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077: Forging an Opposition to Trump (w/ Adam Gurri)
The first few months of the Trump administration have proven not just how willing much of America was to embrace and celebrate fascism, but how crucial careful, clear-eye, and thoughtful reporting an…
Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago
076: The Crank Theory of Everything (w/ Alysia Ames)
As we've talked about a fair amount on the show, gender is at the center of the ideological clashes defining our political moment. Trumpism is, at its heart, a misogynistic movement, and the fractiou…
Published on 3 months, 4 weeks ago
075: Ayn Rand Would've Hated Elon Musk (w/ Paul Crider)
Many very rich men who support Trump fancy themselves heroes from the novels of Ayn Rand. I've never done an episode of this show on Rand's ideas, because I'm not a Randian, and don't think about pol…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
074: How State Attorneys General are Taking the Fight to Trump (w/ Carolyn Fiddler)
I wanted to try to do a hopeful episode. The world look pretty grim right now, and many of us feel discouraged. The unlawful and authoritarian actions of the Trump administration keep coming at a rel…
Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago
073: Conservatism Falsely Promises Certainty (w/ Matthew McManus)
The right-wing ideologies we see most active in the world right now aren't intellectual by any stretch of the imagination. But there is a rich tradition of conservative political and social philosoph…
Published on 5 months ago
072: Ethics for Troubled Political Times (w/ Seth Zuihō Segall)
How we navigate the new political environment the voters thrust upon on, and the new regime that seeks to tear up the very foundations of our liberal society, is a matter of ethics. And ethics is big…
Published on 5 months, 1 week ago
071: Markets are Good for More than Wealth (w/ Tom Palmer)
We talk a lot on this show about the benefits of free and open markets and, given the growing hostility to economic freedom, not just from the Trump administration, but from populist governments arou…
Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago
070: How Right-Wing Influencers Took Over Politics (w/ Renée DiResta)
The information environment in which Americans form and discuss their political views has gotten weird. Walter Cronkite is gone. The editorial pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall S…
Published on 6 months ago
Bonus Episode: How Buddhist Insights Strengthen Liberalism
Last fall, I had the extraordinary opportunity to travel to Delhi, India, to give a talk to young Indian liberals. The topic was the connection between Buddhist philosophy and liberalism. If you’re a…
Published on 6 months, 1 week ago
069: Status Anxiety, the Attention Economy, and the Appeal of Trump (w/ Alan Elrod)
The rise of Trump is, in many ways, a story about status. Plenty of Americans feel like their relative status has fallen in recent decades, and they believe Trump, both as an embodiment of their iden…
Published on 6 months, 2 weeks ago