The Realignment

Marshall’s launched a new podcast with On Deck. Go to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-end/id1568752165 to check out the first three episodes with Balaji Srinivasan, Erik Torenberg, and Katherine Boyle and leave a five-star review on Apple podcasts. Edward-Isaac Dovere, author of Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats’ Campaigns to Defeat Trump and staff writer at The Atlantic, joins The Realignment to discuss how the Trump presidency changed the Democratic Party, how the Obama presidency left the party in shambles, and Joe Biden’s victory means for a realigning America.

Listen & Subscribe to The Deep End: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-end/id1568752165 The Deep End is produced by On Deck - where top talent goes to accelerate their ideas and careers. We hope those who listen to the ideas on this show are inspired to build. To learn more about On Deck’s programs visit beondeck.com.

Zachary Karabell, author of Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power, joins The Realignment to discuss the rise of American finance, the rise and fall of “the establishment,” America and China’s long divorce process, and why American’s will have to adjust to being a “normal” country moving forward. Buy Zachary's book using our Bookshop link: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Purchase Brad’s books (Amazon Unbound, The Upstarts, and The Everything Store) at The Realignment’s Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-realignment-bookshop Brad Stone, Senior Executive Editor for Global Technology at Bloomberg News and author of Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire, joins The Realignment to discuss the challenges, impact, and scope of Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s ambitions in cloud computing, streaming services, news media, retail, politics and more.

Buy a book using our bookshop link: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Due to a last-minute booking snafu (and a lack of backup episodes), we’re releasing a book recommendations update episode instead of our usual programming. Don’t worry, we’ll be back with new content the rest of the week

Niall Ferguson, author of Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, joins the show to discuss why some societies fall apart while others rise in the face of doom, how a Cold War between the U.S. and China could lead to catastrophe, and analyze the pathologies facing modern America through the lenses of imperial decline, finance, institutional decline, and social fragmentation. Special Niall Ferguson Bookshop Link: https://bookshop.org/lists/niall-ferguson-bookshop Subscribe to The Realignment’s Substack, now released on Thursdays: https://therealignment.substack.com/

Senator Josh Hawley returns to The Realignment to discuss the right’s fraying relationship with the tech industry and what antitrust enforcement can (and can’t), accomplish.

We’re on vacation this week, but rather than not publish anything, we’re releasing a special episode featuring the entire team that puts together the show. Join Marshall, Saagar, Phil, James, and Emma for episode, book, and podcast recommendations to hold you over until next week.

Cade Metz, technology correspondent with The New York Times and author of Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World, joins The Realignment to discuss the past, present, and future of AI and the actors and players that will shape the technology’s future.

Buy a book using our bookshop link: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Julia Galef, author of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t and host of the Rationally Speaking podcast, joins The Realignment to make the case for embracing the “scout” mindset in order to make better decisions and avoid tribalism and wishful thinking, as opposed to the knee-jerk bias of the “soldier” mindset.

Note: During today’s episode, we discuss our plans to launch a Supercast subscription in May: https://www.supercast.com/product. A bunch of you have already written that you’d like to support the show financially, so please email us at [email protected] if you’d subscribe to a paid Realignment membership, plus we’d love to hear any suggestions with what additional features we should add to make it worthwhile. Don’t worry though, we won’t paywall the Tuesday, Thursday, or Reboot episodes we already offer. Marshall and Saagar answer the backlog of Realignment Qs on the impact of a U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East and Central Asia, whether you need elite credentials to impact policy in D.C., how to skeptically discuss marijuana without sounding like a NARC, how to support the show (financially or otherwise), and more...

Buy a book using our bookshop link: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Zachary Carter, Writer in Residence at the Omidyar Network and author of The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, returns to The Realignment to discuss the government response to COVID, how capitalism will and won’t change after the pandemic, and how economic policy debates played out over the past three decades.

Email us your thoughts about this episode, or any episode, at [email protected] a book using our bookshop link: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentDr. Kevin Sabet, President and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and author of Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know, joins The Realignment to reflect on the failures and success of the war on drugs, the effects of recent state decriminalization initiatives, his time as a drug policy official in the Bush and Obama administrations, and why the rise of a “commercialized,” multi billion dollar marijuana industry should be a cause for concern for opponents and of decriminalization/legalization alike.

Subscribe to The Realignment’s Substack, now released on Thursdays: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out Elliot and Admiral Stavridis’s Bookshop recommendations on the U.S. and China, foreign policy, and warfare: https://bookshop.org/lists/2034-admiral-james-stavridis-and-elliot-ackerman-book-recommendations Elliot Ackerman, co-author of 2034: A Novel of the Next World War and Marine combat veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, joins The Realignment to follow up on the pod’s conversation with Admiral James Stavridis, the legacy of the “forever” wars in the Middle East and Central Asia, what history teaches us about a future U.S.-China conflict, and of course, the weakened state of the two-party system.

Bookshop link for Lisa’s books, plus recommendations discussed in the episode: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-realignment-episode-116-lisa-napoli-books-recommendations Lisa Napoli, author of Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR and Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News, returns to The Realignment to discuss the past, present, and future of the news media, and why the challenges and opportunities facing the industry today perfectly rhyme with those of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Subscribe to Frank’s YouTube channel on realignments: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyI2l4jUJ-GqtbtMhCvsWzg Frank DiStefano, author of The Next Realignment: Why America’s Parties Are Crumbling and What Happens Next, joins The Realignment to explain why realignments are a regular feature of American politics, the need to move beyond 20th century debates between conservatives and liberals, and why the collapse of the current party system will lead to renewal and reform.

Glenn Greenwald, Co-Founder of The Intercept and author of Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro’s Brazil, joins The Realignment to discuss the past, present, and future of Brazil, America’s involvement in Latin America during and after the Cold War, and the legacy of the Edward Snowden leaks. Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

We’ve built a special Bookshop selection on Obamacare, healthcare, and Medicare for All: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-realignment-episode-113-obamacare-healthcare-reform-and-the-medicare-for-all-debate Jonathan Cohn, a senior national correspondent at HuffPost and the author of The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Care, joins The Realignment to offer the definitive account of Obamacare’s successes and failures, the history of healthcare reform in America, and what the law’s survival despite countless attempts at repeal and unified Republican control of government says about the state of both parties.

We’ve built a special booklist selection of 10 books to understand the U.S. and China: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-realignment-episode-112-u-s-china-book-list Josh Rogin, Washington Post columnist and author of Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21st Century, joins The Realignment to discuss U.S.-China relations under Obama, Trump, and Biden, how Trump and the CCP’s leadership misunderstood each other, why both country aren’t in a state of cold war, and more...

Realignment Bookshop list of Admiral Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman’s book recommendations on the U.S. and China: https://bookshop.org/lists/2034-admiral-james-stavridis-and-elliot-ackerman-book-recommendations Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and co-author (with Elliot Ackerman) of 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, joins The Realignment to offer a warning about the consequences “sleepwalking” into a military conflict with China along with the legacies of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and how dysfunction in the U.S. political system impacts foreign policy.

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Alec MacGillis, senior reporter for ProPublica, joins The Realignment to discuss Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America, how the rise and dominance of Amazon tells the story of 21st century America, and the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on educations and workers.

Join our Thursday (3/18) Clubhouse event featuring Marshall, Saagar, Alex Kantrowitz, Jane Coaston, and Joe Weisenthal: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/M4wpJeka Alex Kantrowtiz, writer and host of the Big Technology newsletter and podcast, rejoins The Realignment to discuss our new collaboration on Clubhouse and whether the (*knocks on wood*) post COVID 2020’s will be the new Roaring 20’s.

Ross Douthat, New York Times columnist and author of The Decadent Society: America Before and After the Pandemic, returns to The Realignment to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic will lead America towards catastrophe, renaissance, or further decadence. https://douthat.substack.com/p/the-pandemic-and-the-decadent-society

Michael Brendan Dougherty, Senior Writer at National Review, Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and author of My Father Left Me Ireland, joins The Realignment to unpack the state of populism in the West, make the case for natalism, and discuss the challenges of the Biden era.

Kevin Roose, technology columnist for The New York Times and host of “Rabbit Hole,” joins The Realignment to discuss how automation will change the workplace, why white-collar workers should fear for their jobs, and how to deal with America’s “reality crisis.”

Mike Solana, author of the Pirate Wires Substack newsletter and Vice President at Founders Fund, joins The Realignment to discuss San Francisco’s fractious relationship with the tech industry, the importance of local politics, and what individuals and industries owe their communities.

Check out our Bookshop store to find all of Cal's books: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Cal Newport, author of A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload, joins The Realignment to discuss how email broke the workplace, remote-work during COVID, and how to pursue “digital minimalism” and “deep work.”

Listen & Subscribe to Marshall & Doran's new podcast Counterbalance: https://counterbalance.simplecast.com Michael Doran, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and cohost (with Marshall) of the new Counterbalance podcast, joins The Realignment to discuss the state of populism after 2020, the Biden administration’s approach to foreign policy, and why the Republican Party fails to govern.

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Weston Wamp, Senior Political Strategist at Issue One and host of the Swamp Stories podcast, joins The Realignment to discuss campaign finance reform, corruption in Washington, and the future of the national debt.

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Ben Fritz, author of The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies and West Coast Bureau Chief for U.S. News at The Wall Street Journal, joins The Realignment to discuss how the past, present, and future of Hollywood and emerging streaming platforms.

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment David Sacks, co-founder and general partner at Craft Ventures and cohost of The All-In Podcast, joins The Realignment to discuss the case for recalling California Governor Gavin Newsom, the tech industry’s future in China, and the future of online speech.

Mara Hvistendahl, investigative reporter at The Intercept, joins The Realignment to discuss her book, The Scientist and the Spy (a Realignment best book of 2020), U.S.-China relations under Obama, Trump, and Biden, industrial espionage, and the past, present and future of the FBI. Visit The Realignment’s Bookshop storefront to purchase The Scientist and the Spy: https://bookshop.org/lists/marshall-and-saagar-s-2020-recommendations/edit

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Balaji Srinivasan, angel investor, entrepreneur, and former CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowtiz, returns to The Realignment to discuss the world after COVID-19, why decentralization is inevitable, and the future of Asia.

Join Marshall and Saagar for the February edition of Realignment Qs: Will the Biden administration legalize marijuana? What would happen if China invaded Taiwan? How did the team pick The Realignment’s theme song? How would Tulsi Gabbard fare in the 2024 election? And more….

Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins The Realignment to discuss the aftermath of the Robinhood controversy, the effect of remote work on major cities, and technology’s role in the disappearance of a shared American reality. Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Alex Kantrowitz, author/host of the Big Technology Substack/podcast, joins The Realignment for an emergency explainer of the Gamestop fiasco. Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Marshall and Saagar on this week’s Big Technology podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u-s-tech-after-trump-conversation-realignments-marshall/id1522960417?i=1000506775660

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Steven Teles, Johns Hopkins University professor, senior fellow at the Niskanen Center, and author of Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites, joins The Realignment to discuss how political moderates can win again and what’s next for Never Trumpers.

Lee Drutman, senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America and author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America, joins The Realignment to make the case that the two-party system is wrecking American democracy. Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Michael Lind, author of The New Class War: Saving Democracy from the Managerial Elite, returns to The Realignment to discuss the end of the Trump administration, and the start of the Biden presidency. He also expands on his formulation that “neoliberalism is the disease, populism is the symptom, and democratic pluralism is the cure.”

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Swati Mylavarapu and Matt Rogers, co-founders of Incite, join The Realignment to discuss Silicon Valley after Trump, campaign finance reform, the future of the Democratic Party, and the challenge of fixing broken systems when one benefits from the status quo.

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Erik Torenberg, co-founder and partner of Village Global, an early stage venture capital firm, host of the Venture Stories podcast, and founder of On Deck, joins The Realignment to discuss the future of the tech industry, the challenges facing higher education, and individual creators vs. legacy media.

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Eric Weinstein, host of “The Portal” podcast and managing director at Thiel Capital, returns to The Realignment to discuss the state of the U.S. after the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Subscribe to The Realignment Substack: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Check out our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Helen Andrews, a senior editor at The American Conservative and author of Boomers: The Men and Women Who Promised Freedom and Delivered Disaster, joins The Realignment to discuss the failed legacy of the Baby Boom generation and the world that Millennials and Gen-Z will inherit.

Subscribe to The Realignment podcast’s new newsletter via https://therealignment.substack.com/ Joe Weisenthal, Bloomberg Editor and co-host of The Odd Lots Podcast, rejoins The Realignment to discuss stimulus checks, the government’s economic response to the pandemic, cryptocurrencies, and more.

Before The Realignment returns on Tuesday, January 4th, join Marshall, Saagar, and Sachit Gupta, Program Director of the On Deck Podcasting Fellowship, for a conversation about the future of podcasting, plus tips for starting and running your own podcast. More info on Sachit’s On Deck Podcasting Fellowship: https://www.beondeck.com/podcasters

Subscribe to The Realignment podcast’s new newsletter via https://therealignment.substack.com/ Jennifer Harris, Director of the Hewlett Foundation’s Economy and Society Initiative, joins The Realignment to discuss her new initiative to support efforts to replace neoliberalism and develop a new approach to addressing society’s biggest challenges.

Richard’s National Review Article: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/12/the-working-class-party-myth-and-what-really-motivates-voters/Richard’s National Populist Illusion Report: https://cspicenter.org/the-national-populist-illusion-why-culture-not-economics-drives-american-politics/#comments

Find Alex: Substack: https://bigtechnology.substack.com/Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/big-technology-podcast/id1522960417Reads: Always Day One: How the Tech Titans Plan to Stay on Top Forever

Governor Rick Perry's Speech on Race: https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/07/27/rick-perry-black-lives-matter-and-so-does-black-liberty/?sh=b50b93d4b5c3Avik's Agenda 2025 Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvpemUOL9QE&t=17m2s

Subscribe to The Realignment podcast’s new newsletter via https://therealignment.substack.com/ Joe Scarborough, former Congressman and creator of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, joins The Realignment to discuss his new book Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization, why political outsiders fail in Washington, and covering politics during and after the Trump era.