The Good Fight
The Good Fight is a podcast that explores ideas, policies, and strategies to counter authoritarian populism. Hosted by Yascha Mounk, it features discussions with experts and thinkers. The show aims to provide listeners with insights on defending liberal democracy. It is part of the Persuasion community.
Episodes
Jerry Kaplan on Why AI Won’t Kill Us All
Yascha Mounk and Jerry Kaplan debate whether the existential risk from AI is overstated—and if so, what we should be worrying about instead.
Jerry Kaplan is an artificial intelligence expert, serial entrepreneur, technical innovator, educator, and author. He is currently an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jerry Kaplan discuss why the A
Jacob Weisberg on the Contagion of Cowardice
Yascha Mounk and Jacob Weisberg examine why so many powerful people and institutions capitulated to Trump the second time around.
Jacob Weisberg is the co-founder of the podcast company Pushkin Industries. He serves as Chair of The Committee to Protect Journalists and is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. His latest book is Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in th
Judith Dada on the Rise of the AfD
Yascha Mounk and Judith Dada also discuss why the tech sector is so behind in Europe—and how the continent can become dynamic again.
Judith Dada is Co-CEO of Langdock, a leading European AI company, Senior Partner at Visionaries Club, an early-stage European venture capital fund, and is co-author of Europe 2031.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Judith Dada discuss what the decline o
Sarah Longwell on How Democrats Can Defeat Trump
Yascha Mounk and Sarah Longwell discuss why the pro-democracy coalition keeps losing the narrative war—and how it can fight back.
Sarah Longwell is publisher of The Bulwark, host of The Focus Group podcast, and author of How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Sarah Longwell discuss why Donald Trump has dominated American politics for
Jared Diamond on Whether Leaders Make History
Yascha Mounk and Jared Diamond discuss the age-old question of structure versus agency—and when individual leaders truly change the course of events.
Jared Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Third Chimpanzee, and Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Make a Difference?
In this week’s co
Abigail Marsh on Psychopaths (Rerun)
We’re on vacation this week, so are rerunning a fun “beach read” episode exploring if your nearest and dearest could be psychopaths.
Miss us already? In an event exclusively for readers of American Purpose and Persuasion, Yascha Mounk will be interviewing Francis Fukuyama about his life and thought at 5pm on Sunday, September 6 at The Abbey Centre, London. Find out more and get tickets here. Payi
The Eras of Francis Fukuyama: Building Things
Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama discuss his lifelong hobbies—from building furniture to robotics—and why they might save us in the age of big tech.
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University. His latest book is In the Realm of the Last Man. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column at Persuasion.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk a
The Eras of Francis Fukuyama: How States Form
Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama delve into 9/11, the hubris of humanitarian intervention, and the letter he regretted signing.
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University. His latest book is In the Realm of the Last Man. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column at Persuasion.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama d
Adam Bodnar on Why Defeating Populists at the Ballot Box Isn’t Enough
Yascha Mounk and Adam Bodnar examine why Poland’s celebrated victory over illiberalism is now very much in doubt.
Adam Bodnar is a Professor of Law at SWPS University in Warsaw, heading the Department for Rule of Law and Human Rights. He is also a Senator of the Republic of Poland, elected in October 2023, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He previously served a
The Eras of Francis Fukuyama: Human Nature
Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama explore why any theory of politics must begin with an account of what makes us human.
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University. His latest book is In the Realm of the Last Man. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column at Persuasion.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama discuss wh
Daron Acemoglu on Why Liberalism Became a Victim of Its Own Success
Yascha Mounk and Daron Acemoglu examine how the digital age severed the link between economic growth and shared prosperity.
Daron Acemoglu is an economist at MIT and a recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics. His latest book is What Happened to Liberal Democracy?
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Daron Acemoglu discuss why liberal democracy’s post-war formula for shared prospe
The Eras of Francis Fukuyama: The End of History and the Last Man
Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama examine what people still get wrong about “the end of history.”
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University. His latest book is In the Realm of the Last Man. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column at Persuasion.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama discuss the true meaning of “the
Katja Hoyer on Why We Should Stop Comparing Everything to Weimar
Yascha Mounk and Katja Hoyer also discuss what the Islamist attack on Berlin’s Pride parade says about the state of Germany.
Katja Hoyer is a visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her latest book is Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Katja Hoyer discuss why the Weimar comparison is so te
The Eras of Francis Fukuyama: His Life and Ideas
Francis Fukuyama discusses the experiences and individuals that shaped him.
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University. His latest book is In the Realm of the Last Man. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column at Persuasion.
We have a treat for you today! To mark the publication of Francis Fukuyama’s memoir In the Realm of the Last Man, we’re lau
Claude Steele on the Hidden Stress of Diverse Spaces
Yascha Mounk and Claude Steele discuss why diversity can produce anxiety—and how it differs from prejudice.
Claude Steele is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University. His latest book is Churn: The Absurd Abyss of Race in America.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Claude Steele discuss why diversity produces psychological tension even in the absence of explicit pr
The Good Fight Club: Refounding Liberalism, Gen Z’s Political Instincts, and a Watergate Ghost Story
Francis Fukuyama, Linda Chavez, and Rachel Janfaza join Yascha Mounk to discuss what a radical liberal agenda might look like today.
In this week’s episode of The Good Fight Club, Yascha Mounk, Francis Fukuyama, Linda Chavez, and Rachel Janfaza explore whether Gen Z’s political instincts are genuinely liberal, what a renewed liberalism needs to reclaim from the republican tradition, and how to re
John Harpham on the Intellectual Origins of American Slavery
Yascha Mounk and John Harpham examine how early modern thinkers justified slavery long before modern theories of race took hold.
John Samuel Harpham is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics and Letters and Wick Cary Assistant Professor at the Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of The Intellectual Origins of American Slave
Deirdre McCloskey on What Really Caused the Industrial Revolution
Will you be in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday July 15? I will be interviewing Francis Fukuyama about how liberalism should respond to the postliberal threat. Find out more and get your free ticket here! —Yascha
Yascha Mounk and Deirdre McCloskey discuss why ideas, not capital accumulation, made the modern world rich.
Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, sometimes described as “the conscience of economics,”
Arvind Narayanan on Why AI Isn’t All That Revolutionary
Yascha Mounk and Arvind Narayanan discuss why the real transformation from AI will take decades rather than months—and what that means for how we should prepare.
Arvind Narayanan is a professor of computer science at Princeton University.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Arvind Narayanan discuss why AI’s transformative impact will unfold over decades rather than months, whether huma
Ivan Krastev on Why America Has Lost Faith in Itself
Yascha Mounk and Ivan Krastev examine what the country’s founding ideals mean on its 250th anniversary.
Ivan Krastev is Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and the Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna. He is a founding board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the advisory and governing boards of several int
Charles Fain Lehman on Why Cities Got Safer
Yascha Mounk and Charles Fain Lehman explore how strategic policing drove the decline in violent crime—and why Baltimore was left behind.
Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal, where he covers crime, policing, and urban policy.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Charles Fain Lehman discuss why Baltimore failed to follow th
The Good Fight Club: Why the Center Left Is Losing, the Squad vs. the Median Voter, and How Patriotism Wins Elections
Matthew Yglesias, Claire Ainsley, and Yascha Mounk debate whether progressives have abandoned the working-class voters they once claimed to represent.
Will you be in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday July 15? I will be interviewing Francis Fukuyama about how liberalism should respond to the postliberal threat. Find out more and get your free ticket here! —Yascha
In this week’s episode of The Good Fi
Mark Leonard on Whether Europe is Doomed
Yascha Mounk and Mark Leonard discuss how the West can defend itself without America.
Mark Leonard is co-founder and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, the first pan-European think–tank. His latest book is Surviving Chaos: Geopolitics When the Rules Fail.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Mark Leonard discuss why Europe is behind, the global impact of China’s rise
A Debate with Curtis Yarvin
Curtis Yarvin, Minna Salami, and Yascha Mounk discuss whether we can ever be free in a liberal society in a discussion moderated by Roger Hearing.
In this special episode of The Good Fight, recorded at the How The Light Gets In Festival, Roger Hearing moderates a debate between Curtis Yarvin, Minna Salami, and Yascha Mounk on whether liberalism can ever be neutral, what a truly free society would
Samuel Moyn on Why Old People Are Ruining America
Yascha Mounk and Sam Moyn also discuss whether some people deserve to have more votes than others.
Samuel Moyn is the Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. His books include Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War, The Last Utopia, and Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World. Cohost of the Digging a Hole podcast, he is a frequent contributor to The Ne
David Bau on How—and Whether—Artificial Intelligence Thinks
Yascha Mounk and David Bau delve into the emerging science of AI interpretability and what we can learn from billions of neural signals.
David Bau is Assistant Professor at Northeastern University and Director of the National Deep Inference Fabric, researching the emergent internal mechanisms of deep generative networks in both Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision.
In this week’s conv
Rebecca Haw Allensworth on How Professional Licenses are Rigging the Game for Insiders
Yascha Mounk and Rebecca Haw Allensworth examine how professional licensing has become America’s most important—and most restrictive—regulatory institution.
If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.
Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community
Podcast production by Mickey Freeland and Leonora Barclay.
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Steve Stewart-Williams on Sex Differences and Human Nature
Yascha Mounk and Steve Stewart-Williams examine what science reveals about biological and psychological differences between men and women.
Steve Stewart-Williams is a professor of Psychology at the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia campus and runs The Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche Newsletter. His latest book is A Billion Years of Sex Differences.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Steve
Jeremiah Johnson on Why Gen Z Isn’t Actually Doomed
Yascha Mounk and Jeremiah Johnson examine the disconnect between economic data and public sentiment about young Americans’ prospects.
Jeremiah Johnson is the co-founder of the Center for New Liberalism. He hosts the New Liberal Podcast and writes at Infinite Scroll.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jeremiah Johnson discuss why young Americans think the economy is worse than it actu
Kathryn Paige Harden on How Genetics Shapes Human Behavior
Yascha Mounk and Paige Harden discuss twin studies, heritability research, and why genetic influence varies across different traits and populations.
Kathryn Paige Harden is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and serves as Director of Clinical Training. Her latest book is Original Sin: On the Gen
H.W. Brands on the Making of George Washington
Yascha Mounk and H.W. Brands discuss the first U.S. president’s life and legacy.
H. W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of more than a dozen biographies and histories. His latest book is American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and H. W. Brands discuss why Washington’s
James Traub on Why American Classrooms Are Failing Democracy
Yascha Mounk and James Traub examine how progressive teaching methods are producing citizens who can't think critically.
James Traub is a journalist, author and scholar. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the New York Institute For The Humanities and the Society of American Historians.
In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and James Traub discuss why progressive pedagogy is
Marc Lipsitch on Playing Pandemic Roulette in the Lab
Yascha Mounk and Marc Lipsitch also discuss how worried we should be about Hantavirus and Ebola.
Marc Lipsitch is the Berberian Professor at Stanford University, with appointments in Infectious Diseases, Biology, and the Center for International Security and Cooperation.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Marc Lipsitch discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of gain-of-function resear
The Good Fight Club: The Vibe Shift That Wasn’t, White Identity Politics, and “When They Go Low, We Go Low”
Amanda Ripley, Jesse Singal, Thomas Chatterton Williams, and Yascha Mounk explore Trump’s failed cultural revolution.
In this week’s episode of The Good Fight Club, Yascha Mounk, Amanda Ripley, Jesse Singal, and Thomas Chatterton Williams explore whether Trump has succeeded in remaking American culture in his image, the rise of white identity politics and its psychological drivers, and how Americ
Al Roth on Why People Should Be Free to Sell Their Kidneys
Yascha Mounk and Al Roth discuss what we miss when we separate economics from human emotion.
Alvin E. Roth is the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2012. His latest book is Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Orga
Timothy Garton Ash on Europe’s Political Fragmentation
Yascha Mounk and Timothy Garton Ash discuss how Britain’s shift toward populism reflects broader European trends.
Timothy Garton Ash is the author of Homelands: A Personal History of Europe and writes the newsletter History of the Present. His upcoming book, Europe in 7½ Chapters, will be published in October 2026.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Timothy Garton Ash discuss the cris
Laurenz Guenther on the Representation Gap in Politics
Yascha Mounk and Laurenz Guenther discuss why ordinary voters and political elites disagree on immigration, crime, and social issues.
Laurenz Guenther is a political economist at the Toulouse School of Economics and a Fellow at the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi University. His research and Substack focus on representation, populism, and immigration in Western democracies.
In thi
Lant Pritchett on Why Foreign Aid Misses the Point
Yascha Mounk and Lant Pritchett discuss why development requires building state capability, not just charitable interventions.
Lant Pritchett is a development economist from Idaho. Having now thrice retired, he is currently a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics in the School of Public Policy and the co-founder and Research Director of Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP).
In this
David Bromwich on Why Americans Have Lost Faith in Universities
Yascha Mounk and David Bromwich discuss grade inflation, political conformity, and the crisis of trust in higher education.
David Bromwich has taught literature at Yale University since 1988. His books include Hazlitt: the Mind of a Critic, The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke, How Words Make Things Happen, and Politics by Other Means: Higher Education and Group Thinking.
In this week’s convers
Luis Garicano on the Economics of Artificial Intelligence
Yascha Mounk and Luis Garicano discuss how AI will reshape labor markets, productivity, and economic growth.
Luis Garicano is Professor of Public Policy at the London School of Economics.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Luis Garicano discuss the economic magnitude of AI’s transformative potential, whether artificial intelligence complements or replaces human workers, and why Silico
Jacob Mchangama on the Global Free Speech Recession
Yascha Mounk and Jacob Mchangama discuss how democracies and dictatorships alike have turned against online speech freedom.
Jacob Mchangama is the Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech and a research professor at Vanderbilt University, as well as a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. His latest book, with Jeff Kosseff, is The Future of Free Speech: Reve
Michael Shermer on Truth and Conspiracy
Yascha Mounk and Michael Shermer delve into the art of debunking dangerous ideas without silencing free speech.
Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and the host of the podcast The Michael Shermer Show. His new book is Truth: What it is, How to Find it, Why it Still Matters.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Michael Shermer discuss conspiracy theories from th
Ivan Krastev on Why Even Dictators Can’t Escape Democracy
Yascha Mounk and Ivan Krastev also discuss the war in Iran—and what it means for Trump’s future.
Ivan Krastev is the chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, and Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ivan Krastev discuss how Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule in Hungary came to an end, why democratic instit
Andrés Velasco on Oil Shocks and Financial Crises
Yascha Mounk and Andrés Velasco discuss why the current energy crisis won’t repeat the 1970s—and what dangers lurk in today’s financial markets.
Andrés Velasco is the Dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the co-editor, alongside Tim Besley and Irene Bucelli, of The London Consensus: Economic Principles for the 21st Century.
In this w
Kathleen Stock on the Case Against Assisted Death
Yascha Mounk and Kathleen Stock discuss whether liberal arguments for medically assisted suicide fail to hold up under scrutiny.
Kathleen Stock is a contributing writer at UnHerd, a frequent columnist at The Sunday Times and The Times, and a co-director of The Lesbian Project, which she runs with journalist and activist Julie Bindel.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Kathleen Stock d
Ruy Teixeira on What the Liberal Patriot Closure Says About the Center Left
Yascha Mounk and Ruy Teixeira examine how the Democratic Party’s cultural evolution drove away working-class voters—and ask whether it may be too late to change course.
Ruy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was co-founder and politics editor of the Substack newsletter, The Liberal Patriot. His latest book, with John B. Judis, is Where Have All the Democrats Gone
Sebastian Mallaby on AI Safety and the Race for Superintelligence
Yascha Mounk and Sebastian Mallaby discuss why tech leaders both fear and accelerate dangerous AI development, and whether open-source models pose unacceptable risks.
Sebastian Mallaby is the author of several books including The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence. A former Financial Times contributing editor and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Malla
David Autor on the Scars That Money Can’t Heal
Yascha Mounk and David Autor discuss how policy failures made trade disruption worse—and why we're still making the same mistakes.
David Autor is the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, codirector of the NBER Labor Studies Program and the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work.
In this week’s conversation, Yas
David Goodhart on Why the Educated Elite Lost Touch with Democracy
Yascha Mounk and David Goodhart explore how the domination of mobile, university-educated “anywheres” sparked the populist revolt.
David Goodhart is a journalist, author and think tanker, and currently head of the demography unit at the Policy Exchange think tank. His latest book is The Care Dilemma: Freedom, Family and Fertility.
In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and David Goodhart disc
Shashank Joshi on Why the War in the Middle East Won’t End Anytime Soon
Yascha Mounk and Shashank Joshi examine whether the United States and Israel are achieving their strategic objectives in the Middle East.
Shashank Joshi is Defence Editor at The Economist, where he writes on a wide range of national security, defence and intelligence issues.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Shashank Joshi discuss how the war of attrition between the United States, I
Ibram X. Kendi on Great Replacement Theory
Yascha Mounk and Ibram X. Kendi also discuss anti-racism, equity, and education.
Ibram X. Kendi is Professor of History and the founding director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study, an interdisciplinary research enterprise examining global racism. His latest book is Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ibram X. Ken
Adrian Wooldridge on the Lost Genius of the Political Center
Yascha Mounk and Adrian Wooldridge explore how liberalism reinvented itself through past crises—and what that means for its survival today.
Adrian Wooldridge is the global business columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He is the author or co-author of 12 books, including Centrists of the World Unite: The Lost Genius of Liberalism.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Adrian Wooldridge discu
A Very Brief Interview with Klaus Schwab
Yascha Mounk and Klaus Schwab discuss truth, trust, and accountability—until he abruptly ended the interview.
In January, I received an email from Klaus Schwab about a new book he had just published, called Restoring Truth and Trust. It was, he told me, “part of my broader series aimed at helping a global audience understand and respond to the profound changes shaping our societies, economies, an
Dean Ball on Who Should Control AI
Yascha Mounk and Dean Ball examine how the fight over autonomous weapons and mass surveillance reveals the impossible choices facing American AI policy.
Dean W. Ball served as Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he was the primary staff drafter of America’s AI Action Plan. He writes the AI-focused newsletter Hyperdimensional.
In this week’s con
Francis Fukuyama on Trump’s War With Iran
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University. His latest book is Liberalism and Its Discontents. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column, carried forward from American Purpose, at Persuasion.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama discuss whether the unprecedented strikes on Iran will lead to the downfall of the mullahs, whe
Danielle Allen on Why Technocratic Liberalism Failed
Yascha Mounk and Danielle Allen discuss democratic backsliding.
Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is also Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and Director of the Democratic Knowledge Project, a research lab focused on civic education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
In this week's co
Janice Stein on When Being Rational Is Irrational
Janice Gross Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Janice Stein discuss whether rational choice theory has led us astray in understanding political behavior, why voters have lost interest in nuclear deterrence, and why cooperatio
The Good Fight Club: Why Japan’s “Weirdo” Victory Matters, the Rise of Chinese Soft Power, and the End of Asian Stability
Yascha Mounk, Bethany Allen, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and Chang Che examine how Asia is preparing for a more dangerous world.
In this week’s episode of The Good Fight Club, Yascha Mounk, Bethany Allen, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and Chang Che examine the stunning electoral victory of Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi, China’s coercion tactics and how they’re backfiring across Asia, and what the rise
Jacob Savage on the Costs of the Great Awokening
Jacob Savage is a writer and ticket scalper.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jacob Savage discuss whether the “Great Awokening” had lasting material effects beyond culture, how diversity initiatives changed hiring patterns in academia and Hollywood, and why these changes primarily affected one generation of white men rather than older cohorts already established in their careers.
I
Daniel Diermeier on Why Universities Are Their Own Worst Enemies
Yascha Mounk and Daniel Diermeier examine how elite institutions created the backlash that now threatens their future.
Daniel Diermeier is Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, where he has served since 2020.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Daniel Diermeier discuss why American universities are simultaneously world-leading and losing public trust, whether elite higher education cre
C. Thi Nguyen on Why Measuring Everything Ruins Everything
C. Thi Nguyen is a philosophy professor at the University of Utah. His latest book is The Score: How to Stop Playing Someone Else’s Game.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Thi Nguyen discuss why metrics both help and harm institutional decision-making, how game design principles can improve classroom learning, and whether some aspects of human life are inherently unmeasurable.
If you
Jung Chang on A Personal History of China
Yascha Mounk and Jung Chang explore what individual narratives can tell us about China’s past and present.
Jung Chang is the author of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Empress Dowager Cixi, and Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister, as well as Mao: The Unknown Story, with her husband, Jon Halliday. Her latest book is Fly, Wild Swans: My Mother, Myself and China.
In this week’s conversation,
Ruud Koopmans on Immigration and Integration in Europe
Ruud Koopmans is Research Director at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Professor of Sociology and Migration Research at Humboldt University Berlin. He is also a member of the German Federal government’s Advisory Committee on Islamism.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ruud Koopmans discuss the role of cultural difference in integration, how selective versus non-discretionary m
Martin Wolf on Why Trump’s Economic Revolution Never Happened
Yascha Mounk and Martin Wolf also discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy—and humanity.
Martin Wolf is Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, London.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Martin Wolf discuss what Trump’s pick of Kevin Warsh could mean for the Fed, whether “TACO” (Trump Always Chickens Out) is a sustainable pattern, a
Atul Gawande on Medicine and Mortality
Yascha Mounk and Atul Gawande discuss how a simple system can improve patient outcomes.
Atul Gawande is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Atul Gawande discuss how simple checklists can boost survival rates in the operating theater, what it means to have quality of life, and our complicated relationship with mortality.If you
Gašper Beguš on Why Language Doesn’t Make Humans Special
Yascha Mounk and Gašper Beguš also talk about what whale communication and the recent progress on AI tell us about the human brain.
Gašper Beguš is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at UC Berkeley, where he focuses on interpretable AI and combines linguistics, cognitive science, machine learning, neuroscience, and marine biology.
In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Gašper Beguš di
Damon Linker on Why Trump 2.0 Is More Destructive Than Anyone Expected
Damon Linker writes the Substack newsletter “Notes from the Middleground.” He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow in the Open Society Project at the Niskanen Center.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Damon Linker discuss how Trump’s second term has exceeded even pessimistic expectations, why the “adults in t
Ian Bassin on How to Save American Democracy from Trump
Yascha Mounk and Ian Bassin also report on what they got right—and wrong—over the past decade.
Ian Bassin is co-founder and Executive Director of Protect Democracy. He previously served as Associate White House Counsel.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ian Bassin discuss what democracy defenders got right about Trump’s authoritarian tactics, why institutional actors have failed to r
Rebecca Goldstein on Why Humans Need to Matter
Yascha Mounk and Rebecca Goldstein debate whether our desperate need for significance is a flaw we should overcome—or an essential part of human dignity.
Rebecca Goldstein is a philosopher and novelist. Her latest book is The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us.
In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Rebecca Goldstein discuss why humans have an instinct to
Scott Anderson on Why Iran’s Real Revolution Might Be Coming
Yascha Mounk and Scott Anderson discuss how economic collapse has created the conditions for regime change—and what this could mean for the country.
Scott Anderson is a veteran war correspondent and a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. His latest book is King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution—A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation.
In this week’s conversation
The Good Fight Club: Maduro’s Capture, Trump’s Foreign Policy Vision, and the Future of American Power
In this week’s episode of The Good Fight Club, Yascha Mounk, Amanda Ripley, and George Packer examine the Trump administration’s capture of Nicolás Maduro and the chaotic aftermath in Venezuela, whether Trump’s foreign policy represents a coherent “shock and awe” strategy or a dangerous overreach, and the political outlook for 2026.
Amanda Ripley is the co-founder of Good Conflict and author of H
Ivan Krastev on 2026
Ivan Krastev is the chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ivan Krastev discuss international reactions to the Trump administration, Europe’s weaknesses, and the impact of changing demographics worldwide.
If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please
Francis Fukuyama on 2025
Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama look back at this year—and make predictions for 2026.
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University. His latest book is Liberalism and Its Discontents. He is also the author of the “Frankly Fukuyama” column, carried forward from American Purpose, at Persuasion.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama discus
Kelly Born on All the Ways AI Is Changing Politics
Kelly Born is the founding director of the Packard Foundation’s Democracy, Rights, and Governance initiative.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Kelly Born explore how AI could impact democracy and society—and how to respond.
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Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community
Podcast produ
The Good Fight Club: Can Europe Control Its Fate?
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk, Timothy Garton Ash, Sabina Ćudić, and Nathalie Tocci explore the relationship between the United States and Europe, the Ukraine peace talks, and whether Europe has any hope of reinvigorating itself.
Timothy Garton Ash is the author of Homelands: A Personal History of Europe and writes the newsletter History of the Present.
Sabina Ćudić is elected member
Jill Lepore on Why We Should Amend the U.S. Constitution
Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and professor of law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her latest book is We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jill Lepore discuss why historians have neglected the story of America, how to fix the toxicity in
Richard Thaler on Why People are Much More Irrational than Economists Believe
Richard Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is the co-author, with Cass Sunstein, of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, and is the 2017 recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Rich
Abigail Marsh on Psychopaths
Abigail Marsh is a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at Georgetown University.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Abigail Marsh explore what to do if a child you know might be psychopathic, whether psychopathy is linked to charisma and success, and how to protect yourself.
Wondering if you or a loved one might be a psychopath? Tak
Sven Beckert on How Capitalism Made the Modern World
Sven Beckert is Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University. His most recent book is Capitalism: A Global History.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Sven Beckert explore the origins of capitalism, how this triggered the Industrial Revolution, and whether today we’re in late stage capitalism.
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Dan Wang on China and the United States
Dan Wang is a research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and author of Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Dan Wang explore the conflict between the United States as a society of lawyers and China as a society of engineers, what this means for their relationship, and why the two countries are more similar than they may first appear.
