The Best People with Nicolle Wallace

Episode Title: A Mayor, a Military Pro, and a Professor on Affluence, Grievance and Greed
Air Date: March 2, 2026
Host: Nicolle Wallace (MS NOW)
Guests:

• Eddie Glaude, Professor, Princeton University
• Mitch Landrieu, former Mayor of New Orleans, former Lt. Governor of Louisiana
• Tom Nichols, Atlantic staff writer, former Naval War College professor

Overview

This intense, wide-ranging episode brings together a leading academic, a public servant, and a military and foreign policy expert for a raw and passionate conversation about America’s crisis of values. The panel discusses the erosion of civic decency, moral rot among the elite, the role of grievance and greed in public life, and the enduring (yet challenged) possibilities of American democracy. Amidst fatigue and anger about America’s direction, the panel mines history, personal experience, and social analysis to ask: How do we confront these turbulent times, and what’s left to hope for?

Key Topics & Insights

The Collapse of Civic Decency and Rise of Greed

• Eddie Glaude [03:00]: Describes being horrified by the moral decay of American democracy, pointing to “greed and selfishness” and a calculating pursuit of personal gain among leaders:

  “There is this ongoing calculus that informs decision making, like how can I get in on the grift? And then you combine that with fear and cowardice and we get what we have...an unleashing of an economic logic driven by selfishness and greed. And then when you layer on that grievance, all hell breaks loose.”

• Tom Nichols [03:47]: Names this a “moral poverty” and a loss of collective consequence since the Cold War, noting a shift from “wealth as public trust” to decadent self-defense and isolation:

  “It used to be that very, very wealthy people took their wealth almost...as kind of self defense to say, listen, I’d better treat this wealth as something like in the public interest...that is completely lost. And I think in the age of Trump, people say, well, what’s the worst that could happen?...they think they can wall themselves off with gold bricks around their estates, and that’s just not going to happen.”

• Mitch Landrieu [07:26]: Cites historical echoes, referencing civil rights icons:

  “It has always been true that in times of great trouble...when the shit is really hitting the fan, actually the people step up to the plate are like the parish priest or the high school junior or the secretary for the U.S. attorney...It is always true that somebody who nobody expects, that we don’t ask anything from, actually shows those of us that are in leadership positions what real courage really, really looks like.”

Leadership Failure and the Agency of Ordinary Citizens

• Nicole Wallace [06:48 & 10:08]: Expresses exasperation that elite leaders—who owe the most to the system—are often the “first to capitulate,” while ordinary people risk much more to “do the brave and uncomfortable thing.”
• Eddie Glaude [10:40]: Suggests America faces a “deficit in courage” where even institutions—universities, businesses—collapse in the face of pressure, often using the chaos of Trump-era politics as “cover to roll back things they wanted to roll back in the first place.”
• Tom Nichols [13:17]: Argues the current crisis is “completely of our own creation”:

  “We could solve it tomorrow if people showed up, actually cared, actually gave a shit enough to show up and vote instead of, you know, when we get to 63 or 64% voter turnout, we pat ourselves on the back as if we’ve done some miraculous thing.”

Historical Context & Critique of Trumpism

• Mitch Landrieu [15:05]: Offers a dual historical critique—tracing America’s derailed post-2000 trajectory and describing Trump as an “accelerant of” existing problems:

  “Donald Trump came into that and was the accelerant of and could not be more banal. I want to be really clear. I could not think less of this human being, especially given the fact that he’s the President of the United States. I also have very harsh feelings...to the leaders of the law firms and the universities and the tech companies who have laid down on this guy.”

• Landrieu calls freedom “literally priceless,” warning that “when the freedom goes away, which Donald Trump has clearly said he is going to take from you, you actually can’t get it back...I don’t think people who have supported Donald Trump are going to be able to get the stink off of them.”
• Simple solutions thwarted:

  “It is self-inflicted and it’s easy to fix and people just will not do what is necessary.” [17:50]

Elites, Complicity, and the Feral Beast Analogy

• Nicole Wallace [19:58]: Highlights a class of “quiet people waiting this out” in Republican circles—those who know Trump is wrong but “think they’re gonna wait this out.”
• Mitch Landrieu [20:37]:

  “Donald Trump is a feral beast...he is amoral...your job is to just devour anything that’s in front of you...The only way you stop a feral beast is to stop them, because that’s the only thing that stops them...the battle for the future of the country is not only joined right now, it is going to be...in full force.”

• Warns about the dangerous shift from a “credo nation” to one based on blood, not ideas:

  “What they’re saying...is that, no, no, some of us, you see, by virtue of how we look or by virtue of how our mom and daddy are, are actually better than other people. You should be scared to death of that if you’re an American and you believe in patriotism the way it was intended by the founding fathers.” [21:48]

The Deep Roots of American Moral Contradiction

• Nicole Wallace & Tom Nichols [24:13–26:36]: Grapple with the depths of human cruelty, referencing slavery, the Epstein scandal, and generational moral blindness.
• Eddie Glaude [24:43]:

  “People used to sell their children. They knew that the child on that auction block was theirs, that they were selling. They owned people who they treated as chattel, and they raped them...the darkness that we’re capable of in this country. How do you square that? Right. It’s a kind of monstrosity, a kind of brokenness that’s at the heart of an economic system that propelled the country into his greatness in some ways...we live by lies in this country...this is James Baldwin’s analogy...we know there’s a dead body in the closet, but nobody talks about the dead body in the closet.”

• Tom Nichols [26:36]: Pushes against "original sin" as explanatory for all Americans, warning against nihilism especially among young people, who “have no belief in anything...their brains are being slowly poisoned by completely insane nihilistic drama where nothing matters.”

Race, Migration, and America's "Zero-Sum" Lies

• Nicole Wallace [32:26]: Identifies the mainstreaming of lies about immigrants as a key vector for radicalization and a test for “pro-democracy” forces.
• Mitch Landrieu [33:59]: Calls out the scapegoating of “brown people” and debunks crime myths about immigrants:

  “It is factually true that people that are here, not documented, commit less crimes than regular American citizens.”

• Tom Nichols [35:10]: Lays out how racial resentment is “part of the original sin of the American republic,” but cautions that “immigration policy hasn’t been a giant failure” and “when we are dissatisfied and bored and angry and itchy, we look for another person to put those problems on and brown people–a visible minority.”
• Eddie Glaude [38:19]:

  “We can talk about greed and class and understand that race is still operative. We can talk about a range of things all happening, converging...The selfishness, the zero sum game. We’re sold a bill of goods, that there’s only so much to go around, and big government is putting its thumb on the scale to benefit these black and brown and poor folk who are lazy, who don’t want to work, and they’re going to take it from you who are working hard...we are in a malaise. It is a deep, deep malaise.”

How to Love a Country in Crisis

• Nicole Wallace [41:32]:

  “You love something the most when you feel like you could lose it. And I had this horrible feeling the morning after the election...I prayed I was wrong. I prayed I was what the right calls Trump Derangement Syndrome. I have watched him destroy the FBI, destroy the Justice Department...When I think about it, it makes me cry.”

• Eddie Glaude [42:59]: Challenges the notion of loving America, distinguishes between love for people “close to the ground” and abstract nationalism:

  “I do not love America and never have, especially now. You know, I find it suspect to love something so morally dubious and abstract. I love people close to the ground....my orientation has been to love folk on the ground, close to the ground, the people who aren’t kind of caught up in the abstraction, but who are dreaming dreams and trying to make their dreams a reality.”

• Argues survival is about “making sure our babies get to the other side” of crisis.

Quotes on American Aspiration, Hope, and Anger

• Tom Nichols [46:08]:

  “I don’t wake up every morning and say I’ve never loved America more. I am angry...I am angry at tens of millions of people who did this and don’t seem to give a shit. Who just think again. Who think it’s just for laughs.”

• Swearing the oath as a federal employee was a formative act for Nichols:

  “I swear to uphold and defend the Constitution in the United States against all enemies, foreign, domestic, without purpose...I think every American should tape that to their mirror and start their morning by reading that. Because that's where my love for the country comes from.”

• On redemption vs. sin:

  “Don’t just think in terms of your sin. Think in terms of your redemption.” [48:13]

• Mitch Landrieu [49:19]: Emphasizes empathy and realism:

  “I believe that the idea of America is a great idea. All men are created equal. We come to the table of democracy as equals, but we have not come even close to perfecting that...You cannot look away from this. You look away at your own peril…”

What Ordinary People Can Do (and Must)

• Tom Nichols [52:06]:

  “The thing that has to change…you have to turn to people next to you...around your dinner table, at your church, you have to say, no, the thing you just said is not okay...No, we’re not going to laugh it off and say, oh, well, it’s just politics. No, this is a time where people have to make really hard choices.”

• Mitch Landrieu [53:56]:

  “If you happen to, especially white people who don’t know what to do in this moment...do whatever it is that you can do to say, this is not how we want to be...You cannot look away from this moment. We are not in a regular moment. We are not in a regular time. It is being taken from us as we sit here today. And you have to push back. You have to resist. And then you have to have enough vision to think about what comes next …because something will come next, and if we don’t form it, it will form away from us.”

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Eddie Glaude [01:00 & 40:39]:

  “We can’t get better. We can’t become the kinds of people that democracies require if we keep lying to ourselves about who we are.” “Decency isn’t the defining attribute of the American public. It’s something that we aspire to be.”

• Tom Nichols [32:16]:

  “There’s a great line in Star Trek where McCoy says, My experience is when good fights evil, evil usually wins unless good is very, very careful.”

• Mitch Landrieu [29:26]:

  “‘How was the duck hunt?’ And he said, ‘Well, it depends on whether you were me or the duck.’...so many people have been under it for such a long time.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Collapse of Civic Decency: 03:00–05:50
• Heroism of Ordinary People: 07:26–10:40
• Crisis of Agency/Voting: 13:17–14:48
• Historical Perspective on Democracy under Trump: 15:05–18:00
• Elites and Complicity: 19:58–24:04
• Deep American Contradictions: 24:43–29:10
• Race, Lies, Immigration: 32:26–36:42
• Structural Analysis of Today’s Malaise: 38:19–41:32
• Can We Love America?: 41:32–49:19
• What Individuals Can Do: 52:06–55:12

Tone and Atmosphere

• The conversation is candid, emotional, and at times blunt or expletive-laden, befitting the podcast's "no rules" approach.
• There is sustained tension between anger, sadness, exhaustion, and bracing hope or commitment to action.
• The episode oscillates between historical critique, present-day outrage, and a drive toward collective responsibility.

Final Thoughts

Mitch Landrieu [53:56]:

“I criticize my country precisely because I love her so much...You cannot look away from this moment. We are not in a regular moment. We are not in a regular time. It is being taken from us as we sit here today. And you have to push back. You have to resist. And then you have to have enough vision to think about, well, what comes next. Because something will come next, and if we don’t form it, it will form away from us.”

Nicole Wallace [55:12]:

“Can we have that conversation next? Can we do this again?”

For listeners searching for clarity, realism, and hard-earned hope in the face of daunting civic challenges, this episode of “The Best People” is a must.