Episodes

“If we let things continue in the direction that they are taking now, I think it is more likely than not that we will end up in some kind of Great Power war within the foreseeable future.” — Arne Westad This conversation was ...

“When you use humor to degrade people, you can get away with it—but you’re also doing something that’s completely devastating.” — Rae Lynn Barnes Donald Trump’s recent retweet of Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as apes was...

“If you disestablish Christianity, then Christian leaders need to make Christianity a consumer product. They need to give the American people something they want.” — Matthew Avery Sutton Over the years, Keen On has done many ...

“We keep telling you there’s an eviction crisis, so organize with us. Feel free to come into our meetings. Feel free to learn about the lives of people who have been here for a long time.” — Manissa Maharawal Yesterday we spo...

"He's blundered here. He's trying to set policy for the government on the use of AI through a sales contract." — Keith Teare on Dario Amodei There's only one story this week: Dario Amodei's refusal to let the Department of Wa...

"You can't wear a yellow vest on a demonstration anymore because you get arrested as soon as the police see you." — Ida Susser In November 2018, something strange happened in France. People from the urban periphery—truck driv...

"He lied more than I thought he did—and I thought he lied a lot." — Tom Wells on Henry Kissinger In our Epstein age, everyone seems to have access to everyone else's dirtiest secrets. But half a century ago, in the Watergate ...

"They are fundamentally bound at the hip, because the Trump age is a conspiratorial age and a backlash against global wealth inequality... Epstein facilitated the rise of Trump." — Jason Pack Late last year, Disorder podcast ...

"The House hasn't reorganized committee jurisdictions since the early 70s—before the internet existed." — Maya Kornberg America is stuck stuck stuck stuck. Almost exactly a year ago, I interviewed the Atlantic's Yoni Applebau...

"We didn't have to grow up with that." — Ross Greene, on school shootings One of the most persistent worries these days is that our kids aren't okay. With most of the blame, of course, now being placed on the ubiquity of soci...

"I wake up at 3 AM, check my phone to see what fresh hell has come out, and it's usually two words: 'Trump threatens.'" — Peter Bale We're reversing the lens today. Rather than examining America from the inside, we're peering...

"Great minds think alike? It's completely wrong. It's not that great minds think alike; it's that different minds are great." — David Oppenheimer It's diversity week. Yesterday, Brian Soucek argued in favor of what he calls t...

"They are changing venture capital from a 30% tax to 0% tax. If Robinhood succeeds, it makes Sequoia and Andreessen's business model untenable." — Keith Teare The Silicon Gods must have their blood. And they've finally come f...

"150 universities have adopted neutrality policies just since October 7th. I'm on the losing end of this trend." — Brian Soucek Universities keep claiming what they see as the moral high ground of neutrality. But Brian Soucek...

"72% of Americans say they hate big corporations—including Republicans." — Charles Derber It's not just the right that's reacting against liberal democracy. Some progressives are also embracing populism. Charles Derber , long...

"American culture likes martyrs, not marchers." — David Masciotra, quoting Jesse Jackson A couple of days ago, a great American died. Jesse Jackson was 84. He was somebody. Even Donald Trump acknowledged the passing of "a goo...

"It truly is becoming a desert right now for book publicists." — Bethanne Patrick A couple of weeks ago, there was an " absolute bloodbath " at The Washington Post with hundreds of workers laid off and the book section totall...

"I'm much more likely to protest when I feel responsible—when violence is being done in my name." — Bruce Robbins As always, the media is full of stories about political protest. A Columbia University Gaza protester held by I...

"We are still dealing with a system which tolerates rampant abuse of accused people." — Emily Galvin Almanza Back in April 2024, we interviewed Thelton Henderson , one of the first African American federal judges in America. ...

"Two years from now, all white-collar jobs may be gone." — Dario Amodei (via Keith Teare) Keith Teare leads this week's tech roundup with a video he made on Google's Veo: one glass half-full of water, another half-full of spi...

"She's a ten to me and that's the part that matters." — Paul Eastwick If it's Valentine's Day, we must be talking about love. Paul Eastwick studies attraction and relationships at UC Davis, and his new book Bonded by Evolutio...

"How can you not be a populist in this day and age?" — Hélène Landemore In February 2020, The New Yorker profiled a Yale professor making the case for citizen rule. Six years later, that political scientist, Hélène Landemore,...

"I will say that QAnon was right and I was wrong." — Pepper Culpepper From Bannon and Trump to Summers, Gates, Blavatnik and Chomsky, the Epstein scandal has revealed elites of all ideological stripes behaving shamefully toge...

"You either need to call it fascism or you need to invent a new word with more or less the same meaning." — Jonathan Rauch Jonathan Rauch's viral Atlantic essay has reignited the debate over what to call the Trump administrat...