Know Your Enemy

A wide-ranging mailbag covering the future of the MAGA coalition and possible Republican realignments after Trump. They debate whether Trumpism can recover and why some voters feel disillusioned. Conversation shifts to the limits of mass party politics versus local organizing and the role of competence in democratic branding. They also reflect on graduate school, lifelong reading habits, favorite reading spots, and unexpected novel recommendations.

A personal conversation about believing in God or not, traced back to a decade-old friendship. They probe atheism versus agnosticism and why a religious revival in the U.S. remains elusive. The role of church as refuge from tech-driven distraction comes up. They argue for asserting human sacredness against profit-driven dehumanization.

They unpack a tech billionaire’s lectures on the Antichrist and why that rhetoric matters for politics and money. They trace his evangelical roots, Girardian theory, and ties to Silicon Valley Christianity. They connect his end-times framing to investments in surveillance, war profiteering, and fears of one-world authority. They close by critiquing theology used to justify policy and profit.

A sharp conversation about a U.S. president publicly clashing with a newly prominent pope over pleas for peace. A debate on whether modern warfare can ever meet just-war standards. Historical tracing of papal skepticism about 20th-century conflicts and why religious leaders’ moral claims matter in political crises.

Molly Crabapple, artist, author, and activist known for her political art and new book on the Jewish Bund. She explores the Bund’s founding as Jewish Marxist organizers, its fierce opposition to Zionism, the doctrine of Doikayt (staying and fighting here), labor and self-defense work, and the Bund’s role in anti-fascist struggles up to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

Sam Adler-Bell, staff writer who reported on women leaving the New Right. He discusses how red pill and manosphere ideas reshape dating and masculinity. Women compare notes about unpleasant men and broken trad patriarchy promises. He also explores why figures like Nick Fuentes attract followers and how misogyny parallels other grievance politics.

Bill Kristol, editor-at-large and founder of The Bulwark and former Weekly Standard leader, reflects on his shift from neoconservative insider to small‑l liberal Never-Trump critic. He discusses neoconservatism's origins, debates over Iraq and Straussian influence, the rise of Trumpism, failures of the conservative movement to contain populism, and his views on regime change and recent Iran policy.

A teaser about a rising Texas politician who mixes religious rhetoric with populist moral urgency. They probe how faith shapes progressive politics, the role of prophetic religion and Martin Luther King’s legacy, and why Americans turn to nontraditional spiritual responses. The conversation also contrasts religious left and right approaches and explores religion’s place in a pluralistic public life.

Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and former foreign policy adviser to Bernie Sanders, provides expertise on U.S. strategy toward Iran. He walks through recent U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iran’s missile responses, and why the attacks happened now. The conversation also covers historical U.S.–Iran tensions, neoconservative Iran alarmism, and political dynamics pushing toward war.

John Ganz, journalist and essayist who links conservative history to today's politics, digs into the long-running pattern of right-wing infighting and propaganda. He traces continuities from postwar conservatism to modern smear campaigns. Short, sharp takes on figures spreading conspiracies, the alignment of movement media and power, and recurring political tactics.