The Glenn Show

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comThis week on The Glenn Show, Robert Patton-Spruill and I get into a detailed analysis of a conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ezra Klein. The show begins as a debate on their divergent reactions to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, expressed in a New York Times column by Klein and a Vanity Fair piece by Coates. I find Coates’s smug, morally hectoring characterization of Kirk as a hate monger hard to stomach. As much as I admire parts of The Message, his vision of African American history as a struggle against an apparently timeless and all-encompassing white supremacy cannot go unchallenged, and Klein was simply not up to the task. But I am.This is a long segment from my Friday, October 3rd livestream, and there’s lots more in the full episode. To watch that, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. I’m doing another stream next Friday, October 17—we’ll post an announcement with links next week. And John McWhorter will return on Monday for a regular episode for full subscribers (free subscribers will have to wait until next Friday). John and I really get into it on some of the same topics: Charlie Kirk, the Coates-Klein debate, and what being a “black writer” means in the twenty-first century. It’s one of the best episodes of the year, if I do say so myself. You won’t want to miss it.And you’ll want it as soon as possible! To get early access to episodes, video from my livestreams, and much more, become a full subscriber by clicking below. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comLast Friday’s livestream was a hot one. Today I’m posting the video for all who missed it (you have to be a paid subscriber to hear the full version now, but everybody else will get it on Friday). But trust me, this is appointment viewing. I’ll be at Stanford later this week for a conference on the work of Thomas Sowell. But the livestream will return the week following.In the first half of the stream, Nikita Petrov, Robert Patton-Spruill, and I talk about …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comNote: Links and info for my next livestream, which is happening this Friday, October 3 at 1:00 PM EDT, can be found at the end of this post.

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comNormally, I release TGS episodes to full subscribers on Mondays and then to the general public on Fridays. But this conversation is a repost from my conversations with Bob Wright at his Nonzero podcast, so I figured I’d make this one an early public release. If you like starting your week off with The Glenn Show, and you’re not yet a full subscriber, consider becoming one by going here. We at The Glenn Show are almost entirely subscriber supported. We need your help to keep the show going. So if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you for making The Glenn Show possible. Video Links0:00 A message from Glenn1:34 How this conversation came to be2:59 What surprised Glenn most about the Kirk killing8:56 Who (or what) is driving our polarization?17:36 Cognitive empathy for MAGA25:24 Reacting to Charlie Kirk on affirmative action45:04 Are we re-running the 1960s?51:50 Glenn’s latest book, Self-Censorship54:11 Why the Manhattan Institute dropped Glenn1:04:02 Glenn on Gaza: “I can’t bear it.”1:17:27 “Genocide” and other Israel speech code flashpoints1:26:58 Has Trump’s anti-antisemitism push chilled campus speech?1:36:58 A few kind and less kind words for Bari Weiss1:46:44 Are Israel’s defenders hurting their cause?1:52:14 Glenn’s next big projectRecorded September 15, 2025 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

