With this episode of Zooming In, The UnPopulist introduces a new monthly feature: a roundtable in which our editors discuss select issues of the day. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

For a certain sort of social conservative, Viktor Orbán's Hungary is the North Star. The realization of fantasies about how social liberalism can be done away with and “trad living” elevated to primacy, if only the power of a committed executive were turned to that task. On today's episode, host Aaron Ross Powell is joined by Robert Tracinski. He's the editor of Symposium, a journal of liberalism, and writes additional commentary at The Tracinski Letter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

This is the concluding post in The UnPopulist’s coverage of Black History Month.Politicians love to stress the need for “law and order,” and most Americans are on board with that. But the phrase rings rather differently in middle-class suburbia than it does in those communities most subject to the heavy hand—or fist—of the law. To explore what law and order looks like in African American communities, host Aaron Ross Powell is joined today by Stephen Henderson. He’s the host of NPR’s Detroit Today and Detroit Public Television’s American Black Journal. Before working in TV and radio, Henderson won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his writing at the Detroit Free Press. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

Note to listeners: This is the first of our Zooming In podcasts, which will feature in-depth conversations with The UnPopulist’s contributing writers on the subjects they’ve explored in their essays.Today's guest is Eve Fairbanks, author of The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa’s Racial Reckoning. Our conversation explores the complex history of post-apartheid race relations in South Africa, how it complicates simplistic narratives and what lessons Americans should draw as we seek to address our own country’s racist history. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

Welcome to the first episode of ReImagining Liberty at its new home with The UnPopulist. This is a show about the emancipatory and cosmopolitan case for radical social, political, and economic freedom. With every episode, host Aaron Ross Powell explores and defends liberalism by talking with scholars, activists, and others working to build a freer world.For this first episode at The UnPopulist, Aaron talks about why America’s political culture seems so broken, and why this has led to rising illiberalism. He traces the problems to what he calls an “unskillful” approach to politics, and a widespread lack of the virtues necessary for citizens to be good liberal citizens.Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club: https://discord.com/servers/reimagining-liberty-945306941251522611ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist and is produced by Landry Ayres. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

Our guest today argues that a lot of America's social and economic problems, including the rise of populism and the affinity for authoritarian leaders, can be traced back to changing relationships and institutions in our neighborhoods. Dr. Seth D. Kaplan is a Professorial Lecturer in the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Senior Advisor for the Institute for Integrated Transitions, visiting Fellow with Mercatus Center's Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange, and consultant to organizations such as the World Bank, USAID, the State Department, and OECD. He's the author of the forthcoming Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time.Reactionary Minds is a project of The UnPopulist. Hosted by Aaron Ross Powell. Produced by Landry Ayres. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

Our guest today is Greg Sargent. He’s a columnist at The Washington Post and author of the book An Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in an Age of Trumpian Disinformation and Thunderdome Politics. Our discussion digs into the state of the American right, its conflicting constituencies, and its fringe and conspiratorial elements, as well as how the press has covered all of it.Reactionary Minds is a project of The UnPopulist. Hosted by Aaron Ross Powell. Produced by Landry Ayres. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

We're recorded this on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 9th, the day after the elections. The results were rather unexpected, especially in light of the dominant narrative these last several weeks that a red wave was nigh.To talk about the electoral outcomes, what we should make of them, and what they mean looking ahead, I'm joined by Andy Craig, director of election policy at the Rainey Center and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and Shikha Dalmia, editor of The UnPopulist and fellow at the Mercatus Center's Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange.Read a transcript of our conversation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

Christian Nationalism has long been a sub-movement on the American Right, but recently its profile has risen as an increasing number of conservative media personalities and politicians claim the label and call for America to be reoriented as an explicitly Christian nation.To help me explore just what Christian Nationalism entails as a movement and an ideology, as well as its history on the right, I'm joined today by Paul Matzko. He's a research fellow at the Cato Institute, a historian of the American Right, and author of The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement.Reactionary Minds is hosted by Aaron Ross Powell and produced by Landry Ayers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

While both sides today have rather less respect for genuine political liberalism than they ought to, the ascension of far-right populism to the presidency, its near-total takeover of one of the two major parties, and its continuing efforts to establish control of our institutions and culture make the American right the most severe and immediate threat to our republic and our freedoms.However, just what the right is and what it means to be a conservative, if those are even the same thing, can be a bit slippery. The history of the American right and American conservatism is quite a bit more complicated politically and ideologically than many are aware. To help me tease out just what it means to be of the right, as well as the evolution of conservatism and conservative ideas, I'm joined by Matthew Continetti.He's a resident fellow in social, cultural and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the new and genuinely excellent book The Right: The Hundred-Year War For American Conservatism.Reactionary Minds is a project of The UnPopulist. Hosted by Aaron Ross Powell. Produced by Landry Ayres. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net