The Realignment

Aspen Ideas Festival Economy: https://www.aspenideas.org/attend/economy

Session Description: Skepticism of free trade and globalization was once relegated to the political margins, but calls for government intervention now thunder through American economic debate. Does this reflect political polarization, distrust of institutions and corporate power, or a deeper reckoning with an economy that underserves too many people? As populist ideas reshape both the left and right, are we witnessing the emergence of a fundamentally different economic and political order?

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

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The Realignment host Marshall Kosloff and Niskanen Center Senior Fellow Steve Teles are set to appear at WelcomeFest 2026 today in Washington, DC. WelcomeFest is known as the biggest annual gathering of the political center. Steve will appear on a panel titled, "Building Centrist Abundance." Marshall will interview Senator Ruben Gallego and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on the center's lack of a broad story and worldview that can respond to an anti-status quo moment. Ahead of their appearances, Marshall and Steve discuss their problems with "moderation," an approach to politics associated with gatherings like WelcomeFest. While defending moderation as a personality and instinct, they differentiate between "higher" and "lower" forms of moderation and offer alternative approaches for politicians, organizations, and movements associated with the idea. 

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

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After President Trump's visit to China with his summit with President Xi Jinping, Eyck Freymann, Hoover Fellow at Stanford University and author of Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War with China, joins The Realignment. Eyck and Marshall to unpack the Taiwan question, America's interests in the island's fate, the One China policy, and the future of U.S.-China competition. They discuss Taiwan’s domestic politics, deterrence, semiconductors, gray-zone conflict, and what the coming years could mean for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Inclusive Abundance | "Abundance Agenda" Request for Proposals: https://www.inclusiveabundance.org/abundance-in-action/request-for-policy-proposals-the-abundance-agenda?returnUrl=%252Fabundance-in-action

Axios | Exclusive: New group plots 2028 "Abundance" agenda: https://www.axios.com/2026/04/30/abundance-group-democrats-agenda

WelcomeFest 2026 "Building to Win" Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/welcomefest-2026-registration-1982207415740?aff=040726sub

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

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Congressman Josh Harder joins The Realignment to discuss why Americans increasingly feel the country has stopped working—and what it would take to rebuild trust in government. Harder explains the mission of the bipartisan “Build America Caucus,” why housing affordability has become a generational crisis, and how bottlenecks in permitting, infrastructure, and public administration undermine growth and optimism. Marshall and Josh debate abundance politics, private equity and housing, education reform, USAID, AI-era energy demand, and whether America needs to stop managing decline and start governing for outcomes again. Is the problem ideology—or competence? And can a politics of building restore a sense that the future will be better than the present?

Danielle Lee Tomson with Oxford University Press | Under the Influence: What's Real When America Feels Fake: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/under-the-influence-9780197847862?cc=us&lang=en&

Danielle Lee Tomson Substack | Failure to Communicate: https://failuretocommunicate.substack.com/

Danielle Lee Tomson with the Hewlett Foundation | Weaving a Worldview: https://hewlett.org/library/weaving-a-worldview/

Marshall Kosloff with the States Forum Journal | The Missing Liberal Story: https://www.statesforum.org/the-missing-liberal-story/

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

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Danielle Lee Tomson, author of the forthcoming Under the Influence What's Real When America Feels Fake, returns to The Realignment. Wrapping-up this season of The Realignment, Marshall begins with an opening monologue summing up his takeaways from the post-2024 election period and what they mean for the future of American politics. Danielle then interviews Marshall about his Missing Liberal Story essay in the States Forum Journal. They discuss how Danielle's "authenticity gap" and book project sync with the need for the political center to tell a coherent story about the country's past, present, and future, why the left-liberal fusion is the path forward, and where the project needs to go next. 

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

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Noam Scheiber, New York Times reporter and author of Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Noam discuss how the rise and fall of the "college-for-all" economic model has left a generation of graduates (and non-graduates) feeling betrayed by the system, how downwardly-mobile college graduates are swinging to the economic left, which universities and government policies are responsible for the student debt crisis, and why the Biden administration's debt forgiveness program wasn't a political winner. 

Roosevelt Institute | Building a More Effective, Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration: https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/building-a-more-effective-responsive-government/

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

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Hannah Garden-Monheit, former Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and co-author (with Tresa Joseph, of the Roosevelt Institute's report, Building a More Effective, Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Hannah discuss her interviews with 45 former Biden officials on their struggles with state capacity during the administration, why Marshall believes better "central casting" would better illustrate succesful governance, top recommendations for enhancing the federal governments ability to effectively deliver services and accomplish its goals, and the lessons for future state capacity efforts.

American Affairs | Henry Tonks - The Rise and Fall of the New Liberals: How the Democrats Lost Their Majority: https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/02/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-new-liberals-how-the-democrats-lost-their-majority/

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email the Show: [email protected]

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email the Show: [email protected]

The States Forum Journal's Latest Issue: https://www.statesforum.org/journals/issue-2/

The States Forum Substack: https://statesforum.substack.com/

Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email the Show: [email protected]

Michael Laskawy, Editor-in-Chief of The States Forum Journal, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Michael discuss why Americans are increasingly looking to the states for solutions to their problems, how The States Forum's belief in the "American Promise" as a worldview provides a means for addressing the factional fights within liberalism, and explore the implications of Marshall's States Forum Journal essay on "The Missing Liberal Story."