This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Elbridge Colby joins Shadi and Damir to talk about his challenging new book The Strategy of Denial , an unflinchingly clinical argument for confronting China. Does China's authoritarianism make it our enemy, or is confrontation inevitable regardless? Will our allies stick by our side just because China is a bully? And what does Henry Kissinger get wrong about power politics? Required Reading: - " Will the Next Amer...
Oct 08, 2021•55 min
Is America the most successful third world country on earth? Shadi and Damir welcome Samuel Goldman, author of the new book After Nationalism, onto the podcast for a raucous discussion on national identity, the likelihood of another civil war, and the possibility that, because it has more in common with Latin America than Europe, the United States may be the best place on the planet. Required Reading: After Nationalism , by Samuel Goldman. A symposium on the book at Law and Liberty. Sam's column...
Oct 01, 2021•1 hr 23 min
This summer, the inherent ugliness of the world reasserted itself. And yet we Americans still found a way to make it all about us, who we think we are, and what we think we represent. Shadi and Damir sit down to talk about the remarkable frivolity of our politics today, and whether there's any way out. Required reading: Shadi's recent Friday Essay on Carl Schmitt . Damir's recent Friday Essay on the Missionary Position . Damir's tweet on politics. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discu...
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 3 min
How did it all go wrong? Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, a leading scholar of Afghanistan, joins Damir and Shadi to dissect the Taliban's victory and discuss what it tells us about the failures of America's nation-building effort. Why did the Afghan government collapse so quickly? Have the technocrats and NGOs in the democracy promotion industry been completely discredited? And for the sake of the Afghan people, should we now help the Taliban succeed in governing the country? Things get heated. Mu...
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 48 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Parents in the 1990s believed they were doing their children a favor by instilling in them the ethos “do what you like, follow your dreams, and things will work out.” But Michael Brendan Dougherty, author of My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son's Search for Home , argues that sometime in the 2000s, this promise of liberation revealed itself as a curse, feeling more like abandonment than instruction. In a wide...
Jul 13, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Wisdom of Crowds associate editor Matt Winesett joins Damir and Shadi to debate Donald Rumsfeld's legacy and if his mistakes permanently discredited nation building and democracy promotion abroad. They also discuss how younger Millennials perceived the Iraq War, whether Bushism or Trumpism would better serve the GOP's future, how much politicians' personal character ultimately matters, and much more. Their conversation continues in a bonus episode, out next week. Subscribe here to get it straigh...
Jul 04, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Damir calls in from a conference in Slovakia and describes what life is like in a land without widely available vaccines. Shadi addresses why he won't just register as a Republican already (or convert to Catholicism). And they both discuss if Europe is in danger of sinking into irrelevance, whether George W. Bush should have sent troops to Crimea, the relationship between America's power and its values, and much more. Recommended Reading: "Biden Talks a Big Game on Europe. But His Actions Tell a...
Jun 17, 2021•51 min
Damir and Shadi return to a familiar topic, but this time with a twist. Damir manages to sound like an optimist. He argues that the fad of wokeness will collapse under the weight of its own contradictions, while Shadi thinks it's probably too late. They also discuss whether justice is possible without God, the rather odd fact that Shadi's first academic article was on feminist theory, why white parents seem nonplussed about indoctrinating their kids, and whether a rising crime wave will undermin...
Jun 10, 2021•56 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live “What fascinates and terrifies us about the Roman Empire is not that it finally went smash,” W. H. Auden once wrote, but rather that “it managed to last for four centuries without creativity, warmth, or hope.” In his latest book , The Decadent Society , Ross Douthat suggests contemporary America may be in a similar spot. He joined Shadi and Damir to discuss the factors contributing to our present state of decadence...
Jun 02, 2021•52 min
An Iranian-born immigrant, Sohrab Ahmari has become one of America's most prominent and controversial Catholic commentators. His new book , The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos, asks us to rethink our understanding of freedom and choice—and the fact that we have too much of it. What does it mean to be a "political Catholic"? What is the value of a state-imposed Sabbath? Does civilization require heartfelt religious belief, or is there a benefit in simply go...
