Richard Hanania is the president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI). He also runs a Substack and a podcast that are “must-read/listen.” Richard is perceived as something of a contrarian, so I wanted to ask him about Israel and its role in American politics because he has opinions on that topic somewhat outside of the mainstream.

But since I scheduled this podcast he’s “blown up” due to a piece he wrote, Woke Institutions is Just Civil Rights Law. Eliciting responses from the Right and Left, this is the sort of work that has made Richard’s name. He goes where angels fear to tread. His profile has certainly gotten higher since I got to know him several years ago. He was recently on the Tucker Carlson show.

On this podcast we talk about:

• The incessant attention given over to the Israel-Palestine conflict in the USA

• His thesis that in relation to “wokeness” culture is downstream of politics

• The inevitability of Chinese dominance in the 21st century

• The mass hysteria in reaction COVID-19

• What it’s like running a “Think Tank”