same. We cannot allow ourselves to put insensitive language in the same category as deliberate and coordinated acts of violence. Remember that whenever the right makes accusations of “violence” or “racism” or “antisemitism,” it’s designed to distract attention from right wing crimes that are exponentially worse. Every accusation is a confession. As we continue to navigate these troubling times, I urge everyone to withhold their judgement until the facts are known. Neo nazis and other right wing groups love to manipulate your emotions. They come and whisper accusations in the hope of sparking the rage of betrayal. Why do we give neo nazis the benefit of the doubt even as we hold our close friends to an impossible standard? Do not be so predisposed by the lies of the center and the right that you don’t even give good people the opportunity to have their say. Above all else, both the center and the right want to suppress voices of integrity. The center and the right know that if the people actually listen to the new generation of candidates, the authoritarian movement will fail. Once you’ve listened to these candidates, you can’t be duped by the lies of our corrupt legacy media. For the last year, I’ve been interviewing people of integrity. Absolutely no major publication has helped me promote these interviews. In fact, many of the publications you trust are actively working to sow the seeds of division even as they suppress the new generation of candidates. This is because many of the failed celebrity journalists and “former” Republicans are losers who are desperate to hang on to the coattails of power. They’re telling lies and fearmongering as part of a grift. They do not have integrity, but they have traces of fame left over from their days of association with cruel oligarchs. Wake up! It is a simple, basic fact that the left stands for diversity, unity, and humanity. The people out there saying otherwise, knowingly or not, are propagating a division strategy of the neo nazis. Doesn’t anybody fear making a false accusation of antisemitism against somebody who is innocent? Based on the “journalism” and the arguments I’m seeing lately, it doesn’t seem like it. It’s challenging to see clearly when your enemy activates your emotions, but we have to allow ourselves to evaluate all accusations with a cool head. Guilty people seek out scapegoats. Right now the right is scapegoating the left. We are not going to win unless we are committed to reason. Don’t believe accusations without evidence. Take a moment to identify where the narrative originated and what the people who launched it have to gain. In 2024, we allowed our corrupt media to spread endless lies about Kamala Harris. Look at where that got us. In 2026, the media is still doing the same thing even if many of the culprits from 2024 have moved on to independently owned publications. Don’t listen to the lies of neo nazis who want to make you suspicious of your allies. The RIGHT has an antisemitism problem. They’re building concentration camps and plotting genocide. Every accusation is a confession. Don’t be driven by fear. Listen to your intuition. Keep the door open for conversations with good people. The right is plotting to come after us all, but first they want us isolated and confused. Do not fall for it. Do not allow them to trick you into surrendering your power. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

8. juli 20268 min
episode My Thoughts on Corporate Sponsorships and Newsletter Advertising artwork

My Thoughts on Corporate Sponsorships and Newsletter Advertising

Hello Everyone! A few weeks ago, Substack launched a sponsorship program. The idea is to allow organizations to support the newsletters they appreciate through traditional advertising. To learn more about this initiative, you can click here [https://substack.com/sponsorships]. Qualifying publications, like mine, saw a creator kit appear on their dashboards. I activated my kit, but I declined to send out the demographics survey to my subscribers. We’ve all felt too many intrusions upon our privacy lately. I felt a questionnaire about personal information might come across as off-putting. Also, I’m not really sure who would have access to that data, so I was reluctant to infringe upon the trust my readers have shown in me. As you can probably tell, I approach most things with a good degree of skepticism. Part of that is because I’m getting old. Part of it is that, in this day and age, skepticism is warranted. But that doesn’t mean that I’m against the possibility of advertising under the right circumstances. We have to be realistic, life costs money. Over the last year, I’ve been active in grassroots politics. We’re all sick and tired of being told what to do by the bought and paid for apologists of corporate entities. That being said, even grassroots candidates need financial support. We’re in a rather exciting era of independent candidates fueled by $50,000 in small donations. These campaigns are winning against establishment incumbents with multi-million dollar war chests. That’s what we have to do to get out of this mess we’re in, but it’s not really sustainable. At some point we’re going to have to figure out ways to fund more money to people of integrity. The whole problem we face right now is that public funds are being stolen and sent to hate groups rather than people of integrity. We have to change that. My whole career as a writer has consisted of scrounging around for table scraps. That’s been all fine and good in my 20s and 30s when I was young and strong. But the fact is, I’m getting older now. I don’t want to admit it, but I can feel it. My eyesight isn’t what it used to be. I end the day with aches and pains. I’ve fought the good fight for a long time and it would be nice if things got a little easier. However, I know that my readers are up against the wall economically. That’s been the threat of the Republican party for my whole life, and this current iteration is the worst of the lot. I’ve managed to get along based on the generosity of my wonderful readers, but I would sincerely love to ease their burden in whatever way I can. The problem with offering advertising on your platform is that you then become beholden to your sponsors. If somebody decides to support me with five thousand dollars, it compels you to look the other way if they do something nefarious. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m immune to that because nobody is. Nobody’s ever showed up at my door with a suitcase full of money. I’d like to think I wouldn’t take it but pressuring people with money takes many forms. At this point, I’m old enough and ornery enough that I’m unlikely to work with somebody who gives me a creepy feeling. But I don’t think we have to resign ourselves to the thought that all advertising is corrupt. The reality is that most of the rich people in our society aren’t living in luxury because of merit. Instead, they are able to afford the accountants and whatnot that allow them to fund themselves through means that aren’t available to regular people. They know about all the tax loopholes that make funding platforms like mine beneficial. The way I see it, substack’s advertising program turns sponsorship into a business expense. Talk to your accountant, but wouldn’t that make it tax deductible? The fact of the matter is that big media has been completely captured by nefarious entities. We are not going to get out of this mess until we make an effort to fund some cultural deprogramming initiatives. We have to overcome the trauma bond that compels the American people to constantly forgive former abusers. We have to recondition ourselves to disregard the redemption arc, and elevate women and men of integrity who haven’t enriched themselves through the abuse and oppression of their fellow human beings. In order to do that, we’re going to need a new and well-funded media. I activated the creator kit to make “I’d Rather Be Writing” available on Substack’s advertising page [https://substack.com/sponsorships]. I don’t really expect some soft drink or airline to decide it makes sense to sponsor me. However, if any of you have some kind of business that’s actually related to the kind of things I write about here, a sponsorship could make sense. I don’t really know how corporate tax works, but if you’re working on something that aligns with my values, then by all means let’s talk. A lot of times, advertising is nothing more than somebody saying, “You know what, I like what this guy is doing and I want to be affiliated with that.” If you personally don’t have a company with an advertising budget, but you know somebody who does, then pass the information along. I put the sponsorship number at $250 just because they required a space keeper number. It’s flexible. If you’ve got a product or business that would benefit from being featured on “I’d Rather Be Writing,” reach out! I like to earn my keep, and I’m always delighted to hear from all of you anyway! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

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