Podcast
The Realignment
Hosted by The Realignment · EN
The United States is in the midst of a dramatic political realignment with shifting views on national security, economics, technology, and the role of government in our lives. Saagar Enjeti and Marshall Kosloff explore this with thinkers, policymakers, and more.
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Episodes
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Season Finale | Danielle Lee Tomson: Why the Future is Fusion
Apr 1501:21:42Summary readyDanielle Lee Tomson with Oxford University Press | Under the Influence: What's Real When America Feels Fake: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/under-the-influence-9780197847862?cc=us&lang=en& Danielle Lee Tomson Substack | Failure to Communicate: https://failuretocommunicate.substack.com/ Danielle Lee Tomson with the Hewlett Foundation | Weaving a Worldview: https://hewlett.org/library/weaving-a-worldview/ Marshall Kosloff with the States Forum Journal | The Missing Liberal Story: https://www.statesforum.org/the-missing-liberal-story/ Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Email the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.com Danielle Lee Tomson, author of the forthcoming Under the Influence What's Real When America Feels Fake, returns to The Realignment. Wrapping-up this season of The Realignment, Marshall begins with an opening monologue summing up his takeaways from the post-2024 election period and what they mean for the future of American politics. Danielle then interviews Marshall about his Missing Liberal Story essay in the States Forum Journal. They discuss how Danielle's "authenticity gap" and book project sync with the need for the political center to tell a coherent story about the country's past, present, and future, why the left-liberal fusion is the path forward, and where the project needs to go next.
Summary601 | Noam Scheiber: How the Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class Could Reshape America
Apr 700:56:22Summary readyRealignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Email the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.com Noam Scheiber, New York Times reporter and author of Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Noam discuss how the rise and fall of the "college-for-all" economic model has left a generation of graduates (and non-graduates) feeling betrayed by the system, how downwardly-mobile college graduates are swinging to the economic left, which universities and government policies are responsible for the student debt crisis, and why the Biden administration's debt forgiveness program wasn't a political winner.
Summary600 | Hannah Garden-Monheit: Why Voters Feel Government Doesn't Deliver - Lessons from the Biden Administration
Apr 201:05:05Summary readyRoosevelt Institute | Building a More Effective, Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration: https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/building-a-more-effective-responsive-government/ Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Email the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.com Hannah Garden-Monheit, former Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and co-author (with Tresa Joseph, of the Roosevelt Institute's report, Building a More Effective, Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Hannah discuss her interviews with 45 former Biden officials on their struggles with state capacity during the administration, why Marshall believes better "central casting" would better illustrate succesful governance, top recommendations for enhancing the federal governments ability to effectively deliver services and accomplish its goals, and the lessons for future state capacity efforts.
Summary599 | Henry Tonks: The Realignments Comes for the Democrats - Lessons from Liberalism's 1970s-1990s Wilderness Years
Mar 3101:26:06Summary readyAmerican Affairs | Henry Tonks - The Rise and Fall of the New Liberals: How the Democrats Lost Their Majority: https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/02/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-new-liberals-how-the-democrats-lost-their-majority/ Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Email the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.com
Summary598 | Madeline Hart: How to Mobilize the American Industrial Base, Embrace Heretics, and Deter WWIII
Mar 2400:55:58Summary readyRealignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Email the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.com Madeline Hart, Co-Founder of Palantir First Breakfast publication and co-author (with Shyam Sankar) of Mobilization: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Madeline discuss the need for embracing “heretics” in government, the case for “mobilization” as a means of deterring great power conflict and World War III, the roots of defense industry dysfunction in post-Cold War consolidation, and how the American people could materially benefit from investment in national defense.
Summary597 | Michael Laskawy: Why States Are the Real Center of American Politics
Mar 1000:51:43Summary readyThe States Forum Journal's Latest Issue: https://www.statesforum.org/journals/issue-2/ The States Forum Substack: https://statesforum.substack.com/ Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Email the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.com Michael Laskawy, Editor-in-Chief of The States Forum Journal, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Michael discuss why Americans are increasingly looking to the states for solutions to their problems, how The States Forum's belief in the "American Promise" as a worldview provides a means for addressing the factional fights within liberalism, and explore the implications of Marshall's States Forum Journal essay on "The Missing Liberal Story."
Summary596 | Saagar Enjeti: What the Iran War Means for MAGA, the New Right, and the America First Movement
Mar 901:04:48Summary readyRealignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Email the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.com Saagar Enjeti, Co-Host of Breaking Points, returns to The Realignment. Marshall and Saagar discuss what the escalating conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran means for an "America First" movement and MAGA Republican Party that campaigned on promises to end the past two decades of American intervention in the Middle East.
SummaryStates Forum Journal | Audio Essay: Marshall Kosloff on "The Missing Liberal Story"
Feb 2400:20:00Summary readyThe States Forum Journal | The Missing Liberal Story: https://www.statesforum.org/the-missing-liberal-story/ The States Forum Journal Substack | The Missing Liberal Story: https://statesforum.substack.com/p/the-missing-liberal-story NYT Article on The States Forum | https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/politics/democrats-states-forum.html Today's episode is an audio essay adapted from Marshall's States Forum Journal piece: The Missing Liberal Story. In the essay, Marshall lays out his case for why he believes liberalism’s most urgent task is to craft a compelling story that resonates with the electorate if there is any hope for changing our politics. The broader States Forum Journal issue focused on "Double Security" and features fourteen essays on federalism, democracy, and the role of states in safeguarding American governance.
Summary595 | Ned Resnikoff: One Year In - Taking Abundance Back to Its Fundamentals
Feb 1900:57:43Summary readyRoosevelt Institute | Lessons from YIMBYism: Taking “Abundance” Back to Its Fundamentals: https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/lessons-from-yimbyism/Niskanen Summer Institute: https://www.niskanencenter.org/niskanen-summer-institute-democracy-that-works/Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.comNed Resnikoff, Roosevelt Institute and author of Lessons from YIMBYism: Taking “Abundance” Back to Its Fundamentals, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Ned discuss the history of how YIMBY housing activism led to the broader abundance movement, how Abundance supporters should think about bipartisanship and navigating the various political factions on the left of right who find the ideas relevant, and the relevance of abundance/YIMBY policy tools like regulatory reform and public investment to the goal of increasing supply of vital goods like housing, medical care, and childcare.
Summary594 | Steve Teles: Hard Lessons for Centrists Trying to Overcome the Mediocrity Challenge + Last Call for Niskanen Summer Institute Applications
Feb 1701:01:10Summary readyNiskanen Summer Institute: https://www.niskanencenter.org/niskanen-summer-institute-democracy-that-works/Steve Teles | Varieties of Abundance: https://www.niskanencenter.org/abundance-varieties/Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.comSteve Teles, Niskanen Center Senior Fellow, returns to The Realignment. Marshall and Steve discuss how moderates, centrists, and the Abundance movement can navigate the anti-status quo/economic populist moment, why the modern center naturally trends towards milquetoast, aesthetic moderation, instead of boldly picking fights, and how the fights over school reform in the 2000s and 2010s (regardless of one's opinion of charter schools and unions) offer a better model. Plus, Marshall reminds undergraduates in the class of 2026 and later that Niskanen Summer Institute applications are due February 27th.
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