Becoming a journalist

Zaid is a young center-left journalist (after the young center-right journo we had on last week, Jason Willick). Zaid worked as a reporter for The Intercept and as a reporter-blogger for ThinkProgress, United Republic, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Alternet. He’s now on Substack at “The American Saga” — subscribe!

For two clips of our convo — on what the Dems should do on immigration, and whether Ossoff and Buttigieg could be strong contenders for the presidency — head to our YouTube page.

Other topics: his parents immigrating from Pakistan; born and raised outside Atlanta in Newt Gingrich country; growing up Muslim in the South; tithing and agape; starting a student magazine at UGA; Mamdani and affordability; higher taxes on the rich; universal childcare; Ossoff and “the Epstein class”; the Dems’ denialism over Kamala; identity politics killing the party; how Dems should respond to AI; data centers hiking energy bills; Waymo; Trump’s success at closing the border; asylum reform; the left crying wolf over racism; Stephen Miller the wolf; Eric Kaufmann’s Whiteshift; pushing left-racism on a racially tolerant public; Jasmine Crockett; Dem leaders cowed by activists; transqueer ideology; Bad Bunny; Israel and the Dems; foreign aid; Tom Massie; Ro Khanna; gerontocracy; Obama’s success in red states; rumors of Stacey Abrams being closeted; AOC; Warnock; Newsom’s left-wing baggage; the silo of Bluesky; Renee Good; and the indoctrination of kids on gender.

Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Sally Quinn on the WaPo and silent retreats, Michael Pollan on consciousness, Jeffrey Toobin on the pardon power, Derek Thompson on abundance, Matt Goodwin on the UK political earthquake, Jonah Goldberg on the state of conservatism, Tom Holland on the Christian roots of liberalism, Adrian Wooldridge on “the lost genius of liberalism,” Tiffany Jenkins on privacy, and Kathryn Paige Harden on the genetics of vice. An abundance of riches! And a lot of reading for yours truly! As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.