May 25, 2021•45 min
What do Shadi and Damir's divergent responses to the Gaza crisis tell us about questions of morality, idealism, and power? Damir presses Shadi on his recent commentary about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians—and the line between analysis and polemics. Shadi argues the Middle East still matters—and that it's in America's national interest to be moral. Damir counters by saying that it is the job of the analyst to complicate stories, not necessarily to resolve them. Required Reading: "I'm Angr...
May 20, 2021•1 hr 32 min
Damir returns to the office and is surprised by how it feels. Shadi marvels at the precipitous decline of outrage—but wonders if our collective tuning out of politics might have drawbacks. And why have so many corporations gone woke? All this and more on this week's episode of Wisdom of Crowds. Required Reading : "Tema Okun's 'White Supremacy Culture' work is bad," by Matt Yglesias ( Substack ) "Can We Please Ditch the Term 'Systemic Racism'," by John McWhorter ( Substack ) "Biden Struggles With...
May 12, 2021•55 min
The liberal idea arose partly as a response to the religious wars of 17th-century Europe. Could something similar occur in the Islamic world today? Mustafa Akyol thinks so—and his new book Reopening Muslim Minds offers a fascinating and forthright case for reinterpreting Islamic history and revisiting Islamic law. Mustafa joined Shadi and Damir to talk about what inspired the book, starting with his arrest by Malaysia's "religion police." They go on to debate Islam's proper role in public life, ...
May 02, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Berlin-based journalist Elisabeth Zerofsky joins Shadi and Damir to talk about how Europeans are coping with the pandemic. What's it like living under an actual lockdown? Is Brexit vindicated? Does Europe now feel America envy? And would Damir make an effective demagogue? The answers to all these questions and more, answered in just over an hour. Required Reading : Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets, by Svetlana Alexievech ( Penguin ) "The Right-Wing Pundit ‘Hashtag Triggering’ France," by...
Apr 24, 2021•1 hr 11 min
The journalist, author, and firebrand Glenn Greenwald joins Shadi and Damir for a two-part episode ranging from Glenn's investigative work in Brazil to his increasingly contentious relationship with the liberal establishment in America. In part one, Glenn talks about the corruption case at the center of his new book, why respectable middle-class people supported an authoritarian bigot, and how living in Brazil has shaped his views on American politics—including the January 6 riots at the Capitol...
Apr 17, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Damir and Shadi pull back the curtain on the thought process behind Damir's latest essay. The central question: If Europe's social democracies offer far more support to their citizens, why has America weathered both the Great Recession and Covid-19 pandemic better than the European Union? Required Reading: "Selfishness and American Resilience," by Damir Marusic ( Wisdom of Crowds ) "Janet Yellen and Mario Draghi Have One Last Job," by Adam Tooze ( Foreign Policy ) This is a public episode. If yo...
Apr 12, 2021•54 min
Shadi and Damir discuss America's cratering religious affiliation and church attendance, and if the U.S. is losing any unifying culture it once had. Required Reading: “Church membership in the U.S. has fallen below the majority for the first time in nearly a century,” by Sarah Pulliam Bailey ( The Washington Post ) “America Without God,” by Shadi Hamid ( The Atlantic ) “The Paradox of American Faith,” by Damir Marusic ( Wisdom of Crowds ) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this w...
Apr 01, 2021•57 min
On today's show, Jason Willick of the Wall Street Journal's Editorial Page stops by to discuss all things representation: Does the filibuster still serve a beneficial purpose? How can we balance both rural and urban interests? Should representatives mirror their voters' preferences or rely on their personal judgment? And how does the rise of Big Tech factor into all this? Required Reading: The Politics of Size: Representation in the United States, 1776–1850, by Rosemarie Zagarri ( Amazon ) Why C...
Mar 24, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Too many commentators today want a "return to civility" in political discourse. Osita Nwanevu, a staff writer at The New Republic , and Samuel Kimbriel, a political philosopher, think that's misguided—rather than ignoring our fundamental disagreements, we should be arguing about them much more honestly. This episode's example: Osita's proposal to abolish the U.S. Constitution. Required Reading: Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Overcoming Isolation , by Samuel Kimbriel ( Oxford University Press ) “T...
Mar 13, 2021•1 hr 19 min
In another sprawling episode, Shadi and Damir talk about Germany's decision to surveil one of its leading political parties and what this says about modern liberalism. They also discuss Shadi's Islam-as-Keto metaphor, the EU's legitimacy problem, and how theodicy relates to democracy. Required Reading : “Germany Places Far-Right AfD Party Under Surveillance for Extremism,” by Katrin Bennhold ( New York Times ) “German Court Suspends Right to Surveil Far-Right AfD Party,” by Melissa Eddy ( New Yo...
