Podcast appearances and mentions of Ezra Klein

American journalist

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Best podcasts about Ezra Klein

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Latest podcast episodes about Ezra Klein

The Majority Report with Sam Seder
2501 - Trump Tries to Ram Though His 'Big Beautiful Bill'

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2025 66:37


It's Newsday Tuesday™ and Trump is on Capitol Hill trying to push his Big Beautiful Bill today. Sam and Emma will dig into what's in it and why. Suffice to say, when the dust settles, poor and working class people are sure to get the short end of the stick. Also, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem apparently has no idea what Habeas Corpus is, how it works or how it's invoked. In the Fun Half, we bask in the glow of Columbia University's president getting boo'ed and heckled during a graduation ceremony. John Stewart points out how Jake Tapper sat on some really important information about Joe Biden's mental acuity and the workings of his administration in order to sell it after the fact as a book. And finally, Sam has some more thoughts on Ezra Klein and the Abundance Agenda. Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Follow us on TikTok here!: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here!: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here!: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase! Check out today's sponsors: DeleteMe: Text MAJORITY to 64000 for 20% off your DeleteMe subscription Magic Spoon: Get 5 dollars off your next order at MagicSpoon.com/MAJORITYREPORT.   Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @RussFinkelstein Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder – https://majorityreportradio.com/

Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Episode 166 - Abundantly Dumb

Ambitious Crossover Attempt

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2025 83:21


Noam and Jen discuss the mind numbing amount of stupid that took place last week, like people pretending to be very upset about James Comey's dumb 86 47 post,  the umpteenth news cycle about Joe Biden's mental state (not his cancer diagnosis thought, that was announced after the recording), and Sam Seder running into the brick wall that is Ezra Klein and the Abundance plan for making housing more affordable.  Not everything is stupid, though! We give our final thoughts on Andor and the portrayal of the Empire as a soul sucking bureaucratic grind that is both evil and banal. Also, the Israeli contestant in this year's Eurovision contest, Nova attack survivor Yuval Raphael, came in second place overall and first in public voting. 

The Majority Report with Sam Seder
2499 - Trump's Birthright Citizenship Run-Around w/ Jeet Heer

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Play Episode Listen Later May 16, 2025 78:42


We've made it to casual Friday folks! The Supreme Court had a field day yesterday with the Trump administration's attorney over their executive order to revoke birthright citizenship. Several of the justices, including conservatives, seemed to reject the argument that circuit court injunctions should only apply to the specific case in question. After that, the Nation's Jeet Heer is here to break down all the week's highlights (and lowlights), including Trump's trip to the Middle East, the GOP spending bill and the Democratic Party's lack of willingness to address concerns over Biden's age when it counted. Check out Jeet's writing at The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/authors/jeet-heer/ And his podcast The Time of Monsters: https://www.thenation.com/content/time-of-monsters/ In the Fun Half, Sam and Emma go deeper into the Supreme Court case on birthright citizenship, mainly a question Bret Kavanaugh asked about how such a policy would even be implemented. Would expecting mothers have to pass a customs checkpoint to enter the maternity ward? Or maybe all maternity wards would have to be inside of detention centers so the government can adjudicate each baby's immigration status after they're born. Kid Rock says that liberal women are ugly. Ok dude. And towards the end of the show, Sam, Emma Kuwalski from Nebraska and a few other listeners do a bit of a post-mortem on Sam's conversation with Ezra Klein. Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Follow us on TikTok here!: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here!: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here!: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase! Check out today's sponsors: Mankura: Get $25 off your Starter Kit by going to manukora.com/majority  Nutrafol: Get $10 off your first month's subscription + free shipping at Nutrafol.com when you use promo code TMR10 Sunset Lake CBD: Use coupon code “Left Is Best” (all one word) for 20% off of your entire order at SunsetLakeCBD.com Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @RussFinkelstein Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder – https://majorityreportradio.com/

Long Now: Seminars About Long-term Thinking
Ezra Klein, Michael Pollan, Derek Thompson: Abundance

Long Now: Seminars About Long-term Thinking

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2025 59:28


Presented in partnership with Manny's and City Arts & Lectures As they look upon the United States of America in 02025, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson see a country wrought by a half-century of failed governance. They see states and cities theoretically committed to progressive futures instead bogged down in labyrinthine mires of process and deliberation — a society stuck in low gear. Yet they also see opportunity to turn those failures on their heads, and to build a better society based around more responsive, efficient governance. This is the vision that animates Abundance, Klein and Thompson's new book and the focus of their Long Now Talk, hosted by Michael Pollan and co-sponsored with Manny's and City Arts & Lectures. Despite Long Now's focus on long-term thinking — of counterbalancing civilization's pathologically short attention span — there was much to appreciate in Klein and Thompson's call for American governance to “rediscover speed as a progressive value.” In their wide-ranging discussion, the two authors made the case for a vision of liberalism that builds, both for its own sake and as a bulwark against reactionary right-wing movements that have capitalized on the shortcomings of contemporary progressive politics. Episode Notes: https://longnow.org/ideas/abundance

Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
The Crisis of the Center and the Contest for the Future w/ Katrina vanden Heuvel

Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2025 42:05


In this timely conversation, Parallax Views host J.G. Michael sits down with The Nation's editorial director and longtime progressive voice Katrina vanden Heuvel to discuss the mounting political crises shaking both Europe and the United States. Drawing from her recent co-authored piece, "Report from Europe: The Center Does Not Hold," and her Mother's Day commentary in The Guardian, vanden Heuvel explores the dangers of austerity politics, the failure of centrist consensus, and the rise of far-right insurgencies across the across Europe. We examine how neoliberal economic policies have fueled disillusionment and opened space for authoritarian insurgents, and why a fragmented left has struggled to respond with a cohesive, inspiring alternative. From the U.K. to France to the U.S., this episode unpacks the urgent need for bold progressive politics, social investment, and renewed democratic vision in the face of political polarization and inequality. We also discuss the controversial figure of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in France and his importance; the return of Nigel Farage to British politics and the possibility of Reform UK gaining power; European centrism's embrace of bypassing austerity for military purposes BUT not social programs; and how the right doesn't own pro-family policy, nor does it own concepts like freedom or patriotism. At the end of the conversation, Katrina shares her thoughts on the Abundance Movement and Ezra Klein. Essential listening for anyone concerned with the future of democracy, the right-wing insurgency in the U.S. and Europe, and the challenges — and opportunities — facing the global left.

Public Affairs on KZMU
Radio Book Club 5-5-25

Public Affairs on KZMU

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2025 50:42


Featured special guest internationally known man of the universe PiMo to discuss books that altered the course of his life and the state of literature in the context of the simulation in which we seem to be living Books discussed: - On the Loose by Renny and Terry Russell - A Tolkien Bestiary by David Day - Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson - Why Empires Fail by John Rapley and Peter Heather - Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey Upcoming May events mentioned: - Roger Ramsey - D Jean Baptiste - Roderick Nash - Maggie Dewane - Donald Clark - Mark Sundeen, Craig Childs, Amy Irvine

The Majority Report with Sam Seder
2497 - Fight Over Republican Cuts to Medicaid & "Abundance" w/ Ezra Klein

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2025 87:17


Today Sam has his much-anticipated discussion with Ezra Klein about his book Abundance, tune in! Sam and Ezra's convo is wide-ranging, but focuses mostly on housing, regulation and the influence of money in politics. But first, Sam checks on the Republicans' efforts to make cuts to Medicaid. To hear more from Ezra, check out his podcast The Ezra Klein Show: https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast Or read his book Abundance: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Abundance/Ezra-Klein/9781668023488 Or check out his column at the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein After that, Sam checks in on a Congressional hearing where RJK Jr. won't answer whether he'd recommend his kids be vaccinated for Measles, despite that it's already infected more than 1,000 people in the country. Kennedy goes on to say he doesn't think people should be taking medical advice to him. Remind you, he's the head of Donald Trump's Health and Human Services Department. Chuck Schumer won't address the new reporting from Jake Tapper that Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and co. were working on a plan to pull Biden from the top of the presidential ticket before the disastrous debate. Then, Steven Crowder tries to explain why Trump's toothless executive order to regulate the cost of pharmaceutical drugs is a shot across the bow of Marxist countries like Germany. It's funny but doesn't really make sense. Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Follow us on TikTok here!: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here!: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here!: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase! Check out today's sponsors: Prolon: ProlonLife.com/majority Get 15% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Nutrition Program Naked Wines: To get 6 bottles of wine for $39.99, head to NakedWines.com/MAJORITY and use code MAJORITY for both the code AND PASSWORD Fast Growing Trees: Get 15% off your first purchase.  FastGrowingTrees.com/majority Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @RussFinkelstein Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder – https://majorityreportradio.com/

The Missing Middle with Mike Moffatt and Cara Stern
Where DID All the Jobs Go? The Mystery of Rising Unemployment.

The Missing Middle with Mike Moffatt and Cara Stern

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2025 24:52


Chapters00:00 Introduction01:13 Job market statistics 02:10 Why the job market is so bad right now04:27 Different ways to measure the job market07:02 Things are particularly bad in Ontario09:02 High unemployment fractures the social fabric11:25 The impact of a slow job market on lifetime earning13:32 How youth unemployment shapes political priorities14:58 Will the soft job market result in increased school enrollment?17:40 Is an improved credential worth the cost?20:41 Job searching lasting over six months22:08 Solutions and policy recommendationsResearch/linksCanadian Labour Market Update Q1 2025: Jobs in PurgatoryOntario's unemployment rate jumps to 7% even as ‘moderate' job creation continuesAlex Usher blog - Opportunity and TalentSomething Alarming Is Happening to the Job MarketAbundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson review – make America build againHosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux Produced by Meredith Martin This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

The Realignment
550 | Elizabeth Wilkins: Abundance and the Left, Antitrust, & the Future of State Capacity

The Realignment

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2025 59:32


Three Visions of Where Democrats Went Wrong | The Ezra Klein Show - Zephyr Teachout and Saikat ChakrabartiREALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comElizabeth Wilkins, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute and alumn of the White House and Lina Khan's Federal Trade Commission, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Elizabeth discuss why the left has reacted critically to the abundance agenda, her agreement with Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's emphasis on enhancing state capacity, and how to restore faith in government. They explore the tension between technocratic fixes and populist demands, the need for effective political storytelling, and why "small," tangible wins like banning junk fees and non-competes matter as much as big legislative wins.  

New Ideal, from the Ayn Rand Institute
The ARI Bookshelf Explores Abundance

New Ideal, from the Ayn Rand Institute

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2025 83:52


https://youtu.be/LVNSnbdEo0o Podcast audio: In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Onkar Ghate, Tristan de Liège, and Robertas Bakula discuss Abundance, the recent best-selling book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that has gained traction in liberal circles. Klein and Thompson acknowledge the failings of past liberal policies and present what they call the “abundance agenda” as an alternative. The agenda emphasizes streamlined regulations alongside robust government involvement in production — an approach the authors claim will usher in a new political order. The discussion covered: The book's central arguments; How the “abundance agenda” is unphilosophical and collectivistic; How the book's position on environmentalism reveals its deeper philosophical problems; How the book fails to distinguish between coercion and voluntary cooperation; How the authors fail to check their premises about government; Why the book's admiration for China is troubling. The video premiered on May 1, 2025.

