In this inaugural episode of The Good Fight’s panel format, Francis Fukuyama, Ivan Krastev, and Mona Charen join Yascha to make sense of the events of the last week.
I prefer reading to listening to a podcast, so I appreciate it when a transcript is provided. This sounds interesting, but I could read the text of what they say a lot quicker than just listening. I prefer real books to ebooks too. I'm old school!
I agree! Some parts of any worthwhile discussion require more consideration than others. It is easy to do this with reading, where you can jump back instantly a paragraph or 2 because what has just come across may even change the meaning of the previous parts, or indicate that something was missed.
I rarely can listen to a political talk for more than 10 minutes, but I was very attentive to your well informed guest's opinoins for the entire hour and I'm looking forward to the next episode!
Here's a mixed review. To cut to the chase, I am seriously worried about the drift of the main figure here, the host Yasch Mounk, to right side of the political spectrum, so gradually that it seems imperceptible. But it is there....
But first, a good episode overall with some outstanding (and educational) points made by Francis Fukuyama. The history lesson on the Pendleton Act and what preceded it and how utterly corrupt the US was post-Reconstruction and at the start of the Gilded Age made for fascinating analogizing inside my head. His illustration of the extortionary nature of this Administration was brilliantly put.
The otherwise superb Ivan Kratsev disappointed though. He didn't add anything of real substance to this exchange, uncharacteristically. Mona Charen was articulate but adopted a sensible but predictable stance.
The real revelation however was the host, Yascha Mounk. I can see the gradual Bari Weiss-ization of Yascha and, more regrettably, the Free Press-ization of Persuasion. And this conclusion has really surprised me. I have been listening to the Good Fight for many years and followed Yascha Mounk in his Persuasion column and other writings in the mainstream press, and read his last book with interest. Disagreed with some parts but found his stance quite admirable.
Now not just echoing inflated nonsense about the rising tide of anti-semitism at the top universities but then mouthing the aims of Project Esther, all that nonsense peddled by The Heritage Foundation. It has found a new proponent in Mounk. For him to tell us in that whispering way "my friends in the sciences in these schools are up in arms about those lunatics (his word) in the sociology department and in the Middle East Studies area that they will lose funding because of them...."
Talk about extortion. Mounk, pace Michael Roth, is ready for unilateral surrender .
To say that the right is distinguished by believing in conspiracies is only believable if you ignore history. It sounds like from what you are the promoters and promulgators of conspiracies by the fact that this entire show is devoted to this. Sad, as I had respect The Good Fight. It’s lost its “fight”.
Yeah. It made me just stop listening. It’s so ridiculous. The biggest problem being these people obviously don’t see the log in their own eye. All the stuff their party did to hide things and pretend people were crazy and spreading misinformation- and then they label all “conservatives” as conspiracy theorists. Insane. You can be conservative and not believe any of the MAGA tag lines and conspiracies. Just like you can be a liberal and believe that biological men shouldn’t be playing against women in sports, etc etc etc (to all the insane liberal policies that made democrats approval ratings the lowest in 30 years).
Listening to this show right now - their take on our US universities cannot be real, right!?! We, the philosophically liberal professors, have seen a dramatic rise of deeply illiberal and antisemitic grouthink/bubblethink over the last 10 years…Rudi Dutschke’s infamous “Walk through the institutions”.
The idea, voiced by Frank and also Mona, that universities would somehow self-correct and self-police…seriously? When was the last time both of them have seriously interacted with major universities?
I dislike so very much about Trump 2.0 - but the “attack on our universities” is a very, very necessary thing. There are thousands of faculty cheering them on, quietly, to rescue true academic freedom from illiberal woke groupthink.
(1) No vast conspiracy surrounding Epstein -- except for Trump! Those two (and only those two) were definitely in cahoots.
(2) The new Russia-gate conspiracies against the conspiracy are ridiculous. (But let's skip over this very quickly.)
(3) Trump is killing universities, which is disturbing. (Innocent) Universities should sue! Francis hilariously compared this to an extortionist shooting an innocent person with these actions...
(4) Why we (The invaders of Iraq and Afghanistan. The invaders of Vietnam. The regime-change kings. The drone strikers from afar.) should respect and defend Ukraine's sovereignty. (Mona is grieving, but she earlier she was worried about antisemitism from those who are worried about genocide.)
(5) A defense of the Federal Reserve.
These are the stories that our best "liberals" are spinning for "persuasion." Brothers and sisters, it's over. It's going to be populist left and right for a long time to come. Buckle up.
I really enjoyed the new format -- it was a nice change from the usual one-on-one. I found it very engaging and would love to hear more like this. I do agree with some other commenters that the whole "all conservatives are conspiracy theorists" line is old and, in my opinion, inaccurate. And I type that as a solid liberal Democrat with a "politically mixed" family and friend group, all of whom I respect. It reminded me a bit of a friend who has been screaming about the "MAGA cult" nonstop, conveniently forgetting her own immediate adherence to "Pantsuit Nation", interrogating friends and colleagues about the lack of a black square on their social media pages during the BLM protests and spending the better part of four years parading around with a crocheted vagina on her head. I believe one of your guests addressed the lack of accountability on the left for its own tilt towards lunacy. Maybe another voice along those lines might make it seem more balanced -- more Left, Right and Center-ish, if that's what you're going for (which was one of my favorite shows long ago on NPR).
I prefer reading to listening to a podcast, so I appreciate it when a transcript is provided. This sounds interesting, but I could read the text of what they say a lot quicker than just listening. I prefer real books to ebooks too. I'm old school!
I agree! Some parts of any worthwhile discussion require more consideration than others. It is easy to do this with reading, where you can jump back instantly a paragraph or 2 because what has just come across may even change the meaning of the previous parts, or indicate that something was missed.
I rarely can listen to a political talk for more than 10 minutes, but I was very attentive to your well informed guest's opinoins for the entire hour and I'm looking forward to the next episode!
Here's a mixed review. To cut to the chase, I am seriously worried about the drift of the main figure here, the host Yasch Mounk, to right side of the political spectrum, so gradually that it seems imperceptible. But it is there....
But first, a good episode overall with some outstanding (and educational) points made by Francis Fukuyama. The history lesson on the Pendleton Act and what preceded it and how utterly corrupt the US was post-Reconstruction and at the start of the Gilded Age made for fascinating analogizing inside my head. His illustration of the extortionary nature of this Administration was brilliantly put.
The otherwise superb Ivan Kratsev disappointed though. He didn't add anything of real substance to this exchange, uncharacteristically. Mona Charen was articulate but adopted a sensible but predictable stance.
The real revelation however was the host, Yascha Mounk. I can see the gradual Bari Weiss-ization of Yascha and, more regrettably, the Free Press-ization of Persuasion. And this conclusion has really surprised me. I have been listening to the Good Fight for many years and followed Yascha Mounk in his Persuasion column and other writings in the mainstream press, and read his last book with interest. Disagreed with some parts but found his stance quite admirable.
Now not just echoing inflated nonsense about the rising tide of anti-semitism at the top universities but then mouthing the aims of Project Esther, all that nonsense peddled by The Heritage Foundation. It has found a new proponent in Mounk. For him to tell us in that whispering way "my friends in the sciences in these schools are up in arms about those lunatics (his word) in the sociology department and in the Middle East Studies area that they will lose funding because of them...."
Talk about extortion. Mounk, pace Michael Roth, is ready for unilateral surrender .
The proportion of right- versus left-leaning people critiquing the pieces on Persuasion would tend to contradict your view.
To say that the right is distinguished by believing in conspiracies is only believable if you ignore history. It sounds like from what you are the promoters and promulgators of conspiracies by the fact that this entire show is devoted to this. Sad, as I had respect The Good Fight. It’s lost its “fight”.
Yeah. It made me just stop listening. It’s so ridiculous. The biggest problem being these people obviously don’t see the log in their own eye. All the stuff their party did to hide things and pretend people were crazy and spreading misinformation- and then they label all “conservatives” as conspiracy theorists. Insane. You can be conservative and not believe any of the MAGA tag lines and conspiracies. Just like you can be a liberal and believe that biological men shouldn’t be playing against women in sports, etc etc etc (to all the insane liberal policies that made democrats approval ratings the lowest in 30 years).
Haven't listened yet, but YAY MONA!!
Bravo and thank you for an enlightening moment which makes the pain of living in this place at this moment more bearable.
Listening to this show right now - their take on our US universities cannot be real, right!?! We, the philosophically liberal professors, have seen a dramatic rise of deeply illiberal and antisemitic grouthink/bubblethink over the last 10 years…Rudi Dutschke’s infamous “Walk through the institutions”.
The idea, voiced by Frank and also Mona, that universities would somehow self-correct and self-police…seriously? When was the last time both of them have seriously interacted with major universities?
I dislike so very much about Trump 2.0 - but the “attack on our universities” is a very, very necessary thing. There are thousands of faculty cheering them on, quietly, to rescue true academic freedom from illiberal woke groupthink.
I also prefer reading. Why not do both
Let's see what The Blob is selling now:
(1) No vast conspiracy surrounding Epstein -- except for Trump! Those two (and only those two) were definitely in cahoots.
(2) The new Russia-gate conspiracies against the conspiracy are ridiculous. (But let's skip over this very quickly.)
(3) Trump is killing universities, which is disturbing. (Innocent) Universities should sue! Francis hilariously compared this to an extortionist shooting an innocent person with these actions...
(4) Why we (The invaders of Iraq and Afghanistan. The invaders of Vietnam. The regime-change kings. The drone strikers from afar.) should respect and defend Ukraine's sovereignty. (Mona is grieving, but she earlier she was worried about antisemitism from those who are worried about genocide.)
(5) A defense of the Federal Reserve.
These are the stories that our best "liberals" are spinning for "persuasion." Brothers and sisters, it's over. It's going to be populist left and right for a long time to come. Buckle up.
I really enjoyed the new format -- it was a nice change from the usual one-on-one. I found it very engaging and would love to hear more like this. I do agree with some other commenters that the whole "all conservatives are conspiracy theorists" line is old and, in my opinion, inaccurate. And I type that as a solid liberal Democrat with a "politically mixed" family and friend group, all of whom I respect. It reminded me a bit of a friend who has been screaming about the "MAGA cult" nonstop, conveniently forgetting her own immediate adherence to "Pantsuit Nation", interrogating friends and colleagues about the lack of a black square on their social media pages during the BLM protests and spending the better part of four years parading around with a crocheted vagina on her head. I believe one of your guests addressed the lack of accountability on the left for its own tilt towards lunacy. Maybe another voice along those lines might make it seem more balanced -- more Left, Right and Center-ish, if that's what you're going for (which was one of my favorite shows long ago on NPR).
I agree 100% with the note from Pamela McRae.