Welcome to Crimetown, a series produced by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier in partnership with Gimlet Media. Each season, we investigate the culture of crime in a different city. In Season 2, Crimetown heads to the heart of the Rust Belt: Detroit, Michigan. From its heyday as Motor City to its rebirth as the Brooklyn of the Midwest, Detroit’s history reflects a series of issues that strike at the heart of American identity: race, poverty, policing, loss of industry, the war on drugs, an ...
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×This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live “Something is happening here and you don’t know what it is,” goes the Bob Dylan track from 1965. That song was directed at the squares who weren’t yet hip to the Sixties. It sounded foreboding then, and it sounds foreboding now, because something is happening, again — something perhaps as great and consequential as the cultural changes of Dylan’s time. For several years now, people have been speaking about a cultural “vibe shift.” The MAGA electoral victory appears to have been the culmination of that shift. The Trumpist victory has ushered in a new political elite and with it, a cultural style that is more transgressive, crude, and rude than the once-liberal American mainstream. Helping us understand what’s happening is this week’s special guest, Sean Monahan , one of the most perceptive cultural forecasters of our time. If you’ve ever used the term “ normcore ,” or if you’ve heard someone talk about a “vibe shift,” you’ve been influenced by Sean. And if you haven’t heard those terms, then you’re about to learn a lot about American culture in this episode. Sean is a writer, trend forecaster and brand consultant, whose Substack, 8Ball , is an oracle of cultural insight. Sean joins Christine Emba and Shadi Hamid and they all get deep about vibes. What is a vibe? Can it be defined? If it can’t, then how is it a useful concept? Is it based on material conditions? How long does a vibe last? But the conversation soon ventures beyond these theoretical generalities. Shadi wants to know whether American culture has fundamentally shifted to the right since the rise of Trump. Christine detects a mean streak to this new culture: a certain cruelty or at least, ruthless competitiveness. Sean puts things in perspective, explaining how generations create, condition, and then abandon trends, and how the weird period of Covid lockdown had a unique effect on trend creation, one that still affects us to this day. He also describes the new aesthetic of the Trump era, which he believes is based primarily on desire for money, and which he has dubbed, “Boom Boom.” In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Sean discusses why religion has become attractive to young people, especially young men, whether he sees good vibes or bad vibes in the near future, and whether he believes most Americans actually like Trump and DOGE. Required Reading: * Sean Monahan’s Substack, 8Ball . * Sean Monahan, “Anatomy of a Vibe Shift” ( 8Ball ). * Sean Monahan, “Boom Boom: Anatomy of a Trend” ( 8Ball ). * Sean Monahan, “The Counter Elite Won the Meme War” ( 8Ball ). * CrowdSource: “Truth and Vibes” ( WoC ). * Famous 2022 article from New York Magazine: “A Vibe Shift is Coming” ( New York ). * W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change ( Amazon ). * Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction ( Amazon ). * Mana Afsari , “Last Boys at the Beginning of History” ( The Point ). * Saddle Creek Records . * Bright Eyes ( Saddle Creek ). * “Cottagecore Aesthetic, Explained” ( Country Living ). * MySpace . * Matthew Walther on the origin of “Woke Capital” ( American Conservative ). * “Dimes Square” ( Know Your Meme ). * Alex P. Keaton ( Wikipedia ). * Gordon Gecko ( Wikipedia ). * Patrick Bateman ( Wikipedia ). * Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho ( Amazon ). * American Psycho film ( YouTube ). * Graeme Wood, “How Bronze Age Pervert Charmed the Far Right” ( The Atlantic ). * “Yosemite Locksmith: 'The People Who Fired Me Don't Know What I Do'” ( MSN ). * “Garry Tan for mayor? ‘Never, or 20 years from now,’ Y Combinator chief says” ( San Francisco Standard ). Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live “I am done saying, ‘impossible’,” announces Damir Marusic . At least, with regard to what Trump might do or could do in the near future. We are still in the midst of a major shakeup in the administrative state. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is combing through Treasury data and cutting government personnel. Trump is delaying the distribution of federal funds. Trump’s policies have full support of the GOP-majority Congress. Meanwhile, the White House foreign policy agenda has upended three years of support for the Ukrainian war cause and, apart from that, is strikingly imperialistic — annexing Greenland and “owning” Gaza are stated objectives. Will Trump become a dictator? Shadi Hamid believes that Trump won’t become a dictator — America is too big for a dictator — but he very will might signal the end of the “liberal” part of our liberal democracy. Damir fears that, by the end of Trump’s second term, Congress will become a vestigial representative body with littler power, like the Senate in the Roman Empire. Both worry that the demise of democracy could come in a subtle, slow way — a “boiling frog” scenario. Shadi and Damir move on ask whether what’s happening is what Trump’s voters asked for. Why is Trump popular right now? Why do people want to break the state? Shadi says, “[Trump voters] believe that the system is fundamentally broken. Certainly, for a majority of Americans, the system is broken.” Damir partially agrees, but adds: “It’s a lot more resentment-based … Not really an idea that ‘the system is broken’ for me, but that it’s populated by those people over there, and it’s time to hurt them .” But why so much resentment? In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Shadi talks about the Democratic Party’s potential to resist Trump and why the working class likes Trump (hint: it doesn’t have to do with economics). Damir brings up the famous book, What’s the Matter With Kansas by Thomas Frank, and explains why he thinks it misses the mark. Required Reading: * Shadi Hamid, “How to Break Up with the News” ( Contentions ). * CrowdSource about the possible constitutional crisis ( WoC ). * Democratic Party favorability ratings among young people ( YouGov ). * “How Biden is continuing to cancel student loan debt despite Supreme Court ruling” ( CNN ). * Tyler Cowen , “Trumpian policy as cultural policy” ( Marginal Revolution ). * Christine Emba ’s piece engaging with Cowen’s article ( WoC ). * Shadi’s post about the “The System is collapsing” meme ( X ). * David Polansky ’s reply to Shadi’s post ( X ). * Lee Hockstader, “In Germany’s elections, a last, best chance to hold off extremists” ( Washington Post ). * Thomas Frank, What’s the Matter with Kansas ( Amazon ). Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Donald Trump and Elon Musk are moving quickly, so we decided to release this episode a few days early. In a half-week of alarming developments, Trump has announced that the United States might send troops to Gaza to transfer the Palestinian population to Egypt or Jordan, and to aid in reconstructing the country. Elon Musk has become the undertaker of government agencies, the wrecker of the civil service. Through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has effectively shut down USAID, offered payouts to members of other agencies, and more. In an effort to make sense of all this, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic are interrogated by WoC executive editor, Santiago Ramos . Is Trump serious about Gaza? What do his statements suggest about the possible endgames for the Gaza war and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian question? Was Shadi wrong to suggest that Trump might be better on this question than Biden was? Is Trump acting according to what he thinks is the national interest? Or is this a random shot in the dark? The second issue — DOGE — prompts a more serious set of questions. Are we in a constitutional crisis? If not now, then will we be one in a few months time, when the judiciary steps in to check DOGE? Why exactly are Trump and Musk interested in hollowing out the administrative state? Are we in a watershed moment in American history? Is there anything that we can do to preserve the rule of law? In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Shadi explains why he believes that ideology is driving Trump and Musk, rather than just the desire for power; Damir argues that he concept of punishment is essential to justice; and Santiago describes the difference between Louis XIV and Napoleon. Required Reading * “Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave” ( New York Times ). * Shadi Hamid , “Why an Arab American who backed Trump stands by his choice” ( Washington Post ). * Marco Rubio on Trump’s Gaza comments ( NBC ). * Rich Kushner’s February 2024 comments on “waterfront property” in Gaza ( The Guardian ). * Shadi’s post about Trump v. Biden on Gaza ( X ). * Damir Marusic , “Brushfire of the Vanities” ( WoC ). * Liam Cunningham post ( X ). * Patrick Deneen ( Communia )’s two X posts: first and second . * Patrick Deneen, Regime Change: Towards a Postliberal Future ( Amazon ). * Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed ( Amazon ). * Francis Fukuyama , “The end of history will be a sad time” (“The End of History?, PDF UCSD ). * John Ganz , “Groyperification” ( Unpopular Front ). * Gabe Fleisher , “When I Will Call Something a ‘Constitutional Crisis’ ” ( Wake Up to Politics ). * Thomas Edsall, “ ‘Trump’s Thomas Cromwell’ Is Waiting in the Wings” ( New York Times ). * Jack Goldsmith and Bob Bauer , “The Trump Executive Orders as ‘Radical Constitutionalism’ ” ( Executive Functions ). Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live “The weird right wing men are coming out to the fore in joy,” announces Shadi Hamid . “They’re strutting more than they did in 2016,” observes Damir Marusic . “The counter-elite is becoming the elite,” says Shadi. “There is gonna be a bloodbath,” says Damir: “They will soon be drinking from a fire hydrant of sewage.” Two weeks have passed since the Trump inauguration, as well as its attendant galas, balls and parties. Damir and Shadi have trained their weary eyes upon the new class of upstart right wingers arriving in the capital for a punchdrunk power-hungry scramble. There are the tech bros, the trad intellectuals, the libertarians living in unrecognized mini-states, the crunchy RFK-supporters, and who knows what else. All want a piece of the pie that Emperor Trump is slicing before them. Shadi believes that a cultural shift has taken place — that Trump is not only a new president, but the usher of a new moment in American culture. “Something has changed,” says Shadi. “Liberal dominance of instutions seems weak and pathetic,” in retrospect, he adds. “The perception of dominance can collapse quickly.” Damir disagrees. “It was not a cultural shift,” he says. It was a repudiation of liberal overreach on cultural issues, and a “light-to-heavy insanity and a lot of stress on our institutions.” The Right is reactionary, Damir concludes, and as soon as they propose a positive program, their popularity will drop. In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Damir and Shadi discuss the difference between “mysterious cultural forces” and “the wisdom of crowds,” Damir further explains why he believes the Right is not as powerful as they think they are, and Shadi tells us about an upcoming spiritual quest. Required Reading: * Liberland official website . * Curtis Yarvin interview ( New York Times ). * Mana Afsari, “Last Boys at the Beginning of History” ( The Point ). * Who is Chris Rufo? * Mark Zuckerberg on the Joe Rogan Experience ( YouTube ). * Christine Emba , “Zuck is the Zeitgeist” ( WoC ). * The Harper’s Letter (signed by Shadi). * Richard Reeves on the podcast: “The Masculine World is Adrift” ( WoC ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Last week’s episode dealt with the state of the American Right post-election. Today we ask: Where is the American Left going? How will it respond to Trump? “There is a palpable sense of passivity on the Left,” says Damir Marusic . “What I’ve seen is resignation or weird, detached analysis,” says Samuel Kimbriel . Is there more going on than we see? We invited WoC contributor Osita Nwanevu , writer for the New Republic and author of an upcoming book about American democracy , to tell us more. Osita begins by distinguishing between the Democratic Party and the movement Left. While the Democrats are a loose coalition in broad disarray, the Left simply stands for “a grand reform of political economy to empower workers.” The Left, Osita argues, was not surprised that Trump won. The problem lies it how it can create a platform that will appeal to American voters. There is too much despair. Too many on the Left, Osita argues, have been left in a state of “political hopelessness” after the election, wondering what to do in a country where most people voted for Donald Trump. But such an attitude is “antithetical to democratic thought and what we need to do for practical politics.” Damir and Osita go on to engage the question of whether a Left that stands for universal human values, rather than in-group, national concerns, is able to win. Osita argues that there is not necessary contradiction between a universal value and a local interest. When it comes to climate change, for example, the Left isn’t asking voters to care about “the Maldives,” but about “fires in LA and storms in Florida.” Damir is not so sure. The conversation touches on symbolic politics versus real politics, whether protest movements can actually transform society, whether Trump is the true revolutionary force in American politics, and whether the Left actually has intellectual leaders and a utopian vision today. In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Sam argues that the Left needs an idea of transcendence, Osita talks about transcendence without god, and Damir pushes both on whether personal philosophical convictions actually have any bearing on real-life politics. Required Reading: * Osita’s website . * Sam on why the Left needs ideas ( WoC ). * Damir’s post-election reaction ( WoC ). * Osita on BLM ( Pairagraph ). * Osita’s debate with Oliver Traldi about democracy and ideology ( WoC ). * Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution ( Amazon ). * “Nancy Pelosi Insists the Election was Not a Rebuke of the Democrats” ( New York Times ). * On the Gushers BLM post mentioned by Osita ( New York Times ). * “Costco Teamsters vote to authorize US-wide strike, union says” ( Reuters ). * “Costco shareholders just destroyed an anti-DEI push” ( CNN ). * History of hospitals ( Britannica ). * Scott Alexander, “Everyone’s A Based Post-Christian Vitalist Until The Grooming Gangs Show Up” ( Astral Codex Ten ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live On the eve of Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic sit down to discuss the state of the Right and the Left in American politics. The conversation picks up where the last podcast episode left off, in a discussion about Damir’s apparent rejuvenation in the wake of Trump’s victory. Given that he didn’t vote for Trump — in fact, he didn’t vote for anybody — why is Damir smiling? Shadi suggests that “Democrats needed this defeat to learn important lessons.” Damir is not so sure that they will learn them. But one of the reasons he is giddy is that they will get their comeuppance for the political “villainy” of Russiagate, the Biden health coverup and other misguided Democratic gambits. Shadi, in turn, notes that many of his center-left acquaintances seem surprisingly at peace with the new government, and ready to entertain new ideas. “Very rarely did I hear despair,” he reports. Both Shadi and Damir go deeper by asking about the status quo of the Left and the Right. Damir thinks that Trump has “cleared the field” of the conservative movement’s Reaganite past, and that the Right is now ready to debate issues in a more realistic way. Shadi laments that the Left has become boring by being too certain that they are correct about everything: they are the party of “facts, data and progress,” and think that they have “resolved all the big ideological debates.” In our bonus content for paid subscribers, Damir discusses what he means by “tragic liberalism,” Shadi explains why he thinks atheism is over, and our hosts discuss the best and worst things that could happen during the second Trump presidency. Required Reading and Listening: * Damir, “We’ll Have to Rethink Everything” ( WoC ). * Shadi, “Trump’s ‘madman theory’ worked in Gaza when all else failed” ( Washington Post ). * Christine, “Zuck is the Zeitgeist” ( WoC ). * Santiago questions Damir about his newfound conservatism ( WoC ). * Tara Isabella Burton, “Believe for Your Own Sake, Not for ‘the West’” ( WoC ). * Ezra Klein and Nate Silver on “peak Trump” ( X ). * Elon Musk is an ‘Evil Person,’ Steve Bannon Says” ( New York Times ). * “Corporate America embraces a new era of conservatism under Donald Trump” ( Financial Times ). * “How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge” ( Wall Street Journal ). * David Brooks, “Why People Are Fleeing Blue Cities for Red States” ( New York Times ). * Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
A new year is before us, and soon, a new president will assume office. What does the future have in store? Trump supporters are happy, and his opponents are full of foreboding. Many people also feel that a new era in American history is about to begin — for better or worse. Damir Marusic and Santiago Ramos discuss the nature of this new era. They begin with the question of fear: Are you afraid of the second Trump term? Santiago explains why the Trump phenomenon seemed more frightening in 2016 than it does in 2024. Damir asks whether finding historical analogues for Trump actually illuminates anything about the man, and makes him less scary. Santiago then asks Damir about two of his latest pieces for Wisdom of Crowds , in which Damir seems almost giddy about the collapse of the liberal establishment and Trump’s rise. What exactly is Damir happy about? What good does he see coming from this historical moment? What is changing? While not defending Trump himself, Damir argues that Trump’s crushing of liberal illusions, and the exposure of the hypocrisy of our political class, are good things. What he hopes for is a new “positive program of skepticism and humility,” and a more limited version of liberalism. In the course of the conversation, Damir and Santiago cover wide variety of topics: Damir’s newfound conservatism; Trump and Andrew Jackson; Kissinger on Trump; the USA and Latin America; NATO; Greenland; and the Cold War. Because this is our first podcast of the new year, and season-opener of sorts, we are making this episode free for all subscribers . Required Reading and Listening: * Damir, “The feeling of limitless possibility ahead of Trump's inauguration is dizzying” ( WoC ). * Damir, “The Peasants, the People and God” ( WoC ). * Santiago on Latinos and the election ( Commonweal ). * Santiago on Trump and Latin America ( Commonweal ). * Black Mirror episode Santiago mentions: “The Waldo Moment” ( IMDB ). * Henry Kissinger: “I think Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretences” ( Financial Times ). * Jason Willick on Trump and Andrew Jackson ( Washington Post ). * Samuel Goldman on why the US is more like Latin America than Europe ( The Week ). * Antonio García Martínez on why the US is like Brazil ( X ). * Our podcast episode with Yuval Levin ( WoC ). * Video of Trump and Stoltenberg ( YouTube ). * Jon Stewart on Nancy Pelosi’s “legal corruption” ( The Wrap ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! 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…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live For some people, “liberal socialism” sounds like an oxymoron. Liberalism is a political idea that promises to protect individual rights. Socialism, on the other hand, is about collective power: the power of workers to organize and, if not quite seize, at least have a say in the administration of the means of production. Liberalism is about freedom, while socialism is about equality. Not so, argues Matthew McManus , political science professor at the University of Michigan. In his new book, The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism , McManus recovers the oft-forgotten tradition of liberal socialism. He tells the story of great liberal socialist thinkers while also crafting a contemporary version of liberal socialism, relevant for today. Samuel Kimbriel and Santiago Ramos open the episode with a discussion about the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” trucker protests in Canada, which displayed some of the tensions between socialist and liberal ideals. The conversation moves on to the thought of Mary Wollstonecraft, whether John Rawls was a socialist, and how Matthew’s experience working for McDonald’s converted him to socialism. Samuel and Santiago press Matthew about a core first principle: equality. Why does he hold to this principle? Where does it come from? How can it be philosophically defended and justified? Matthew considers the different sources of political conviction: personal experience, and political theory. Which one is more influential in a person’s mind? In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Matthew criticizes the “nebbish incrementalism” of neoliberalism and the excesses of “postmodern skepticism,” while declaring: “Left wing intellectuals have a lot more that they could be doing.” Required Reading: * Matthew McManus, The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism ( Amazon ). * Matthew McManus faculty page ( University of Michigan ). * Matthew McManus and Carlo Lancellotti debate about conservatives and equality ( WoC ). * Matthew McManus, “The Liberal Democratic Socialism of John Rawls” ( Liberal Currents ). * “Canadian Trucker Convoy Descends on Ottawa to Protest Vaccine Mandates” ( New York Times ). * Article about 2010 anti-G20 protests in Canada: “Police take ‘pre-emptive strikes’ with sweeping arrests” ( CTV News ). * Santiago Ramos, “The Meaning of McDonald’s” ( WoC ). * Samuel Kimbriel and Damir Marusic debate “What Politics is Really About” ( WoC ). * Podcast with Alexandre Lefebvre, “Liberalism is Not Neutral” ( WoC ). * Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons ( Amazon ). * Mary Wollstonecraft ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
Damir Marusic has been reading the Bible this year for the first time. So Christine Emba and Santiago Ramos decided it was the perfect occasion for interrogating him about what he’s learned and what he’s been thinking about. In the ensuing conversation, the three discuss Freemasonry, Protestantism, Catholicism, Predestination and how Christianity is receiving new attention in Silicon Valley. Then, the conversation turns to Christmas traditions, and how the contemplative and party-going sides of Christmas complement each other. In the spirit of Christmas, we have made this a free episode for all subscribers. The conversation culminates in a discussion about time itself: what makes some moments in time different from others, and how Christmas is a necessary “break” from chronological time. Required Reading: * Damir Marusic, “The Protestant Deformation in America” ( WoC ). * King James Version ( Bible Gateway ). * Ruth Graham, “In a First Among Christians, Young Men Are More Religious Than Young Women.” ( NYT ). * “Christians in tech drive religious revival in SF” ( San Francisco Standard ). * Peter Thiel, “Against Edenism” ( First Things ). * CrowdSource: “Tech-Trad Synergy” ( WoC ). * Charles Taylor on secular time and higher time. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! 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…
As election data analysis continues to pour in, we can be sure of one thing: a large number of working class votes which traditionally would have gone to the Democrats shifted in 2024 toward the GOP. As CNN reported last week: “Trump ran up large margins among White voters without a college degree who belong to labor unions and also significantly improved among unionized non-White workers without advanced education.” So, did Trump’s victory signal a realignment for the working class? Or was it a one-off thing, an act of rebellion against a complacent Democratic establishment? In terms of first principles, what is an economy that makes sense for workers, and for all Americans? What are Americans owed? And do we have obligations toward undocumented immigrants? For this special live recording of the podcast, we invited Oren Cass from the conservative pro-labor think tank, the American Compass , to help us answer these questions. Samuel Kimbriel kicked things off with a question about the “American dream,” which Oren contrasts with what he calls “the American promise.” The dream is about upward mobility, and the promise is about economic stability. The problem in America today, Oren says, “is not that you can’t rise to the top, but you don’t have this basic stability to work from.” Christine Emba challenged Oren on immigration. On what grounds should the rights of American workers take precedence over the rights of workers in general? Why should we restrict immigration to people who want to join the American project? The conversation touched up the first principle question of “Who qualifies as a member of the political community?”, as Oren put it. The recording of this live event is fully open and free for all subscribers. You can listen to the Crowd ask questions during the Q and A period at the end. Our holiday party followed the event — something which, alas, was not recorded. But you can enjoy these pictures! Required Reading: * CrowdSource about economic populism ( WoC ). * “How Trump is giving the labor movement the blue-collar blues” ( CNN ). * The American Compass’ mission statement . * “This Conservative Wants to Change the Way Republicans Think About Economics” ( New York Times interview with Cass). * Oren Cass, “Workers Deserve Real Power. Unions Aren’t the Best Way to Get It” ( New York Times ). * Oren Cass, The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America ( Amazon ). * Oren’s Substack, Understanding America . * Christine Emba, “What Would Society Look Like if Extreme Wealth Were Impossible?” ( The Atlantic ). * Samuel Kimbriel, “Bonfire of the Vanities” ( WoC ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! 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…
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Wisdom of Crowds
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live In 2024, over 77 million Americans voted for Donald Trump. Friend of Wisdom of Crowds Michael Brendan Dougherty, a writer and conservative commentator at the National Review , was one of them. However, MBD (as he is known) did not vote for Trump in 2020 nor in 2016. In fact, he was an early conservative opponent of Trump. In 2016, MBD wrote: “[Trump] is clearly a product of a decadent society, not the scourge or redeemer of one.” MBD did not disagree with Trump on his main issues: trade, immigration, and a restrained foreign policy. But he did not believe that the man has the character fit for office. So, what happened? Did MBD change his principles, or did Trump live up to them? Why did MBD vote for Trump, and what does that tell us about the process of picking a candidate, and of the formation of political judgment in general? Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic join MBD to discuss this question and much more. Did MBD change his mind about Trump’s character? Which of Trump’s first term achievements turned MBD into a supporter? What can we expect from a second Trump term — both in domestic policy, as well as in the increasingly dangerous international scene? In the course of discussing these questions, MBD defines the “working class” in American terms, and talks about his own experiences working in a chemical factory. In the bonus portion for paid subscribers, MBD explains the complicated relationship that pro lifers have with Trump, and debates whether the #Resistance movement will return. Required Reading and Listening: * Our 2021 podcast episode with MBD ( WoC ). * “The Case Against Esoteric Trumpism” by Michael Brendan Dougherty ( The Week ). * “My First Vote for Trump” by Michael Brendan Dougherty ( National Review ). * My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son's Search For Home by Michael Brendan Dougherty ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Last week, President Biden granted his son, Hunter Biden , “a full and unconditional” pardon for any and all offenses from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. Because Hunter Biden has been a politically charged figure since the first Trump term, and because President Biden repeatedly promised that he would not use his power to protect his son, the presidential pardon was, for many, a strategic and moral mistake — an act of hypocrisy, in short. In this week’s episode, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic question the assumptions that Biden’s critics are making. Is political hypocrisy inevitable? Might it actually be a good thing? Shadi has written extensively on the topic of hypocrisy, defending it in a unique way. Damir pushes back against Shadi’s moral interpretation of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is not primarily a failure to live up to one’s morals, says Damir, but the failure of a powerful figure to live up to their morals. “Biden’s problem is that he did it [the pardon] so visibly,” says Damir. The conversation progresses to a discussion of the how Islam and Christianity deal with hypocrisy. It becomes a discussion about hypocrisy and international justice, where Damir asks whether international law can be said to exist if it cannot be universally enforced. Perhaps, Damir suggests, Shadi is less of an advocate for international human rights as he is a booster of American imperialism. It’s a classic Shadi-and-Damir give-and-take. In our bonus portion for paid subscribers, Shadi and Damir discuss whether the Department of Justice is ever truly independent of partisan politics, and explore an alternative history where the Democrats never pursued the Russiagate investigations against Donald Trump. Required Reading: * “Biden pardons his son, Hunter, after repeatedly saying he would not” ( Reuters ). * Shadi: “Can Hypocrisy Be Justified?” ( WoC ). * Shadi: “Why America Needs Hypocrisy” ( WoC ). * King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. * “ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova ( International Criminal Court ). * “Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant” ( International Criminal Court ). * Jason Willick post (X) . This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
The headlines prove it: we live in turbulent times. Elizabeth Oldfield , our guest this week, recently published a book — Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times — about how to thrive during such a moment. “If we’re heading into (even more) turbulent times,” Elizabeth writes, “I want to be someone who is of use, not overwhelmed and panicking but steady and hopeful, able to contribute to weaving a canopy of trust under which other people can shelter.” Along with being a writer, a former think tank director and an accomplished broadcast journalist, Elizabeth is host of The Sacred , a podcast where she interviews cultural leaders who “shape our common life,” and asks them “about their deepest values.” In this week’s episode, Damir Marusic and Santiago Ramos turn the tables on Elizabeth, putting her in the interviewee’s chair. What is the source of the wisdom distilled in Elizabeth’s book? If it is religious faith, then is faith required in order to truly embrace that wisdom? Or is the grace of God required? What is “grace,” anyway? Santiago wants to understand how the wisdom that Elizabeth writes about can be appropriated for one’s self. Damir tries to distinguish that wisdom from self-help and therapy. The conversation touches upon art and faith, whether “despair” or “preserving civilization” are good reasons to adopt religion, the necessity of community, and the role that doubt plays in faith. At the heart of the discussion is Damir’s question: “How do we live in this world, and how do we cope with the existence of the horror of this world?” This episode is a searching, personal discussion that is just the thing we need this holiday season. In the bonus section for paid subscribers, Elizabeth talks about her experience of living in community, and also plunges deep into one of the biggest mysteries of the Christian faith. Required Reading: * Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times by Elizabeth Oldfield ( Amazon ). * Elizabeth’s podcast, The Sacred ( Apple Podcasts ). * Damir’s essay about therapy ( WoC ). * Shadi and Damir podcast episode on therapy ( WoC ). * Pensées by Blaise Pascal ( Amazon ). * Ayaan Hirsi Ali column explaining “Why I am now a Christian” ( UnHerd ). * Ayaan Hirsi Ali interview further explaining her conversion ( UnHerd ). * Elizabeth’s “middle class commune” ( profile in the London Times ). Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! 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…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live The Declaration of Independence affirms that all human beings are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Yet the Declaration is silent about who this Creator is. Is it the Jewish deity or the Christian God? Or is it the god of the philosophers — the blind watchmaker of the Enlightenment? The Constitution, on the other hand, doesn’t mention the divine at all, except for the phrase, “Year of Our Lord.” Mainstream liberals and conservatives, whatever they may think of the silence regarding God in our founding documents, believe in the American experiment. But as Jerome E. Copulsky writes in his new book, American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order , throughout American history there have been those who do not, radical groups who opposed the American project, root and branch, for being liberal, as opposed to Christian. In his book, Copulsky, professor at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, writes about the Loyalist churchmen who opposed the American revolution, the proslavery theologians of the 19th century, the “Theonomist” theocrats of the 20th century, and the “Integralists” of our own time. Jerome joins Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic to discuss his book, but as often happens in Wisdom of Crowds , the conversation takes an unexpected turn. Early on, Shadi presses Jerome to specify exactly what a secular liberal Founding really means for religious practice in the public sphere. Then Shadi submits his own interpretation of the modern state as an inherently secularizing force. Damir brings the question of the secularity of the American project to bear upon current events. To what extent was the American liberal state ever “neutral”? Or is technocratic liberalism the default, unspoken “religion” of the American state? Or was it, until Donald Trump came along? And is Trump, by filling his cabinet with representatives from various American ideologies, violating liberal neutrality, or simply exposing it for the fiction that it always was? In our bonus content for paid subscribers, Jerome discusses the National Conservative movement, as exemplified by intellectuals like Patrick Deneen and Adrian Vermeule, and its influence on Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. In the second Trump term this movement will have unprecedented access to power and, Jerome argues, pose a serious challenge to — and even a “betrayal” of — the American system. Required Reading * American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order by Jerome E. Copulsky ( Amazon ) * The Declaration of Independence ( National Archives ). * The Constitution of the United States ( National Archives ). * Everson v. Board of Education ( FindLaw ). * George Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island ( National Archives ). * We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition by John Courtney Murray, S.J. ( Amazon ). * Common Good Constitutionalism by Adrian Vermeule ( Amazon ). * Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future by Patrick Deneen ( Amazon ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Official WoC house philosopher Samuel Kimbriel joins Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic to discuss the role that ideas had in the recent elections. Specifically, they focus on whether it was bad ideas or bad political strategy that doomed the Dems. Sam insists that the Democrats failed because liberalism as we understand it has become weak, devoid of ideas and moral persuasion. Liberals, Sam insists, constantly shift from wanting to be a player in the political contest, to a referee of the same. They argue for their side and its views, until they start losing in the contest. If they start losing, they shift to a referee role, and try to rule out the legitimacy of certain opposing ideas (for example, immigration restrictionism). What we need, Sam says, is a renewed liberalism that is unafraid to make moral claims — one that plays and plays well, without tying to also be the referee. Damir disagrees. He isn’t sure whether what happened on November 5 will be seen as revolutionary — that is, an overthrow of a previous order — or merely “an empty, peasant backlash,” though he is leaning toward the latter. Regardless, “what happened is a failure of rulership, not ideas,” he says. “It was not a failure of metaphysics, but of arguments.” Shadi stands between Sam and Damir, sometimes as referee, sometimes as a player on Sam’s side. He supports democracy and the idea of moral politics. And he believes that Damir “always attacks us [Sam and Shadi] for having beliefs,” while hiding or being in denial of his own implicit metaphysical convictions. In the bonus segment for paid subscribers, Sam and Shadi corner Damir into finally admitting that he does indeed have metaphysical convictions of his own, even if that conviction is materialism. Damir talks about how he’s reading the Bible this winter, and he gives us his own definition of the word “politics.” It’s a rollicking discussion that you won’t want to miss! Required Reading: * Western Civilization: Paleolithic Man to the Emergence of European Powers — the textbook Sam cites at the beginning of the episode ( Volume I , Volume II ). * The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea by Shadi Hamid ( Amazon ). * “Republicans See a Better Economic Outlook. Now It’s Democrats Who Don’t” ( New York Times ). * Sam’s piece on the French Revolution and the contemporary Left ( WoC ). * Ordinary Vices by Judith Shklar ( Amazon ). * Damir’s piece about peasant revolts ( WoC ). * “How the Ivy League Broke America” by David Brooks ( The Atlantic ). * “A Letter Concerning Toleration” by John Locke ( WikiSource ). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets. Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!…
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