ChinaTalk
Ezra, Derek, and Dan Wang on Abundance and China

ChinaTalk

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2025 69:09


Does anybody really understand China? Could America pursue an abundance agenda without the threat of the PRC? Can podcasters change the world? To discuss, ChinaTalk interviewed Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, who need no introduction, as well as Dan Wang, who has written beautiful annual letters and is back in the US as a research fellow at Kotkin's Hoover History Lab. He has an excellent book called Breakneck coming out this August, but we're saving that show for a little later this year. Today, our conversation covers… The use of China as a rhetorical device in US domestic discourse, Oversimplified aspects of Chinese development, and why the bipartisan consensus surrounding Beijing might fail to produce a coherent strategy, The abundance agenda and technocratic vs prophetic strategies for policy change, How to conceptualize political actors complexly, including unions, corporations, and environmental groups, The value of podcasting and strategies for positively impacting the modern media environment. Outtro Music: Recomposed by Max Richter, I went with a deep cut Autumn 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUEeqvp_BrQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ChinaEconTalk
Ezra, Derek, and Dan Wang on Abundance and China

ChinaEconTalk

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2025 69:09


Does anybody really understand China? Could America pursue an abundance agenda without the threat of the PRC? Can podcasters change the world? To discuss, ChinaTalk interviewed Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, who need no introduction, as well as Dan Wang, who has written beautiful annual letters and is back in the US as a research fellow at Kotkin's Hoover History Lab. He has an excellent book called Breakneck coming out this August, but we're saving that show for a little later this year. Today, our conversation covers… The use of China as a rhetorical device in US domestic discourse, Oversimplified aspects of Chinese development, and why the bipartisan consensus surrounding Beijing might fail to produce a coherent strategy, The abundance agenda and technocratic vs prophetic strategies for policy change, How to conceptualize political actors complexly, including unions, corporations, and environmental groups, The value of podcasting and strategies for positively impacting the modern media environment. Outtro Music: Recomposed by Max Richter, I went with a deep cut Autumn 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUEeqvp_BrQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1Dime Radio
The End of Neoliberalism? (Ft. Benjamin Studebaker)

1Dime Radio

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2025 120:23


Get access to The Backroom Exclusive episodes on Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/OneDime.⁠In this episode of 1Dime Radio, I am joined by political theorist Benjamin St. Studebaker, a PhD at Cambridge and author of the books “The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy” and “Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies,” on we are witnessing the “end of neoliberalism” (given the ongoing tariff wars and move away from globalization in favor of right wing populsim and protectionism). Whether “Neoliberalism” was really a useful concept in the first place.  We also discuss how liberal thinkers like  Ezra Klein and Francis Fukuyama have been moving away from neoliberal economics and towards a kind of neo-Keynesianism.  In The Backroom, Benjamin and I discuss the idea of building educational “Monestaries” as an alternative to Academia and Benjamin's idea of “vulture socialism.” Become a Patron at Patreon.com/OneDime if you haven't already!Timestamps: 00:00 The Backroom Preview: Vulture Socialism and Monasteries02:55 Welcome to 1Dime Radio03:33 What was “Neoliberalism” actually?35:26 The Pivot from China42:34 Neoliberalism without China or the end of Neoliberalism? 01:06:05 Trump's Strategy with China: A Rational Wager?01:12:54 China's Unique System vs India and Other Developing Nations01:30:22 Degrowth and Third World Realities 01:58:54 Transition to the BackroomFollow Benjamin Studebaker on X: https://x.com/BMStudebakerFollow me on X: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial: Follow me on Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/1dimeman⁠Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeOutro Music by Karl CaseyGive 1Dime Radio a 5-star Rating if you enjoy the show!

Factually! with Adam Conover
Why America Can't Build (Yet) with Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

Factually! with Adam Conover

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2025 87:04


Could many of America's biggest problems be solved by simply building more? The theory of abundance suggests that from the housing crisis to the climate crisis, we could make real progress—if only we had the will and the systems to build boldly and swiftly. In their new book Abundance, Ezra Klein of The New York Times and Derek Thompson of The Atlantic lay out this ambitious vision. This week, Adam talks with Klein and Thompson about what's holding America back—and how we might finally get out of our own way. Find Ezra and Derek's book at factuallypod.com/books--SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/adamconoverSEE ADAM ON TOUR: https://www.adamconover.net/tourdates/SUBSCRIBE to and RATE Factually! on:» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0fK8WJw4ffMc2NWydBlDyJAbout Headgum: Headgum is an LA & NY-based podcast network creating premium podcasts with the funniest, most engaging voices in comedy to achieve one goal: Making our audience and ourselves laugh. Listen to our shows at https://www.headgum.com.» SUBSCRIBE to Headgum: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeadGum?sub_confirmation=1» FOLLOW us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/headgum» FOLLOW us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/headgum/» FOLLOW us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headgum» Advertise on Factually! via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Culture We Deserve
Fear of a Hunk Planet

The Culture We Deserve

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2025 86:17


Are the jiu jitsu men radicalized? Are gyms a white nationalist training camp? Is protein a masculinist conspiracy? Will the swole take up arms in their big meaty arms and overthrow the government? There has been a lot of fear of the swole and the ripped, with Ezra Klein calling UFC a gateway drug to rightwing radicalization and the New York Times referring to Hasan's physique as a "MAGA body." Jessa and Nico dig into this fear of jocks, and whether rolling around on the floor with other men, your face in a sweaty crotch, turns you fascist.  Shownotes and references (and join our Revolution and Ruin book club!): http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Ganz offen gesagt
#28 2025 Über neue Medienformate - mit Andreas Sator

Ganz offen gesagt

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2025 73:49


Er ist einer der bekanntesten unabhängigen Podcaster Österreichs: Andreas Sator spricht in seinem Podcast „Erklär mir die Welt“ mit Expertinnen und Experten über große Fragen – leicht verständlich und faktenbasiert. Mit Saskia Jungnikl-Gossy redet er über seine Motivation, die Herausforderungen der Themenfindung, neue Wege der Finanzierung journalistischer Arbeit – und was sich im Mediensystem ändern müsste, damit Formate wie seines langfristig bestehen können.Im Gespräch kommen immer wieder spannende Podcasts, Newsletter und Projekte zur Sprache – weiterführende Infos und Links dazu findest du hier:Alternate Realities Podcast – Gespräche über alternative Zukünfte, Technologie und gesellschaftlichen Wandel.The Ezra Klein Show (YouTube) – Interviews und Analysen zu Politik, Kultur und Ideen, moderiert von Ezra Klein.Substack von Sidonie Sagmeister – Persönliche Essays und Reflexionen zu Gesellschaft, Leben und Arbeit.Newsletter von Andreas Sator – Regelmäßige Updates zu Nachhaltigkeit, Politik und komplexen Zusammenhängen einfach erklärt.Sendegate – Die deutschsprachige Community-Plattform rund ums Podcasten und Audioproduktion.  Wir würden uns sehr freuen, wenn Du "Ganz offen gesagt" auf einem der folgenden Wege unterstützt:Werde Unterstützer:in auf SteadyKaufe ein Premium-Abo auf AppleKaufe Artikel in unserem FanshopSchalte Werbung in unserem PodcastFeedback bitte an redaktion@ganzoffengesagt.at

Making Sense with Sam Harris
#413 — “More From Sam”: Trump & Israel, Corruption, Free Speech Violations, the Democrats, & Ezra Klein

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2025 26:35


Sam hopped back on with his manager and business partner, Jaron Lowenstein, to talk about current events and answer some of the questions you all submitted on Substack. They discuss whether Jews in the U.S. are safer under Trump, due process rights and free speech, what Trump is doing to universities, the Trump family's latest corruption scandals, Sam's updated views on Bill Maher's dinner at the White House, what Sam got wrong about wokeness and the 2024 election, Pete Buttigieg's appearance on Andrew Schulz's podcast, Gavin Newsom, and Ezra Klein. Produced by Griffin Katz If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe. Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That's why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life's most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

TK To Go
Listen to This Article - In All-Time Loathsome Podcast, Reporters Cheerfully Admit Screwing Up Russiagate

TK To Go

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2025 3:00


This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.racket.newsBen Smith and Ezra Klein yuk it up on RussiagateNarrated by Jared Moore

CitizenCast
Why I sent this new book to the mayor and city council

CitizenCast

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2025 7:42


As this budget season reminds us, Democrats had better stop celebrating what they spend — and instead focus on what they actually build and deliver for real people. It was for this reason that I purchased copies of Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson and sent them to our city's leaders.

Keen On Democracy
Episode 2522: Edmund Fawcett on Trump as a Third Way between Liberalism and Conservatism

Keen On Democracy

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2025 34:09


I've been in London this week talking to America watchers about the current situation in the United States. First up is Edmund Fawcett, the longtime Economist correspondent in DC and historian of both liberalism and conservatism. Fawcett argues that Trump's MAGA movement represents a kind of third way between liberalism and conservatism - a version of American populism resurrected for our anti-globalist early 21st century. He talks about how economic inequality fuels Trumpism, with middle-class income shares dropping while the wealthy prosper. He critiques both what he calls right-wing intellectual "kitsch" and the left's lack of strategic vision beyond its dogma of identity politics. Lacking an effective counter-narrative to combat Trumpism, Fawcett argues, liberals require not only sharper messaging but also a reinvention of what it means to be modern in our globalized age of resurrected nationalism. 5 Key Takeaways* European reactions to Trump mix shock with recognition that his politics have deep American roots.* Economic inequality (declining middle-class wealth) provides the foundation for Trump's political appeal.* The American left lacks an effective counter-narrative and strategic vision to combat Trumpism.* Both right-wing intellectualism and left-wing identity politics suffer from forms of "kitsch" and American neurosis.* The perception of America losing its position as the embodiment of modernity creates underlying anxiety. Full TranscriptAndrew Keen: Hello everybody, we are in London this week, looking westward, looking at the United States, spending some time with some distinguished Englishmen, or half-Englishmen, who have spent a lot of their lives in the United States, and Edmund Fawcett, former Economist correspondent in America, the author of a number of important books, particularly, Histories of Liberalism and Conservatism, is remembering America, Edmund. What's your first memory of America?Edmund Fawcett: My first memory of America is a traffic accident on Park Avenue, looking down as a four-year-old from our apartment. I was there from the age of two to four, then again as a school child in Washington for a few years when my father was working. He was an international lawyer. But then, after that, back in San Francisco, where I was a... I kind of hacked as an editor for Straight Arrow Press, which was the publishing arm of Rolling Stone. This was in the early 70s. These were the, it was the end of the glory days of Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, the anti-war movement in Vietnam. It was exciting. A lot was going on, a lot was changing. And then not long after that, I came back to the U.S. for The Economist as their correspondent in Washington. That was in 1976, and I stayed there until 1983. We've always visited. Our son and grandson are American. My wife is or was American. She gave up her citizenship last year, chiefly for practical reasons. She said I would always feel American. But our regular visits have ended, of course. Being with my background, my mother was American, my grandfather was American. It is deeply part of my outlook, it's part of my world and so I am always very interested. I read quite a bit of the American press, not just the elite liberal press, every day. I keep an eye on through Real Clear Politics, which has got a very good sort of gazetteer. It's part of my weather.Andrew Keen: Edmund, I know you can't speak on behalf of Europe, but I'm going to ask a dumb question. Maybe you'll give me a smarter answer than the question. What's the European, the British take on what's happening in America? What's happened in this first quarter of 2025?Edmund Fawcett: I think a large degree of shock and horror, that's just the first reaction. If you'll allow me a little space, I think then there's a second reaction. The first reaction is shock and terror, with good reason, and nobody likes being talked to in the way that Vance talked to them, ignorantly and provocatively about free speech, which he feels he hasn't really thought hard enough about, and besides, it was I mean... Purely commercial, in largely commercial interest. The Europeans are shocked by the American slide from five, six, seven decades of internationalism. Okay, American-led, but still internationalist, cooperative, they're deeply shocked by that. And anybody who cares, as many Europeans do, about the texture, the caliber of American democracy and liberalism, are truly shocked by Trump's attacks on the courts, his attacks on the universities, his attack on the press.Andrew Keen: You remember, of course, Edmund, that famous moment in Casablanca where the policeman said he was shocked, truly shocked when of course he wasn't. Is your shock for real? Your... A good enough scholar of the United States to understand that a lot of the stuff that Trump is bringing to the table isn't new. We've had an ongoing debate in the show about how authentically American Trump is, whether he is the F word fascist or whether he represents some other indigenous strain in US political culture. What's your take?Edmund Fawcett: No, and that's the response to the shock. It's when you look back and see this Trump is actually deeply American. There's very little new here. There's one thing that is new, which I'll come to in a moment, and that returns the shock, but the shock is, is to some extent absorbed when Europeans who know about this do reflect that Trump is deeply American. I mean, there is a, he likes to cite McKinley, good, okay, the Republicans were the tariff party. He likes to say a lot of stuff that, for example, the populist Tom Watson from the South, deeply racist, but very much speaking for the working man, so long as he was a white working man. Trump goes back to that as well. He goes back in the presidential roster. Look at Robert Taft, competitor for the presidency against Eisenhower. He lost, but he was a very big voice in the Republican Party in the 1940s and 50s. Robert Taft, Jr. didn't want to join NATO. He pushed through over Truman's veto, the Taft-Hartley bill that as good as locked the unions out, the trade unions out of much of the part of America that became the burgeoning economic America, the South and the West. Trump is, sorry, forgive me, Taft, was in many ways as a hard-right Republican. Nixon told Kissinger, professors are the enemy. Reagan gave the what was it called? I forget the name of the speech that he gave in endorsing Barry Goldwater at the 1964 Republican Convention. This in a way launched the new Republican assault on liberal republicanism. Rockefeller was the loser. Reagan, as it were, handed the palm to Rocket Goldwater. He lost to Johnson, but the sermon they were using, the anti-liberal went into vernacular and Trump is merely in a way echoing that. If you were to do a movie called Trump, he would star, of course, but somebody who was Nixon and Reagan's scriptwright, forgive me, somebody who is Nixon and Reagan's Pressman, Pat Buchanan, he would write the script of the Trump movie. Go back and read, look at some of Pat Buchanan's books, some of his articles. He was... He said virtually everything that Trump says. America used to be great, it is no longer great. America has enemies outside that don't like it, that we have nothing to do with, we don't need allies, what we want is friends, and we have very few friends in the world. We're largely on our, by our own. We're basically a huge success, but we're being betrayed. We're being ignored by our allies, we're being betrayed by friends inside, and they are the liberal elite. It's all there in Pat Buchanan. So Trump in that way is indeed very American. He's very part of the history. Now, two things. One is... That Trump, like many people on the hard right in Europe, is to some extent, a neurotic response to very real complaints. If you would offer a one chart explanation of Trumpism, I don't know whether I can hold it up for the camera. It's here. It is actually two charts, but it is the one at the top where you see two lines cross over. You see at the bottom a more or less straight line. What this does is compare the share of income in 1970 with the share of the income more or less now. And what has happened, as we are not at all surprised to learn, is that the poor, who are not quite a majority but close to the actual people in the United States, things haven't changed for them much at all. Their life is static. However, what has changed is the life for what, at least in British terms, is called the middle classes, the middle group. Their share of income and wealth has dropped hugely, whereas the share of the income and wealth of the top has hugely risen. And in economic terms, that is what Trumpism is feeding off. He's feeding off a bewildered sense of rage, disappointment, possibly envy of people who looked forward, whose parents looked forward to a great better life, who they themselves got a better life. They were looking forward to one for their children and grandchildren. And now they're very worried that they're not those children and grandchildren aren't going to get it. So socially speaking, there is genuine concern, indeed anger that Trump is speaking to. Alas, Trump's answers are, I would say, and I think many Europeans would agree, fantasies.Andrew Keen: Your background is also on the left, your first job was at the New Left Reviews, you're all too familiar with Marxist language, Marxist literature, ways of thinking about what we used to call late-stage capitalism, maybe we should rename it post-late-stage-capitalism. Is it any surprise, given your presentation of the current situation in America, which is essentially class envy or class warfare, but the right. The Bannonites and many of the others on the right fringes of the MAGA movement have picked up on Lenin and Gramsci and the old icons of class warfare.Edmund Fawcett: No, I don't think it is. I think that they are these are I mean, we live in a world in which the people in politics and in the press in business, they've been to universities, they've read an awful lot of books, they spend an awful lot of time studying dusty old books like the ones you mentioned, Gramsci and so. So they're, to some extent, forgive me, they are, they're intellectuals or at least they become, they be intellectualized. Lenin called one of his books, What is to be Done. Patrick Deneen, a Catholic right-wing Catholic philosopher. He's one of the leading right-wing Catholic intellectuals of the day, hard right. He named it What is To Be Done. But this is almost kitsch, as it were, for a conservative Catholic intellectual to name a book after Vladimir Lenin, the first Bolshevik leader of the Russian Revolution. Forgive me, I lost the turn.Andrew Keen: You talk about kitsch, Edmund, is this kitsch leftism or is it real leftism? I mean if Trump was Bernie Sanders and a lot of what Trump says is not that different from Sanders with the intellectuals or the few intellectuals left in. New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles, would they be embracing what's happening? Thanks, I've got the third again.Edmund Fawcett: No, you said Kitsch. The publicists and intellectuals who support Trump, there is a Kitsch element to it. They use a lot of long words, they appeal to a lot of authorities. Augustine of Hippo comes into it. This is really kind of intellectual grandstanding. No, what matters? And this comes to the second thing about shock at Trump. The second thing is that there is real social and economic dysfunction here that the United States isn't really coping with. I don't think the Trumpites, I don't think the rather kitschy intellectuals who are his mature leaders. I don't think they so much matter. What I think matters here is, put it this way, is the silence of the left. And this is one of the deep problems. I mean, always with my friends, progressive friends, liberal friends, it's terribly easy to throw rocks at Trump and scorn his cheerleaders but we always have to ask ourselves why are they there and we're here and the left at the moment doesn't really have an answer to that. The Democrats in the United States they're strangely silent. And it's not just, as many people say, because they haven't dared to speak up. It's not that, it's a question of courage. It's an intellectual question of lacking some strategic sense of where the country is and what kinds of policy would help get it to a better place. This is very bleak, and that's part of, underlies the sense of shock, which we come back to with Trump after we tell ourselves, oh, well, it isn't new, and so on. The sense of shock is, well what is the practical available alternative for the moment? Electorally, Trump is quite weak, he wasn't a landslide, he got fewer percentage than Jimmy Carter did. The balance in the in the congress is quite is quite slight but again you could take false comfort there. The problem with liberals and progressives is they don't really have a counter narrative and one of the reasons they don't have a counter-narrative is I don't sense they have any longer a kind of vision of their own. This is a very bleak state of affairs.Andrew Keen: It's a bleak state of affairs in a very kind of surreal way. They're lacking the language. They don't have the words. Do they need to reread the old New Left classics?Edmund Fawcett: I think you've said a good thing. I mean, words matter tremendously. And this is one of Trump's gifts, is that he's able to spin old tropes of the right, the old theme music of the hard right that goes back to late 19th century America, late 19th century Europe. He's brilliant at it. It's often garbled. It's also incoherent. But the intellectuals, particularly liberals and progressives can mishear this. They can miss the point. They say, ah, it doesn't, it's not grammatical. It's incoherent. It is word salad. That's not the point. A paragraph of Trump doesn't make sense. If you were an editor, you'd want to rewrite it, but editors aren't listening. It's people in the crowd who get his main point, and his main point is always expressed verbally. It's very clever. It's hard to reproduce because he's actually a very good actor. However, the left at the moment has nothing. It has neither a vocabulary nor a set of speech makers. And the reason it doesn't have that, it doesn't have the vocabularies, because it doesn't have the strategic vision.Andrew Keen: Yeah, and coming back to the K-word you brought up, kitsch. If anything, the kitsch is on the left with Kamala Harris and her presentation of herself in this kitschification of American immigration. So the left in America, if that's the right word to describe them, are as vulnerable to kitsch as the right.Edmund Fawcett: Yes, and whether it's kitsch or not, I think this is very difficult to talk to on the progressive left. Identity politics does have a lot to answer for. Okay, I'll go for it. I mean, it's an old saying in politics that things begin as a movement, become a campaign, become a lobby, and then end up as a racket. That's putting it much too strongly, but there is an element in identity politics of which that is true. And I think identity politics is a deep problem for liberals, it's a deep problem for progressives because in the end, what identity politics offers is a fragmentation, which is indeed happened on the left, which then the right can just pick off as it chooses. This is, I think, to get back some kind of strategic vision, the left needs to come out of identity politics, it needs to go back to the vision of commonality, the vision of non-discrimination, the mission of true civic equality, which underlay civil rights, great movement, and try to avoid. The way that identity politics is encouraged, a kind of segmentation. There's an interesting parallel between identity politics and Trumpism. I'm thinking of the national element in Trumpism, Make America Great Again. It's rather a shock to see the Secretary of State sitting beside Trump in the room in the White House with a make America it's not a make America great cap but it says Gulf of America this kind of This nationalism is itself neurotic in a way that identity politics has become neurotic.Andrew Keen: Yeah, it's a Linguistic.Edmund Fawcett: Neurosis. Both are neurotic responses to genuine problems.Andrew Keen: Edmund, long-time viewers and listeners to the show know that I often quote you in your wonderful two histories of conservatism and liberalism when you, I'm not sure which of the books, I think it may have been in conservatism. I can't remember myself. You noted that this struggle between the left and the right, between liberalism and conservatives have always be smarter they've always made the first move and it's always been up to the liberals and of course liberalism and the left aren't always the same thing but the left or progressives have always been catching up with conservatives so just to ask this question in terms of this metaphorical chess match has anything changed. It's always been the right that makes the first move, that sets the game up. It has recently.Edmund Fawcett: Let's not fuss too much with the metaphor. I think it was, as it were, the Liberals made the first move for decades, and then, more or less in our lifetimes, it has been the right that has made the weather, and the left has been catching up. Let's look at what happened in the 1970s. In effect. 30-40 years of welfare capitalism in which the state played ever more of a role in providing safety nets for people who were cut short by a capitalistic economy. Politics turned its didn't entirely reject that far from it but it is it was said enough already we've reached an end point we're now going to turn away from that and try to limit the welfare state and that has been happening since the 1970s and the left has never really come up with an alternative if you look at Mitterrand in France you look at Tony Blair new Labor in you look at Clinton in the United States, all of them in effect found an acceptably liberal progressive way of repackaging. What the right was doing and the left has got as yet no alternative. They can throw rocks at Trump, they can resist the hard right in Germany, they can go into coalition with the Christian Democrats in order to resist the hard right much as in France but they don't really have a governing strategy of their own. And until they do, it seems to me, and this is the bleak vision, the hard right will make the running. Either they will be in government as they are in the United States, or they'll be kept just out of government by unstable coalitions of liberal conservatives and the liberal left.Andrew Keen: So to quote Patrick Deneen, what is to be done is the alternative, a technocracy, the best-selling book now on the New York Times bestseller list is Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson's Abundance, which is a progressive. Technocratic manifesto for changing America. It's not very ideological. Is that really the only alternative for the left unless it falls into a Bernie Sanders-style anti-capitalism which often is rather vague and problematic?Edmund Fawcett: Well, technocracy is great, but technocrats never really get to do what they say ought to be done, particularly not in large, messy democracies like Europe and the United States. Look, it's a big question. If I had a Leninist answer to Patrick Deneen's question, what is to be done, I'd be very happy to give it. I feel as somebody on the liberal left that the first thing the liberal left needs to do is to is two things. One is to focus in exposing the intellectual kitschiness, the intellectual incoherence on the one hand of the hard right, and two, hitting back in a popular way, in a vulgar way, if you will, at the lies, misrepresentations, and false appeals that the hard-right coasts on. So that's really a kind of public relations. It's not deep strategy or technocracy. It is not a policy list. It's sharpening up the game. Of basically of democratic politics and they need to liberals on the left need to be much tougher much sharper much more vulgar much more ready to use the kinds of weapons the kinds of mockery and imaginative invention that the Trumpites use that's the first thing the second thing is to take a breath and go back and look at the great achievements of democratic liberalism of the 1950s, 60s, 70s if you will. I mean these were these produced in Europe and the United States societies that by any historical standard are not bad. They have terrible problems, terrible inequities, but by any historical standard and indeed by any comparative standard, they're not bad if you ask yourself why immigration has become such a problem in Western Europe and the United States, it's because these are hugely desirable places to live in, not just because they're rich and make a comfortable living, which is the sort of the rights attitude, because basically they're fairly safe places to live. They're fairly good places for your kids to grow up in. All of these are huge achievements, and it seems to me that the progressives, the liberals, should look back and see how much work was needed to create... The kinds of politics that underpinned that society, and see what was good, boast of what was and focus on how much work was needed.Andrew Keen: Maybe rather than talking about making America great again, it should be making America not bad. I think that's too English for the United States. I don't think that should be for a winner outside Massachusetts and Maine. That's back to front hypocritical Englishism. Let's end where we began on a personal note. Do you think one of the reasons why Trump makes so much news, there's so much bemusement about him around the world, is because most people associate America with modernity, they just take it for granted that America is the most advanced, the most modern, is the quintessential modern project. So when you have a character like Trump, who's anti-modernist, who is a reactionary, It's bewildering.Edmund Fawcett: I think it is bewildering, and I think there's a kind of bewilderment underneath, which we haven't really spoken to as it is an entirely other subject, but is lurking there. Yes, you put your absolutely right, you put your finger on it, a lot of us look to America as modernity, maybe not the society of the future, but certainly the the culture of the future, the innovations of the future. And I think one of the worrying things, which maybe feeds the neurosis of Make America Great Again, feeds the neurosis, of current American unilateralism, is a fear But modernity, talk like Hegel, has now shifted and is now to be seen in China, India and other countries of the world. And I think underlying everything, even below the stuff that we showed in the chart about changing shares of wealth. I think under that... That is much more worrisome in the United States than almost anything else. It's the sense that the United States isn't any longer the great modern world historical country. It's very troubling, but let's face it, you get have to get used to it.Andrew Keen: The other thing that's bewildering and chilling is this seeming coexistence of technological innovation, the Mark Andreessen's, the the Musk's, Elon Musk's of the world, the AI revolution, Silicon Valley, who seem mostly in alliance with Trump and Musk of course are headed out. The Doge campaign to destroy government or undermine government. Is it conceivable that modernity is by definition, you mentioned Hegel and of course lots of people imagine that history had ended in 1989 but the reverse was true. Is it possible that modernity is by-definition reactionary politically?Edmund Fawcett: A tough one. I mean on the technocracy, the technocrats of Silicon Valley, I think one of their problems is that they're brilliant, quite brilliant at making machines. I'm the machinery we're using right here. They're fantastic. They're not terribly good at. Messy human beings and messy politics. So I'm not terribly troubled by that, nor your other question about it is whether looming challenges of technology. I mean, maybe I could just end with the violinist, Fritz Kreisler, who said, I was against the telegraph, I was against the telephone, I was against television. I'm a progressive when it comes to technology. I'm always against the latest thing. I mean, I don't, there've always been new machines. I'm not terribly troubled by that. It seems to me, you know, I want you to worry about more immediate problems. If indeed AI is going to take over the world, my sense is, tell us when we get there.Andrew Keen: And finally, you were half-born in the United States or certainly from an American and British parent. You spent a lot of your life there and you still go, you follow it carefully. Is it like losing a lover or a loved one? Is it a kind of divorce in your mind with what's happening in America in terms of your own relations with America? You noted that your wife gave up her citizenship this year.Edmund Fawcett: Well, it is. And if I could talk about Natalia, my wife, she was much more American than me. Her mother was American from Philadelphia. She lived and worked in America more than I did. She did give up her American citizenship last year, partly for a feeling of, we use a long word, alienation, partly for practical reasons, not because we're anything like rich enough to pay American tax, but simply the business of keeping up with the changing tax code is very wary and troublesome. But she said, as she did it, she will always feel deeply American, and I think it's possible to say that. I mean, it's part of both of us, and I don't think...Andrew Keen: It's loseable. Well, I have to ask this question finally, finally. Maybe I always use that word and it's never final. What does it mean to feel American?Edmund Fawcett: Well, everybody's gonna have their own answer to that. I was just... What does it mean for you? I'm just reading. What it is to feel American. Can I dodge the question by saying, what is it to feel Californian? Or even what is to be Los Angelino? Where my sister-in-law and brother-in-law live. A great friend said, what it is feel Los Angeles you go over those mountains and you put down your rucksack. And I think what that means is for Europeans, America has always meant leaving the past behind.Edmund Fawcett was the Economist‘s Washington, Paris and Berlin correspondent and is a regular reviewer. His Liberalism: The Life of an Idea was published by Princeton in 2014. The second in his planned political trilogy – Conservatism: The Fight for a Tradition – was published in 2020, also by Princeton University Press. The Economist called it ‘an epic history of conservatism and the Financial Times praised Fawcett for creating a ‘rich and wide-ranging account' that demonstrates how conservatism has repeated managed to renew itself.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

RadioWest
Does Utah Have the Right Stuff to Build its Way Out of the Housing Crisis?

RadioWest

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2025 50:30


The new book "Abundance," by journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, argues that blue-led cities struggle with housing more than red-led cities. We'll spend the hour asking local housing experts how Utah and Salt Lake City are doing.

Cold Brew Got Me Like
Episode 187: Let Them Eat Milton Friedman

Cold Brew Got Me Like

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2025 99:41


"The Shock Doctrine" arrives in America. Now Americans have some idea of how Chileans felt in the 1970s. ALSO: Chris is still mad at Ezra Klein. PLUS: Zoloft VS one's sex drive. A song of the week from Sophia Corinne.Sophia Corinne - "Nursing the Wound": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pWjFwW1kcQCold Brew Patreon: Patreon.com/ChrisCroftonChannel Nonfiction: ChannelNonfiction.com

The View
Friday, April 25: José Andrés, Ezra Klein

The View

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2025 43:37


The co-hosts weigh in on the latest bombshell poll that finds that the vast majority of young Americans have lost hope in the U.S. government on both sides of the aisle. Then, they react to John Cena revealing he got a hair transplant after “bullying” from fans. Chef and humanitarian José Andrés discusses his mission to provide food relief across the globe and his hopes for American food policy from his new book, "Change the Recipe." Ezra Klein, political commentator, columnist and bestselling co-author of "Abundance," talks about the obstacles to progress in American infrastructure and the current state of our democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mixed Signals from Semafor Media
Ezra Klein on Trump, Sanity, and Podcasting

Mixed Signals from Semafor Media

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2025 48:28


Ezra Klein is on a book tour — you may have heard his voice on some of your other favorite podcasts talking about Abundance. Today, Ben and Max also talk to The New York Times columnist and host… but you won't hear anything about the book (so you'll just have to buy it). Instead, they ask Ezra what he's learned about the media and podcasting through this latest tour, how the “abundance” framework might apply to media, and if Trump will go after the press next. They also discuss how he's become a rare media celebrity for liberals, why his fans feel saner listening to him — and how that may not be a good thing. Sign up for Semafor Media's Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media  For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com. Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani If you have a tip or a comment, please email us mixedsignals@semafor.com

Keen On Democracy
Episode 2513: Adam Hochschild on how American History is Repeating itself, first as Tragedy, then as Trump

