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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•2 hr 41 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•2 hr 41 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Friday, December 4, 2020, Shadi and Damir went live on Periscope—Damir from Croatia, Shadi from DC. On their minds: how different cultures react, deal with, and adapt to COVID, how even vaccination is becoming a partisan issue in the United States, and how to think about the state of exception in democratic societies. Check out the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/l8elM2Bq7TM This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visi...
Dec 07, 2020•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast A glitchy episode (apologies), as Shadi and Damir record across the Atlantic, with Damir in self-isolation and with shaky internet in Croatia. Damir talks about his run-in with the law, and Shadi admits Republicans' rejection of democratic outcomes is bringing out his uncompromising inner partisan. Reading List : Democrats calling for "deprogramming." Shadi's " raw power " first draft. Shadi getting back on-side with the Left (members only). This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss thi...
Nov 22, 2020•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shadi and Damir get together after a long night of watching the results come in from the 2020 Presidential elections and take stock of where they stand. You'll never guess who's the optimist. Reading List: " Everything in its Right Place ," by Radiohead (Kid A) 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...
Nov 05, 2020•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Who poses the biggest danger to our country aside from Trump: the wokes, the integralists—or the Never Trumpers themselves? Aaron Sibarium of the Washington Free Beacon joins Shadi and Damir to talk about his new essay about Weimar Germany, polarization, and the allures and dangers of moral certitude. Reading List " The Weimarization of the American Republic, " by Aaron Sibarium ( American Purpose ) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to b...
Nov 01, 2020•1 hr 29 min•Transcript available on Metacast What is dissolving the social bonds that tie us together in America? Is liberalism decaying? And is there a "successor ideology" waiting in the wings? Special guest Yehuda Kurtzer, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, joins Shadi and Damir to talk about Jewish identity and American politics in the waning moments of 2020. Reading List : " Brooklyn's Anti-masking Protests Betray a Broken Culture ," Yehuda Kurtzer ( The Atlantic) " Memory Malpractice ," Yehuda Kurtzer ( Table...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Why so angry? Shadi and Damir talk about useful idiocy, neoconservatism, and the dangerous temptation of righteousness in politics. Come for Shadi musing about U2 and stay for Damir rhapsodizing about Guy Debord. Reading List : Not the Coen Brothers . " On Romance and Being in a Constant State of Alarm ," Shadi Hamid ( WoC ) " The Biggest Risk to This Election Is Not Russia. It’s Us. " Fiona Hill ( NYT ) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...
Oct 08, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Does rhetorical escalation among our elites belie the stability of the nation today? With Amy Coney Barrett nominated for the Supreme Court and partisan rancor at an all-time high, Shadi and Damir pick apart their doubts about the health of our democracy. Reading List : Shadi's prescient tweet " Resisting the Juristocracy ," Samuel Moyn (Boston Review) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscri...
Sep 27, 2020•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast The great Nils Gilman of the Berggruen Institute and Noema joins Shadi and Damir to talk about why the upcoming elections feel existential, why our federal government feels increasingly illegitimate, and why Shadi's most recent piece in The Atlantic has annoyed so many people. Reading List: " Human Rights and Neoliberalism ," by Nils Gilman ( LA Review of Books ) " The Collapse of Racial Liberalism, " by Nils Gilman ( The American Interest ) " The Democrats May Not Be Able to Concede, " by Shadi...
Sep 18, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shadi thinks Damir is getting more worried about our institutions. Damir reveals the depths of his relentless fatalism. All because NPR thought it was a good idea to interview a radical apologist for rioting and looting. Reading List : " One Author's Controversial View: 'In Defense of Looting' ," by Natalie Escobar (NPR) " Between Orientalism and Postmodernism: The Changing Nature of Western Feminist Thought Towards the Middle East ," by Shadi Hamid ( Hawwa ) The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in ...
Sep 11, 2020•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast During a livestream, Shadi and Damir talked about the site redesign and relaunch, why it's smart to abandon Big Tech platforms during the upheavals of the Age of Wokeness, how America is definitively not on the cusp of revolution (no matter what the activists might think), and whether violence was likelier if Trump defeats Biden than vice versa. 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...
Sep 04, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's summer. Damir rings up Shadi to talk about the pleasure of writing and the pain of exercising, before the conversation takes a much darker turn. Required Reading: Islamic Exceptionalism , by Shadi Hamid That Mohammed Tweet , by Shadi Hamid 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...
Aug 14, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Stand up straight! The Washington Post 's Christine Emba joins Shadi and Damir to ponder the positive aspects of the woke wars, the role of ideas in furthering social change, and the virtues of lukewarm takes. Reading List: " Why George Floyd Died ," by Rod Dreher ( The American Conservative ) 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...
Aug 06, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are we reaching a tipping point in our politics, and is the very legitimacy of our democratic system is being called into question? The Week 's Damon Linker joins Shadi and Damir to discuss how a desperate narrative seems to be taking a hold on the Right, its historical antecedents, and whether the threat comes from an illiberal ideology or if our Union has always been more precarious than we thought. Reading List: " When Conservatives Become Revolutionaries ," by Damon Linker ( The Week ) " Dem...
Jul 30, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jamie Kirchick of the Brookings Institution and author of The End of Europe joins Shadi and Damir to talk race, anti-semitism, morality, and the ever-multiplying claims to universal rights that are driving the turmoil shaking Western societies to their cores. Come for Damir's tinnitus, and stick around to find out if Shadi will end up a neo-neocon as the woke brigades take over the Left. Reading List: " The Man Who Opposed Hate ," by James Kirchick (Tablet) This is a public episode. If you’d lik...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Peter Beinart joins Shadi and Damir to discuss his recent essays for Jewish Currents and the New York Times , in which he argues that with the two-state solution a dead letter in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the only possible path forward is making a case for a bi-national state. Is this a tactical maneuver to expand the Overton Window to unblock the status quo? A desperate attempt to prevent Israel from considering worse solutions? Or a moral case energized by the ascendance of the...
Jul 16, 2020•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shadi and Damir sit down their friend Robert Nicholson, Founder and Executive Director of the Philos Project (and one of the small handful of people who witnessed the birth of the idea for this podcast with his own eyes). Recently back from a trip to Minneapolis, Robert discusses facing up to our deep national dysfunctions as someone who has worked abroad, and how religion might end up being the best bridge we have across our gaping racial divides. This is a public episode. If you’d like to disc...
Jul 09, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shadi quizzes Damir about his belief in the possibility of progress and social change, before the conversation spins off into a discussion about the creative process, selling out, and the nature of success. Reading (Listening) List: " How a Great Power Falls Apart " by Charles King ( Foreign Affairs ) " The Problem With Music " by Steve Albini ( The Baffler ) " Atmosphere " by The Oranges Band This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus e...
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast On June 23, Shadi and Damir went live on Periscope to discuss Shadi's latest piece for the Atlantic , the tension between political change and negative externalities, their new Patreon account, and plans for a newsletter. 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...
Jun 29, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shadi talks through his inner conflicts. Damir responds by minimizing the reality of what is happening. Also: why Americans are all fundamentalists (whether secular or religious), the appropriateness of activist-journalism, the empty symbolism of woke politics, and whether the New York Times should(n’t) be our lodestar. Reading List: “ Our Deathwish ” by Jacob Siegel ( Tablet ) “ The Coronavirus Killed the Revolution ”, by Shadi Hamid ( The Atlantic ) Waverley , by Sir Walter Scott This is a pub...
Jun 16, 2020•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast The former President of Georgia joins Shadi and Damir to talk about how tricky reforms—such as police reforms—can succeed (and fail), about how identity is a slippery thing in the post-Soviet space, about liberalism, illiberalism, and Western haughtiness, and about his encounters with Donald Trump when he was just another rich guy with a political itch. 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...
Jun 08, 2020•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
