Leadership depends not only on power and policy, but also on the stories that give them meaning. In this first episode of a two-part series, Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, and Danielle Pletka, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, dig into why America’s national narrative has fractured. They discuss how social media’s attention economy distorts foreign-policy debates and why fear-driven storytelling so often overwhelms clarity, purpose, and moral vision. Drawing on decades of experience in foreign policy analysis, they explore what effective leadership and compelling national narratives once looked like—and what it would take to recover America’s sense of “why” on the global stage. This energetic, thought-provoking conversation models how to argue, listen, and think across divides.

Host: Matthew Levinger – Host of the America’s Why Podcast and Professor of Practice of International Affairs at the George Washington University.

Guests

• Danielle Pletka – Distinguished Senior Fellow in Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
• Brian Katulis – Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute.

Explore Taking the Edge Off the Middle East, the Middle East Institute podcast hosted by MEI Senior Fellow Brian Katulis: https://mei.edu/taking-the-edge-off/

Visit our website to learn more about the America’s Why Project and join the conversation: americaswhyproject.com

Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent those held by the America's Why Project team or the George Washington University.