Today's episode comes from a live event CNL held with Francis Fukuyama during our New Liberal Action Summit in Washington DC. Frank and I discuss whether or not the internet is to blame for the global rise of populism, how worried we should be about right wing control of the media, and what role young liberals have to play in solving these problems.

Check out Frank's podcast, Frankly Fukuyama, over at Persuasion - https://www.persuasion.community/s/frankly-fukuyama

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New York City is voting on ballot amendments that could unlock more housing - but the city council is opposing them. Alec Schierenbeck is the executive director of the city's Charter Revision Commission, and he joins the podcast to explain how the ballot measures work and what they'll do to unlock more housing.

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Why is Congress shut down? Congressman Ritchie Torres joins the podcast to talk about Affordable Care Act subsidies, shutdown strategies, how Republicans in Congress have given up power to help Trump create an imperial presidency, and why now is the time for Democrats to fight.

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From CBS to Twitter, from CNN to TikTok, right wing, Trump-aligned billionaires are taking over major media outlets. Why is this happening, what's the impact, and how concerned should you be? Matt Gertz joins the podcast to discuss the mainstream media's conservative takeover.

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It's part two of our conversation with FIRE's Sarah McLaughlin - and we're talking about the threats to free speech under the Trump administration. Should Jimmy Kimmel have been fired? What is jawboning? Can Attorney General Pam Bondi really go after 'hate speech'? We discuss all these topics, the wider anti-speech atmosphere, and more!

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How does China use its considerable influence to try to stifle criticism in American universities? Sarah McLaughlin of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression joins the podcast to talk about her new book, Authoritarians in the Academy. We discuss how the Chinese government monitors their own citizens abroad, how they pressure universities into cancelling speakers from Tibet or Xinjiang, and how universities are too often happy to crack down on campus free speech in order to secure Chinese funding.

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Charlie Kirk was assassinated yesterday, and sadly that kind of political violence is no longer unusual in America. The last few years have seen a blitz of assassination attempts, bombings, shootings and more. Why is political violence rising in America? How should liberals respond? And is there anything we can do to stop it?

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What is the Build America Caucus? Representative Josh Harder joins the podcast to discuss why he founded the Build America Caucus, why he still believes in bipartisanship, and how to implement the best ideas for building more housing, infrastructure and energy.

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What are Democrats and Republicans doing in preparation for 2026? Dave Weigel is a political reporter at Semafor and he joins the podcast to discuss the 2026 midterms - What impact will gerrymandering have? What will the baseline partisan split be? What set of issues does each party want to focus on?

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Social Security will be insolvent in seven years, and will face deep across-the-board cuts if no action is taken. Ben Ritz joins the program to discuss the new plan from the Center for Funding America's Future to save Social Security - how we can reduce benefits in a targeted way that doesn't cause much pain, how we can increase revenues in a smart way, and how we can transform the Social Security system to be sustainable for the future.

Check out Ben's report here - https://www.progressivepolicy.org/reform-that-rewards-work-2025/

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