Matt and Sam talk to two esteemed guests, Rick Perlstein and Leon Neyfakh, about why U.S. politics took a right turn in the 1970s. “We organize discontent,” as one New Right activist put it—and they did. Fierce battles over desegregation, gay rights, abortion, and the meaning of America itself all paved the way for Ronald Reagan's smashing victory in 1980. Over four books and two decades, historian Rick Perlstein has chronicled the rise of movement conservatism in America, starting with its rene...
Oct 21, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast We released this bonus episode on depression and politics in July, and it quickly became a favorite of our Patreon subscribers. A number of them asked us to make it available in front of the paywall so they could share it with friends and family who have experienced depression and other mental-health issues—so that's what we decided to do. Topics discussed include: Matt's review of George Scialabba's memoir about depression; how left and right understand moral desert; and the struggle to build a...
Oct 12, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast From the never-ending culture war over the New York Times 's 1619 Project to arguments about the Black Lives Matter protests to President Trump's promise to Make American Great Again, today's political conflicts reflect, to an extraordinary degree, disagreements over the meaning of American history. Jamelle Bouie's New York Times column is one of the places where these lively debates are most effectively narrated and clarified. Bouie joins Matt and Sam to help make sense of how history, historio...
Sep 14, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Matt and Sam welcome Yale historian Samuel Moyn to the show for a deep-dive into the Never Trump movement. Who are the Never Trumpers? How seriously should we take the heroic story they tell about themselves? Did they sink Bernie's campaign for the Democratic nomination? Have they reckoned with their role in paving the way for Trump? In trying to answer these questions the conversation moves from the baleful influence of Never Trumpers to a discussion of historical debates about over the rise of...
Aug 09, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Matt and Sam are joined by two special guests, Sarah Jones and Marshall Steinbaum, who return to the show to take stock of where we're at: our failed response to the pandemic, the connections between the pandemic and the protests, and how all this might play out in November. The four of us range widely—but be warned, this is not the most inspiring conversation. Are there any reasons to be hopeful? Listen and find out. Sources Cited and Further Reading: Eric Levitz, " Coronavirus is Killing Our E...
Jul 08, 2020•2 hr 31 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast There's been no shortage of commentary on the rise of the "nones," those Americans who claim no religious affiliation, a trend especially notable among younger people. But that doesn't mean we live in a secular age. Matt and Sam talk to Tara Isabella Burton about her new book, Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World , and the way our search for meaning and the need for ritual has met our neoliberal economic order. What does this spiritual churn mean for our politics? Why do reactionary ...
Jun 08, 2020•2 hr 33 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Matt and Sam are joined by writer and editor Shuja Haider to discuss a topic near and dear to all of our hearts: country music. We talk about country's conservative reputation, the problems with (and virtues of) Ken Burns's recent documentary about country music, and the humane politics that arise from acknowledging—as the best country songs do—our collective frailty. Plus, a bunch of great music recommendations for your quarantine listening. A playlist featuring every song we mention in the epi...
May 14, 2020•2 hr 32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Here it is—the mailbag episode. Recorded on 4/20 and celebrating a full year of Know Your Enemy, Matt and Sam answer listener questions about: conservatives hiding in plain sight, our favorite conservative novelists, a George W. Bush counterfactual, the right’s response to COVID-19, and—against our better judgment—some Bernie Sanders campaign postmortem. We received so many amazing questions for this and recorded tons of material. So much, in fact, that we decided to release another 25 minutes o...
May 04, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Matt and Sam are finally joined by the show's longtime bête noire, Marshall Steinbaum, for a deep dive into the Chicago school of economics and the wreckage it's supported—from welcoming the birth defects caused by deregulating the pharmaceutical industry to justifying massive resistance to desegregation to being put in the service of Coronavirus truther-ism. Where did this iteration of libertarianism come from, intellectually and institutionally? Who are the key figures in the Chicago school? H...
Apr 18, 2020•2 hr 49 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast Our rollicking conversation with Know Your Enemy Film Correspondent Jesse Brenneman is now out from behind the paywall! Be prepared: we dive into Darrel Campbell's 2012 war-on-Christmas fever dream Last Ounce of Courage , a deranged film that nevertheless offers real insight into the conservative mind. (If you really love freedom, you can watch the film here , before you listen. But it is not at all necessary.) Jesse is a seasoned radio producer and dear friend—and funny. He has his own new podc...
Apr 05, 2020•2 hr 34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Matt and Sam talk to John Ganz about paleoconservatism, the Island of the Misfit Toys of the American right. Along the way we're introduced to David Duke, Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis, and others, and discuss their enduring influence on the Republican Party and conservative politics—both in 1992, when Buchanan made a failed run for president, and today, when the hopes of their movement seems to have been fulfilled in Donald Trump. Sources and Recommended Reading: John Ganz, The Year the Clock Broke...
Mar 15, 2020•2 hr 59 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast Ross Douthat is that strangest of all creatures, a religious conservative with a New York Times column—a perch from which he pronounces on U.S. politics, the Catholic Church, and modern culture with style and intelligence, plus a dash of mordant pessimism. In other words, the perfect choice to be the first "enemy" to come on the show. He joins Matt and Sam to discuss his own conservatism, the American right in the Trump era, and his new book The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our...
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Making It is Norman Podhoretz's 1967 memoir about his journey from the working-class neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn to his heady ascent in the New York literary scene of 1950s and '60s. It's also a fascinating psychological study of a man on the cusp of converting from Cold War liberalism to what came to be known as neoconservatism—a shift driven, at least in part, by the cool reception of this book. Making It proves a fascinating text through which to understand not just one conservative...
Jan 15, 2020•2 hr 44 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Matt and Sam talk to Rebecca Traister of New York magazine about sexism and electoral politics. How has patriarchy conditioned the political careers of politicians like Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren? How does the right mobilize anti-feminism to win? And how do conservative women like Sarah Palin use traditional womanhood and femininity to their advantage? Listen to find out! Traister is the author of Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger. Further Reading: Rebecca Traister...
Nov 28, 2019•1 hr 29 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Will Arbery's play "Heroes of the Fourth Turning"—about four conservative Catholic friends arguing under a night sky in Wyoming—feels like it was written to be discussed on Know Your Enemy. An ominous meditation on faith, conservatism, empathy, cruelty, and power, "Heroes" has ignited debate and garnered praise across the political spectrum—from First Things to the (failing) New York Times to Rod Dreher's blog at the American Conservative . Arbery was raised by conservative Catholic professors a...
Nov 11, 2019•2 hr 8 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Sarah Jones joins Matt and Sam to discuss the myth of "Trump Country" and the pitfalls of reporting on rural America, and to address the most important question of all: is Donald Trump the Antichrist? (Answer: Probably not.) Sarah's essay, "Scapegoat Country," appears in this month's special issue of Dissent on " Left Paths in Rural America ." Sarah is a staff writer for New York Magazine , where she covers inequality and national politics. Follow her on Twitter: @OneSarahJones Sources Cited: Sa...
Oct 29, 2019•2 hr 40 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast UNPAYWALLED: Sam interviews journalist Hannah Gais about (1) the far right's ongoing efforts to infiltrate conservative media and (2) the self-victimizing grift of Quillette anti-anti-fascist Andy Ngo. Discussed: Hannah Gais, Leaked Emails Show How White Nationalists Have Infiltrated Conservative Media , Splinter Hannah Gais, The Making of Andy Ngo , Jewish Currents...
Oct 23, 2019•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Matt and Sam talk to Max Alvarez—writer, editor, and host of Working People , an excellent podcast—about growing up working-class and conservative in a mixed race household. Matt and Max compare experiences as we try to answer some basic but tough questions: what attracts some members of the working class to conservative politics? How do the cultural and economic aspects of conservatism interact for working class conservatives? And what can the left learn from working-class conservatism's appeal...
Oct 07, 2019•1 hr 24 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast With the help of Jane Mayer's essential 2016 book, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right , your hosts explore the world of right-wing philanthropy and the institutions—from centers at universities to think tanks in Washington, DC—it has funded. What emerges is a startling history of how a small group of incredibly rich families used novel techniques to shelter their wealth from taxation and fund a right-wing takeover of American politics. Other s...
Sep 09, 2019•2 hr 32 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Matt and Sam's first ever guest, Patrick Blanchfield, is an Associate Faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and author of the forthcoming book Gunpower from Verso books, which you can and should pre-order here . In the wake of the massacres in El Paso and Dayton, we turn to Patrick—a truly brillant writer and thinker—to help us understand how these traumatic reptitions of spectacular violence are rooted in American history and ideology. Patrick's work: "The Market Can...
Aug 15, 2019•1 hr 29 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast The first National Conservatism conference was convened at the Ritz Carlton in Washington D.C. two weeks ago. It was a coming out party for the rising nationalist wing of the conservative movement, with attendees laying the groundwork for a more intellectual version of Trumpism. Many mainstream conservatives were in attendance, along with paleoconservatives, figures from the religious right, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and a popular Fox News host. In the era of Trump, mainstream conservatism i...
Jul 30, 2019•2 hr 37 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Interested in the background reading we did for this episode? There's a lot of it. But we want to show our work and give you the chance to dig deeper. Below are the articles we referenced, read, or drew upon for our conversation on the illiberal right. Primary Sources: Against the Dead Consensus , First Things Sohrab Ahmari, Against David French-ism , First Things David French, What Sohrab Ahmari Gets Wrong , National Review R.R. Reno, What Liberalism Lacks , First Things Romanus Cessario, O.P.,...
Jul 12, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Special thanks to Will Epstein and The Downtown Boys for providing music for these two episodes. Check them out. Ronald Reagan's televised "A Time for Choosing" speech in support of Barry Goldwater in 1964: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBswFfh6AY A choice excerpt: "Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. They tell us that by avoiding a direct confrontation with the enemy he will learn to love ...
Jun 26, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Tanenhaus's original 2009 essay in The New Republic , the basis for the book we're discussing today: https://newrepublic.com/article/61721/conservatism-dead Whitaker Chambers's 1957 dismantling of Ayn Rand in the pages of National Review : https://www.nationalreview.com/2005/01/big-sister-watching-you-whittaker-chambers/ And here's Buckley's 1955 mission statement for National Review : https://www.nationalreview.com/1955/11/our-mission-statement-william-f-buckley-jr/...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast In episode two of KNOW YOUR ENEMY, Matt and Sam discuss economist Albert O. Hirschman's 1991 book The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy . Along the way, they identify the persistent patterns in conservative rhetoric from Edmund Burke to Friedrich Hayek to Paul Ryan. They finish off by examining some of the rhetorical tics of the progressive left, and Sam reminisces about the good old days when DSA was comprised exclusive of young nerds and old Jews....
May 16, 2019•1 hr 17 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Read Matt's Dissent essay, " Leaving Conservatism Behind " Read Sam's essay about Jonah Goldberg's Suicide of the West , " The Remnant and the Restless Crowd "
May 07, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 
