Is America the victim of its own economic success? In this episode of The Liberal Patriot Podcast, I speak with Niskanen Center senior vice president Brink Lindsey about why material abundance in America no longer translates into national meaning, cohesion, or progress. We discuss capitalism’s limits, performative politics, declining birth rates, and what it would take to move from mass plenty to genuine flourishing. Brink is the author of a great new book published this month, The Permanent Pro...
Jan 16, 2026•59 min
On this week’s episode of The Liberal Patriot Podcast, I talk with geologist and energy expert Scott Tinker about why affordable, reliable energy is the foundation of human progress. We examine energy poverty, the limits of renewables, and why many climate policies collide with physics, economics, and lived reality—especially for the world’s poorest people. From 2000-2024, Tinker was Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology and State Geologist of Texas. He is currently CEO of Tinker Energy Ass...
Dec 19, 2025•58 min
This week, I speak with my AEI colleague, Sally Satel , a practicing psychiatrist and lecturer at the Yale University School of Medicine, about the rapid ideological transformation inside American medicine. Satel explains how medical associations shifted from clinical excellence toward activist missions, how flawed research, such as the now-debunked study claiming that black infant mortality could be halved if more black doctors cared for black newborns, shaped public debate, and how public-heal...
Dec 05, 2025•59 min
What do voters actually want—and why do so many politicians keep getting it wrong? This week I talk with the great Simon Bazelon about the real data behind voter shifts, why popular narratives miss the mark, and what a winning path forward for Democrats really looks like. Simon is the lead author of a terrific new report, “ Deciding to Win: Toward a Common Sense Renewal of the Democratic Party .” This report, released by our friends at Welcome , is a must read for anyone involved in Democratic p...
Nov 21, 2025•50 min
Why did America stop building? My AEI colleague James Pethokoukis joins the podcast this week to explain how cultural pessimism, bad policy, and bipartisan fear of disruption stalled progress in strengthening America’s economy. From nukes to AI, we explore what went wrong—and how to fix it. Please listen in on the discussion and check out James’s excellent 2023 book, The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised . A transcript of this podcast is available on our webs...
Nov 07, 2025•51 min
This week, I’m thrilled to welcome Massachusetts Fourth District Representative Jake Auchincloss to the podcast. Congressman Auchincloss is serving his third term in office and currently works on the House Committee on Energy & Commerce with a particular focus on issues including healthcare, clean energy, gun violence, and a strong middle class. From his bio: Jake was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a surgeon and a scientist. They showed him the value of curiosity and ha...
Oct 24, 2025•51 min
I’m pleased to have Hoover Institution research fellow Dan Wang on the podcast this week to discuss one of my favorite books of the year, Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future . Dan walks us through how China became an “engineering state” while the U.S. turned into a “lawyerly society,” and what this shift means for the future of democracy, progress, and national development. Please listen in on a wonderful discussion and check out Dan’s informative new book! A transcript of this podca...
Oct 10, 2025•49 min
I’m thrilled to welcome Thomas Chatterton Williams to the podcast this week. Williams is a colleague of mine at AEI, a staff writer at The Atlantic , and the author of the provocative new book, Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse , which examines how the year 2020 broke American politics: Taking aim at the ideology of critical race theory, the rise of an oppressive social media, the fall from Obama to Trump, and the twinned crises of COVID-19 and the murder...
Sep 26, 2025•49 min
I’m pleased to welcome Ted Nordhaus to the podcast this week. Ted’s work at The Breakthrough Institute offers an intriguing and important way to think about the intersection of energy policy, society, and politics. Ted explains why he abandoned climate catastrophism, how the “Green Vortex” collapsed, and why Democrats need to unlearn old dogmas if they want to survive as a governing party. Please listen in and check out Ted and his colleagues’ writings at The Ecomodernist on Substack. A transcri...
Sep 05, 2025•54 min
Today, I’m pleased to welcome journalist Emily Jashinsky , the D.C. Correspondent at UnHerd , to discuss the rise of the “New Right,” the split between old-guard conservatives and MAGA-aligned populists, and why Democrats should not underestimate J.D. Vance. Populism isn’t just a passing phase—it’s reshaping both the Republican Party and American politics for the long haul. Listen in and please subscribe to the TLP Podcast if you haven’t already! A transcript of this podcast is available on the ...
Aug 15, 2025•52 min
Today, I’m pleased to welcome Yascha Mounk to the TLP Podcast. Yascha is an Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and is the author of the excellent 2023 book, The Identity Trap , featured on TLP when it was first published. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the always interesting Persuasion newsletter and writes regularly on his own personal self-titled Substack as well. Join us for a nuanc...
Aug 01, 2025•44 min
Today, I’m pleased to welcome Christine Emba to The Liberal Patriot Podcast. Christine is a colleague of mine at the American Enterprise Institute and is a columnist and former editorial board member at The Washington Post . She is the author of the great 2022 book, " Rethinking Sex: A Provocation ." We discuss the issues surrounding modern sex and dating, the reasons behind young men's shift to the right, the lack of progress in feminism, and the implications of Gen Z's cultural confusion for t...
Jul 18, 2025•53 min
This week I’m joined by economist Ian Fletcher to discuss how decades of economic missteps have left the U.S. dangerously dependent on imports and vulnerable to competitors like China. Fletcher is the co-author with Marc Fasteau of an important book entitled Industrial Policy for the United States: Winning the Competition for Good Jobs and High-Value Industries . Fletcher breaks down why free trade hasn’t delivered on its promises, how tariffs alone can’t save us, and why America urgently needs ...
Jun 27, 2025•48 min
On today’s podcast, I’m pleased to talk with TLP’s newest contributor, Justin Vassallo . As you’ve seen from his recent columns, Justin’s writing focuses mainly on political development, working-class economics, industrial policy, party systems, and related areas. Justin also writes regularly for Compact , an excellent heterodox journal that everyone should read and subscribe to, as well for UnHerd , American Affairs , New Statesman , and other outlets. We examine why Democrats keep failing the ...
Jun 13, 2025•58 min
Today I’m joined by Zaid Jilani , a fellow at New America, proprietor of the excellent Substack newsletter, The American Saga , and one of our sharpest observers of contemporary politics and culture. Zaid and I discuss the puzzle of Democrats’ obsessive use of twenty-dollar words like “oligarchy” and their stout refusal to speak language that normal Americans understand. We then delve into the uselessness of most current Democratic Party strategy including the contributions of she-who-won’t-go-a...
May 23, 2025•46 min
Today I’m joined by Michael Lind , co-founder of New America and the author of Hell to Pay: How the Suppression of Wages is Destroying America . Michael walks us through the last couple decades of globalization, including how both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump came to denounce the TPP. He then argues that Trump 2.0 has done some good things with tariffs—including partial decoupling from China—but much of the administration’s actions have been too haphazard. We also dive into the delicate bala...
May 09, 2025•59 min
This week I welcome Henry Olsen back to the podcast. Henry is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center—and has the distinction of being our first repeat guest on the show. We start our conversation on the continent. How has populism, both left and right, fared in Europe in the 21st century? Will the AfD continue its rise in German politics? What about Marine Le Pen and French populism? After a pitstop in Britain for a discussion of the latest challenges facing the Labour Party, we ...
Apr 25, 2025•54 min
Today I have the privilege of welcoming Marc Dunkelman to the podcast. Marc is a research fellow in International and Public Affairs at Brown University and the author of a new book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring it Back . We begin by discussing a key premise of his book: progressivism is, and always has been, split between a Hamiltonian impulse to push power up and a Jeffersonian impulse to push power down. Marc describes how the later impulse took over left-wing movem...
Apr 11, 2025•52 min
This week I’m thrilled to welcome Derek Thompson to the show. Derek is a staff writer at The Atlantic , the host of the Plain English podcast, and, as I’m sure many of you have heard, the author of Abundance with Ezra Klein. Wasting no time, we jump right into Derek’s vision of an abundance agenda. * Why has the center-left been so slow to embrace these ideas? * How can we effectively match priorities with policy? * Can abundance appeal to moderates and conservatives as well as liberals? We cove...
Apr 04, 2025•49 min
This week we welcome a special guest to the podcast: Congressman Ro Khanna of California’s 17th District . First elected in 2016, Rep. Khanna has been a strong advocate for how Democrats can win back working-class voters. We cover his book, Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us , and why the tech industry swung towards Trump last year. We then turn to Trump’s joint address to Congress—are Democrats willing to side with the new administration on anything? How can Democrats effe...
Mar 14, 2025•30 min
Today I sit down with my friend Rick Kahlenberg , an expert on all things affirmative action and the author of the forthcoming book, Class Matters: The Fight to Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America’s Colleges . We kick off with a discussion of DEI trainings, the educational bureaucracy, and Trump’s latest executive orders. We then chat about how both sides of the political spectrum have problems with their approaches to racial diversity. Rick walks ...
Feb 28, 2025•43 min
This week I have the privilege of talking with Peter Moskos —a sociologist, former Baltimore City police officer, and expert on criminal justice and policing. His forthcoming book, Back from the Brink: Inside the NYPD and New York City's Extraordinary 1990s Crime Drop , is a must read when it drops in March. We start off with a discussion of the latest crime statistics. How and where are we getting these numbers? Is this data actually correct? Peter tells us why he’s skeptical before diving into...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Today I chat with Lisa Selin Davis , the author of Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different , and Housewife: Why Women Still Do It All and What to Do Instead . We open with a discussion of Trump’s recent executive orders relating to sex and gender. What might the practical impact be? How should Democrats respond? Lisa talks us through the latest on how the left sows division based on biological sex and explains the resistance she faced discussing gender ideolog...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 16 min
Welcome to another year of The Liberal Patriot Podcast ! We kick off 2025 with Sohrab Ahmari , formerly of Compact and now the U.S. editor of UnHerd . Sohrab fills us in on his grand plans for the new gig and walks us through his most recent book Tyranny, Inc . We chat about the administrative state, American manufacturing, and whether the labor movement can find an institutional home in the Republican Party. We conclude with a discussion of the Democrats’ “anti-normative normality” and Sohrab g...
Jan 10, 2025•42 min
In our final episode of the year, I’m joined by Dustin “Dino” Guastella , the director of operations for Teamsters Local 623 in Philadelphia and a research associate at the Center for Working-Class Politics . We kick off with a discussion of the Harris campaign’s “democracy” message and why it alienated working-class voters. Why did Democrats ditch economically populist messaging? What should a progressive economic program look like anyway? Dino and I tackle manufacturing, infrastructure, bureau...
Dec 20, 2024•43 min
This week I sit down with Ross Barkan , a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine and expert on the American left who has his own great newsletter, Political Currents . We begin with a review of the legacy media’s performance during the 2024 election—and why you might have been better prepared for the results if you read the right people here on Substack. After extolling the virtues of independent media, Ross, a Brooklyn native, breaks down why Democrats performed so poorly in New Yor...
Dec 06, 2024•59 min
In our first post-election episode, I’m joined by Patrick Ruffini , a co-founder of Echelon Insights and the author of Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP . We dive right into last week’s results, starting with how and why non-white voters shifted so much towards Trump. We cover the “cosmopolitan trap” that Democrats have fallen into—focusing solely on issues that motivate white voters with a college degree—and why the Harris campaign over-indexed on a...
Nov 15, 2024•43 min
Today I'm joined by Tim Shenk , a history professor at George Washington University and the author of Left Adrift: What Happened to Liberal Politics . We start back in 1992 with Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and the emergence of party strategists Stan Greenberg and Doug Schoen. We discuss competing approaches for coalition building—Greenberg's preference for New Deal-esque pocketbook populism and Schoen's for a more complete move to the center on social and cultural issues. Turning toward...
Oct 25, 2024•56 min
As Election Day draws closer, I'm joined by my AEI colleague Sean Trende to break down all things 2024. We discuss swing state polling before moving into who we think might be favored to win the White House. Did Democrats make the wrong VP pick? What's behind Harris's stubborn leads in the Midwestern battlegrounds? Why are some pollsters suddenly weighting on recalled vote? Who's favored to win the House and Senate? Tune in for answers to all that and more! Get full access to The Liberal Patriot...
Oct 11, 2024•46 min
On this week’s podcast, Musa al-Gharbi and I start with a laugh about his journey from a ruby-red county in Arizona to Columbia University before diving into his new book: We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite . How is social justice discourse used to justify and maintain inequality? Why are these problems often most acute in blue cities? In what ways have right-wing politicians capitalized on normie discontent? Tune in for all that and more! Get full access to The ...
Sep 27, 2024•1 hr 4 min
