The Glenn Show

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 The return of the “speech is violence” argument6:05 Who’s the arbiter of “misinformation” and “disinformation”?8:06 The University of Virginia topped FIRE’s college free speech rankings14:08 The Victorianism of the Woke22:10 The comedian as gadfly24:40 Do we need to “protect” Jewish students from pro-Palestine speech?31:23 Harvard Derangement Syndrome37:13 FIRE’s defense of Amy Wax39:59 Using Title IX to restrict speech46:24 Complicating the left-right speech distinction49:34 FIRE enters the AI debatesRecorded June 2, 2025Links and ReadingsFIREGreg and Nancy Strossen’s forthcoming book, War on Words: 10 Arguments against Free Speech—and Why They FailLisa Feldman Barrett’s 2017 NYT op-ed, “When Is Speech Violence?”FIRE’s 2025 College Free Speech RankingsFIRE’s Scholars Under Fire DatabaseRajiv Sethi’s post, “Under Fire”Glenn’s forthcoming book, Self-CensorshipMusa al-Gharbi’s book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New EliteGreg and Rikki Schlott’s book, Canceling the American Mind: How Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens UsThe IHRA definition of antisemitismSteven Pinker’s NYT guest essay, “Harvard Derangement Syndrome”Greg’s Atlantic essay, “Trump’s Attacks Threaten Much More Than Harvard”Cosmos Institute This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comI’m back with my creative director Nikita Petrov on our latest livestream. As you may know, Nikita is Russian. He’s spent some time in the US, but he’s still got a lot of questions about how we do things here and why. This was recorded the day before the Independence Day holiday, and we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to address some of Nikita’s questions (and yours) about the strange folkways of the American peopleIn this installment, we talk about the meaning of the American flag, ChatGPT’s 50 unique facts about the US, voter ID laws, the validity of the 2020 election, border security and immigration, ICE, the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide (if that’s what it was!), Christian Zionism, advice for aspiring authors, free speech, the Big Beautiful Bill, taxes, spiritual conflict within the family, the X-Files, and third-party politics.Anybody can watch our livestreams as they happen, but if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For less than the cost of three tacos at your neighborhood food truck, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content. Go to https://glennloury.substack.com

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 How Jens got interested in American gun violence2:45 What’s “unexpected” about the origins of gun violence?5:29 Race and the culture of gun violence9:30 Ground News ad11:20 Are high rates of gun violence a cultural issue or an equilibrium?17:09 Is urban gun violence the result of rational behavior?24:34 The link between Kahnemanian “fast thinking” and violent conflict36:46 Are gun violence interruptions scalable?40:52 The role of urban design in reducing crime and violence47:31 Jens: Gang-motivated crime may not account for as much violence as its seems50:43 Rehabilitating “Broken Windows” 53:47 Jens’s “pathological pragmatism”Recorded June 13, 2025Links and ReadingsJens’s new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun ViolenceDaniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking, Fast and SlowWilliam Julius Williams’s book, Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Social PolicyJane Jacobs’s book, The Death and Life of Great American CitiesMelissa Kearney’s book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling BehindGeorge Kelling and James Q. Wilson’s classic Atlantic article, “Broken Windows” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comIn my latest livestream with my editor Mark Sussman, we talk about the state of the academic labor market, teaching writing to undergrads, Zohran Mamdani’s remarkable victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, the wisdom or folly of a federal minimum wage, the work of Thomas Sowell and upcoming conference in his honor, and race and economics. We take questions on libertarianism, self-censorship, black conservatism, AI and teaching, and how to coax Glenn to your town to read from his forthcoming book, Self-Censorship. Full subscribers have access to the full audio and video of this recording. We at The Glenn Show rely on the generosity and support of our subscribers. So if you’re already a subscriber, thank you for all you do. And if you’re not one, consider becoming one. It’s about the cost of one beer a month, and less than that if you purchase a full year’s subscription.Sign up at https://glennloury.substack.com

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comThis month, John and I tackle questions about grade inflation, the Great Courses, Chapt GPT, race and public art, Ta-Nehisi Coates on Palestine, the end of race-based affirmative action, Trump, Christopher Rufo, and my most recent appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show.The Glenn Show is supported by listeners like you. To watch and listen to the full version of this episode and get all kinds of other benefits, become a full subscriber at https://glennloury.substack.com.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comLast week, I did my second ever livestream, this time with my editor here at the Substack, Mark Sussman. We covered a lot of ground: self-censorship in both intimate and public settings, the golden age of MIT, the death of the influential economist Stanley Fischer, political correctness then and now, the use of the term “blood libel,” immigration, labor disputes and anti-trust in the tech industry, and class-based affirmative action.Full subscribers have access to the full audio and video of this recording. We at The Glenn Show rely on the generosity and support of our subscribers. So if you’re already a subscriber, thank you for all you do. And if you’re not one, consider becoming one. It’s about the cost of one beer a month, and less than that if you purchase a full year’s subscription. Sign up at https://glennloury.substack.com

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comLast week we tried something new at TGS. I had a conversation with my lovely wife, LaJuan Loury, and my creative director, Nikita Petrov, live on three platforms at the same time: the TGS Youtube channel, the TGS Substack, and on Nikita’s Substack, Psychopolitica. We went for two hours and covered a lot of ground: LaJuan and I reported on our visit to Tucker Carlson’s “barn” in Maine, and I speculated about why LaJuan and Tucker, contrary to my expectations, really hit it off. LaJuan spoke a bit about her religious upbringing, we reminisced about where The Glenn Show was four years ago, when Nikita and I started working together, and we tried to assess how we fit into the very different political and media landscape of 2025, which required us to first discuss how we see this said landscape. We capped it off with a short Q&A at the end, where we responded to questions asked during the stream.I should also mention the conversation includes some very raw and emotional moments, especially when we discuss the dire situation in Gaza.The experiment continues! I’ll be livestreaming again this Thursday, June 12, at 6:00 PM Eastern on YouTube and Substack. This time I’ll be joined by my editor, Mark Sussman. Planned topics include my forthcoming book Self-Censorship, the future of elite universities, how to get proactive on racial disparities in the wake of affirmative action and DEI rollbacks, faith and reason, and the recent death of Stanley Fischer, an economist I got to know back in MIT days. But it’s a live conversation—you never know what’s going to happen or what we’ll end up talking about.The button below allow you to add the Substack version to you calendar:And if you navigate to the YouTube page of the stream, you can add a notification to alert you when the stream starts:

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comThe Glenn Show will be taking a pause in the month of June. In this brief episode, Glenn explains why. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 Intro 1:25 The response to Glenn’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show 4:03 Are institutions like the University of Austin the future of higher ed? 11:31 Ground News ad 13:14 When social justice musicology came for John’s syllabus 17:42 What role should social justice play in academic study? 28:40 John’s trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture 35:50 Will the museum survive Trump’s assault on DEI? 44:47 Are Glenn and John complicit in anti-DEI overreach? 55:30 The racial animus question in anti-DEI reformRecorded on May 21, 2025Links and ReadingsGlenn’s recent appearance on Tucker Carlson’s showThe Chronicle of Higher Education’s interview with GlennGlenn’s forthcoming book, Self-CensorshipGlenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black ConservativeJohn’s conversation with actor Clifton DuncanThe BBC’s 1973 production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, starring Lynn Redgrave and James VilliersKhalil Gibran Muhammad’s book, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban AmericaVictor Herbert’s operetta, Babes in ToylandJohn’s NYT piece on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureGlenn’s conversation with Brown University student Alex Shieh This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 Intro 0:50 Glenn takes a shot at defining “cryptocurrency” 5:28 Yaya fills in the gaps 10:15 Solving the double-spending problem 15:58 The partisan divide on crypto 21:27 North Korea’s crypto hackers 26:29 How crypto protocols create value 33:23 The case of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX 35:13 How stablecoins can open up global financial markets to nations with weak or unstable currency 36:32 Memecoins: Buyer beware 41:07 China’s use of digital currency to expand its surveillance apparatus 47:35 Should a non-expert invest in crypto?Recorded May 15, 2025Links and ReadingsYaya and Emily Jin’s report, “China’s Digital Currency: Adding Financial Data to Digital Authoritarianism”Yaya podcast’s, DesignatedYaya’s audio thriller, The Jabbari Lincoln Files This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 Intro1:00 What is the “affirmative action myth”?8:02 Black progress before and after affirmative action11:41 Ground News ad13:29 How far does Jason’s critique of affirmative action extend?17:03 Contesting The Shape of the River26:37 Respectability, responsibility, and upward mobility32:40 Is Jason blaming the victims?35:54 Jason: No one’s buying the reparations argument43:26 How do figures like Ibram X. Kendi and Nikole Hannah-Jones end up at the center of progressive discourse?Recorded May 7, 2025Links and ReadingsJason’s new book, The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don’t Need Racial Preferences to SucceedJason’s book, Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to SucceedJason’s book, False Black PowerJason’s book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas SowellDerek Bok and William G. Bowen’s book, The Shape of the River: Long Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University AdmissionsMelissa Kearney’s book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling BehindAn Amos & Andy YouTube playlistJulia pilot episodeTa-Nehisi Coates’s Atlantic essay, “The Case for Reparations”Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How to Be an AntiracistThe NYT’s 1619 ProjectThe Woodson Center’s 1776 Unites Project This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comIn this installment of my monthly Q&A with John McWhorter, we tackle questions about elite universities and wealth, the value of DEI, Trump's expansion of executive power, The Great Gatsby, and ethics in higher education.

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com. Pre-order Glenn's forthcoming book, SELF-CENSORSHIP: https://www.amazon.com/Self-Censorship-Glenn-C-Loury/dp/1509567402/ref=sr_1_1?crid=223KUFY8BN0X&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ar6rmRPzp7pEiJss0o1eUeLbLwOgX_qrXHtWjMS3_m_GjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.goECGgv0OxAPgLR8kNnsISu5AK6OSVoa5qWVmqRNqwY&dib_tag=se&keywords=self-censorship+glenn+c.+loury&qid=1746808862&sprefix=self-censor%2Caps%2C237&sr=8-1Video Links0:43 Ross: Trump's economic policies are the worst I've seen in my life 7:36 Glenn's new book, SELF-CENSORSHIP 12:00 Trump’s bid to become the most powerful person in the history of the world 21:17 The disruptive effects of tariffs, financial regulatory manipulation, and extraordinary debt levels 27:58 Ross: Alienating our allies is only going to strengthen China 33:41 Glenn: Those who lost out to globalization are getting their way 41:04 Will Trump heed economic warning signs? 48:10 Can Congress constrain Trump?Recorded April 19, 2025Links and ReadingsEdward Luce’s Financial Times piece, “Trump, Truss, and the ‘Moron Premium’”Larry Kotlikoff’s SubstackLarry Kotlikoff’s post, “30-Year TIPS Are Looking Mighty Attractive”Glenn’s most recent conversation with Larry KotlikoffMichael Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 Intro 00:31 Prefatory remarks 4:15 Glenn: The Trump administration’s defunding of the universities is mischievous in the extreme 9:06 Ground News ad 11:01 Doesn’t maintaining the preeminence of American universities require diversity of thought? 18:47 John McWhorter has entered the building 20:25 How did higher ed lose the general public’s support? 23:05 The university’s role in public discourse 26:26 Was affirmative action a success or a failure? 31:36 The partisan balance in education funding 42:21 The costs and benefits of tenure 50:09 Can education preserve democracy if students aren’t doing the reading? 1:01:59 Are we irrevocably polarized as a nation? 1:07:28 Q&A: You don’t seem as excited by Trump as you once were. What is disappointing you? 1:11:40 Q&A: If higher ed serves society, why do so many elite grads use their degrees to get rich? 1:16:01 Q&A: How do you teach diversity to students who’ve never spent time around people different from them? 1:19:15 Q&A: What’s the difference between contrarianism and provocation? 1:21:23 Q&A: Should fewer people go to college?Recorded April 22, 2025Links and ReadingsMichael Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?John Stuart Mill’s book, On LibertyJohn Milton’a AreopagiticaAlan Bloom’s book, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s StudentsJohn’s new book, Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little WordsGlenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black ConservativeThe Great CoursesFyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and PunishmentDostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers KaramazovLeo Tolsty’s novel, War and PeaceTolstoy’s novel, Anna KareninaPlato’s dialogue, The Republic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comIn this bonus episode, I talk with my grandson Will Kelly about his weight-loss journey, which he is documenting on social media. We talk about his desire to live out loud, our family history of addiction issues, and his strategies for healthy, sustainable weight loss. Check out this episode on Substack to see clips from Will's TikTok and instagramFollow Will on Instagram and TikTok

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comPre-order Glenn's forthcoming book, SELF-CENSORSHIP. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=self-censorship--9781509567409Video Links0:00 Intro 1:10 Glenn meets the young Marx 2:32 The new wokeness of the political right 8:30 What is the democratic counterpart of foreign policy and national security run by experts? 17:04 Russia’s motivations: Fear of NATO or imperial ambitions 21:41 Danny: Zelenskyy made a huge misstep in the Oval Office 26:12 Does China have global security ambitions? 35:09 Ending the Middle East’s post-Ottoman redefinition 39:42 Danny: It’s gotta be rough to be Peter Beinart 43:46 Why we don’t need Hitler to explain Trump’s authoritarianism 56:29 Danny: We’ve been in the midst of a constitutional crisis since the 1940s 57:58 Can the nuclear taboo hold?Recorded April 19, 2025Links and ReadingsDanny’s podcast, American PrestigeKarl Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page’s paper, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens”Walter Lippmann’s book, Public OpinionDanny’s book, Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense IntellectualTranscript of Matt Lauer’s 1998 interview with Madeline AlbrightPaul Thomas Chamberlain’s book, The Cold War Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long PeaceLindsey O’Rourke’s book, Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold WarPeter Beinart’s book, Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A ReckoningGlenn’s conversation with Peter BeinartGlenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black ConservativeDanny’s Jacobin piece, “This Is America”James Whitman’s book, Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race LawCarl Schmitt’s book, The Concept of the Political This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comIn this bonus episode of The Glenn Show, I talk with Brown University sophomore Alex Shieh about Bloat@Brown, his website calling out Brown administrators whose roles, he says, may violate federal discrimination laws. We talk about why he started Bloat@Brown, diversity of thought on campus, class-based affirmative action, and the role of diversity on campus.This bonus episode is available in its entirety to full subscribers, without whom The Glenn Show would not be possible. If you want to listen to the full version of this episode and our other bonus content—including monthly Q&As with John McWhorter—go to https://glennloury.substack.com and sign up.

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comPre-order Glenn's forthcoming book, Self-Censorship. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetai...Video Links0:00 Intro 1:12 Attacks on the university from within and without 9:50 Ground News ad 11:43 Reshaping institutions by force and by argument 20:56 Critiquing the Gaza War without antisemitism 22:30 Reforming para-academic institutions 32:07 Is there a potential conflict between commitments to truth and commitments to diversity of thought? 39:19 Caught between “casual relativism” and “fierce absolutism” 52:18 Cornel: There is no “mic drop” argument on Gaza or anything else 55:19 The straight-jacket of emotional over-investment 1:00:36 The role of faith in the search for truth 1:10:19 Finding faith beyond reason in Stephen SondheimRecorded April 12, 2025Links and ReadingsRobbie and Cornel’s new book, Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of DivisionPlato’s RepublicThomas Kuhn’s book, The Structure of Scientific RevolutionsEugene Genovese’s book, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves MadeAntonio Gramsci’s book, The Prison NotebooksWilliam Blake’s poem, “London”Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, Fides et RatioGenesis 22, King James VersionShakespeare’s HamletGlenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black ConservativeMandy Patinkin sings “Finishing the Hat” from Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Support The Glenn Show at http://glennloury.substack.comVIdeo Links0:00 Intro 0:45 Why Trump’s tariffs alarm economists 8:18 Are the tariffs designed to offset Trump’s tax cuts? 11:30 Larry’s break with Senator Ron Johnson 14:16 Larry: We’re not in a trade war with other countries, we’re in a trade war with other people 22:44 Is Trump under the sway of a foreign power? 28:45 What measures should investors take to protect themselves from tariff-generated market volatility? 35:46 The possible silver lining in the economy under tariffs 41:32 The hypothetical third-party billionaire who could defeat Trump 44:46 The social security Ponzi scheme 54:50 Larry’s plan for fixing social security 57:29 Are other aging nations facing the same social security crisis as the US? 1:02:23 The failure of checks and balancesRecorded April 4, 2025Links and ReadingsLarry’s SubstackLarry’s company, Economic Security PlanningThe MaxiFi PlannerTIPs LadderRajiv Sethi’s Substack, Imperfect InformationLarry’s book, You’re Hired: A Trump Playbook for Fixing America’s Economy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comFor the March 2025 Q&A, John and I take questions on getting outside our bubbles, the first hundred days of the second Trump administration, the Department of Education, contemporary black writers, race and advertising, the assumption of good faith, and undocumented immigration.The Glenn Show is supported almost entirely by listeners, viewers, and readers. If you're not year a full subscriber, please consider becoming one at https://glennloury.substack.com. You'll get access to monthly Q&As, commenting privileges at the newsletter, and lots of bonus content. And if you're already a full subscriber, thank you for all you do.