Keen On Democracy

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2025 44:15


A year ago, the great American historian Adam Hochschild came on KEEN ON AMERICA to discuss American Midnight, his best selling account of the crisis of American democracy after World War One. A year later, is history really repeating itself in today's crisis of American democracy? For Hochschild, there are certainly parallels between the current political situation in the US and post WW1 America. Describing how wartime hysteria and fear of communism led to unprecedented government repression, including mass imprisonment for political speech, vigilante violence, and press censorship. Hochschild notes eery similarities to today's Trump's administration. He expresses concern about today's threats to democratic institutions while suggesting the importance of understanding Trump supporters' grievances and finding ways to bridge political divides. Five Key Takeaways* The period of 1917-1921 in America saw extreme government repression, including imprisoning people for speech, vigilante violence, and widespread censorship—what Hochschild calls America's "Trumpiest" era before Trump.* American history shows recurring patterns of nativism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and scapegoating that politicians exploit during times of economic or social stress.* The current political climate shows concerning parallels to this earlier period, including intimidation of opposition, attacks on institutions, and the widespread acceptance of authoritarian tendencies.* Hochschild emphasizes the importance of understanding the grievances and suffering that lead people to support authoritarian figures rather than dismissing their concerns.* Despite current divisions, Hochschild believes reconciliation is possible and necessary, pointing to historical examples like President Harding pardoning Eugene Debs after Wilson imprisoned him. Full Transcript Andrew Keen: Hello, everybody. We recently celebrated our 2500th edition of Keen On. Some people suggest I'm mad. I think I probably am to do so many shows. Just over a little more than a year ago, we celebrated our 2000th show featuring one of America's most distinguished historians, Adam Hochschild. I'm thrilled that Adam is joining us again a year later. He's the author of "American Midnight, The Great War, A Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis." This was his last book. He's the author of many other books. He is now working on a book on the Great Depression. He's joining us from his home in Berkeley, California. Adam, to borrow a famous phrase or remix a famous phrase, a year is a long time in American history.Adam Hochschild: That's true, Andrew. I think this past year, or actually this past 100 days or so has been a very long and very difficult time in American history that we all saw coming to some degree, but I don't think we realized it would be as extreme and as rapid as it has been.Andrew Keen: Your book, Adam, "American Midnight, A Great War of Violent Peace and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis," is perhaps the most prescient warning. When you researched that you were saying before we went live that your books usually take you between four and five years, so you couldn't really have planned for this, although I guess you began writing and researching American Midnight during the Trump 1.0 regime. Did you write it as a warning to something like is happening today in America?Adam Hochschild: Well, I did start writing it and did most of the work on it during Trump's first term in office. So I was very struck by the parallels. And they're in plain sight for everybody to see. There are various dark currents that run through this country of ours. Nativism, threats to deport troublemakers. Politicians stirring up violent feelings against immigrants, vigilante violence, all those things have been with us for a long time. I've always been fascinated by that period, 1917 to 21, when they surged to the surface in a very nasty way. That was the subject of the book. Naturally, I hoped we wouldn't have to go through anything like that again, but here we are definitely going through it again.Andrew Keen: You wrote a lovely piece earlier this month for the Washington Post. "America was at its Trumpiest a hundred years ago. Here's how to prevent the worst." What did you mean by Trumpiest, Adam? I'm not sure if you came up with that title, but I know you like the term. You begin the essay. What was the Trumpiest period in American life before Donald Trump?Adam Hochschild: Well, I didn't invent the word, but I certainly did use it in the piece. What I meant by that is that when you look at this period just over 100 years ago, 1917 to 1921, Woodrow Wilson's second term in office, two things happened in 1917 that kicked off a kind of hysteria in this country. One was that Wilson asked the American Congress to declare war on Germany, which it promptly did, and when a country enters a major war, especially a world war, it sets off a kind of hysteria. And then that was redoubled some months later when the country received news of the Russian Revolution, and many people in the establishment in America were afraid the Russian Revolution might come to the United States.So, a number of things happened. One was that there was a total hysteria against all things German. There were bonfires of German books all around the country. People would take German books out of libraries, schools, college and university libraries and burn them in the street. 19 such bonfires in Ohio alone. You can see pictures of it on the internet. There was hysteria about the German language. I heard about this from my father as I was growing up because his father was a Jewish immigrant from Germany. They lived in New York City. They spoke German around the family dinner table, but they were terrified of doing so on the street because you could get beaten up for that. Several states passed laws against speaking German in public or speaking German on the telephone. Eminent professors declared that German was a barbaric language. So there was that kind of hysteria.Then as soon as the United States declared war, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act through Congress, this draconian law, which essentially gave the government the right to lock up anybody who said something that was taken to be against the war. And they used this law in a devastating way. During those four years, roughly a thousand Americans spent a year or more in jail and a much larger number, shorter periods in jail solely for things that they wrote or said. These were people who were political prisoners sent to jail simply for something they wrote or said, the most famous of them was Eugene Debs, many times the socialist candidate for president. He'd gotten 6% of the popular vote in 1912 and in 1918. For giving an anti-war speech from a park bandstand in Ohio, he was sent to prison for 10 years. And he was still in prison two years after the war ended in November, 1920, when he pulled more than 900,000 votes for president from his jail cell in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.So that was one phase of the repression, political prisoners. Another was vigilante violence. The government itself, the Department of Justice, chartered a vigilante group, something called the American Protective League, which went around roughing up people that it thought were evading the draft, beating up people at anti-war rallies, arresting people with citizens arrest whom they didn't have their proper draft papers on them, holding them for hours or sometimes for days until they could produce the right paperwork.Andrew Keen: I remember, Adam, you have a very graphic description of some of this violence in American Midnight. There was a story, was it a union leader?Adam Hochschild: Well, there is so much violence that happened during that time. I begin the book with a graphic description of vigilantes raiding an office of the Wobblies, the Industrial Workers of the World, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, taking a bunch of wobblies out into the prairie at night, stripping them, whipping them, flogging them fiercely, and then tarring and feathering them, and firing shotguns over their heads so they would run off into the Prairie at Night. And they did. Those guys were lucky because they survive. Other people were killed by this vigilante violence.And the final thing about that period which I would mention is the press censorship. The Espionage Act gave the Postmaster General the power to declare any publication in the United States unmailable. And for a newspaper or a magazine that was trying to reach a national audience, the only way you could do so was through the US mail because there was no internet then. No radio, no TV, no other way of getting your publication to somebody. And this put some 75 newspapers and magazines that the government didn't like out of business. It in addition censored three or four hundred specific issues of other publications as well.So that's why I feel this is all a very dark period of American life. Ironically, that press censorship operation, because it was run by the postmaster general, who by the way loved being chief censor, it was ran out of the building that was then the post office headquarters in Washington, which a hundred years later became the Trump International Hotel. And for $4,000 a night, you could stay in the Postmaster General's suite.Andrew Keen: You, Adam, the First World War is a subject you're very familiar with. In addition to American Midnight, you wrote "To End All Wars, a story of loyalty and rebellion, 1914 to 18," which was another very successful of your historical recreations. Many countries around the world experience this turbulence, the violence. Of course, we had fascism in the 20s in Europe. And later in the 30s as well. America has a long history of violence. You talk about the violence after the First World War or after the declaration. But I was just in Montgomery, Alabama, went to the lynching museum there, which is considerably troubling. I'm sure you've been there. You're not necessarily a comparative political scientist, Adam. How does America, in its paranoia during the war and its clampdown on press freedom, on its violence, on its attempt to create an authoritarian political system, how does it compare to other democracies? Is some of this stuff uniquely American or is it a similar development around the world?Adam Hochschild: You see similar pressures almost any time that a major country is involved in a major war. Wars are never good for civil liberties. The First World War, to stick with that period of comparison, was a time that saw strong anti-war movements in all of the warring countries, in Germany and Britain and Russia. There were people who understood at the time that this war was going to remake the world for the worse in every way, which indeed it did, and who refused to fight. There were 800 conscientious objectors jailed in Russia, and Russia did not have much freedom of expression to begin with. In Germany, many distinguished people on the left, like Rosa Luxemburg, were sent to jail for most of the war.Britain was an interesting case because I think they had a much longer established tradition of free speech than did the countries on the continent. It goes way back and it's a distinguished and wonderful tradition. They were also worried for the first two and a half, three years of the war before the United States entered, that if they crack down too hard on their anti-war movement, it would upset people in the United States, which they were desperate to draw into the war on their side. Nonetheless, there were 6,000 conscientious objectors who were sent to jail in England. There was intermittent censorship of anti-war publications, although some were able to publish some of the time. There were many distinguished Britons, such as Bertrand Russell, the philosopher who later won a Nobel Prize, sent to jails for six months for his opposition to the war. So some of this happened all over.But I think in the United States, especially with these vigilante groups, it took a more violent form because remember the country at that time was only a few decades away from these frontier wars with the Indians. And the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century, the western expansion of white settlement was an enormously bloody business that was almost genocidal for the Native Americans. Many people had participated in that. Many people saw that violence as integral to what the country was. So there was a pretty well-established tradition of settling differences violently.Andrew Keen: I'm sure you're familiar with Stephen Hahn's book, "A Liberal America." He teaches at NYU, a book which in some ways is very similar to yours, but covers all of American history. Hahn was recently on the Ezra Klein show, talking like you, like we're talking today, Adam, about the very American roots of Trumpism. Hahn, it's an interesting book, traces much of this back to Jackson and the wars of the frontier against Indians. Do you share his thesis on that front? Are there strong similarities between Jackson, Wilson, and perhaps even Trump?Adam Hochschild: Well, I regret to say I'm not familiar with Hahn's book, but I certainly do feel that that legacy of constant war for most of the 19th century against the Native Americans ran very deep in this country. And we must never forget how appealing it is to young men to take part in war. Unfortunately, all through history, there have been people very tempted by this. And I think when you have wars of conquest, such as happen in the American West, against people who are more poorly armed, or colonial wars such as Europe fought in Africa and Asia against much more poorly-armed opponents, these are especially appealing to young people. And in both the United States and in the European colonization of Africa, which I know something about. For young men joining in these colonizing or conquering adventures, there was a chance not just to get martial glory, but to also get rich in the process.Andrew Keen: You're all too familiar with colonial history, Adam. Another of your books was about King Leopold's Congo and the brutality there. Where was the most coherent opposition morally and politically to what was happening? My sense in Trump's America is perhaps the most persuasive and moral critique comes from the old Republican Center from people like David Brooks, Peter Wayno has been on the show many times, Jonathan Rausch. Where were people like Teddy Roosevelt in this narrative? Were there critics from the right as well as from the left?Adam Hochschild: Good question. I first of all would give a shout out to those Republican centrists who've spoken out against Trump, the McCain Republicans. There are some good people there - Romney, of course as well. They've been very forceful. There wasn't really an equivalent to that, a direct equivalent to that in the Wilson era. Teddy Roosevelt whom you mentioned was a far more ferocious drum beater than Wilson himself and was pushing Wilson to declare war long before Wilson did. Roosevelt really believed that war was good for the soul. He desperately tried to get Wilson to appoint him to lead a volunteer force, came up with an elaborate plan for this would be a volunteer army staffed by descendants of both Union and Confederate generals and by French officers as well and homage to the Marquis de Lafayette. Wilson refused to allow Roosevelt to do this, and plus Roosevelt was, I think, 58 years old at the time. But all four of Roosevelt's sons enlisted and joined in the war, and one of them was killed. And his father was absolutely devastated by this.So there was not really that equivalent to the McCain Republicans who are resisting Trump, so to speak. In fact, what resistance there was in the U.S. came mostly from the left, and it was mostly ruthlessly silenced, all these people who went to jail. It was silenced also because this is another important part of what happened, which is different from today. When the federal government passed the Espionage Act that gave it these draconian powers, state governments, many of them passed copycat laws. In fact, a federal justice department agent actually helped draft the law in New Hampshire. Montana locked up people serving more than 60 years cumulatively of hard labor for opposing the war. California had 70 people in prison. Even my hometown of Berkeley, California passed a copycat law. So, this martial spirit really spread throughout the country at that time.Andrew Keen: So you've mentioned that Debs was the great critic and was imprisoned and got a considerable number of votes in the election. You're writing a book now about the Great Depression and FDR's involvement in it. FDR, of course, was a distant cousin of Teddy Roosevelt. At this point, he was an aspiring Democratic politician. Where was the critique within the mainstream Democratic party? Were people like FDR, who had a position in the Wilson administration, wasn't he naval secretary?Adam Hochschild: He was assistant secretary of the Navy. And he went to Europe during the war. For an aspiring politician, it's always very important to say I've been at the front. And so he went to Europe and certainly made no sign of resistance. And then in 1920, he was the democratic candidate for vice president. That ticket lost of course.Andrew Keen: And just to remind ourselves, this was before he became disabled through polio, is that correct?Adam Hochschild: That's right. That happened in the early 20s and it completely changed his life and I think quite deepened him as a person. He was a very ambitious social climbing young politician before then but I think he became something deeper. Also the political parties at the time were divided each party between right and left wings or war mongering and pacifist wings. And when the Congress voted on the war, there were six senators who voted against going to war and 50 members of the House of Representatives. And those senators and representatives came from both parties. We think of the Republican Party as being more conservative, but it had some staunch liberals in it. The most outspoken voice against the war in the Senate was Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, who was a Republican.Andrew Keen: I know you write about La Follette in American Midnight, but couldn't one, Adam, couldn't won before the war and against domestic repression. You wrote an interesting piece recently for the New York Review of Books about the Scopes trial. William Jennings Bryan, of course, was involved in that. He was the defeated Democratic candidate, what in about three or four presidential elections in the past. In the early 20th century. What was Bryan's position on this? He had been against the war, is that correct? But I'm guessing he would have been quite critical of some of the domestic repression.Adam Hochschild: You know, I should know the answer to that, Andrew, but I don't. He certainly was against going to war. He had started out in Wilson's first term as Wilson's secretary of state and then resigned in protest against the military buildup and what he saw as a drift to war, and I give him great credit for that. I don't recall his speaking out against the repression after it began, once the US entered the war, but I could be wrong on that. It was not something that I researched. There were just so few voices speaking out. I think I would remember if he had been one of them.Andrew Keen: Adam, again, I'm thinking out loud here, so please correct me if this is a dumb question. What would it be fair to say that one of the things that distinguished the United States from the European powers during the First World War in this period it remained an incredibly insular provincial place barely involved in international politics with a population many of them were migrants themselves would come from Europe but nonetheless cut off from the world. And much of that accounted for the anti-immigrant, anti-foreign hysteria. That exists in many countries, but perhaps it was a little bit more pronounced in the America of the early 20th century, and perhaps in some ways in the early 21st century.Adam Hochschild: Well, we remain a pretty insular place in many ways. A few years ago, I remember seeing the statistic in the New York Times, I have not checked to see whether it's still the case, but I suspect it is that half the members of the United States Congress do not have passports. And we are more cut off from the world than people living in most of the countries of Europe, for example. And I think that does account for some of the tremendous feeling against immigrants and refugees. Although, of course, this is something that is common, not just in Europe, but in many countries all over the world. And I fear it's going to get all the stronger as climate change generates more and more refugees from the center of the earth going to places farther north or farther south where they can get away from parts of the world that have become almost unlivable because of climate change.Andrew Keen: I wonder Democratic Congress people perhaps aren't leaving the country because they fear they won't be let back in. What were the concrete consequences of all this? You write in your book about a young lawyer, J. Edgar Hoover, of course, who made his name in this period. He was very much involved in the Palmer Raids. He worked, I think his first job was for Palmer. How do you see this structurally? Of course, many historians, biographers of Hoover have seen this as the beginning of some sort of American security state. Is that over-reading it, exaggerating what happened in this period?Adam Hochschild: Well, security state may be too dignified a word for the hysteria that reigned in the country at that time. One of the things we've long had in the United States is a hysteria, paranoia directed at immigrants who are coming from what seems to be a new and threatening part of the world. In the mid-19th century, for example, we had the Know-Nothing Party, as it was called, who were violently opposed to Catholic immigrants coming from Ireland. Now, they were people of Anglo-Saxon descent, pretty much, who felt that these Irish Catholics were a tremendous threat to the America that they knew. There was much violence. There were people killed in riots against Catholic immigrants. There were Catholic merchants who had their stores burned and so on.Then it began to shift. The Irish sort of became acceptable, but by the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century the immigrants coming from Europe were now coming primarily from southern and eastern Europe. In other words, Italians, Sicilians, Poles, and Jews. And they became the target of the anti-immigrant crusaders with much hysteria directed against them. It was further inflamed at that time by the Eugenics movement, which was something very strong, where people believed that there was a Nordic race that was somehow superior to everybody else, that the Mediterraneans were inferior people, and that the Africans were so far down the scale, barely worth talking about. And this culminated in 1924 with the passage of the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act that year, which basically slammed the door completely on immigrants coming from Asia and slowed to an absolute trickle those coming from Europe for the next 40 years or so.Andrew Keen: It wasn't until the mid-60s that immigration changed, which is often overlooked. Some people, even on the left, suggest that it was a mistake to radically reform the Immigration Act because we would have inevitably found ourselves back in this situation. What do you think about that, Adam?Adam Hochschild: Well, I think a country has the right to regulate to some degree its immigration, but there always will be immigration in this world. I mean, my ancestors all came from other countries. The Jewish side of my family, I'm half Jewish, were lucky to get out of Europe in plenty of time. Some relatives who stayed there were not lucky and perished in the Holocaust. So who am I to say that somebody fleeing a repressive regime in El Salvador or somewhere else doesn't have the right to come here? I think we should be pretty tolerant, especially if people fleeing countries where they really risk death for one reason or another. But there is always gonna be this strong anti-immigrant feeling because unscrupulous politicians like Donald Trump, and he has many predecessors in this country, can point to immigrants and blame them for the economic misfortunes that many Americans are experiencing for reasons that don't have anything to do with immigration.Andrew Keen: Fast forward Adam to today. You were involved in an interesting conversation on the Nation about the role of universities in the resistance. What do you make of this first hundred days, I was going to say hundred years that would be a Freudian error, a hundred days of the Trump regime, the role, of big law, big universities, newspapers, media outlets? In this emerging opposition, are you chilled or encouraged?Adam Hochschild: Well, I hope it's a hundred days and not a hundred years. I am moderately encouraged. I was certainly deeply disappointed at the outset to see all of those tech titans go to Washington, kiss the ring, contribute to Trump's inauguration festivities, be there in the front row. Very depressing spectacle, which kind of reminds one of how all the big German industrialists fell into line so quickly behind Hitler. And I'm particularly depressed to see the changes in the media, both the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post becoming much more tame when it came to endorsing.Andrew Keen: One of the reasons for that, Adam, of course, is that you're a long-time professor at the journalism school at UC Berkeley, so you've been on the front lines.Adam Hochschild: So I really care about a lively press that has free expression. And we also have a huge part of the media like Fox News and One American Network and other outlets that are just pouring forth a constant fire hose of lies and falsehood.Andrew Keen: And you're being kind of calling it a fire hose. I think we could come up with other terms for it. Anyway, a sewage pipe, but that's another issue.Adam Hochschild: But I'm encouraged when I see media organizations that take a stand. There are places like the New York Times, like CNN, like MSNBC, like the major TV networks, which you can read or watch and really find an honest picture of what's going on. And I think that's a tremendously important thing for a country to have. And that you look at the countries that Donald Trump admires, like Putin's Russia, for example, they don't have this. So I value that. I want to keep it. I think that's tremendously important.I was sorry, of course, that so many of those big law firms immediately cave to these ridiculous and unprecedented demands that he made, contributing pro bono work to his causes in return for not getting banned from government buildings. Nothing like that has happened in American history before, and the people in those firms that made those decisions should really be ashamed of themselves. I was glad to see Harvard University, which happens to be my alma mater, be defiant after caving in a little bit on a couple of issues. They finally put their foot down and said no. And I must say, feeling Harvard patriotism is a very rare emotion for me. But this is the first time in 50 years that I've felt some of it.Andrew Keen: You may even give a donation, Adam.Adam Hochschild: And I hope other universities are going to follow its lead, and it looks like they will. But this is pretty unprecedented, a president coming after universities with this determined of ferocity. And he's going after nonprofit organizations as well. There will be many fights there as well, I'm sure we're just waiting to hear about the next wave of attacks which will be on places like the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation and other big nonprofits. So hold on and wait for that and I hope they are as defiant as possible too.Andrew Keen: It's a little bit jarring to hear a wise historian like yourself use the word unprecedented. Is there much else of this given that we're talking historically and the similarities with the period after the first world war, is there anything else unprecedented about Trumpism?Adam Hochschild: I think in a way, we have often had, or not often, but certainly sometimes had presidents in this country who wanted to assume almost dictatorial powers. Richard Nixon certainly is the most recent case before Trump. And he was eventually stopped and forced to leave office. Had that not happened, I think he would have very happily turned himself into a dictator. So we know that there are temptations that come with the desire for absolute power everywhere. But Trump has gotten farther along on this process and has shown less willingness to do things like abide by court orders. The way that he puts pressure on Republican members of Congress.To me, one of the most startling, disappointing, remarkable, and shocking things about these first hundred days is how very few Republican members to the House or Senate have dared to defy Trump on anything. At most, these ridiculous set of appointees that he muscled through the Senate. At most, they got three Republican votes against them. They couldn't muster the fourth necessary vote. And in the House, only one or two Republicans have voted against Trump on anything. And of course, he has threatened to have Elon Musk fund primaries against any member of Congress who does defy him. And I can't help but think that these folks must also be afraid of physical violence because Trump has let all the January 6th people out of jail and the way vigilantes like that operate is they first go after the traitors on their own side then they come for the rest of us just as in the first real burst of violence in Hitler's Germany was the night of the long knives against another faction of the Nazi Party. Then they started coming for the Jews.Andrew Keen: Finally, Adam, your wife, Arlie, is another very distinguished writer.Adam Hochschild: I've got a better picture of her than that one though.Andrew Keen: Well, I got some very nice photos. This one is perhaps a little, well she's thinking Adam. Everyone knows Arlie from her hugely successful work, "Strangers in their Own Land." She has a new book out, "Stolen Pride, Lost Shame and the Rise of the Right." I don't want to put words into Arlie's mouth and she certainly wouldn't let me do that, Adam, but would it be fair to say that her reading, certainly of recent American history, is trying to bring people back together. She talks about the lessons she learned from her therapist brother. And in some ways, I see her as a kind of marriage counselor in America. Given what's happening today in America with Trump, is this still an opportunity? This thing is going to end and it will end in some ways rather badly and perhaps bloodily one way or the other. But is this still a way to bring people, to bring Americans back together? Can America be reunited? What can we learn from American Midnight? I mean, one of the more encouraging stories I remember, and please correct me if I'm wrong. Wasn't it Coolidge or Harding who invited Debs when he left prison to the White House? So American history might be in some ways violent, but it's also made up of chapters of forgiveness.Adam Hochschild: That's true. I mean, that Debs-Harding example is a wonderful one. Here is Debs sent to prison by Woodrow Wilson for a 10-year term. And Debs, by the way, had been in jail before for his leadership of a railway strike when he was a railway workers union organizer. Labor organizing was a very dangerous profession in those days. But Debs was a fairly gentle man, deeply committed to nonviolence. About a year into, a little less than a year into his term, Warren Harding, Woodrow Wilson's successor, pardoned Debs, let him out of prison, invited him to visit the White House on his way home. And they had a half hour's chat. And when he left the building, Debs told reporters, "I've run for the White house five times, but this is the first time I've actually gotten here." Harding privately told a friend. This was revealed only after his death, that he said, "Debs was right about that war. We never should have gotten involved in it."So yeah, there can be reconciliation. There can be talk across these great differences that we have, and I think there are a number of organizations that are working on that specific project, getting people—Andrew Keen: We've done many of those shows. I'm sure you're familiar with the organization Braver Angels, which seems to be a very good group.Adam Hochschild: So I think it can be done. I really think it could be done and it has to be done and it's important for those of us who are deeply worried about Trump, as you and I are, to understand the grievances and the losses and the suffering that has made Trump's backers feel that here is somebody who can get them out of the pickle that they're in. We have to understand that, and the Democratic Party has to come up with promising alternatives for them, which it really has not done. It didn't really offer one in this last election. And the party itself is in complete disarray right now, I fear.Andrew Keen: I think perhaps Arlie should run for president. She would certainly do a better job than Kamala Harris in explaining it. And of course they're both from Berkeley. Finally, Adam, you're very familiar with the history of Africa, Southern Africa, your family I think was originally from there. Might we need after all this, when hopefully the smoke clears, might we need a Mandela style truth and reconciliation committee to make sense of what's happening?Adam Hochschild: My family's actually not from there, but they were in business there.Andrew Keen: Right, they were in the mining business, weren't they?Adam Hochschild: That's right. Truth and Reconciliation Committee. Well, I don't think it would be on quite the same model as South Africa's. But I certainly think we need to find some way of talking across the differences that we have. Coming from the left side of that divide I just feel all too often when I'm talking to people who feel as I do about the world that there is a kind of contempt or disinterest in Trump's backers. These are people that I want to understand, that we need to understand. We need to understand them in order to hear what their real grievances are and to develop alternative policies that are going to give them a real alternative to vote for. Unless we can do that, we're going to have Trump and his like for a long time, I fear.Andrew Keen: Wise words, Adam. I hope in the next 500 episodes of this show, things will improve. We'll get you back on the show, keep doing your important work, and I'm very excited to learn more about your new project, which we'll come to in the next few months or certainly years. Thank you so much.Adam Hochschild: OK, thank you, Andrew. Good being with you. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

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Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
388. Derek Thompson with Clayton Aldern: Abundance

Town Hall Seattle Civics Series

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2025 80:29


From bestselling authors and journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance is a call to renew a politics of plenty, face the failures of liberal governance, and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life. To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don't have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven't built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget — if they are ever finished at all. The crisis that's clicking into focus now has been building for decades — because we haven't been building enough. Abundance explains that our problems today are not the results of yesteryear's villains. Rather, one generation's solutions have become the next gener­ation's problems. Authors Klein and Thompson contend that progress requires facing up to the institutions in life that are not working as they need to. It means, for liberals, recognizing when the government is failing. It means, for conservatives, recognizing when the government is needed. In a book exploring how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and pre­serves but also builds, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this is an answer that meets the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many rightfully feel. Co-author Derek Thompson joins us at Town Hall for a talk about his book, our current challenges, and the path forward. Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the host of the podcast Plain English. He is the author of the national bestseller Hit Makers and On Work, an anthology of his writing on labor and technology. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Clayton Page Aldern is a senior data reporter at Grist. A neuroscientist turned environmental journalist, he holds a master's in neuroscience and a master's in public policy from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He is also a research affiliate at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington. With Gregg Colburn, he is the author of Homelessness Is a Housing Problem. His book The Weight of Nature, on the effects of climate change on brain health, is out now from Dutton. Buy the Book Abundance (Hardcover) Third Place Books

Outrage and Optimism
The End of Oil? Inside the Hidden Decline of Fossil Fuels | Earth Day Special

Outrage and Optimism

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2025 54:35


Are we witnessing the beginning of the end for fossil fuels?This Earth Day, Outrage + Optimism explores a seismic shift in global energy: the possibility that major oil and gas companies are entering a self-managed decline. Have fossil fuel companies been overvalued for decades? And are they now quietly winding themselves down? For years, analysts and campaigners have questioned why these companies are valued as if they'll pump oil forever. With rising climate risks, tightening regulation, and growing investor scrutiny, the foundations of their business model have looked increasingly shaky.Now, something remarkable is happening. From Exxon to Shell, oil majors are cutting back on capital investment, failing to replace their reserves, and instead handing profits back to shareholders. Could this be the beginning of an industry in managed decline?In this Earth Day special, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson sit down with Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker and the originator of the ‘stranded assets' concept that helped launch the global divestment movement.Is this truly the start of fossil fuel's final chapter? Or is it a strategic pivot - away from fuels and toward petrochemicals, plastics, and a long tail of influence?Learn more

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Derek Thompson on AI, abundance, and human progress

Possible

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2025 53:47


Why can the United States government help make a vaccine in a year but not build a high-speed train in a reasonable timeframe? What if our biggest problems—affordable housing shortages, energy limits, and scientific slowdowns—aren't inevitable, but chosen? This week, Reid and Aria sit down with Derek Thompson—staff writer at The Atlantic and host of the podcast Plain English—to explore how a scarcity mindset is holding American society back. They cover how AI can revolutionize scientific discovery; what Operation Warp Speed got right; and why real progress depends on bold policy, not just better technology. Plus, Reid joins Derek in the hotseat for some “Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right?”—a game co-created with ChatGPT to discuss ideas in Derek's new best-selling book, Abundance.  For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/  Select mentions:  Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson “The Anti-Social Century”  Every Cure co-founder Dr. David Fajgenbaum  Topics: 1:06 – Episode introduction 2:34 – What year would Derek choose to be born and why? 7:14 – What can AI do as a co-author that Ezra Klein can't, and what are Ezra's irreplaceable strengths? 9:08 – AI's impact on the future of work — what AI can and can't do — and what the enduring role of humans will be. 12:00 – The situation with current tariffs, and the potential fixes or silver linings. 14:28 – Operation Warp Speed and other examples of abundance in the U.S. and beyond. 19:39 – What specific government policies could effectively leverage AI to speed up the creation of abundance? 22:40 – Midroll 22:49 – Derek and Reid play a fun game based on Abundance: “Too much, too little, or just right?”  30:46 – What's needed to better incentivize scientific progress and foster innovation? 39:22 – How could society and our relationship with technology be reframed to combat the loneliness epidemic? 45:08 – Derek identifies specific policies that currently hinder abundance and suggests new ones that could promote it. 49:45 – Rapid-fire Questions Possible is an award-winning podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Tune in for grounded and speculative takes on how technology—and, in particular, AI—is inspiring change and transforming the future. Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with an ambitious builder or deep thinker on a topic, from art to geopolitics and from healthcare to education. These conversations also showcase another kind of guest: AI. Each episode seeks to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.

Mehdi Unfiltered
Mehdi Challenges Derek Thompson on Democrats and the ‘Abundance Agenda'

Mehdi Unfiltered

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2025 32:35


This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this week's episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi is joined by The Atlantic's Derek Thompson to discuss his new book with Ezra Klein, 'Abundance,' and the criticism it's received from progressives.SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer
The Abundance Doctrine (with Mike Konczal)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2025 40:43


What does “abundance” actually mean—and who is it really for? In this episode, Goldy and Paul welcome back economic policy expert Mike Konczal to unpack the big new idea dominating political discourse: abundance. They dive into the buzz around Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's book “Abundance,” and Konczal's sharp critique of its deregulatory leanings, missed opportunities, and neoliberal undertones. From housing policy to green energy to the myth that deregulation alone can fix America's problems, this episode challenges the idea that more is always better, and asks what it would really take to build a future that's abundant for everyone—not just the rich. Mike Konczal is the Senior Director of Policy and Research at the Economic Security Project, where he oversees policy development, research, and strategic analysis to advance its ideas. Previously, he served as a Special Assistant to President Biden for Economic Policy and Chief Economist for the National Economic Council.  Social Media: @mtkonczal.bsky.social @mtkonczal Further reading:  Democracy Journal - The Abundance Doctrine Abundance By Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson  Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back By Marc Dunkelman  NBER Working Paper - Supply constraints do not explain house price and quantity growth across U.S. cities Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch

Around The Way Curls Podcast
Ep 426. Constitutional Crisis, Gayle In Space, Issa Rae's Acting, Shanti's Spoilers

Around The Way Curls Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2025 109:02


In this episode, Shanti has a Mother's Day photoshoot while Antoinette parties in Philadelphia. For politics, we discuss firings that may affect the nation's social security, and the normalization of abuse against black and brown bodies which is dulling the urgency for political activism and community support in regards to the recent unlawful deportations. We discuss the Democratic Party, the challenges of uniting diverse factions, and the delicate balance of free speech regarding anti-Zionism. For pop-culture we share our thoughts on the recent all women trip to space, debate about the R&B Mount Rushmore, and we review Issa Rae's recent episode of Black Mirror. Join us...To listen to the full episode of Ezra Klein click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN1oBfg0fwI Contact Us:Hotline: (215) 948-2780Email: aroundthewaycurls@gmail.comPatreon: www.patreon.com/aroundthewaycurls for exclusive videos & bonus episodesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Give Them An Argument
Season 7 Episode 10: Matt Bruenig & Luke Savage on "Abundance"

Give Them An Argument

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2025 134:42


Matt Bruenig and Luke Savage join Ben Burgis to talk about their reviews of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's book, "Abundance," and what it all signifies about the drift of contemporary liberalism. Before that, Ben does an Opening Argument about why we should reject the false dichotomy of having to either support Donald Trump's "liberation day" insanity or neoliberal free-trade absolutism. Last but definitely not least, Victor Bruzzone and Ethan from Confronting Capital join for the postgame for patrons.Ticket link for the San Francisco live show on April 17th:https://www.universe.com/events/is-trump-the-end-of-history-tickets-J30WT9Read Luke's review of "Abundance":https://www.lukewsavage.com/p/the-paucity-of-abundance...and Matt's:https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/03/24/the-abundance-agenda/Follow Luke on Twitter: @lukewsavageFollow Matt on Twitter: @MattBruenigFollow Victor on Twitter: @victorbruzzoneFollow Ethan on Twitter: @Mouthy_InfidelFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.com

MPR News with Kerri Miller
Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein's new book looks at ‘failed liberal policies‘

MPR News with Kerri Miller

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2025 53:40


“The story of America in the 21st century is the story of chosen scarcities.” So begins “Abundance,” the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that has politicos abuzz. In it, they argue that progressives have created a culture of scarcity the last few decades, especially when it comes to solving America's thorniest problem, like homelessness, housing affordability and green energy. The solution, they say, is to face up to the failures of liberal policies, no matter how well intended, and renew a politics of plenty. “If you look back in American history, America used to built things — proudly,” Thompson tells Kerri Miller on this week's Big Books and Bold Ideas. “And then at some point over the last 50 years, liberalism — which was once defined as the politics of building — became defined as the politics of blocking. [In the book], we're trying to execute a bit of a paradigm shift here: We want to marry the politics of building with modern progressivism.”Guest: Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the co-author of the new book, “Abundance,” along with the New York Times' Ezra Klein.Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Conspirituality
253: The Politics of Abundance

Conspirituality

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2025 59:08


"In order to have the future we want, we have to build and invent more of the things we need." That's the central claim of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's new book, Abundance. They argue that Democrat-run cities and states have suffered self-inflicted wounds that are causing a mass exodus to red states, where life is simply more affordable. To stop the bleeding, Dems need to take action on a bold new vision that cuts through red tape to improve people's lives and address the crises in housing, climate, healthcare and politics. But many on the left are suspicious. Is this just Reaganomics wrapped up in the intellectualized language of the NY Times? Is Abundance the privileged prosperity gospel for white liberals? Show Notes The Abundance Agenda: Neoliberalism's Rebrand Abundance: The Left Hates It Summary of Abundance Critiques Politico: False Choice Between Abundance and Antitrust Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Political Orphanage
Faster, Cheaper, Better Government: Derek Thompson on “Abundance”

The Political Orphanage

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2025 54:38


Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson are the authors of “Abundance” a book about removing artificial scarcity and embracing a worldview that focuses on end goals, building, growth, and increasing the supply of everything we need and want. He joins to discuss the book, zoning, why America can't have nice trains, and how we can better lean into federal research funding.

Intelligence Squared
Abundance: A New Blueprint for Liberal Politics, With Derek Thompson

Intelligence Squared

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2025 50:58


What if the biggest threat to liberal democracy isn't authoritarianism - but our failure to build? On today's episode we're joined by journalist Derek Thompson to unpack Abundance, a new vision of progressive politics co-authored by Thompson and Ezra Klein.  In it, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance.  Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic, host of the Plain English podcast, and the author of the international bestseller Hit Makers. Carl Miller, writer and fellow at Demos, joins Thompson to discuss the book, and everything from housing policy to the failures of de-growth. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joshua Citarella
Doomscroll 18.5: Ezra Klein

Joshua Citarella

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2025 8:34


My guest is Ezra Klein. We discuss the emerging political faction known as Degrowth, the carbon crisis and the policy arc of the neoliberal period. This is a subscriber's only episode. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter. Subscribe now on Patreon or Substack: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
The Great Tariff Debate with David Sacks, Larry Summers, and Ezra Klein

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2025 121:58


(0:00) Bestie intros! (0:58) Reacting to Trump targeting China and postponing all other reciprocal tariffs (21:21) Measures for success of tariffs, debating the impact of letting China into the WTO (46:14) Is the US being exploited on trade? Was free trade a mistake? (1:02:01) Recession chances, How the Trump administration gathers information (1:19:39) Future of the Democratic Party, Abundance agenda, DOGE (1:51:00) The Besties recap the debate and Chamath recaps the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony Follow Larry: https://x.com/LHSummers Follow Ezra: https://x.com/ezraklein Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect Referenced in the show: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114309144289505174 https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1910058352278708638 https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/why-trump-blinked-on-tariffs-b588aea8 https://breakthroughprize.org

The Next Big Idea
ABUNDANCE: Derek Thompson on How to Actually Rebuild the American Dream

The Next Big Idea

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2025 73:16


Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson is probably the most talked-about book in the country right now. And the most hotly debated. It's a book about how we got here — here being a country without enough housing, a country that has lost its ambitious optimism, a country that has forgotten how to build. The prescription Ezra and Derek offer to cure what ails us is conspicuously pro-growth: more housing, more clean energy, more scientific development and technological innovation. But to pull that off, they argue, will require Democrats to question their endemic zeal for regulation. This view has fired up some liberals while simultaneously drawing ire from others. Today, Rufus sits down with Derek Thompson to talk about the book, the reaction to it, and how to convince political leaders from both sides of the aisle to embrace a liberalism that builds.

Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes
How Process is Killing Progress with Ezra Klein

Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2025 71:08


Why has America's 20th century vision of innovation and opportunity transformed into a stagnant and stunted dystopian reality? Our guest this week claims that “the crisis that's clicking into focus now has been building for decades” and it's all because we haven't been following building enough. Ezra Klein is host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast, a columnist for New York Times Opinion and the author of “Abundance,” which he co-wrote with Derek Thompson. He joins WITHpod to discuss how liberals have failed on progress, how they can shift gears in MAGA America, and how we might reimagine abundance for everyone.And an exciting announcement: “Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast” is now on YouTube! Watch at msnbc.com/withpod.Plus, we're nominated for a Webby Award! Please vote for us and your other favorite MSNBC podcasts by April 17th:Why Is This Happening? With Chris Hayes in the Podcasts - Interview/Talk Show category: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2025/podcasts/shows/interviewtalk-showInto America: Uncounted Millions in the Podcasts - News & Politics category: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2025/podcasts/limited-series-specials/news-politicsProsecuting Donald Trump in the Podcasts - Crime & Justice category: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2025/podcasts/shows/crime-justice 

The Realignment
546 | Rotimi Adeoye: Where Does Abundance, the Anti-Oligarchy Movement, and the Dem Tea Party Go Next?

The Realignment

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2025 71:07


An Abundance of Ambiguity | Washington MonthlyThe Abundance Agenda – People's Policy ProjectREALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comRotimi Adeoye, columnist and MSNBC contributor, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Rotimi discuss the takeaways from Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's Abundance book tour as the abundance agenda picks up steam, the impact of Bernie Sanders and AOC's anti-oligarchy tour, the strengths and weaknesses of the very online attempts to build a Democratic Party equivalent of the GOP's 2010s Tea Party movement, and the difficulties of navigating immigration politics during an era of anti-establishment backlash.

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
4/2/25: Elon Faceplants In Wisconsin, Liberation Day, Luigi Death Penalty, JFK Hearings & MORE!

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2025 132:56 Transcription Available


Ryan and Emily discuss Elon faceplants as Dems win Wisconsin, Fox tells 401k holders to accept their fate, Ezra Klein ripped for Jon Stewart interview, Trump pushes death penalty for Luigi Mangione, Rogan shocked by Trump deportations, Booker shatters Senate record in floor speech, CIA called out in JFK hearing. To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: www.breakingpoints.com Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Majority Report with Sam Seder
2466 - Trump's Big Law Vendetta w/ Rachel Cohen

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2025 76:11


Sam and Emma are joined by Rachel Cohen, lawyer formerly of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, to discuss the country's largest law firms bending the knee to Donald Trump. First, they run through updates on today's elections in Wisconsin and Florida, Trump's attack on the US public health regime, tomorrow's tariff deadline, the Senate GOP's budgetary sleight of hand, legal pushback to Trump over voting restrictions and his reclassification of protected Venezuelan migrants, Trump's ongoing renditioning of Latin Americans to an El Salvadorian gulag, the mobilization of far-right militia's to protect Musk's businesses, Trump's targeting of Harvard, Cory Booker's filibuster, and dwindling Canadian tourism to the US, also watching Jesse Watters explain exactly why he (and the rest of the right) doesn't care about due process. Rachel Cohen then dives Trump's successful effort to cow some of the biggest law firms in the US – including her former firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom – unpacking precisely what makes these law firms so “important” to Trump (wealthy clients, billions in profits), and the intimate relationship they have with the political elite, before walking through the actual contents of Trump's threats to these firms' contracts and access to federal buildings (e.g. courts), and why, unlike others, Skadden seemed to capitulate without even facing an Executive Order, including handing over $100m in pro-bono work to the administration. Expanding on this latter element, Cohen tackles the Trump Administration's underlying aims for this authoritarian push against these attorneys elite, with the push against DEI policies, the takeover of pro-bono work, and the Executive Orders chilling pushback to Trump's anti-migrant and anti-trans agenda coming at a time where he and his goons are undercutting due process for migrants and criminalizing trans identity. After touching on the mix of hubris and cowardice driving the executive capitulation in the world of corporate law, and what the internal pushback looks like among Cohen's peers, Rachel, Sam, and Emma wrap up by reemphasizing the real goal of Trump's project – a fascist takeover – and the importance of organized dissent. And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma talk with Ronald Raygun about the precarious state of immigration law, dissect Elon Musk's blatant and manipulative lies about Social Security fraud, and watch as Sen. Bill Cassidy accidentally gets blunt about the GOP's plan to gut Medicare. Mike Lindell teases a run for the Governorship of Minnesota, and the MR Team dives deep into Ezra Klein's poor response to anti-Oligarchical critiques of his “Abundance” doctrine, plus, your calls and IMs! Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Follow us on TikTok here!: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here!: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here!: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase! Check out today's sponsors: Liquid IV: Embrace your ritual with extraordinary hydration from Liquid I.V. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid I.V. when you go to https://LiquidIV.com and use code MAJORITYREP at checkout. That's 20% off your first order when you shop better hydration today using promo code MAJORITYREP at https://LiquidIV.com. Babbel: Let's get more of you talking in a new language. Babbel is gifting our listeners 60% off subscriptions at https://Babbel.com/MAJORITY.  Get up to 60% off at https://Babbel.com/MAJORITY. Rules and restrictions may apply. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

The Chris Cuomo Project
Ezra Klein On Why Trump's Anti-Government Message Works

The Chris Cuomo Project

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2025 80:10


Ezra Klein ( columnist, The New York Times, podcast host “The Ezra Klein Show,” and co-author, “Abundance”) joins Chris Cuomo to explore why Americans have lost faith in liberal governance and what it will take to rebuild trust in public institutions. They discuss how government dysfunction, broken infrastructure, and media incentives have deepened polarization—and why Trump's anti-government message is resonating. Cuomo and Klein also examine the failure of Democrats to articulate a vision of abundance, the impact of algorithm-driven media on political leadership, and how conspiracy thinking has filled the vacuum left by public disillusionment. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pod Save America
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson on How Democrats Can Build Their Way Back to Power

Pod Save America

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2025 60:11


In their new book, Abundance, journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue that Trump's scarcity mindset is suffocating the country: America doesn't do enough manufacturing? Better cut back on trade. Not enough jobs or housing? Get rid of immigrants.Klein and Thompson sit down with Jon to explain how faster (and better) infrastructure projects can re-engage Democrats' base, why tolerating government failure has made liberals look bad, and whether the accusations of neoliberalism that have been levied at the book are a fair criticism of the "abundance agenda." For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen
Trump's Greenland distraction backfires

No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2025 88:50


Trump takes an aggressive posture on Greenland, which may be a distraction, and yet still worth talking about. Brian interviews Kara Swisher about whether Tesla can ever recover and why Elon would torch his reputation when his consumer base is liberals; national security expert Ned Price and Congressman Jim Himes discuss Signal-gate; and Ezra Klein talks about his new book Abundance and what the Democrats can learn from it.Shop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Louder with Crowder
Did Ezra Klein Red Pill Jon Stewart & JD Vance Initiates Greenland Takeover

Louder with Crowder

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2025 60:14


The Danish PM is butthurt Vice President JD Vance is headed to Greenland, Trump may be causing fewer foreigners to travel to America (good?), Ezra Klein mistakenly red pills Jon Stewart after explaining how inefficient the government is and a whole lot more!GUESTS: Josh FirestineGet $20 OFF Rumble Premium TODAY with Promo Code: RUMBLELIVESOURCES: https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/sources-march-28-2025DOWNLOAD THE RUMBLE APP TODAY: https://rumble.com/our-appsJoin Rumble Premium to watch this show every day! http://louderwithcrowder.com/PremiumGet your favorite LWC gear: https://crowdershop.com/Bite-Sized Content: https://rumble.com/c/CrowderBitsSubscribe to my podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/louder-with-crowder/FOLLOW ME: Website: https://louderwithcrowder.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/scrowder Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/louderwithcrowder Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stevencrowderofficialMusic by @Pogo

Lex Fridman Podcast
#462 – Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson: Politics, Trump, AOC, Elon & DOGE

Lex Fridman Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2025


Ezra Klein is one of the most influential voices representing the left-wing of American politics. He is a columnist for the NY Times and host of The Ezra Klein Show. Derek Thompson is a writer at The Atlantic and host of the Plain English podcast. Together they have written a new book titled Abundance that lays out a set of ideas for the future of the Democratic party. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep462-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/ezra-klein-and-derek-thompson-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Abundance (new book): https://amzn.to/4iZ1S8J Ezra's X: https://x.com/ezraklein/ Ezra's Instagram: https://instagram.com/ezraklein Ezra's YouTube: https://youtube.com/EzraKleinShow The New York Times: https://nytimes.com/by/ezra-klein Derek's X: https://x.com/dkthomp Plain English (podcast): https://www.theringer.com/podcasts/plain-english-with-derek-thompson The Atlantic: https://theatlantic.com/author/derek-thompson/ SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Call of Duty: First-person shooter video game. Go to https://callofduty.com/warzone LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (03:17) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (10:33) - Left-wing vs right-wing politics (19:54) - Political leaders on the left and the right (44:29) - Internal political divisions (47:29) - AOC (58:50) - Political realignment (1:10:32) - Supply-side progressivism (1:17:42) - Wealth redistribution (1:27:50) - Housing problem (1:44:09) - Regulation and deregulation (2:00:43) - DOGE, Elon, and Trump (2:59:46) - Sam Harris (3:09:24) - Future of America PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

Real Time with Bill Maher
Overtime – Episode #689: Ezra Klein, Andrew Sullivan

Real Time with Bill Maher

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2025 20:34


Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 3/21/25) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Megyn Kelly Show
Clooney Lectures About Journalism, and Dems Lean on Bernie and AOC, with Ben Shapiro and Stephen A. Smith | Ep. 1033

The Megyn Kelly Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2025 105:10


Megyn Kelly is joined by Ben Shapiro, host of The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro Show, to discuss George Clooney trying to lecture the American people and the media about how bad President Trump is, a glowing profile of Clooney on 60 Minutes, trying to take credit for telling the truth about Biden's cognitive decline when he actually stayed silent for weeks, the Democratic party imploding, Bernie Sanders and AOC hitting the road with their their ridiculous “Fight Oligarchy” tour, Bernie suddenly sounding supportive of Trump on the border and AOC downplaying the trans issue, Trump winning in his fight against judges and leftist lawyers, woke universities bending the knee to Trump to keep their funding, Jeremy Boreing stepping down as co-CEO of The Daily Wire, Ben's push for a Derek Chauvin pardon, and more. Then Stephen A. Smith, host of The Stephen A. Smith Show and First Take, joins to discuss why he thinks he could easily win the 2028 Democratic primary but doesn't plan on running, what he believes is going wrong within the Democratic party, how Ezra Klein and the Democratic elite are still unable to make sense of Trump's win, their delusions about why Americans supported for Trump, Trump's dominance in sports and culture, why there weren't any upsets in the NCAA tournament, and more.Shapiro- https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-ben-shapiro-showSmith- https://www.youtube.com/@stephenasmithJust Thrive: Visit https://justthrivehealth.com/discount/Megyn  and use code MEGYN to save 20% sitewideAngel Studios: Become an Angel Guild member today and get 2 free tickets to The King of Kings movie when you become a premium member. Visit https://angel.com/MEGYN  Lumen: Visit https://lumen.me/MEGYN  for 20% OffFirecracker Farm: Visit https://firecracker.FARM  & enter code MK at checkout for a special discount!Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow