Neon Liberalism

Samantha Hancox-Li talks with Mike Sacks of Court Accountability about the state of the American Constitution, the role of John Roberts and the Supreme Court in putting a pleasant mask on MAGA, and how we need to think about court reform in the future.

In this episode of Neon Liberalism, Samantha Hancox-Li argues that Donald Trump's "raids" on Iran and Venezuela reflect structural factors that are driving us towards a more chaotic and lawless world in which "neither peace nor war" becomes increasingly common.

Samantha and guest Keira Havens talk Thomas Massie's recent attempt to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. They discuss the mechanics and politics of impeachment, the role of accountability, and what it means to regain a sense of ourselves as constitutional actors.

In this podcast, host Samantha Hancox-Li and guest Greg Sargent, staff writer for The New Republic and host of the Daily Blast podcast, discuss Trump's cratering poll numbers—worse than Bush's after Katrina—and what that means for the country, including how elites got hoodwinked by the vibe shift, why MAGA isn't working, and whether a major realignment is coming.

Samantha Hancox-Li interviews labor economist Kathryn Edwards on the fundamentals of a healthy economy. They talk housing, childcare, and the politics of being a "smart-stupid" economist who knows how to be cynical about what matters.

Samantha and the pseudonymous commentator Secretary of Defense Rock talk "Lioness," "Sicario," and the broader Taylor Sheridan-verse as a Rosetta stone for untangling right-wing policy from the border to Venezuela to drones.

Samantha Hancox-Li and guest Josh Chafetz, professor at Georgetown Law, discuss how Supreme Court rulings around the "legislative veto" laid the groundwork for expanded executive power.

Samantha is joined by Sonja Trauss, president and founder of YIMBY Law, to discuss the state of the housing movement. They discuss the tension between articulating a radical liberal idealism, one which embraces change and dynamism, and meeting people where they are, which so often involves compromise and kludges. The most effective YIMBY reforms, Trauss argues, still fall somewhere in the middle.

Samantha Hancox-Li talks about the return of international competition in our increasingly unsettled age. In historical perspective, far from being an alien imposition on "normal politics," international competition has been a feature of human societies from the start.

Reflecting on how the pressure of competition has driven both mindless militarism and genuine modernization—from the mass grave at Gomolava to the Meiji Restoration to the Kitchen Debate—she argues that liberals must remember that liberalism works.

So-called "constitutional sheriffs" are spreading across the country, declaring that they have the right to nullify federal law based on their interpretation of the Constitution.

Join Samantha Hancox-Li and guest Jessica Pishko, author of The Highest Law in the Land, as they talk about how fringe ideas once confined to militia movements and strange cranks have infected public office, the historical development of sheriffs, and the endurance of the cowboy idea in American politics.