The Good Fight

Yascha Mounk and Mike Pesca discuss what real balance ought to look like in reporting hotly contested issues. Mike Pesca is a journalist and the host of "The Gist", the longest running daily news podcast in history. He spent a decade as a correspondent for NPR, guest hosting “All Things Considered” and “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me...

Yascha Mounk and Kwame Anthony Appiah discuss cultivating thick identities (and thick skins). Kwame Anthony Appiah is a British-Ghanaian philosopher, Professor of Philosophy and Law and New York University, and the “Ethicist” columnist for The New York Times Magazine...

Yascha Mounk and Vinay Prasad assess the strengths and weaknesses of America’s public health response. Vinay Prasad MD, MPH is a hematologist-oncologist and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco...

Yascha Mounk and Alexandra Hudson discuss how civility can be a tool for pursuing justice. Alexandra Hudson is a writer, an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy, and the founder of the publication Civic Renaissance. Hudson’s first book is The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves...

Yascha Mounk and Jonathan Haidt discuss the end of the play-based childhood and the rise of the phone-based childhood. Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU's Stern School of Business. He is also a member of Persuasion's Board of Advisors. Haidt is the author of The Righteous Mind and, with Greg Lukianoff, co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind...

Yascha Mounk and Jonathan Lynn discuss why the dysfunctional relationship between politicians and civil servants made for great TV, and what that tells us about the nature of politics. Jonathan Lynn is an English writer, director and producer. Lynn is best known as the co-creator of the series "Yes, Minister" and its sequel, "Yes, Prime Minister." He also directed the films "My Cousin Vinny" and "The Whole Nine Yards...

Yascha Mounk and Coleman Hughes discuss the difference between race blindness and racism blindness. Coleman Hughes is a writer and the host of Conversations with Coleman. His new book is The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America...

Yascha Mounk and Ed Luce discuss the sense of impending disaster in American politics. Ed Luce is the US national editor and columnist at the Financial Times. He is also a member of the Persuasion board of advisors. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ed Luce discuss what worries Americans most about the state of the country heading into the next election; the presumptive re-match between Biden and Trump; and why a second Trump term could be more dangerous than the first...

Yascha Mounk and Alex Byrne discuss how to understand the differences between sex and gender—and why it matters. Alex Byrne is a philosopher and a professor at MIT in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. He is the author, most recently, of Trouble With Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions...

Yascha Mounk and Larry Summers also discuss the promise and perils of artificial intelligence. Larry Summers is an economist, the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School, and a member of the board of directors of OpenAI. Summers is the former President of Harvard University, the former Secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton, and was a director of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama...