Wisdom of Crowds

Who poses the biggest danger to our country aside from Trump: the wokes, the integralists—or the Never Trumpers themselves? Aaron Sibarium of the Washington Free Beacon  joins Shadi and Damir to talk about his new essay about Weimar Germany, polarization, and the allures and dangers of moral certitude.  Reading List " The Weimarization of the American Republic, " by Aaron Sibarium ( American Purpo...

What is dissolving the social bonds that tie us together in America? Is liberalism decaying? And is there a "successor ideology" waiting in the wings? Special guest Yehuda Kurtzer, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, joins Shadi and Damir to talk about Jewish identity and American politics in the waning moments of 2020. Reading List : " Brooklyn's Anti-masking Protests Betr...

Why so angry? Shadi and Damir talk about useful idiocy, neoconservatism, and the dangerous temptation of righteousness in politics. Come for Shadi musing about U2 and stay for Damir rhapsodizing about Guy Debord. Reading List : Not the Coen Brothers . " On Romance and Being in a Constant State of Alarm ," Shadi Hamid ( WoC ) " The Biggest Risk to This Election Is Not Russia. It’s Us. " Fiona Hill...

Does rhetorical escalation among our elites belie the stability of the nation today? With Amy Coney Barrett nominated for the Supreme Court and partisan rancor at an all-time high, Shadi and Damir pick apart their doubts about the health of our democracy. Reading List : Shadi's prescient tweet " Resisting the Juristocracy ," Samuel Moyn (Boston Review) This is a public episode. If you'd like to di...

The great Nils Gilman of the Berggruen Institute and Noema  joins Shadi and Damir to talk about why the upcoming elections feel existential, why our federal government feels increasingly illegitimate, and why Shadi's most recent piece in The Atlantic has annoyed so many people. Reading List: " Human Rights and Neoliberalism ," by Nils Gilman ( LA Review of Books ) " The Collapse of Racial Liberali...

Shadi thinks Damir is getting more worried about our institutions. Damir reveals the depths of his relentless fatalism. All because NPR thought it was a good idea to interview a radical apologist for rioting and looting. Reading List : " One Author's Controversial View: 'In Defense of Looting' ," by Natalie Escobar (NPR) " Between Orientalism and Postmodernism: The Changing Nature of Western Femin...

It's summer. Damir rings up Shadi to talk about the pleasure of writing and the pain of exercising, before the conversation takes a much darker turn. Required Reading: Islamic Exceptionalism , by Shadi Hamid That Mohammed Tweet , by Shadi Hamid This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

Stand up straight! The Washington Post 's Christine Emba joins Shadi and Damir to ponder the positive aspects of the woke wars, the role of ideas in furthering social change, and the virtues of lukewarm takes. Reading List: " Why George Floyd Died ," by Rod Dreher ( The American Conservative ) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epi...

Are we reaching a tipping point in our politics, and is the very legitimacy of our democratic system is being called into question? The Week 's Damon Linker joins Shadi and Damir to discuss how a desperate narrative seems to be taking a hold on the Right, its historical antecedents, and whether the threat comes from an illiberal ideology or if our Union has always been more precarious than we thou...

Jamie Kirchick of the Brookings Institution and author of The End of Europe joins Shadi and Damir to talk race, anti-semitism, morality, and the ever-multiplying claims to universal rights that are driving the turmoil shaking Western societies to their cores. Come for Damir's tinnitus, and stick around to find out if Shadi will end up a neo-neocon as the woke brigades take over the Left. Reading L...

Peter Beinart joins Shadi and Damir to discuss his recent essays for Jewish Currents and the New York Times , in which he argues that with the two-state solution a dead letter in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the only possible path forward is making a case for a bi-national state. Is this a tactical maneuver to expand the Overton Window to unblock the status quo? A desperate attempt to...

Shadi and Damir sit down their friend Robert Nicholson, Founder and Executive Director of the Philos Project (and one of the small handful of people who witnessed the birth of the idea for this podcast with his own eyes). Recently back from a trip to Minneapolis, Robert discusses facing up to our deep national dysfunctions as someone who has worked abroad, and how religion might end up being the b...

