My New Substack
Writing and thinking that doesn't need a news hook.
Today, in partnership with Persuasion, I am launching my new online home, where I will share my most urgent and ambitious writing and thinking with you. Welcome!
On here, I will publish a weekly column about big ideas that don’t need a news hook. When truly important events happen, I will help you make sense of them with timely commentary. And I will share with you conversations with some of the world’s most interesting and influential thinkers.
Everything I do will be guided by my deepest convictions: that universal values like free speech and individual freedom have been the foundation of the most affluent and tolerant societies in the history of the world; that we should judge and treat people on the basis of their own aspirations and achievements rather than their membership of favored or disfavored identity groups; and that we can call out the deep failings of established institutions without falling for irresponsible demagogues or cheap conspiracy theories.
One of the things I really look forward to is being able to let my mind roam, sharing with you in a frank and direct way the things I believe to be true and important. And I very much hope that you will join me in continuing to build a genuine intellectual community, one in which we reflect and debate with each other in a spirit of curiosity and cooperation.
Why This, Why Now
This endeavor is based on three premises:
Our public discourse is badly broken.
The consequences for our culture and politics have been disastrous.
The best way to escape the incentives which led to this disaster is to create a direct channel of communication between writer and reader.
Exhibit A of my premises is the story of Joe Biden’s mental decline, and the astonishing failure of mainstream journalists to cover it in a timely manner.
This topic temporarily receded from the forefront of the news over the course of the last few days, as the nation tried to process the horrific attempt to assassinate Donald Trump. But the fact that our attention has been drawn to other issues has not reversed Biden’s mental decline. And the inability of the presumptive Democratic nominee to mount an effective campaign will, whether or not Biden ultimately renounces his candidacy, shape the upcoming presidential election. So it is worth pausing to understand how Democrats—and the country—ended up in this mess.
Until the recent debate put Biden’s cognitive defects on live display for tens of millions of people, mainstream journalists mostly avoided writing about the topic. Many critics have put this down to an active conspiracy, and there certainly are editors and journalists who misled their readers about what they were seeing and hearing. But the truth is in some ways even more alarming: many journalists are so ensconced in their own bubble that they genuinely came to believe that worries about Biden’s mental acuity were a form of “misinformation.”
The failure to report on Biden’s decline has had dire consequences. It prevented a real primary from taking place and deprived Americans of crucial information about how fit their president is for office. If Biden insists on staying in the race, it will force tens of millions of voters to choose between a set of candidates with which they are deeply unhappy. Even if he finally drops out, the fact that he does so at such a late stage will leave the Democratic Party in chaos, and make it more likely that Kamala Harris—who is herself deeply unpopular—will be anointed to take his place. Ironically, then, journalists’ lack of honesty and curiosity ultimately accomplished the opposite of what motivated it: it made it much more likely for Trump to return to the White House.
This journalistic failure is rooted in the structure of current media. Both their personal and their professional incentives now push journalists towards conformity. Many fear upsetting the assumptions of their readers or alienating their colleagues. They live in the same few places and socialize in the same small social circles. They have learned that it is safer to be wrong by sticking with the herd than to be right by striking out on their own. And so, they have become convinced that being on the “right side” is more important than telling the truth.
Substack has made it a lot easier to break with these incentives.
Persuasion, the magazine I founded in July 2020 and will proudly continue to lead, has built a large audience on here by assembling a broad range of exciting writers who defend and debate the values of a free society. It is also expanding in exciting ways: as we recently announced, American Purpose, the magazine founded by Francis Fukuyama, is becoming an integral part of our community. And of course I will continue to do a good bit of writing for mainstream newspapers and magazines.
At the same time, it’s become clear to me that this platform is especially freeing for individual writers. By building a direct rapport with their readers, some of the thinkers I most admire have been empowered to produce writing that is more forthright, more innovative, and more idiosyncratic than what they could have published in traditional outlets.
So my ambition on here will be to help make sense of our troubled and confusing times. But it’s also, more simply, to produce and share with you the best damn work of which I’m capable.
What to Expect
Here’s what I have in store for you:
A weekly column about big ideas that don’t need a news hook: These essays will explore an important political or cultural question that goes beyond the current headlines.
Timely commentary about truly important events: I won’t be weighing in on yesterday’s Twitter controversy. But when something happens that really merits being grappled with, I will do my best to make sense of it on here.
A weekly conversation with a major thinker: Every week, I will interview one of the world’s most interesting thinkers on my podcast, The Good Fight, sharing the conversation with you both in audio format and as a written transcript. Past guests include everyone from Francis Fukuyama to Thomas Piketty, from Anne Applebaum to Jonathan Haidt, from Noam Chomsky to Tony Blair, from Kwame Anthony Appiah to Martha Nussbaum, and from Coleman Hughes to Sam Harris.
Additional episodes of The Good Fight podcast: This expansion of the podcast will include timely discussions about big news events, like my recent conversation with Rachel Kleinfeld about Saturday’s attempted assassination. On occasion, I will also convene thoughtful adversaries for a big debate about a serious intellectual disagreement, or answer listener questions in a “mailbag” episode.
Some of these articles and podcast episodes, including the weekly conversations with big thinkers, will be available for free. But to get all of my writing, full and ad-free access to the expanded podcast, the ability to comment on posts, and special invitations to community events, take out a subscription today.
Your support helps to make this project possible. It will allow me to be as ambitious as possible, both with my writing and with what we can do on the podcast. And if you would love to join the community but genuinely can’t afford to do so, just drop me a line by responding to this email; I’ll send you a comp, no questions asked.
How this Relates to Persuasion
Persuasion is thriving. We are growing in reach and intellectual ambition. I hope that my new column, and the expanded podcast offering, will make for an even livelier community—and add a lot of new readers to our ecosystem.
If you are already a paying subscriber to Persuasion, you will automatically get all of the expanded content on my new Substack for free; no further action required. All of us at Persuasion are deeply grateful for your support of our mission!
If you are a free subscriber to Persuasion, you will get some of the content on my new site. To get access to all of it, please become a paying subscriber today!
If you don’t yet get the excellent content Persuasion publishes, you can opt into it when you subscribe here; I hope you will.
And if you don’t want to read my column or get my podcast, just press “unsubscribe” at the bottom of this email.
Thank you for reading, and welcome to the community,
Yascha
P.S: If you want to help make this endeavor a success, please share this announcement with friends or family members, or send them a gift subscription!
Happy to read you. Also glad I have full access as a Persuasion subscriber.
Glad to see you here, Yascha!