What do voters actually want—and why do so many politicians keep getting it wrong? This week I talk with the great Simon Bazelon about the real data behind voter shifts, why popular narratives miss the mark, and what a winning path forward for Democrats really looks like.

Simon is the lead author of a terrific new report, “Deciding to Win: Toward a Common Sense Renewal of the Democratic Party.” This report, released by our friends at Welcome, is a must read for anyone involved in Democratic politics:

In order to take back Congress and the presidency, Democrats need to understand the political and strategic landscape we face. Deciding to Win aims to provide the most comprehensive account to date of why Democrats lost and what our party needs to do to win again. We draw on thousands of election results, hundreds of public polls and academic papers, dozens of case studies, and surveys of more than 500,000 voters we conducted since the 2024 election. Deciding to Win argues that since 2012, highly educated staffers, donors, advocacy groups, pundits, and elected officials have reshaped the Democratic Party’s agenda, decreasing our party’s focus on the economic issues that are the top concerns of the American people. These same forces have pushed our party to adopt unpopular positions on a number of issues that are important to voters, including immigration and public safety. To win again, Democrats need to listen more to voters and less to out-of-touch donors, detached party elites, and Democratic politicians who consistently underperform the top of the ticket.

Please check out Simon’s report and listen in on the discussion!

A transcript of this podcast is available on our website.

Why did America stop building? My AEI colleague James Pethokoukis joins the podcast this week to explain how cultural pessimism, bad policy, and bipartisan fear of disruption stalled progress in strengthening America’s economy. From nukes to AI, we explore what went wrong—and how to fix it.

Please listen in on the discussion and check out James’s excellent 2023 book, The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised.

A transcript of this podcast is available on our website.

This week, I’m thrilled to welcome Massachusetts Fourth District Representative Jake Auchincloss to the podcast. Congressman Auchincloss is serving his third term in office and currently works on the House Committee on Energy & Commerce with a particular focus on issues including healthcare, clean energy, gun violence, and a strong middle class. From his bio:

Jake was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a surgeon and a scientist. They showed him the value of curiosity and hard work. From the moment he could read, Jake loved American history.

After graduating from Harvard College, Jake joined the Marines. He commanded infantry in Afghanistan and special operations in Panama.

Upon returning home, Jake continued his service as a three-term city councilor in Newton. While working at City Hall on nights and weekends, Jake built a career in business, running product development at both a Fortune 100 insurance company and a cybersecurity startup. He has degrees in economics and finance from Harvard University and MIT Sloan.

Today, Jake lives in Newton with his wife, Michelle, and their children, Teddy, Grace, and Audrey (along with their Labrador Retriever, Donut).

After a decade defined by division and distrust in politics, Congressman Auchincloss believes America is ready to rebuild the country and civic life. We talk about post-Trump politics, restoring confidence in democracy, and what it takes to create a pragmatic, forward-looking center in American life.

Please listen in on or watch a wonderful discussion!

A transcript of this podcast is available on the post page on our website.

I’m pleased to have Hoover Institution research fellow Dan Wang on the podcast this week to discuss one of my favorite books of the year, Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future. Dan walks us through how China became an “engineering state” while the U.S. turned into a “lawyerly society,” and what this shift means for the future of democracy, progress, and national development.

Please listen in on a wonderful discussion and check out Dan’s informative new book!

A transcript of this podcast is available on our website.

I’m thrilled to welcome Thomas Chatterton Williams to the podcast this week. Williams is a colleague of mine at AEI, a staff writer at The Atlantic, and the author of the provocative new book, Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse, which examines how the year 2020 broke American politics:

Taking aim at the ideology of critical race theory, the rise of an oppressive social media, the fall from Obama to Trump, and the twinned crises of COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd, Williams documents the extent to which this transition has altered media, artistic creativity, education, employment, policing, and, most profoundly, the ambient language and culture we use to make sense of our lives.Williams also decries how liberalism—the very foundation of an open and vibrant society—is in existential crisis, under assault from both the right and the left, especially in our predominantly networked, Internet-driven monoculture.

Please listen in and check out Williams’s new book!

A transcript of this podcast is available on the post page on our website.

I’m pleased to welcome Ted Nordhaus to the podcast this week. Ted’s work at The Breakthrough Institute offers an intriguing and important way to think about the intersection of energy policy, society, and politics. Ted explains why he abandoned climate catastrophism, how the “Green Vortex” collapsed, and why Democrats need to unlearn old dogmas if they want to survive as a governing party.

Please listen in and check out Ted and his colleagues’ writings at The Ecomodernist on Substack.

A transcript of this discussion is available on our website.

Today, I’m pleased to welcome journalist Emily Jashinsky, the D.C. Correspondent at UnHerd, to discuss the rise of the “New Right,” the split between old-guard conservatives and MAGA-aligned populists, and why Democrats should not underestimate J.D. Vance.

Populism isn’t just a passing phase—it’s reshaping both the Republican Party and American politics for the long haul.

Listen in and please subscribe to the TLP Podcast if you haven’t already!

A transcript of this podcast is available on the post page on our site.

Today, I’m pleased to welcome Yascha Mounk to the TLP Podcast. Yascha is an Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and is the author of the excellent 2023 book, The Identity Trap, featured on TLP when it was first published. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the always interesting Persuasion newsletter and writes regularly on his own personal self-titled Substack as well.

Join us for a nuanced discussion about unresolved populism in Western societies, the contradictions of modern free speech politics, and why liberal democracy risks erosion without the emergence of bolder, more heterodox leaders.

A transcript of this podcast is available on the post page on our website.

Today, I’m pleased to welcome Christine Emba to The Liberal Patriot Podcast. Christine is a colleague of mine at the American Enterprise Institute and is a columnist and former editorial board member at The Washington Post. She is the author of the great 2022 book, "Rethinking Sex: A Provocation."

We discuss the issues surrounding modern sex and dating, the reasons behind young men's shift to the right, the lack of progress in feminism, and the implications of Gen Z's cultural confusion for the future.

Listen in on the fascinating discussion, and please subscribe to the TLP Podcast!

A transcript of this podcast is available on the post page of our website.

This week I’m joined by economist Ian Fletcher to discuss how decades of economic missteps have left the U.S. dangerously dependent on imports and vulnerable to competitors like China. Fletcher is the co-author with Marc Fasteau of an important book entitled Industrial Policy for the United States: Winning the Competition for Good Jobs and High-Value Industries. Fletcher breaks down why free trade hasn’t delivered on its promises, how tariffs alone can’t save us, and why America urgently needs a real, comprehensive industrial policy.

Listen in on a great discussion!

A transcript of this podcast is available on the post page on our website.