Welcome to RE: Something Interesting, The Realignment's new Saturday podcast focused on more casual conversations about American culture and society with people who've written, recorded, or thought about something worth diving into. Today's guest is Max Marshall, author of Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story. Marshall and Max discuss the positives and negatives of fraternities, the rise and fall of the "bro" during aughts and 2010s, the rise of Xanax, and what it was like to go to college during a decade of social change.

RE: Something Interesting | Max Marshall on a Fraternity Crime Bust, Xanax Rings, and Coming of Age on Campus in the 2010s

The United States is in the midst of a dramatic political realignment with shifting views on national security, economics, technology, and the role of government in our lives. Saagar Enjeti and Marshall Kosloff explore this with thinkers, policymakers, and more.

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Heath Brown, author of Roadblocked: Joe Biden's Rocky Transition to the Presidency and Associate Professor CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Heath discuss the increasing political significance and attention paid to presidential transitions, why the transition from Trump to Biden went poorly, how outside interests groups influence incoming administrations, the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, and whether Biden should have aimed for a "transformational" presidency in the first place?

480 | Heath Brown: Did Biden's Rocky Transition to the Presidency Set His Administration Up for Failure?

David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist and author of Phantom Orbit: A Thriller, joins The Realignment. David and Marshall why outer space defines the present and future of great power conflict, Ukraine's path forward, how to avert a hot war with China, the state of Biden's 2024 campaign, and why America is overdue for an era of political reform in the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive movement.

479 | David Ignatius: The First Space War, Ukraine & China Challenges, Biden's Age, and America's New Age of Reform

Craig Whitlock, Washington Post reporter and author of Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy & The Afghanistan Papers, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Craig discuss how a Malaysian defense contractor, Leonard Francis (nicknamed "Fat Leonard"), bribed scores of high-ranking U.S. Navy officers across three decades, defrauded the Navy out of tens of millions of dollars, exposed vast security and counter-intelligence gaps in the military, and the reforms needed to prevent future corruption scandals.

478 | Craig Whitlock: The Story of "Fat Leonard" - How One Man Seduced and Corrupted the U.S. Navy

Nellie Bowles, writer, former New York Times reporter, and author of Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Nellie discuss why some of the most educated people in America lost their minds in 2020, what she learned investigating and reporting on Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) and Antifa protests in Portland, and why 2020 reckoning inspired moves like abolishing the SAT, defunding the police, and drug decriminalization are running out of steam.

477 | Nellie Bowles: Waking Up the Morning After the 2020 Revolution

Edward F. O'Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation and author of The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President, joins The Realignment. He joins the show as part of The Realignment's coverage of the American presidency during the lead up to the 2024 election. Marshall and Edward discuss why they believe Theodore Roosevelt is the most compelling and interesting president, the ways that Roosevelt's rugged 19th century masculinity was shsaped by his mother, sisters, and wives, how he navigated America's industrial era realignment, and the future plans to build a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota.

RE: Something Interesting | Max Marshall on a Fraternity Crime Bust, Xanax Rings, and Coming of Age on Campus in the 2010s

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