The Good Fight

In a tour d'horizon, Yascha and Frank discuss the fall of Assad, the rise of China, the crisis in Europe, and what awaits the United States under Trump. Francis Fukuyama is a political scientist, author, and the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Among Fukuyama’s notable works are The End of History and the Last Man and The Origins of Political Order. His latest book is Liberalism and Its Discontents. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column, carried forward from American Purpose, at Persuasion. He is a member of Persuasion’s Board of Advisors. In this week's conversation, Yascha and Frank discuss Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's flawed plans for reforming the federal bureaucracy (and how to actually reform it); why crises in France and Germany bode ill for Europe; and what the public reaction to the assassination of Brian Thompson says about healthcare in America. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Noah Smith discuss the neoliberal era and the role of unions in America. Noah Smith is a writer and a former professor of finance at Stony Brook University. Smith is the author of the Substack Noahpinion. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Noah Smith discuss the rise of the YIMBY ("Yes, in my backyard!") movement; why childcare, housing, and health care costs are so high in the United States; and what it would look like to embrace a genuine "abundance agenda." This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Alice Evans discuss why women have won equality in some countries but remain at the margin in many others. Alice Evans is a senior lecturer in international development at King's College London and the author of the forthcoming book The Great Gender Divergence. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Alice Evans discuss the influence of cultural and religious norms in promoting or stifling gender equality; how we can advocate for improvements in gender equality while minimizing the risks of backlash; and why fertility has plummeted around the world. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Richard Reeves discuss why most young men aren’t becoming reactionary. Richard Reeves is the founder and president of the American Institute for Boys and Men. He is the author of Dream Hoarders and, most recently, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It (which was recently included by Barack Obama on his summer reading list). In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Richard Reeves discuss whether young men propelled Donald Trump to victory in the 2024 election; how we can supply boys and men with new sources of meaning; and the enduring relevance of John Stuart Mill. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Cass Sunstein discuss the meaning of free speech and how it should be applied on campus. Cass Sunstein is an American legal scholar and the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University. Sunstein was the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under Barack Obama, and is considered to be the most widely cited legal scholar in the United States. Sunstein is the author, with Richard Thaler, of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, The World According to Star Wars, and Campus Free Speech: A Pocket Guide. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Cass Sunstein discuss his "law of group polarization" and how it contributes to today's factionalism; how echo chambers work (and why social media makes them worse); and whether meeting the challenge of misinformation requires new government regulations. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our second-ever mailbag, Yascha answers questions about the role of journalism in the Trump era, RFK Jr., and a national voter ID law. Yascha also answers listener questions about whether it's good or bad that it is so hard to pass a new law in the United States and the importance of public choice economics. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Melissa Chen also discuss the rise of China and the future of US-China relations. Melissa Chen is a Singaporean journalist and activist. She is a contributing editor to The Spectator and co-founder of Ideas Beyond Borders. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Melissa Chen discuss the unique cultural and political landscape of Singapore and its "competitive authoritarian" system of government; how the US went wrong in its policy of engagement with China; and what the Trump presidency portends for relations between the two countries. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Ivan Krastev discuss what Trump’s reelection will mean for the future of the world. Ivan Krastev is a political scientist, the chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria, and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. Krastev is the author of After Europe and, with Stephen Holmes, of The Light that Failed: A Reckoning. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ivan Krastev discuss the advent of the Trump era in American politics; why liberals need to eschew their nostalgia for an older form of politics that now appears irretrievably lost; and how America's retreat will transform European culture. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha and Freya discuss why so many young people came to prefer the online world to real life. Freya India is the author of the Substack GIRLS. She is also a staff writer for Jonathan Haidt’s Substack After Babel.  In this week’s conversation, Yascha and Freya discuss the great sense of social isolation and anxiety felt by so many young people; why the life lived online is a shoddy substitute for the real thing; and how the difficulties ascribed to social media addiction among young people often can be traced to a broader desire for wisdom and meaning. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama discuss what a Trump victory means for America, its allies, and the world. Francis Fukuyama is a political scientist, author, and the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Among Fukuyama’s notable works are The End of History and the Last Man and The Origins of Political Order. His latest book is Liberalism and Its Discontents. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column, carried forward from American Purpose, at Persuasion. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama discuss how Trump’s 2024 victory repudiates the racial grievance theory of 2016; what a second Trump administration will mean for the rule of law at home and abroad; and the lessons the Democratic Party must learn from its defeat. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Shikha Dalmia discuss American conservatism, the rise of authoritarian populism, and whether identitarians of the left are right or wrong on their fundamental goals. Shikha Dalmia, a writer and journalist, is the founder of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism and of The UnPopulist, an editorial partner of Persuasion. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Shikha Dalmia discuss her journey from socialist India to the American libertarian movement; how mainstream libertarianism failed to meet the challenge posed by Donald Trump; and the proliferation of populist attitudes among the American electorate. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Norbert Röttgen discuss the war in Ukraine and Germany’s political, economic, and security crisis. Norbert Röttgen is a senior leader of the Christian Democratic Union. A former cabinet minister, he was chair of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee from 2014 to 2021. Röttgen is the author ofDemocracy and War: Politics and Identity in a Time of Global Threats. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Norbert Röttgen discuss the insufficiency of Germany’s support of Ukraine (and theZeitenwende that wasn’t); the nascent pro-Russian movement gaining strength on the margins of German politics; and whether the path to an independent and secure Europe runs through Germany. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk, Ruy Teixeira, and Yuval Levin discuss why American elections are so close—and how one party could build a stable majority. Ruy Teixeira is the co-founder and politics editor of The Liberal Patriot, and the author, with John Judis, of The Emerging Democratic Majority and, most recently, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes.  Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Levin is the author of A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus and, most recently, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again.  In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk, Ruy Teixeira and Yuval Levin discuss “politics without winners,” or America’s unusual streak of close-run elections; why both Democrats and Republicans have failed to build a dominant coalition; and what it would take for either party to win a durable majority. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Teresa Bejan discuss the secret history of free speech and why the word “problematic” is problematic. Teresa Bejan is a professor of political theory at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Oriel College. She is the author of Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration and the forthcoming First Among Equals, which explores ideas of equality before modern egalitarianism. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Teresa Bejan discuss how liberals should think about the role of virtue in society; why a robust culture of free speech requires more than just legal protections; and why "mere" civility is the key to unlocking a broader conception of tolerance. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Robinson, a political scientist and economist, is the Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at The University of Chicago. Robinson is the co-author, with Daron Acemoglu, of Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor.  Today, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that it would award the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to James Robinson, Daron Acemoglu, and Simon Johnson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.” In this week’s conversation, originally released in 2019, Yascha Mounk and James Robinson discuss the importance of political institutions; the roots of freedom and prosperity; and how citizens can beat the historical odds to improve their countries. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sign up for the Persuasion panel event in London: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trump-vs-harris-what-next-for-america-and-the-world-tickets-1026768591497 Yascha Mounk and Charles Taylor discuss the modern struggle for meaning and belonging. Charles Taylor is a Canadian philosopher and Professor Emeritus at McGill University. Taylor is the recipient of both the Kyoto and Templeton prizes, and is the author of major works including A Secular Age and Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. His most recent book is Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Charles Taylor discuss how the modern notion of identity differs from that of the past; the role of religion and religious belonging in today’s societies; and the “post-liberal” critiques of liberalism, including the claim that it’s impossible to be truly religious or devout in a liberal democracy. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Ruxandra Teslo discuss luxury beliefs and the concept of "elite misinformation." Ruxandra Teslo is a PhD student in Genomics at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK. She writes about science and culture at Ruxandra’s Substack. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ruxandra Teslo discuss Rob Henderson’s concept of luxury beliefs, its key insights, and the misleading ways in which it’s often used; the academic study of “misinformation” and why we should be skeptical of (much of) it; and how cultural ideas about progress shape outcomes in the real world. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Amanda Ripley discuss what natural catastrophes reveal about human nature. Amanda Ripley is an American author and journalist. Her books include The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes and High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out.  In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Amanda Ripley discuss the pitfalls common to many survival scenarios and the psychological tools most helpful in avoiding them; whether the strength of one’s community ties or improvements in forecasting technology are of greater significance in the statistical decrease in deaths from disaster; and why we still haven’t imbibed the most critical lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first installment of a new monthly feature. In this inaugural mailbag, Yascha answers listener questions on the upcoming US election; how concerned we should be about a second Trump term; whether it’s possible for a politician to change their views without giving up on their principles; his tips for how to travel well; and more. This is a preview. To access the full episode, become a paying subscriber today by visiting http://www.yaschamounk.substack.com/subscribe! And please send us questions for future installments at goodfightpod@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk and Musa Al-Gharbi discuss why so many members of elite groups like to pretend they’re oppressed. Musa al-Gharbi is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. His most recent book is We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Musa Al-Gharbi discuss the tendency of certain elite groups to lay claim to marginalized identities as a form of symbolic capital; the challenges posed by "asymmetric multiculturalism," in which we encourage certain groups to organize along identitarian lines while discouraging others from doing the same; and how we can apply greater consistency to our analysis of social dynamics. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices