Season 2020
46 episodes · 2020
1Baldwin and Buckley: Advocating and Denying Civil Rights
Nicholas Buccola on his book "The Fire is Upon Us: Baldwin, Buckley, and Race in America."
2The Battle for the Constitution and Pelosi's Originalism
Justin Driver of Yale Law on constitutional law and the struggle to preserve democracy.
3Grand Strategy for the Campus Commons and Beyond
Vassar College president Elizabeth Bradley on free speech and engaged pluralism.
4Bias, Bigotry, and Tyrannical Discourse
Robert Boyers on "The Tyranny of Virtue: Identity… and the Hunt for Political Heresies."
5The Science and Necessity of Friendship
Science journalist Lydia Denworth on the evolution, biology, and power of friendship.
6Unbecoming a Democracy
Patricia Roberts-Miller of University of Texas on demagoguery and its historical origins.
7The Kremlin’s Hack Attacks
Wired reporter Andy Greenberg discusses the next wave of Russian cyber crimes.
8Democratizing the Jury
Wesleyan University’s Sonali Chakravarti on her book "Radical Enfranchisement."
9Facts and Fears of a Pandemic
NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny on coronavirus, anti-vaxxers, and conspiracy-mongers.
10Breaking Up and Deradicalizing the Socials
Mother Jones’ Ali Breland on combating bigotry online and breaking up new media monopolies.
11Knowing the Enemy of Truth
Information warfare expert Molly McKew on foreign interference in US elections.
12The FEC is AWOL
Center for Responsive Politics’ Anna Massoglia on campaign finance accountability issues.
13Big Tech = Dystopia Incorporated
NBC News dystopia reporter Ben Collins on exposing deception and companies that enable it.
14The Cult of QAnon
QAnon Anonymous host Travis View on QAnon conspiracy theorists and what motivates them.
15American Demagogue
Jennifer Mercieca on "Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump."
16Gen Z in the Heartland
Nico Gendron of The Wall Street Journal on engaging rural youth in a Local News Fellowship.
17The Revolution is Online
Online News Association CEO Irving Washington on the future of digital news.
18The Alchemy of Us
Materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez on her new book "The Alchemy of Us."
19@V2019N
Rachel Graham on tracking COVID-19 from its inception to inform public health on Twitter.
20Hiding in Plain Sight
Sarah Kendzior on her book "Hiding in Plain Sight" and the threat of authoritarianism.
21The Youth Vote in 2020
UVA professor and coauthor of "Making Young Voters," John Holbein on civic participation.
22The Pandemic’s Prophet
Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist Laurie Garrett on predicting COVID-19.
23Army of the Decent
Lincoln Project’s John Weaver on holding people in power accountable to their oaths.
24Dystopia for Realists
"Humankind" author and historian Rutger Bregman on hope for a prosocial society.
25Renewing Democracy for Today
Garry Kasparov and Uriel Epshtein of the Renew Democracy Initiative on authoritarian rule.
26Will COVID Paralyze the Vote in November?
Mother Jones voting rights correspondent Ari Berman on the pandemic and voting turnout.
27American Hospitals...Surviving and Treating the Pandemic
Dr. Jeffrey Matthews, of U of Chicago Medicine, on hospitals’ response to the pandemic.
28America Without Law
Jack Jackson on "Law Without Future: Anti-Constitutional Politics and the American Right."
29John Lewis and The Third Reconstruction
Atlantic Magazine’s Adam Harris on John Lewis and a new Civil Rights Movement in America.
30How to Speak Justly and Bridge Divides
University of Chicago psychologist Katherine Kinzler on her new book “How You Say It.”
31Gaslighting 2020 and Comorbidities of the GOP
Republican presidential campaign veteran Stuart Stevens on his new book "It Was All a Lie."
32Will the Pandemic Mean Justice in America?
Minister, activist and Princeton scholar Nyle Fort on re-imagining a post-pandemic America.
33Political and Personal Accountability
Cong. (Ret.) Katie Hill on her new book "She Will Rise" and the battle for true equality.
34Calling Bull____ and the Threat of a Show Vaccine
Carl Bergstrom on "Calling Bull____: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World."
35Will There Be a Legitimate 2020 Election?
Election security advocate Jennifer Cohn on election oversight and hand-marked paper trail.
36Supercharging Antibodies for a COVID Vaccine
Yale University immunologist Akiko Iwasaki discusses an efficacious COVID vaccine.
37Will Trump Hoax the Nation on Election Night?
CNN’s Brian Stetler on the danger of disinformation on Election Night, Week, and Month.
38American Autocracy
U.S. democracy and authoritarianism.
39After 200K+ Dead, Vote For Your Life
Civil Rights leader and MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton on the mobilization of Black voters.
40Four More Years of Social Media Failure
MIT scholar Sinan Aral on how to regulate social media to have a constructive impact.
41Voting is the Civil Rights Movement of 2020
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Kristen Clarke on justice at the polls.
42The Flight of Humane Poetics
Julie Swarstad Johnson and Christopher Cokinos on their new book "Beyond Earth’s Edge."
43Chinese Hegemony
CSIS fellow Jon Hillman on his new book "The Emperor’s New Road" and relations with China.
44Our Brains on Totalitarianism
Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett on her book "Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain."
45Republicanism vs. Trumpism
Lincoln Project’s Mike Madrid on Georgia’s Senate run-off election and defeating Trumpism.
46The Strongman in the USAfinale
Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Trump’s defiance of the 2020 election results and history.