The Glenn Show is almost entirely listener supported. We need your help in order to keep bringing you the conversations you can't hear anywhere else. To get early episodes and much, much more, become a full subscriber at my Substack.You can keep tabs on Clifton’s progress and support his work at his Substack, Becoming Thomas Sowell.Video Links0:00 A Hard Day’s McWhorter3:51 Jimmy Kimmel and the collapse of the“bluegeois” paradigm9:47 Ground News ad11:30 Ideological gatekeeping in the arts17:02 The Gamergate-ification of everything25:50 John: Wokeness isn’t dead, it’s changed shape33:11 Clifton’s one-man show in-progress, Becoming Thomas Sowell35:21 Sowell at Cornell40:10 The challenge to Sowell’s conception of “the civil rights vision”43:36 The pressures of bringing Sowell to the stage45:58 Clifton: I think of Sowell as “the people’s intellectual”Recorded September 20, 2025Links and ReadingsJohn and Clifton’s previous conversation on The Glenn ShowClifton’s Substack, Becoming Thomas SowellThomas Sowell’s book, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political StrugglesSowell’s book, Knowledge and DecisionsThurgood on Amazon PrimeSowell’s book, Black Education: Myths and TragediesDonald Downs’s book, Cornell ‘69: Liberalism and the Crisis of the American UniversitySowell’s book, On Classical EconomicsMark Whitaker’s book, Saying It Loud: 1966—the Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights MovementSowell’s book, Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?Jason Riley’s latest appearance on TGSJason’s book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas SowellSowell’s memoir, A Personal Odyssey This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comIn our latest Q&A, John McWhorter and I take questions on troubled black communities, the N-word, issues on which we've changed our minds, ratcheting down political tensions in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, and how we handle personal security. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported. If you like what you hear, head over to my Substack and become a full subscriber. You'll get monthly Q&As with John McWhorter, and a whole lot more.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comLast Friday, I hosted a livestream featuring Nikita Petrov, Robert Patton-Spruill, and call-ins from viewers. Once again, our topic is the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. We talk about my own cancelation by the Manhattan Institute, warding off the tyranny of the majority, the worrisome comments of truly powerful people like Elon Musk, JD Vance, and Pam Bondi, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s intervention in the Kirk debates, and what I dream the leader of our nation would say (and still can say) as the post-assassination temperature continues to rise. I talk with callers about the dynamics of backlash, plausible deniability, and the spiritual impetus to ease political tensions.Listen, I need your help. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a measly $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content. Subscribe at https://glennloury.substack.com

Support The Glenn Show at https:/.glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 Why Marc thinks nothing works6:45 Who decides the winners and losers in public trade-offs?12:50 Penn Station and public interest logjams20:29 Marc: We have Trump because people feel that government doesn’t work28:17 Two progressive conceptions of power33:03 Finding the balance between centralized and dispersed power39:05 Ok, nothing works. So how do we get things working?51:28 Marc: We need a return to Hamiltonian governing55:03 The new class of moderate Democrats trying to get things doneRecorded September 6, 2025Links and ReadingsMarc’s new book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It BackMarc’s book, The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American CommunityRobert Putnam’s book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American CommunityRobert Caro’s book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New YorkEzra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book, AbundanceJennifer Pahlka’s book, Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do BetterYoni Applebaum’s book, Stuck: How the Privileged and Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comSupport The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comIn this episode, co-hosted with my editor Mark Sussman, I talk with viewers about the murders of Charlie Kirk and Iryna Zarutska, the “black crime” canard, the effects of immigration on black employment, and other weighty topics. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. A call from Richard Kim—a newly tenured professor of philosophy at Loyola University in Chicago—gave me the opportunity to reminisce about Father Richard John Neuhaus, a friend who offered me great comfort during one of the most difficult periods of my life. And of course, we hear from Robert Patton-Spruill aka the Landlord Guy aka the Housing Provider aka the Evil Landlord.In order to keep doing these streams and recording weekly episodes of The Glenn Show, I need your help. Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen. But if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a measly $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content. To subscribe, go to https://glennloury.substack.com

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 The upcoming Hoover Institution conference honoring Thomas Sowell 5:37 Sowell’s apprentice work at the University of Chicago 12:58 Ground News ad 14:45 Hayek’s influence on Sowell 19:55 Jason: No one is smarter than the market 24:58 The unconstrained vision vs. the constrained vision 33:04 Sowell’s contribution to economic literacy 37:44 Sowell’s tough early life and his path to Marx ]47:55 Jason: Sowell’s willingness to weigh in on race hurt his career 53:58 Sowell’s evisceration of The Bell CurveRecorded on August 25, 2025Links and ReadingsJason’s writing for the Wall Street JournalJason’s book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas SowellThoma Sowell’s memoir, A Personal JourneySowell’s book, Knowledge and DecisionsSowell’s book, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political ConflictSowell’s book, Ethnic America: A HistorySowell’s book, Race and CultureSowell’s book, Migration and Cultures: A World ViewFriedrich Von Hayek’s essay, “The Use of Knowledge in Society”Hayek’s review of Knowledge and DecisionsMary Shelley’s novel, FrankensteinSowell’s book, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social PolicySowell’s book, The Quest for Cosmic JusticeMilton Friedman’s TV show, Free to ChooseRichard Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American LifeSowell’s American Spectator review of The Bell Curve, “Ethnicity and IQ” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe