The Realignment

By The Realignment

Technology

What's The Realignment about?

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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408 | Mathias Döpfner: Esca...

09.21.2023

Mathias Döpfner, Chairman & CEO of Axel Springer SE, the biggest digital publisher in Europe and owner of U.S. media brands Insider, Morning Brew, and Politico, joins The Realignment. Mathias is the author of a new book: The Trade Trap: ...

The Realignment episodes:

09.21.2023 408 \| Mathias Döpfner: Escaping the Trade Trap - How to Stop Doing Business with Dictators Mathias Döpfner, Chairman & CEO of Axel Springer SE, the biggest digital publisher in Europe and owner of U.S. media brands Insider, Morning Brew, and Politico, joins The Realignment. Mathias is the author of a new book: The Trade Trap: ...
09.19.2023 407 \| Cenk Uygur: The Future of the Progressive Movement in Joe Biden's (or Donald Trump's) America Cenk Uygur, host and founder of The Young Turks, co-founder of the Justice Democrats PAC, and author of Justice Is Coming: How Progressives Are Going to Take Over the Country and America Is Going to Love It, joins The Realignment. ...
09.15.2023 406 \| Zeke Faux: Inside Sam Bankman-Fried & Crypto's Rise and Fall Zeke Faux, investigative reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, New America National Fellow, and author of Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall, joins The Realignment. Zeke and Marshall discuss how Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) conned his way into the ...
09.14.2023 405 \| Loren Grush: The Artemis Moon Mission & NASA's Past, Present, and Future Loren Grush, Space Reporter for Bloomberg and author of The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts, joins The Realignment. Loren and Marshall discuss the Artemis program, NASA's manned return to the Moon, aimed at paving the way ...
09.12.2023 404 \| Coco Krumme: The False Promise of Optimization - Plus, Saagar & Marshall on the Biden Presidency Today's episode of The Realignment is a two-parter. First, Saagar and Marshall discuss the show's recent coverage of the Biden administration and the anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal, and then answer Supercast subscriber-exclusive Q&A. Afterwards, Coco Krumme, joins Marshall to ...
09.08.2023 403 \| Kevin Vallier: Integralism & the Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism Kevin Vallier, author of All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Kevin discuss Catholic integralism and other new and radical religious alternatives to liberal democracy, why the 20th century didn't ...
09.07.2023 402 \| Jonathan Taplin: Reality vs. Dystopia - The Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, & Crypto Jonathan Taplin, author of The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires Are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto and The Magic Years: Scenes from a Rock-and-Roll Life, joins The Realignment. Marshall and discuss and debate whether ...
09.05.2023 401 \| Franklin Foer: Inside the Biden White House & the Struggle for America's Future Franklin Foer, author of The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future, joins The Realignment. Franklin and Marshall discuss his insider-driven portrait of the first two years of the Biden presidency, why Biden is ...
08.31.2023 400 \| Mauro F. Guillén: The Megatrends Creating a Post-Generational America Mauro F. Guillén, Wharton School professor and author of The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society, joins The Realignment. Mauro and Marshall discuss his argument that generational categories like Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z are outmoded, ...
08.29.2023 399 \| Robert D. Kaplan: America Between Empire & Anarchy in the Greater Middle East Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China and The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power, joins The Realignment. Robert and Marshall discuss his conceptualization of the ...
08.24.2023 398 \| Kathryn Cramer Brownell: The Rise and Fall of the Cable News Era Kathryn Cramer Brownell, author of 24/7 Politics: Cable Television and the Fragmenting of America from Watergate to Fox News, joins The Realignment. Kathryn and Marshall discuss how the modern cable news ecosystem grew out of government policies in the 1970s, ...
08.22.2023 397 \| Jerry Dunleavy & James Hasson: Two Years After the Fall of Kabul - Was the Chaotic Withdrawal Inevitable? Jerry Dunleavy, House Foreign Affairs Committee investigator, and James Hasson, Afghanistan veteran and author, join The Realignment. Jerry and James are co-authors of Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden’s Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End. Jerry, ...
08.17.2023 Podcast Premiere \| Arsenal of Democracy: America Is Not in Decline, but It Needs Help (feat. Walter Russell Mead) Today's episode is a cross-posting of Marshall's new Hudson Institute podcast, Arsenal of Democracy. For the first episode, Marshall is joined by Hudson/The Wall Street Journal's Walter Russell Mead to review what an American "Arsenal of Democracy" really means and ...
08.15.2023 396 \| Sohrab Ahmari: Post-Liberalism and the Threat of Private Tyranny Sohrab Ahmari, author of Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty--And What to Do about It and Founder and Editor of Compact Magazine, joins The Realignment. Sohrab and Marshall discuss the increasing role that private tyranny plays in American ...
08.11.2023 Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser \| John Lovell Interview Critiques, Government Role in NCAA Realignments, Robert Caro's Legacy, Adversity Scores in College Admissions, and More... In this week’s Realignment Supercast AMA episode, Saagar and Marshall discuss audience pushback to last week's interview with John Lovell, whether the government should limit NCAA conference realignments, Robert Caro's ability to complete his LBJ series, the possibility of adversity ...
08.10.2023 395 \| David Lipsky: Climate Change, the Culture Wars, and the Path to Denial David Lipsky, author of The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial, joins The Realignment. David and Marshall discuss how climate change evolved from a policy oriented scientific issue to casualty of the culture wars, the contrasting ...
08.08.2023 394 \| Ben Ansell: Why Politics Fails Ben Ansell, author of Why Politics Fails and Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, joins The Realignment. Ben and Marshall discuss why the initial promise of the twenty-first century stagnated into dysfunction and stasis, the ...
08.03.2023 393 \| John Lovell: Confronting the Crisis Facing America's Men and Boys John Lovell, author of The Warrior Poet Way: A Guide to Living Free and Dying Well and former Army Ranger, joins The Realignment. John and Marshall discuss the ways that men and boys are failing to keep up in the ...
08.01.2023 392 \| Derek Leebaert: FDR's "Unlikely Heroes" and America's Triumph Over the Great Depression and WWII Derek Leebaert, author of Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made and Grand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-1957, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Derek discuss the role FDR's lieutenants (Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, ...
07.27.2023 391 \| Larry Kramer: America After Neoliberalism Larry Kramer, President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, joins The Realignment. Larry and Marshall discuss why the Neoliberal approach is unable to address the economic challenges of the 2020s, what a post-neoliberal paradigm could look like, where the ...
07.25.2023 390 \| Amy Finkelstein: How to Tear Down the Broken Healthcare System Amy Finkelstein, MIT economist, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, and co-author of We've Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care, joins The Realignment. Amy and Marshall discuss why we need to stop applying Band-Aids to a broken system and instead pursue ...
07.21.2023 Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser \| Bidenomics Review, Saagar's Wedding, Vivek's Rising Polls, Modern Church Committee, and More... In this week’s Realignment Supercast AMA episode, Saagar and Marshall discuss Bidenomics, why a modern day Church Committee wouldn't work, Vivek Ramaswamy's rise in the polls, RFK Jr.'s ideology, how Saagar's Indian wedding went, and more...
07.20.2023 389 \| Megan Reiss: The New Era of Geopolitical Risk - How AI Can Fix Supply Chains Dr. Megan Reiss, Founder & CEO of SolidIntel Inc. and former National Security Policy Advisor for Senator Mitt Romney, joins The Realignment. Megan and Marshall discuss how the private sector's ability to confront post-COVID, U.S.-China trade wars, and Ukraine-related geopolitical ...
07.18.2023 388 \| Neil Howe: The Fourth Turning Is Here - How America's Crisis Will End Neil Howe, author of The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End, joins The Realignment. Neil and Marshall discuss his follow up to The Fourth Turning, his 1997 ...
07.13.2023 387 \| Richard Kahlenberg: Class-Based Solutions to America's Housing and Education Problems Richard D. Kahlenberg, author of Excluded: How Snob Zoning, Nimbyism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don't See, joins The Realignment. Richard and Marshall discuss whether race or class is a bigger obstacle to success in America, how RFK's ...
07.11.2023 386 \| Michael R. Gordon: The U.S. Isn't Ready for Great Power Conflict - And the Iraq War(s) That Led It There Michael R. Gordon, National Security Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and author of Degrade and Destroy: The Inside Story of the War Against the Islamic State, from Barack Obama to Donald Trump, joins The Realignment. Michael and Marshall discuss ...
07.06.2023 385 \| Wesley Lowery: Backlash Politics from Obama 2008 to the Summer of 2020 and Beyond Wesley Lowery, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and author of American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Wesley discuss the rise and impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, the benefits and limits ...
07.04.2023 384 \| Peter Turchin: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path to Political Disintegration Peter Turchin, author of End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, joins The Realignment. Peter and Marshall discuss his 2010 prediction that the U.S. would experience significant political turmoil in 2020, the factors that drove 2010-2020s political ...
06.29.2023 383 \| Sean A. Mirski: How the USA's Rise to Regional Hegemony Rhymes with China's Sean A. Mirski, author of We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Sean discuss America's rise to regional hegemony after the Civil War, the anxieties and ambitions that ...
06.27.2023 382 \| Robert Lighthizer: Building the New Pro-Worker Trade Consensus Robert Lighthizer, former U.S. Trade Representative from 2017-2021 and author of No Trade Is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America's Workers, joins The Realignment. Robert and Marshall discuss his experience negotiating trade deals with Japan and China ...
06.23.2023 Vacation Programming Note \| We'll Be Back Next Week After multiple rescheduled guests and a corrupted Ask Me Anything episode recording, team Realignment has taken the hint and the will be back on its regular schedule next week.
06.20.2023 #381 \| Michael G. Vickers: Intel, Special, Ops, & Strategy from the CIA's War in Afghanistan to Ukraine Michael G. Vickers, author of By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy and former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, joins The Realignment. Michael and Marshall discuss his role in the CIA's secret war ...
06.16.2023 Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser \| Debating Bidenomics, RFK Jr's Voice, Our Cyberpunk Future, the Role of Tech Billionaires, and History Reading Motivations In this week’s Realignment Supercast AMA episode, Saagar and Marshall discuss the Biden administration's economic vision, the prospects for human cybernetic augmentation, whether RFK Jr's vocal issues are a liability, where tech billionaires fit into the political system, and more. ...
06.15.2023 380 \| Senator Marco Rubio: How America Can Recover from "Decades of Decadence" Senator Marco Rubio, author of Decades of Decadence: How Our Spoiled Elites Blew America's Inheritance of Liberty, Security, and Prosperity, returns to The Realignment. Senator Rubio discusses his critique of America's post-Cold War domestic and foreign policies, the threat of ...
06.13.2023 379 \| Jennifer Pahlka: How Government Limped into the Digital Age Jennifer Pahlka, author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better and former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, joins The Realignment. Jennifer and Marshall discuss industrial-era culture limits government's ability to ...
06.09.2023 378 \| Joshua Zeitz: What President Lincoln's Faith Means for a Secularizing America Joshua Zeitz, author of Lincoln's God: How Faith Transformed a President and a Nation, joins The Realignment as part of the show's expanded American history coverage. Joshua and Marshall discuss President Abraham Lincoln's religious beliefs in the context of the ...
06.08.2023 377 \| Jonathan D.T. Ward: The 2020s - The Decisive Decade for the U.S. & China Jonathan D.T. Ward, author of The Decisive Decade: American Grand Strategy for Triumph Over China and China's Vision of Victory, joins The Realignment. Jonathan and Marshall discuss why the 2020s decade is pivotal for the U.S.-China competition for the 21st ...
