TrueAnon

TrueAnon
Genre
Cast and voices
Hosted byBrace Belden
Liz Franczak
Music
Opening theme"You'd Never Guess" by Yung Chomsky
Composed byYung Chomsky, Angelo Badalamenti
Production
ProductionYung Chomsky
Length90–120 minutes
Publication
Original releaseJuly 23, 2019; 7 years ago (July 23, 2019)
UpdatesTwice-weekly
Related
Websitetrueanon.com

TrueAnon is a far-left American politics and true crime podcast hosted by Brace Belden and Liz Franczak. The podcast initially focused on the deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Associated with the dirtbag left, the show's title is a parody of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory. Operating from an anti-establishment standpoint that is highly critical of mainstream liberalism, the podcast rejects partisan framing in favor of a Marxist class analysis to evaluate global power structures and deep-state operations.

History and content

TrueAnon is hosted by Brace Belden, a left-wing internet personality notable for fighting with the People's Protection Units in the Syrian civil war, and Liz Franczak. It is produced by the pseudonymous Yung Chomsky. Belden and Franczak met in the early 2000s in San Francisco's punk music scene. The hosts, who identify as Marxists, developed an interest in Epstein's case after Gawker published the contents of Epstein's personal address book in 2015, which established Epstein's connections to multiple influential figures in politics, finance, intelligence, academia, and entertainment.

After Epstein's arrest in July 2019, Belden and Franczak noted how many of the details of the Epstein case, such as his connections to U.S. intelligence agencies, were not covered in the mainstream press. TrueAnon was conceived to explore how "the fascination with Epstein is part of a larger story about the rot at the heart of the global elite" and how this reveals "larger class antagonisms within the United States."

The first episode of TrueAnon was released on July 23, 2019. Calling itself "the only non-pedophile podcast", TrueAnon combines elements of the true crime genre and the dirtbag left, the rhetorical style most closely associated with Chapo Trap House defined by "subversive, populist vulgarity". In addition to Epstein, TrueAnon devotes analysis and discussion to topics such as human trafficking, Medicare for All, Silicon Valley, academia, finance, and nonprofit organizations. It covers material that has been called conspiracy theories, but Belden and Franczak say it engages in historical materialism, focusing on "the power structures that produced Epstein in the first place" rather than a "fixed theory of Epstein's death". Notable guests who have appeared on the podcast include Epstein accuser Maria Farmer, journalist Ken Klippenstein, author William T. Vollmann, and musician Azealia Banks.

In 2021 the podcast covered the Ghislaine Maxwell trial daily from the courtroom, summarizing and discussing the day's events in an episode for each day of the trial.

In January 2024, TrueAnon released a board game satirizing the January 6 United States Capitol attack. A now retracted article in The Independent erroneously called the podcast "right-wing".

Reception

TrueAnon has been favorably received by critics. GQ wrote that it has a "one-of-a-kind flair you won't get anywhere else", praising the quality of its research. Journalist Jeet Heer cited TrueAnon as one of the few left-wing outlets to discuss the Epstein case in detail, compared to "the reluctance of the mainstream media to tackle the topic for fear of seeming conspiratorial". Journalist Glenn Greenwald has also praised the podcast and its coverage of the 2016 Nevada caucus.

As of May 2026, TrueAnon is the 7th-ranked creator on Patreon by number of paid subscribers.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pemberton, Nathan Taylor (October 6, 2025). "'TrueAnon,' the Lefty Podcast, Takes Listeners Down Rabbit Holes". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 31, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Beckwith, Caleb (March 3, 2020). "Epstein Brain is for the People". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Goldstein, Sam Jaffe (January 30, 2020). "Jeffrey Epstein Is a Feature of Our System: A Conversation with Liz Franczak and Brace Belden, Hosts of 'Trueanon'". The Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Heer, Jeet (November 18, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein Isn't Going Away". The Nation. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  5. ↑ Amato, Natalli (November 9, 2019). "Useful Idiots: TrueAnon's Liz Franczak on Epstein Saga". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 4, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  6. ↑ "TrueAnon on Apple Podcasts". iTunes. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  7. ↑ "TrueAnonPod—Maria Farmer". May 8, 2020. Archived from the original on May 9, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  8. ↑ "TrueAnonPod—D. H. Ass". July 20, 2020. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Episode 330: Grief Is A Witch-Hag (Part 1)". Soundcloud. TrueAnon. November 3, 2023. Archived from the original on January 21, 2025. Retrieved February 18, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Episode 70: Azealia". Soundcloud. TrueAnon. May 22, 2020. Archived from the original on December 28, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Ghislaine Maxwell Trial: Day 18". Archived from the original on December 30, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  12. ↑ "This is the best way to follow the Elizabeth Holmes and Ghislaine Maxwell trials". December 9, 2021. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  13. ↑ Fung, Katherine (January 2, 2024). "'Storm the Capitol's Board Board Game Lets People Fight Police, Steal Artifacts". Newsweek.
  14. ↑ Neath, Amelia (January 3, 2024). "New 'Storm the Capitol' board game celebrates Jan 6 riot". The Independent.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  15. ↑ Groundwater, Colin; Schultz, Zlex (April 29, 2020). "The Best Podcasts to Listen to During Self-Isolation". GQ. Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  16. ↑ Greenwald, Glenn [@ggreenwald] (February 17, 2020). "Episode 38 of @TrueAnonPod (yes, I've become a bit obsessed) has a great and highly factual review of the cheating shenanigans of the DNC in 2016 for those wanting to know what to expect. Arguably the worst cheating was in the Nevada caucus" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ↑ "Top Patreon Creators".

Further reading