Sean McElwee has been so successful at marketing a very specific narrative about himself — data-driven socialist thought leader who gets results — that a lot of his real story has been lost to history. Today, The Bruenigs podcast has released a new episode where Matt and I walk through Sean’s rise from an obscure freelancer to a darling of liberal political media, and then his fall amid accusations of conspiracy in a straw donor scheme. A few highlights:

• Today Sean positions himself as a pragmatic middle-of-the-road Democrat, but there was a brief time not that long ago when he tried to brand himself as a hardline Maoist;

• Sean’s little-known link to right-wing pundit Dinesh D’Souza — aside from the straw donor allegations; and

• What exactly was he doing when he interned at the libertarian Reason magazine?

Give ‘er a listen! Also related, thanks to Felix Biederamn and the Chapo guys for the shoutout to my reporting on McElwee in their latest episode, also out today.

UPDATE: Matt’s unlocked the episode for non-subscribers, it’s available here.