Mar 06, 2021•52 min
David Adesnik of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies joins the show to discuss Trump's foreign policy legacy and how much Biden's will differ. David also talks about his evolution from liberal Democrat to neoconservative, Shadi presses him on the Abraham Accords, and Damir reveals the problem with popular conceptions of "progress." Required Reading: "Why 'Anything But Trump' Should Not Be Biden’s Foreign Policy Mantra," by David Adesnik and John Hannah ( The National Interest ) "From Trump...
Feb 25, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Was Barack Obama America's last "realist" president? Was he even a realist at all? Emma Ashford of the Atlantic Council joins Shadi and Damir to answer these questions and more. They also discuss democracy promotion, whether to confront China, and why Shadi supported Bernie's candidacy even though Shadi is an interventionist. Required Reading: "Reality Check #1: Build cooperation cycles, not security spirals," by Emma Ashford ( Atlantic Council ) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discus...
Feb 19, 2021•1 hr 4 min
What is driving our current political upheaval? Shadi and Damir discuss a few different theories including the decline of religion, the absence of an aristocracy, and, crucially, modern America's obsession with dogs. Required Reading: " The Weimarization of the American Republic, " by Aaron Sibarium ( American Purpose ) " Reflections on What's to Come ," by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds) " The Death of Our Most Cherished Pieties ," by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds) This is a public episode. If...
Feb 13, 2021•58 min
New York Times justice reporter Katie Benner joins the show to talk about January 6, the FBI and DOJ response, the limits of 9/11 comparisons, and if the threat posed by right-wing militias is overstated. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe
Feb 06, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Shadi regrets not investing in GameStop. Damir thinks that once you say democracy must be saved from the masses, protecting Wall Street from the retail-investing crowds is the next logical step. Finally, does Shadi still consider himself a progressive? Required Reading: The Tolerance Dilemma Joker and Our Leaderless Future Locke's essay on toleration This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Hours into the Biden administration, Shadi and Damir sit down with author Bruno Maçães to talk about Trump, January 6, the future of world order, and the sources of American exceptionalism. Reading List: Bruno on Substack . History Has Begun: The Birth of a New America , by Bruno Maçães (Oxford University Press) " The Roleplaying Coup ," by Bruno Maçães ( City Journal ) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofc...
Jan 21, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Is 1/6 our new 9/11? Are we in danger of making decisions in the heat of the moment that we will come to regret? Is the United States splitting apart fatally? And what will there after COVID be like? Megan McArdle, the person most responsible for the invention of Wisdom of Crowds, joins Shadi and Damir to chew over our post-insurrection reality. Reading List: " Why we should be frightened by tech companies’ censoring of conservatives ," Megan McArdle ( Washington Post ) " Trump fed off the estab...
Jan 14, 2021•1 hr 41 min
Ben Judah joins Shadi and Damir for a first attempt at digesting what happened this week in Washington. Was it a coup attempt? Are we at a moment of catharsis where the country can start to rebuild? Or are we in for even more darkness? Reading List: " Japanese Lessons for the American Coup ," by Noah Smith " The Weimarization of the American Republic ," by Aaron Sibarium This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomof...
Jan 09, 2021•1 hr 3 min
A wide-ranging episode: a day or so after Damir's birthday, Shadi discusses his longest bout of self-isolation ever, Damir talks about Teddy Roosevelt and how enlightened views on slavery were completely compatible with that old-timey colonial racism. Plus national stereotypes, arranged marriages, and Domino's Pizza! Reading List: A tweet by (Captain) David Ryan. Shadi on Riada Akyol's podcast . Damir on Michael Weiss' podcast . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other ...
Dec 19, 2020•56 min
Andrew Sullivan joins Shadi and Damir to try to put the last four years of Trump into some kind of perspective. Was he stopped or did he succeed? Is he a symptom or a source of decay—or both? Is our republic doomed, or will things just go back to normal? And what's the proper role of a writer and intellectual in troubled times: to analyze or be engaged? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscr...
Dec 11, 2020•1 hr 41 min
