

The Realignment
The Realignment
The United States is in the midst of a dramatic political realignment with shifting views on national security, economics, technology, and the role of government in our lives. Saagar Enjeti and Marshall Kosloff explore this with thinkers, policymakers, and more.
Episodes
Mentioned books

10 snips
Jun 9, 2023 • 49min
378 | Joshua Zeitz: What President Lincoln's Faith Means for a Secularizing America
Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiJoshua Zeitz, author of Lincoln's God: How Faith Transformed a President and a Nation, joins The Realignment as part of the show's expanded American history coverage. Joshua and Marshall discuss President Abraham Lincoln's religious beliefs in the context of the lead up to the Civil War and the Second Great Awakening, how the conversation around a president's religious beliefs has shifted since the heights of President George W. Bush's Evangelical faith in the 2000s, and Joshua's broader work on the presidency of LBJ.

9 snips
Jun 8, 2023 • 45min
377 | Jonathan D.T. Ward: The 2020s - The Decisive Decade for the U.S. & China
Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiJonathan D.T. Ward, author of The Decisive Decade: American Grand Strategy for Triumph Over China and China's Vision of Victory, joins The Realignment. Jonathan and Marshall discuss why the 2020s decade is pivotal for the U.S.-China competition for the 21st century, why American strategists were able to ignore questions of economic power during Cold War I, but cannot do so today, and what the economic, military, diplomatic, and intellectual components of a comprehensive American grand strategy look like.

Jun 6, 2023 • 46min
376 | Ben Terris: The Winners and Losers of DC's Big Break After Trump
Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiBen Terris, Washington Post writer and author of The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, & True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind, joins The Realignment. Ben and Marshall discuss how much the Trump years did (and didn't change Washington, how the city itself works from the perspectives of pollsters, big donors, lobbyists, kingmakers, and lobbyists, and whose gambles about what the "new normal" looks like paid off.

Jun 2, 2023 • 6min
Teaser | Realignment Supercast AMA - Saagar & Marshall on the Debt Ceiling Debate, Biased Analysis, Good Q&A from Audience, GOP Primary, and Lessons for Ukraine from Afghanistan
WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE? SUBSCRIBE TO OUR SUPERCAST: https://realignment.supercast.com/

11 snips
Jun 1, 2023 • 47min
375 | Craig Nelson: How America Became the "Arsenal of Democracy" and the Lessons for Today
Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiCraig Nelson, author of V is for Victory: Franklin Roosevelt’s American Revolution and the Triumph of World War II, joins The Realignment. Craig and Marshall discuss the "miracle" of America's manufacturing potential, FDR's leadership before and during World War II, how the combination of the New Deal and American industrial strength birthed 20th century middle-class prosperity, extraordinary scientific and technological achievements, and how the lessons from the period apply to today's defense manufacturing challenges.

May 26, 2023 • 46min
374 | Elliot Ackerman: How a Divided America Grapples its Past, Present, and Future
Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiElliot Ackerman, author of Halcyon, The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan, and 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, returns to The Realignment. Elliot and Marshall discuss his alternate history of America in the 2000s, how revisiting the past challenges our assumptions about our national character, conflict versus character, and his broader writing foreign policy reporting as the country faces new challenges and conflicts.

May 25, 2023 • 45min
373 | Noam Bardin: Building the Future of News & Social in a Post-Twitter World
Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiPost: https://post.news/TechCrunch on Post: https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/03/post-a-twitter-alternative-that-pays-publishers-via-microtransactions-launches-public-beta/Noam Bardin, founder and CEO of Post, joins The Realignment. Noam and Marshall discuss his vision for social media in a post-Twitter world, why micropayments could provide a sustainable business model for media organizations and creators, how 2020s social media differs from its 2000s-2010s heyday, and what it means for the internet to decentralize away from legacy platforms.

May 23, 2023 • 45min
372 | CFPB Director Rohit Chopra: Reviving America's Anti-Monopoly Tradition
Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiDirector Chopra's Anti-Monopoly Summit Remarks: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/prepared-remarks-cfpb-director-rohit-chopra-2023-american-economic-liberties-project-anti-monopoly-summit/Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former FTC Commissioner, joins The Realignment. Director Chopra and Marshall discuss the history of America's anti-monopolist tradition, how new FTC Commissioners ended decades of governmental inaction in 2018, the need to aggressively enforce laws on the books, how anti-monopoly policy can create strange ideological alliances, and the lessons from the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic.

May 19, 2023 • 12min
Supercast Ask Me Anything Teaser | Assessing Biden vs. Trump's America in 2025, Looking Back at 2016-2021, Twitter Influence, Millennials to the Suburbs, and Why Can't the Defense Budget Build Munitions?
WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE? SUBSCRIBE TO OUR SUPERCAST: https://realignment.supercast.com/

5 snips
May 18, 2023 • 38min
371 | Evan Thomas: The Atomic Bomb's Legacy in a Disordered World
Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiEvan Thomas, author of Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II, joins The Realignment. Evan and Marshall discuss and assess the decision to use atomic bombs against Imperial Japan in 1945, how at its best, American foreign policy balances realism and idealism, why we shouldn't assume the "norm" against the use of nuclear weapons will hold in perpetuity, and how to reduce the danger of nuclear escalation in the Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe.