The Gray Area with Sean Illing
Society & Culture:Philosophy
Jon Favreau was President Obama’s chief speechwriter. In those days, he was a frequent critic of the political media, frustrated, as many in the Obama administration were, with its focus on conflict, on ephemera, on appearing even-handed even when reality was persistently skewed.
Today, Favreau is changing the media from the inside. He’s a co-host on Pod Save America, and co-founder of Crooked Media, both of which have seen tremendous growth in 2017.
In this conversation, we look back on 2017, talk through the first year of the Trump White House (“a day-to-day shitshow”); the Democrats he’s watching for 2020; the mechanics of building a podcast empire; Favreau’s concern about the left (“we need to take the time to persuade other people of what we believe”); and the rot in the Republican Party.
To Favreau, the right-wing media is “the real center of gravity in that party; it’s not the Republicans in Congress, it’s not even really Donald Trump, although I guess you could say that he is, in some ways, a creation of that media machine.”
Books:
What Happened by Hillary Clinton
The News: A User’s Manual by Alain de Botton
All the Truth is Out by Matt Bai
If God is dead, then … socialism?
Tim Urban on humanity’s wild future
Jill Lepore on what I get wrong
Is Tom Steyer the solution to our dysfunctional politics?
Why We're Polarized, with Jamelle Bouie (live!)
Antisemitism now, antisemitism then
Book excerpt: A better theory of identity politics
The war on Muslims (with Mehdi Hasan)
Post-debate special!
An “uncomfortable” conversation with Cory Booker
The conservative mind of Yuval Levin
How an epidemic begins and ends
Nathan Robinson’s case for socialism
How to topple dictators and transform society (with Erica Chenoweth)
Ask Ezra Anything
Best of: Work as identity, burnout as lifestyle
Republicans vs. the planet
The geoengineering question
How to solve climate change and make life more awesome
Paul Krugman on climate, robots, single-payer, and so much more
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