EP:9 - [GUEST] James Howard Kunstler - The Fabric of America Is Coming Apart

American society is unraveling — and we can’t even agree on what’s happening, let alone why. In this thought-provoking interview, Patrick Sullivan and Luis Diaz-Perez sit down with acclaimed author and social critic James Howard Kunstler to dissect the collapse of our shared cultural reality.

From Russiagate to COVID, election controversies, and foreign wars, Kunstler reveals how a relentless flood of absurd narratives has poisoned public discourse — and how media institutions, unwilling to admit their failures, have driven trust to historic lows.

But this conversation isn’t just about politics. We explore how America’s physical environment mirrors its social decay — from sprawling suburbs that isolate us, to neighborhoods that erode childhood independence and fuel our tech addiction. Kunstler connects the dots between urban design, mental health, and the breakdown of community bonds in ways few others can.

Looking forward, he offers a surprising note of hope: as brittle, centralized systems collapse, we may rediscover human-scale living through local business, walkable towns, and real community.

If you’ve been trying to make sense of today’s chaos — and where we go from here — this is a conversation you can’t afford to miss.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction to James Howard Kunstler

3:10 Russiagate and Media Complicity

9:14 The COVID Crisis and Vaccine Debate

24:01 Mass Formation and Political Psychosis

33:05 Overproduction of Elites and Social Consequences

40:19 The Death of Chain Retail

52:32 Suburbia's Destruction of Human Development

1:00:26 Closing Thoughts and Book Announcement