06.06.2023 376 \| Ben Terris: The Winners and Losers of DC's Big Break After Trump Ben Terris, Washington Post writer and author of The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, & True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind, joins The Realignment. Ben and Marshall discuss how much the Trump years ...
06.02.2023 Teaser \| Realignment Supercast AMA - Saagar & Marshall on the Debt Ceiling Debate, Biased Analysis, Good Q&A from Audience, GOP Primary, and Lessons for Ukraine from Afghanistan In this week’s Realignment Supercast AMA episode, Saagar and Marshall discuss the logic of the debt ceiling, the GOP’s 2024 primary and prospective debates, how to sort through bias in analysis, good listener questions, how the Soviet’s invasion of Afghanistan ...
06.01.2023 375 \| Craig Nelson: How America Became the "Arsenal of Democracy" and the Lessons for Today Craig Nelson, author of V is for Victory: Franklin Roosevelt’s American Revolution and the Triumph of World War II, joins The Realignment. Craig and Marshall discuss the "miracle" of America's manufacturing potential, FDR's leadership before and during World War II, ...
05.26.2023 374 \| Elliot Ackerman: How a Divided America Grapples its Past, Present, and Future Elliot Ackerman, author of Halcyon, The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan, and 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, returns to The Realignment. Elliot and Marshall discuss his alternate history of America in the 2000s, how revisiting the ...
05.25.2023 373 \| Noam Bardin: Building the Future of News & Social in a Post-Twitter World Noam Bardin, founder and CEO of Post, joins The Realignment. Noam and Marshall discuss his vision for social media in a post-Twitter world, why micropayments could provide a sustainable business model for media organizations and creators, how 2020s social media ...
05.23.2023 372 \| CFPB Director Rohit Chopra: Reviving America's Anti-Monopoly Tradition Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former FTC Commissioner, joins The Realignment. Director Chopra and Marshall discuss the history of America's anti-monopolist tradition, how new FTC Commissioners ended decades of inaction in 2018, the need to ...
05.19.2023 Supercast Ask Me Anything Teaser \| Assessing Biden vs. Trump's America in 2025, Looking Back at 2016-2021, Twitter Influence, Millennials to the Suburbs, and Why Can't the Defense Budget Build Munitio In today's Supercast exclusive discussion and Ask Me Anything, Saagar and Marshall discuss whether a Biden or Trump presidency in 2025 would be worse for the country, what cultural artifacts the Trump era (2015-2021) produced, wielding Twitter influence, and defense ...
05.18.2023 371 \| Evan Thomas: The Atomic Bomb's Legacy in a Disordered World Evan Thomas, author of Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II, joins The Realignment. Evan and Marshall discuss and assess the decision to use atomic bombs against Imperial Japan in 1945, how ...
05.16.2023 370 \| Timothy B. Lee: Why Artificial Intelligence Won't Cause Mass Unemployment Timothy B. Lee, author of the Understanding AI Substack, joins The Realignment to discuss his argument against the idea that recent advances in artificial intelligence presage mass unemployment. Timothy and Marshall discuss how the 2010s demonstrated the limits of software's ...
05.12.2023 369 \| Steve Drummond: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win WWII Steve Drummond, NPR journalist and author of The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two, joins The Realignment as part of the show's expanded history coverage. Steve and Marshall discuss how the Truman committee ...
05.11.2023 368 \| Thom Shanker: Welcome to the Age of Danger - New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats Thom Shanker, Director of the Project for Media and National Security, co-author (with Andrew Hoehn) of Age of Danger: Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats, and a former National Security/Foreign Policy Editor ...
05.09.2023 367 \| Ashlee Vance: The Misfits and Geniuses Winning the New Space Race Ashlee Vance, author of When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach and Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, joins The Realignment. Ashlee and Marshall discuss the ...
05.05.2023 Supercast Ask Me Anything Teaser \| Why Rome Matters, Ben Smith Reaction, What Happened to Andrew Yang?, RFK Jr's Presidential Campaign, Tucker 2024?, and the Threat of Nihilism In today's Supercast exclusive discussion and Ask Me Anything, Saagar and Marshall take listener feedback, discuss yesterday's Ben Smith episode on BuzzFeed and Gawker, RFK Jr's candidacy, a Tucker Carlson 2024 campaign, and the threat of nihilism.

Older episodes

09.21.2023 408 \| Mathias Döpfner: Escaping the Trade Trap - How to Stop Doing Business with Dictators Mathias Döpfner, Chairman & CEO of Axel Springer SE, the biggest digital publisher in Europe and owner of U.S. media brands Insider, Morning Brew, and Politico, joins The Realignment. Mathias is the author of a new book: The Trade Trap: ...
09.19.2023 407 \| Cenk Uygur: The Future of the Progressive Movement in Joe Biden's (or Donald Trump's) America Cenk Uygur, host and founder of The Young Turks, co-founder of the Justice Democrats PAC, and author of Justice Is Coming: How Progressives Are Going to Take Over the Country and America Is Going to Love It, joins The Realignment. ...
09.15.2023 406 \| Zeke Faux: Inside Sam Bankman-Fried & Crypto's Rise and Fall Zeke Faux, investigative reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, New America National Fellow, and author of Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall, joins The Realignment. Zeke and Marshall discuss how Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) conned his way into the ...
09.14.2023 405 \| Loren Grush: The Artemis Moon Mission & NASA's Past, Present, and Future Loren Grush, Space Reporter for Bloomberg and author of The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts, joins The Realignment. Loren and Marshall discuss the Artemis program, NASA's manned return to the Moon, aimed at paving the way ...
09.12.2023 404 \| Coco Krumme: The False Promise of Optimization - Plus, Saagar & Marshall on the Biden Presidency Today's episode of The Realignment is a two-parter. First, Saagar and Marshall discuss the show's recent coverage of the Biden administration and the anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal, and then answer Supercast subscriber-exclusive Q&A. Afterwards, Coco Krumme, joins Marshall to ...
09.08.2023 403 \| Kevin Vallier: Integralism & the Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism Kevin Vallier, author of All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Kevin discuss Catholic integralism and other new and radical religious alternatives to liberal democracy, why the 20th century didn't ...
09.07.2023 402 \| Jonathan Taplin: Reality vs. Dystopia - The Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, & Crypto Jonathan Taplin, author of The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires Are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto and The Magic Years: Scenes from a Rock-and-Roll Life, joins The Realignment. Marshall and discuss and debate whether ...
09.05.2023 401 \| Franklin Foer: Inside the Biden White House & the Struggle for America's Future Franklin Foer, author of The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future, joins The Realignment. Franklin and Marshall discuss his insider-driven portrait of the first two years of the Biden presidency, why Biden is ...
08.31.2023 400 \| Mauro F. Guillén: The Megatrends Creating a Post-Generational America Mauro F. Guillén, Wharton School professor and author of The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society, joins The Realignment. Mauro and Marshall discuss his argument that generational categories like Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z are outmoded, ...
08.29.2023 399 \| Robert D. Kaplan: America Between Empire & Anarchy in the Greater Middle East Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China and The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power, joins The Realignment. Robert and Marshall discuss his conceptualization of the ...
08.24.2023 398 \| Kathryn Cramer Brownell: The Rise and Fall of the Cable News Era Kathryn Cramer Brownell, author of 24/7 Politics: Cable Television and the Fragmenting of America from Watergate to Fox News, joins The Realignment. Kathryn and Marshall discuss how the modern cable news ecosystem grew out of government policies in the 1970s, ...
08.22.2023 397 \| Jerry Dunleavy & James Hasson: Two Years After the Fall of Kabul - Was the Chaotic Withdrawal Inevitable? Jerry Dunleavy, House Foreign Affairs Committee investigator, and James Hasson, Afghanistan veteran and author, join The Realignment. Jerry and James are co-authors of Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden’s Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End. Jerry, ...
08.17.2023 Podcast Premiere \| Arsenal of Democracy: America Is Not in Decline, but It Needs Help (feat. Walter Russell Mead) Today's episode is a cross-posting of Marshall's new Hudson Institute podcast, Arsenal of Democracy. For the first episode, Marshall is joined by Hudson/The Wall Street Journal's Walter Russell Mead to review what an American "Arsenal of Democracy" really means and ...
08.15.2023 396 \| Sohrab Ahmari: Post-Liberalism and the Threat of Private Tyranny Sohrab Ahmari, author of Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty--And What to Do about It and Founder and Editor of Compact Magazine, joins The Realignment. Sohrab and Marshall discuss the increasing role that private tyranny plays in American ...
08.11.2023 Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser \| John Lovell Interview Critiques, Government Role in NCAA Realignments, Robert Caro's Legacy, Adversity Scores in College Admissions, and More... In this week’s Realignment Supercast AMA episode, Saagar and Marshall discuss audience pushback to last week's interview with John Lovell, whether the government should limit NCAA conference realignments, Robert Caro's ability to complete his LBJ series, the possibility of adversity ...
08.10.2023 395 \| David Lipsky: Climate Change, the Culture Wars, and the Path to Denial David Lipsky, author of The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial, joins The Realignment. David and Marshall discuss how climate change evolved from a policy oriented scientific issue to casualty of the culture wars, the contrasting ...
08.08.2023 394 \| Ben Ansell: Why Politics Fails Ben Ansell, author of Why Politics Fails and Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, joins The Realignment. Ben and Marshall discuss why the initial promise of the twenty-first century stagnated into dysfunction and stasis, the ...
08.03.2023 393 \| John Lovell: Confronting the Crisis Facing America's Men and Boys John Lovell, author of The Warrior Poet Way: A Guide to Living Free and Dying Well and former Army Ranger, joins The Realignment. John and Marshall discuss the ways that men and boys are failing to keep up in the ...
08.01.2023 392 \| Derek Leebaert: FDR's "Unlikely Heroes" and America's Triumph Over the Great Depression and WWII Derek Leebaert, author of Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made and Grand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-1957, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Derek discuss the role FDR's lieutenants (Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, ...
07.27.2023 391 \| Larry Kramer: America After Neoliberalism Larry Kramer, President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, joins The Realignment. Larry and Marshall discuss why the Neoliberal approach is unable to address the economic challenges of the 2020s, what a post-neoliberal paradigm could look like, where the ...
07.25.2023 390 \| Amy Finkelstein: How to Tear Down the Broken Healthcare System Amy Finkelstein, MIT economist, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, and co-author of We've Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care, joins The Realignment. Amy and Marshall discuss why we need to stop applying Band-Aids to a broken system and instead pursue ...
07.21.2023 Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser \| Bidenomics Review, Saagar's Wedding, Vivek's Rising Polls, Modern Church Committee, and More... In this week’s Realignment Supercast AMA episode, Saagar and Marshall discuss Bidenomics, why a modern day Church Committee wouldn't work, Vivek Ramaswamy's rise in the polls, RFK Jr.'s ideology, how Saagar's Indian wedding went, and more...
07.20.2023 389 \| Megan Reiss: The New Era of Geopolitical Risk - How AI Can Fix Supply Chains Dr. Megan Reiss, Founder & CEO of SolidIntel Inc. and former National Security Policy Advisor for Senator Mitt Romney, joins The Realignment. Megan and Marshall discuss how the private sector's ability to confront post-COVID, U.S.-China trade wars, and Ukraine-related geopolitical ...
07.18.2023 388 \| Neil Howe: The Fourth Turning Is Here - How America's Crisis Will End Neil Howe, author of The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End, joins The Realignment. Neil and Marshall discuss his follow up to The Fourth Turning, his 1997 ...
07.13.2023 387 \| Richard Kahlenberg: Class-Based Solutions to America's Housing and Education Problems Richard D. Kahlenberg, author of Excluded: How Snob Zoning, Nimbyism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don't See, joins The Realignment. Richard and Marshall discuss whether race or class is a bigger obstacle to success in America, how RFK's ...
07.11.2023 386 \| Michael R. Gordon: The U.S. Isn't Ready for Great Power Conflict - And the Iraq War(s) That Led It There Michael R. Gordon, National Security Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and author of Degrade and Destroy: The Inside Story of the War Against the Islamic State, from Barack Obama to Donald Trump, joins The Realignment. Michael and Marshall discuss ...
07.06.2023 385 \| Wesley Lowery: Backlash Politics from Obama 2008 to the Summer of 2020 and Beyond Wesley Lowery, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and author of American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Wesley discuss the rise and impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, the benefits and limits ...
07.04.2023 384 \| Peter Turchin: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path to Political Disintegration Peter Turchin, author of End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, joins The Realignment. Peter and Marshall discuss his 2010 prediction that the U.S. would experience significant political turmoil in 2020, the factors that drove 2010-2020s political ...
06.29.2023 383 \| Sean A. Mirski: How the USA's Rise to Regional Hegemony Rhymes with China's Sean A. Mirski, author of We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Sean discuss America's rise to regional hegemony after the Civil War, the anxieties and ambitions that ...
06.27.2023 382 \| Robert Lighthizer: Building the New Pro-Worker Trade Consensus Robert Lighthizer, former U.S. Trade Representative from 2017-2021 and author of No Trade Is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America's Workers, joins The Realignment. Robert and Marshall discuss his experience negotiating trade deals with Japan and China ...
06.23.2023 Vacation Programming Note \| We'll Be Back Next Week After multiple rescheduled guests and a corrupted Ask Me Anything episode recording, team Realignment has taken the hint and the will be back on its regular schedule next week.
06.20.2023 #381 \| Michael G. Vickers: Intel, Special, Ops, & Strategy from the CIA's War in Afghanistan to Ukraine Michael G. Vickers, author of By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy and former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, joins The Realignment. Michael and Marshall discuss his role in the CIA's secret war ...
06.16.2023 Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser \| Debating Bidenomics, RFK Jr's Voice, Our Cyberpunk Future, the Role of Tech Billionaires, and History Reading Motivations In this week’s Realignment Supercast AMA episode, Saagar and Marshall discuss the Biden administration's economic vision, the prospects for human cybernetic augmentation, whether RFK Jr's vocal issues are a liability, where tech billionaires fit into the political system, and more. ...
06.15.2023 380 \| Senator Marco Rubio: How America Can Recover from "Decades of Decadence" Senator Marco Rubio, author of Decades of Decadence: How Our Spoiled Elites Blew America's Inheritance of Liberty, Security, and Prosperity, returns to The Realignment. Senator Rubio discusses his critique of America's post-Cold War domestic and foreign policies, the threat of ...
06.13.2023 379 \| Jennifer Pahlka: How Government Limped into the Digital Age Jennifer Pahlka, author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better and former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, joins The Realignment. Jennifer and Marshall discuss industrial-era culture limits government's ability to ...
06.09.2023 378 \| Joshua Zeitz: What President Lincoln's Faith Means for a Secularizing America Joshua Zeitz, author of Lincoln's God: How Faith Transformed a President and a Nation, joins The Realignment as part of the show's expanded American history coverage. Joshua and Marshall discuss President Abraham Lincoln's religious beliefs in the context of the ...
06.08.2023 377 \| Jonathan D.T. Ward: The 2020s - The Decisive Decade for the U.S. & China Jonathan D.T. Ward, author of The Decisive Decade: American Grand Strategy for Triumph Over China and China's Vision of Victory, joins The Realignment. Jonathan and Marshall discuss why the 2020s decade is pivotal for the U.S.-China competition for the 21st ...
06.06.2023 376 \| Ben Terris: The Winners and Losers of DC's Big Break After Trump Ben Terris, Washington Post writer and author of The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, & True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind, joins The Realignment. Ben and Marshall discuss how much the Trump years ...
06.02.2023 Teaser \| Realignment Supercast AMA - Saagar & Marshall on the Debt Ceiling Debate, Biased Analysis, Good Q&A from Audience, GOP Primary, and Lessons for Ukraine from Afghanistan In this week’s Realignment Supercast AMA episode, Saagar and Marshall discuss the logic of the debt ceiling, the GOP’s 2024 primary and prospective debates, how to sort through bias in analysis, good listener questions, how the Soviet’s invasion of Afghanistan ...
06.01.2023 375 \| Craig Nelson: How America Became the "Arsenal of Democracy" and the Lessons for Today Craig Nelson, author of V is for Victory: Franklin Roosevelt’s American Revolution and the Triumph of World War II, joins The Realignment. Craig and Marshall discuss the "miracle" of America's manufacturing potential, FDR's leadership before and during World War II, ...
05.26.2023 374 \| Elliot Ackerman: How a Divided America Grapples its Past, Present, and Future Elliot Ackerman, author of Halcyon, The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan, and 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, returns to The Realignment. Elliot and Marshall discuss his alternate history of America in the 2000s, how revisiting the ...
05.25.2023 373 \| Noam Bardin: Building the Future of News & Social in a Post-Twitter World Noam Bardin, founder and CEO of Post, joins The Realignment. Noam and Marshall discuss his vision for social media in a post-Twitter world, why micropayments could provide a sustainable business model for media organizations and creators, how 2020s social media ...
05.23.2023 372 \| CFPB Director Rohit Chopra: Reviving America's Anti-Monopoly Tradition Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former FTC Commissioner, joins The Realignment. Director Chopra and Marshall discuss the history of America's anti-monopolist tradition, how new FTC Commissioners ended decades of inaction in 2018, the need to ...
05.19.2023 Supercast Ask Me Anything Teaser \| Assessing Biden vs. Trump's America in 2025, Looking Back at 2016-2021, Twitter Influence, Millennials to the Suburbs, and Why Can't the Defense Budget Build Munitio In today's Supercast exclusive discussion and Ask Me Anything, Saagar and Marshall discuss whether a Biden or Trump presidency in 2025 would be worse for the country, what cultural artifacts the Trump era (2015-2021) produced, wielding Twitter influence, and defense ...
05.18.2023 371 \| Evan Thomas: The Atomic Bomb's Legacy in a Disordered World Evan Thomas, author of Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II, joins The Realignment. Evan and Marshall discuss and assess the decision to use atomic bombs against Imperial Japan in 1945, how ...
05.16.2023 370 \| Timothy B. Lee: Why Artificial Intelligence Won't Cause Mass Unemployment Timothy B. Lee, author of the Understanding AI Substack, joins The Realignment to discuss his argument against the idea that recent advances in artificial intelligence presage mass unemployment. Timothy and Marshall discuss how the 2010s demonstrated the limits of software's ...
05.12.2023 369 \| Steve Drummond: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win WWII Steve Drummond, NPR journalist and author of The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two, joins The Realignment as part of the show's expanded history coverage. Steve and Marshall discuss how the Truman committee ...
05.11.2023 368 \| Thom Shanker: Welcome to the Age of Danger - New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats Thom Shanker, Director of the Project for Media and National Security, co-author (with Andrew Hoehn) of Age of Danger: Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats, and a former National Security/Foreign Policy Editor ...
05.09.2023 367 \| Ashlee Vance: The Misfits and Geniuses Winning the New Space Race Ashlee Vance, author of When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach and Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, joins The Realignment. Ashlee and Marshall discuss the ...
05.05.2023 Supercast Ask Me Anything Teaser \| Why Rome Matters, Ben Smith Reaction, What Happened to Andrew Yang?, RFK Jr's Presidential Campaign, Tucker 2024?, and the Threat of Nihilism In today's Supercast exclusive discussion and Ask Me Anything, Saagar and Marshall take listener feedback, discuss yesterday's Ben Smith episode on BuzzFeed and Gawker, RFK Jr's candidacy, a Tucker Carlson 2024 campaign, and the threat of nihilism.

The Realignment

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The Realignment episodes:

408 | Mathias Döpfner: Escaping the Trade Trap - How to Stop Doing Business with Dictators

407 | Cenk Uygur: The Future of the Progressive Movement in Joe Biden's (or Donald Trump's) America

406 | Zeke Faux: Inside Sam Bankman-Fried & Crypto's Rise and Fall

405 | Loren Grush: The Artemis Moon Mission & NASA's Past, Present, and Future

404 | Coco Krumme: The False Promise of Optimization - Plus, Saagar & Marshall on the Biden Presidency

403 | Kevin Vallier: Integralism & the Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism

402 | Jonathan Taplin: Reality vs. Dystopia - The Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, & Crypto

401 | Franklin Foer: Inside the Biden White House & the Struggle for America's Future

400 | Mauro F. Guillén: The Megatrends Creating a Post-Generational America

399 | Robert D. Kaplan: America Between Empire & Anarchy in the Greater Middle East

398 | Kathryn Cramer Brownell: The Rise and Fall of the Cable News Era

397 | Jerry Dunleavy & James Hasson: Two Years After the Fall of Kabul - Was the Chaotic Withdrawal Inevitable?

Podcast Premiere | Arsenal of Democracy: America Is Not in Decline, but It Needs Help (feat. Walter Russell Mead)

396 | Sohrab Ahmari: Post-Liberalism and the Threat of Private Tyranny

Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser | John Lovell Interview Critiques, Government Role in NCAA Realignments, Robert Caro's Legacy, Adversity Scores in College Admissions, and More...

395 | David Lipsky: Climate Change, the Culture Wars, and the Path to Denial

394 | Ben Ansell: Why Politics Fails

393 | John Lovell: Confronting the Crisis Facing America's Men and Boys

392 | Derek Leebaert: FDR's "Unlikely Heroes" and America's Triumph Over the Great Depression and WWII

391 | Larry Kramer: America After Neoliberalism

390 | Amy Finkelstein: How to Tear Down the Broken Healthcare System

Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser | Bidenomics Review, Saagar's Wedding, Vivek's Rising Polls, Modern Church Committee, and More...

389 | Megan Reiss: The New Era of Geopolitical Risk - How AI Can Fix Supply Chains

388 | Neil Howe: The Fourth Turning Is Here - How America's Crisis Will End

387 | Richard Kahlenberg: Class-Based Solutions to America's Housing and Education Problems

386 | Michael R. Gordon: The U.S. Isn't Ready for Great Power Conflict - And the Iraq War(s) That Led It There

385 | Wesley Lowery: Backlash Politics from Obama 2008 to the Summer of 2020 and Beyond

384 | Peter Turchin: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path to Political Disintegration

383 | Sean A. Mirski: How the USA's Rise to Regional Hegemony Rhymes with China's

382 | Robert Lighthizer: Building the New Pro-Worker Trade Consensus

Vacation Programming Note | We'll Be Back Next Week

#381 | Michael G. Vickers: Intel, Special, Ops, & Strategy from the CIA's War in Afghanistan to Ukraine

Realignment Supercast AMA Teaser | Debating Bidenomics, RFK Jr's Voice, Our Cyberpunk Future, the Role of Tech Billionaires, and History Reading Motivations

380 | Senator Marco Rubio: How America Can Recover from "Decades of Decadence"

379 | Jennifer Pahlka: How Government Limped into the Digital Age

378 | Joshua Zeitz: What President Lincoln's Faith Means for a Secularizing America

377 | Jonathan D.T. Ward: The 2020s - The Decisive Decade for the U.S. & China

376 | Ben Terris: The Winners and Losers of DC's Big Break After Trump

Teaser | Realignment Supercast AMA - Saagar & Marshall on the Debt Ceiling Debate, Biased Analysis, Good Q&A from Audience, GOP Primary, and Lessons for Ukraine from Afghanistan

375 | Craig Nelson: How America Became the "Arsenal of Democracy" and the Lessons for Today

374 | Elliot Ackerman: How a Divided America Grapples its Past, Present, and Future

373 | Noam Bardin: Building the Future of News & Social in a Post-Twitter World

372 | CFPB Director Rohit Chopra: Reviving America's Anti-Monopoly Tradition

Supercast Ask Me Anything Teaser | Assessing Biden vs. Trump's America in 2025, Looking Back at 2016-2021, Twitter Influence, Millennials to the Suburbs, and Why Can't the Defense Budget Build Munitio

371 | Evan Thomas: The Atomic Bomb's Legacy in a Disordered World

370 | Timothy B. Lee: Why Artificial Intelligence Won't Cause Mass Unemployment

369 | Steve Drummond: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win WWII

368 | Thom Shanker: Welcome to the Age of Danger - New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats

367 | Ashlee Vance: The Misfits and Geniuses Winning the New Space Race

Supercast Ask Me Anything Teaser | Why Rome Matters, Ben Smith Reaction, What Happened to Andrew Yang?, RFK Jr's Presidential Campaign, Tucker 2024?, and the Threat of Nihilism