In this episode of The Vital Center, host Geoffrey Kabaservice and Jonathan Rauch discuss the "deliberate, sustained, sophisticated, and very effective attack on the system we rely on to make and obtain knowledge" in our democracy. Fighting back against disinformation involves more than throwing up our hands and wishing it never happened. We have to understand why the attacks on our institutions, our systems of knowing things, and our democratic way of life are working. "We have to understand this as an attack by identifiable people and organizations for power and for profit, and then we have to rally and push back really hard," says Rauch. Today's episode gets to the root of what's causing these illiberal attacks on truth, facts, and knowledge, and what we can do to stop them.

R.R. “Rusty” Reno is the editor of First Things, an ecumenical and conservative religious journal that seeks to advance what it calls a religiously informed public for the ordering of society. In this episode, Reno joins Geoff Kabaservice to discuss his book “Return of the Strong Gods: Nationalism, Populism, and the Future of the West,” religion, ideological passion, and the way forward for American politics.

“So how do we get through this current rough patch in our politics? There's no guarantee we will. Partly we need good leadership, a little bit of luck.”

Political veteran Chris Vance joins host Geoff Kabaservice to offer some insight into his time in the Washington state Republican Party - how they won elections on a local level, what role moderate ideas played in winning elections, and how everything changed once Trump became the Republican nominee for President in 2016. Concerned by the ideological trends in the party and the demand that no Republican criticize Trump, Vance has become an advocate for third party. He explains why the party seemingly changed so quickly with the nomination of Trump, and why he does not believe that moderate Republicans can continue in either the Republican or Democratic parties. As for the big question, "Is a third party viable," Vance believes that it is.

Liz Cheney has been ousted from the Republican Party...for speaking the truth about election results. Anyone Republican who opposed Trump is also on thin ice, and effectively must worry about being ousted for their views. And when it comes to passing good policy, Democrats don't have all the answers (or the majorities needed to pass legislation) either. Political scientist Rob Saldin makes the case that American democracy requires two healthy parties and lays out a roadmap that would enable both parties to function better and make space for all voters. He and Geoffrey Kabaservice discuss:

- Why moderate factions within each party are better and more realistic than hoping for a third party.

- What caused the Republican Party to seemingly lose all interest in governing.

- How nationalization of news and issues has impacted party agendas, to the detriment of every day Americans.

- Why Democrats should care about winning in rural areas, and how they can do so without compromising their national party platforms.

As Republicans embraced anti-elitism under Trump, Democrats reacted by embracing the values of the upper-middle class.

The result, according to historian Matt Karp is a party that often - intentionally or unintentionally - distances itself from the working class, which it used to champion. The professional class has made all opposition the "other," embracing a partisan identity politics that says "if you're not with us, you're against us."

But pushback is coming from both the right and the left. Karp discusses how the mainstream media has mischaracterized what Bernie Sanders is trying to do, and then digs deep into his historical research to provide analogies from the past that explain the present moment.

"One of the few things that both left and right can agree upon nowadays is that both the "establishment" and the meritocracy ought to be overthrown. But in all of these discussions, there's little awareness that there is a history and a scholarly literature behind these concepts. And all of that in one way or another draws upon the work of the sociologist E. Digby Baltzell, who was born in 1915 and died in 1996 and spent most of his academic career at the University of Pennsylvania."

Aaron M. Renn, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, has dug deep into the scholarship of Baltzell and the larger question of how the "establishment" has impacted American politics. He chats with Geoff Kabaservice about his findings.

For years, Democrats have provided training and resources to women looking to run for office through organizations like EMILY's List. Republicans have not, and the current demographics of Congress show the results. That's one of the reasons sisters Kodiak and Ariel Hill-Davis helped to found Republican Women for Progress, which provides policy-minded Republican women with the tools they need to win.

They discuss many of the unique roadblocks Republican women face on the campaign trail, but also touch on the many accomplishments moderate women have made in Congress. While the media likes to highlight individuals with the most outrageous rhetoric (men and women alike), many women are doing the hard, unglamorous work of governing behind the scenes.

William F. Buckley was a public intellectual, commentator, and founder of National Review, the magazine that arguably launched the modern conservative movement as we know it today. Would there even be a conservative movement without Buckley's leadership?

And if so, is he responsible for the Trumpist turn Republican Party has taken? Does Buckley bear some blame for the direction in which conservatism has developed?

Journalist and historian Sam Tanenhaus has spent years studying the life and legacy of William F. Buckley. He joins Vital Center host Geoffrey Kabaservice for a deep dive into how Buckley became the force that shaped American politics as we know it today.

During the Trump years, political commentator and strategist Linda Chavez held out hope that the more moderate elements of the Republican Party would make a resurgence. But the widespread denial of the 2021 election results was her breaking point, and she openly left the party. She could no longer associate with a group that embraced conspiracy theories denied the results of a free and fair election.

While Chavez has repudiated the GOP, she sees herself as too conservative for the Democratic Party. Today on the Vital Center podcast, she discusses the importance of moderate thought in a country with increasingly radical factions. She takes a look back over her illustrious career to document how the GOP slid to where it is today, remembering its embrace of populism over rationality and its clumsy attempts to reach out to minorities. While Chavez doesn't feel optimistic about the GOP's recovery, she envisions a party that would competently address the very real concerns of today's working class.

What motivated the rioters to buy plane tickets and storm the Captol? Was it a pre-meditated, organized coup or something more spur-of-the-moment? And what's the future of the Republican Party, given that so many base voters still support Trump?

The Week's Damon Linker joins Niskanen's Geoffrey Kabaservice to discuss the intellectual, psychological, political, and socio-cultural forces behind the January 6 riots, and if/how moderates can play a role in bringing the U.S. back to normalcy.