
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


During the last election, when asked his opinion about experts and intellectuals, Trump supporter Fiore Napolitano voiced a fairly common sentiment from his cohort, "I've got more brains in my little thumb." That made us wonder whether hostility to intellect is an underestimated feature of American politics, which prompted us to formulate some questions.
What's up, America? Why the qualms about erudition and expertise? Where does this wariness spring from, and what role did it play in the rise of Donald Trump — who was opposed by just about every intellectual associated with either party but whose supporters simply did not care about that issue?
We talk to the learned and those who loathe them, including writers and commentators, a neuroscientist, and a gun shop owner in a red-voting part of upstate New York. We quote a fiery pamphlet penned by a yeoman farmer from the Revolutionary Era, and we delve into the 1963 book that describes and frames this issue better and more enduringly than any other.
Jim O’Grady walks us through the centuries-long debate about intellectualism, elitism, and our reverence for the common man.
Episode Contributors:
Kai Wright
Jim O'Grady
Karen Frillmann
The United States of Anxiety is hosted by Kai Wright and produced by WNYC Studios.
Listen to more shows from WNYC Studios: http://wny.cc/yzc4304odXp
WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics, Radiolab, Here's The Thing with Alec Baldwin and many more.
Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.
Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.
By WNYC Studios4.3
15401,540 ratings
During the last election, when asked his opinion about experts and intellectuals, Trump supporter Fiore Napolitano voiced a fairly common sentiment from his cohort, "I've got more brains in my little thumb." That made us wonder whether hostility to intellect is an underestimated feature of American politics, which prompted us to formulate some questions.
What's up, America? Why the qualms about erudition and expertise? Where does this wariness spring from, and what role did it play in the rise of Donald Trump — who was opposed by just about every intellectual associated with either party but whose supporters simply did not care about that issue?
We talk to the learned and those who loathe them, including writers and commentators, a neuroscientist, and a gun shop owner in a red-voting part of upstate New York. We quote a fiery pamphlet penned by a yeoman farmer from the Revolutionary Era, and we delve into the 1963 book that describes and frames this issue better and more enduringly than any other.
Jim O’Grady walks us through the centuries-long debate about intellectualism, elitism, and our reverence for the common man.
Episode Contributors:
Kai Wright
Jim O'Grady
Karen Frillmann
The United States of Anxiety is hosted by Kai Wright and produced by WNYC Studios.
Listen to more shows from WNYC Studios: http://wny.cc/yzc4304odXp
WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics, Radiolab, Here's The Thing with Alec Baldwin and many more.
Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.
Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

43,827 Listeners

38,474 Listeners

6,814 Listeners

9,192 Listeners

3,984 Listeners

1,574 Listeners

8,427 Listeners

480 Listeners

10,854 Listeners

12,693 Listeners

14,478 Listeners

6,402 Listeners

14,617 Listeners

3,511 Listeners

112,238 Listeners

2,801 Listeners

9,048 Listeners

1,405 Listeners

1,196 Listeners

5,573 Listeners

5,771 Listeners

421 Listeners

16,355 Listeners

15,859 Listeners

2,822 Listeners

644 Listeners

1,972 Listeners

1,585 Listeners

1,724 Listeners

209 Listeners

20 Listeners

12 Listeners