Shadi quizzes Damir about his belief in the possibility of progress and social change, before the conversation spins off into a discussion about the creative process, selling out, and the nature of success. Reading (Listening) List: " How a Great Power Falls Apart " by Charles King ( Foreign Affairs ) " The Problem With Music " by Steve Albini ( The Baffler ) " Atmosphere " by The Oranges Band Thi...

On June 23, Shadi and Damir went live on Periscope to discuss Shadi's latest piece for the Atlantic , the tension between political change and negative externalities, their new Patreon account, and plans for a newsletter.   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

Shadi talks through his inner conflicts. Damir responds by minimizing the reality of what is happening. Also: why Americans are all fundamentalists (whether secular or religious), the appropriateness of activist-journalism, the empty symbolism of woke politics, and whether the New York Times should(n’t) be our lodestar. Reading List: “ Our Deathwish ” by Jacob Siegel ( Tablet ) “ The Coronavirus K...

The former President of Georgia joins Shadi and Damir to talk about how tricky reforms—such as police reforms—can succeed (and fail), about how identity is a slippery thing in the post-Soviet space, about liberalism, illiberalism, and Western haughtiness, and about his encounters with Donald Trump when he was just another rich guy with a political itch. This is a public episode. If you'd like to d...

Very special guest Michael Signer joins the podcast to talk about his new book recounting his time serving as mayor of Charlottesville during the violence of August 2017. With America in upheaval, it's an appropriate time to revisit that sad bit of recent history, but also an opportunity to think about what's gone wrong with our politics, and what, if anything, can be done to fix it. A rich discus...

Shadi and Damir live-streamed an episode as a weekend of violent protests around the country wound to a close. Our episodes are never scripted or prepared, but in this case we are interacting with our audience on Twitter's Periscope in real time to help guide the conversation. Also, please excuse the audio quality. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or g...

Shadi and Damir discuss how Trump's unabashed contempt for expertise has encouraged his opponents to latch onto expert opinion—and how this could boost Trump if the economic opening goes even tolerably well. Reading List: " What a Maskless Trump Says About His Re-Election Strategy " by Henry Olsen ( WaPo) " In Search of Lost Time " by Peter Pomerantsev ( The American Interest ) " Pandemics Kill Co...

Shadi and Damir talk about their conflicted feelings about recording the previous episode in a room together, the dangers of optimism about the recovery, what the "new normal" in successful South Korea looks like, why America in all likelihood won't ever be able to get there, and why that might or might not be OK. Reading List: Shadi's tweet thread about why America can't be like South Korea. Mich...

The Atlantic Council's Benjamin Haddad joins Shadi and Damir to talk social distancing, the coronavirus response on both sides of the Atlantic, and how elites' ever more fervent love of experts could lead them to political disaster. Reading List: Le paradis perdu: L'Amérique de Trump et la fin des illusions européennes , by Benjamin Haddad (Grasset) " The Coronavirus Killed the Revolution ," by Sh...

In the third week of lockdown, Shadi and Damir talk about the Beatles versus the Stones, how the 1960s represent a kind of dangerous idealism grounded in universal values, and how there’s no escaping politics. Reading List: “ The Coronavirus Killed the Revolution ,” by Shadi Hamid “ It’s imperative for the U.S. and China to work together on the coronavirus pandemic ,” by Michael McFaul Jennifer Ru...

Catastrophe and resilience, human and economic costs, and the future of democratic politics: Shadi and Damir hunker down for an intense coronavirus podcast (while of course observing appropriate social distancing protocols). Reading List: “ Pandemics Kill Compassion, Too ,” by David Brooks “ The Wuhan Virus and the Imperative of Hard Decoupling ,” by Andrew Michta “ The Coronavirus Called America’...

In the shadow of Bernie Sanders’ underperforming on Super Tuesday, Shadi and Damir welcome author Ben Judah to the podcast to talk about the enduring promise of left-populism in an Age of Trump. Relevant Reading: “ Left Populism and the Rediscovery of Agonistic Politics, ” by Shadi Hamid “ Traditional ‘foreign policy’ no longer exists. Democrats are the last to know ,” by David Adler and Ben Judah...