Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, campaigned successfully to topple Harvard’s first black leader, Claudine Gay, in a row over anti-semitism. But his mission is much grander, he’s spearheading a broader backlash against ‘woke’ politics that is energising the American right, fracturing the left and upending society.

Since the recording of this podcast, Yashcha Mounk has been accused, on X, of sexual assault and suspended from the editorial board of Die Zeit and by The Atlantic magazine. He has “categorically “ denied the allegation.

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