The Glenn Show: Recent Episodes
Glenn Loury
Race, inequality, and economics in the US and throughout the world from Glenn Loury, Professor of Economics at Brown University and Paulson Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute
glennloury.substack.com
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Buy Norman Finkelstein's new book, Gaza’s Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places
Nearly three years after October 7th, Glenn and John McWhorter host two guests with sharply opposing views on Israel and Gaza — in succession rather than debate, to prioritize clarity over conflict. First, Norman Finkelstein discusses his forthcoming book Gaza's Gravediggers, which examines failures within the international human rights community to protect vulnerable civilian populations. Then Free Press columnist Eli Lake argues that Israel's military response has been broadly justified and warns against the growing influence of anti-Israel sentiment in Democratic politics. Glenn and John interrogate both positions in good faith — not to reach a tidy verdict, but to model the kind of serious engagement the subject demands.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn welcomes back Delano Squires, director of the Heritage Foundation's DeVos Center for Human Flourishing, to discuss his new book, The Vanishing Black Family: How Welfare and Feminism Made Marriage Optional and Children Vulnerable. Squires argues that failures of black political and religious leadership, combined with a welfare system that has done more harm than good, have contributed to the near-disappearance of two-parent households in many black working-class communities. Glenn pushes back on some of Squires's more ambitious claims — including his opposition to gay marriage and his framework of children's rights from conception — while finding common ground on the urgent need to strengthen the black family.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn and John McWhorter open with John's recent New York Times column on Stuyvesant High School's vanishingly small number of black admits. Both reject calls to eliminate the admissions test as racist, arguing the problem is inadequate preparation — and that the real damage is done by those telling black students that academic excellence isn't for them. A wide-ranging subscriber Q&A follows, touching on AI, phonics, contrarianism, and Social Security. Then English professor Tess Chakkalakal joins to discuss her biography of Charles Chesnutt, the underappreciated African American writer whose opposition to racial categorization altogether makes him a provocative figure to reckon with in 2026.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn sits down with political scientist Steven Teles of Johns Hopkins to discuss one of higher education's most stubborn problems: ideological homogeneity. University faculties lean dramatically further left than the broader population, and in some humanities and social science disciplines, the imbalance has become self-reinforcing — conservatives self-censor or don't enter the field at all, shutting down internal debate and compromising academic freedom from within. Teles is working to change that through Johns Hopkins's new Agora Institute and School for Government and Policy, building cross-ideological bridges with institutional backing. Glenn sees the effort as urgent: the Trump administration's funding threats have turned an epistemological problem into an existential one.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn brings back Andrew Day, senior editor at The American Conservative, to make sense of the war-skeptical right's position on the Iran War. With seventeen Americans already killed and peace talks stalled, Day argues Trump's decision to go to war is flatly incompatible with America First principles — delivering no clear national benefit while disrupting supply chains and rattling markets. Day's sharpest claim: Israel's interests drove the U.S. into this conflict, and with American opinion toward Israel souring even among Republicans, continuing to act in lockstep with Tel Aviv could prove fatal to the MAGA coalition by 2028. Another ill-advised Middle East war, another political casualty in the making.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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John McWhorter returns as Glenn and John reflect on the nation's 250th birthday and the state of Black America. Both express disappointment — not at racism's persistence, but at cultural attitudes that continue to hold Black Americans back. Using the Karmelo Anthony case as a touchstone, they push back hard against victimhood narratives that treat race as a mitigating factor for individual wrongdoing. But Glenn and John diverge on colorblindness: while John laments the persistence of racial identity, Glenn argues that race as a positive site of collective identification — embodied in institutions like the black church — remains valuable and shouldn't be abandoned in the name of an abstract principle.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Last week’s Independence Day installment of The Glenn Show brought the team together—along with special guest Rajiv Sethi—to talk about American identity, broadly conceived, on the occasion of the nation’s 250th birthday. Who were we, and who are we? What face do we present to the rest of the world? What makes American culture “American”? How do we manage the social challenges facing a coherent nation comprising an uncountable plurality of ethnic, racial, religious, and political groups?
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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BB asks what Glenn and John think of Steven A. Smith’s political commentary. Russell Harvey wants to know what the role of debate is in our society, and whether a debate has ever changed Glenn's or John's mind on any substantial issues. Stan asks why college-educated white women support “wokeness” at such high rates. Jason asks whether Glenn and John ever had intellectual discussions with AI tools. Michael asks John for his opinion of Zohran Mamdani’s first six months as New York City mayor. Robert Redd asks how much damage Trump has done to conservatives’ image, and is it their responsibility to repair that damage. And finally, Max asks if Glenn and John have engaged with any arguments from natural theology, and whether they have intellectual—rather than spiritual—accounts of their own beliefs about the existence or non-existence of God.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content. Go to https://glennloury.substack.com
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Recorded amid Glenn's vacation, this month's conversation with John McWhorter covers New York politics, crime, and culture. They discuss Mayor Zohran Mamdani's growing influence after his endorsed candidates swept their Democratic primaries, signaling a possible left-wing realignment within the party akin to the Tea Party's and MAGA's reshaping of the right. They also dig into the trial and sentencing of Karmelo Anthony for the killing of Austin Metcalf, weighing competing explanations — including a Sowellian theory of cultural inheritance — and Glenn's skepticism toward treating the case as fundamentally racial rather than personal and circumstantial.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Longtime friend of the show Robert Wright joins Glenn to talk about The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning, which argues AI deserves serious attention — including from its doomers. Wright contends that responsible global coordination, however improbable it seems amid current geopolitical turmoil, is essential to steering AI toward humanity's benefit rather than catastrophe. He points to the near-miss global minimum corporate tax agreement as a hopeful precedent. Glenn reflects on how quickly once-speculative science fiction scenarios, like recursive self-improving AI, have become urgent real-world dilemmas.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Harvey Mansfield, the eminent political philosopher who spent over seven decades at Harvard, joins Glenn to discuss his new book, Where Harvard Went Wrong: Fifty Years of Commentary that Fell on Deaf Ears. Mansfield argues that Harvard has traded its commitment to truth for an overbearing political emphasis on equality — fueling grade inflation, racially discriminatory admissions practices, and the erosion of genuine academic standards. Glenn reflects on the irony that meaningful reform began only after Mansfield's retirement, and suggests that decades of ignored warnings may have contributed to Harvard's recent string of public embarrassments. A searching conversation about elite institutions, democratic values, and what universities owe the students they serve.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn sits down with Michael Poliakoff, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, to discuss the crisis facing American higher education. Despite the university system's extraordinary contributions to innovation and democracy, Poliakoff argues it is failing at a core mission: civic education. Students graduate without foundational knowledge of American history and principles, while faculty too often emphasize the nation's failures over its ideals. ACTA's new Broadside for the Nation calls for stronger trustee oversight and mandatory civics requirements. Glenn finds the recommendations promising, provided academic freedom is preserved — and offers a defense of genuine patriotism as something that includes, rather than forecloses, honest criticism of the country.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Last month, John McWhorter and Glenn explored the latest tranche of questions from full subscribers. They start off talking with TGS writer and editor Mark Sussman about Christopher Nolan’s casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy in his new adaptation of The Odyssey. Aaron Kara asks if diverse societies can sustain social systems in which racial identities bear uneven cultural caches. Glenn often says “Tolstoy is mine” as a way to exemplify our shared inheritance of the Western tradition. John Bingham asks if non-African Americans would be equally authorized to say “Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King are mine.” As a new mother, Maddie Fontaine asks whether one ever truly gets over the fear that comes with letting your children become independent and move freely through the world. Martha Rodgers Boyles asks Glenn and John to discuss the influence of the late Robert Woodson Sr.
Stan asks whether the country would react differently than it did in 2020 if there was another George-Floyd-type incident tomorrow. In the chat, Chris asks John to clarify a feature of Black English. TGS contributor Robert Patton-Spruill presents a clip of an actor reciting the prologue to Romeo and Juliet with a Southern drawl and asks John if it bears any resemblance to what an Elizabethan accent would have sounded like. Robert Redd and Clifton Roscoe have some comments about respectability politics. And finally, Yan Shen points out that, while tolerance for black grievance has decreased, tolerance for white grievance has increased.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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John McWhorter returns for another wide-ranging conversation, starting with his latest book-in-progress on American English dialects and his remarkable productivity as a writer. From there, Glenn and John tackle the social media controversy over Lupita Nyong'o's casting as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan's upcoming Odyssey adaptation, weighing in on race, casting norms, and where society should ideally be headed. They then take on the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais and its implications for the Voting Rights Act — a take sure to generate pushback. The conversation closes with the Memorial Day "teen takeover" chaos in Chicago and Glenn's pointed criticism of Mayor Brandon Johnson's response.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn sits down with Israeli-American historian Omer Bartov to discuss his new book, Israel: What Went Wrong—a rigorous and deeply personal account of the contradictions at Israel's founding and how they've shaped the country's present. Bartov traces the legal, political, and religious tensions that have fueled belligerence in the occupied territories and eroded democratic norms at home, all while grappling with his own complicated relationship to his homeland. Glenn, neither Jewish nor an expert on Israeli politics, finds in Bartov a credible and emotionally honest guide through an extraordinarily complex situation. Whether you agree with Bartov or not, his expertise demands serious engagement—and that's exactly what this conversation offers.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn welcomes back actor and writer Clifton Duncan to discuss the challenges facing artists in an era of intense political polarization. Clifton is currently developing a one-man show about the life and work of Thomas Sowell, and also writes about art, politics, and identity on his Substack, The State of the Arts. The conversation explores a delicate tension: while politics has always inspired great art, ideological conformity can suffocate it. Clifton argues for art's intrinsic value and its unique power to illuminate universal human experience through the specific and singular. It's a crusade against philistinism, and Glenn happily counts himself an ally.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Taking a break from headlines, Glenn turns inward — reflecting on family as a source of stability amid political and personal upheaval. He's joined by his son, Glenn Loury II, for one of their occasional recorded conversations. Together they explore how family relationships evolve over time, keeping the memory of Glenn's late wife Linda Datcher Loury alive through a reading group with son Nehemiah, and looking ahead to Nehemiah's first child. They also discuss their relationships with their partners and Glenn's retirement from teaching. Fans of his memoir Late Admissions will find this a welcome update. Honest, warm, and reflective — a reminder of what matters most.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn hosted a cross-spectrum foreign policy debate featuring Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid, American Conservative writer Andrew Day, and University of Washington historian Daniel Bessner. The central question: what role should American power play in the 21st century? Hamid, author of The Case for American Power, defended robust U.S. military engagement abroad, while Day and Bessner — from the right and left, respectively — pushed back with skepticism of American empire. Surprisingly, the ideological poles found more common ground than expected. Glenn reflects on whether hawkishness has fallen out of favor across the political spectrum after decades of costly interventions, and what that might mean for America's future.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Scott Dolan asks what our best path forward is after Trump. Aaron Cara presents a theory about Glenn and John's disagreement over Trump’s presidency. Michael Maloney asks what Glenn and John think of a recent study of deceptiveness and claims of consciousness by AI. Jason proposes an intriguing parallel between AI and the cotton gin. Yan Shen asks what, if anything, the Dune novels can teach us about the Trump era. And finally, BB asks how important Glenn and John think “technical expertise” is when commenting on issues of broad social concern.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn and John McWhorter reunite for their monthly conversation, starting with a familiar disagreement: Trump. John reduces Trump's governing philosophy to one word—"a*e"—arguing his personality explains his chaotic, norm-breaking style. Glenn isn't so sure. He sees Trump as a more conventional figure responding to structural forces larger than any one leader, and argues that personality-based explanations substitute for the harder work of substantive analysis. This connects to Glenn's recent essay on moral language in public discourse—how loaded terms like "genocide" (or "a***e") can short-circuit rather than advance reasoned debate. The conversation closes with John's New York Times piece on DEI and AI, and how both breed a corrosive, unresolvable suspicion around individual achievement.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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In this episode, Glenn hosts a virtual roundtable on incarceration, crime, deterrence, and community, drawing on two key texts. In the first hour, he spoke with Jeffrey Seaman, co-author of a Fordham Urban Law Review article arguing that true racial injustice lies not in the treatment of Black offenders but in the chronic under-provision of justice resources to Black victims. Better police clearance rates, they contend, would strengthen deterrence and make Black neighborhoods safer. In the second hour, sociologist Robert Sampson discusses his new book, Marked by Time, arguing that strong communal social bonds reduce crime more effectively than punitive policing. Political scientist Ben Peterson also joins the debate.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn and Ben Peterson discuss his forthcoming book on how informal institutions — families, churches, neighborhoods — maintain social order where law and markets cannot. Peterson argues that reputation enforces norms more effectively than regulation: your neighbor's judgment carries more weight than a police citation. They explore criminal justice reform, where Peterson observes that "the left misses morality, the right misses grace"; racial inequality as a supply-side problem — the failure to develop human potential through socialization and family structure; and the spiritual dimension of human agency, which Glenn defends even as he acknowledges many of his colleagues would dismiss it. The conversation echoes themes from Glenn's recent discussion with Steven Pinker on common knowledge and shared norms.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Last week's livestream featured Robert Cherry, emeritus professor of economics at Brooklyn College and author of a new book, Arab Citizens of Israel: How Far Have They Come? Bob is a labor economist who spent forty years studying discrimination in the U.S. labor market. His involvement with NGOs working in the Arab sector eventually led him to apply that same analytical lens to the situation of Arab citizens within Israel proper—not Gaza, not the West Bank, but the two million Arabs who hold Israeli citizenship. In this episode, Glenn and Robert Cherry debate the status of Arab Israelis and the policies of the Israeli government.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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In this edition of Glenn and John's monthly Q&A sessions, they tackle subscriber questions about funding for the Iran War, Trump Derangement Syndrome, meritocracy, Israel, and other topics.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn and John McWhorter agree the war in Iran is a bad idea—so why can't they agree on anything else? On last week's livestream, the two clashed over what's driving the conflict, how it's being conducted, and whether Trump is capable of strategic thinking. John isn't troubled by targeted strikes on Iranian leaders like Ayatollah Khamenei; Glenn calls those strikes what they really are—assassinations—and warns that normalizing such a policy would destabilize the world. Glenn also pushes back on John's view that Trump is acting without foresight, noting that experienced military leaders are guiding operations. Despite deep misgivings, Glenn hopes Trump succeeds—because the alternative is too catastrophic to contemplate.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Glenn Loury welcomes Steven Pinker to discuss his new book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows. Pinker—author of The Language Instinct, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Rationality—explains how “common knowledge” works in everyday life. Drawing on vivid examples—from a Soviet-era joke about dissent to the rise and fall of GameStop and crypto ads during Super Bowl LVI—Pinker shows how shared awareness shapes seduction, threats, markets, and politics. Loury and Pinker explore how strategic ambiguity, spirals of silence, hierarchy, and nuclear policy all hinge on a familiar question: not who knows what, but who dares to say aloud what everyone knows.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Last week’s livestream presented a panel of guests whose political orientations and positions on the Iran War demonstrate the scrambling effect this conflict is already having on domestic political alliances. On the anti-war side, we have historian, foreign policy expert, and man of the left Danny Bessner of the University of Washington and the American Prestige podcast. He’s joined by Andrew Day, senior editor of the American Conservative. I haven’t made a side-by-side comparison of their political views, but I don’t imagine they agree on much. This war is an exception.
On the other side, we have my friend Larry Kotlikoff, an economist at Boston University, a liberal, and an adamant defender of the war in Iran. His Substack post after the initial bombing runs in Iran effusively praised Donald Trump’s leadership, which might come as a surprise to those who know Larry’s work—he’s had few compliments for the president before now.
Listen now to hear this (occasionally heated) debate.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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In this segment from last week's livestream, Glenn and Boston University economist Larry Kotlikoff talk about the national debt, social security, personal finance, fiscal policy, and China’s seemingly inevitable path to becoming the dominant world economic power. Are Trump's tariff policies as wrong-headed as they seem? And should we be putting boots on the ground in Ukraine?
Larry's Substack, Economics Matters
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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On this livestreamed edition of the Q&A, John McWhorter and I took questions from full subscribers here at the Substack. Austin Ball asked for our thoughts on Marco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Security Conference. Art Eckstein asked for our thoughts on what he characterizes as the humanitarian left’s silence about the deaths of thousands of Iranian protesters last month (this stream happened before the U.S. and Israel’s strikes on Iran). TunaFortuna asked for our thoughts on originalism vs. the living constitution. BB asked us why so much of the black cognoscenti opposes respectability politics even as they embody it. Stan asked if the U.S. will someday “move beyond race.” And finally, Robert Patton-Spruill and Mark Sussman pop into the stream to suggest that I, Glenn Loury, may be the founding father of the “quarter-zip movement,” even though I’d never heard of it.
Recorded February 21, 2026
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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On this segment from my latest livestream, John McWhorter and I are joined by journalist Tyler Austin Harper of the Atlantic. We discuss Tyler's latest piece for the magazine, which focuses on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's influence over humanities research in the U.S. Tyler argues that the half-billion-plus dollars Mellon awards each year has allowed it to shift humanities scholarship toward an activist model, with identity-based social justice as its main concern.
Tyler's Atlantic article, "What Is the Mellon Foundation Doing to Higher Education"
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&As with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported. If you’re not yet a full subscriber and want access to livestreams, Q&As, commenting, and other good stuff, click below to support TGS. We can’t do what we do without you.
Click here to become a full subscriber.
Video Links
0:00 Chloé’s theory of enchantment
3:54 Can a legal remedy solve a spiritual problem?
4:29 The human problem of stereotyping
8:26 Why Chloé thinks the rise of white identity politics was “totally predictable”
10:56 Ground News ad
12:46 Derrick Bell’s case against Brown v. Board of Education
14:49 The subject-citizen in Israel and the U.S.
17:01 Chloé’s year of mourning
19:09 Can a listening campaign help ease tensions in Israel?
23:26 An “aha” moment in Bethlehem
28:34 Chloé critique of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s analysis of Israel-Palestine
31:56 Does race have a future?
Recorded February 13, 2026
Links and Readings
Theory of Enchantment
Chloé’s Substack post, “The First CRT President”
Derrick Bell’s essay, “The Unintended Lessons in Brown v. Board of Education”
Derrick Bell’s book, Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism
Chloé’s Substack post, “The G-Word”
James Baldwin’s book, The Fire Next Time
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
Thomas Chatterton Williams’s book, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Family, Fatherhood and Rethinking Race
Báyò Akómoláfé’s home page
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In this episode of The Glenn Show, Glenn hops on the Friday livestream just hours after landing at Logan Airport following a Stanford lecture on self-censorship at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society. Still running on adrenaline from the event, he talks with editor Mark Sussman about the influence of Kenneth Arrow, why self-censorship should be analyzed as a value-neutral phenomenon, and how the audience responded. In the second half, Glenn is joined by writer and Theory of Enchantment founder Chloé Simone for a wide-ranging conversation about race, identity, spirituality, and politics—from the effects of recent DEI rollbacks to Israel, Palestine, and the future of racelessness.
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In this excerpt from last Friday's livestream, Glenn formally introduces a familiar face to the audience: Robert Patton-Spruill. A regular presence on and off camera, Rob shares the winding personal and professional journey that shaped him, from growing up in a politically connected extended family in Boston to working in film and finding his own voice as a writer and director. He reflects on the influence of his father, James Spruill, his experiences in the film industry, and encounters with figures like Public Enemy's Chuck D. The conversation ranges widely, linking Rob’s lived experience to broader ideas about social capital, community, and practical paths to progress.
Livestreams are available to full subscribers, both as they happen and later in video and podcast form. We’ll release shorter segments to the public later, but if you want the whole shebang, become a full subscriber today. The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience supported. We need your help in order to keep delivering the show week after week, along with all the other content we post here. So to those of you who are already full supporters: thank you for all you do. And if you’re not yet a supporter, please consider becoming one.
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On this edition of my monthly Q&A session with John McWhorter, we invited a handful of subscribers to record their video or audio to be played during our livestream. I think it worked great—I loved hearing everyone’s voices and seeing their faces. We’re definitely going to keep this feature around. And if you want to hear and see your fellow TGS fans, and you’re not yet a subscriber, please consider becoming one.
We start off the Q&A with a question from John Bingham, who wants to know if a PhD in economics is still worth pursuing when AI works so well as a substitute teacher, even at that high level. Neil asks whether excessive attention to the Israel issue within academia is leaving the larger biases within the university unaddressed. Lennart asks Glenn to comment on an exposé about a behind-the-scenes political struggle at UATX. RAO asks what colleges are doing to promote civil discourse across identity lines. Adam Gorski asks John an insightful question about his categorization of wokeness as a religion. Joe Nalven asks who’s to blame for the ICE shootings in Minneapolis: protesters, law enforcement, or the media? Neal Gittleman asks whether John and I were being irresponsible in speculating about the motivations of the mass shooter at Brown University before the facts were in. And finally, Jason expresses his appreciation for the show and John’s role in it.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in and sent us recordings, and to all of my subscribers. The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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This episode features a wide-ranging conversation on identity politics and global disorder. Glenn opened by discussing his recent UnHerd column on Elon Musk’s warnings about race war and calls for white solidarity, arguing that Musk exemplifies a troubling turn toward identity politics on the right and serves as a powerful “permission-granting” figure for fringe ideas. Robert Wright then joined to assess the unraveling rules-based international order, highlighting the hypocrisies exposed by Mark Carney and the broader implications of U.S. power. John Mearsheimer added a realist critique of Donald Trump’s disregard for international norms. The discussion also addressed Gaza, free speech, and the risks of conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, before closing on Trump’s actions in Greenland and Venezuela and signs of resurgent American imperialism.
These livestreams will now be available only to full subscribers, both as they happen and later in video and podcast form. We’ll release shorter segments to the public later, but if you want the whole shebang, become a full subscriber today. The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience supported. We need your help in order to keep delivering the show week after week, along with all the other content we post here. So to those of you who are already full supporters: thank you for all you do. And if you’re not yet a supporter, please consider becoming one.
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Glenn and John examine the killing of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse shot by ICE agents despite video suggesting he had been restrained and disarmed. They debate whether ICE and CBP should be operating in city streets at all, the scope and priorities of immigration enforcement, and the tension between border security, limited resources, and proportional enforcement.
The discussion then turns to Davos, where Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sharply criticized the current international order and implicitly challenged US economic coercion. Glenn and John disagree over how to interpret Trump’s posture—from reckless bluster to strategic calculation—and what consequences a more confrontational U.S. stance may provoke globally.
This episode features the first half of the livestream. The Q&A will be available to full subscribers on Sunday.
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Video Links
0:00 The crisis of belief and the crisis of speech
4:30 Michael: Deport the criminals, leave the gardeners
10:37 Michael’s list of the biggest, craziest, and most dangerous conspiracy theories
15:47 When trust in institutions breaks down
22:06 Why well-meaning people make absurd claims
26:01 Is Trump uniquely dangerous to American institutions?
29:04 Where Michael gets his news
31:49 How liberal institutions lost the plot
36:15 The roots and appeal of QAnon
41:06 Down the Jeffrey Epstein rabbit hole
44:47 Michael’s definition of truth
51:23 The stakes of religious belief
58:47 Can we live with “I don’t know” as the answer to the big questions?
Recorded January 19, 2026
Links and Readings
Skeptic magazine
Michael’s new book, Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters
Michael’s book, Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational
Michael’s book, Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It?
The Free Press
Glenn’s most recent conversation with Charles Murray
Murray’s book, Taking Religion Seriously
Martin Rees’s book, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe
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This conversation with Daniel Bessner is only one segment from last week’s livestream, which also included a conversation with my team about ICE’s action in Minnesota and an appearance by Murtaza Hussain, who came to talk about his reporting on the Epstein Files. The full show is available here, but only for full subscribers. So if you want access to everything—including viewing privileges for new streams and access to video and podcast versions afterward—consider signing up. The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience supported. We need your help in order to keep delivering the show week after week, along with all the other content we post here. So to those of you who are already full supporters: thank you for all you do. And if you’re not yet a supporter, please consider becoming one.
Video Links
0:00 Trump’s ambitions in Venezuela
2:09 The downsides of American empire
5:44 Is Trump protecting US interests or engaging in regime change?
13:42 Ground News ad
15:38 Danny’s critique of realist foreign policy
23:11 The perverse domestic effects of American militarism
32:00 America’s very real but rather weak democracy
35:22 Viewer question: Could wars of conquest revivify America?
38:20 Rob’s question: Won’t a $500 billion increase in the military budget create massive inflation?
42:11 Danny: Why buy Greenland when we already have a military presence there?
47:49 Trump’s real estate instincts on the global stage
51:42 The trials and tribulations of a humble Housing Provider
Recorded January 9, 2026
Links and Readings
Danny’s podcast, American Prestige
Lindsey O’Rourke’s book, Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War
John Mearsheimer’s book, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
Michael Sherry’s book, In the Shadow of War: American since the 1930s
Richard Waterman’s book, Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power
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The Glenn Show kicks off 2026 with a strong episode featuring Murtaza Hussain on the Epstein Files and Daniel Bessner on U.S. actions in Venezuela. The episode opens with discussion of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, urging caution and fact-finding amid polarized reactions and official statements. Hussain explores Jeffrey Epstein’s opaque financial dealings and rise to power, while Bessner analyzes the strategic motivations behind recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela, situating it within broader patterns of American empire.
Read Murtaza Hussain's reporting for Drop Site.
Check out Daniel Bessner's podcast, American Prestige.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
Video Links
0:00 Why another biography of FDR?
3:41 David’s dispute with the “heroic” view of FDR
5:56 David: “The main focus of FDR was FDR”
10:05 The surprising continuity between FDR’s and Hoover’s monetary policy
16:01 Canada’s avoidance of the banking crisis
19:50 FDR’s failed attempt to unilaterally set gold prices
26:14 Why did FDR intern Japanese Americans, despite his advisors’ opposition?
30:45 FDR’s apparent indifference to lynching
35:00 David: Roosevelt actively opposed Jewish refugees entering the US
41:42 The “unconditional surrender” policy’s negative consequences
47:31 Stalin’s victory at Yalta
51:28 How David thinks we should teach FDR and WWII history
53:54 David weighs in on Darryl Cooper
Recorded December 30, 2025
Links and Readings
David’s new book, FDR: A New Political Life
David’s book, The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance
Larry Kotlikoff’s book, Jimmy Stewart Is Dead: Ending the World’s Ongoing Financial Plague with Limited Purpose Banking
David S. Wyman’s book, The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945
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Earlier this month, I recorded a conversation with my friend Patricia Agupusi, assistant professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an expert on insurgencies, political violence, and state capture, among other topics. She has lived and worked extensively in Nigeria, where her fieldwork included interviewing Nigerians displaced by political, ethnic, and religious violence. When I asked Patricia to come on the show, I was seeking some background on the Trump administration’s statements about anti-Christian violence perpetrated by Boko Haram in the northern part of the country. I suspected that the situation, while undoubtedly dire for Christians, was more complex than the White House’s messaging made it sound.
My suspicions turned out to be correct. In this episode, Patricia offers a nuanced account of terrorism, religious radicalism, interethnic conflict, and government corruption and neglect that has led to the deaths and displacement not only of many Christians in northern Nigeria, but of many Muslims as well. Patricia provides a rich account of the region and its history. It was recorded weeks before the US conducted an aerial strike on Sokoto, a predominately Muslim state that many have described as an unusual choice, if the goal was to inflict damage on major terrorist networks.
In this conversation, Patricia expressed skepticism at the efficacy of US military intervention. The strike seems to have done little to change her mind. In an email to me sent after the attack, she wrote:
Due to the urgency of the matters under discussion, I’m releasing this episode today, to everyone, for free Normally, only full subscribers get new episodes on Mondays. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
Video Links
0:00 Intro: Last week’s military strikes in Nigeria
00:36 Getting beneath the headlines in northern Nigeria
3:55 What is Boko Haram?
4:28 Childcare intermission: How Glenn and Patricia started working together
7:19 Boko Haram’s attack and recruitment strategies
11:44 Patricia: Boko Haram targets both Christians and Muslims
13:33 Ground News ad
15:25 The complex religious demographics of northern Nigeria
19:16 The history of Nigerian jihad
23:27 The state’s complacent reaction to anti-Christian violence
33:57 Patricia’s fieldwork with internally displaced Nigerians
36:16 Patricia: Fear and government dysfunction, not poverty, motivate people to join Boko Haram
41:14 The surprising popularity of US intervention among Nigerians
43:32 Patricia: If the US wants to help, it should sanction politicians and their families
54:10 The pointlessness of US military intervention
58:01 The best case scenario for Nigeria’s next decade
Recorded December 4, 2025
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Video Links
0:00 The shooting at Brown University8:09 The Hanukkah massacre at Bondi Beach11:42 Ground News ad13:34 Searching for a narrative in an information-thin environment17:34 Is the pro-Palestine movement about “whiteness”? 23:26 Glenn: There’s more to Israel-Palestine than race29:44 What does a representative American look like?36:50 Trump’s inflammatory comments about the murders of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer42:40 Trump’s allegedly declining help 51:26 Why John won’t write a memoir
Recorded December 18, 2025
Links and Readings
John’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
William Greider’s 1981 Atlantic article, “The Education of David Stockman”
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
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On this episode, shootings at Brown University and Bondi Beach, race or colonialism in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the tragic deaths of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer, Trump’s apparently poor health (and John’s speculations thereon), and John’s reasons for not writing a memoir.
Plus, our monthly subscriber Q&A.
Note: This episode was recorded before the identification of the Brown University shooter.
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com
In this episode, in conversation with Robert Patton-Spruill, Mark Sussman, and Nikita Petrov, I provide an introduction to the life and work of Thomas Schelling and consider how a “Schellingesque” point of view might influence our interpretation of current events, like the Ukraine War, the “human shields” argument in Gaza, the Trump administration’s new national security strategy, nationalist and populist movements throughout the world, and nuclear deterrence today. We also talk about Schellingesque approaches to AI, but that segment of the conversation is available only to full subscribers.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported. To gain access to all our content and to get all future premium and bonus content, become a full subscriber today. Thank you to all free and full subscribers—I couldn't do what I do without you.
Video Links
0:00 Who was Thomas C. Schelling?
8:51 The Schellingesque
13:22 Ground News ad
15:05 Battlefield commitment and signaling
27:00 How deterrence works
35:14 Schelling's role in conceptualizing Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove
49:08 Europe, Ukraine, and Trump's new national security strategy
1:04:41 Why does the US care about immigration in other nations?
1:09:02 Glenn: Bill Maher is either dishonest or wrong about asymmetrical war in Gaza
17:54 Schelling and Glenn on new nuclear powers
1:26:00 The problem of self-command
Recorded December 12, 2025
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In this episode, in conversation with Robert Patton-Spruill, Nikita Petrov, and Mark Sussman, I pay tribute to Tom Schelling’s major contributions and the personal affect he had on me, as a colleague, friend, and, at times, surrogate father figure. We talk about Schelling’s understanding of battlefield commitment strategy, signaling, interstate conflict, and the nuclear weapons “taboo.” We watch a clip of Tom talking about helping Stanley Kubrick to conceptualize his film Dr. Strangelove by gaming out how a doomsday machine capable of launching ICBMs would affect the decisions made by the US and the USSR. I often find myself asking, “What would Tom think?” about one question or another, and here I try to answer that question as it pertains to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. And finally, Tom died before AI developed to its present state. He would have had a field day thinking through its implications, and we try to do him justice.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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This is a free segment from a two-hour livestream of The Glenn Show. To watch the whole thing, become a full subscriber. You’ll get access to all TGS content, including video of livestreams, audience Q&As with me and John McWhorter, and lots of other great content. The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience supported. Thank you for all you do.
In this TGS Live segment, Glenn Loury and TGS contributor Robert Patton-Spruill discuss Larry Summers's withdrawal from teaching at Harvard and expulsion from the American Economics Association. Glenn and Rob talk about how Glenn's own experience with public disgrace shapes his thinking about Summers's case.
Watch the video here.
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On this recording of last week's livestream, we discuss my conversation with a Nigerian development economist, Trump's moves against Venezuela, Pete Hegseth's boat strikes, flooding and winter weather in Gaza, and Bernie Sanders's call for government regulation of AI.
Last week, Larry Summers stepped back from teaching at Harvard and was banned for life from the American Economics Association after it was revealed that he maintained a friendship with Jeffrey Epstein even after Epstein pleaded guilty to solicitation of prostitution with a minor in 2008. I talk about my own experience with public disgrace, and explain why I think the AEA has acted too hastily in this instance.
This recording of the stream is available to full subscribers. We’ll make a long-ish clip available for free subscribers on Friday. But if you want the whole thing, consider becoming a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported. Become a subscriber and join the conversation at https://glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
0:00 Paul: The past shows us there’s a basis for hope for this country3:40 The origins of Paul’s new book, American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now11:07 Is the push-pull between liberation struggles and institutional resistance a uniquely American phenomenon?13:31 Ground News ad15:39 The black freedom struggle as a template for change21:37 From civil rights to progressive overreach24:31 Can the Democrats take back lost ground? 30:58 Paul: Trump’s immigration crack-downs are acts of political revenge 35:53 The social triumph and political tragedy of immigration45:54 How modern media fragmented American society52:59 Paul: We need to restrain executive power57:39 The importance of remembering our past without being shackled by it
Recorded November 20, 2025
Links and Readings
Paul’s new book, American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now
Anne Case and Angus Deaton’s book, Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
Pauli Murray and Mary Eastwood’s article, “Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII”
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book, Abundance: How We Build a Better Future
Paul’s American Prospect article, “The Social Triumph and Political Tragedy of Immigration”
Paul’s book, The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communication
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Since we’ve got the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the week, I’m releasing the first half of the conversation to everyone today instead of this Friday. For access to the entire conversation, including the Q&A, become a full subscriber.
This episode's central topic: the vulgarity of our present discourse. Though “vulgarity” doesn’t quite capture what we’re talking about on this show. It’s not news to say that the tenor of public speech has coarsened over the decades—words and phrases that would have been utterly taboo in the media of the 1960s hardly give us pause today. But what does seem new is the sometimes shockingly racist, sexist, and homophobic sentiments that have become a part of “ordinary” political debate.
The Overton window is shifting, and it’s not doing it on its own. One force moving it is surely the wide availability of online platforms. Everyone has a camera and a microphone, and as more and more people avail themselves of the communication tools available to them, views that were once filtered out by mainstream and legacy outlets are finding their way to the center of the conversation. But another force moving the window is what’s going on in the world. While I may roll my eyes when, for example, Nick Fuentes touts the virtues of Jim Crow, he’s responding to items in the news, like violent crime committed by black youth, that do need to be taken seriously.
Then it’s on to our subscriber-only Q&A session, where John and I took questions about God and morality, the Democrats’ electoral prospects, Black English vernacular, China’s outpacing of American economic growth, AI and education, Looney Tunes, and socialism vs. social democracy, plus questions from the YouTube chat.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported. To become a full subscriber and receive even more great TGS content, sign up here.
Video Links
0:00 Howard’s new book, The Projects: A New History of Public Housing
5:58 The failed utopianism of American public housing
12:04 The dispossession of urban African American communities
14:54 Ground News ad
16:40 Did reformers have a reason for demolishing the slums?
22:01 Changing the culture of public housing
30:13 What’s working in public housing
33:35 Trump’s plan for a two-year limit on public housing
35:25 Howard’s criticism of Zohran Mamdani’s proposed rent freeze in NYC
41:13 The causes of homelessness
44:21 The “Move to Opportunity” experiments
48:11 What does it take to ensure that poor neighborhoods are also good neighborhoods
Recorded November 19, 2025
Links and Readings
Howard’s new book, The Projects: A New History of Public Housing
Scott Davis’s book, The World of Patience Gromes: Making and Unmaking a Black Community
Le Corbusier’s book, The Radiant City: Elements of a Doctrine of Urbanism to be Used as the Basis of Our Machine-Age Civilization
Catherine Bauer’s book, Modern Housing
Herbert Gans’s book, Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans
HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program
Zohran Mamdani’s “freeze the rent” ad
Matthew Desmond’s book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
UCSF’s homelessness study
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In my latest livestream, TGS contributor Robert Patton-Spruill and I talk about rising tensions with Venezuela, New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and his proposed policies, Jeffrey Epstein wreaking havoc from beyond the grave, Nick Fuentes’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show and ideological rifts on the right, my conception of Black Patriotism, and the uses and pleasures of AI.
This recording of the stream is available to full subscribers. We’ll make a long-ish clip available for free subscribers on Friday. But if you want the whole thing, consider becoming a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Video Links
0:00 Charles’s new book, Taking Religious Seriously
8:31 Why Charles finds the idea of divine creation plausible
13:54 Charles’s “road to Damascus” moment
19:25 The appeal of Christianity
24:51 The evidence for life after death
31:38 Charles: “The relative positions of science and religion have flipped”
36:42 The trouble with scientism
40:17 Glenn’s steps toward and away from religion
51:04 Was The Bell Curve putting making a deterministic argument?
Recorded November 4, 2025
Links and Readings
Charles’s new book, Taking Religious Seriously
Charles’s book, Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980
Richard Herrnstein and Charles’s book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
Charles’s book, Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class
Charles’s book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010
Martin Rees’s book, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe
James Q. Wilson’s book, The Moral Sense
C.S. Lewis’s book, Mere Christianity
Raymond Moody’s book, Life after Life: A Groundbreaking Exploration of Near-Death Experiences and the Transformative Insights into the Afterlife, Backed by Scientific Study and Personal Testimonies
Steven Pinker’s book, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
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The first half of the show consists of a pre-recorded interview with political scientist Charles Murray. He’s best known for books like Losing Ground and The Bell Curve—controversial though they may have been, they were grounded in the empirical methods that characterize modern social science. His new book, Taking Religion Seriously, is a somewhat surprising departure from social science into the realm of religion and religious experience. Murray has had, if not a conversion experience, then a kind of awakening regarding the claims of religion: the existence of a divine creator, miracles, and life after death. In this conversation, I ask him how a staunch materialist who, by his own account, doesn’t have a natural capacity for religious feeling has come to value metaphysics.
After that I bring on Robert Patton-Spruill to talk a little more about religion, the death of Dick Cheney, Zohran Mamdani's win in the NYC mayoral race, the government shutdown, and Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, and the conservative schism over U.S.-Israel policy.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Watch and listen to the full, 2-hour episode: https://glennloury.substack.com/p/tgs-live-democrats-leadership-crisis
Video Links
0:00 John’s misgivings about Zohran Mamdani’s anti-Zionism
7:22 Is anti-Zionism reducible to “good black people vs. bad white people”?
11:53 Ground News ad
13:40 Democrats try to pull out of a death spiral
20:05 John: If Trump can end some wars, I’ll take it
22:49 What do Kamala Harris fans see in her?
30:09 Here’s what Obama should be doing in his post-presidency
40:11 Mourning the end of race
50:15 Glenn: Eliminating racial disparities requires developing communities
Recorded October 31, 2025
Links and Readings
Tressie McMillan Cottom’s NYT column, “A Nazi Tattoo Exposes Democrats’ Greatest Weakness”
Michelle Goldberg’s NYT column, “I Thought Graham Platner Was Finished. What I Saw in Maine Changed My Mind.”
Kamala Harris’s book, 107 Days
David Brooks’s NYT column, “Hey Lefties! Trump Has Stolen Your Game.”
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Last Friday, John McWhorter and I took our ongoing conversation into new territory: we streamed it live. Eighteen years into our partnership, and we’re still finding ways to keep it fresh!
In the first half of the show, we talk about New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani’s position on Israel, which John believes is merely woke moralism. While I’m no fan of Mamdani’s plans for free grocery stores and rent freezes, I press John on whether Mamdani’s views on Israel are as simplistic as he makes them out to be. Perhaps Mamdani’s shocking success in New York is a sign that Democratic voters are sick of the party’s lack of direction and looking for an infusion of new blood. John and I agree that substance-free leaders like Kamala Harris aren’t going to cut it. Trump is running the table at home and abroad, and Democratic leadership seems overwhelmed or, in the case of Barack Obama, strangely passive.
Obama was at one time a community organizer, wasn’t he? What happened to that commitment to local communities? I recently witnessed the power of effective grassroots organizing—I tell John about my trip to San Antonio in honor of my friend Ernesto Cortés’s 50th anniversary at Communities Organized for Public Service, an extremely impressive organizing operation. Black communities need leadership like that, and it is in short supply.
In the Q&A segment, we answer questions submitted by full subscribers and talk to a couple of them on camera. We take questions on black conservatism in American institutions, AI, race reductionism, test scores in college admissions, the Civil Rights Act, and the government shutdown.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
Click here to subscribe!
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Last week’s conference in honor of Thomas Sowell was the culmination of a long year of anticipation, planning, reading, and thinking. In this long excerpt from my most recent livestream, I talk with my editor Mark Sussman about the conference events and my own contributions. I explain the importance of Friedrich Von Hayek to Sowell’s thought and work, and how Sowell extended Hayek’s work. The actor-writer Clifton Duncan drops in to talk about his experiences at the conference. And I recount a conversation that I sat in on between the former secretary of state and the Supreme Court justice that would leave their critics speechless. Legacies are about the resources—intellectual, material, and spiritual—the past leaves to the future. If what I saw over those two days is any indication, those of us who inherit Sowell’s legacy will be very rich indeed.
Today’s episode is just one segment from last week’s livestream. If you missed it and want to watch the full recording, click below to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get full recordings of our livestreams, weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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In this edition of TGS Live, I talk about the events of the conference, my contribution, and one of the ideas informing my new book project. The conference honored the past accomplishments of Thomas Sowell, but it also pointed to the future. I heard the effects of Sowell’s writing and thinking coursing through vital new work, I met the two young winners of an essay contest about Sowell’s ideas, and I sat in on a conversation between Rice and Thomas that would stun their progressive critics.
And speaking of the future, the actor-writer Clifton Duncan, who is working on a one-man show about Sowell’s life and work, came to the conference as well. He dropped into the stream to talk about what he saw and to let us know how his work in progress is shaping up.
From there, it's on to politics. Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to American cities may anger his detractors, but crime disproportionately affects black Americans, and some of them are saying they like what they’re seeing from Trump’s actions. Given the broad perception that illegal immigration is bad for black workers, it makes perfect sense that some of them are throwing their support behind Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.
We look over some pro-Trump clips from black content creators, and I note that market demand will incentivize the creation of supply. As long as Black MAGA remains a source of fascination for supporters, detractors, and the agnostic, creators will supply the market in search of clicks. It’s hard to say whether those creators are truly as dedicated to the cause as they seem, but they’re going to be here as long as people keep watching.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, click here to become one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Tucker Carlson has been suggesting that a new civil war may be coming to the US. Is he trying to warn us? Or is he purposefully stoking the fire? Glenn takes Tucker to task.
Today’s episode is just one segment from last week’s livestream. If you missed it and want to watch the full recording, click below to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get full recordings of our livestreams, weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Note: Due to the AWS outage, many online services experienced disruptions throughout Monday. To ensure that everyone receives the episode, I thought it best to hold the episode until Amazon fixed the problem. Apologies for the delay.
In this edition of the livestream, we're talking about the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, creative destruction, nuclear war, Trump's multi-billion-dollar currency swap with Argentina, military strikes on "narcoterrorist" boats, sending the CIA into Venezuela, a combination War on Terror and War on Drugs, Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, "This Week in White Crime," and Tucker Carlson's warning about (or attempt to incite) a new civil war waged over immigration and white Christian nationalism.
Recording of the full stream is available to full subscribers right now. An abbreviated episode will be available for free subscribers on Friday. The Glenn Show is almost entirely subscriber-supported. To those of you who are already full subscribers: thank you! If you like what you hear and want more, go to my Substack and become a full subscriber today.
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
0:00 Happy 60th, John!
2:20 2020 in hindsight
12:05 Ground News ad
14:01 Are Glenn and John helping to shift the Overton window?
18:25 Is Charlie Kirk the George Floyd of the right?
29:53 Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s conversation about Kirk
34:14 Glenn’s new book idea
41:43 Kirk’s comments on Michelle Obama, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Joy Reid
48:05 The purging of the woke remnant
51:33 The responsibilities of the black intellectual
58:27 Glenn: There is meaning in blackness
Recorded October 6, 2025
Links and Readings
Glenn and John’s first discussion of George Floyd, from May 2020
Pete Hegseth’s speech before US military leadership
The Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”
Thomas Chatterton Williams’s Atlantic essay, “The Other Martyr”
Glenn’s October 3rd livestream, with Nikita Petrov and Robert Patton-Spruill
Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s NYT conversation following the assassination of Charlie Kirk
Coates’s 2015 Atlantic essay, “Letter to My Son”
Glenn’s recent conversation with Jason Riley on the life and work of Thomas Sowell
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This week on The Glenn Show, Robert Patton-Spruill and I get into a detailed analysis of a conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ezra Klein. The show begins as a debate on their divergent reactions to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, expressed in a New York Times column by Klein and a Vanity Fair piece by Coates. I find Coates’s smug, morally hectoring characterization of Kirk as a hate monger hard to stomach. As much as I admire parts of The Message, his vision of African American history as a struggle against an apparently timeless and all-encompassing white supremacy cannot go unchallenged, and Klein was simply not up to the task. But I am.
This is a long segment from my Friday, October 3rd livestream, and there’s lots more in the full episode. To watch that, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. I’m doing another stream next Friday, October 17—we’ll post an announcement with links next week. And John McWhorter will return on Monday for a regular episode for full subscribers (free subscribers will have to wait until next Friday). John and I really get into it on some of the same topics: Charlie Kirk, the Coates-Klein debate, and what being a “black writer” means in the twenty-first century. It’s one of the best episodes of the year, if I do say so myself. You won’t want to miss it.
And you’ll want it as soon as possible! To get early access to episodes, video from my livestreams, and much more, become a full subscriber by clicking below. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Last Friday’s livestream was a hot one. Today I’m posting the video for all who missed it (you have to be a paid subscriber to hear the full version now, but everybody else will get it on Friday). But trust me, this is appointment viewing. I’ll be at Stanford later this week for a conference on the work of Thomas Sowell. But the livestream will return the week following.
In the first half of the stream, Nikita Petrov, Robert Patton-Spruill, and I talk about …
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Note: Links and info for my next livestream, which is happening this Friday, October 3 at 1:00 PM EDT, can be found at the end of this post.
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Normally, I release TGS episodes to full subscribers on Mondays and then to the general public on Fridays. But this conversation is a repost from my conversations with Bob Wright at his Nonzero podcast, so I figured I’d make this one an early public release. If you like starting your week off with The Glenn Show, and you’re not yet a full subscriber, consider becoming one by going here. We at The Glenn Show are almost entirely subscriber supported. We need your help to keep the show going. So if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you for making The Glenn Show possible.
Video Links
0:00 A message from Glenn
1:34 How this conversation came to be
2:59 What surprised Glenn most about the Kirk killing
8:56 Who (or what) is driving our polarization?
17:36 Cognitive empathy for MAGA
25:24 Reacting to Charlie Kirk on affirmative action
45:04 Are we re-running the 1960s?
51:50 Glenn’s latest book, Self-Censorship
54:11 Why the Manhattan Institute dropped Glenn
1:04:02 Glenn on Gaza: “I can’t bear it.”
1:17:27 “Genocide” and other Israel speech code flashpoints
1:26:58 Has Trump’s anti-antisemitism push chilled campus speech?
1:36:58 A few kind and less kind words for Bari Weiss
1:46:44 Are Israel’s defenders hurting their cause?
1:52:14 Glenn’s next big project
Recorded September 15, 2025
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You can keep tabs on Clifton’s progress and support his work at his Substack, Becoming Thomas Sowell.
Video Links
0:00 A Hard Day’s McWhorter
3:51 Jimmy Kimmel and the collapse of the“bluegeois” paradigm
9:47 Ground News ad
11:30 Ideological gatekeeping in the arts
17:02 The Gamergate-ification of everything
25:50 John: Wokeness isn’t dead, it’s changed shape
33:11 Clifton’s one-man show in-progress, Becoming Thomas Sowell
35:21 Sowell at Cornell
40:10 The challenge to Sowell’s conception of “the civil rights vision”
43:36 The pressures of bringing Sowell to the stage
45:58 Clifton: I think of Sowell as “the people’s intellectual”
Recorded September 20, 2025
Links and Readings
John and Clifton’s previous conversation on The Glenn Show
Clifton’s Substack, Becoming Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell’s book, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles
Sowell’s book, Knowledge and Decisions
Thurgood on Amazon Prime
Sowell’s book, Black Education: Myths and Tragedies
Donald Downs’s book, Cornell ‘69: Liberalism and the Crisis of the American University
Sowell’s book, On Classical Economics
Mark Whitaker’s book, Saying It Loud: 1966—the Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement
Sowell’s book, Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?
Jason Riley’s latest appearance on TGS
Jason’s book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell
Sowell’s memoir, A Personal Odyssey
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In our latest Q&A, John McWhorter and I take questions on troubled black communities, the N-word, issues on which we've changed our minds, ratcheting down political tensions in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, and how we handle personal security.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported. If you like what you hear, head over to my Substack and become a full subscriber. You'll get monthly Q&As with John McWhorter, and a whole lot more.
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Last Friday, I hosted a livestream featuring Nikita Petrov, Robert Patton-Spruill, and call-ins from viewers. Once again, our topic is the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
We talk about my own cancelation by the Manhattan Institute, warding off the tyranny of the majority, the worrisome comments of truly powerful people like Elon Musk, JD Vance, and Pam Bondi, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s intervention in the Kirk debates, and what I dream the leader of our nation would say (and still can say) as the post-assassination temperature continues to rise. I talk with callers about the dynamics of backlash, plausible deniability, and the spiritual impetus to ease political tensions.
Listen, I need your help.
The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a measly $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
Subscribe at https://glennloury.substack.com
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Video Links
0:00 Why Marc thinks nothing works
6:45 Who decides the winners and losers in public trade-offs?
12:50 Penn Station and public interest logjams
20:29 Marc: We have Trump because people feel that government doesn’t work
28:17 Two progressive conceptions of power
33:03 Finding the balance between centralized and dispersed power
39:05 Ok, nothing works. So how do we get things working?
51:28 Marc: We need a return to Hamiltonian governing
55:03 The new class of moderate Democrats trying to get things done
Recorded September 6, 2025
Links and Readings
Marc’s new book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back
Marc’s book, The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community
Robert Putnam’s book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
Robert Caro’s book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book, Abundance
Jennifer Pahlka’s book, Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better
Yoni Applebaum’s book, Stuck: How the Privileged and Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity
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In this episode, co-hosted with my editor Mark Sussman, I talk with viewers about the murders of Charlie Kirk and Iryna Zarutska, the “black crime” canard, the effects of immigration on black employment, and other weighty topics. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. A call from Richard Kim—a newly tenured professor of philosophy at Loyola University in Chicago—gave me the opportunity to reminisce about Father Richard John Neuhaus, a friend who offered me great comfort during one of the most difficult periods of my life. And of course, we hear from Robert Patton-Spruill aka the Landlord Guy aka the Housing Provider aka the Evil Landlord.
In order to keep doing these streams and recording weekly episodes of The Glenn Show, I need your help. Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen. But if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a measly $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
To subscribe, go to https://glennloury.substack.com
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
0:00 The upcoming Hoover Institution conference honoring Thomas Sowell
5:37 Sowell’s apprentice work at the University of Chicago
12:58 Ground News ad
14:45 Hayek’s influence on Sowell
19:55 Jason: No one is smarter than the market
24:58 The unconstrained vision vs. the constrained vision
33:04 Sowell’s contribution to economic literacy
37:44 Sowell’s tough early life and his path to Marx
]47:55 Jason: Sowell’s willingness to weigh in on race hurt his career
53:58 Sowell’s evisceration of The Bell Curve
Recorded on August 25, 2025
Links and Readings
Jason’s writing for the Wall Street Journal
Jason’s book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell
Thoma Sowell’s memoir, A Personal Journey
Sowell’s book, Knowledge and Decisions
Sowell’s book, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Conflict
Sowell’s book, Ethnic America: A History
Sowell’s book, Race and Culture
Sowell’s book, Migration and Cultures: A World View
Friedrich Von Hayek’s essay, “The Use of Knowledge in Society”
Hayek’s review of Knowledge and Decisions
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein
Sowell’s book, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
Sowell’s book, The Quest for Cosmic Justice
Milton Friedman’s TV show, Free to Choose
Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
Sowell’s American Spectator review of The Bell Curve, “Ethnicity and IQ”
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On this week's livestream, Nikita and I are joined by filmmaker, professor, master distiller, and "housing provider" Robert Patton-Spruill. And he does not disappoint. He begins by informing me of a connection between us: his father, then a professor of acting and directing at Boston University, used to smoke weed in front of my house. From there we get into a range of subjects, including the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the role of faith and the church in our lives, the power of wealth to create change, AI and ChatGPT, and October 7th. Robert then cedes the stage for a while, and I take calls from viewers Jack Apple, Eric Ingram. William Schafer, Rouxbe, and Scott Kushner.
Putting viewers in the spotlight has opened a whole new dimension of the show, and we’re going to keep exploring it. So if you want to talk to me directly, tune into the next livestream, which we’ll be announcing soon. But in order to keep doing these streams and recording weekly episodes of The Glenn Show, I need your help. Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen. But if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a piddling $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Video Links
0:00 What Thomas Sowell means to Emily
3:54 What’s the difference between a conservative and a classical liberal?
10:59 Ground News ad
12:45 Sowell’s interventions in price theory and microeconomics
19:31 The parallel careers of Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams
24:51 Emily: Trump is not fulfilling Sowell’s vision of liberty
33:37 A Sowellian critique of expert-driven COVID policies
45:08 The risks of uncertainty in Trump’s economic policies
53:46 The future of classical liberalism
58:01 The Mont Pelerin Society’s intellectual landscape
1:01:15 Glenn’s departure from classical liberalism
Recorded August 19, 2025
Links and Readings
Friedrich Von Hayek’s book, The Constitution of Liberty
Hayek’s essay, “Why I Am Not a Conservative”
Thomas Sowell’s book, Knowledge and Decisions
Bart Wilson’s book, Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century
The Mont Pelerin Society
John Cochrane’s review of Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
Hayek’s book, Law, Legislation, and Liberty
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On this recording of my latest livestream, I sit down with my editor, Mark Sussman. Inspired by a recent memo posted by liberal moderate think tank Third Way, Mark and I talk a bit about the communicative dynamics of progressive nomenclature, e.g., “chestfeeding” rather than “breastfeeding” and other awkward neologisms. Can the Democrats afford to get mired in these debates while they’re facing so much anger and dissatisfaction from their own constituency? We take comments and calls on the subject from viewers familiar and new. Scott Kushner and Robert Spruill pop in to give their views. Mark and I debate Trump and what will happen to MAGA when he eventually either cedes the stage or passes away. We talk about the Minnesota school shooter’s gender identity and what, if anything, it has to do with the awful slaughter at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. And of course, Gaza comes up.
I’m loving this new feature of the show, but in order to keep it and all things TGS afloat, I need your help. Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen, and we’re making this one available to everyone, but normally if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a piddling $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
To subscribe, go to https://glennloury.substack.com
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com
Order Glenn's new book, Self-Censorship, here or where you get your books:
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/683p6kk3 Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/4yvz4fta Bookshop: https://tinyurl.com/44rznxww
Video Links
0:00 How woke campus culture degrades mental health
5:47 The rise of “microaggressions”
'8:21 The harms caused by discourses of harm
13:47 The digital lives of children
19:08 Why Courtney and Ted produced Coddling themselves
24:56 A Nigerian immigrant’s encounter with campus progressivism
32:36 Is Trump’s anti-DEI posture aiding free speech on campus?
37:58 Ted and Courtney’s decision to homeschool their child
41:48 How comedy brings us together
48:26 Ted and Courtney take on the Rob Henderson story
Recorded August 8, 2025
Links and Readings
The Coddling of the American Mind doc
The Coddling of the American Mind book
Dead Poet’s Society
The Canceling of the American Mind
Greg Lukianoff conversation
Can We Take a Joke
Coddling movie Substack
Noam episodes
Rob Henderson, Troubled
Rob Henderson episode
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In this edition of the Q&A, Glenn and John take questions on MLK and white moderates, audience capture, civilian casualties in Gaza, "I have to do X" vs. "I get to do X," Trump's performance as president, the role of trustees and administration in determining university policy, and race and genes.
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The livestreaming experiment continues here at TGS. I never know what’s going to come at me. I’m operating outside my comfort zone. Of course, that’s what makes it fun. The callers often ask me to weigh in on a whole range of subjects I’d never think up on my own, like embryo screening and the frustrations of Connecticut landlords. (And speaking of landlords, filmmaker and property owner Robert Spruill is back!) I have no meaningful knowledge in these areas, but now I get to learn a little about them, or at least think them through on the fly. Other topics, like Israel-Palestine, student debt, and election security, are more familiar. But I’m still never quite what kind of spin my callers will put on the ball.
In other words, the calls are keeping me sharp and engaged. And I love getting to meet my audience in these brief encounters.
But in order to keep this going, I need your help. Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen, and we’re making this one available to everyone, but normally if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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This episode was originally recorded for Danny and Derek's podcast American Prestige and cross posted here. Subscribe to American Prestige at https://americanprestige.supportingcast.fm/join
Order Glenn's new book, Self-Censorship, here or where you get your books:
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/683p6kk3 Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/4yvz4fta Bookshop: https://tinyurl.com/44rznxww
Video Links
0:00 The origins of Self-Censorship
4:11 Black and conservative in Reagan’s America
8:30 The social science hall of fame
12:45 Jews, assimilation, and the quantitative revolution
17:56 Human universalism vs. ethno-national particularity
21:42 Historicizing “the Jew”
23:47 Danny: Larry Summers can’t see outside his own neoliberal paradigm
27:50 Are we entering a period of, as Marx wrote, “mutual ruin”?
30:46 Is capitalism leading us toward nuclear war?
37:18 What the Manhattan Institute incident taught Glenn about his own book
42:02 Glenn: “I’m rethinking everything”
46:40 Is the right reverting to a pre-New Deal political paradigm?
51:37 Is Israel a reversion to an Early Modern model of nation-building?
58:07 American Jews’s role in Israel’s creation and perpetuation
1:03:04 Why Glenn previously censored himself on Gaza
1:09:30 Glenn: So far, I’m disappointed in Trump
Recorded August 6, 2025
Links and Readings
Danny and Derek’s podcast, American Prestige
Glenn’s new book, Self-Censorship
John Murray Cuddihy’s book, The Ordeal of Civility: Freud, Marx, Lévi-Strauss, and the Jewish Struggle with Modernity
Corey Robin’s book, The Enigma of Clarence Thomas
Glenn’s City Journal essay, “Clarence Thomas and Me”
Seth Schwartz’s book, The Ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhamad
Omar El Akkad’s book, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Glenn’s post, “I Was Fired by the Manhattan Institute. Here’s Why.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch’s book, The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire
Avi Shlaim’s book, Genocide in Gaza: Israel, Hamas, and the Long War on Palestine
Peter Beinart’s book, Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning
Glenn’s conversation with Beinart
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In our latest livestream, TGS editor Mark Sussman and I discuss Michel Houellebecq's 2015 novel Submission and its rather unpleasant but compelling critique of modern existence, after which we take questions from viewers and callers. We get into some unexpected territory, like life after death (I don’t believe in it), the existence of alien intelligence (it seems probable to me), and psychedelics (that one’s on Mark). I’m truly enjoying these face-to-face conversations with viewers, and I encourage everyone who can call in to do so on our next stream.
Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen, and we’re making this one available to everyone, but normally if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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Video Links
0:00 John: Not all of Trump’s demands on Columbia are crazy
3:45 Are the accusations of antisemitism at Columbia apt?
12:43 Ground News ad
14:22 The shifting public perception of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
24:30 The historical legacy of Gaza’s starvation
27:40 Glenn: There are ways to destroy Israel without an army
32:21 The lull in American race politics
38:22 Has the race debate devolved to Sidney Sweeney’s jeans?
47:27 John’s theory of violent crime among black youths
Recorded August 5, 2025
Links and Readings
John’s April 23, 2024 NYT column, “I’m a Columbia Professor. The Protests on My Campus Are Not Justice.”
Peter Beinart’s book, Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning
Glenn’s conversation with Beinart
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, Between the World and Me
Courtney Moorehead Balaker and Ted Balaker’s documentary, The Coddling of the American Mind
Sidney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad
John’s NYT column, “Do These Jeans Make My Ads Look Racist?”
Glenn and John’s conversation with Randall Kennedy
Glenn and John’s conversation with Keith Ellison
Thomas Sowell’s book, Black Rednecks & White Liberals
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In this conversation, my editor Mark Sussman and I discuss Kamala Harris’s forthcoming book, 107 Days, and the dire state of publishing. I’ve been reading a lot of Thomas Sowell in preparation for a major address I have to deliver about his work in the Fall, and I suggest that Sowell might say that the declining profitability of writing and publishing might well be a good thing, insofar as it signals the market’s responsiveness to consumer demand and desire. This leads to a debate about the distinction (and perhaps the conflict) between aesthetic and economic value. Then it’s on to a broader discussion of Sowell. Next we move onto the story of a group of people establishing a Christian, LGBTQ-free, whites-only community in Arkansas. We close out with viewer questions about Brown University’s deal with the Trump administration, which somehow leads to a debate about climate science and the epistemological limitations of modernity. And finally, an evergreen topic: black patriotism.
In the course of this conversation, Mark and I reference Michel Houellebecq’s 2015 novel, Submission. That’s because we plan to discuss the book on our next livestream, which we’ll announce in the coming days. So if you want to participate in the discussion or simply follow along, read the book. We’ll be taking calls, and I’m very curious what you all have to think of this brilliant, provocative, and (be warned) sexually explicit book.
Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen, and we’re making this one available to everyone, but normally if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
0:00 Columbia’s $221 million-deal with the Trump administration
4:11 Rajiv: The charges about antisemitism at Columbia are mostly pretextual
13:34 How is Columbia’s resolution monitor going to assess merit in admissions?
25:31 What really matters in college admissions?
29:47 Why Brown’s agreement differs from Columbia’s
34:16 Rajiv: If the Trump administration wants to destroy universities, it has the resources to do it
40:07 Is Columbia’s Middle East Studies department cooked?
43:15 Free speech is dying in universities and flourishing on podcasts (and Substack)
50:19 Is a full-scale antisemitic backlash on the way?
55:25 The question of genocide
59:45 The Gaza War’s historical legacy
Recorded August 1, 2025
Links and Readings
Rajiv’s post, “The Columbia Deal” at Imperfect Information
Rashid Khalidi’s open letter announcing the withdrawal of his course
Khalidi’s book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017
Roland Fryer’s WSJ piece, “DEI Is Worth Saving from Its Excesses”
Glenn’s new book, Self-Censorship
Colin Wright’s WSJ piece, “Cornell University Discriminated against Me”
Dave Smith and Douglas Murray on the Joe Rogan Experience
Green Beret vet Tony Aguilar on the Tucker Carlson Show
Israeli journalist Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps speaks with The Daily about starvation in Gaza
Avi Shlaim’s book, Genocide in Gaza: Israel, Hamas, and the Long War on Palestine
Omer Bartov’s NYT piece, “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.”
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In lieu of a regular episode this week, I’m presenting a version of our latest livestream. Last week we debuted what I hope will be an ongoing feature of these livestreams: viewer call-ins. Nikita has been working on setting this up for a while now, and as you’ll see, we’ve still got some kinks to work out. We were able to take a number of calls from viewers, and on that score, this experiment was a resounding success.
Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen, and we’re making this one available to everyone, but normally if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
Become a full subscriber at https://glennloury.substack.com
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It’s the middle of the summer, it’s hot, and John McWhorter and I are back for another Substack subscriber only Q&A session. In this episode, we take questions about leadership in the black community, critical listening, Percival Everett's novel James, immigration, white women studying black women's history, right-wing identity politics, and the Free Press.
The Glenn Show is supported by listeners like you. To watch and listen to the full version of this episode and get all kinds of other benefits, become a full subscriber at https://glennloury.substack.com.
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Video Links
0:00 Glenn and Cornel’s early correspondence
2:20 Cornel: “Brother Glenn ain’t never been just a black conservative”
9:34 Ground News ad
11:10 One-eyed and two-eyed reason
19:33 The Loury family legacy
25:01 Does race still matter?
34:32 The black intellectual in a declining empire
45:56 Keeping nihilism at bay in the black community
51:42 Keep the funk, and die with a smile on your face
55:40 The Democratic Party plantation
Recorded July 18, 2025
Links and Readings
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
Toni Morrison’s book, The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
Ralph Ellison’s book, Shadow and Act
Thomas Sowell’s book, The Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggle
Cornel’s book, Race Matters
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Cornel’s book, Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight against Imperialism
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
Mahalia Jackson’s rendition of Clara Ward’s, “How I Got Over”
John Coltrane’s album, A Love Supreme
Niall Ferguson’s book, Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire
Glenn’s book, Race, Incarceration, and American Values
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, The Brother’s Karamazov
Joseph Conrad’s novel, Victory: An Island Tale
Cornel’s 2024 Gifford Lectures
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Video Links
0:00 Zohran Mamdani’s win in the NYC Democratic primaries
12:07 Ground News ad
14:05 The War on Terror and the War in Gaza
28:54 Should Trump fear Mamdani?
32:02 Glenn: Trump is running the table
42:26 John: Glenn, you’re getting caught up in the Trump Show
48:05 Buckley, Reagan, Goldwater, and the legacy of conservatism
53:56 Glenn’s encounters with Willian F. Buckley
59:30 Remembering Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom
Recorded July 7, 2025
Links and Readings
John’s NYT column, “Wokeness Will Always Be with Us”
Peter Beinart’s NYT guest essay, “Democrats Need to Understand That Opinions on Israel Are Changing Fast”
“One Last Time” from Hamilton
Adam Clayton Powell’s “What’s in Your Hand” speech
Sam Tannenhaus’s new book, Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America
Glenn’s 1991 appearance on Firing Line
Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom’s book, America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible
Glenn’s 1997 Atlantic review of America in Black and White
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My latest book, Self-Censorship, is coming out in a couple weeks, and I’m excited to share it with you. As a kind of apéritif, Mark Sussman and I livestreamed our wide-ranging discussion of all things self-censorious. We talk about the book, of course, but also the economics of addiction, the trouble with streaming music, the best and worst of airplane socializing, and many other topics. It’s a good introduction to the book, which you can preorder now on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books.
In this stream, Mark and I discuss the incoherence of racial and ethnic nomenclature, the utility of self-censorship in political coalition-building, uncovering consensus within the spiral of silence, objectivity in public discourse, the joy and pain of in-flight chit-chat, the truth-seeking value of debate, de gustibus non disputandum est, the paradox of choice, what we’re self-censoring about today, anti-antisemitism, Václav Havel and the power of the powerless, minor and major self-censorship, speaking your mind without tenure, Israel and self-censorship, risking deportation for self-expression, the return of Old Glenn / New Glenn, and the line between cowardice and strategic silence.
Anybody can tune into our livestreams as they happen, but if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For less than the cost of an IPA at your local dive bar, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
Become a full subscriber at https://glennloury.substack.com
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
0:00 The return of the “speech is violence” argument
6:05 Who’s the arbiter of “misinformation” and “disinformation”?
8:06 The University of Virginia topped FIRE’s college free speech rankings
14:08 The Victorianism of the Woke
22:10 The comedian as gadfly
24:40 Do we need to “protect” Jewish students from pro-Palestine speech?
31:23 Harvard Derangement Syndrome
37:13 FIRE’s defense of Amy Wax
39:59 Using Title IX to restrict speech
46:24 Complicating the left-right speech distinction
49:34 FIRE enters the AI debates
Recorded June 2, 2025
Links and Readings
FIRE
Greg and Nancy Strossen’s forthcoming book, War on Words: 10 Arguments against Free Speech—and Why They Fail
Lisa Feldman Barrett’s 2017 NYT op-ed, “When Is Speech Violence?”
FIRE’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings
FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire Database
Rajiv Sethi’s post, “Under Fire”
Glenn’s forthcoming book, Self-Censorship
Musa al-Gharbi’s book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite
Greg and Rikki Schlott’s book, Canceling the American Mind: How Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us
The IHRA definition of antisemitism
Steven Pinker’s NYT guest essay, “Harvard Derangement Syndrome”
Greg’s Atlantic essay, “Trump’s Attacks Threaten Much More Than Harvard”
Cosmos Institute
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I’m back with my creative director Nikita Petrov on our latest livestream. As you may know, Nikita is Russian. He’s spent some time in the US, but he’s still got a lot of questions about how we do things here and why. This was recorded the day before the Independence Day holiday, and we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to address some of Nikita’s questions (and yours) about the strange folkways of the American people
In this installment, we talk about the meaning of the American flag, ChatGPT’s 50 unique facts about the US, voter ID laws, the validity of the 2020 election, border security and immigration, ICE, the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide (if that’s what it was!), Christian Zionism, advice for aspiring authors, free speech, the Big Beautiful Bill, taxes, spiritual conflict within the family, the X-Files, and third-party politics.
Anybody can watch our livestreams as they happen, but if you’d like to watch the video later, you’ll need to become a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For less than the cost of three tacos at your neighborhood food truck, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content. Go to https://glennloury.substack.com
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
0:00 How Jens got interested in American gun violence
2:45 What’s “unexpected” about the origins of gun violence?
5:29 Race and the culture of gun violence
9:30 Ground News ad
11:20 Are high rates of gun violence a cultural issue or an equilibrium?
17:09 Is urban gun violence the result of rational behavior?
24:34 The link between Kahnemanian “fast thinking” and violent conflict
36:46 Are gun violence interruptions scalable?
40:52 The role of urban design in reducing crime and violence
47:31 Jens: Gang-motivated crime may not account for as much violence as its seems
50:43 Rehabilitating “Broken Windows”
53:47 Jens’s “pathological pragmatism”
Recorded June 13, 2025
Links and Readings
Jens’s new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence
Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking, Fast and Slow
William Julius Williams’s book, Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Social Policy
Jane Jacobs’s book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Melissa Kearney’s book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind
George Kelling and James Q. Wilson’s classic Atlantic article, “Broken Windows”
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In my latest livestream with my editor Mark Sussman, we talk about the state of the academic labor market, teaching writing to undergrads, Zohran Mamdani’s remarkable victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, the wisdom or folly of a federal minimum wage, the work of Thomas Sowell and upcoming conference in his honor, and race and economics. We take questions on libertarianism, self-censorship, black conservatism, AI and teaching, and how to coax Glenn to your town to read from his forthcoming book, Self-Censorship.
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This month, John and I tackle questions about grade inflation, the Great Courses, Chapt GPT, race and public art, Ta-Nehisi Coates on Palestine, the end of race-based affirmative action, Trump, Christopher Rufo, and my most recent appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show.
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Last week, I did my second ever livestream, this time with my editor here at the Substack, Mark Sussman. We covered a lot of ground: self-censorship in both intimate and public settings, the golden age of MIT, the death of the influential economist Stanley Fischer, political correctness then and now, the use of the term “blood libel,” immigration, labor disputes and anti-trust in the tech industry, and class-based affirmative action.
Full subscribers have access to the full audio and video of this recording. We at The Glenn Show rely on the generosity and support of our subscribers. So if you’re already a subscriber, thank you for all you do. And if you’re not one, consider becoming one. It’s about the cost of one beer a month, and less than that if you purchase a full year’s subscription.
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Last week we tried something new at TGS. I had a conversation with my lovely wife, LaJuan Loury, and my creative director, Nikita Petrov, live on three platforms at the same time: the TGS Youtube channel, the TGS Substack, and on Nikita’s Substack, Psychopolitica.
We went for two hours and covered a lot of ground: LaJuan and I reported on our visit to Tucker Carlson’s “barn” in Maine, and I speculated about why LaJuan and Tucker, contrary to my expectations, really hit it off. LaJuan spoke a bit about her religious upbringing, we reminisced about where The Glenn Show was four years ago, when Nikita and I started working together, and we tried to assess how we fit into the very different political and media landscape of 2025, which required us to first discuss how we see this said landscape. We capped it off with a short Q&A at the end, where we responded to questions asked during the stream.
I should also mention the conversation includes some very raw and emotional moments, especially when we discuss the dire situation in Gaza.
The experiment continues! I’ll be livestreamingagain this Thursday, June 12, at 6:00 PM Eastern on YouTube and Substack. This time I’ll be joined by my editor, Mark Sussman. Planned topics include my forthcoming book Self-Censorship, the future of elite universities, how to get proactive on racial disparities in the wake of affirmative action and DEI rollbacks, faith and reason, and the recent death of Stanley Fischer, an economist I got to know back in MIT days. But it’s a live conversation—you never know what’s going to happen or what we’ll end up talking about.
The button below allow you to add the Substack version to you calendar:
And if you navigate to the YouTube page of the stream, you can add a notification to alert you when the stream starts:
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The Glenn Show will be taking a pause in the month of June. In this brief episode, Glenn explains why.
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Video Links
0:00 Intro
1:25 The response to Glenn’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show
4:03 Are institutions like the University of Austin the future of higher ed?
11:31 Ground News ad
13:14 When social justice musicology came for John’s syllabus
17:42 What role should social justice play in academic study?
28:40 John’s trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture
35:50 Will the museum survive Trump’s assault on DEI?
44:47 Are Glenn and John complicit in anti-DEI overreach?
55:30 The racial animus question in anti-DEI reform
Recorded on May 21, 2025
Links and Readings
Glenn’s recent appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show
The Chronicle of Higher Education’s interview with Glenn
Glenn’s forthcoming book, Self-Censorship
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
John’s conversation with actor Clifton Duncan
The BBC’s 1973 production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, starring Lynn Redgrave and James Villiers
Khalil Gibran Muhammad’s book, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
Victor Herbert’s operetta, Babes in Toyland
John’s NYT piece on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Glenn’s conversation with Brown University student Alex Shieh
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Video Links
0:00 Intro
0:50 Glenn takes a shot at defining “cryptocurrency”
5:28 Yaya fills in the gaps
10:15 Solving the double-spending problem
15:58 The partisan divide on crypto
21:27 North Korea’s crypto hackers
26:29 How crypto protocols create value
33:23 The case of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX
35:13 How stablecoins can open up global financial markets to nations with weak or unstable currency
36:32 Memecoins: Buyer beware
41:07 China’s use of digital currency to expand its surveillance apparatus
47:35 Should a non-expert invest in crypto?
Recorded May 15, 2025
Links and Readings
Yaya and Emily Jin’s report, “China’s Digital Currency: Adding Financial Data to Digital Authoritarianism”
Yaya podcast’s, Designated
Yaya’s audio thriller, The Jabbari Lincoln Files
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Video Links
0:00 Intro
1:00 What is the “affirmative action myth”?
8:02 Black progress before and after affirmative action
11:41 Ground News ad
13:29 How far does Jason’s critique of affirmative action extend?
17:03 Contesting The Shape of the River
26:37 Respectability, responsibility, and upward mobility
32:40 Is Jason blaming the victims?
35:54 Jason: No one’s buying the reparations argument
43:26 How do figures like Ibram X. Kendi and Nikole Hannah-Jones end up at the center of progressive discourse?
Recorded May 7, 2025
Links and Readings
Jason’s new book, The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don’t Need Racial Preferences to Succeed
Jason’s book, Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed
Jason’s book, False Black Power
Jason’s book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell
Derek Bok and William G. Bowen’s book, The Shape of the River: Long Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions
Melissa Kearney’s book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind
An Amos & Andy YouTube playlist
Julia pilot episode
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Atlantic essay, “The Case for Reparations”
Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How to Be an Antiracist
The NYT’s 1619 Project
The Woodson Center’s 1776 Unites Project
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In this installment of my monthly Q&A with John McWhorter, we tackle questions about elite universities and wealth, the value of DEI, Trump's expansion of executive power, The Great Gatsby, and ethics in higher education.
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com. Pre-order Glenn's forthcoming book, SELF-CENSORSHIP: https://www.amazon.com/Self-Censorship-Glenn-C-Loury/dp/1509567402/ref=sr_1_1?crid=223KUFY8BN0X&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ar6rmRPzp7pEiJss0o1eUeLbLwOgX_qrXHtWjMS3_m_GjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.goECGgv0OxAPgLR8kNnsISu5AK6OSVoa5qWVmqRNqwY&dib_tag=se&keywords=self-censorship+glenn+c.+loury&qid=1746808862&sprefix=self-censor%2Caps%2C237&sr=8-1
Video Links
0:43 Ross: Trump's economic policies are the worst I've seen in my life
7:36 Glenn's new book, SELF-CENSORSHIP
12:00 Trump’s bid to become the most powerful person in the history of the world
21:17 The disruptive effects of tariffs, financial regulatory manipulation, and extraordinary debt levels
27:58 Ross: Alienating our allies is only going to strengthen China
33:41 Glenn: Those who lost out to globalization are getting their way
41:04 Will Trump heed economic warning signs?
48:10 Can Congress constrain Trump?
Recorded April 19, 2025
Links and Readings
Edward Luce’s Financial Times piece, “Trump, Truss, and the ‘Moron Premium’”
Larry Kotlikoff’s Substack
Larry Kotlikoff’s post, “30-Year TIPS Are Looking Mighty Attractive”
Glenn’s most recent conversation with Larry Kotlikoff
Michael Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?
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Video Links
0:00 Intro
00:31 Prefatory remarks
4:15 Glenn: The Trump administration’s defunding of the universities is mischievous in the extreme
9:06 Ground News ad
11:01 Doesn’t maintaining the preeminence of American universities require diversity of thought?
18:47 John McWhorter has entered the building
20:25 How did higher ed lose the general public’s support?
23:05 The university’s role in public discourse
26:26 Was affirmative action a success or a failure?
31:36 The partisan balance in education funding
42:21 The costs and benefits of tenure
50:09 Can education preserve democracy if students aren’t doing the reading?
1:01:59 Are we irrevocably polarized as a nation?
1:07:28 Q&A: You don’t seem as excited by Trump as you once were. What is disappointing you?
1:11:40 Q&A: If higher ed serves society, why do so many elite grads use their degrees to get rich?
1:16:01 Q&A: How do you teach diversity to students who’ve never spent time around people different from them?
1:19:15 Q&A: What’s the difference between contrarianism and provocation?
1:21:23 Q&A: Should fewer people go to college?
Recorded April 22, 2025
Links and Readings
Michael Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?
John Stuart Mill’s book, On Liberty
John Milton’a Areopagitica
Alan Bloom’s book, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students
John’s new book, Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
The Great Courses
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and Punishment
Dostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov
Leo Tolsty’s novel, War and Peace
Tolstoy’s novel, Anna Karenina
Plato’s dialogue, The Republic
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In this bonus episode, I talk with my grandson Will Kelly about his weight-loss journey, which he is documenting on social media. We talk about his desire to live out loud, our family history of addiction issues, and his strategies for healthy, sustainable weight loss.
Check out this episode on Substack to see clips from Will's TikTok and instagram
Follow Will on Instagram and TikTok
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Pre-order Glenn's forthcoming book, SELF-CENSORSHIP. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=self-censorship--9781509567409
Video Links
0:00 Intro
1:10 Glenn meets the young Marx
2:32 The new wokeness of the political right
8:30 What is the democratic counterpart of foreign policy and national security run by experts?
17:04 Russia’s motivations: Fear of NATO or imperial ambitions
21:41 Danny: Zelenskyy made a huge misstep in the Oval Office
26:12 Does China have global security ambitions?
35:09 Ending the Middle East’s post-Ottoman redefinition
39:42 Danny: It’s gotta be rough to be Peter Beinart
43:46 Why we don’t need Hitler to explain Trump’s authoritarianism
56:29 Danny: We’ve been in the midst of a constitutional crisis since the 1940s
57:58 Can the nuclear taboo hold?
Recorded April 19, 2025
Links and Readings
Danny’s podcast, American Prestige
Karl Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page’s paper, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens”
Walter Lippmann’s book, Public Opinion
Danny’s book, Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual
Transcript of Matt Lauer’s 1998 interview with Madeline Albright
Paul Thomas Chamberlain’s book, The Cold War Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace
Lindsey O’Rourke’s book, Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War
Peter Beinart’s book, Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning
Glenn’s conversation with Peter Beinart
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
Danny’s Jacobin piece, “This Is America”
James Whitman’s book, Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
Carl Schmitt’s book, The Concept of the Political
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In this bonus episode of The Glenn Show, I talk with Brown University sophomore Alex Shieh about Bloat@Brown, his website calling out Brown administrators whose roles, he says, may violate federal discrimination laws. We talk about why he started Bloat@Brown, diversity of thought on campus, class-based affirmative action, and the role of diversity on campus.
This bonus episode is available in its entirety to full subscribers, without whom The Glenn Show would not be possible. If you want to listen to the full version of this episode and our other bonus content—including monthly Q&As with John McWhorter—go to https://glennloury.substack.com and sign up.
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Pre-order Glenn's forthcoming book, Self-Censorship. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetai...
Video Links
0:00 Intro
1:12 Attacks on the university from within and without
9:50 Ground News ad
11:43 Reshaping institutions by force and by argument
20:56 Critiquing the Gaza War without antisemitism
22:30 Reforming para-academic institutions
32:07 Is there a potential conflict between commitments to truth and commitments to diversity of thought?
39:19 Caught between “casual relativism” and “fierce absolutism”
52:18 Cornel: There is no “mic drop” argument on Gaza or anything else
55:19 The straight-jacket of emotional over-investment
1:00:36 The role of faith in the search for truth
1:10:19 Finding faith beyond reason in Stephen Sondheim
Recorded April 12, 2025
Links and Readings
Robbie and Cornel’s new book, Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division
Plato’s Republic
Thomas Kuhn’s book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Eugene Genovese’s book, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made
Antonio Gramsci’s book, The Prison Notebooks
William Blake’s poem, “London”
Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, Fides et Ratio
Genesis 22, King James Version
Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
Mandy Patinkin sings “Finishing the Hat” from Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George
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VIdeo Links
0:00 Intro
0:45 Why Trump’s tariffs alarm economists
8:18 Are the tariffs designed to offset Trump’s tax cuts?
11:30 Larry’s break with Senator Ron Johnson
14:16 Larry: We’re not in a trade war with other countries, we’re in a trade war with other people
22:44 Is Trump under the sway of a foreign power?
28:45 What measures should investors take to protect themselves from tariff-generated market volatility?
35:46 The possible silver lining in the economy under tariffs
41:32 The hypothetical third-party billionaire who could defeat Trump
44:46 The social security Ponzi scheme
54:50 Larry’s plan for fixing social security
57:29 Are other aging nations facing the same social security crisis as the US?
1:02:23 The failure of checks and balances
Recorded April 4, 2025
Links and Readings
Larry’s Substack
Larry’s company, Economic Security Planning
The MaxiFi Planner
TIPs Ladder
Rajiv Sethi’s Substack, Imperfect Information
Larry’s book, You’re Hired: A Trump Playbook for Fixing America’s Economy
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For the March 2025 Q&A, John and I take questions on getting outside our bubbles, the first hundred days of the second Trump administration, the Department of Education, contemporary black writers, race and advertising, the assumption of good faith, and undocumented immigration.
The Glenn Show is supported almost entirely by listeners, viewers, and readers. If you're not year a full subscriber, please consider becoming one at https://glennloury.substack.com. You'll get access to monthly Q&As, commenting privileges at the newsletter, and lots of bonus content. And if you're already a full subscriber, thank you for all you do.
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Video Links
0:00 Intro
1:03 How Rick feels being a “liberal maverick,” according to the NYT
4:18 Rick’s advocacy for class-based affirmative action
6:39 Rick: “The Trump administration has gone too far” by trying to eliminate racial diversity
13:02 Opening up the elite university’s old boys club
21:21 Will economic diversity in admissions come with test score disparities?
23:55 Ground News ad 25:56 What’s Edward Blum’s deal?
29:36 Rick: The Democratic Party needs to ask itself why it lost to Trump
34:48 The black allies of class-based affirmative action
40:53 Is vocational training a viable alternative to four years of college?
44:48 Addressing the development problem among black students
52:52 Rick’s hopes for a new Democratic Party
Links and Readings
Rick’s new book, Class Matters: The Fight to Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America’s Colleges
Pew poll on race and ethnicity in college admissions
Glenn and John’s 2023 conversation with Peter Arcidiacono
The 1966 Coleman report, Equality of Educational Opportunity
Rick’s book, Excluded: How Snob Zoning, NIMBYism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don't See
Rick’s Atlantic piece, “Liberal Suburbs Have Their Own Border Wall”
Progressive Policy Institute
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Video Links
0:36 How Rajiv saw Trump’s assault on elite higher ed coming
4:26 The Trump administration’s legitimate complaints against higher ed
9:41 Rajiv: The crackdown on campus protest would have happened even without the October 7 protest
17:10 How test scores can marry merit and diversity on college campuses
21:06 Glenn: Doesn’t SFFA v. Harvard justify JD Vance’s criticisms of higher ed?
25:30 Columbia’s capitulation to the Trump administration
33:06 Columbia’s new measures against antisemitism
38:09 The opportunistic adoption of contested phrases
43:27 How bad is the antisemitism problem at Barnard and Columbia?
50:44 Who has the authority to police Columbia’s MESAAS scholars?
1:00:55 Facing the prospect of Trump-generated American brain drain
Recorded March 23, 2025
Links and Readings
Rajiv’s Substack, Imperfect Information
Rajiv’s post April 2024 post, “Minority Report”
FIRE’s 2024 Faculty Survey
Rajiv’s post, “The Lion Hath Roared”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “Working Definition of Antisemitism”
Eli Lake’s X post questioning the attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil
Preorder Glenn’s book, Self-Censorship
Noam Dworman moderates a debate between Eli Lake and Norman Finkelstein
Lex Friedman hosts a debate between Norman Finkelstein, Mouin Rabbani, Benny Morris, and Destiny
Dworman interviews Rashid Khalidi
Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Mari Matsuda’s Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment
Killer Mike’s 2024 FIRE keynote
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I spent part of last week visiting Stanford University, and John is off taking care of business in Australia. The time difference, travel, and speaking obligations made scheduling a recording impossible. So this week, I’ve got something a little different for you. Instead of recording a conversation on the day’s news with John, I decided to record one on my own. In this episode, I talk through some opinion pieces that grabbed my attention and give my take on the topics. I address Trump and the economy, Trump’s predictability and unpredictability, DOGE and MAGA’s slashing of the federal government, Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest, antisemitism, and attacks on Tesla cars, dealerships, and charging stations. This is a bit of an experiment—my team and I wanted to see what would happen if I gave it a shot. Let me know how it’s working for you in the comments.
These pieces are all quite relevant as of this posting, on Monday afternoon. But by Friday? Who knows. So I decided to release this episode simultaneously to both free and full subscribers. If you like getting The Glenn Show a few days early, consider becoming a full subscriber. You’ll get new episodes early, plus access to monthly Q&As with John McWhorter, bonus episodes, and other exclusive content.
Become a full subscriber at https://glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
2:31 The opportunities and risks of Trump's economic plans
6:50 Is Trump as unpredictable as he seems?
16:00 DOGE and MAGA take a chainsaw to the federal government
22:30 An argument against Mahmoud Khalil's detention ...
32:49 ... and one in favor of Khalil's detention
41:38 Is it time for an official ban on antisemitism?
49:14 Teslas are burning
Recorded March 14, 2025
Links and Readings
Steve Cortes’s RCP piece, “Trump and the Economy: Opportunities and Risks”
Susan Glasser’s New Yorker piece, “Uncertainty Is Trump’s Brand. But What if He Already Told Us What He’s Going to Do?”
Tim Murtaugh’s Washington Times piece, “Why the Democrat Brand Is in the Toilet”
Jeff Mayhugh’s Hill piece, “The MAGA Revolution Is Playing with Fire”
Ross Barkan’s NYMag piece, “Mahmoud Khalil’s Arrest Will Backfire on Trump”
Josh Hammer’s Daily Signal piece, “Mahmoud Khalil and the Red-Green Assault on American Sovereignty”
Mackenzie France’s RCP piece, “Congress Should Pass Antisemitism Awareness Act”
Rich Lowry’s New York Post piece, “Tesla Terrorism Only Reveals the Left’s Impotence”
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
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Video Links
0:00 Intro
1:33 The relationships Peter has lost and gained
4:14 Why Peter thinks this is a “watershed” moment in Jewish history
6:50 Who can criticize Israel?
9:44 The challenge of October 7’s aftermath to Jewish self-understanding
15:54 Peter: Jews should support non-violent Palestinian protest, not criminalize it
20:12 Shouldn’t the Palestinians have taken the deals they were offered?
25:48 Peter’s argument for a one-state solution
34:34 The “dirty little secret” of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Jewish critics
37:12 The idolatry of the Jewish state
39:45 The mutual liberation of Jews and Palestinians
41:37 Why aren’t the critics of snowflakes and trigger warnings defending pro-Palestinian campus protesters?
46:01 Peter: Antisemitism is on the rise, and ethno-nationalism is the reason
50:20 Peter: If Gaza is unlivable, then Gazans should be allowed to live where they want
Recorded February 21, 2025
Links and Readings
Peter’s Substack, The Beinart Notebook
Jewish Currents magazine
Peter’s new book, Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Eitan Hersh and Laura Loyden’s article, “Antisemitic Attitudes across the Ideological Spectrum”
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In this episode, Nikita, Mark, and I talk about steelmanning, what people want me to say about Gaza, what I want to say about Gaza, and why I offer disclaimers when I talk foreign policy.
Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
0:00 Intro
1:55 Did Trump and Vance bully Zelenskyy or give him a dose of reality?
5:16 Glenn: Trump is trying to wind down an unnecessary war
13:49 - Ground News ad
28:58 The “deep game” of European security
32:06 Glenn: America First appeals to me, World War III doesn’t
36:40 Teaching the reparations debate in a post-October 7 world
43:06 MSNBC axes Joy Reid’s show
Recorded March 1, 2025
Links and Readings
Trump and Zelensky’s Oval Office meeting
Tucker Carlson’s onstage interview with Hungarian president Victor Orbán
The latest episode of Walter Kirn and Matt Taibbi’s podcast, America This Week
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Atlantic essay, “The Case for Reparations”
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In this month's Substack subscriber Q&A, John and I answer your questions on the NAACP, Trump and January 6, Western civilization, how we deal with angry viewers, and more.
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In this bonus episode, Mark, Nikita, and I discuss Trump's chaotic Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, parsing positions from principles, and the fate of Ukraine.
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Today I'm posting a bonus episode of the Glenn Show with University of Pennsylvania Law professor Amy Wax. Unfortunately, Amy experienced some recording difficulties, which resulted in an episode that does not meet our usual standards for audio fidelity and clarity. Rather than post it here in the podcast feed, we've opted to post only the video with subtitles under Amy's side of the conversation. You can find that video right now by going to glennloury.substack.com
Video Links
0:00 A note on audio quality
1:08 Glenn: I may not agree with Amy about everything, but I defend her right to speak her mind
4:17 Amy: What’s wrong with Trump evaluating how federal research money is spent?
12:54 The accusations against Amy
19:17 Did Amy violate students’ privacy?
21:44 What it’s not okay to say at Penn
31:52 Amy’s lawsuit against Penn
36:21 Glenn: Aren’t your free speech claims and you civil rights claims contradictory?
38:33 Amy: This is bigger than me
42:11 Can university research infrastructure survive defunding under Trump?
48:32 Glenn: I’m unnerved by the implications of the anti-DEI movement
Recorded February 17, 2025
Links and Readings
The Harvard Salient magazine
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Video Links
1:00 Conn’s career in the conservative movement
4:34 The four sexual revolutions
14:17 What about feminism and LGBTQ rights?
20:25 Conn: “We spend over a trillion dollars a year on means-tested programs that punish marriage”
24:30 How online gambling is hurting working-class men
29:02 What are the benefits of marriage?
34:03 Why Conn thinks single-parenthood disproportionately harms boys
37:12 The link between political and domestic structures
44:49 Will Trump enact policies that promote marriage?
48:42 Conn: We should strengthen obscenity laws in order to restrain online porn
55:52 The conservative case for birthright citizenship
Recorded February 11, 2025
Links and Readings
Conn’s new book, Sex and the Citizen: How the Assault on Marriage is Destroying Democracy
David Blankenhorn’s book, Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem
Melissa Kearney’s book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese’s report on pornography
Conn’s Washington Examiner piece, “The Conservative Case for Birthright Citizenship”
George Borjas’s books on labor and immigration
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In this bonus episode, Glenn, Nikita, and Mark discuss Elon Musk and Steve Bannon's alleged "Nazi salutes," whether Trump is serious about Canada and Greenland, and what counts as a serious question.
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Video Links
0:55 The myth of a secret black language
6:36 The terror of slavery in James
12:13 Essential fictions
15:45 Ground News ad
17:30 Liberal panic over Trump and DOGE
24:10 Is NYC mayor Eric Adams under Trump’s thumb?
26:54 Glenn: What’s wrong with telling illegal migrants to leave?
33:40 ACTA ad
35:54 The differing challenges of European and American immigration
44:08 The significance of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance
52:17 What’s wrong with Ye?
Recorded February 16, 2025
Links and Readings
John’s latest NYT column, “The Truth and the Fiction of Black English”
Percival Everett’s novel, James
Percival Everett’s novel, Erasure
Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye
Allan Gurganus’s novel, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
Francis Burney’s novel, Evelina
R.F. Kuang’s novel, Babel, or, the Necessity of Violence
Gil-Scot Heron’s song, “Whitey on the Moon”
Tucker Carlson interviews Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show
John’s book, All about the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can’t Save Black America
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Glenn and John take questions from Substack subscribers in this Q&A episode.
1:02 Pat Rimell presents a list of propositions about general poverty in urban communities
17:54 Samuel D. James asks if John has any writing advice
23:35 Tom Wojciaczyk wants to know if what the difference is between an accent and pronunciation
30:50 Michael asks why we’re not more worried about Trump taking us back to the nuclear brinksmanship of the Cold War
39:03 Karen Dawn Norris offers two defenses of reparations
43:34 Young Törless asks, since we use the term “blackness” so often, if we could come up with a definition of it that would satisfy such disparate figures as Al Sharpton, Charles Barkley, Condoleezza Rice, Raven-Symone, and Iman
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Video Links
1:10 Which race-conscious programs stay and which go?
11:05 Ground News ad
12:42 Glenn: I’m afraid some African Americans might get left behind
19:25 More programs won’t address the problems of “the underclass”
27:49 John: Maybe this is the best it can be
31:22 The great benefits of HBCUs
35:35 ACTA ad
37:48 Ibram X. Kendi decamps for Howard
44:49 Studying the African diaspora
51:35 The passing of Belle da Costa Greene
1:02:29 Is colorism within the black community still an issue?
Recorded February 2, 2025
Links and Readings
Robin DiAngelo’s book, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism
Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How to Be an Antiracist
The Woodson Center
James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses
John’s NYT column, “Black and White Weren’t Always as Black-and-White as They Seem”
Hilton Als’s New Yorker piece, “The Hidden Story of J.P. Morgan’s Library”
Stephen and Abigail Thernstrom’s America in Black and White: One Nation Indivisible
Karen and Barbara Fields’s book, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life
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Video Links
1:04 Rajiv’s role in getting Glenn’s forthcoming book published
7:39 Self-censorship and racial passing
9:29 Rajiv’s work on parental investment and educational attainment
17:01 Rajiv: Prediction markets outperformed forecasting models in 2024
23:36 Are Trump’s tariff threats having their intended effects on foreign markets?
31:53 Why Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008
35:07 Rajiv recommends some public-facing economists
39:26 Secular backsliding in India
43:51 Trump’s revocation of LBJ’s 1965 anti-discrimination executive order
Recorded January 25, 2025
Links and Readings
Rajiv’s Substack, Imperfect Information
Rajiv post Substack post, “Self-Censorship, Passing, and Natural Cover”
James Weldon Johnson’s novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Glenn and Rajiv’s 2014 conversation about self-censorship
Glenn and Young-Chul Kim’s article, “To Be, or Not to Be: Stereotypes, Identity Choice and Group Inequality”
Glenn and Rajiv’s previous conversation
Rajiv and Dyotona Dasgupta’s working paper, “Educational Standards and Parental Investment”
Rajiv’s post, “The Tariff Threat”
Paul Krugman’s post, “The Dollar and the Trade Deficit”
John Cochrane’s review of Late Admissions
Tyler Cowen’s Marginal Revolution
Gyan Mukherjee’s 1943 film, Kismet
Rajiv and Brendan O’Flaherty’s book, Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crime, and the Pursuit of Justice
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In this post-show bonus episode, Glenn, Mark, and Nikita discuss Trump's tariff threats, madman theory, competing racial myths, and colorblindness vs. indifference.
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Video Links
1:08 Intros
4:24 Matthew: The IDF recklessly disregarded civilian life in its October 2023 bombing campaign
9:01 Eli: Israel made efforts to warn civilians ahead of bombings
15:31 Ground News ad
17:35 Are Gazan civilian deaths part of Hamas’s strategy or merely an effect of its strategy?
23:39 Counting casualties in the fog of war
30:04 If Hamas is still partially intact, can a ceasefire hold?
33:28 ACTA ad
38:53 Why Matthew thinks Israel was intentionally killing civilians early in the war
48:41 Is Matthew holding Israel to a different standard than he would hold the US?
52:39 Alternative strategies for prosecuting the war
56:16 Do civilian warnings negate the question of murderous intent?
1:01:46 Eli: I don’t think Jewish critics of the war are speaking for the larger diaspora
1:10:05 Is further normalization between Israel and the rest of Middle East coming despite the war?
1:15:10 Matthew: Israel clandestinely continued its initial starvation strategy in Gaza for monthsRecorded January 17, 2025
Links and Readings
Trailer for Eli’s forthcoming Free Press podcast, Breaking History
Matthew’s YouTube show, History Speaks
Airwars
Airwars’ Gaza Patterns of Harm report
Yuval Abraham’s +972 piece, “‘Lavender’: The AI Machine Directing Israel’s Bombing Spree in Gaza”
Bethan McKernan and Harry Davies’s Guardian piece, “‘The Machine Did It Coldly’: Israel Used AI to Identify 37,000 Hamas Targets”
Patrick Kingsley et al’s NYT piece, “Israel Loosened Its Rules to Bomb Hamas Fighters, Killing Many More Civilians”
Shaiel Ben-Ephraim on X
Glenn’s conversation with Omer Bartov
Motty Perry and Ariel Rubinstein’s Haaretz piece, “It’s Impossible Not to Know What’s Going on in Gaza”
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In this post-show bonus episode, I talk with Mark, Nikita, and LaJuan about Trump's inauguration, this week's debate between Eli Lake and Matthew Cockerill, and whether we need Medicare for All.
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Video Links
0:55 Peter’s new book, Back from the Brink: Inside the NYPD and New York City’s Extraordinary 1990s Crime Drop
5:27 Why policing went off the rails over the last decade
11:03 Peter: I’m done with police abolitionists
19:22 Why don’t we hear about unarmed black men getting shot anymore?
22:00 Remembering the lessons of ‘90s New York
28:07 Dealing with the racial disparity problem
35:46 Is there a suicide problem among cops?
39:31 The Ferguson Effect
43:12 The utility of pretextual stops
48:29 The pride felt by the 1990s NYPD
50:30 What cops think of Darren Wilson and Derek Chauvin
Recorded January 10, 2025
Links and Readings
Peter’s forthcoming book, Back from the Brink: Inside the NYPD and New York City’s Extraordinary 1990s Crime Drop
Peter’s book, In Defense of Flogging
Peter’s book, Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District
Tracy Mears on police legitimacy and the future of policing
Heather Mac Donald’s book, The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe
Tanaya Devi and Roland Fryer’s paper, “Policing the Police: The Impact of ‘Pattern-or-Practice’ Investigations on Crime”
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In this post-show bonus episode with Nikita, Mark, and LaJuan, we talk about what's required of a black intellectual, shifting alliances and ideological orientations, and the utility of the police.
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I'm reposting an episode of the Invisible Men podcast, hosted by Ian Rowe and Nique Fajors. They had me on to talk about Late Admissions, the bias and development narratives, and a lot more. Ian and Nique have a stellar lineup of guests who are having the important conversations about race in America, so check them out at invisible.men. You can find video of this episode there or at my newsletter, https://glennloury.substack.com.
Order Glenn's memoir, "Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative" here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
Subscribe to The Glenn Show on Youtube: @GlennLouryShow
Subscribe to The Glenn Show Clips Channel on Youtube: @GlennLouryclips
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Video Links
0:00 Intro
1:10 John feels Glenn’s pain
2:36 Glenn: “I’m tired of being the black guy who has to call b**t on the race narrative”
9:21 The monotonous groove of the race discourse
12:35 John: “This is the most seismic sociopolitical shift of my lifetime”
19:17 Ground News ad
21:10 The H-1B conflict on the right
26:24 The hard truths of global competition
30:09 Luigi Mangione, folk hero?
36:09 ACTA ad
38:22 Glenn and John’s 2025 status
44:52 Living on the edge of a weekly deadline
46:45 Why did Al Jolson wear blackface?
Recorded January 5, 2025
Links and Readings
Charles Sheeler’s painting, “River Rouge Plant”
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
JD Vance’s book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
Matt Taibbi on coverage of Luigi Mangione’s personal style
Glenn’s forthcoming book, Self-Censorship
Richard Bernstein’s book, Only in America: Al Jolson and The Jazz Singer
Trailer for Al Jolson’s film, Mammy
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It may be cold outside, but the first Q&A of 2025 is a hot one. John and Glenn talk negotiating the modern mediasphere, the German language, education after affirmative action, code switching, social media and AI, and maintaining a friendship in spite of political differences.
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In retiring from academia, I'm giving up what was once a vital source of intellectual inspiration. How should I go about replacing it? I'm talking through the problem with Nikita and Mark.
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In this bonus episode, I sit down with my son, Glenn Cartman Loury II, to talk about the big topics: life, death, and change. This is a heavy, real conversation. We “reminisce” about caring for Linda—my wife and Glenn’s mother—during the final stages of terminal cancer. We talk about who we were then, who we are now, and why we work so hard to change our lives. I’m seeking solace from my son, and true solace can only come from confronting reality, rather than turning away from it and taking refuge in comforting illusions.
This episode is available only to full subscribers to my Substack. If you're listening to the full episode, thank you for all your support. And if you want more of The Glenn Show, in addition a host of other benefits, go to https://glennloury.substack.com and become a full subscriber.
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0:00 Intro
3:01 January 15, “Why Glenn wrote a memoir”
9:18 February 2, “The three dimensions of black conservatism”
15:50 Ground News ad
17:52 February 16, “Were Glenn and John too credulous about The Fall of Minneapolis?”
23:07 March 22, “What do we mean by 'colorblindness' today?”
34:39 April 5, “John: We weren’t wrong to ask the questions we asked, even if our answers came up short at first”
37:40 May 17, “Has Israel gone too far in Gaza?”
41:53 ACTA ad
44:07 June 14, “Inside the collapse of Ibram X. Kendi’s research center”
49:22 June 28, “Can John account for his 'emotional and irrational conclusions' about Trump and his recent conviction?”
59:35 August 16, “Glenn: Kamala Harris is no Barack Obama”
1:05:08 August 28, “Vladimir X asks Glenn and John about Gaza”
1:18:19 October 11, “Glenn: Ta-Nehisi Coates's book is brilliant”
1:26:32 October 25, “John: Coates is a beautiful writer, BUT …”
1:28:54 November 4, “A revisionist history of the Trump presidency (or presidencies)”
1:35:47 November 22, “Glenn: Wake up! It’s time to take Trump seriously!”
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0:00 The uncertain future of AI
4:46 What would it mean to “lose the AI race” to China?
8:15 The promise and peril of artificial general intelligence
12:01 The international policy challenges of AI
14:32 Can Trump deliver peace between Russia and Ukraine?
18:46 Are there any good argument for Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense?
23:55 Bob: With Iran weakened, Israel faces a decision: bombs or diplomacy
28:29 The continuing assault on Gaza
32:33 Antiwar speech codes
37:57 Apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing
43:15 Missed opportunities to turn the temperature down in Israel
51:29 Bob: The international community has little sway over Israel
54:25 The advantages of cognitive empathy
Recorded December 17, 2024
Links and Readings
Bob’s Substack, the Nonzero Newsletter
Nonzero on YouTube
Thomas Nagel’s essay, “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”
Bob’s most recent conversation with Thomas Friedman
Glenn’s essay, “Self-Censorship in a Time of War”
Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid
Ilan Papé’s book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Bob’s Nonzero essay, “The Truth about Hamas”
Bob’s 2002 Slate essay, “Was Arafat the Problem?”
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LaJuan has appeared in a handful of episodes, but I don’t feel like you really know her yet. I wanted to use this episode to introduce you to my lovely wife. We talk about how her difficult early life shaped her political views, how she developed her love of reading and ideas, her alienation from Democrats and the liberal center, and her personal connection to Beyoncé.
This episode is available only to full subscribers to my Substack. If you're listening to the full episode, thank you for all your support. And if you want more of The Glenn Show, in addition a host of other benefits, go to https://glennloury.substack.com and become a full subscriber.
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Video Links
1:33 Demonization on the right and the left
6:23 Is Trump’s election the nail in the coffin for DEI?
13:50 John: It’s no use pretending that racism in America is as bad as it was 50 years ago
16:33 Ground News ad
18:36 Has Elon Musk “encouraged” or “permitted” more racism on X?
19:30 John: It’s a tragedy that Jordan Neely died, but he needed to be restrained
30:12 If Daniel Penny had been a cop
34:05 ACTA ad
36:18 The glorification of Luigi Mangione
47:06 Cheering for the villain
55:43 Will New York remain a sanctuary city?
Recorded December 13, 2024
Links and Readings
John’s NYT column, “How to Dangerously Misread a Very Important Verdict”
Briahna Joy Gray and Nathan Robinson on Luigi Mangione
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Right after I taped this week’s episode with John McWhorter, I got on a call with my creative director Nikita Petrov, expecting some follow ups.
We talked about Syria, the world’s reaction to Trump’s victory, P. Diddy’s parties, the reasons the labor movement never got the same kind of momentum in the US as it did in Western Europe, and more. But we started by connecting two topics from my conversation with John: the surprisingly cheerful reactions to a killing of an insurance firm CEO in New York, and the seeming demise of DEI as a movement.
Normally, free subscribers to the newsletter and podcast have to wait until Friday receive the new episode. And normally Q&A sessions with John McWhorter, in which we answer questions posed by the audience, are only available to full subscribers. But today is no normal day—I’m releasing our Q&A from last month to everyone.
Become a subscriber at https://glennloury.substack.com
Mike Spooner wants to know how I came around to supporting Trump
Substack Reader wants to know if Trump’s reelection signals that we’re entering an era where “reason and common sense once again prevail.”
Michoel Stern senses that I’m becoming more isolationist, and that I don’t want America to be the world’s policeman. So what is the alternative?
Robert Odear asks if there is “an accepted metric for linguistic complexity,” and if there is one, whether linguistically complex societies also tend to be advanced societies.
Nancy wants to know if the triumph over “wokeness” represented by Trump’s election is being felt on campus.
Jonathan E. Burack wants to know why I haven’t responded to this review of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Message.
Pete Bradshaw asks what we think of the use of political slurs like “fascist,” “Hitler,” and “commie.”
Cara C. suggests that, while it was wrong for Democrats to use lawfare against Trump, it is acceptable for Republicans to use it against Democrats, if only to teach them a lesson.
Recorded December 1, 2024
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0:00 Thanksgiving with Glenn and John
0:45 Thanksgiving with Glenn and John
6:50 Glenn the patriarch
10:35 John Lewis’s legacy
15:48 Ground News ad
17:49 From John Lewis to Stokely Carmichael to Jesse Jackson to BLM
25:21 To isolate or to integrate?
27:41 What black activism could have been
32:02 John: The Black Panthers accomplished nothing
40:04 ACTA ad
42:18 James Baldwin’s “nutty” late work
44:45 James Q. Wilson’s prescient attitude toward Glenn’s leftward shift
52:43 The “conservative” absence at the National Museum of African American History
55:11 John’s investigation of contemporary Yiddish speakers
Recorded December 1, 2024
Links and Readings
David Greenberg’s book, John Lewis: A Life
Barbara Fields and Karen Fields’s book, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life
Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) and Charles Hamilton’s book, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation
Trailer for Raoul Peck’s film, I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin’s book, The Evidence of Things Not Seen
Glenn’s book, Race, Incarceration, and American Values
John DiIulio Jr.’s review of Late Admissions in the Claremont Review of Books
John’s NYT column, “Yiddish is a Supposedly Dying Language That’s Thrillingly Alive”
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In this post-show recording with Mark and Nikita, I talk about the holiday blues, the contradictions of racial heterodoxy and racial self-identification, and learning from Yiddish-speakers.
This episode is available only to full subscribers to my Substack. If you're listening to the full episode, thank you for all your support. And if you want more of The Glenn Show, in addition a host of other benefits, go to https://glennloury.substack.com and become a full subscriber.
This episode was released to full subscribers on Monday. If you want early access to weekly episodes, Q&As, and more exclusive content, go to https://glennloury.substack.comto become a full subscriber.
0:47 The Jabbari Lincoln Files, Yaya’s audio spy thriller
5:40 Is Jabbari Lincoln a fictional surrogate for Yaya?
10:05 How Yaya joined the CIA
16:18 What does a CIA analyst do, anyway?
20:42 The lessons of the WMDs debacle
23:08 A Muslim convert at the Agency
28:40 How the 2005 London Underground bombings got Yaya interested in counterterrorism
30:28 Terrorist recruitment and the search for self
35:57 Why Yaya doesn’t use the term “Islamophobia”
38:52 Yaya: Not even freedom fighters have license to kill with impunity
45:06 What would Malcolm X think about African American support of Palestinians?
52:22 Working for the CIA in the post-COINTELPRO era
Recorded November 9, 2024
Links and Readings
1776 Unites
The Jabarri Lincoln Files
Sam Greenlee’s novel, The Spook Who Sat by the Door
Ivan Dixon’s 1973 film adaptation of The Spook Who Say by the Door
Yaya’s essay for the Journal of Free Black Thought, “Hamas Are Not Muslim Freedom Fighters”
December 2, 1963 NYT article on Malcolm X’s “Chickens coming home to roost” comment
Yaya’s other podcast, Designated
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In this post-show recording with Mark and Nikita, I talk about my conversation with Yaya Fanusie, the sub rosa activities of the CIA, the US's authorization of ATACMS strikes in Russian territory, and more.
This episode is available only to full subscribers to my Substack. If you're listening to the full episode, thank you for all your support. And if you want more of The Glenn Show, in addition a host of other benefits, go to https://glennloury.substack.com and become a full subscriber.
This episode was released to full subscribers on Monday. If you want early access to weekly episodes, Q&As, and more exclusive content, go to https://glennloury.substack.com to become a full subscriber.
0:43 John reconciles himself to Trump’s win
4:06 Glenn: Wake up! It’s time to take Trump seriously!
12:16 Why Glenn feels a sense of excitement about the present moment
14:54 Ground News Ad
16:40 Is Glenn’s attitude all about contrarianism?
21:00 Does John hope that Trump’s administration fails?
26:08 ACTA ad
28:22 John’s trip to Dublin with Richard Dawkins
36:44 John’s questions for Dawkins
41:51 What Dawkins might think about race, culture, and IQ
Recorded November 18, 2024
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “What if I’m the ‘Friend’ Donald Trump Referred To?”
John’s Atlantic piece, “Trump’s Unmonitored Speech”
Max Boot’s book, Reagan: His Life and Legend
Richard Dawkins’s latest book, The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie
Dawkins’s book, The Selfish Gene
Dawkins’s book, The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene
Dawkins’s book, The God Delusion
Dawkins’s book, The Ancestors’ Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life
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In this post-show recording with Mark and Nikita, I talk about my conversation with John McWhorter, my elation over Trump's victory, and why I wasn't forthcoming about my preference for him over Harris.
This episode is available only to full subscribers to my Substack. If you're listening to the full episode, thank you for all your support. And if you want more of The Glenn Show, in addition a host of other benefits, go to https://glennloury.substack.com and become a full subscriber.
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In this post-show conversation with my creative director Nikita Petrov, I review this week's episode with historian Daniel Bessner. We also talk about Trump's policy proposals, capitalism, Russia and Ukraine, NATO, and why I sometimes pull back from speaking my mind.
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In this month's Substack subscriber-only Q&A session, we talk about Donald Trump's "Nazi rally" at Madison Square Garden, Martha Raddatz's comments about Venezuelan gangs in Colorado, Glenn's retirement, John's comments about Trump and Vance, my comments about Israel and Palestine, and, of course, Trump's victory.
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This is the Post-Show episode following this week's conversation with John McWhorter. In it, Glenn sits down with his editor Mark Sussman and his creative director Nikita Petrov to talk about the election, why he understands where Trump's supporters are coming from, the meaning of voting, and the possibility that Trump might release sealed documents relating to the JFK assassination.
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If you subscribe only to the free version of this podcast, you’ll notice this episode has arrived a few days early. I figured that by Friday, when the episode normally drops for the general public, it will be out of date already, so we’re releasing it to everyone today. If you find you enjoy starting your week with The Glenn Show, consider becoming a paying subscriber, which will get you early access to episodes, along with a host of other benefits.
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[Note: In the episode, John mistakenly referred to the author of a biography of Ronald Reagan as George Will. He meant to reference Max Boot’s Reagan: His Life and Legacy.]
1:39 Pre-election jitters
3:23 Will Democrats contest the election if it goes Trump’s way?
4:44 A crisis for democracy, maybe, but not the end of democracy
10:02 John’s case against Trump’s proposed second administration
15:36 Ground News ad
17:28 The Obamas’ attempted intervention and post-presidential performance
26:58 The mind of the informed Trump voter
34:20 A revisionist history of the Trump presidency (or presidencies)
41:15 Is Trump losing it or just tired of campaigning?
44:25 The Washington Post and the LA Times decline to endorse
47:48 Glenn and John’s election night plans
50:48 The nightmare scenario
Recorded November 3, 2024
Links and Readings
Shelby Steele’s book, A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited about Obama and Why He Can’t Win
Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
John’s NYT column, “Donald Trump Is Bored”
Max Boot’s book, Reagan: His Life and Legacy
Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Series DVD box set
Douglas Murray’s Free Press piece, “Things Worth Remembering: Whoever Loses, They Should Lose Like Nixon”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Order Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 Rajiv’s report from the FIRE conference
3:11 Roland Fryer’s keynote address
13:26 Ta-Nehisi Coates’s humanist universalism
17:25 “Tolstoy is the Tolstoy of the Zulus”
18:50 Rajiv’s reading of Coates’s stand on “apartheid”
31:55 The gap between election forecasting models and prediction markets
36:52 The limits of models and markets
39:59 Rajiv: The markets show us a balance between narratives about the election
44:17 Is one crypto trader manipulating the prediction markets in favor of Trump?
53:12 Rajiv: Prediction markets may have sent early signals about January 6
55:19 Rajiv’s family history with Kamala Harris
57:45 The new prominence of Indian Americans in politics
1:03:07 The axiom of antiessentialism
Recorded October 27, 2024
Links and Readings
Rajiv’s Substack, Imperfect Information
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Lara Bazelon’s 2022 Atlantic essay, “The ACLU Has Lost Its Way”
Glenn’s 2021 conversation with Bazelon
Glenn’s 2023 conversation with Erec Smith
Eugene Volokh on the Hamline University-Prophet Muhammad painting controversy
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Coates’s 2010 Atlantic essay, “The Ghost of Bobby Lee”
Ralph Wiley’s book, Dark Witness: When Black People Should Be Sacrificed (Again)
Last week’s TGS debate about The Messsage
Orlando Patterson’s book, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study
Glenn’s book, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
Polymarket
Recorded October 27, 2024
Links and Readings
Rajiv’s Substack, Imperfect Information
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Lara Bazelon’s 2022 Atlantic essay, “The ACLU Has Lost Its Way”
Glenn’s 2021 conversation with Bazelon
Glenn’s 2023 conversation with Erec Smith
Eugene Volokh on the Hamline University-Prophet Muhammad painting controversy
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Coates’s 2010 Atlantic essay, “The Ghost of Bobby Lee”
Ralph Wiley’s book, Dark Witness: When Black People Should Be Sacrificed (Again)
Last week’s TGS debate about The Messsage
Orlando Patterson’s book, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study
Glenn’s book, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
Polymarket
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1:22 The Coates debate continues
3:18 John: Coates is a beautiful writer, but …
5:44 John: … The Message is suffused with incuriosity and simplistic thinking
13:45 Glenn: Coates is talking about humanism and power, not race
18:11 Ground News ad
20:25 Is it “all about whitey”?
22:11 Glenn: Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote this book. What am I doing?
27:40 What kind of historical imagination is at work in The Message?
34:11 Moral clarity or abdication of responsibility?
36:30 Pro-Palestinian writers John considers acceptable
41:54 The next entries in Glenn and John’s book club
42:04 Coates’s now notorious interview on CBS Mornings
48:45 What is the black intellectual’s role today?
52:16 The counterexample of South Africa
Recorded October 19, 2024
Links and Readings
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Glenn and John’s previous conversation
John’s NYT column, “Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Myth of Black Fragility”
Michael Chabon’s novel, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
Jeffrey Sachs on YouTube
Judge Andrew Napolitano on YouTube
Trevor Noah’s conversation with Coates
Ezra Klein’s conversation with Coates
Peter Beinart’s conversation with Coates
David Greenberg’s new book, John Lewis: A Life
Karen and Barbara Fields’s book, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
James Baldwin’s essay, “Letter from a Region in My Mind”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
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1:41 Penn’s sanctions against Amy
7:47 What’s at stake in the charges against Amy?
14:03 The trouble with “hate speech”
17:48 Should we abolish the nation-state?
21:38 The debates that can’t happen in the university
26:44 Ethnonationalism and group differences
33:11 Amy’s defense of maintaining an “Anglo-Protestant” American majority
42:32 Amy’s concerns about Asian migration
47:52 Are immigrants bringing lax attitudes toward property rights with them?
52:52 Glenn: Immigrants impart dynamism to a culture that’s always been in flux
1:01:13 Glenn and Amy talk about porn
1:07:51 The absence of virtue in political discourse
1:13:05 Amy’s next steps
Recorded October 12, 2024
Links and Readings
Amy’s Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed, “Paying the Price for the Breakdown of the Country’s Bourgeois Culture”
Glenn and Amy’s 2017 conversation, “The Downside to Social Uplift”
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s new book, The Message
William Vogelei’s Claremont Review of Books review of Robert Kagan’s Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart—Again
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson’s book, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
Daniel Di Martino’s recent appearance on The Glenn Show
Irving Kristol’s 1971 essay, “Pornography, Obscenity, and the Case for Censorship”
Glenn’s essay, “The Case for Black Patriotism”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
1:12 The Vance-Walz debate
4:28 Glenn: Ta-Nehisi Coates’s new book is brilliant
13:16 John and Coates’s ancient beef
15:31 Coates’s “blistering” critique of Zionism
18:22 Ground News ad
20:39 Do you have to solve the problem of “apartheid” in order to criticize it?
33:10 Glenn’s reappraisal of Coates (and John’s bemusement)
34:53 ACTA ad 36:39 Will the race card play for Eric Adams?
42:31 What has Eric Adams accomplished?
43:57 Why John defends Amy Wax
49:17 Glenn: Amy Wax gets to have her opinion
Recorded October 5, 2024
Links and Readings
The Vance-Walz VP debate
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Message
Coleman Hughes’s Free Press review of The Message
Coates’s book, Between the World and Me
Coates’s Atlantic essay, “The Case for Reparations”
Glenn and John’s in-person TGS episode
Andrew Yang’s Newsweek piece, “I Ran against Eric Adams. I Saw This Coming.”
John’s NYT piece, “She Is Outrageous, Demeaning, Dangerous. She Shouldn’t Be Punished.”
Amy Wax’s December 2021 TGS appearance
Wax’s August 2022 TGS appearance
Wax’s March 2024 TGS appearance
Richard Sander’s Stanford Law Review article, “A Systematic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools”
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A couple weeks ago, I did my own solo Q&A session. Now John is back, and I decided to put him in the hot seat. Let’s get into it. Yan Shen asks our opinion of the contretemps between Nancy Mace and Michael Eric Dyson. Stan asks if we’ve seen Matt Walsh’s film, Am I Racist?. Eli, noting the rampant grade inflation at many institutions, asks if we have a way of fixing the problem and wants to know if our own grading standards have changed over the years (here’s the Yascha Mounk post she references). RAO wants to know what we think of alternative education, like home schooling, micro-schools, charter schools, and so on. Jerry Zuriff wants to know why John likes hip-hop. Given that, on average, American girls perform better than American boys in high school, Michael asks if colleges should give preferences to males over females. Or would that run afoul of SFFA v. Harvard? And finally, DG wants to know why John never got interested in sports.
Order Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
1:28 John corrects some Wikipedia-driven misconceptions about his work
4:12 ChatGPT pays homage to Glenn and John
6:41 John: JD Vance actually is what I’m merely accused of being
17:59 Ground News ad 20:08 Are there any true sellouts among black conservatives?
28:32 And what is a sellout, anyway?
36:01 What goes on between Clarence and Ginni Thomas?
40:19 An addition to the book club reading list
42:08 ACTA ad
43:54 Remembering Linda Datcher Loury
49:00 Should having children be the norm?
56:34 Glenn sightings in the wild
57:32 Working without a net
Recorded September 23, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn’s Wikipedia page
John’s Wikipedia page
John’s NYT column, “Why JD Vance Dropped into My Inbox”
JD Vance’s book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
John’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
Randall Kennedy’s book, Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal
David Greenberg’s forthcoming book, John Lewis: A Life
David Lodge’s novel, Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses
Barbara and Karen Fields’s book, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life
Percival Everett’s novel, James
RF Kuang’s novel, Babel, or the Necessity of Violence
Clint Smith’s Atlantic piece, “George Floyd Was Also a Father”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
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0:14 Larry Kotlikoff for President?
5:40 Larry’s plan to save social security
9:30 Reincentivizing work, saving, and staying in the US
14:55 Rewriting the story about income and labor
21:08 Why a 10% tariff could amount to a new national sales tax or worse
23:33 Glenn: Trade with other nations is not a zero-sum game
29:15 Taxing billionaires on consumption rather than income
34:43 The price of shame
38:40 Maintaining competitive conditions with universal health insurance
44:49 What’s causing inflation?
52:26 How big of a problem is the national debt?
Recorded September 4, 2024
Links and Readings
Larry’s Substack
Larry’s homepage
Larry’s book, with Philip Moeller and Paul Solman, Getting What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security
Larry’s book, with Scott Burns, The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America’s Economic Future
Larry’s book, Jimmy Stewart Is Dead: Ending the World's Ongoing Financial Plague with Limited Purpose Banking
Larry’s financial planning program, MaxiFi
Larry’s book, You’re Hired: A Trump Playbook for Fixing America’s Economy
Larry’s book, The Healthcare Fix: Universal Insurance for All Americans
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Martyn Clark asks how economists factor idiosyncratic, unpredictable human behavior into their abstract modeling. Young Törless asks Glenn to weigh in on the presidential candidates’ approaches to—or avoidance of—the problem of the national debt. BB asks Glenn which economic theories or concepts haven’t stood the test of time. Stan asks what three policies would make the biggest difference in improving the lives of black people. Eli asks if technological progress and our ever-increasing knowledge about the world may end up being a bad thing for humanity. Luke Englund asks if the conservative movement has compromised too much for the sake of Donald Trump. And finally, therealnewyorker asks what issues I would feel compelled to talk about if racial politics disappeared tomorrow.
Order Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:59 Glenn debuts his new studio
2:34 Life after academia
13:02 The challenge of having a lot of time on your hands
18:10 John’s new musical endeavors
20:20 Ground News ad
22:38 John’s forthcoming book, Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
25:07 Glenn and John form an impromptu book club
29:43 The first class of post-Students for Fair Admissions college freshmen
36:22 Are black students being shut out of the upper echelons of American society?
40:33 The Supreme Court’s “indirect beneficial endowment” to HBCUs
46:42 Glenn: “The wheel is turning” on race politics in America
52:18 ACTA ad
54:26 Plagiarism in Robin DiAngelo’s dissertation
57:02 John: I don’t recognize the world that Danzy Senna and Ketanji Brown Jackson describe, even though I lived in it
1:04:07 Did Thomas Chatterton Williams really say what he said to Danzy Senna?
Recorded September 8, 2024
Links and Readings
The Rest Is History on Apple Podcasts
Preorder John’s forthcoming book, Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
David Kaiser’s book, States of the Union: A History of the United States through Presidential Addresses, 1789-2023
David Kaiser discusses his book States of the Union on TGS
Sari Nusseibeh’s memoir, Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life
David Greenberg’s forthcoming book, John Lewis: A Life
Danzy Senna’s novel, Colored Television
Percival Everett’s novel, James
Ketanji Brown Jackson’s memoir, Lovely One
John’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
Michelle Obama’s DNC speech
Thomas Chatterton Williams’s book, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Order Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:59 How Harry met Glenn
3:44 Black girls and women are doing relatively well. Why aren’t black boys and men?
11:21 Harry: Some of the barriers are structural, some are cultural
18:20 The crude toolkit for fixing child support
25:15 Black teachers, tutoring, and “high-quality career and tech ed”
31:44 In schools, one size doesn’t fit all
35:22 Three ways to improve employment prospects
39:10 Glenn asks “the Chicago question”
42:09 Discrimination against ex-convicts
50:38 Immigration’s impact on black employment
53:29 Are too many people in prison?
56:07 Harry: Progressives are oblivious to the backlash they generate
Recorded August 20, 2024
Links and Readings
Harry and Glenn’s conversation about “racism, narratives, and backlash” with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Harry and Richard J. Freeman’s 1986 edited collection, The Black Youth Employment Crisis
Melissa Kearney’s book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind
Isabel V. Sawhill’s book, Generation Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenthood without Marriage
Douglas Harris’s book, Charter School City: What the End of Traditional Public Schools in New Orleans Means for American Education
Glenn’s paper with Young-Chul Kim, “Rebranding Ex-Convicts”
William Julius Wilson’s book, The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Order Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
1:28 John heads back to the linguistic woodshed
3:55 Glenn’s nascent retirement plan
4:23 Glenn and John’s late summer reading
11:58 The “joy” of the Democratic National Convention
17:47 Ground News ad
20:11 The oratorical panache of the Obamas
25:37 John: What’s the point of all this performative joy?
30:16 Keywords from the DNC: “Weird”
34:17 Keywords from the DNC: “Freedom”
41:48 Keywords from the DNC: “Joy”
44:25 Keywords from the DNC: “Fight”
46:03 ACTA ad
47:52 Glenn’s distrust of Kamala’s candidacy
52:42 Why Glenn puts the “Hussein” in “Barack Hussein Obama”
56:04 RFK Jr’s endorsement of Donald Trump
1:04:51 Coming soon: Breakfast with the Lourys
Recorded August 25, 2024
Links and Readings
Percival Everett’s novel, James
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
James Baldwin’s essay, “Everybody’s Protest Novel”
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s memoir, Between the World and Me
Alex Haley’s novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Barack Obama’s DNC speech
Michelle Obama’s DNC speech
Oprah Winfrey’s DNC speech
John’s NYT column, “The Hidden Grammatical Reason That ‘Weird’ Works”
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In this month's Substack subscriber-only Q&A session, Glenn and John tackle questions about supporting the Democratic Party, the departure of Columbia University's president, the Gaza War, Kamala Harris's promise to fight "price gouging" and more.
Order Glenn's memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:20 Stephanie’s new video series, Faces of X
4:18 Glenn: “You’re taking all the fun out of the culture war”
7:30 Could we have had modernity without capitalism?
17:28 Glenn: You’re taking a side in the debate without admitting it
20:35 What comes after “heterodoxy”?
24:10 Stephanie: Seeing race as a lie may be the greatest reparation of all
32:32 Glenn: Calling race a construction doesn’t get us “past race”
38:23 Race in the next century
42:42 Transcending race without abandoning it
46:20 Awe and humility as spiritual necessities
Recorded August 13, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn’s previous TGS episode with Stephanie
Find Stephanie on X: @stephlepp
Glenn’s 2016 conversation with Stephanie on Reckonings
Faces of X
Faces of X, “Can We Reframe the Capitalism Debate”
Faces of X, “Can We Reframe the Race Debate”
Glenn’s conversation with Greg Thomas, “A Future for Black Tradition”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Order Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
1:05 John: A Kamala Harris presidency won’t improve the discourse on race
9:12 Glenn: Kamala Harris is no Barack Obama
14:44 Why Glenn just can’t excited about a Harris presidency
18:07 Ground News
20:40 How Kamala measures up to Obama under the spotlight
23:07 Kamala’s code switching
25:50 Building the black political persona
33:51 White Ladies and White Dudes for Kamala
40:39 Are there white Sonya Masseys?
45:55 ACTA
48:03 Walz’s war on “weird”
48:14 The Dems get their hands dirty
55:48 Trump’s near-death experience that wasn’t
Recorded August 9, 2024
Links and Readings
Barack Obama’s memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Trump’s on-stage interview before the National Association of Black Journalists
NYT story about Trump’s alleged helicopter ride
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
My lovely wife LaJuan and I appeared on the Due Dissidence podcast with Keaton Weiss and Russell Dobular, and we're re-presenting it here. You’ll hear us discuss my memoir and how all of our upbringings influenced our politics, free speech and the Gaza War protests, the decline of the Civil Rights Movement, Clarence Thomas, abortion, economic regulation, capitalism and socialism, Kamala Harris, Trumps’s appearance at the NABJ conference, and more.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Order Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
1:32 Glenn's intro
3:10 Glenn's case against the Democrats
14:06 Why is Cornel West running for president?
18:58 A black, conservative defense of Trumpism
25:29 A leftist analysis of Trump's rising popularity among black men
30:45 Glenn's early call for Biden to step down
36:25 Trump's debate style
41:36 Glenn: Biden is a "singularly uninspiring" political figure
49:11 The presidential debate post-mortem
55:45 The “DEI” candidates
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1:08 John’s work with Braver Angels
8:16 How Braver Angels gets its business done
13:09 Trying to bridge the partisan divide
20:27 Do some issues require taking sides?
27:37 Braver Angels's approach to the immigration issue
31:37 John: “Trump is more symptom than cause”
38:47 Are some political conflicts unavoidable?
41:38 John: “What we need in America is a ... spiritual transformation in our attitudes toward one another”
50:30 Braver Angels's American Hope Campaign
Recorded on July 25, 2025
Links and Readings
Glenn’s 2020 conversation with John
Braver Angels
A Braver Way podcast
Eliza Taylor Hawkins’s report, “Depolarizing During the Pandemic”
Braver Angels’s Trustworthy Elections Report
John’s speech before Braver Angels’s 2023 National Convention
Thomas Sowell’s book, Black Rednecks & White Liberals
Braver Angels’s American Hope Campaign
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John and Glenn are back for the latest Q&A session, where they take questions asked by Substack subscribers. Topics include antisemitism, Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, Kamala Harris's entry into same, and dinosaurs.
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In this excerpt from the Memoir Tapes—recordings that served as the basis for Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative—Glenn describes the baroque procedures he would use in order to buy and cook crack.
2:19 John apologizes for his previous statement about Trump and assassination, and Glenn reaffirms their friendship
7:21 Glenn: “We literally dodged a bullet”
9:09 John: Going MAGA is taking the easy political route
11:06 Glenn: There are good reasons to support some of Trump’s policies, if not his rhetoric
18:57 Does the 2024 election have a “summer of 2020” vibe?
23:38 Ground News ad
25:58 The fantasy Kamala Harris / Corey Booker ticket
33:27 Is “Make America Nice Again” a compelling campaign message?
38:22 Is “Trump is a threat to democracy” a lexically inept slogan?
45:53 It’s time for Biden to step down
49:50 John: “I'm honestly glad the assassin missed”
54:49 Do Glenn and John need couples counseling?
Recorded July 20, 2024
Links and Readings
Andrew Napolitano’s conversation with John Mearsheimer
Andrew Napolitano conversation with Jeffrey Sachs
Evan Vucci’s iconic post-assassination attempt photo of Trump and Secret Service agents
John’s NYT column, “Why Are Democrats Speaking to America in Ancient Greek?”
George Orwell’s essay, “Politics and the English Language”
Larry Kotlikoff’s Substack post, “Biden Must Step Aside—This Week!”
Yascha Mounk’s Substack, Persuasion
Glenn’s conversation with Yasha Mounk
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Glenn and the team discuss the use of independent podcasts as platforms for world leaders and the use and misuse of AI translations and voice simulations.
Buy Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
2:29 Have we already forgotten the horror of October 7?
9:22 Ben: We can’t ignore the loss of innocent life in Gaza
13:58 “From the river to the sea” and “all lives matter”
22:00 Celebrating the deaths of Israelis
26:31 Drawing the line at BDS
33:05 Glenn: If you want free speech, prepare to be uncomfortable
37:44 Columbia University administrators put on leave after allegedly antisemitic text messages
41:41 How Glenn discovered Benjamin’s work
47:40 The social meaning of race
51:01 The invitation to empathy in Late Admissions
59:02 Benjamin’s work with the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program
Recorded July 10, 2024
Links and Readings
Benjamin’s book, Juror’s Stories of Death: How America’s Death Penalty Invests in Inequality
Benjamin’s book, Dying Inside: The HIV/AIDS Ward at Limestone Prison
Benjamin’s book, Disposable Heroes: The Betrayal of African American Veterans
Glenn’s conversation with Omer Bartov
Glenn’s book, Race, Incarceration, and American Values
Glenn’s book, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
Erving Goffman’s book, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity
Erving Goffman’s book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Robert Putnam’s book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
Orlando Patterson’s book, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s book, Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America
Glenn’s conversation with his son, Glenn Loury II
The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Student
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
1:18 John: Biden probably should not be running for president
7:47 Who’s running the country?
11:17 Presidential b**t
13:35 Ground News ad
15:56 Is Kamala up to the big job?
22:44 Kamala’s questionable climb to the top
27:53 The NYT Editorial Board’s surprising call for Biden to drop out
33:50 Trump at Gettysburg
35:45 Trump’s victory is now more probable. But is it more defensible?
40:42 Interrogating the “elitist backlash” interpretation of Trumpism
45:43 How should Dems proceed in a post-Biden election?Recorded July 4, 2024
Links and Readings
Full video of the Trump-Biden debate
Harry G. Frankfurter’s book, On B*t*
Clip from Adam McKay’s film, Vice
Kamala Harris attacks Biden during a 2019 primary debate
Kamala Harris defends Biden’s recent debate performance
NYT Editorial Board calls on Biden to leave the race
Jill Biden’s Vogue cover
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Intro
1:28 Biden’s abysmal debate performance
5:01 Billionaire survivalists
12:53 So you made it to your luxury bunker. Now what?
16:22 The postapocalyptic war of all against all
21:29 Is the very existence of billionaires the real doomsday scenario?
26:20 The doomsday tax
32:24 Will the bunker dwellers have a reason to live?
40:39 The problem of government after nuclear holocaust
46:08 The literal bunker mentality
52:08 Was Mark responsible for Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall? Who can say for sure?
Recorded June 28, 2024
Links and Readings
Evan Osnos’s 2017 New Yorker piece, “Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich”
Douglas Rushkoff’s book, Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires
Douglas Rushkoff’s Guardian piece, “The Super-Rich ‘Preppers’ Planning to Save Themselves from the Apocalypse”
Ingrid Schmidt’s Hollywood Reporter piece, “Billionaires’ Survivalist Bunkers Go Absolutely Bonkers with Fiery Moats and Water Cannons”
Andre Mayer’s CBC News piece, “From Luxury Bunkers to Tactical Vehicles, the Ultra-Rich Are Preparing for the Big One”
Cixin Liu’s trilogy of sci-fi novels, The Three Body Problem
Everybody Loves Raymond complete series DVD box set
Louis van Gasteren’s documentary, Now Do You Get Why I Am Crying?
Paul Celan’s Selected Poems and Prose, translated by John Felstiner
Tadeusz Borowski’s book, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman
Glenn, Nikita, and Mark’s previous conversation, “The Ethics of Giving in the Very Long Term”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Great writing is “a marriage of life and honesty”
3:20 Glenn: I am my book’s primary audience
8:00 Glenn the Rationalist vs Glenn the Believer
18:00 How much did Glenn’s socio-economic status affect his sense of black belonging?
24:26 The radical rhetoric of privileged African Americans
29:38 Against reparations
33:57 A raised fist, but not a hand out
40:27 Colorblindness in theory and practice
50:11 Is race orthodoxy the first step on the road to totalitarianism?
1:03:01 Self-reliance and individualism
Recorded June 26, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
Jennifer and Winkfield’s book, Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence on Race
Stephen Shames and Ericka Huggins’s book, Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party
Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker’s cookbook, Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen
Glenn’s essay, “Self-Censorship in Public Discourse: A Theory of ‘Political Correctness’ and Related Phenomena”
Thomas Chatterton Williams’s book, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race
Sheena Michele Mason’s forthcoming book, The Raceless Antiracist: Why Ending Race Is the Future of Antiracism
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
Winkfield and Jennifer’s conversation with Angel Eduardo
Free Black Thought
Václav Havel’s book, The Power of the Powerless
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, “Self-Reliance”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Why the different format?
4:04 Joe asks John to account for his “emotional and irrational conclusions” about Trump and his recent conviction
15:28 Ground News ad
17:49 Did John really mean it when he implied he hoped someone would assassinate Trump?
23:00 Lauren wants John to justify his “casual endorsement” of gender fluidity in pronoun usage
32:37 Jerry asks why “external factors” like poverty are often used to explain lagging African American scholastic performance, those factors haven’t hindered them from achieving wildly disproportionate success in the cultural realm
38:34 Patrick calls out Glenn for his frequent use of the word “irregardless”
41:26 kgweiland asks Glenn if the Pamela Foster story in my memoir was “yours to share”
46:17 Scott Alex has some technical questions about linguistics for John
50:01 Jakon Joi asks for advice dealing with the tragic, possibly racially motivated murder of her father
Recorded June 23, 2024
Links and Readings
June 2024 thread of subscriber questions
John talking about Trump voters on Real Time in 2023
Daniel Bessner and Glenn on Real Time in 2023
Richard Dawkins interviews John
John’s book, The Language Hoax: Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Glenn II returns to The Glenn Show
2:17 Glenn II: Dad, you’re not really a “conservative” in the present-day sense of the term
13:20 Glenn and Glenn II agree that the “systemic racism” argument is overblown but disagree over what to do about it
22:04 What social conditions lead to the kind of behavior Glenn often condemns?
31:36 The luck and privilege that allowed Glenn to recover from his mistakes
39:19 Glenn II: “I found myself getting angry at someone who doesn’t exist anymore”
46:59 The conversation Glenn never had with his father
51:06 What Late Admissions taught Glenn II about his father
57:32 Grace in the face of public scandal
1:01:28 Love, death, and the Lourys
Recorded June 15, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn’s essay, “Self-Censorship in a Time of War”
Scenes from The Wire, Season 4
Glenn and Glenn II’s September 2018 Bloggingheads conversation
Glenn II’s book, Invisible Funerals: A Tale of Nine Burials
Glenn II’s book, Love Letters & Elegies: Tales from Beyond the Pale
Glenn II’s book, What Death Can Touch
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0:00 Glenn and John’s summer plans
3:56 Glenn’s forthcoming book on self-censorship
9:53 John’s forthcoming book on pronouns
17:25 Ground News ad
19:45 Inside the audiobook recording process
21:13 Why John isn’t celebrating Trump’s conviction
27:34 What’s so “monstrous” about Trump?
32:17 Is Trump demonizing immigrants or proposing sensible border regulation?
39:17 Inside the collapse of Ibram X. Kendi’s research center
44:42 Does Kendi’s fall mark the end of the woke moment?
49:15 The willful incomprehension directed at Byron Donalds
55:11 Joe Biden’s outdated speech at Morehouse
Recorded June 8, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn’s 1994 essay, “Self-Censorship in Public Discourse: A Theory of ‘Political Correctness’ and Related Phenomena”
Henry Frankfurt’s book, On B*t*
Glenn and John’s conversation with Mark Goldblatt
Rachel Poser’s New York Times Magazine piece, “Ibram X. Kendi Faces a Reckoning of His Own”
Herbert Guttman’s book, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925
Joe Biden’s commencement address at Morehouse
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After a two-month hiatus, John and I are back for a Q&A session. This time around, as an experiment, we asked subscribers to submit non-political questions. Let’s see what you came up with.
ORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 A message from Glenn
1:14 Unsettling the “Settled Questions,” Glenn Loury & John McWhorter
2:59 The Race and IQ Question, Glenn Loury & John McWhorter
12:19 Facing Reality, Glenn Loury & Charles Murray
21:40 The IQ Taboo, Glenn Loury & Amy Wax
31:08 Debate with an Embattled Racial Realist, Glenn Loury & Amy Wax
45:44 The Uncomfortable Truth Behind Economic Inequality, Glenn Loury
48:21 The Dangers of Research into Race & IQ, Glenn Loury & Lex Fridman
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0:00 Intro
2:50 “I got arrested driving a stolen car ...”
9:27 The Regal Auntie Eloise and the Bug-Eyed Uncle Moonie
23:17 “There was a lot of pain that the blood of Jesus was invoked to cover ...”
39:38 Winners & Losers
50:31 Words I Think of When Remembering My Mother
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0:00 The end of a tumultuous semester
4:39 The willful misreadings of John’s criticisms of the student protests
9:26 There are wars all over the world. Why so much fervor around Israel-Palestine?
16:40 Ground News ad
18:41 Has Israel gone too far in Gaza?
22:32 Should students be forced to listen to protests that might offend them?
35:11 Glenn’s book is out this week!
41:11 An update on Glenn’s recovery and hospital cuisine
Recorded May 11, 2024
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “I’m a Columbia Professor. The Protests on My Campus Are Not Justice”
John’s NYT piece, “The Columbia Protests Made the Same Mistake the Civil Rights Movement Did”
John’s NYT piece, “Why Was This Treasure of Musical Theater All but Lost to the Ages?”
Coleman Hughes and Robert Wright debate Israel-Palestine
Pamela Paul’s NYT piece on Glenn, “He Knows It’s Important to Admit Mistakes. He’s Made Many.”
WSJ’s review of Late Admissions
Tunku Varadarajan’s 2020 WSJ profile of Glenn
WaPo’s review of Late Admissions
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Click the timestamp to go to the indicated clip in this YouTube video, click the title to go to the video from which the clip was pulled
0:00: Intro from Glenn
2:15: Cops and Race - May 29, 2020
10:09: The Viruses - June 9, 2020
16:39: A Uniquely Potentially Calamitous Situation - June 3, 2020
21:14: The Slippery Slope to Hell - April 23, 2021
27:10: What Made George Floyd? - June 23, 2022
34:21: The Uncomfortable Truth Behind Economic Inequality - April 18, 2022
41:38: The Truth about George Floyd's Death - December 4, 2023
55:51: Filmmakers Reveal the Truth about George Floyd - December 18, 2023
1:10:29: What the Controversial George Floyd Doc Didn't Show Us - February 16, 2024
1:24:13: Minneapolis after George Floyd - March 1, 2024
1:27:34: Prosecuting Derek Chauvin - April 5, 2024
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0:00 A message from Glenn
3:56 Tyler’s research on human extinction and the end of the world
12:11 Tyler’s two forthcoming books
13:38 How elite schools incentivize “compulsory racial performance”
18:40 The “mission creep” of identity politics
24:23 Tyler Austin Harper University’s admissions policy
28:44 Does diversity contribute to quality of education?
35:18 The trouble with being “the black person” in class
37:38 Diversity at Bates College, where Tyler teaches
41:38 Night fishing with Tyler, insect collecting with John
45:46 Tyler’s prolific social media presence
48:38 Tyler’s five-year plan
52:51 The turn away from obscurantism in the humanities
Recorded April 28, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn and John’s first conversation with Tyler
Glenn and John talk with Tyler and Daniel Bessner
Mary Shelley’s novel, The Last Man
Tyler’s NYT piece, “I Teach at an Elite College. Here’s a Look Inside the Racial Gaming of Admissions”
Christopher Lasch’s book, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations
Richard Hanania’s book, The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics
Glenn’s conversation with Peter Arcidiacono
Tyler’s X (formerly Twitter) account
Tyler’s Atlantic piece, “Polyamory, the Ruling Class’s Latest Fad”
Jacques Derrida’s essay, “No Apocalypse, Not Now”
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0:00 New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s controversial decision to post the National Guard in the subway
4:25 Charles defends pretrial detentions …
12:45 … but he sees the problem with long pretrial detentions
19:05 The ongoing—and occasionally halting—recovery from 2020
23:21 Are any major cities doing law enforcement and criminal justice right?
29:52 Charles: I’ve seen no evidence that police unions abet misconduct
34:38 Charles’s unsexy solutions for decreasing police misconduct
38:00 Our present drift toward social toleration of drug use
43:40 The perils of legalized sports gambling
49:57 Charles: Long-term, medically assisted treatment is the best way to get addiction rates down
53:06 Are we under-counting hate crimes?
Recorded March 22, 2024
Links and Readings
Charles’s Substack, The Causal Fallacy
Charles’s City Journal piece, “Yes, New York’s Bail Reform Has Increased Crime”
Charles and co-author Elias Neibart’s Manhattan Institute report, “Is Less Always More? The Unintended Consequences of New York State’s Parole Reform”
Glenn’s conversation with Matthew Martens
Matthew Martens’s book, Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal
Charles and co-author Reihan Salam’s Atlantic piece, “We’re Underfunding the Police”
Tom Wolfe’s book, The Bonfire of the Vanities
Charles’s Substack post, “The Police Unions Puzzle”
Glenn’s conversation with Philip K. Howard
Philip K. Howard’s book, Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions
Charles’s City Journal piece, “Combat the Drug Crisis”
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0:00 A message from Glenn
4:00 Why Clifton is planning a one-man show about Thomas Sowell
9:42 The challenge of portraying Sowell onstage
13:45 How Clifton is getting the show off the ground
19:01 The lure of acting
22:43 2020’s affect on the racial dynamics of the theater
30:40 Clifton: Top-down DEI casting edicts are “central planning for art”
40:25 The racial attitude that’s “destroying black artists,” according to Viola Davis
47:27 Why Clifton changed his position about COVID pandemic measures
1:04:29 The left’s valuation of vulnerability
1:14:21 Why Clifton’s career fell apart after 2020
1:24:56 If progressives like the COVID vaccines, why don’t they give Trump any credit?
1:29:05 The problem of the black independent thinker
Recorded April 13, 2024
Links & Reading
Clifton’s Substack, State of the Arts
Thomas Sowell’s 1983 appearance on William F. Buckley’s Firing Line
Thomas Sowell’s memoir, A Personal Odyssey
Cheryl West’s play, Before It Hits Home
Suzan-Lori Parks’s 365 Plays/365 Days
Donald Bogle’s book, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films
Donald Bogle’s book, Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television
The Great Barrington Declaration
Andrew Lobaczewski’s book, Political Ponerology: The Science of Evil, Psychopathy, and the Origins of Totalitarianism
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0:00 Michael’s new role at the University of Austin
5:41 Michael’s “civilization” trilogy
9:40 The rise of pro-censorship opinion among Democrats
17:05 Do new communication technologies require revising our ideas about free speech?
21:53 The Censorship-Industrial Complex
28:10 The anti-censorship benefits of the Streisand Effect
35:37 The government’s role in censorship at Facebook
42:04 What you can’t say about war
45:19 The dehumanizing effects of Black Lives Matters protests
55:25 Forming an anti-nihilist coalition
1:00:36 Embracing American liberal democracy
Recorded March 21, 2024
Links and Readings
Michael’s Substack, Public
University of Austin
Michael’s book, Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All
Michael’s book, San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities
Andrew Lobaczewski’s book, Political Ponerology: The Science of Evil, Psychopathy, and the Origins of Totalitarianism
Martin Gurri’s book, The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium
The WPATH Files
John McWhorter’s book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
Ernest Becker’s book, The Denial of Death
Glenn’s City Journal essay, “The Case for Black Patriotism”
John Burn-Murdoch’s Financial Times piece, “America is undergoing a racial realignment”
Abigail Schrier’s book, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up
Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
Rob Henderson’s book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class
Glenn’s conversation with Rob Henderson
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
A message from Glenn concerning his surgery, his recovery, and what you can expect from The Glenn Show over the next month.
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0:00 Why Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison wanted to come on TGS
4:42 Keith’s defense of the George Floyd trials’ verdicts
9:54 John: We weren’t wrong to ask the questions we asked, even if our answers came up short at first
13:00: Keith: Liz Collin doesn’t seem to believe that police misconduct actually exists
16:40 How Keith accounts for racial disparities in criminal behavior
21:36 The emotional dimension of prosecution
27:15 Keith’s argument for integration and against charter schools
35:19 The redlining debate
40:00 The burning of Minneapolis’s 3rd Precinct
44:45 Keith: “‘Defund the police’ is dumb”
46:38 What’s causing low police morale?
50:25 Keith’s argument for a two-state solution and re-electing Biden
55:41 Keith: Glenn and John play an important role in political discourse today
Recorded March 30, 2024
Links and Readings
Keith Ellison’s book, Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence
Glenn and John’s first conversation about The Fall of Minneapolis
Glenn and John talk to Fall of Minneapolis filmmakers Liz Collin and JC Chaix
Glenn and John talk George Floyd after Radley Balko’s first post on the documentary
Radley Balko’s Substack post, “The Retconning of George Floyd, Part One”
Radley Balko’s Substack post, “The Retconning of George Floyd, Part Two”
Radley Balko’s Substack post, “The Retconning of George Floyd, Part Three”
Radley Balko’s response to Coleman Hughes
Alpha News
Rucker Johnson’s working paper, “Long-Run Impacts of School Desegregation & School Quality on Adult Attainments”
John’s NYT piece, “What’s Missing from the Conversation about Systemic Racism”
Equal Justice Initiative website
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Glenn and John answer questions submitted by Substack subscribers in their March 2024 Q&A session. Topics covered: race in America after Trayvon Martin, the Hughes-Balko debate, statistics vs. real life, denunciations of antisemitism, privileged African Americans and oppression, the origin story of Glenn and John, and John's alleged case of TDS.
PREORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 The charges Amy faces at Penn
4:08 Glenn: I’ve said some of things that have gotten Amy in trouble myself
10:04 Amy: “You might as well erase the veritas from [Penn’s] mission statement”
18:18 What’s really at issue in the Amy Wax indictment
24:06 Amy’s race realist rebuttal to DEI
34:43 Isn’t there room for some efforts toward proportional representation?
43:46 When IQ differences matter and when they don’t
Recorded March 20, 2024
Links and Readings
Amy’s 2021 TGS appearance
Amy’s 2022 TGS appearance
The leaked Penn Hearing Board recommendations
Glenn’s 2021 conversation with Charles Murray
Charles Murray’s book, Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America
Amy’s review of Facing Reality in the Claremont Review
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0:00 The word about Ron DeSantis on the streets of Key West
3:32 John’s awards show allergy
6:41 The realness of American Fiction
14:50 Rustin’s narrow historical vision
21:56 The SATs are on their way back
23:23 Afraid to flagrantly split infinitives and end sentences with prepositions? That’s something you should get over.
26:29 What do we mean by “colorblindness” today?
38:30 John: Maybe we have to be a little cold-hearted about colorblindness
41:56 What does rigid colorblindness blind us to?
46:40 What would Stanley Crouch do?
51:08 Debating the presidential debates
Recorded March 16, 2024
Links and Readings
American Fiction trailer
Percival Everett’s novel, Erasure
Rustin trailer
Bayard Rustin’s 1965 Commentary essay, “From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement”
John’s NYT piece, “No, the SAT Isn’t Racist”
John’s NYT piece, “The ‘Rule’ against Ending Sentences with Prepositions Has Always Been Silly”
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
Stanley Crouch’s book, Notes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979-1989
Stanley Crouch’s book, The All-American Skin Game, or The Decoy of Race: The Long and Short of It, 1990-1994
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0:00 Matthew’s theological perspective on criminal justice
5:28 Loving the criminal offender
8:10 25 years for an ounce-and-a-half of marijuana?
14:59 Christianity and the legal use of force
20:39 Matthew: I cannot enter the public square without considering my faith
24:48 Determining justice in a fallen world
29:35 What’s wrong with criminal justice today?
31:48 The problem of prosecutorial immunity
38:43 Matthew’s take on George Floyd
43:16 Has the criminal justice system truly reformed itself on race matters?
50:00 The denial of bail and the denial of justice
56:37 Matthew: We don’t have quick, accurate, reliable verdicts
1:02:41 Why Matthew opposes the death penalty “as currently practiced in the United States”
1:08:21 How ordinary Americans can help
Recorded February 28, 2024
Links and Readings
Matthew’s book, Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal
Richard John Neuhaus’s book, The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America
Philip Gorski, American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present
National Register of Exonerations
St. Irenaeus’s Against Heresies
Kellen Funk and Sandra Mayson’s Harvard Law Review article, “Bail at the Founding”
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0:00 What makes an “elite”?
4:37 Rob’s very rough early childhood
7:39 Rob’s experience with foster care and adoption
12:35 Why Rob joined the Air Force
17:23 The uses of military discipline
22:15 A 25-year-old military vet freshman at Yale
24:55 Luxury beliefs and cultural capital
29:56 Who bears the cost of defunding the police?
35:43 Two-parent households for me but not for thee
40:59 Revealed preferences and implicit understanding
46:57 Interclass resentment as a political weapon
52:45 How Rob became both the “token liberal” and the “token conservative”
58:02 Rob: Poverty doesn’t necessarily generate social dysfunction
Recorded February 19, 2024
Links and Readings
Rob’s memoir, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class
Rob’s Substack
Rob’s Boston Globe op-ed, “The SAT is pathway to more college diversity, not less”
Rob’s WSJ piece, “‘Luxury Beliefs’ That Only the Privileged Can Afford”
Robert Putnam’s book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis
Charles Murray’s book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010
Thorstein Veblen’s book, The Theory of the Leisure Class
Pierre Bourdieu’s book, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste
Michael Knox Beran’s book, Wasps: The Splendors and Miseries of an American Aristocracy
Rob’s NYT op-ed, “Why Being a Foster Child Made Me a Conservative"
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
PREORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 John: Keith Ellison disrespected me
6:45 Did Derek Chauvin get a fair trial?
16:22 Are Glenn and John headed for a confrontation with Ellison?
23:30 Shane’s account of civil decay in Minneapolis
29:24 Shane: The radicals are in charge
35:30 What’s causing the anti-police sentiment in Minneapolis
40:40 Violent crime in the George Floyd Square “autonomous zone”
49:39 Shane: Even liberals need to vote Republican in local Minneapolis elections
54:36 The Fani Willis issue in Georgia
Recorded February 24, 2024
Links and Readings
Keith Ellison’s book, Breaking the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence
Glenn and John’s episode, “The Fall of Minneapolis Reconsidered”
Radley Balko’s response to Glenn, John, and Coleman Hughes
Rajiv Sethi and Brendan O’Flaherty book, Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crimes, and the Pursuit of Justice
Shane’s website
Shane’s Alpha News piece on the community meeting about the new Minneapolis Third Precinct location
Crime Watch Minneapolis’s X page
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
PREORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 Why Corey weighed in on the Claudine Gay controversy
3:50 Corey: DEI doesn’t offer anything to those on the fringes of society
10:16 Black opposition to Chicago’s “sanctuary city” status
18:29 Why Corey supports the police
21:47 Support for New Beginnings from outside Chicago
23:25 The Rooftop Pastor
25:00 Corey’s embrace of conservatism
29:56 Project HOOD
33:04 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s closure of test schools
37:02 Class differences within the black community
Recorded January 31, 2024
Links and Readings
New Beginnings Church
Project HOOD
Corey’s Tablet piece, “America Works. DEI Doesn’t.”
Inc covers the Elon Musk-Mark Cuban DEI exchange
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
PREORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 How an elementary school project turned Shermichael on to politics
7:16 Black and Republican at Morehouse in the Obama era
9:05 Why Shermichael is a conservative
12:48 The two sides of black “progress”
17:24 Shermichael: Identity matters, even for conservatives
21:54 How Shermichael got booted from the Trump administration
28:26 Shermichael’s relatively positive assessment of Trump’s presidency
32:29 Was Trump’s post-election behavior good for conservatism?
37:43 The counterintuitive Evangelical support for Trump
40:41 Shermichael’s mentors at Morehouse
50:17 Encountering Thomas Sowell and Glenn
56:19 What Ben Carson is up to these days
58:51 The major intellectual influences on Glenn
Recorded January 4, 2024
Links and Readings
Shermichael’s Ebony piece, “Young, Gifted (Conservative, Republican) and Black” (scroll down)
Shermichael’s the Hill piece, “A Republican asks: Aren’t we morally obliged to stand up to Trump,” that got him fired
Rev. Dr. Robert Michael Franklin on Morehouse
Hit Strategies
American Cornerstone Institute
The Shermichael Singleton Show on Apple Podcasts
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
PREORDER Glenn's memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 What’s wrong with Rhapsody in Blue?
7:26 Radley Balko’s response to The Fall of Minneapolis, Coleman Hughes, Glenn, and John
17:26 Were Liz Collin and JC Chaix dishonest in their documentary about Derek Chauvin?
19:55 Were Glenn and John too credulous about The Fall of Minneapolis?
25:41 Hughes’s new book, The End of Race Politics
28:26 The problem with colorblindness
36:30 The interrelatedness of “black culture” and “American culture”
43:52 John: No one’s going to be excited about a Biden-Harris ticket this time around
52:59 Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin
Recorded February 11, 2024
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “No, ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ Is Not ‘The Worst’”
Glenn and John’s conversation about The Fall of Minneapolis
Glenn and John’s conversation with Liz Collin and JC Chaix
Liz Collin and JC Chaix’s documentary, The Fall of Minneapolis
Radley Balko’s Substack post, “The Retconning of George Floyd”
Coleman Hughes’s Free Press piece, “What Really Happened to George Floyd”
Coleman Hughes’s book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
The trailer for Rustin
Glenn’s 2003 NYT oped, “Affirmative Action—and Reaction; Admissions (and Denials) of Responsibility”
A clip from Coleman Hughes’s most recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher
Ross Douthat’s NYT piece, “The Question Is Not If Biden Should Step Aside. It’s How.”
Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
PREORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 The conversations that aren’t happening on college campuses
4:16 Staying informed about Israel-Palestine
9:22 Glenn: Don’t subject me to a loyalty test
12:14 Rajiv: High-minded principles alone won’t solve the self-censorship problem
18:11 “The Naked Emperor Equilibrium”
21:52 The game theoretical aspect of Glenn’s memoir
25:35 An homage to Thomas Schelling
27:31 Rajiv’s work on police use-of-force, then and now
30:36 The predictive value of political betting markets
42:44 Robert Solow’s intellectual family tree
46:16 The lopsided distribution of elite economists
49:08 Rajiv: Big econ departments should take more chances on candidates
51:52 The mind-boggling geographical variation in police killings
56:09 Why Rajiv doesn’t take pride in other Indian-Americans’ success
Recorded January 26, 2024
Links and Readings
Noam Dworman’s TGS appearance
Noam Dworman’s podcast, Live from the Table
Norman Finkelstein and Eli Lake on Live from the Table
Benny Morris’s book, One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Crisis
Rashid Khalidi on Live from the Table
Benny Morris on Live from the Table
Tara Henley’s Lean Out
Ilan Pappé’s book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Glenn’s essay, “Self-Censorship in Public Discourse: A Theory of ‘Political Correctness’ and Related Phenomena
Glenn’s conversation with Omer Bartov
Glenn’s conversation with Norman Finkelstein
Norman Finkelstein’s book, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom
Glenn’s conversation with John Mearsheimer
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
University of Chicago’s 1967 Kalven Committee Report
University of Chicago’s 2014 “Chicago Principles” on freedom of expression
Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann’s book, The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion—Our Second Skin
Timothy Kuran’s book, Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification
Thomas Schelling’s book, The Strategy of Conflict
Rajiv and Brendan O’Flahery’s book, Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crime, and Pursuit of Justice
Gunnar Myrdal’s book, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy
Rajiv’s Substack, Imperfect Information
Rajiv’s Substack post, “Economic Growth and the Growth of Economics: Reflections on Robert Solow”
Ralph Ellison’s essay 1970 essay, “What America Would Be Like without Blacks”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
PREORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 Why Noam gave Glenn a bag of books about Israel
5:25 Why Glenn felt burned after The Bell Curve
8:49 Loyalty among friends during the Gaza War
13:15 The blowback from Brown’s ceasefire letter
17:18 Talking about Israel across the ideological spectrum
19:42 Glenn: Loyalty tests are unreasonable
23:16 Trying to understand the human costs of war
26:26 Glenn: There is no decent alternative to a two-state solution
33:32 “Apartheid,” “genocide,” and other potentially unhelpful terms
39:29 Noam: Thank God for President Biden
44:13 Why Noam is worried about American attitudes toward Israel
49:08 Will the Gaza War end up strengthening Hamas?
56:08 The tone-deafness of some supporters of Israel
Recorded January 31, 2023
Links and Readings
Noam’s podcast, Live from the Table
The Glenn Show Live at the Comedy Cellar
Glenn and John Live at the Comedy Cellar
Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein’s book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
Glenn’s conversation with Charles Murray
The Brown University faculty’s ceasefire letter
Glenn’s conversation with Omer Bartov
Glenn’s conversation with Norman Finkelstein
Glenn’s conversation with John Mearsheimer
Glenn’s most recent conversation with Robert Wright
Benny Morris’s book, One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict
Aaron Maté’s appearance on Noam’s podcast
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
PREORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 John: Claudine Gay needed to resign, but her plagiarism wasn’t a mortal sin
6:50 Has DEI taken a hit after the Gay controversy?
13:50 When “DEI” really means “racial preferences”
22:12 The case of Neri Oxman
23:52 John: Bill Ackman looks “absurd”
26:47 Three cheers for John’s dinosaurs
28:22 Is Glenn really a “black conservative”?
31:11 The three dimensions of black conservatism
37:50 Black elites and immigration
42:35 Ibram X. Kendi undeterred
44:48 Roland Fryer is still standing
46:48 Is Amy Wax getting railroaded by Penn?
Recorded January 27, 2024
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “We Need a New Word for ‘Plagiarism’”
Elon Musk’s DEI airline post on X
Neri Oxman’s CV
Adolph Reed’s essay, “‘What Are the Drums Saying, Booker?’: The Curious Role of the Black Public Intellectual” (originally published in the Village Voice, April 11, 1995)
Wilfred Reilly’s comparative IQ post on X
Recording of Amy Wax’s FIRE webinar
Glenn’s December 2021 episode with Amy Wax
Glenn’s August 2022 episode with Amy Wax
Charles Murray’s book, Human Diversity: The Biology of Race, Gender, and Class
Glenn’s conversation with Charles Murray
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Preorder Glenn's memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 The many, many books of David Kaiser
3:01 David: Claudine Gay is a symptom, not a cause, of what’s wrong at Harvard
6:09 Western Civilization and elitism at Harvard
10:03 Meritorious elitism and luxury elitism
12:35 Intellectuals in the wild
14:28 How James Bryant Conant built the modern Harvard …
17:33 … and how it was broken
18:52 Glenn’s previous conversation with Omer Bartov
24:12 Why David thinks the Gaza War falls short of genocide but maybe not ethnic cleansing
25:51 What Claudine Gay could (and maybe should) have said at her congressional hearing
27:51 Why David thinks originalists will have a problem rejecting attempts to remove Trump from electoral ballots
32:38 David: Mitch McConnell should have impeached Trump when he had the chance
36:07 David’s new book, States of the Union
41:03 Have state of the union addresses always been as boring as they are now?
44:55 Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Reagan, and their legacies
57:37 Why Obama didn’t propose a New New Deal after the 2008 financial crisis
1:01:01 Biden’s silence
Recorded January 10, 2024
Links and Readings
David’s book, Economic Diplomacy and the Origin of the Second World War: Germany, Britain, France, and Eastern Europe, 1930-1939
David’s book, Politics and War: European Conflict from Philip II to Hitler
David’s book, American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War
David’s book, The Road to Dallas: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
David’s book, Baseball Greatness: Top Players and Teams According to Wins Above Average, 1901-2017
David’s book, NFL 1965: The Most Exciting Season
David’s book, A Life in History
David’s book, States of the Union: A History of the United States through Presidential Addresses, 1789-2023
Glenn’s previous conversation with David
Fareed Zakaria on elite universities
Glenn’s conversation with Omer Bartov
David’s blog, History Unfolding
David’s blog post about the Fourteenth Amendment
Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States
John F. Kennedy’s June 11, 1963 address on segregation
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Preorder Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative wherever you buy your books.
If you missed Wednesday’s City Journal and Manhattan Institute-hosted livestream, I’ve got you covered. Today I’m releasing the recording of that livestream as a special bonus episode. This event marked the publication of my City Journal essay “Clarence Thomas and Me,” and I had a stellar line-up alongside me to discuss the essay and the work of Clarence Thomas: Ilya Shapiro of the Manhattan Institute, Robert George of Princeton, and Randall Kennedy of Harvard Law School.
0:00 Introductions
2:58 Why Glenn wrote “Clarence Thomas and Me”
5:27 Randall: “Justice Thomas trades on his blackness”
10:58 Glenn: Clarence Thomas has not “betrayed black people”
12:30 Thomas’s engagement with natural law jurisprudence
19:29 How would Thomas have come down on Brown v. Board of Education?
20:55 The loyalty trap
24:20 Randall: Thomas’s originalism may also commit him to sanctioning segregation
28:24 Robbie: There are originalist interpretations that support Brown v. Board of Education
34:07 Thomas’s race cases
36:03 Glenn: Thomas can act as both a principled jurist and as an advocate for the rights of African Americans
40:56 Randall: In 100 years, people will regard Shelby County v. Holder as one of the worst decisions in the Court’s history
44:36 Maintaining integrity under pressure
51:22 What are the differences between Thomas’s, Scalia’s, and Alito’s originalisms?
55:30 Will Thomas have broader popularity in the future?
1:01:10 Is racial solidarity inconsistent with judicial impartiality?
1:03:30 Closing remarks
Recorded January 17, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn’s City Journal essay, “Clarence Thomas and Me”
Glenn’s book, One by One from the Inside Out : Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America
Michael McConnell’s article, “The Originalist Case for Brown v. Board of Education”
Randy Barnett and Evan Bernick’s book, The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit
Lon Fuller’s book, The Morality of Law
The documentary on Clarence Thomas, Created Equal
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Preorder Glenn’s forthcoming memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
2:17 Why Glenn wrote a memoir (and why you should order it now)
8:59 A ringing endorsement from John
10:00 What does Martin Luther King Jr. Day mean in 2024?
15:28 Preserving King’s belief in “the content of our character”
16:20 What would King have thought of Claudine Gay?
20:20 King’s radicalism
25:54 John: Being against DEI does not make you a racist
28:10 The Tabia Lee affair at D’Anza Community College
29:58 How Claudine Gay should have reacted to the plagiarism scandal
32:47 Glenn: “The DEI movement is hoist on its own petard”
35:57 How DEI’s dominance has improved John’s home media set-up
41:41 John’s upcoming cabaret show
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “Claudine Gay Was Not Driven Out Because She Is Black”
Glenn’s conversation with Tabia Lee
“All’s Fair in Love and War” from Gold Diggers of 1937
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 The long road leading to the Gaza War
9:14 Don’t Palestinians have some responsibility for the current state of affairs?
9:48 The precedent of the 1973 Yom Kippur War
11:26 Omer: Israel only negotiates under pressure
13:31 Netanyahu and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
15:27 The US’s military support for Israel
16:32 The origins of Hamas
20:20 Omer: Netanyahu’s coalition is “a mirror image of Hamas”
24:45 The threat to democracy in Israel
26:27 Omer: Netanyahu is driving the country to the right in order to avoid a corruption trial
30:07 How “Jewish supremacists” have gained control of Israel’s government
34:01 Why Omer’s Zionism does not commit him to defending Israel’s actions
36:46 The risk of genocide in Gaza
40:05 The IDF’s procedure in the Gaza invasion
43:09 What will happen to the Gazan refugees?
45:00 The international community’s role in finding a resolution to the Gaza War
48:17 Is the IDF “the most moral army in the world”?
54:39 The revenge motive
57:07 Omer: The campaign in Gaza is a fiasco
59:38 A US-led plan for “the day after”
1:04:37 Is peace in Israel a pollyannaish pipe dream?
Recorded January 2, 2023
Links and Readings
Benny Morris’s book, One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Omer’s New Statesman piece, “Both Netanyahu and Hamas see this crisis as an opportunity”
Hamas’s 1988 charter
Omer’s NYT op-ed, “What I Believe as a Historian of Genocide”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
I had planned to release the first Glenn and John episode of 2024 on New Year’s Day. Unfortunately, life had other plans, and John and I could not record as scheduled. So instead, my staff put together this collection of some of our favorite clips from 2023. John and I covered a lot of ground last year. Here you’ll see us addressing African American performance on standardized tests, the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision, the riots of 2020, the Gaza War, and other big topics on the show.
0:00 A New Year's message from Glenn
2:36 How do we know that African Americans are just as smart as everyone else?
11:15 Glenn goes in on the 2020 riots
16:34 John: I love linguistics, but linguistics no longer loves me
25:37 Glenn: How can anyone argue that race-based affirmative action doesn’t violate the 14th Amendment?
34:58 When the smoke clears in Gaza
45:34 John: “We’ve been lied to” about George Floyd’s death
54:32 Glenn and John revisit their first conversation
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Philip’s early work on post-nuclear war recovery
2:26 Philip’s skepticism toward the role of lawyers in the US
4:34 What’s wrong with the EPA, OSHA, and the EEOC?
6:59 How to ensure worker safety without “4,000 rules”
8:07 Why the US spends so much on healthcare
11:32 Philip: We’ve degenerated into a culture of distrust
14:58 The origins of American distrust
18:42 Re-instilling trust
21:38 The problems of national security and public health
26:57 Are public employee unions constitutional?
39:35 Market constraints don’t hold for government employees
34:55 Do public sector workers need protection from exploitation?
39:22 Philip: “Public service is repellant to good candidates”
40:58 A short history of the civil service
46:49 Is Philip inveighing against the Democratic Party and the labor movement at large?
53:12 Philip: Police unions prevent accountability, too
56:08 The necessity of a constitutional solution to public unions
1:00:58 Philip: The political organizing of public unions harms the public
1:04:46 Would the current Supreme Court be receptive to Philip’s case?
Recorded October 27, 2023
Links and Readings
Philip’s book, The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America
Philip’s book, Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America
Philip’s latest book, Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions
Edward Banfield’s book, The Moral Basis of a Backward Society
Robert Putnam’s book, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy
Philip’s forthcoming book, Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 How Liz and JC came to collaborate on their doc, The Fall of Minneapolis
4:18 JC: No, the footage in the doc is not AI-manipulated
6:08 How much of the body cam footage is previously unseen?
8:18 Who lied about George Floyd, what did they lie about, and why?
13:30 The relevance of Floyd’s behavior during the incident
17:30 JC: Minneapolis Chief of Police Arradondo perjured himself
22:30 Minnesota DA Keith Ellison’s email to Glenn
24:11 The expert testimony from Dr. Martin Tobin on Floyd’s cause of death
26:12 Adjudicating disputes about the cause of death
34:36 Were racial justice tropes part of the Floyd incident?
38:20 Why Liz and JC think Derek Chauvin didn’t get a fair trial
41:28 Why JC didn’t include the entire viral video of Floyd in the doc
44:30 What Chauvin told JC about the incident
47:40 Humanizing the Minnesota police
50:41 The aftermath of the Minneapolis riots
55:32 The lawsuits that followed the Floyd family’s settlement
56:34 The drugs that “complicated” Floyd’s restraint
Recorded December 16, 2023.
Links and Readings
Glenn and John’s episode about The Fall of Minneapolis
Liz and JC’s documentary, The Fall of Minneapolis
Liz’s book, They're Lying: The Media, The Left, and The Death of George Floyd
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Tabia’s early career as a teacher
5:40 Tabia’s “rough ride” as a DEI director
17:06 The antisemitism problem at De Anza
25:25 The inescapable BIPOC binary
28:52 From disagreement to deplatforming
35:30 Why Tabia found support among students but not faculty
39:00 How attempts to silence Tabia backfired
40:54 Tabia’s broad vision of diversity
47:46 Learning from the medical professionals of Galilee
Recorded November 27, 2023
Links and Readings
Tabia’s New York Post piece, “I was a DEI director — DEI drives campus antisemitism”
Tabia’s Compact piece, “A Black DEI Director Canceled by DEI”
Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism
Do No Harm Medicine
Coalition for Empowered Education
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 A new documentary about George Floyd’s death raises new questions
5:42 John: “We’ve been lied to” about George Floyd’s death
14:27 The price of a “poetic truth”
20:09 Was the Derek Chauvin jury intimidated into delivering a guilty verdict?
23:26 Glenn: George Floyd was no hero
29:03 The burning of Minneapolis’s 3rd Precinct
34:54 Is there any hope of changing the George Floyd narrative?
41:48 Who will take responsibility for changing things in black America?
Recorded December 2, 2023
Links and Readings
Glenn and John’s May 2020 episode, “Cops and Race”
Liz Collin and JC Chaix’s documentary, The Fall of Minneapolis
Eli and Shelby Steele’s documentary, What Killed Michael Brown?
Barbershop, “OJ did it”
Coleman Hughes’s forthcoming book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com
Glenn and John answer Substack subscriber questions from November 2023.
0:00 Is “black heterodoxy” a euphemism for “black conservatism”?
13:34 Classical liberalism’s role in Free Black Thought
15:07 Erec: I saw things while working as a diversity officer that I can’t unsee
22:47 Why the Democratic Party doesn’t like Erec
30:38 How Free Black Thought is fostering agency in the black community
36:16 Erec: The onus is on us, not affirmative action, to prepare black students for college
45:19 What is rhetoric, anyway?
Recorded November 13, 2023
Links and Readings
Erec’s nonprofit, Free Black Thought
Journal of Free Black Thought
Free Black Thought’s podcast
Minnesota’s Take Charge program
The Hidden Genius Project
Glenn’s essay in the Journal of Free Black Thought, “Wrestle Not against Flesh and Blood”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 The state of campus speech after 10/7
5:48 Daniel: Why are critics of cancel culture silent when it comes to Israel?
15:43 “Explaining” Hamas vs. “excusing” Hamas
26:17 Tyler: American Jewish students worried about their safety have been primed by modern identity politics
29:31 The tension between DEI and antisemitism response teams
38:17 The linguistic ambiguity of “From the river to the sea”
43:41 The irreconcilable conflict between campus social justice and donor funding
47:49 If not liberalism, then what?
53:51 Tyler: Postwar political conservatism is coming apart
Recorded November 18, 2023
Links and Readings
Daniel’s podcast, American Prestige
Glenn’s conversation with Yascha Mounk (recorded October 3, 2023)
Adam Shatz’s book, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon
Lisa Stampnitzky’s book, Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented “Terrorism”
Daniel’s essay in the Nation, “A Bad Breakup”
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s book, Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments
Daniel’s Harper’s essay, “Empire Burlesque”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 How Bob gave Glenn his start in podcasting
2:05 Is the Gaza War in Israel’s best interests …
11:46 … and if not, what should Israel have done in response to October 7?
18:06 How Hamas gained control of Gaza
26:53 Bob: Some in the Israeli government wouldn’t mind a wider war in the Middle East
36:46 What does “From the river to the sea” actually mean?
46:10 Bob: Every settlement in the West Bank is a war crime
54:20 The psychology of victimhood and retribution
1:00:37 The challenge of spiritual transformation
Recorded November 13, 2023
Links and Readings
Bob’s Substack, the Nonzero Newsletter
Brown University faculty’s call for a ceasefire
Glenn’s conversation with John McWhorter, “Thinking Through the Gaza War”
Bob’s Nonzero Newsletter piece, “The Truth about Hamas”
John Judis’s 2013 New Republic piece, “Clueless in Gaza”
John Judis and Ruy Texeira’s book, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes
Bob’s Nonzero Newsletter piece, “The ‘River to the Sea’ Rorschach Test”
Bob debates Eli Lake on Israel-Palestine
Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
Bob’s book, Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
The documentary Disturbing the Peace
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:35 A quick announcement
1:46 What led Yascha to write about identity
6:22 An intellectual history of “identity synthesis”
12:15 What’s so bad about “strategic essentialism”?
19:15 From postmodernism to post-civil rights
28:45 The three key claims of identity synthesis
36:02 What led up to the summer of 2020?
45:51 The hermetically sealed ideology of Kendi and DiAngelo
50:45 Yascha’s defense of universalism
Recorded October 3, 2023
Links and Readings
Yascha’s new book, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time
Michel Foucault’s book, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences
Edward Said’s book, Orientalism
Gayatri Spivak’s essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak?”
Glenn’s debate with Kmele Foster, Shelby Steele, Robert Woodson, and Reihan Salam
Karen and Barbara Fields’s book, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life
Tommie Shelby’s book, We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity
Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault’s 1971 debate on Dutch television
Derrick Bell’s book, Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism
Derrick Bell’s essay, “Serving Two Masters: Integration Ideals and Client Interests in School Desegregation Litigation”
Mahalia Jackson singing “We Shall Overcome”
Roy D’Andrade’s article, “Moral Models in Anthropology”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Persia at the turn of the twentieth century
6:43 Woodrow Wilson’s contradictions
11:14 Did Howard Baskerville escape the prejudices of his time?
16:39 How Baskerville got involved in Persia’s democratic revolution
26:43 How Czar Nicholas II aided the counter-revolution
32:29 The erasure of Baskerville in post-1979 Iran
36:31 The theological origin of the Islamic Republic of Iran
45:01 Reza: Ordinary Iranians actually love American culture
48:51 The internal and external pressures on Iran
57:21 The amorality of foreign policy
Recorded October 25, 2023
Links and Readings
Reza’s book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Reza’s new book, An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
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Glenn and John answer subscriber questions.
0:00 Why John thinks pro-Hamas sentiment on the American left is racist
6:11 Distinguishing between anti-colonialism and antisemitism
12:46 There are great crimes in America’s past. But we shouldn’t let them define us.
17:08 Glenn: We’re standing on the precipice of something catastrophic
27:57 John’s proposal for the US’s role in Israel’s domestic conflict
34:59 Is it right for people to lose their jobs over opposing Israel?
42:07 Why are pro-Hamas leftists supporting an anti-liberal regime?
47:01 Glenn and John’s responsibilities as teachers
52:26 What’s next on TGS
Recorded October 28, 2023
Links and Readings
John’s Free Press piece, “The Ultimate Condescension Toward Palestinians”
Adam Shatz’s LRB essay, “Vengeful Pathologies”
Joe Biden’s Oval Office address on Israel and Ukraine
Reza Aslan’s book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Reza Aslan’s new book, An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Why John thinks Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was rational
6:55 How small states deal with world powers
10:13 If Russia’s action were rational, were the US’s?
16:40 John: The Ukraine invasion violates international law, but Russia has reason to see it as just
21:58 The risk of escalation
29:26 Zelensky’s expert manipulation of the West
33:51 Is it a coincidence that so many recent presidential scandals involve Ukraine?
39:57 Can tolerant liberals tolerate illiberal societies?
45:45 American Russophobia didn’t cause the war, but it’s not helping
49:19 John: If Putin is overthrown, his replacement will probably be even more brutal
53:35 The foreign policy establishment’s grip on both Democrats and Republicans
Links and Readings
John’s Substack
John’s book, with Sebastian Rosato, How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy
John’s essay, “Bound to Lose”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 The blowback from Coleman’s TED Talk
8:50 Did TED intentionally throttle promotion for Coleman’s talk?
17:08 John’s trouble with TED while promoting Woke Racism
20:21 Coleman’s forthcoming book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
29:17 Race in public and private life
43:49 Closure on the TED affair
45:14 What are the goals of each side in the Israel-Palestine conflict?
51:58 Will the Israeli military response simply restart the cycle of violence and resentment?
1:02:15 The threat of post-October 7 overreaction
Links and Readings
Coleman’s Substack, Coleman’s Corner
Coleman’s podcast, Conversations with Coleman
Coleman’s forthcoming book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
Coleman's conversation with Glenn Greenwald about the TED Talk
Coleman’s TED Talk, “A Case for Color Blindness”
Coleman’s Free Press piece, “Why Is TED Scared of Color Blindness”
Coleman’s conversation with Jamelle Bouie
Geroge Packer’s Atlantic piece, “Israel Must Not React Stupidly”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Introduction by Greg Burnep
4:27 What does affirmative action mean in 2023?
11:06 Randy’s distinction between “disadvantage” and “discrimination”
18:21 Diversity’s double-talk
31:18 Did the Supreme Court say discrimination is allowed at military academies?
34:33 Glenn: Affirmative action distracts us from bigger problems
41:16 Affirmative action is an elite problem
48:48 Affirmative action as an insurance policy
57:42 The stigmatization of affirmative action beneficiaries
1:04:14 Glenn: Affirmative action has been a net positive, but it’s time to stop
1:07:14 Q&A: Does historical injustice alone justify affirmative action?
1:10:33 Q&A: Can and should colleges use loopholes to get around Students for Fair Admissions?
1:14:50 Q&A: Does the “need” for affirmative action say something race or education?
1:16:27 Q&A: What is the impact of SFFA beyond the university?
1:23:35 Q&A: What about class-based affirmative action?
Recorded September 20, 2023
Links and Readings
Randy’s book, Race, Crime, and the Law
Randy’s book, For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law
Glenn’s conversation with Jay Caspian Kang
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
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Glenn and John answer subscriber questions.
0:00 What’s wrong with critical race theory, anyway?
3:31 Why “black Columbia” pretends that John doesn’t exist
12:08 CRT’s racial power-grab
18:06 Does the Jewish American example apply to African Americans?
23:10 Disguising failure as victimology
32:15 Why Dan thinks the CRT tide is ebbing
39:58 The schadenfreude of the Ibram X. Kendi scandal
51:00 John: “I’m embarrassed for Boston University”
56:40 Glenn: Kendi is just a cog in the fraudulent antiracist machine
1:04:31 The shame of the Kendi scandal
Recorded September 30, 2023
Links and Readings
Dan’s book, Toxic Diversity: Gender, Race, and Law Talk in America
Frantz Fanon’s book, The Wretched of the Earth
Adam Schatz’s forthcoming biography, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon
Glenn’s conversation with Norman Finkelstein
Glenn and John’s conversation with Don Baton
Glenn and John’s conversation with James Beaman
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 How Sabby got her start on YouTube
6:18 What happened to the Justice Democrats’ “hostile takeover”?
11:31 Is the US sliding into fascism?
19:26 The tension between race and class on the left
27:15 Donald Trump’s rising popularity among black men
32:39 The military-industrial complex and climate change
42:07 Sabby’s argument for worker co-ops
51:20 Finding (somewhat) common ground on immigration
54:18 Demilitarizing the police is one thing, defunding the police is another
59:46 Sabby: “We should not be giving money to Ukraine”
1:04:35 How Sabby deals with disrespectful guests
Recorded September 16, 2023
Links & Readings
Sabby’s YouTube page
Revolutionary Blackout Network’s YouTube page
Sabby’s interview with Cornel West
AOC’s endorsement of Joe Biden on Pod Save America
Jimmy Dore’s interview with Cornel West
Sabby’s episode on Jimmy Dore-Cornel West interview
Glenn and John McWhorter’s conversation with Mark Goldblatt
Glenn’s debate with Richard Wolff
Briahana Joy Gray debates Krystal Ball and Kyle Kulinski
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Tyler’s concept of “racial gamification”
6:30 Affirmative action in spirit and practice
13:18 Why can’t we just determine admissions based on academic merit alone?
19:17 The fading popularity of “traditional” affirmative action
22:47 Re-weighting and funding the admissions process
32:28 How can we get white “allies” to act normal around black people?
38:23 Can we have interpersonal colorblindness without political colorblindness?
44:42 Tyler’s scholarly work about the end of humanity
48:10 Glenn prepares for his conversation with Sabrina Salvati
Recorded September 10, 2023
Links and Readings
Tyler’s NYT piece, “I Teach at an Elite College. Here’s a Look Inside the Racial Gaming of Admissions”
Tyler’s Atlantic piece, “I’m a Black Professor. You Don’t Need to Bring That Up.”
Roland Fryer’s NYT piece, “How to Fix College Admissions Now”
Glenn’s conversation with Jay Caspian Kang
Jimmy Dore’s interview with Cornel West
John’s appearance on The View
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Biden’s new DEI initiatives
7:59 The disparate uses of disparate impact
13:59 Shep’s new book, The Crucible of Desegregation: The Uncertain Search for Educational Equality
23:15 The problem with claims that education is resegregating
29:56 Are we heading back to the bussing debates of the 1970s?
35:52 Shep’s book, The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education
44:20 Glenn’s “uncle” objects to analogies between trans people and African Americans
47:58 Shep: Banning Critical Race Theory is the wrong strategy
Recorded September 8, 2023
Links and Readings
Shep’s new book, The Crucible of Desegregation: The Uncertain Search for Educational Equality
Heather Mac Donald’s book, When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty, and Threatens Lives
Gary Orfield’s book, The Reconstruction of Southern Education: The Schools and the 1964 Civil Rights Act
James Fishkin’s book, Justice, Equal Opportunity, and the Family
Shep’s book, The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education
John Skretny’s book, The Minority Rights Revolution
Robin DiAngelo’s book, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Why Carol joined Black Voices for Trump
9:59 Why should black people support Trump?
16:31 Carol: Democrats stole the 2020 election
26:07 Does Trump face a credible assassination threat?
30:35 The redefinition of white supremacy
35:51 Deracializing the crime debate
39:58 Carol’s new book, The Adversity of Diversity: How Real Training Can Promote Healing in a Post-Affirmative Action World
50:55 Glenn: Affirmative action is one thing, DEI is another
1:04:54 Clarence Thomas v. Ketanji Brown Jackson
1:08:06 What affirmative action did right
Recorded August 26, 2023
Links and Readings
Carol and Mike Towle’s new book, The Adversity of Diversity: How Real Training Can Promote Healing in a Post-Affirmative Action World
Carol’s Godfather III Twitter (now X) post
Reuters story on Harrison Floyd
Jason Riley’s book, The Black Boom
Tucker Carlson’s debate night interview with Donald Trump
Carol’s book, The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration
Carol and Christopher J. Schorr’s book, Black Eye for America: How Critical Race Theory Is Burning Down the House
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 A sixteen-year-long conversation
5:45 Race and socioeconomics on the cusp of the Obama Era
21:19 The myth of black poverty and deindustrialization
32:56 Glenn pulls rank
37:59 Why Glenn changed his mind about the Manhattan Institute
50:15 Is the think tank world any more “objective” than academia?
Recorded August 19, 2023
Links and Readings
Glenn and John’s first conversation from November 7, 2007
John’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
John’s book, Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America
Glenn’s book, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
Martin Peretz’s memoir, The Controversialist: Arguments with Everyone, Left, Right, and Center
Jeffrey O.C. Ogbar’s book, Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap
Charles Murray’s book, Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980
Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein’s book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Haim’s history with The Glenn Show
7:54 How Haim ended up fighting in Ukraine
17:42 The legionnaire’s lingua franca
27:55 Haim’s riposte to Cornel West on Ukraine
42:27 A pen in one hand and a gun in the other
47:56 Haim: Ukraine’s sovereignty and national identity must be respected
53:34 Is the two-state solution dead?
Recorded July 23, 2023
Links and Readings
Haim’s writing for this newsletter
Haim’s Substack, The Garland
Glenn’s recent conversation with Cornel West
Haim and Nikita Petrov’s exchange on the Ukraine War
Nikita’s Substack, Psychopolitica
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 The protestant ethic and the spirit of wokeness
10:47 Is comparing wokeness to religion a slander on religion?
21:08 Ian: Wokeness is a distraction from real political problems
28:02 How Ian experienced his own cancelation
41:31 America’s exportation of wokeness
45:45 Has wokeness aided and abetted Trump and Brexit?
52:54 John: Enslaved people did find ways to improve their own lives
Recorded August 7, 2023
Links and Readings
Ian’s Harper’s piece, “Doing the Work”
John’s book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
Jian Ghomeshi’s 2018 NYRB piece, “Reflections from a Hashtag”
Tomiwa Owolade’s book, This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter
David Brooks’s NYT oped, “What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?”
John’s NYT oped, “One Sentence Does Not Define a Curriculum”
The Florida Board of Education’s 2023 standards for social studies
Robert Cherry’s essay on slavery at this newsletter
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 How Jay’s position on affirmative action changed
12:15 Jay: I can’t see the virtue in affirmative action as it’s practiced
20:07 Why did so many Asian students defend policies that discriminated against Asians?
25:35 The hidden cultural argument in the California Mathematics Framework
32:01 Is the “people of color coalition” coming apart?
34:55 Why so little outrage over the SCOTUS affirmative action decision?
42:26 When students internalize artificial trauma narratives
49:06 America can’t economically decouple itself from China. Will anti-China rhetoric wane?
55:49 What will and won’t change in the wake of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard
1:05:29 Isn’t there some value to diversity in education?
Recorded July 24, 2023
Links and Readings
Jay’s New Yorker piece, “Why the Champions of Affirmative Action Had to Leave Asian Americans Behind”
Jay’s book, The Loneliest Americans
Jay’s podcast with E. Tammy Kim, Time to Say Goodbye
Jay’s 2019 New York Times Magazine piece, “Where Does Affirmative Action Leave Asian-Americans?”
Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s book, The Asian American Achievement Paradox
Natasha Warikoo’s book, Race at the Top: Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban Schools
The California Mathematics Framework
Roland Fryer’s NYT piece, “How to Fix College Admissions Now”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Peter’s role in the Supreme Court affirmative action case
8:57 Are legacy admissions affirmative action by another name?
19:17 Why Peter got interested in affirmative action
24:20 Glenn was for affirmative action before he was against it
30:33 Peter: Universities are not honest about admissions
34:20 The brilliance of Roland Fryer
51:17 Campus diversity after affirmative action
Recorded July 22, 2023
Links and Readings
Glenn’s 2020 conversation with Peter
Peter’s paper, “What happens after enrollment? An analysis of the time path of racial differences in GPA and major choice”
Mary Sue Coleman on the steps of the Supreme Court
John’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
Roland Fryer’s paper, “An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force”
Federico Echenique and Roland Fryer’s paper, “A Measure of Segregation Based on Social Interactions”
David Austen-Smith and Roland Fryer’s paper, “The Economics of ‘Acting White’”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 How Matt first encountered Christopher Hitchens
6:07 Matt’s new book, How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment
8:00 Why Matt thinks Cornel West’s Vietnam-Afghanistan analogy is flawed
14:21 What’s worth preserving in the left-liberal tradition?
21:38 Matt: Identity politics is a “toxin”
27:20 Was affirmative action ever necessary?
35:29 Matt: I wish the left would rediscover Hitchens’s universalism
45:04 Hitchens’s “fearless liberalism”
Recorded July 6, 2023
Links and Readings
Matt’s new book, How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment
Hitchens’s NYRB review of Douglas Murray’s Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas
Hitchens’s book, Why Orwell Matters
George Orwell’s book, Keep The Aspidistra Flying
Glenn’s recent conversation with Cornel West
Matt’s Quilette essay on John Mearsheimer
Matt’s Quillette essay on Bayard Rustin
Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life
Nathan Glazer’s book, Affirmative Discrimination: Ethnic Inequality and Public Policy
Roland Fryer’s NYT oped, “How to Fix College Admissions Now”
Glenn’s debate with Hitchens
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Atlantic essay, “The Case for Reparations”
Bayard Rustin’s 1965 Commentary essay, “From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement”
Norman Finkelstein’s book, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Come to It!: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom
Glenn’s conversation with Norman Finkelstein
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 The problem with scientific consensus
6:36 Why Jay and his colleagues were branded “fringe epidemiologists”
15:52 Jay: We need to engage with everyone—even those with mistaken beliefs
25:55 Persuading science skeptics
36:04 How do we stop COVID overreach from happening again?
46:38 Jay: Gain-of-function research is impossible to do safely
55:03 Are some ideas too dangerous to test?
59:30 Jay: Fauci’s blunder was so catastrophic that only history can judge him
Recorded June 23, 2023
Links and Readings
Rav Arora and Jay’s newsletter, The Illusion of Consensus
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
The Great Barrington Declaration
Steve Koonin’s book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Asks Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters
Steve Koonin’s TGS appearance
Tjalling Koopman’s, Three Essays on the State of Economic Science
Emily Oster’s Atlantic piece, “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty”
The Norfolk Group Document
Glenn’s paper, “Self-Censorship in Public Discourse: A Theory of ‘Political Correctness’ and Related Phenomena”
Richard Feynman demonstrates flaws in Challenger’s O-rings
Roger Shattuck’s book, Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Why Cornel is running for president
10:45 How Cornel links American militarism abroad and inequality at home
15:15 Cornel’s pitch to skeptical right-of-center voters
20:30 Is there tension between Cornel’s commitment to stopping climate change and his commitment to helping the working class?
33:50 The moral potential and pitfalls of capitalism
37:34 Might Cornel inadvertently hand the election to the Republicans?
41:44 Cornel: Tim Scott and Clarence Thomas are wrong, but they’re sincere
46:06 Why Cornel thinks the US is partially culpable for the Ukraine War
52:04 Should Palestinians recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel?
1:00:23 Cornel’s ideas about the US border
Recorded on June 16, 2023
Links and Readings
Cornel’s campaign website
Cornel’s TGS appearance with Teodros Kiros
Glenn and Richard Wolff debate capitalism and socialism
Cornel and Robert George on PBS’s Firing Line
Steve Koonin’s TGS appearance
Ernesto Cortes’s TGS appearance
Benjamin Schwartz and Christopher Layne’s Harper’s essay, “Why Are We in Ukraine?”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Why Jonathan’s course “Culture in America” got canceled
9:07 The fragility of liberal arts education
17:24 Managing “CRT zealots” in the classroom
27:44 Is there a future for free inquiry?
35:03 John: Black middle-class students don’t need affirmative action
44:57 Is diversity the problem, or is it elitism?
52:35 The virtues (and virtue signaling) of Randall Kennedy
Recorded June 17, 2023
Links and Readings
Alex Morey and Nadine Strossen’s FIRE article about Jonathan, “Who’s Allowed to Teach ‘Culture in America’?”
Barnard’s Center for Engaged Pedagogy
John’s book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
Robin DiAngelo’s book, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism
Cornell Belcher’s book, A Black Man in the White House: Barack Obama and the Triggering of America’s Racial-Aversion Crisis
Richard Rothstein’s Atlantic piece, “The Problem with Wealth-Based Affirmative Action”
John’s guest post, “Racial Preferences May End, but the Fight Will Continue”
Derrick Bell’s book, Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism
Glenn’s City Journal essay, “Affirmative Distraction”
Randall Kennedy NYT guest essay, “The Truth Is, Many Americans Just Don’t Want Black People to Get Ahead”
Randall Kennedy’s Atlantic essay, “My Race Problem”
Randall Kennedy’s book, For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law
Randall Kennedy’s book, Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word
John McWhorter and Randall Kennedy on The Glenn Show
John’s 2008 Bloggingheads conversation with Randall Kennedy
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Bob’s new book, The State of the Black Family: Sixty Years of Tragedies and Failures—and New Initiatives Offering Hope
7:02 Bob: “Liberals have given up” on changing black family dynamics
15:02 Two-parent families are preferable, but single-parent families need help
22:01 Do children help women organize their lives more effectively than men?
29:14 Is community college helping or hurting young black men?
38:38 How Bob thinks police and communities should deter violence
45:42 Work requirements with a human face
56:04 The moderate’s dilemma
Recorded May 4, 2023
Links and Readings
Bob’s new book, The State of the Black Family: Sixty Years of Tragedies and Failures—and New Initiatives Offering Hope
Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s report, The Negro Family: The Case for National Action
Herbert Gutman’s book, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925
Lawrence Mead’s book, Beyond Entitlement: The Social Obligations of Citizenship
Lawrence Mead on TGS
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Inside the mind of a crack columnist
4:19 The blowback from Norman Finkelstein’s TGS appearance
15:27 Is it enough to be a “happy warrior” for your cause?
28:45 How did MLK become MLK?
37:37 What’s in a name when that name is “Woodrow Wilson”?
49:10 Glenn: “Clarence Thomas’s name should be on public school buildings”
Recorded May 30, 2023
Links and Readings
John’s NYT archive
Norman Finkelstein on TGS
Norman Finkelstein’s book, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Come to It: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom
Jonathan Eig’s new biography of Martin Luther King, King: A Life
Jonathan Eig’s biography of Muhammad Ali, Ali: A Life
Charles Johnson’s novel, Middle Passage
Charles Johnson’s novel, Dreamer
Reza Aslan’s new book, An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville
PBS’s Frontline documentary, Clarence and Ginni
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 John: “I love linguistics, but it no longer loves me”
9:44 How Glenn and John are getting written out of their fields
19:27 Jordan Neely didn’t deserve to die …
27:28 … but the New York subway is getting scary
37:45 Glenn: Reparations would be “impractical, unfair, and divisive in the extreme”
50:50 A possible left-wing objection to reparations
57:22 Glenn goes ham on reparations
Recorded May 18, 2023
Links and Readings
Steven Pinker’s book, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
John’s book, Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths about America’s Lingua Franca
John’s book, Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of “Pure” Standard English
John’s language podcast, Lexicon Valley
John, Our Magnificent B***d Tongue: The Untold History of English
John’s NYT piece about Jordan Neely, “A Killing on the F Train”
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 2014 Atlantic essay, “The Case for Reparations”
Matthew Desmond’s book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Matthew Desmond’s new book, Poverty, by America
Glenn’s conversation with Norman Finkelstein
August Wilson’s play, Two Trains Running
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Why YouTube censored a TGS episode
6:25 How can YouTube justify censoring matters of opinion?
15:15 Why there’s no such thing as free speech
26:00 Nikita’s notes on Substack Notes
39:53 Democratizing content moderation
46:11 Creating better, community-centered comments sections
Recorded May 4, 2023
Links and Readings
Nikita’s Substack, Psychopolitica
The censored TGS episode, “I Feel, Therefore I Am”
Glenn’s paper, “Self-Censorship in Public Discourse: A Theory of ‘Political Correctness’ and Related Phenomena”
Matt Taibbi’s Substack, Racket News
Substack Notes
Glenn’s most recent conversation with Amy Wax
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Has Norman been shut out of mainstream political debates?
7:54 Norman’s conflict with Alan Dershowitz
16:50 Is Israel an apartheid state?
19:25 Identifying with Paul Robeson
33:08 Norman’s new book, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!
44:42 Norman: Wokeness is a “triple scam”
53:28 What’s become of Angela Davis?
1:00:05 Cornel West's chosen path
1:09:01 Obama’s self-proclaimed “neat trick”
1:24:38 The political intelligence of Carter, Clinton, and Obama
1:38:10 South Carolina 2020: a case study in identity politics
1:47:24 Would Bernie have won in 2016?
Recorded April 19, 2023
Links and Readings
Norman’s new book, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom
Norman’s book, The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering
Norman’s book, Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History
Norman’s book, Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom
Norman’s book, A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen Thesis and Historical Truth
Norman’s book, What Ghandi Says: On Nonviolence, Resistance, and Courage
Norman’s book, “This Time We Went Too Far”: Truth and Consequences on the Gaza Invasion
Norman’s book, Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance with Israel is Coming to an End
Norman’s book, The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A Personal Account of the Intifada Years
Joan Peters’s book, From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine
Alan Dershowitz’s book, The Case for Israel
Alan Dershowitz and Norman’s debate on Democracy Now
Michael Barnett, Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch, and Shibley Telhami’s Foreign Affairs piece, “Israel’s One-State Reality”
Paul Robeson singing “The Four Insurgent Generals”
The Letters of Rosa Luxembourg
Mark Doss performing “Ol’ Man River”
Paul Robeson’s autobiography, Here I Stand
W.E.B. Du Bois’s book, The Philadelphia Negro
W.E.B. DuBois’s book, Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880
Tom Wolfe’s New York Magazine essay, “Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny’s”
Angela Davis’s 2022 appearance at the University of South Carolina
Barack Obama’s memoir, A Promised Land
Bill Clinton’s memoir, My Life
Jimmy Carter’s memoir, Keeping Faith
David Axelrod’s memoir, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics
Frederick Douglass’s third autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
In this week’s episode, John and I return to a familiar character: Omar. For those of you unfamiliar with “Omar,” he’s our invented surrogate for the kind of young black man whose behavior is wreaking havoc on Chicago and St. Louis. Omar is economically disadvantaged. He was more than likely raised by a single mother. He underperforms academically, and he may have dropped out of high school. He’s involved in illegal activity of one sort or another. If there is some kind of large-scale disorderly event, you’ll likely find Omar there.
After a discussion of Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News, John and I spend most of the episode talking about Omar: what made him who he is, why he acts the way he does, and what, if anything, can make him change. John has little sympathy for structural explanations for Omar’s behavior. According to John, culture makes Omar who he is, not the history of American racism, not implicit bias, and not even a supposed lack of legitimate jobs. I play devil’s advocate, raising some objections you might hear from sociologists or historians, but in truth, I find John’s reasoning pretty persuasive. To couch it in my own framework, the bias narrative just doesn’t cut it.
And to those of you wondering if I have anything more to say about YouTube’s removal of my conversation with John and Mark Goldblatt: I sure do. I’ve recorded an episode with my creative director Nikita Petrov in which we discuss censorship, YouTube, and why we’re sticking with Substack. Stay tuned.
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Featured Content from City Journal
Had he been in treatment, Jordan Neely’s death in a subway car may have been prevented, writes Stephen Eide.
0:00 Glenn mounts a defense of Tucker Carlson
13:44 Glenn: “Race relations will not get better through denial”
24:37 What historical conditions created Omar?
36:24 John: Omar is not the result of white neglect
45:16 John’s critique of structural explanations of Omar
54:14 What will happen to Tucker?
55:40 Why you should become a paying subscriber
Links and Readings
The NYT’s story on Tucker Carlson’s “it’s not how white men fight” text
John’s book, Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America
William Julius Wilson’s book, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy
William Julius Wilson’s book, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor
William Julius Wilson’s book, The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions
Thomas Sugrue’s book, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit
Jason DeParle’s book, American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare
Frantz Fanon’s book, The Wretched of the Earth
Frantz Fanon’s book, Black Skin, White Masks
Philip Roth’s novel, American Pastoral
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Glenn and John answer questions from the Substack community.
0:00 Mark Goldblatt’s recent book, I Feel, Therefore I Am: The Triumph of Woke Subjectivism
10:55 Wokeism’s roots in postmodern thought
15:05 The “mysticism” of woke thinking
17:44 Learning from Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations
26:29 John breaks his silence on transgender issues
35:13 The political consequences of subjectivism
41:46 Why Mark thinks transgender people are mentally disordered
50:07 What does the T have to do with the LGB?
58:09 Mark: Transgender people deserve respect
1:02:39 Distinguishing between strategy and reality
Links and Readings
Mark’s book, I Feel Therefore I Am: The Triumph of Woke Subjectivism
Matt Yglesias’s Vox essay, “The Great Awokening”
A clip from Glenn’s recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 The gigification of academia
8:26 Is education just another commodity?
18:14 What do historians do?
26:22 Daniel: The university system is an unregulated cartel
35:08 The liberalism (not the leftism) of the university
38:22 Using (and getting used by) new technology
43:19 An alternate history of global economic development
47:29 The end of the American century
54:27 Daniel’s critique of US support for Ukraine
Recorded February 7, 2023
Links and Readings
Daniel’s NYT op-ed, “The Dangerous Decline of the Historical Profession”
Daniel’s TGS mini-series, “Glenn Loury’s Intellectual Origins”
Francis Fukuyama’s book, The End of History and the Last Man
Daniel’s essay on Fukuyama for the Nation, “A Bad Breakup”
Adrianna Kezar, Tom DePaola, and Daniel T. Scott’s book, The Gig Academy: Mapping Labor in the Neoliberal University
Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis’s book, Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life
James Sweet’s column, “Is History History?”
Daniel’s Chronicle of Higher Education piece, “The AHA’s Mission Needs to Change”
Eugen Weber’s book, Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914
Daniel’s podcast, American Prestige
Daniel’s Harper’s Harper’s piece, “Empire Burlesque”
Daniel’s New Republic piece, “Does American Fascism Exist?
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
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0:00 Identitarianism in the medical profession
5:13 The (exaggerated) psychiatric toll of Covid
7:31 Why were psychiatrists publicly diagnosing Trump?
12:29 Sally’s quest for a kidney donor
23:30 How the kidney donation system works and why it doesn’t
29:30 The ethics of selling a kidney
34:42 Can we put a price on the human body?
43:44 Would paying donors exploit the poor?
48:17 Is paid kidney donation a political possibility?
53:12 The roadblocks facing paid kidney donation
Links and Readings
Sally’s book, P.C., M.D.: How Political Correctness Is Corrupting Medicine
Christina Hoff Sommers and Sally’s book, One Nation Under Therapy: How the Helping Culture is Eroding Self-Reliance
Peter Kramer and Sally’s 2017 NYT op-ed, “Who Decides Whether Trump Is Unfit to Govern?”
matchingdonors.com
Leon Kass’s book, Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics
Glenn’s conversation with Michael Sandel
Michael Novak’s defense of paid kidney donation in First Things
Sally’s book, When Altruism Isn’t Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors
Sally’s New York Times Magazine piece, “Desperately Seeking a Kidney”
Sally’s website
0:00 What’s wrong with cancelation?
13:28 A defense of Charles Murray
21:24 Cancelation and the closet
28:08 Jonathan’s book, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth
39:35 Jonathan: “The marketplace of ideas” is a necessary but insufficient metaphor
42:51 Is Trump an agent of disinformation?
54:22 What the woke and MAGA crowds have in common
59:41 Why Jonathan is hopeful about the constitution of knowledge
Recorded February 6, 2022
Links and Readings
Jonathan’s latest book, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth
Jonathan’s book, Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought
Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein’s book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
Jeff Gerth’s Four-Party Columbia Journalism Review series on Trump and the press
Stanford’s Internet Observatory
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Glenn and John respond to questions from Substack subscribers.
0:00 John’s recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher
7:23 The rigors of the lecture circuit
10:29 The difference between equity and equality
22:10 How do we know that African Americans are just as smart as everyone else?
30:59 The new black bourgeoisie
38:33 Standards in the arts are relative. But how relative?
51:15 John sets the record straight on his dancing skills
Recorded March 19, 2022
Links and Readings
John’s most recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher
Glenn and John April 14 UATX event in New York
E. Franklin Frazier’s book, Black Bourgeoisie
Glenn and John’s conversation with pseudonymous orchestra conductor Don Baton
Don Baton’s Substack, The Podium
Glenn and John’s conversation with actor James Beaman
James Beaman’s Substack, The Cornfield
Glenn and John’s conversation with Vincent Lloyd
John’s NYT piece, “The High Art of Musical Theater”
Walter Murphy’s song, “A Fifth of Beethoven”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
My guest this week is the distinguished physicist Sylvester “Jim” Gates. Jim was my colleague at Brown for years (he’s now at the University of Maryland), and we’re both alumni of MIT. Jim has made pathbreaking contributions to areas of physics that laymen like me can barely understand—he’s a deep, deep guy. He’s also got some thoughts on race and diversity in the sciences that give us an opportunity for some friendly debate.
Jim begins by introducing supersymmetry, a subfield in physics he helped to define back in the ‘70s. It’s extremely complex stuff, but he breaks it down. We spend the bulk of our time, though, talking about race in the sciences. Jim stresses the value that diversity plays in an under-recognized aspect of scientific innovation: imagination. In Jim’s view, while tests are important, there are limits to what they can tell us about who is most likely to produce the next big advance in any scientific field, just as there are limits to what tests can tell us about the competency of any given student. He uses himself as an example of a student who was average when he started grad school but managed to transform himself into a cutting-edge researcher. He sees value in giving weight to diversity, and even to continuing affirmative action, but there are limits. He worries, for example, that DEI initiatives classifying basic practices like homework and demanding excellence as “white” are going too far, just as he thinks speakers with unpopular views should be met with debate rather than cancelation.
It’s a pleasure to sit down with a scientist as distinguished as Jim Gates. I think you’ll be seeing more of him on The Glenn Show in the future.
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Featured Content from the Manhattan Institute
Improving our criminal-justice system means spending the requisite money to address America’s horrific and long-standing problem with criminal violence, argue Reihan Salam and Charles Fain Lehman.
0:00 What led Jim to the forefront of physics
7:53 Jim explains supersymmetry
11:50 Is there racism in the sciences?
18:12 The role of culture and imagination in the sciences
28:47 The scientific “big bang” in Europe
33:03 How Jim accounts for racial disparities in test scores
49:35 Jim: “Genius” is a verb
54:18 Why Jim worries about DEI and cancelation
Recorded February 6, 2023
Links and Readings
Clarence Williams’s book, Technology and the Dream: Reflections on the Black Experience at MIT, 1941-1999
Jim’s essay, “Equity vs. Excellence: A False Dichotomy in Science and Society”
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Physicist Stephon Alexander’s TGS appearance
Stephon Alexander’s book, The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link between Music and the Structure of the Universe
Stephon Alexander’s book, Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider’s Guide to the Future of Physics
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0:00 John’s awkward run-in at the farmer’s market
5:40 Will people be reading Ibram X. Kendi in 2043?
17:03 Regret, doubt, and going against the tide
28:12 How Glenn and John negotiate their public profiles
40:50 Did Scott Adams deserve to get canceled?
52:47 What’s going on beneath the Scott Adams controversy?
Recorded March 5, 2023
Links and Readings
Ibram X. Kendi’s Zora Neale Hurston adaptation, Magnolia Flower
Melissa Harris Perry’s radio show, The Takeaway
Ishmael Reed’s novel, Reckless Eyeballing
Ishmael Reed’s essay collection, Another Day at the Front
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com
0:00 Woke religion or woke cult?
8:59 Does suffering confer authority on the sufferer?
12:47 A world without “anti-black domination”
21:27 Is there an alternative to the criminal justice system?
34:42 Domination and the purpose of the university
42:47 How Vincent’s Telluride Association seminar blew up
50:45 The narrowness of the social justice framework
54:14 Glenn and John’s encounters with fans
59:49 Should Black Studies exist?
Recorded February 19, 2023
Links and Readings
Vincent’s latest book, Black Dignity: The Struggle against Domination
Vincent’s Compact essay, “A Black Professor Trapped in Anti-Racist Hell”
John’s NYT piece, “DeSantis May Have Been Right”
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com
Glenn Loury & Delano Squires (Blaze Media)
0:00 Why Delano is a conservative
7:06 Delano’s critique of Raphael Warnock and the “Afristocracy”
19:26 Delano: “The designer is the definer”
27:43 Abortion and black lives
41:44 Are abortion rights necessary to protect women’s rights?
47:53 Delano: Government is no substitute for fatherhood
53:48 Can we reweave the social fabric?
Links and Readings
Delano’s writing at Blaze Media
The Woodson Center’s 1776 Unites
Black and Married with Kids
Ian Rowe’s book, Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power
0:00 The “utter horror show” and incompetent policing of the Tyre Nichols killing
7:52 The relatively peaceful reaction to the killing
15:25 What set off the cops?
21:53 Why Peter thinks police units like SCORPION should not be disbanded
27:25 Should we get rid of qualified immunity?
30:21 Policing and white supremacy
40:45 Peter: We on the left have ceded law and order to the Trumpian right
46:00 Tyre Nichols’s funeral
53:59 John: I disagree with Sharpton, Crump, and Dyson, but they’re sincere
Links and Readings
Video of Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols
Al Sharpton’s eulogy for Nichols
Benjamin Crump speaks at Nichols’s funeral
Official trailer for Spike Lee’s film, Bamboozled
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Ernie’s work as an organizer
5:45 Tension, polarization, and reconciliation
12:49 The drama of organizing
18:21 The definition of power
27:52 Ernesto’s work getting running water and sewers to border communities
31:26 Market activity vs. market ideology
41:31 What’s wrong with meritocracy?
56:12 Does identitarianism stand in the way of reconciliation?
Recorded January 19, 2023
Links and Readings
Industrial Areas Foundation
My recent debate with Richard Wolff
Arthur Okun’s book, Equality and Efficiency: A Big Tradeoff
Daniel Bell’s book, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism
John Kenneth Galbraith’s book, American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power
Michael Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?
Michael Sandel’s book, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
Michael Sandel’s TGS appearance
Franz Fanon’s book, Black Skin, White Masks
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Glenn and John go to Cambridge
9:25 The Hamline University Prophet Muhammad controversy
14:38 John: “Physics is physics”
18:45 The Harlem Renaissance and Black Studies
26:35 Is “getting past race” more trouble than it’s worth?
36:51 Is Joe Biden patronizing black people?
42:59 How a black musical changed the sound of Broadway
Recorded January 20, 2023
Links and Readings
The Equiano Project
Arnold Rampersand’s biography of Langston Hughes
John’s 2002 City Journal piece, “The Mau-Mauing at Harvard”
Glenn and John’s recent conversation with Greg Thomas
Caseen Gaines’s book, When Broadway Was Black
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Steven’s best-selling book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters
2:38 Steven: Concerns about catastrophic climate change “beggar belief”
9:43 The complexities of climate change models
15:07 Should we worry about rising sea levels?
24:54 Hurricanes, tornados, and other extreme weather events
29:59 Is a zero-emissions goal worth the cost?
38:05 How to fix climate science
45:02 Are the Paris Accords viable?
48:13 The coming climate backlash
Recorded January 3, 2023
Links and Readings
Steven’s book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters
Steven’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, “Will Climate Change Really Put New York Underwater?”
Steven’s 2022 Wall Street Journal op-ed, “Greenland’s Melting Ice Is No Cause for Climate-Change Panic”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 A brief intro from Glenn
1:03 The lionization of the lightweights
5:45 The unified field theory of non-whiteness
19:16 An honest conversation about crime
27:51 Glenn’s birthday menu
30:46 It’s time to choose a side
41:46 Clarence Thomas, black icon
44:54 Policing Joe Rogan
51:56 By any means necessary?
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This week I’m very pleased to have with me the political philosopher Michael Sandel. I’ve been an avid reader of Michael’s work for decades, ever since coming across his first book, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice in the 1980s. Michael’s latest book, 2020’s The Tyranny of Merit, couldn’t be more timely. In it, Michael elaborates a critique of the meritocratic ideology that divides society into winners and losers, each of which has earned the fate that has befallen them.
In our conversation, Michael lays out his argument in the book, which takes issue with the notion that an individual’s economic success or failure is an index of their character. The idea that the wealthy deserve their wealth and the poor deserve their poverty ignores the powerful economic forces that shape the outcomes of people’s lives, forces that operate well outside the control of the people affected by them. We discuss the distinction between profit and value, and the ways that the cultural and economic rise of tech, finance, and knowledge work has stripped the dignity and honor from formerly dignified and honorable professions. The rise of populism since Trump’s election serves as compelling evidence that society’s “losers” recognize the bad hand they’ve been dealt, but Michael’s critique of meritocracy has made him an influential figure in China as well, where meritocracy is arguably an even more powerful cultural force.
It’s an honor to have such a distinguished figure on the show. I have the feeling that what Michael says here will ring true for many of my listeners, so I’m looking forward to your comments.
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Featured Content from City Journal
Steven Malanga discusses why the middle class flees states that tax the rich.
0:00 Some of Michael’s key works
4:01 Meritocratic ideals and meritocratic fantasies
10:07 The animus against elites
16:26 Shouldn’t innovators reap their rewards?
23:09 Does more profit create more value?
28:42 Renewing the dignity of work
37:43 The uses of punishment
43:57 Our responsibility to national and global communities
46:17 Michael: Diversity has “monopolized” discussion of affirmative action
52:52 China’s reception of Michael’s critique of meritocracy
Recorded November 18, 2022
Links and Readings
Michael’s book, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice
Michael’s book, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
Michael’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good?
Michael Young’s book, The Rise of the Meritocracy
Industrial Areas Foundation
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This week, John McWhorter and I are joined by Greg Thomas, senior fellow at the Institute for Cultural Evolution and CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, to discuss one of our perennial Big Questions: Are we ready to deracialize? As you may have gathered from his previous TGS appearance, that’s the kind of issue Greg loves to sink his teeth into. But I do have some questions of my own for Greg. Let’s get into it.
We begin with a little jazz talk. I ask Greg how he goes about incorporating the principles of the music into the workshops he leads with the Jazz Leadership Project. He goes on to explain how the history of jazz provides a way of understanding how we can begin to envision a society that moves past race. Greg uses the work of Albert Murray and Ralph Ellison as examples, but I want to know why I and other black people should have to abandon our racial self-identification? Surely this task can’t fall to black people alone. I suggest to Greg that he’s unjustifiably conflating black identity and the victim mentality—you can have the former without the latter. After a brief discussion about whiteness and deracialization, Greg departs, leaving John and me to do a quick review of 2022 and to look ahead to 2023.
This is a fiery one! It’s our final episode of the year. Thank you all for watching, listening, and reading. John and I will be back in 2023. See you there!
Featured Content from the Manhattan Institute
Daniel Di Martino released a report with reforms to America’s immigration system, which is turning off high-skilled immigrants due to slow processing and unneeded bureaucracy.
0:00 The principles of jazz
7:14 “Deracialization Now”
13:00 Becoming Omni-American
20:46 What’s wrong with racial identification?
25:36 Black victimization and cultural memory
35:15 The transformations of James Baldwin
42:10 Convincing white people to deracialize
48:40 Takeaways from 2022
55:33 2023’s big Supreme Court decisions
Links and Readings
Jazz Leadership Project
Institute for Cultural Evolution
BME Community
Greg’s essay, “Deracialization Now”
Albert Murray’s book, The Omni-Americans: Some Alternatives to the Folklore of White Supremacy
John’s book, Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths about America’s Lingua Franca
Kwame Anthony Appiah’s book, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
Reconstruction.us
Abigail Thernstrom’s book, Whose Votes Count?: Affirmative Action and Minority Voting Rights
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Why Glenn does The Glenn Show
13:02 Glenn: “If I was going to vote for Trump, I wouldn’t tell you”
19:21 “The cat is out of the bag” on election denial
25:45 Modeling epistemic modesty
31:12 Why is race such an important issue for Glenn?
39:13 The Old Glenn and the New Glenn
45:46 Confronting the past
50:44 Putting “the funk” on the story of your life
Recorded October 27, 2022
Links and Readings
Hamish’s podcast, The Active Voice
Emily Oster’s Substack
Robert Wright’s Nonzero Newsletter
Nonzero’s YouTube channel
Matt Taibbi’s Substack
Matt Taibbi’s book, Hate, Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another
Braver Angels
John McWhorter’s book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
Benjamin Crump’s book, Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People
Glenn’s Quillette piece, “Unspeakable Truths about Racial Inequality in America”
Glenn’s first Bloggingheads appearance, with Joshua Cohen in August 2007
James Q. Wilson’s book, Thinking about Crime
Rafael Mangual’s recent TGS appearance
Andrew Sullivan’s Substack
Alex Berenson’s Substack
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0:00 Why are we paying so much attention to Kanye West’s antisemitism?
14:02 The two words you never say together
23:28 Could widespread antisemitism take hold in the US?
36:53 The mythological black past and the realities of the present
48:12 How necessary is rootedness to the modern human experience?
56:54 How we make race, how race makes us
Recorded on December 10, 2022
Links and Readings
Dave Chappelle’s SNL monologue on Kanye West and Kyrie Irving
John’s NYT piece, “It’s Too Darn Loud”
Wilson Jeremiah Moses’s book, Afrotopia: The Roots of African American Popular History
Orlando Patterson’s essay, “Toward a Future That Has No Past – Reflections on the Fate of Blacks in America”
Rogers Brubaker’s book, Ethnicity without Groups
Glenn and John’s May 2020 conversation about George Floyd
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week we’ve got something special for you here at The Glenn Show. In late October, I convened in person in New York City with the economist Richard Wolff for an extended debate on the comparative merits of capitalism and socialism. Some of you may have seen Rick’s previous appearance on TGS, where he joined John McWhorter and me for a similar debate. Rick and I both felt that we had more to say than that format allowed, so we agreed to meet face to face.
Both of us are passionate defenders of our positions—capitalism for me and socialism for Rick—so we knew we needed a moderator to keep things on track. Luckily, I knew just the person: my lovely wife, LaJuan Loury. If you’re a regular viewer, you’ll know that LaJuan and I have some stark political differences; her views have more in common with Rick’s than with mine. (And if you’re a regular podcast listener, you’ll recognize her voice from the introduction to every episode.) Rick and I agreed that LaJuan would set the agenda, formulate the questions that we would debate, and moderate the conversation. I think you’ll agree that she more than rose to the challenge.
As you might expect, this is a lively exchange. Rick and I have real differences in the ways we think about economics and politics. One thing on which we do agree is the necessity of having serious debates like this one in a civil and open manner. As TGS continues to grow, you can look forward to more content like this. You can also look forward, if all goes according to plan, to more LaJuan. And if you find yourself wishing for even more pushback on Rick’s positions than I offered, stay tuned. This Sunday’s edition of the newsletter will feature a bonus episode with the economist Gene Epstein, who offers a forceful rebuttal to Rick’s previous appearance on the show.
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Featured Content from the Manhattan Institute
“Prejudice must be measured rigorously. Statistically. Disparity doesn’t necessarily imply racism. It may feel omnipresent, but it isn’t all-powerful. Skills matter most,” writes Roland Fryer.
0:00 Is capitalism a “winner take all” system?
12:54 Why does the word “socialism” make so many Americans afraid?
24:55 Has neoliberalism been beneficial for the US?
33:25 Capitalism’s role in rising living standards around the world
40:59 Are higher interest rates the only solution to inflation?
52:36 Can the market eradicate employment discrimination?
1:02:12 Why is the rent too damn high?
1:13;20 Can there be a kinder, gentler form of capitalism?
1:18:58 Closing statements
Recorded October 26, 2022
Links and Readings
Rick’s previous appearance on The Glenn Show
Gary Becker’s book, The Economics of Discrimination
Matthew Desmond’s book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 How the pandemic affected diversity in the theater
10:24 James gets drawn into an “antiracist” meltdown during rehearsal
21:08 James’s story of ostracism and Loving v. Virginia
26:58 Juilliard students revolt
39:19 A plea for mutual understanding in the theater
47:57 A preview of things to come on The Glenn Show
50:32 Glenn’s problem with “racial inequity”
59:18 Getting through to “Donna”
1:03:58 To speak your mind or to speak strategically?
Recorded November 27, 2022
Links and Readings
James’s homepage
Glenn and John’s conversation with Don Baton
John’s NYT piece, “‘Racism’ Without Racists”
Ronald Ferguson’s speech from Glenn’s festschrift
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 What does “black identity” mean?
4:53 Why Bob left the Civil Rights Movement
8:04 Shelby: Our problem today is freedom, not racism
15:36 Glenn: We can’t afford to give up on black collective goals
21:30 Why Shelby wouldn’t sign a letter of support for Clarence Thomas
30:13 Would freeing ourselves from race mean sacrificing collective action?
39:10 The tactical efficacy of racial identification
44:32 The struggle for human freedom
50:46 Can we take pride in group achievements past?
1:02:22 Kmele: We have a too-narrow sense of diversity
1:07:20 Glenn: “The future is assimilation”
1:13:03 Concluding statements
Links and Readings
Kmele’s podcast, The Fifth Column
The Woodson Center
Glenn and Bob’s letter of support for Clarence Thomas
Thomas Chatterton Williams’s book, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Family, Fatherhood, and Rethinking Race
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Glenn’s culinary dilemma
3:31 Why the Republican Party depresses John
8:14 What’s the difference between Herschel Walker and John Fetterman?
13:12 Glenn’s argument for voting Republican
30:01 Woke theater’s “melodramatic agitprop”
43:10 Kanye, Kyrie, and the Jews
54:00 What’s “systemic,” “structural,” or “institutional” about racism?
Recorded on November 13, 2022
Links and Readings
John’s NYT column, “Racism and Theater, Then and Now”
Glenn and John’s conversation with orchestra conductor Don Baton
Wilson Jeremiah Moses’s book, Afrotopia: The Roots of African American Popular History
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
My guest this week, filmmaker Rob Montz, is an unlikely figure: a libertarian-leaning Brown University graduate who loves ‘90s rap and produces politically inflected documentaries that push back against the orthodoxies of the mainstream media. Rob has featured me in several of his works, and so I thought it was time to return the favor and have him on TGS.
I begin by asking Rob how someone with a Brown pedigree ends up interested in such un-Brown-like figures as Charles Murray, Roy Beck, and Scott Atlas. Rob traces out his path from Brown to the Cato Institute to starting his own company, Good Kid Productions. He talks about some of his work, including a forthcoming doc about James Blake and Kyle Rittenhouse and one defending Roland Fryer from Harvard’s spurious sexual harassment charges. We then discuss the niches we’ve created for ourselves outside of the mainstream. Rob asks whether there’s a place for younger figures who can follow in my footsteps by achieving legitimacy both within academia and as a critic of the pieties that govern academic and political life in the US. We then move on to what’s shaping up to be one of the most crucial questions of the next two years: Trump or DeSantis? And finally, I ask Rob about his abiding affection for rap.
Rob is doing important work as a filmmaker, and I recommend that everyone check out his YouTube channel. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on it to see what comes next.
(Note: This conversation took place on September 20, 2022, before the latest set of controversies around Kanye West emerged.)
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
Featured Content from City Journal
Roland G. Fryer discusses affirmative action, why the current system doesn’t work, and suggests alternatives to the status quo.
0:00 The appeals of immigration restrictionism
16:52 The 2013 Ray Kelly incident at Brown University
24:39 Rob’s forthcoming documentary about Jacob Blake and Kyle Rittenhouse
36:29 The response to Rob’s Roland Fryer doc
41:41 Why Rob and Glenn aren’t seeking the mainstream spotlight
47:20 Is there a “next Glenn Loury”?
55:10 Glenn’s course on race and policing be required?
1:02:19 Rob’s position on Trump
1:09:11 DeSantis vs. Trump
1:15:22 Rob’s love of ‘90s rap
Links and Readings
Good Kid Productions on YouTube
Rob’s interview with Roy Beck
Ray Kelly getting heckled at Brown in 2013
Rob’s interview with Jay Bhattacharya
Rob’s mini-doc about Roland Fryer
Roland Fryer’s education company, Reconstruction
Roland Fryer’s other company, Equal Opportunity Ventures
Dexter Filkins’s New Yorker piece on Ron DeSantis
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
I’m back with John McWhorter for the latest installment of our ongoing conversation. John hit some technical snags in the first ten minutes of the recording, so apologies if the beginning sounds a little jumpy. After that, things smooth out. On to the conversation.
We begin by talking about my memoir, which is now, after years of false starts, humming along nicely. But the process has forced me to confront some very dark episodes from my past, and they don’t always cast me in the most flattering light. As I explain, I think that presenting this unvarnished account of my own actions is necessary, both in the service of truth and in building credibility. John says he’ll probably never write a memoir, but I believe that if he sat down to do it, people would be more receptive than he thinks they would. After a rant about the “lightweights” against whom John and I often find ourselves pitted in the public square, we consider that we and people like us are finally making some headway in the conversation about race. Our views are no longer so marginal, and we may even be in, as John says, a “golden age of black heterodoxy.” And speaking of heterodoxy, I recount my recent debate with Shelby Steele, Robert Woodson, and Kmele Foster on “the ethics of racial identity” (watch this space for more soon). We finish the episode with accounts of the strange case of Jessica Krug’s racial masquerade and Darrell Brooks’s pathetic defense in his murder trial.
We get deep in this one. As always, I’m looking forward to your comments.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
Featured Content from the Manhattan Institute
Reihan Salam argues Congress should fund innovative public–private partnerships now to prepare for a future pandemic.
0:00 Walking through the valley of the shadow of death
5:20 Earning credibility through self-discrediting disclosure
16:29 The lionization of the lightweights
21:09 The golden age of black heterodoxy
26:01 The mainstreaming of Glenn and John
37:36 Glenn’s debate with Shelby Steele, Robert Woodson, and Kmele Foster
45:45 Are we ready to “get past race”?
56:03 The strange case of Jessica Krug
1:03:46 Darrell Brooks’s courtroom performance
Links and Readings
The announcement for 2022 Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education
Kmele Foster’s podcast, The Fifth Column
Darrell Brooks’ closing statement at his trial
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
As I mentioned at the start of our latest subscriber-only Q&A episode, John McWhorter recently received the 2022 Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education, bestowed by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. According to the ACTA, the award honors “individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to liberal arts education, core curricula, and the teaching of Western Civilization and American history.” Perhaps I’m biased, but I can think of no one who more richly deserves such recognition, and so I was proud to be asked to deliver some remarks in tribute to John at a ceremony, which I offer below. (I’ve also recorded an audio and video version for those who prefer to listen and watch. The audio is available now, video will uploaded tomorrow.)
Next month will mark the fifteenth anniversary of my first recorded dialogue with John. Since that first episode, the two of us have experienced much. The beginnings and ends of marriages, the loss of loved ones, the birth of children and grandchildren, not to mention changes in political orientation and new career paths. Through all of that, John and I have kept talking to each other. I think those conversations are important for the reasons I state below. But equally important to me is the friendship that has allowed us, despite our differences, to keep the dialogue going. Without that bond, we may have been able to continue the conversation, but it would not have meant nearly as much to me as it does.
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There are things that don’t—or can’t—get said when we talk about race in most venues in America. Those who have followed the 15-year-long conversation on this topic that I have been undertaking with John at The Glenn Show know what I’m talking about, whether it’s crime in black communities or out-of-wedlock birthrates, academic underperformance or the unbearable intellectual lightness of anti-racism agitation. In academia, in mainstream publications and media outlets, and increasingly in K-12 classrooms, what I’ve called “the bias narrative” holds sway. Negative aspects of black life are attributed almost entirely to the nation’s history of racial oppression, which is said to begin in the early seventeenth century and to continue unabated to this day. We are said to be a bandit society built on genocidal plundering undertaken by unrepentant racists.
That’s one story you could tell. And if that story were just one of many circulating through our national discourse, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. But this “bias narrative” has become not just one of many stories. It’s now the only story on newspaper opinion pages, in scholarly journals, and in educational materials disseminated throughout our schools. It’s the story told by the White House. It’s the story that ramifies out from the most elite precincts of our country and shapes ordinary conversations and relations between individuals. Its grip on so many areas of the public imagination has become so tight that anyone challenging it is viewed with suspicion and, often enough, outright contempt. If an alternate explanation for black underperformance is proffered, it’s not the explanation that gets challenged but the individual making it. For to challenge this narrative, ipso facto, proves that one is a racist, or a deplorable or, if the challenger is a black man, an Uncle Tom.
This situation is intellectually infantile and morally bankrupt. How we talk and think about race has consequences that can be measured not just in dollars and cents but in stagnant lives and dead bodies. So, responding with ad hominem attacks to any account of our current predicament that is not rooted in bias isn’t merely unfortunate, it is actively damaging. The stakes are enormously high here and the hour is late. Candor, integrity and courage are in short supply. Name-calling and character assassination have largely replaced open debate, while naked emperors, pseudo-academics, and bombastic demagogues command the public square.
Enter John and Glenn. Or as I sometimes like to refer to our duo, enter the WokeBusters!!
In Hans Christian Anderson’s story “The Emperor's New Clothes,” two swindlers promise to provide an emperor with magnificent new clothes that will be invisible to those who are too stupid or incompetent to see them. Officials see plainly see that no clothes are being produced on the swindler’s looms, but none of them will say anything to avoid being thought of as a fool. So when the emperor walks through the city in his new “clothes,” everyone can see that he is naked, but no one will be the first to say it. But then comes along an innocent child who, in his naïveté, is willing to defy this false consensus and speak out.
The thing about the child in that story is not that he’s saying it. It’s not even that other people hear him say it. It’s that everybody knows that everybody else has heard him say it. The child has created a situation in which it becomes common, shared knowledge that the emperor has no clothes. Everyone now knows that everyone knows the truth.
German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann coined a term that describes this phenomenon: the “Spiral of Silence.” In a spiral of silence, when holding a certain view entails a stigma then people stay silent for fear of being seen as having that view. Thus the masses believe they are alone or in a small minority of people with the stigmatized view, when in fact they are indeed one of the masses.
In progressive-controlled areas of our society today, we are suffering from a spiral of silence when it comes to the topic of racial justice. A great many Americans don’t like it when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee at a football game and says, “I’m not going to stand for this national anthem,” or when a Black Lives Matter activist rises with his balled fist and says, “Burn this city down.” But they are afraid to be the only one in their community saying it, to be perceived either as racist or as a supporter of racism, for holding mild views that, arguably, most of America holds, views such as the obvious fact that “White lives matter, too!”
There is a deeper point here. Though overt censorship is often spoken of as the leading threat to open discourse, the more subtle threat arises from the voluntary limitation of one’s own speech that create a spiral of silence. As John Stuart Mill recognized in his masterwork On Liberty, it is not the iron fist of state repression but rather the velvet glove of society’s seduction that constitutes the real problem.
Who, we must ask, will speak for compromise and common sense, when to speak in this way is seen to signal a weak commitment to “the struggle”? Who will insist that we speak plainly and tell the truth about delicate and difficult matters (such as, the despicable black-on-black violence now ravaging many of our cities), matters that we would all prefer to cover-up or ignore? Who will declare “the emperor” to be naked? How can a nation sustain an elevated political discourse, when the social forces of conformity which promote silence threaten to usher in a dark age? In truth, it cannot. But, with a simple choice, with just a little bit of bravery, you and I can choose to be like that child who spoke truth to the empire. We can put an end to the gaslighting, the lying, and the willful blindness to reality on issues of race and social justice that are so characteristic of our time.
My friend and longtime conversation partner, Professor John Hamilton McWhorter, IV, with his books, opinion pieces, and via his public ministry at The Glenn Show has, for nearly a quarter-century, been pointing the way. It is now up to those of us who are committed to an honest engagement with this age-old American dilemma of race and social justice to follow his lead, if only we dare do!
Thank you.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 How Rafael came to the Manhattan Institute
7:33 Rafael’s new book, Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who It Hurts Most
15:35 Is prison the right response to violent crime?
26:20 Why Rafael believes in three-strikes-type sentencing guidelines
31:42 Incarceration may lower crime, but is it just?
41:54 Rafael: Defunding the police is an indefensible idea
49:34 Should we worry about racial disparities in the non-deadly use of force by police?
1:00:08 Why Rafael’s father didn’t want him to become a cop
Links and Readings
Rafael’s new book, Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who It Hurts Most
Rafael’s conversation with former NYPD and LAPD police commissioner William Bratton
Roland Fryer and Rafael’s appearance on Peter Robinson’s Uncommon Knowledge podcast
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Is racist heckling at sporting events a real problem?
15:13 John: “If you can’t be made fun of, you’re not part of the group”
26:42 The LA County Federation of Labor racism scandal
34:10 Why is there no Latino Michael Brown?
41:22 Exalting (and exaggerating) the victim role
47:47 Glenn’s daughter’s upcoming appearance on The Glenn Show
49:48 Elite discrimination against Asians
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “What a Report of Extreme Racism Teaches Us”
Wilfred Reilly’s book, Hate Crime Hoax: How the Left Is Selling a Fake Race War
John’s NYT piece, “Stop Making Asian Americans Pay the Price for Campus Diversity”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Matt’s profile of the artist Rahmaan Statik
11:26 Chicago’s “Great Unraveling”
20:41 Is Chicago slouching toward dystopia?
29:50 How will the near-end of cash bail affect crime in Chicago?
33:24 The responsibilities of teachers, parents, and the police
46:59 A snapshot of crime in Chicago
52:26 Matt runs the numbers on Illinois’s out-of-wedlock births
1:02:44 Lori Lightfoot’s prospects for reelection
Links and Readings
Matt’s book, What Next, Chicago?: Notes of a Pissed-Off Native Son
Wirepoints
Matt’s profile with artist Rahmaan Barnes
Rahmaan Barnes’s art
University of Chicago Crime Lab’s Becoming a Man program
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Is Florence Price’s music worthy of its current popularity?
12:20 The decline of blind auditions
18:27 Do diverse orchestras attract diverse audiences and musicians?
23:26 Why Don is protecting his real identity
27:00 Glenn delivers a soliloquy on humanity
32:06 John: Eliminating blind auditions is “bat s**t crazy”
38:22 Should John’s daughters benefit from affirmative action?
Links and Readings
Don’s Substack, The Podium
Don’s series on Florence Price: Part One, Part Two, Part Three
Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3
Van Cliburn’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2
Anthony Tommasini’s NYT piece, “To Make Orchestras More Diverse, End Blind Auditions”
George Walker on YouTube
William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony
William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1
Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse’s article “Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of ‘Blind’ Auditions on Female Musicians”
John’s NYT piece, “Stop Making Asian Americans Pay the Price for Campus Diversity”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week I welcome Lara Bazelon back to the show. Lara is a lawyer, a professor of law, and the author of several books, including the excellent novel A Good Mother. Lara is also an energetic free speech advocate who has taken some principled stands that have, at times, put her at odds with other progressives.
We begin by discussing Lara’s decision to represent a college student, “John,” who had been found culpable for the alleged rape of a fellow student. Lara explains how the Title IX regulations under which John was investigated unfairly stacked the deck against him. These regulations, while providing needed protections for women, can also allow for unfair results that can potentially destroy the lives of the accused without giving them a chance to defend themselves. As a feminist, Lara is committed to defending women’s equality, but she is also uncomfortable with the ways that some progressives seem willing to sacrifice free speech in the name of equity. This has led her to work with pro-free speech organizations that have, among other things, defended Amy Wax against Penn Law’s attempt to fire her. Lara finds many of Amy’s statements odious, but she does not believe Amy should be silenced. She’s even found common cause with conservatives with whom she has worked to overturn wrongful convictions.
Lara is proof that, even in our current political environment, principled conservatives and progressives can act together in good faith to achieve some common goals. I admire her courage and conviction, and I’m very curious to know what all of you think.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
Featured Content from City Journal
Joanna Williams discusses how the concept of a motherhood pay “penalty” indicates a society with misplaced priorities.
0:00 Lara’s critique of Title IX adjudications
9:29 Why Lara defended a college student accused of rape
19:17 Lara’s cross-examination of the accuser
26:45 The trouble with “Believe Women”
36:11 What the Trump Administration got right about Title IX
39:26 Why Lara supports Amy Wax’s freedom of speech
50:25 Does Glenn still feel marginalized?
56:58 Finding common ground amidst political tribalism
1:01:12 Lara’s work on racial disparities in sexual assault cases
Links and Readings
Lara’s new book, Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good for Your Kids
Lara’s book, Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction
Lara’s novel, A Good Mother
Lara’s keynote address at FIRE’s 2022 Student Network Conference
University of San Francisco’s Juvenile & Criminal Justice Law Clinic
Penn Law Dean Theodore Ruger’s letter to the Faculty Senate regarding Amy Wax
The Academic Freedom Alliance’s letter in support of Amy Wax
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week, John McWhorter and I welcome special guest Ian Rowe to TGS. Ian is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, the founder and CEO of Vertex Enterprise Academies, and author of the new book Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power. Ian is doing outstanding work establishing charter schools throughout New York City, so John and I invited him on to discuss his efforts, among other topics.
We begin by discussing how the Rodney King beating and the LA riots that followed the acquittal of the officers involved led Ian and Nique Fajors to make a documentary, which, decades later, developed into their podcast Invisible Men. Ian thinks that two related and competing narratives—“blame the system” and “blame the victim”—place pressure on black teens and young men, and his work at the Vertex Enterprise Academies’ charter schools tries to help them grow in another direction. Ian stresses marriage as a central component in long-term success, but I push him to explain how marriage can correct for dysfunctional patterns present in husband and wife that have been present since childhood. John introduces the issue of academic success and “acting white”—can Ian’s schools overcome cultural barriers to black academic excellence? Ian then talks more generally about the ins and outs of running a group of charter schools in New York and their recent legal victory over a teacher’s union that tried to block their funding. And finally, we talk about the recent Old Parkland Conference, which Ian and I had a hand in organizing. He’s got some exciting things planned for the next phase in that project.
Ian is out there on the front lines of education reform. It’s heartening to see someone with his intelligence and drive fighting the good fight. I’m very much looking forward to your comments on this one.
Featured Content from City Journal
Jason Riley discusses the upcoming midterm elections, analyzing the impact of this summer’s SCOTUS decision on Roe and the prospects for the GOP to retake power in DC.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 How Rodney King led to Ian’s podcast, Invisible Men
7:31 Blaming the system and blaming the victim
13:20 Ian: I run schools to show my students they can do hard things
17:16 What’s so special about marriage?
29:24 Glenn: Right living is its own reward
41:34 The problem of success and “blackness”
40:26 Ian’s experience running Vertex
45:41 How Ian funds his schools
55:46 The bureaucratic opposition to charter schools
58:47 What comes after the Old Parkland Conference?
Links and Readings
Ian’s book, Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power
Ian’s charter school group, Vertex Partnership Academies
Ian and Nique Fajors’s podcast, The Invisible Men
Ian and Naomi Schaefer Riley’s podcast, Are You Kidding Me?
Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell speak at the 1980 Fairmont Conference
Video from the Old Parkland Conference
Glenn, Ian, and Robert Woodson’s appearance on Peter Robinson’s Uncommon Knowledge
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Source post
0:00 Introducing Glenn Loury
8:50 What is “social capital”?
19:24 Racial inequality and self-segregation
30:01 Glenn: “The jig is up” on affirmative action
39:45 Balancing preferences and colorblindness
45:35 Rethinking the welfare state
55:41 Why Glenn’s forthcoming memoir is titled The Enemy Within
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 What’s on the menu for Glenn’s birthday party
4:49 John’s Twitter spat with Ibram X. Kendi
14:05 What do we lose by changing testing standards?
20:39 Glenn: If groups matter, then culture matters
32:04 How to prove a racist wrong
39:19 The ballad of Glenn and Woody
51:50 Mitchell S. Jackson’s Esquire essay about Clarence Thomas
Links and Readings
John and Ibram X. Kendi on Twitter, part one
John and Ibram X. Kendi on Twitter, part two
John’s NYT piece, “Lower Black and Latino Pass Rates Don’t Make a Test Racist”
John’s NYT piece, “Proving Racists Wrong Is Not a Trivial Pursuit”
Glenn’s 1992 Commentary essay, “Free at Last?”
This American Life segment on Glenn and Woody
Mitchell S. Jackson’s Esquire essay, “Looking for Clarence Thomas”
Barry Bearak’s 1997 NYT profile of Ward Connerly
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Normally this week I would post a conversation with John McWhorter. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to record. He’ll be back next week. This week, I’m presenting my conversation with Steve McIntosh, President, Co-Founder, and Director of the Institute for Cultural Evolution. I’ve already spoken with two ICE fellows this year—Stephanie Lepp and Greg Thomas—so this TGS episode constitutes a continuation of the series.
I ask Steve about his latest book, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself, which he delivers as a primer on “cultural evolution.” He traces out a historical narrative that takes us from traditionalism to modernity to our present moment of “progressive postmodernity,” and I ask him whether the more excessive elements of our era should be fought or viewed as a stepping stone to the next phase of cultural development. Steve’s answer: “both.” He discusses his account of the last 300 years mostly in terms of Europe and North America, so I ask him how the rise of East Asia fits into the evolutionary processes he discusses. The recent attack on Salman Rushdie leads me to wonder how a cultural evolutionist framework can help us deal with radically anti-modern movements like violent Islamic fundamentalism, and Steve advocates for the promotion of moderate forms of Islam that are in-step with the rest of the world. Steve includes worrying identitarian movements like Black Lives Matter and Kendiesque anti-racism within the progressive postmodern paradigm, but he also thinks that many good things—like gay rights—have come out of it. We close our conversation by considering what a cultural evolutionist has to say about the increasingly dire political polarization we’re experiencing in the US and development within African American communities.
I don’t know that I’m wholly convinced by the grand historical narrative Steve offers, but we need as many new ideas as we can get in the discourse, and cultural evolution does have many virtues (like its praise of economic liberty). I look forward to reading your comments.
Featured Content from City Journal
Stephen Eide discusses homelessness in New York City, the immigration related surge in shelters, and Mayor Adams sparring with Texas Governor Abbot.
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0:00 A scheduling announcement from Glenn
1:28 Steve's latest book, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself
7:54 From modernity to progressive postmodernism
15:18 Are we in the midst of cultural evolution or culture war?
19:02 The work of the Institute for Cultural Evolution
30:52 “Modernist consciousness” in East Asia
37:07 Steve: “Force is necessary but not sufficient” to combat violent Islamic fundamentalism
44:01 The positive side of progressive postmodernism
49:15 Can cultural evolution overcome political polarization in the US?
55:38 A cultural evolutionary perspective on the African American development narrative
Links and Readings
Institute for Cultural Evolution
Steve's latest book, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself
Steve’s book with John Mackey and Carter Phipps, Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business
Bari Weiss’s recent speech to University of Austin students
Glenn and John McWhorter’s conversation with Richard Wolff
Steve’s white paper on political polarization in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week, one of the most controversial TGS guests of all time returns: Penn Law professor Amy Wax. She’s currently in a dire predicament. Her job is on the line. Whatever you think of Amy’s positions, there are issues at play in her case that have implications for people of all political persuasions, and she deserves to be heard out.
Amy begins by recounting the events that have led up to her conflict with the administration at Penn Law and taking issue with the charges leveled at her by the school’s dean, Theodore Ruger. Some of those charges are quite serious: racism, sexism, and xenophobia. But Amy contends that they are overblown and implausible. Amy thinks this conflict began when she questioned the efficacy and ethics of affirmative action in public. If the LSATs and other standardized tests predict classroom performance, we shouldn’t be surprised when students admitted with low test scores don’t perform well. That’s a perfectly logical position, yet Amy has been pilloried for taking it. And I agree with her! But I tell her I do feel a little uncomfortable when I’m confronted by students who take my analysis of affirmative action personally.
It’s clear that, even though Amy has tenure, her job is at risk Despite the very strong free speech protections guaranteed by tenure, she may be fired for speaking her mind in public. While I don’t agree with her on many issues, I think that would be a disaster. It could open the door to the evisceration of free inquiry within the American university. Amy has said and done many controversial things, including inviting the white nationalist Jared Taylor to speak with to her students. But Amy teaches a course on conservative political and legal thought, and Taylor is an influential figure in some far-right circles. I do press Amy on this, because she has espoused interest in the kind race realism associated with Taylor, and she argues that his ideas at least merit serious consideration.
Amy and I are friends, but it wasn’t always so. I recall our first encounter, when she challenged some of my claims about race and mass incarceration. I wasn’t pleased at the time, but I’m now glad she had the freedom to make the comments she made (even though I still think I’m right). As she says, reality is often upsetting and uncomfortable, and if we choose to hide our heads in the sand rather than confronting reality, we can’t say we’re interested in the truth. That I do agree with. And I stand with her in fight to pursue the truth, even if we differ on where it may be found. If you want to support her, she provides some ways you can do that.
The comments section is always explosive after Amy appears on TGS, so I’m looking forward to seeing what debates emerge. Let me know what you think!
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Featured Content from City Journal
Charles Fain Lehman & Renu Mukherjee on why support for the Democratic Party among high-skilled Asian-Americans is not immutable, which opens opportunities for Republican lawmakers to grow their voter base.
0:00 Amy’s recent conflict with the Penn Law School administration
7:38 Amy responds to her dean’s charges of racism, sexism, and xenophobia
16:38 Should we take students’ feelings into account when discussing race and admissions?
27:34 Glenn: If Amy is fired, it will be an outrage beyond belief
34:53 Why Amy invited Jared Taylor to speak with her students
44:28 Amy’s defense of race realism’s legitimacy
50:25 Glenn and Amy’s first encounter
53:36 Amy: Sometimes reality is upsetting and offensive
58:58 How to help Amy
Links and Readings
Dean Theodor Ruger’s letter to the Penn Faculty Senate asking for a review of Amy’s conduct
Amy’s past conversations with Glenn
Donate to Amy’s legal defense fund
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
John McWhorter is back, reporting from his Catskills bungalow for the latest installment in our ongoing conversation. Let’s get into it.
While I’m at home rather than a bungalow, I’m fresh off a wonderful vacation in North Carolina, which I spent surrounded by my wife, children, and grandchildren. Two of my granddaughters are now young women in college and law school, and they had some questions for me about some of the public positions I’ve taken. I recount the discussions I had with them about the Harvard-UNC affirmative action case and the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling. John recounts how calls for proportionate racial representation in the performing arts are leading not only to backstage disruptions but to the elevation of theatrical works that, in John’s view, lack quality but have the “right” political message.
John thinks that intellectual insecurity sometimes plays a part in calls for “racial reckoning,” especially on campus. He notes that he never sees his most high-achieving and intellectually confident black students at Columbia involving themselves in campus activism of that kind, and I’ve had the same experience at Brown. All John’s stories about attempts to accommodate racial uprisings within the performing arts makes me wonder when someone is going to say “enough is enough.” Democratic politicians don’t seem willing to do it, but what about CEOs, heads of foundations, and other leaders in the private sector? It’s time for them to opt out of the DEI game.
We end by returning again to the arts. John has written an excellent column arguing that, in most cases, we shouldn’t let the flawed personal views of artists stop us from enjoying their art. And we close with the disturbing case of Salman Rushdie, who is still in the hospital following last week’s attempt on his life.
As always, I look forward to reading your comments.
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Featured Content from Manhattan Institute Scholars
On this episode of the Hoover Institution’s Uncommon Knowledge, Peter Robinson talks with Manhattan Institute fellows Roland Fryer and Rafael Mangual about what is and is not working in policing and law enforcement in the U.S.
0:00 A report on the Loury family reunion
9:22 Identity politics onstage and backstage
19:22 Insecurity-driven campus grievance
27:01 Glenn: When will non-right-wing leaders say “Enough!” to racial grievance?
36:16 John: People with ugly opinions can also produce great art …
52:35 … but are there significant figures whose views disqualify them from public honor?
56:38 Considering fundamentalist Islam and human nature after the Salman Rushdie assault
Links and Readings
We See You, White American Theater’s “Principles for Building Anti-Racist Theatre Systems”
New York City Center Encore!’s page for The Life
James Baldwin’s 1949 essay, “Everybody’s Protest Novel”
John’s NYT column, “Let’s Have Fewer Cancellations. Let People Take Their Lumps, Then Move On.”
James Baldwin and William F. Buckley’s 1965 debate at Cambridge University
James Baldwin’s 1962 essay, “Letter from a Region in My Mind”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
As I announced last week, we here at the newsletter and The Glenn Show have a new partner: the Manhattan Institute. I realize some of you may not be familiar with the Institute’s work and point of view, so today I’ve got Manhattan Institute President Reihan Salam on the show to talk about what the Institute does and how some of its scholars and fellows are thinking about the problems facing New York and other American cities today. The Manhattan Institute is often regarded as a conservative place, but as you’ll hear, there’s nothing predictable or partisan about how Reihan understands those problems and their potential solutions.
Reihan begins by talking a bit about how he first became aware of me and my work. He’s a formidable thinker himself, so I have to say I’m pretty flattered! After discussing how he came to take on his current role at the Manhattan Institute, Reihan talks about some of the changes in crime rates in US cities necessitate a renewed focus on public safety. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has shifted more resources to public safety-oriented initiatives. Reihan talks about what that shift might mean for the city. In many ways, Adams’s approach to governing doesn’t line up with Democratic national policy positions, and Reihan talks about how dissenters within political parties and movements (both left and right) can create needed change. Some of that change, Reihan argues, needs to come from more investment in certain government-run agencies, including those that comprise the criminal justice system. For example, he wants to see safer streets for ordinary citizens but also safer prisons for the incarcerated.
The conversation moves on to education, and Reihan describes what he sees as the positive developments in New York schools under Michael Bloomberg, which languished under Bill de Blasio’s mayorship. And finally, we turn to race matters. Reihan is deeply skeptical that flattening out racial and ethnic identity under the banner of “BIPOC” actually helps ethnic minority communities, and he’s equally skeptical of the ways that racial identity has become central to how so many people think of themselves today. I agree, but I also wouldn’t want to discard the valuable histories and traditions that go along with our conception of race and identity. Maybe I want it both ways, but shouldn’t I be able to have that?
If this conversation is any indication, TGS and MI have got a long, fruitful collaboration ahead of us. I’m looking forward to all the good work to come.
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Featured Content from City Journal
Renu Mukherjee on San Franscisco's misguided effort to do away with standardized testing for its most selective public high school—how it undermined merit and hurt many of the kids it intended to help.
0:00 Glenn’s impact on Reihan
5:38 How Reihan became president of the Manhattan Institute
11:15 What is the Manhattan Institute’s relationship to Eric Adams’s administration?
18:40 The value of dissenters
22:07 Reihan: We’ve underinvested in our criminal justice system
29:31 What constitutes a quality high school education?
36:38 Michael Bloomberg’s education initiatives
41:58 Reihan’s concerns about racial reification
50:08 The uses and abuses of racial identity
Links and Readings
Tariq Modood, Steven Teles, and Glenn’s book, Ethnicity, Social Mobility, and Public Policy: Comparing the US and UK
Rafael Mangual’s book, Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who It Hurts Most
Ismail K. White and Chryl N. Laird’s book, Steadfast Democrats: How Social Forces Shape Black Political Behavior
Matt Feeney’s book, Little Platoons: A Defense of Family in a Competitive Age
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week on The Glenn Show, John McWhorter and I are joined by Richard Wolff, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the the New School. Richard is Marxian in his orientation and I am not, so we do some debating here. And while we may not agree on much as far as economics goes, we do share some concerns about the direction of the left in this country.
Before the conversation, I make an important announcement: Beginning today, I’m partnering with the Manhattan Institute to bring you The Glenn Show and this newsletter. I lay out what this means in my introduction and in conversation with John at the end of the show, but here are two important takeaways. First, I will maintain full editorial independence over all the content on the podcast and at the newsletter. And second, we’re lowering the cost of the newsletter. For monthly subscribers, fees will drop from $7/month to $6/month. The price of an annual subscription will drop even more substantially, from $70/year to $50/year. For those of you who already have an annual subscription, we’ll extend it by three months to make up the difference. I’m having success here at TGS, and I want to share it with you.
And with that, let’s get into it.
Richard begins by describing his student days and early career, when he was relatively quiet about his Marxism, the post-Occupy Wall Street environment that made him into a public intellectual, and his origins in Youngstown, Ohio, where the flight of capital devastated the formerly thriving industrial city. He argues that capitalism is not only bad for democracy but inherently anti-democratic, since it allows unelected CEOs and boards of directors to determine the economic fate of huge swathes of the populace.
I take some issue with this. First, I ask Richard to respond to Friedrich von Hayek’s claim that markets will always allocate information and resources more efficiently than centrally planned economies. Second, I raise the point that business owners are entering into a contract with employees. It’s a standard exchange of goods and services. Why should employees have any right to the business owner’s property beyond an agreed-upon wage or salary? There is also the matter of socialism’s historical track record, which Richard defends. Richard and I do find some common ground in our skepticism toward the contemporary left, which sometimes seems to have abandoned the working class in favor of identity politics.
Once Richard departs, John and I discuss my new partnership with the Manhattan Institute. He and I both want to make clear that John himself is not employed by the Manhattan Institute, though he used to be, and he still respects what they do.
There’s a lot happening in this episode and in TGS World. As always, I look forward to reading your comments.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 A special announcement from Glenn
3:47 Richard’s journey from quiet Marxist to public intellectual
9:08 Why Youngstown, Ohio was left behind
12:04 Richard: Capitalist ownership is inherently anti-democratic
15:41 Richard’s critique of Hayekian libertarianism
21:44 Pecuniary externalities vs. objective externalities
23:49 Socialism’s historical track record
31:07 Employees as stakeholders
34:36 The rise of the right in the wake of the New Deal and WWII
42:00 The Glenn Show’s new partnership with the Manhattan Institute
Links and Readings
The Manhattan Institute
Richard’s book (with Stephen Resnick), Class Theory and History: Capitalism and Communism in the USSR
Glenn and John on Herschel Walker
Clifton Roscoe’s critique of Glenn and John on Herschel Walker
John’s NYT column about Walker
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week, we’re getting into cosmic terrain here on The Glenn Show with my guest and Brown University colleague, theoretical physicist Stephon Alexander.
Steph takes his inspiration not just from other physicists but from artists and musicians as well. And I can report from personal experience that he is a tremendous jazz saxophonist. For him, there’s nothing superficial about the relationship between science and art. His first book, The Jazz of Physics, explores the connection between music and the elemental forces that hold our universe together. Steph’s project reminds me of one of my favorite books, Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, which explores the role of self-reference in science, art, and music. Apparently I’m on the money, and Steph explains the central role of self-reference in his books.
Steph and I both work in quantitative fields that demand measurable excellence of their participants, so I ask Steph what he thinks of racial and ethnic disparities in math-heavy areas of study. He describes his own experience as a teacher and as an undergrad, and how he learned that he would not only have to master the material but overcome lowered expectations that would only have held him back. Steph takes us through his latest book, Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider’s Guide to the Future of Physics, which looks at the role of innovative “outsiders” (among whom Steph counts himself).
Blacks may be “outsiders” in physics now, but the same was once true of Jews, and Steph talks about the inspiration he takes from the great Jewish physicists. This leads us to discuss some of my own ideas about stigma, and we have a good laugh about the times when stigma has led people to underestimate us. And finally, the question you’ve all been waiting for: What exactly is the Higgs boson, and why is its discovery such a big deal?
I’ve learned a ton from talking to Steph, and I hope you will, too. I’m sure this isn’t the last time you’ll see him on TGS.
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0:00 Glenn and Steph’s jam session
2:29 Steph’s adventures in the multiverse
6:40 The parallels between black art and physics
12:34 The centrality of self-reference in Steph’s work
18:26 Is there a racial dimension to how excellence reveals itself in students?
32:34 How Steph learned to level up
41:04 Steph’s new book, Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider’s Guide to the Future of Physics
48:50 Steph’s admiration for prior generations of Jewish physicists
56:48 How Glenn and Steph navigate stigma
1:10:43 What is the Higgs boson?
Links and Readings
Steph’s first book, The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link between Music and the Structure of the Universe
Steph’s latest book, Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider’s Guide to the Future of Physics
Ultramagnetic MCs’ “Watch Me Now”
Douglas Hofstadter’s book, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Glenn’s book, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
John McWhorter is back again for one of our twice-monthly conversations. This is a hot one, so let’s get into it.
In this week’s episode, we discuss three controversial figures: Herschel Walker, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Wax. We begin with John’s outstanding column about Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia. John pulls no punches. He sees Walker as an insultingly underqualified contender meant solely to attract Georgia’s sizable black vote. John argues that Walker seems to have no meaningful knowledge of any relevant policy issue, and he’s apparently uninterested in trying to make it seem like he does. I do my best to present the case for Walker, but John does have a point.
Robert Woodson and I wrote an open letter decrying recent ugly, racist (let me say again, racist) attacks on Justice Clarence Thomas, and John has signed on. I argue that, no matter what you think of Thomas’s conservatism, he is undeniably a towering figure in American jurisprudence. His influence and ideas will be felt for generations, and his life story as an African American born under Jim Crow who has risen to the pinnacle of the legal system is iconic. The attempt to write him out of black history just because he’s a conservative is disgraceful.
It’s hard to find someone who has been the subject of more controversy than Thomas, but my friend Amy Wax has got to be in the running for second place. John is disturbed by reports that Amy allegedly brings some of her edgier ideas about race into the classroom when she teaches. I certainly don’t endorse all of Amy’s positions, and I think that one must be especially thoughtful when speaking in front of a classroom. But I can’t abide the idea that Amy would be punished simply for holding views that some people don’t like. That’s why I’m inviting her back to The Glenn Show.
I’m sure everyone’s going to have a lot to say about this one. I can’t wait to read your comments, so fire away!
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0:00 John: Republicans’ elevation of Herschel Walker is an insult
9:43 If Walker is so inept, why does he have so much support?
15:16 Where’s the outrage over racist attacks on Clarence Thomas?
24:55 Thomas’s historical significance
36:03 The Clarence Thomas (and Al Sharpton) we don’t see
41:31 Are Amy Wax’s views beyond the pale?
53:59 John: “Amy should know better”
1:09:13 Amy Wax’s return to The Glenn Show
Links and Readings
John’s NYT column, “When Republicans Backed Herschel Walker, They Embraced a Double Standard”
Glenn and Robert Woodson’s open letter on Clarence Thomas
Thurgood Marshall’s Bicentennial Speech
Gerald Early’s Common Reader essay, “Black Conservatives Explain It All! or Princes and Powers 2.0”
Glenn’s most recent conversation with Amy Wax
Amy Wax’s book, Race, Wrongs, and Remedies: Group Justice in the 21st Century
Glenn’s Daily Pennsylvanian column in support of Amy Wax
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
My guest this week is my friend Rajiv Sethi. Rajiv is Professor of Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and he writes an occasional newsletter at Imperfect Information. He’s published widely on problems of crime and segregation, among many other topics, and as you’ll hear in this conversation, he’s done some deep thinking about an area that is sadly pertinent to our society today: gun violence.
I first ask Rajiv to catch me up on how economists are thinking about the state of financial markets today, and in short, things aren’t looking good. You don’t need a PhD in economics to know that. Just look at your stock portfolio. But Rajiv makes an interesting connection between the economist John Kenneth Galbraith’s analysis of the stock market crash of 1929 and the ongoing, much-publicized cryptocurrency crash. Rajiv talks about his blogging and his Substack, including his critique of Sundhil Mullainathan’s analysis of bias and police violence. We move on to the recent Supreme Court gun ruling and attempts by gun control advocates to float policies intended to reduce gun violence. Rajiv is critical of many of these policies, not because he doesn’t want to reduce gun violence but because he thinks the policies won’t be consequential enough. Much gun violence takes place amongst African Americans, but Rajiv wants to separate, to de-essentialize, race and violence. He draws on some of my own work on these issues to ask how we can look at the conditions that render acts of violence in high-crime areas, in some sense, rational. Certain conditions must make violence seem like the right solution to a given problem. Rajiv argues that we’re all—all Americans—involved in creating those conditions, and so we cannot simply say that the problems of high-crime black communities are their problems and not ours. I’m very much against racial essentialism, but we see it everywhere, including in our school with CRT-influenced policies and practices. While Rajiv acknowledges the excesses, he sees an equal threat coming from the anti-CRT backlash, and points to the case of Cecilia Lewis as an example. Along the same lines, he thinks that many critiques of the 1619 Project miss something important about the true depth and length of American history. And finally, we return to the problem of gun violence and bias in policing. Rajiv’s got an interesting idea to disincentivize illegal gun sales and some theories about why we see such stark racial disparities in the commission of gun crimes.
Yesterday, I posted a conversation with John McWhorter that addressed civil and constructive disagreement. Rajiv and I certainly disagree about some things, but his arguments can’t simply be brushed aside. I’m quite interested to know what you all think of this one. Let me know!
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0:00 The cryptocurrency bezzle
6:52 Rajiv’s critique of the contact hypothesis
12:53 Will popular proposed gun control measures meaningfully reduce homicides?
19:08 Can we talk about culture without becoming essentialists?
30:19 Rajiv: I find self-censorship and anti-CRT mobs equally disturbing
43:28 Debating the 1619 Project
51:00 Rajiv’s idea to reduce illegal firearm sales: gun insurance
1:02:35 Why do we see such racial disparities in gun violence? Rajiv has some theories
1:11:02 What did we learn from the second Justice Department investigation in Ferguson?
Links and Readings
John Kenneth Galbraith’s book, The Great Crash 1929
Rajiv’s Substack, Imperfect Information
Rajiv’s post about The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
Sendhil Mullainathan’s NYT piece, “Police Killings of Blacks: Here Is What the Data Say”
Rajiv’s post about Mullainathan’s claims
Rajiv and Brendan O’Flaherty’s book, Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crime, and the Pursuit of Justice
Rajiv’s conversation about guns with Bari Weiss and David French
Glenn and Hanming Fang’s paper, “‘Dysfunctional Identities’ Can Be Rational”
Glenn’s Cato Unbound essay, “A Nation of Jailers” and responses
Nicole Carr’s ProPublica piece, “White Parents Rallied to Chase a Black Educator Out of Town. Then, They Followed Her to the Next One.”
Ralph Ellison’s essay, “What America Would Be Like Without Blacks”
Albert Murray, The Omni-Americans: Some Alternatives to the Folklore of White Supremacy
Jill Leovy’s book, Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America
Glenn’s conversation with Robert Woodson and Sylvia Bennett-Stone
Voices of Black Mothers United
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Last month, John McWhorter and I participated in Heterodox Academy’s 2022 conference in Denver, Colorado. We spoke in front of an audience and discussed how to model constructive disagreement. But before that, we had a bit of a warm-up session with Zach Rausch, host of the Heterodox Out Loud podcast. Zach had us in to talk about our long relationship as conversation partners, civil discourse, and the purpose of the university. Newer listeners may be interested to hear about my “origin story” with John. While we’re good friends now, that wasn’t always the case. We’ve had our ups and downs, and we’ve switched sides on some issues. (Here’s our first recorded conversation, from November 2007.) But we keep coming back because we enjoy talking to each other too much to quit, and because we believe if we don’t have the kind of conversations we have, they might not happen at all.
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JOHN MCWHORTER: There's another thing actually, which is, you should distrust if you can look into yourself, a feeling that you're arguing for a point because doing so is what makes you a good person. You should strive to get away from the belly and stick with the head.
GLENN LOURY: We come to the university as black or white or Latino or gay or trans. That's not who we are. Our essence is much broader and finer and deeper and richer and human than that.
ZACH RAUSCH: Glenn Loury and John McWhorter on Heterodox Out Loud. I'm Zach Rausch. Today, a special conversation with both of them. This was recorded at Heterodox Academy's 2022 Conference in Denver. For those who could not be at the conference, we got your back. We recorded a few exclusive conversations with our featured speakers to give you a taste of the extraordinary conversations that were had.
Our guests today are Glenn Loury, professor of the Social Sciences and Economics at Brown University, and John McWhorter, professor of Linguistics at Columbia University. John has authored over 20 books on issues of race and language and writes a widely read biweekly newsletter for the New York Times. Glenn has published numerous influential books on race, inequality, and economics. He's also the well-known host of the podcast The Glenn Show on BloggingheadsTV, where John is a regular guest.
In our interview, we discuss the future of higher education and how we can improve our collective discourse. It was recorded on the morning of their talk at the conference. I asked Glenn what they'd be discussing.
GLENN LOURY: I haven't got any idea. All I know is that the subject matter is how do you have productive conversations? I take it that John and I, in our podcast practice, model productive conversation. And so we're going to be reviewing the nuts and bolts and the foundation of how it is that we're able to discuss contentious matters with one another productively. In 2007, a guy called Josh Cohen, a philosopher at Stanford, invited me onto Robert Wright's platform Bloggingheads to discuss some lectures that I had given on mass incarceration at Stanford that year. That was my first exposure to any kind of podcasting. I came on. I had a couple of conversations with Josh. They were well received.
Bob Wright invited me to be a regular contributor to his platform, hosting a variety of people of my choosing, and John was one of those people. This is 2007, at the height of the Democratic Party primary contest, which Barack Obama ultimately won. So John and I started having conversations prompted by the events of the day around questions of race. And my association with Bloggingheads developed such that I was doing a post once a week or so at Bloggingheads, and John would be a guest once a month or so on the platform that I was developing with Robert Wright at Bloggingheads. And that went on from 2007 continuously until the present day. We've expanded our reach, moved from the Bloggingheads platform to Patreon to Substack, and talk now every other week on a regularly scheduled basis, John and I, the black guys.
JOHN MCWHORTER: Glenn and I were not exactly chummy for a lot of the aughts, and, not enemies, but we were not warm and fuzzy. And when we had our first conversation, it was amidst that context, and I think both of us knew it. And in terms of the fact that apparently Glenn and I have conversations that somebody might want to model their own after, which is something that I don't think either one of us ever thought about consciously, but that's what people seem to see, I think part of the way that probably we may have something to offer in that is that for our first session, it's not like it was two friends talking. We were coming from different places, and yet neither one of us were angry. It didn't get ugly.
And so, for example, to take an instructive contrast—and this has nothing to do with settling scores—during that same era, I had a Bloggingheads exchange with Ta-Nehisi Coates, and this is before he was as famous as he would become. But Ta-Nehisi Coates and I have very different views on things, and the way it ended was a little bit unpleasant. And I would have to say that I was the person who initiated that, not him. But that was the way that you don't do it. You don't let the feelings get into the discussion. Glenn and I have never had that. There is an equipoise that many people could master where you could learn to converse about things that touch you in your gut.
ZACH RAUSCH: And do you consider yourselves friends?
JOHN and GLENN: Yeah.
ZACH RAUSCH: Where do you think your strongest disagreements are between the both of you?
JOHN MCWHORTER: Moralism, the morality of these issues. We seem to really hit a wall on that in that there's a part of you, Glenn, who is appalled at the way certain people behave, both rioters and, say, Nikole Hannah-Jones. Whereas there's a part of me that is annoyed but is always trying to think, are they capable of thinking out of their box? How angry can we be at them? We have an issue there.
GLENN LOURY: Yeah. The way John once put it was, Omar makes me mad, but Omar makes him sad. Now, Omar is one of these characters that John has invented. This is part of his modus operandi. He creates these names for people, these types, these stereotypes or prototypes, and we kind of know who he's talking about. And Omar is a ruffian and ghetto bound, miscreant, messes up, commits crimes, doesn't take care of his kids, is standing on top of a car saying, “Burn this town,” and things of this kind. This is Omar. And I'm mad as hell at Omar. He pisses me off, and he makes John sad. And John wants to understand the Omar's of the world.
JOHN MCWHORTER: I do, because I think Omar is a very parochial figure. I think Omar, just, it’s the only language he ever knew. I have a recoil in terms of Omar, if I was standing there watching him climbing up on the car. Omar is not my friend, but I look at him and I think, how could he know otherwise? And maybe in that I'm being too forgiving, maybe change doesn't happen when you think that way. Because what I'm doing is basically falling for the whole root causes bit, which has created so much harm. But I honestly think that a little bit of it is a way of avoiding the anger, which I'm afraid could also get in the way of constructive policy. I feel sorry for Omar, somehow.
GLENN LOURY: He calls it moralism, and I would call it judgment. Yes, there is a certain right and wrong motivation to the anger that I have toward the bad acting ghetto dweller, but I'm going to argue that we need to set and give voice to standards of judgment about what is a right and wrong way of living. And I'm not afraid to say that this is the right way to live. Call it moralism, if you will. I'm not apologizing for that.
JOHN MCWHORTER: You know, another thing, actually, that we ran up against, it's not as relevant now, but I was in love with Obama before he got in. I was really caught up in that romance. You refused to be. You were for Hillary. You thought she seemed like she would be the better president. In that you're probably right. But you weren't caught up in that idea of, “Oh, we're going to have the first black American president in the White House.” That was very logical of you. I could not summon logic to that extent.
GLENN LOURY: It's generous of him to admit that I was right and he was wrong about something. I think that he was right and I was wrong about Donald Trump. Not that I was ever a Trump supporter, but I would say, man, lighten up on Trump. The people elected him president. If you don't like him, vote him out of office. The Trump derangement syndrome is unbecoming of you. Trump's an idiot. Trump whatever. I'm saying you're showing contempt for the 40 or 45% of your fellow countrymen who support Trump. Those are the people that you need to be having an argument, et cetera. So ultimately, when Trump tried to seize the presidency after having lost an election, I had to admit I was wrong about Trump.
ZACH RAUSCH: Why do we need to have conversations between people who disagree with each other? Even if you don't change each other's minds?
JOHN MCWHORTER: The soul of being an educated or enlightened person is to have come to realize that life and the world around us are complex if they don't lend themselves to easy answers. My mother once said, when I asked her when I was about ten, why do people go to college because even at that age I could tell unless they were techies they weren't coming out with any skill or they didn't seem to know the state capitals any better than anybody else. And I was saying, why are they in college? And she said, what you come out with in college is a sense that the answer to interesting things is not “Well, all I know is” and a snap of the fingers. And she's right about that.
And what that means is that anything that's interesting is subject to different views about which there will be discussions where you learn about what the different views are. If you can't do that, you're not an enlightened person. And I think there's a tacit sense that you can be an enlightened person, but when it comes to race issues in particular, suddenly everything is very easy and no one else is to be listened to. No, it's the same with race, despite the injustice of black history. And so yeah, to be able to have a civil discussion even about polarizing issues is part of seeing further and having learned what the world is like. Many people who can't do that think that they are the enlightened ones and that they have a higher wisdom. But actually they are the blind man looking at the elephant. Their lens isn't wide enough. That's what I think.
GLENN LOURY: Yeah, I think that's right. I think they're epistemic. How do you know something? Well, you know, by honing the precision and depth of your own argument, which is what you do in response to someone who has a different point of view. That's what the back and forth is about. You think this? I think that I think you're wrong. Here's why I think you're wrong. No, no, no, actually this is the reason that you're wrong. And that give and take and back and forth allows one to have a greater, deeper command of one's own position.
But the other reason I think it's fundamentally important that we talk across the line is the health of our democratic order. We have to be able to deliberate about matters peacefully. The alternative to civil argument ultimately is violence. I don't think we want to go down that road.
ZACH RAUSCH: Okay, let's switch to the academy. In higher ed, what are the conversations that are not happening and that you think need to happen more often?
GLENN LOURY: Well, I would say the purpose of the university as an institution to foster research and search for truth and the development of the intellectual depth of the students and not a political platform for this or that enthusiasm where the university has to stand on the right side of history. So what is the university about ultimately? That's the way I would put it.
JOHN MCWHORTER: Yeah. Or the tacit sense that the university is the university when it comes to physics or teaching French irregular verbs, but that when it comes to the tenants of early twenty-first century leftist social justice orthodoxy, there's only one thing to be taught and that there's no discussion to be had. The idea that the university is supposed to stand for that is extremely narrow and parochial. It won't look good in the future. And that needs to be questioned, although it's difficult because it's getting to the point where everybody who runs the show is steeped in that tacit sense of what it is to teach. But it isn't. And we need to go back to the original idea.
ZACH RAUSCH: So how do we do it? How do we have better conversations? Where do we start on an individual level?
GLENN LOURY: I’d offer a couple of things. One is, listen to your interlocutor. Listen. Don't be so much in a hurry to try to get your point across that you don't hear what's being said to you from the other side. That's a skill that one can develop. It requires patience and a certain amount of discipline. Listen. Actually, John taught me a lot about that, because he and I had a minor falling out over the fact that I interrupted him in the midst of it. I had developed this habit of cutting him off. And the reason I was cutting him off is because I was in such a hurry to say what I was thinking that I wasn't listening to what he was saying. So that's one thing.
JOHN MCWHORTER: You know, there's another thing, actually, which is you should distrust, if you can look into yourself, a feeling that you're arguing for a point because doing so is what makes you a good person. You should strive to get away from the belly and stick with the head. You should be able to see that just saying, “Are you in favor of racism? Isn't that racism? How does that battle racism?,” that's so very vague, that sort of reasoning. It would also apply with sexism or any number of other isms. That will only make sense to you if what you're trying to do is validate your sense of being a good person as opposed to operating on the level of logic.
The whole social justice argument is based on a notion that feelings are key and definitive when it comes to engaging in certain issues. And nobody said that that's true. And frankly, if you think about it, it isn't. There is never a justification for thinking you use logic except with a certain range of topics where suddenly feelings are logic. No, not even when you're talking about racism. And so that's something that people should avoid. Are you arguing in order to show God or the social justice gods that you're a good person? Or are you making a point? And I think most people are capable of understanding that if it's put that way to them. But it's very easy to go down a rabbit hole and forget.
GLENN LOURY: Let me add something to that, because I think this is really important. Avoid ad hominem argument. It's about the issue not about the person. So the temptation, “Oh, you're the kind of person who thinks that,” to try to refute based upon a character assassination. You know, “How could you possibly think that?” That's no way to cultivate civil discourse. The other thing I would say is try to put the other guy's argument in your own words. Restate his argument. What did he actually say?
JOHN MCWHORTER: Glenn is very good at that.
GLENN LOURY: Not to believe it, but just to understand it.
JOHN MCWHORTER: Which gives you a sense that a person can be a reasonable human being and have that view exactly. As opposed to demonizing other people, which is so easy to do, but it's primitive. And not to be repetitious, but I think there's a sense that when it comes to social justice issues, that primitive instinct is the proper one. You dehumanize the other side because there is evil in the world. But no, that makes no more sense there than it does when you're five years old and you think of the whole world that way. Life is not a Maurice Sendak book. And that's something that it's very easy to fall into when you're thinking more about what makes you a good person than what makes you a rational person. So, yeah, that demonizing has to go.
ZACH RAUSCH: So before we go, I have one more question for you both. Our conference theme this year is, how do we restore trust in particularly higher education? What do you think about that?
GLENN LOURY: Well, I understand this session this morning, the brunch session, is university presidents talking about leadership in the academy. And I think that's where the buck stops at the end of the day. I think it stops in the front office. I think that we are dependent on administrative leadership for making a stand. I mean, for embracing the Chicago principles, for example, about free inquiry and open discourse and whatnot. For insisting that the discussion of difficult and sensitive issues be balanced in the context of university, not one-sided. For avoiding the temptation to wave banners, which is often what I find university administrators doing, these letters expressing our values in the wake of whatever the particular crisis might be, if it's a George Floyd crisis or if it's a Ukraine crisis or if it's a COVID crisis. Giving voice to a particular way of looking at a difficult set of questions, which are arguable, but in effect, taking one side of that discussion and then putting the institution's weight behind the one side of that discussion. I think that's a practice that a university administrator should avoid.
JOHN MCWHORTER: One of the things that I think people miss, from the outside. A lot of people think that it's not only administrators and professors who think this way, but there's this whiny, helicopter-parented student body, all of whom are right behind all of these excesses. Nothing could be further from the truth. On campuses, it's maybe one in 15 students who have the hyper-woke kind of politics ,if you're talking about undergraduates. Almost all of them can see through it. Some of them cower in fear of it. Some of them are brave enough to mock it, although it's getting harder to be that person these days.
But this is not about the student body. And the student body are hungry for professors who can give them views from other places. And not the hyper-right wing, for better or for worse, but people who are standing outside. And if you're asking whether I mean partly myself, yes. I'm in a position to see that acgreat many students, and not ones from conservative white Utah families, are interested in hearing something different. And so it's not that the students are impervious to the truth. They see the problem among the faculty, too. That always gives me hope. I don't worry about the kids, I worry about the grownups.
GLENN LOURY: Diversity, equity, and inclusion, okay? That's a plague, and we could have an argument about that. I think it's a disaster. I think the institutionalization of the diversity, equity, and inclusion imperatives threatened the integrity of the enterprise. I'm prepared to defend that position. Title IX. Way out of control in terms of due process and the way in which these kinds of incidents are handled by universities. The Roland Fryer case at Harvard. I give a case. We could give 100 cases.
There's stuff that has to be fought over, I want to say. This is where Jon Haidt and I don't think see the world quite the same way. I don't want to just talk about process. Keep things open. Let's have diversity of viewpoints. I want to talk about some of the substantive judgments that I think are wrongheaded and need to be rebutted on their own terms. And I think the DEI stuff is a disaster. I think it lowers standards. I think it reifies identity, which we should be trying to rise above. We come to the university as black or white or Latino or gay or trans. That's not who we are. Our essence is much broader and finer and deeper and richer and human than that. The university sells its students short and betrays its own mission if it gets mired in this identitarian, small-minded, narrow way of looking at their charges, our students.
ZACH RAUSCH: John McWhorter and Glenn Loury at Heterodox Academy's 2022 Conference in Denver. Keep your eyes peeled for full conference event footage on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/HeterodoxAcademy. Thanks to Davies Content for producing this podcast and to Kara Boyer on our communications team. I'm Zach Rausch. Until next time.
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A couple weeks ago, The Glenn Show returned to New York’s Comedy Cellar. This time I was joined by John McWhorter and a trio of fantastic comics: Sherrod Small, Jon Laster, and Nimesh Patel. There were a lot of laughs and a lot big questions addressed, so let’s get into it.
John and I begin with a comment left on one of our previous conversations from an economically disadvantaged white man who recounted his frustrated attempts to get into law school. Affirmative action helps elevate women and racial minorities, but shouldn’t it focus more on socioeconomic factors than “diversity”? John and I are always trying to move the needle on issues like this, and it’s sometimes hard to tell whether our conversations are having an effect. The crowd seems to think they are! John brings up charter schools, and I advance an argument in favor of more school choice. We then move onto racial disparities. I think that most people know on some level that “systemic racism” is not really the cause of racial disparities in the commission of violent crimes, and yet it’s so hard to have an honest conversation about it in casual circumstances. John argues that the real core of the race debate in America has to do with the relationship between black people and the police, at which point Sherrod, Nimesh, and Jon come out to join us. Laster tells us about the Jon Laster Challenge, in which he asked black men he knew to recount bad run-ins with the police and his app, which promotes black-owned businesses. Next, Sherrod shows off his crowd work chops and riffs with the audience. One audience member asks what draws the people who become police to the job, and I ask Jon what he really thinks we should do about violent crime in black communities. Finally, we end the event with some questions from the audience.
I had a a lot of fun up there onstage, and I was so happy to meet the subscribers who came up to say hello afterward. If you missed us this time around, don’t worry. You’ll have another chance. Watch this space for more.
Note: There were some slight technical difficulties with the recording. As a consequence, the first minute or so of the conversation is missing. Many apologies.
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0:00 Why do race and gender trump socioeconomics in affirmative action considerations?
9:03 Are Glenn and John making a difference in the race debate?
11:30 The argument for charter schools
19:54 Glenn: Nobody really believes that racism is the cause of racial disparities in crime
23:05 The difficulty of having an honest conversation about race and crime
28:15 Seizing the possibilities of our freedom
38:22 John: The race debate is about the cops
40:02 The Jon Laster Challenge
45:00 Sherrod talks to the crowd
47:27 Why do cops become cops?
54:41 Jon: Money is the biggest problem in black communities
1:03:16 Can poverty account for violence in black communities?
1:08:49 Q&A: Do we need more black police?
1:10:45 Q&A: Have Glenn and John gotten credit for highlighting The Trayvon Hoax?
1:16:59 Q&A: John clarifies his position on the Georgia voting law
Links and Readings
Ian Rowe’s book, Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power
Jon’s app, Blapp
Sherrod’s podcast, Race Wars
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As many of you know, Nikita Petrov, Creative Director of The Glenn Show and this newsletter, is Russian. He left his country after the invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, the war and the role of Russian individuals in it have been weighing heavily on his mind, along with broader questions about responsibility and belonging. In this episode of The Glenn Show, Nikita and I discuss the problems of group affiliation and government action. When large-scale political and civil conflict fragments a society, how do we decide who “our people” are? And relatedly, how much responsibility do we bear for the actions of “our people” and our governments? This leads us to discuss racial and ethnic group belonging. I’m black, but how does that affect how I regard my relations with others of my race? One of “the people with three names” seems to think I’m not “authentically black” because I no longer live on the South Side of Chicago. But what does “authenticity” even mean in this case? From there we move into a broader historical register to consider the long and the unfinished work of emancipation, both that of African Americans and Russians (the serfs were freed in 1861). While, in my view, many blacks are still grappling with American democracy, Nikita notes that Russia experienced only a brief window of democracy between the Cold War and Putin’s rise. We conclude with a discussion of Russian and American wars, and the US’s role in amplifying executive power under Boris Yeltsin.
Nikita is wrestling with some complicated questions, and I enjoyed talking them through with him. We’re both interested to hear your thoughts, so let us know in the comments.
Want to keep the TGS talk going? We’ve had a Discord server for a while, but it was previously available only to paying Substack subscribers. Now we’re opening it up to everyone. So if you want to connect with other TGS fans to talk about the show or any topic related to it, click the button below to get in on the conversation.
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0:00 Nikita asks: Who are “my people”?
14:09 How much responsibility do we bear for the actions of our governments?
21:53 The problem of racial affiliation
26:39 The use and abuse of group identity
35:00 Is Glenn “authentically black”?
40:39 The incomplete project of emancipation
50:28 Why was Russia’s period of true democracy so brief?
56:36 Democracy and “the Russian soul”
1:03:55 Can we compare antiwar Americans and antiwar Russians?
1:14:38 Glenn: Why would the US risk nuclear war with Russia over Ukraine?
1:20:09 The US’s involvement in drafting Russia’s constitution
Links and Readings
Nikita’s Substack, Psychopolitica
Glenn’s essay in City Journal, “The Case for Black Patriotism”
Glenn’s speech at the National Conservatism Conference
The Woodson Center
Glenn’s conversation with Sylvia Bennett-Stone and Robert Woodson
Voices of Black Mothers United
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
John McWhorter is back again for the latest installment in our ongoing, nearly decade-and-a-half-long conversation. Let’s get into it.
John starts out telling us about his current whereabouts: a Dirty Dancing-style bungalow in the Catskills. We move on to a developing story out of Princeton, New Jersey, where a group of parents has written an open letter protesting the school district’s “dumbing down” of the math curriculum in the name of DEI. John and I are on the same page on this one: How much longer are we going to pretend that this is doing any good for the students? The way that the Princeton school district went about implementing these curriculum standards was, at best, deceptive. Don’t parents have the right to know how decisions that affect their kids are being made? Of course, DEI is a business, one that has created thousands of jobs for administrators and consultants who spend their days rooting out racism. And as John points out, if someone’s job depends on finding instances of racism, they’re going to “find racism,” whether it’s really there or not. This incentive structure makes John despair. He also suggests that my theory of social capital may provide the conceptual underpinnings for some present-day arguments in favor of affirmative action. But I point out that, while social capital may partially explain disparities in outcome, it doesn’t excuse disparities in outcome. After all, we can see that, some historically disadvantaged groups regularly over-perform when high academic performance is incentivized within their community. But incentives for middling academic performance tend to produce middling academic performance, and I fear that we’re incentivizing middling academic performance in our young black students. Is there a way out of this mess? Is John right to despair? I close on a note of hope from my Brown University and Heterodox Academy colleague John Tomasi.
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0:00 John reports on his rustic Catskills bungalow
2:40 Parents protest Princeton public schools “dumbing down” their math curriculum
17:11 How much educational transparency is owed to parents?
25:07 How many DEI initiatives and administrators do we actually need?
33:50 John: I don’t think we can fix what’s broken in DEI
40:49 Glenn’s theory of social capital may explain (but does not excuse) some disparities
48:56 Cultures of achievement vs. disincentive effects of affirmative action
58:19 What do we know about what kids know about the world?
1:04:46 Glenn offers some reason for hope from John Tomasi
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “Sometimes ‘Proper’ Speech Isn’t Correct Speech”
The open letter from Princeton, New Jersey parents
Bard College at Simon’s Rock
John’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s book, The Asian American Achievement Paradox
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
For this week’s episode, I’m joined by NYU psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of several books, including (with Greg Lukianoff) The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure and The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Jonathan is also the co-founder of Heterodox Academy, where I serve on the advisory council. Despite that connection, this is our first extended public conversation.
This is not, however, the first time I’ve engaged with Jon. After a talk some years ago, I asked Jon a question during the Q&A session, which I reintroduce here. Heterodox Academy’s mission is very important, but does focusing exclusively on viewpoint diversity prevent us from acknowledging that some viewpoints are more cogent than others? Jon’s recent Atlantic article “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” generated a lot of discussion, and he elaborates on his theory of “structural stupidity” here. He claims that, at the national level, the Republican Party’s hostility to moderation has made it structurally stupid and unable to examine its own premises, while left-dominated “epistemic institutions,” like journalism and academia, are mired in their own kind of structural stupidity. I find the structural analysis compelling, but I think it elides the fact that some of the Republicans’ policy position are not, in themselves, stupid at all. Jon is concerned that increasing intolerance on the left, especially on college campuses, may be caused by generational changes in child development. Gen Z is the first generation to have had accessto social media as children, and they also had far less unsupervised free play than previous generations. I ask Jon whether this shift can account for groupthink around COVID-induced school shutdowns and drastic changes in attitudes toward trans and racial issues in the US. While the academy no doubt leans left, there is much more viewpoint diversity in economics departments than other areas. Jon has some interesting ideas about why. And finally, I ask Jon whether religion could play a role in increasing viewpoint diversity.
It was great to finally connect with Jon. I hope and suspect it won’t be the last time we sit down for one of these conversations.
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0:00 Glenn asks: Is Jon’s heterodoxy insufficiently pugilistic?
5:23 Jon’s theory of social media-driven “structural stupidity”
16:18 Do the Republican Party’s structural flaws negate its policies?
26:53 The rise of social media and the disappearance of free play for kids
35:42 Race, trans issues, and the future of the country
45:34 Why are economists uniquely heterodox thinkers in the academy?
48:08 What fills the “God-shaped hole” in the hearts of putatively secular Americans?
Links and Readings
Heterodox Academy
Jon’s Atlantic article, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”
Jon’s book, with Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann’s book, The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion—Our Social Skin
Brown University President Christina Paxson’s letter about racial justice
Glenn’s rebuttal to Paxson in City Journal
Jon’s childhood independence advocacy organization, Let Grow
Jon’s social media research
James A. Morone’s book, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History
John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister’s book, The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It
John McWhorter’s book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
John McWhorter is back once more for an episode of The Glenn Show, so let’s get into it.
I begin by reporting on my current “European Tour.” Last week I spoke at the London School of Economics, and I’m currently headed from Toulouse, France to Marseille to deliver the keynote address at the International Conference on Public Economic Theory. It’s been quite an enlightening experience so far, as I’ve gotten a look at how young black European economists are thinking about inequities within and without their profession. John and I discuss a recent report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which offers a picture of racial disparities in the UK that differs greatly from that of the US. But as John notes, the impression that people abroad have of our problems is often distorted. One of our real problems is our tendency to filter all thinking about race and ethnicity through “blacks and whites.” The US is a much more diverse place that that, and John and I ask how long the concerns of African Americans will determine the national agenda for all “people of color.” Next, John asks a big question: What is the real cause of racial disparities in the commission of violent crime? We know that black perpetrators are responsible for a disproportionate amount of violent crime, but we need to understand why. I gently chide John for missing the recent Old Parkland Conference, but he’s got a good excuse: He was busy recording a series of lectures about the history of the alphabet for the Great Courses! I am utterly fascinated by this project, and I convince John to give us a preview. And finally, I offer a critique of John’s recent column, which addresses school shootings.
This one is buoyant and weighty in equal measure. As always, I want to hear your thoughts. Let me know in the comments!
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 Race and economics in the UK
14:26 How long will the concerns of native-born black Americans drive the race conversation?
23:15 The shaky “people of color” coalition
27:51 Trying to account for racial disparities in the commission of violent crime
39:44 Reclaiming moral agency from white people
42:37 The Old Parkland conference
44:37 John’s forthcoming lectures on the alphabet
51:47 Glenn’s critique of John’s school shooting column
Links and Readings
The “Sewell Report” from the UK’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities
Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld’s book, The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America
Ezra Klein’s interview with Reihan Salam
Glenn and John’s conversation with Randall Kennedy
Ian Rowe’s book, Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power
John’s recent NYT column, “Gun Violence Is Like What Segregation Was. An Unaddressed Moral Stain.”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Earlier this year, I announced that I would be donating 10% of the net income from this newsletter to the Woodson Center to support the vital work that they do. I also want to use the newsletter and TGS as a platform to promote the work of Woodson Center-affiliated organizations that are making change on the ground in communities around the country. My first guest in what I hope will be a long ongoing series is Sylvia Bennett-Stone, Director of Voices of Black Mothers United, who is joined by Robert Woodson himself. Sylvia and Bob were on hand at the recent Old Parkland Conference, where I had the honor of speaking, so we sat down for an in-person discussion. (You can also read the great essayist Gerald Early’s account of the conference). I had Sylvia on the show last year, but VBMU’s work supporting mothers who have lost children to violent crime is so powerful and so important that I thought it appropriate to have her back.
Bob begins by introducing the mission of the Woodson Center, which provides support to “social entrepreneurs” who work within communities to help solve the toughest problems facing them today: crime, poverty, academic achievement, and many others. Sylvia then talks about a recent five-city tour that she undertook with VBMU to support victims of violence and to raise awareness for victims’ rights. Sylvia recounts how the loss of her daughter moved her to reach out to help other mothers who are suffering. Sylvia is clear that, in order to prevent more deaths, more police are needed in black communities, and good relations need to be maintained between law enforcement and the people they serve. As Bob points out, contrary to what many progressive activists claim, efforts to defund the police are unpopular in black communities with high crime rates. The subject of forgiveness comes up more than once in this conversation. Sylvia and Bob tell me about instances in which the mothers of slain children not only forgive the perpetrators but sometimes reach out to them in prison. This remarkable fact suggests to me that there is a strong Christian influence in VBMU, which Sylvia and Bob affirm, though Sylvia notes that they support whoever needs their help, regardless of religious affiliation. I wonder why, given the importance of Christianity in many black communities, we hear so little about it in the media. We end with a final word from Sylvia, who urges anyone struggling with the pain of losing a child to reach out to VBMU.
Sylvia and Bob are doing vital, necessary work, and I am so proud that all of us here are able to support them. And if you want to make additional donations, please visit the websites for the Woodson Center and Voices of Black Mothers United.
Unfortunately, we only had a little over a half hour for our conversation. So to round out this week’s episode, I’m including a speech I delivered when I accepted the Bradley Prize in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. It was a tremendous honor, and I want to share the moment with all of you here.
Ten percent of net revenue from this newsletter goes to support the Woodson Center and programs like Voices of Black Mothers United. To help support these absolutely essential organizations, become a subscriber to this newsletter, or donate directly to the Woodson Center and Voice of Black Mothers United.
0:00 The work of the Woodson Center
2:26 Sylvia’s recent five-city tour to support victims of violence
4:40 How tragedy moved Sylvia to start Voices of Black Mothers United
9:29 Sylvia: We must work with the police in our communities
13:38 What role does race play in VBMU’s work? And where are the fathers?
18:20 The importance of forgiveness in the healing process
22:07 How VBMU is reaching out beyond black communities
25:23 Sylvia: The pain of mothers who lose children to police violence is no different than mine
28:39 Glenn: Why do we hear so little about Christian faith’s role in healing?
34:10 Glenn's Bradley Prize acceptance speech, May 17, 2022
Links
The Woodson Center
Voices of Black Mothers United
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week, I’m back with my friend John McWhorter. A lot has happened since we last spoke, so let’s get to it.
We begin by discussing the horrific, racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. John states that, among other things, the event makes him wish we had a word besides “racism” to help us distinguish between truly racist acts like that shooting and situations where there may be racial disparities but no actual racism present. One of the shooter’s motivations was so-called “great replacement” theory, or the idea that there is a conspiracy on the part of Democrats or Jews or whoever to “replace” large parts of the white population in the US with Latino immigrants. Tucker Carlson has given much airtime to a version of this theory (though without any overt antisemitism), and I’ve appeared on one of Tucker Carlson’s shows in the past. John asks me if I think Tucker is indirectly responsible for stirring up ugly sentiments toward immigrants of the short held by the shooter. I respond that, while I don’t endorse everything Tucker says on his show, I don’t believe him to be a racist. After all, Democrats often point to the impact that the country’s shifting demographics may have on elections. We need to be able to debate the immigration issue on its merits. It’s perfectly legitimate to believe that we need tighter controls on who is allowed to live in this country, and one ought to be able to say so without being charged with racism or xenophobia. We move on to last week’s Bradley Prize ceremony, where I received the honor and delivered a speech. John recounts a time when a white woman condescendingly gave him a book by Walter Mosley in an attempt to “educate” him. The incident turned John off of Mosley’s writing, but he’s come back to it, and he is delighted by what he’s found. (When is Mosley going to get a Pulitzer or a National Book Award? It’s past time!) And finally, we discuss the difficult problem of mass shootings, mental illness, and the second amendment.
I grab hold of more than one third rail in this one. As always, I want to hear your thoughts. Post them below!
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0:00 John: We need a word besides “racism” to distinguish racial inequities from what happened in Buffalo
10:49 Glenn: I don’t agree with everything Tucker Carlson says, but he’s not a racist
20:22 Demographic change is happening in the US, but how should we understand it?
28:07 What does Tucker think he’s doing and what is he actually doing?
36:21 Glenn: We should be able to freely debate immigration policy without evoking racial tropes
46:31 Glenn accepts the Bradley Prize at the organization’s gala
51:13 How a white woman’s condescension stopped John from reading Walter Mosley
57:42 Can we disentangle incidents like the Buffalo shooting from ideology?
1:02:34 A correction from Glenn
Links and Readings
John’s book, Woke Racism
Glenn Greenwald’s Substack post, “The Demented - and Selective - Game of Instantly Blaming Political Opponents For Mass Shootings”
Part 1 of the NYT’s series on Tucker Carlson
Glenn and John discussing whether Glenn should appear on Tucker Carlson’s show
A partial transcript of Glenn’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show
Glenn and John discussing Glenn’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show
John’s NYT column on Walter Mosley
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week’s episode is a throwback to 2015, when Daniel Kaufman, professor of philosophy at Missouri State University, editor of the online magazine theElectric Agora, and (at that time) a mainstay on bloggingheads.tv and meaningoflife.tv, invited me onto his show Sophia. I stumbled across this video again last month, and I think it remains an illuminating discussion that addresses some fundamental questions about economics and the social sciences.
We begin by discussing the “science” part of the social sciences. I explain that we economists tend not to philosophize about our discipline as much as other social scientists. But many major economic thinkers (think Keynes, Marx, and others) elaborate concepts that do ask fundamental questions about the nature of economics. To call a discipline a “science” implies that its findings are testable and replicable, that its insights are able to predict future conditions from present conditions. Does economics do that? I argue that it does. Of course, since much economic data is drawn from real-world behavior rather than controlled experiments, it can be difficult to isolate variables in a way that would satisfy, say, a physicist. This is because markets exist within particular cultures and under particular social arrangements that are not themselves purely economic in nature. And cultural values are going to affect, at least to some extent, how people behave within markets. The idea that people will try to maximize utility in a rational way is important to economics, but of course we know that humans often behave in ways that seem irrational. How does economics incorporate irrationality into its methodology? And finally, Dan and I were speaking at a time when the (still ongoing) replication crisis was all over the news. Is replication as seemingly dire a problem in economics as it is in psychology?
Dan’s training in philosophy helps him to ask some really deep questions here, and I think you can tell I relished the opportunity to answer them. Love to know what you think about this “classic” episode.
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5:44 How scientific are the social sciences?
11:20 Glenn defends the reliability of economic predictions
29:47 The strengths and weaknesses of “natural experiments”
36:48 How much does culture affect economic behavior?
50:06 New insights from behavioral economics
58:12 Dan: We trust the social sciences too much
Links and Readings
Dan’s website, the Electric Agora
The Electric Agora on YouTube
Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir’a book, Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week’s plan for the show was to have Edmund Santurri, professor of philosophy and religion at St. Olaf College, join John McWhorter and I to talk about his soon-to-be terminated appointment as the director of the college’s Institute for Freedom & Community. Ed’s situation is the latest instance of a college’s administration folding to pressure from left-wing activists (more on that below). Unfortunately, Ed was only able to join us for the very beginning of this episode before tech glitches had their way with us. Ed’s story is important, and I do wish we had been able to carry on a full conversation, but it was not to be.
We do make some headway, though. Ed begins by explaining how, after he invited a series of speakers viewed by some as controversial, St. Olaf’s administration announced that they would remove him from his role as director of the Institute for Freedom & Community a year earlier than had been agreed upon. One might ask: What good is an institute devoted to free inquiry if it refuses to engage with controversial ideas? Ed begins to explain the recent history of student protests at the college, but we’re then forced to whittle our trialogue down to a dialogue. John expresses his disgust for the St. Olaf administrators responsible for Ed’s removal (which I share) and talks about the important work of FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. We then debate whether there is a right-wing equivalent to left-wing campus cancel culture. I don’t think there is, but John thinks one can be found in attempts to remove books dealing with gender and sexuality from public grade schools and attempts to remove trans, nonbinary, and gender fluid teachers from classrooms. He’s not that worried about nonbinary gender identity in children. But I have to confess, I think the performative dimension of that sort of expression may be an indicator of a worrisome direction in our society. We then move on to something about which everyone can agree: My house is awesome. John visited it for the first time last week when he was in Providence for my festschrift, a conference held in my honor in which many of my dear and distinguished friends gathered to discuss my work and its impact. It was a moving and humbling event, and we’re hoping to post some video from it here soon. We finish our conversation with an extended debate about the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision that will almost certainly overturn Roe v. Wade and the political environment that led to a draft of Samuel Alito’s majority opinion being leaked to the press.
It’s good to have John back after his absence. I know you’ll all have some things to say about this one, so don’t hesitate to post a comment.
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0:00 Why Ed is being removed from the directorship of the Institute for Freedom & Community
11:39 The pressure campaigns waged against past Institute events
17:43 John: Administrators at St. Olaf should be ashamed of themselves
19:50 Are right-wing campaigns against openly trans and nonbinary elementary school teachers the equivalent of left-wing cancel culture?
29:05 What are the social determinants of gender identity in young people?
37:53 Glenn’s awesome house
41:18 A festschrift for Glenn
48:08 Can we separate jurisprudence from the lived consequences of overturning Roe v. Wade?
56:12 Do the ends now justify the means in American politics?
Links and Readings
Inside Higher Ed on Ed’s removal from the Institute for Freedom & Community
FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
FIRE’s letter to St. Olaf’s president protesting Ed’s removal
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week, I welcome Briahna Joy Gray to TGS. I’ve appeared on her podcast, Bad Faith, and now she’s here to return the favor. Briahna and I have some pretty pronounced political differences—she’s the former National Press Secretary for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, after all. But we get along anyway, because we both believe in the importance of free speech and open debate. And make no mistake, there is a lot of debate in this episode.
[Note: We recorded this conversation at Brown’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and there was no video equipment on hand. Instead, Nikita Petrov has created an animation version of me to provide some visual stimulation.]
I may be uncomfortable saying that I’m a “man of the right,” but I’m certainly “conservative for a black guy.” But Briahna points out that there are many black people who have benefited from America’s economic opportunities and know it. They may vote Democrat, but they’re hardly socialists. Many conservatives say that their voices are shut out of mainstream discourse, and the left has a similar complaint. I point out that the Democratic Party has repeatedly undercut Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaigns, and Briahna explains why Democrats have been and continue to be hostile toward progressive policies and politicians. She argues that neither Democratic nor Republican policies reflect the actual desires of the majority of voters, as political parties no longer need to vie for broad majorities in order to win elections. After that, the debate begins in earnest. We address three major points of contention: increasing taxes on the very rich in order to expand the social safety net, Medicare for All, and student debt cancellation. I’m skeptical of all of these policies, to varying degrees, while Briahna believes they’re necessary in order to remedy the (admittedly vast) disparities we see all around us. We wrap up by discussing the fascinating convergence between certain factions of the left and right in criticizing what appears to be a march toward escalating US intervention in Ukraine.
I enjoy a good debate, and I suspect that Briahna does, too. Maybe that’s why, despite our differences, we get along so well. Let me know what you think in the comments.
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0:00 Acknowledging the black middle class
14:04 How the Democratic Party works against progressives
21:11 Briahna: The interests of political parties no longer reflect the interests of voters
26:53 Should we increase taxes on the very rich in order to fund the social safety net?
34:51 Briahna makes the case for Medicare for All
43:21 Should we cancel student debt?
54:30 The left-right alliance over intervention in Ukraine
Bad Faith’s Patreon page
Ben Carson’s book, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page’s 2014 study, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens”
Vann R. Newkirk II’s Atlantic piece, “The American Health-Care System Increases Income Inequality”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Normally I would post one of my bi-weekly conversations with John McWhorter today, but John and I had too many scheduling conflicts to find time to talk this week (he’ll return in two weeks). So in his stead, I’m talking with Greg Thomas, co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project and senior fellow at the Institute for Cultural Evolution.
We begin by discussing Greg’s work with the Jazz Leadership Project, which uses the principles of jazz to train leaders within businesses and organizations. He’s got some big-league clients, so I was interested to know how Greg implements ideas and strategies from an originally African American art form within a corporate environment. Greg was a friend of the great critic, poet, and novelist Stanley Crouch, and I ask him about how they came to know each other. This leads us to discuss the intellectual lineage that runs from Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray through Crouch. These thinkers were deeply rooted in black art, culture, and politics, but they were also, to varying degrees, skeptical of race as a foundational concept. Is there anyone now continuing this tradition? Greg talks about his own efforts in that direction, but he also notes that the modern Enlightenment tradition, which sought a scientific foundation for knowledge and institutions, has been at least partially displaced by postmodern thought, which seeks to critique the Enlightenment. Greg argues that such a critique is fine, so long as we don’t abandon modernity’s gains. He then introduces some ideas from integral theory and from the philosopher Anthony Appiah that he believes can help reconcile the need both to preserve culturally specific traditions and to claim membership in a broader cosmopolitan community. And finally, Greg tells me about some of his daughter’s impressive accomplishments, including building the We Read Too app.
I really enjoyed having Greg on as a guest, and I hope to have him back on for an episode with both John and I soon.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 Greg’s work with the Jazz Leadership Project
12:35 How does a “black” art form operate within a corporate environment?
17:27 What’s left of the legacy of Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray, and Stanley Crouch?
25:04 Black culture after the postmodern turn
32:45 Greg’s work with the Institute for Cultural Evolution
36:40 Greg’s critique of Black Lives Matter
40:48 Rooted cosmopolitanism and the “Faustian bargain” of whiteness
50:46 Greg’s very accomplished daughter
Links and Readings
The Jazz Leadership Project
The Institute for Cultural Evolution
Greg’s Substack post, “Why Race-Based Framings of Social Issues Hurt Us All”
Stanley Crouch’s Notes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979-1989
Video from Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together
Steve McIntosh’s Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself
Charles Love’s Race Crazy: BLM, 1619, and the Progressive Racism Movement
Kwame Anthony Appiah’s, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
Danielle Allen
Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
Kaya Thomas Wilson’s We Read Too app
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
On this week’s episode of The Glenn Show, I welcome my old friend Stephanie Lepp, the Executive Producer at the Center for Humane Technology. I first met Stephanie through her husband, Nathaniel, who was a student of mine at Brown. Stephanie produced a podcast called Reckonings, which told the stories of how people transform their worldviews. I went on the show in 2015 and told the story of the evolution of my own political worldview (links below). Since then, we've been wanting to do another round. It's time! This time, Stephanie joins me on The Glenn Show, to once again help me wrestle with how my views have changed and with my responsibilities as a public intellectual.
Stephanie begins by asking me to step back and consider a big-picture question: What is my goal as a public intellectual? It’s not something I often ask myself in such explicit terms, and Stephanie pushes me to articulate a response. Stephanie engages me on the affirmative action question in order to get me to speak not just about my critique of preferences, but to think about whether critique is enough. It’s one thing to criticize a program or idea, she says, and another to propose a solution. I agree, of course, but the critique does have to be made, and not just in the case of affirmative action. I see it as my job to make clear that the systemic prejudices affirmative action programs were designed to ameliorate are largely in the past. When we see large-scale failure in black communities today, the responsibility for those failures rests, to a great extent, on the shoulders of the members of those communities. Stephanie suggests that, given my position as a public intellectual, when I speak about these problems, I not only describe social reality but actually influence it. If that is true (and I’m not sure to what extent it is), should I reorient my way of engaging with matters of public concern? Stephanie says, “Evolution is beautiful, but it’s not pretty.” This leads me to wonder: Is our present political turmoil an ugly but necessary process that will result in improvement over time, if properly attended to? I'm doubtful. Finally, I offer a critique of Stephanie’s own brand of “promiscuous pragmatic pluralism.”
It was such a pleasure to reconnect with an old friend and talk through these issues. I’m looking forward to your thoughts!
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 What is Glenn’s goal as a public intellectual?
11:12 Glenn has his critique of affirmative action …
21:57 … but is articulating the critique enough?
27:23 Glenn: My raison d’être is to give voice to my contempt for the failures of my people
36:36 Stephanie: At a certain point, you’re not describing reality, you’re influencing it
43:02 The case for integralism
51:39 “Evolution is beautiful, but it’s not pretty”
1:00:06 Glenn’s critique of Stephanie’s “promiscuous pragmatic pluralism”
1:06:47 A preliminary look into the married life of the Lourys
Reckonings, “The Conscience of a Public Intellectual, pt. 1”
Reckonings, “The Conscience of a Public Intellectual, pt. 2”
Reckonings, “The Enemy Within”
Chloé Valdary’s Theory of Enchantment
Ken Wilber’s A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science, and Spirituality
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week, John and I are talking about the ten-year anniversary of the Trayvon Martin shooting, one of the most politically consequential events of the 2010s. A decade later, are we in a better place than where we started?
John and I begin by discussing the New York Times’s recent package commemorating the event, which features a written piece by Charles Blow and video interviews with Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates, and Al Sharpton. All of them reinforce the mainstream narrative about Martin’s death—that he had been senselessly attacked by Zimmerman for no reason. Yet much evidence supports Zimmerman’s story: that he shot Martin in self-defense after Martin assaulted him. John discusses how his skepticism toward the mainstream Trayvon Martin narrative contributed to the end of his relationship with The Root. My own skepticism continues to pose challenges for me, as many of my students resist when I ask them to consider the facts of the case rather than the “poetic truth” the case has come to represent. John suggests that we can learn from recalling how the O.J. Simpson trial unfolded. The public story about the trial had more to do with race and the cops than it did with the brutal murder of two innocent people, even if most people now acknowledge that Simpson’s not guilty verdict was mistaken. There are people contesting the mainstream narratives around Martin and Michael Brown, including excellent documentaries by Joel Gilbert and Shelby and Eli Steele. These counternarratives are vital correctives, but where are the consequences for those who continue to push bogus information? And we end with a bit of a palate cleanser, with John taking us through the life and work of Scott Joplin.
Is there a way, at this late date, to turn the narratives about Martin, Michael Brown, and others around? How can we turn back the tide unleashed by these events and their political afterlife? Let me know your thoughts.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 The NYT commemorates the tenth anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s death
7:20 What really happened between Martin and George Zimmerman?
14:35 How John’s relationship with The Root frayed
19:33 Learning from the O.J. Simpson case
32:24 Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown on the big and small screen
40:55 Where are the consequences for those who get it wrong?
46:00 Remembering Scott Joplin
Links and Readings
The NYT’s Trayvon Martin anniversary package
Joel Gilbert’s book, The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud That Divided America
Joel Gilbert’s documentary, The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud That Divided America
Eli and Shelby Steele’s documentary, What Killed Michael Brown?
Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story
Jason Riley’s WSJ opinion piece, “Will Amazon Suppress the True Michael Brown Story?”
The 2015 DOJ statement announcing the closure of the investigation of the Trayvon Martin shooting
John’s NYT piece, “Scott Joplin’s Ragtime Is Ambrosia. Here’s Why It Matters.”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Over the last couple years, I’ve been in communication with Noam Dworman, the owner of the Comedy Cellar in New York, which is one of the most influential comedy clubs in the country. He suggested that we collaborate and put together a show that would explore the relationship between truth, free speech, and comedy. After a lot of back and forth, we came up with the idea of putting non-comedian intellectuals into conversation with professional stand-up comics. We weren’t quite sure what would happen, but we both sensed the idea had great potential.
And so, last month, The Glenn Show held its first live event. Roland Fryer, Coleman Hughes, and I served as the “serious” participants, and Noam invited the comics Andrew Schulz, Judy Gold, Shane Gillis, T.J., and Rick Crom to come up and offer their thoughts. The event also included special appearances from Nikki Jax and the stellar Sam Jay. Noam and I wanted to know, are there certain truths that only comics can get away with telling? Can delivering a potentially unsettling idea in comedic form make people more receptive to it?
The place was packed—tickets sold out in just a few days. The atmosphere was electric. After I introduced the event and kicked things off with an opening provocation, the show took on a life of its own. As you’ll see, the comics took the idea and ran with it. There are moments of chaos, moments of profundity, and a lot of laughs. I couldn’t have asked for a better live debut for TGS, and I am excited to be able to share with all of you who made it possible through your support.
We’re planning on doing more of these events in the future, so let us know what you think!
Many, many thanks to Noam Dworman for his hard work, generosity, and for providing video and audio of the event. The title sequence was created by our own Nikita Petrov.
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0:00 Some unspeakable truths
8:07 Are comics now afraid to speak their minds onstage?
19:38 The difference between telling the truth and getting a laugh
28:42 Can jokes actually do harm?
36:50 Nikki Jax on comedy and trans issues
43:34 Who actually “cancels” comics, audiences or corporations?
50:26 Sam Jay on artistic freedom and mob mentality
55:55 Q&A: I’m worried people won’t understand that my one-woman show is satire. What should I do?
58:42 Q&A: Does comedy have real power or is it ‘just jokes’?
1:06:35 Q&A: Do comics sometimes inadvertently reinforce wrongheaded points of view?
1:10:23 Q&A: Why are Ivy Leaguers so unfunny?
1:13:13 Q&A: Are college campuses inhospitable environments for comedy?
1:16:45 Q&A: What got Roland suspended at Harvard?
1:20:20 Q&A: Does the general public need social media training?
1:22:31 Q&A: Is there a way to stop corporations from folding to social media pressure campaigns?
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week I welcome Sam Harris to TGS. Sam is a neuroscientist and philosopher, the host of the podcast Making Sense, and the proprietor of the meditation app Waking Up. He’s a searching, truly open-minded thinker who follows the evidence where it leads, even if that means admitting that he was wrong about a previously held position.
We begin by discussing Sam’s uncertainty about how to navigate some aspects of the discourse on race. He wants a world in which race simply doesn’t matter all that much, but he’s unsure of how to bring that world into being. Sam highlights the stakes of the affirmative action question by asking us to imagine that we have to undergo brain surgery at the hands of a surgeon who got through medical school despite relatively low performance. Would we want this surgeon operating on us or our children? (I raised a similar concern in the past.) We then move on to Charles Murray, who Sam has had as a guest on his podcast. Sam was appalled by Charles’s treatment at Middlebury College, where he was violently deplatformed by a group of student protesters. Sam shares my view that nobody, and especially not a figure as significant as Charles, should be prevented from airing their views in public, no matter how wrongheaded we might find them. (For the record, I don’t find Charles to be “wrongheaded.”) If you disagree with a speaker, argue with them. We know that certain groups perform worse on tests and other quantifiable measures of academic performance than others, but we’re not yet sure why. Sam asks an intriguing question: Are there certain things we’re better off not knowing? If we knew that a given group had an inherent, perhaps ineradicable disadvantage on quantifiable measurements of performance, would we want to know? Could the social ill that such knowledge might produce make us worse off than the social good that would come from it? We then consider whether there are still circumstances in which affirmative action is necessary. From there, we pivot to God. Sam is, famously, a critic of organized religion. But religion is one thing and belief in God another. Sam frames the question of belief as one that can be addressed through mindful introspection. But at the level of community, it seems more difficult to find a secular alternative to the networks of support and spiritual sustenance that many find in temples, churches, synagogues, and mosques.
I had a great time thinking along with Sam. There is much more that we could have discussed had time allowed, so hopefully he’ll join me again soon.
Note: We encountered some problems with Sam’s audio. As a result, the sound quality on his end is less than optimal. Many apologies.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 The principle that race shouldn’t matter and the fact that it does
6:17 The high stakes of affirmative action
17:00 In defense of Charles Murray
25:35 Are there facts we’re better off not knowing?
36:30 When does affirmative action make sense and when is it counterproductive?
48:01 Is belief in God irrational?
52:32 Suffering and the illusion of self
1:00:27 Finding meaning in secular community
Links and Readings
Sam’s books
Sam’s podcast, Making Sense
Sam’s app, Waking Up
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This week on The Glenn Show, John McWhorter and I are joined by the journalist Matt Taibbi. Many of you are likely familiar with Matt from his many books, his political journalism for Rolling Stone (among other outlets), his Useful Idiotspodcast, and now his outstanding Substack newsletter, TK News. Matt lived and worked in Russia and the former USSR for several years, so I thought he’d be an excellent source for some insight into the war in Ukraine.
We begin by discussing Matt’s brief career playing in the MBA—that’s the Mongolian Basketball Association. We then move on to more pressing matters. Like many journalists and experts, Matt had been confident that Putin would not invade Ukraine. Unlike many journalists and experts, he issued an apology to his readers for making the wrong call and explained what led him to make it. Even after the invasion, it’s not clear why Putin is pushing as far west as he is—we talk about the difficult of getting inside his head. I ask if the media’s portrayal of Putin as a true autocrat is accurate, and Matt affirms that, while it’s hard to know what’s really going on inside the Russian government, Putin does seem to have more or less total control of domestic and military policy. The best way to deal with Russia is to first understand how it sees the world, so how do we put ourselves in its geopolitical shoes? This exercise leads John to reflect on his own lack of tribalistic feelings, and how tribalism is driving Russian and Ukrainian responses to the war. Shouldn’t all this feel a little familiar to Americans? Can we apply the lessons we learned (or should have learned) in our own disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to Ukraine? Matt was an early and vociferous critic of Russiagate, the discredited idea that Russian interference swung the 2016 election in Trump’s favor. But has the hangover from Russiagate made it difficult to view Russia’s actions clearly? And why have those who were wrong about Russiagate (and many, many other things) continued to exert influence in the media despite never admitting to the kind of errors that would have ended careers not so long ago? Matt argues that journalism is no longer about reporting news but about building narratives, and that media outlets are now rewarded primarily for keeping their viewers angry. We then move on to cultural matters. I’m a great fan of classic Russian literature, and I ask Matt to recommend some modern Russian writers. And finally, the big question: Who’s going to triumph in the NBA Eastern Conference, the Celtics or the Nets?
Many thanks to Matt Taibbi for dropping in. Hopefully we’ll be able to get him back on TGS in the not-too-distant future.
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0:00 Matt’s brief career as a professional basketball player in Mongolia
5:45 What drove Putin to invade Ukraine?
14:54 Are there limits to Putin’s power in Russia?
19:33 Putting ourselves in Russia’s geopolitical shoes
27:35 The appeal of Russian nationalism
30:55 Did we learn anything from Iraq and Afghanistan?
36:25 Did Russiagate obscure Americans’ ability to see Russia’s actions clearly?
40:08 The value of public apologies
41:28 Matt: Journalists are now in the narrative business
49:45 The foreign policy language barrier
55:00 Matt’s recommends some modern Russian writers
58:18 Matt answers the most pressing question of our time: Celtics or Nets?
Links and Readings
Matt’s newsletter, TK News
Katie Halper and Matt’s podcast, Useful Idiots
Matt’s mea culpa on the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Wesley Lowery’s NYT piece, “A Reckoning Over Objectivity, Led by Black Journalists”
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With the war in Ukraine escalating, I thought it would be a good idea to bring on a guest with some expertise in international relations. So I called on Daniel Bessner, an intellectual historian, associate professor at University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, and a co-host of the American Prestigepodcast. Daniel is a man of the left, so we spend a lot of time here arguing, and we have a great time doing it.
Note: We recorded on February 22, 2022. Between then and now, the situation in Ukraine has changed quite a bit. In order to avoid confusion, we have edited out a portion of the conversation that is no longer up-to-date.
Daniel and I begin by discussing what Putin’s invasion of Ukraine might tell us about the US’s standing in the world. Daniel argues that Putin’s willingness to ignore the US’s warnings reflects the decline of America’s global hegemony. He compares the present situation to America’s geopolitical position in the wake of World War II, arguing that the US imputed unrealistic hegemonic ambitions to the Soviet Union in order to justify the Cold War. He worries that the lesson many nations will draw from Ukraine is that the best way to forestall aggression from a stronger state is to acquire nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, this strategy makes a lot of sense to me. We then take a hard turn away from war to talk about Whoopi Goldberg. Daniel and I agree that the outrage over her remarks about the Holocaust is completely overblown. But he sees in this outrage the sign of a frustrated populace with no other way to express its political will. I’m skeptical of the idea we should want a return to mass politics, though. We shouldn’t throw the fate of our institutions to the political winds. We then debate the role of private industry in administering services to the public. We agree that our public schools are in bad shape, but Daniel thinks that market logic is at the root of the problem, whereas I think the market can help offer solutions. The question of meritocracy emerges, and Daniel argues that real meritocracy is impossible within a highly unequal society. No doubt that’s a problem, but I think abandoning meritocratic principles would be a huge mistake. And finally, we get into a debate over the uses (and possible abuses) of game theory.
I truly enjoyed this good-natured sparring match with Daniel, and I hope you do, too!
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0:00 Daniel: Putin’s actions in Ukraine demonstrate the decline of American global hegemony
7:02 Did the Soviet Union have the same expansionist ambitions as the US?
16:01 How the war in Ukraine could increase nuclear proliferation
23:46 Daniel: It’s absurd that people got so upset about Whoopi Goldberg’s Holocaust comment
27:27 Does the US have “mass politics” anymore? If not, is that a bad thing?
34:35 When does it pay to privatize?
38:55 What’s so bad about utopianism?
44:18 Is true meritocracy possible within a highly unequal society?
58:04 The uses (and possible abuses) of game theory
Links and Readings
Glenn’s Intellectual Origins, a series of interviews with Daniel
Daniel’s podcast, American Prestige
Daniel’s most recent appearance on Chapo Trap House
Stephen Wertheim’s book, Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. World Supremacy
Paul Chamberlin’s book, The Cold War’s Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace
Derek Masters and Katharine Way’s book, One World or None: A Report to the Public on the Full Meaning of the Atomic Bomb
Daniel’s essay, “The End of Mass Politics”
Walter Lippmann’s book, Public Opinion
Walter Lippmann’s book, The Phantom Public
Glenn’s book, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
Daniel Markovitz’s book, The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite
Kenneth Arrow’s book, Social Choice and Individual Values
Paul Erickson’s, The World the Game Theorists Made
S.M. Amadae’s book, Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism
Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman’s book, Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Slavery
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It’s John McWhorter time once again here at The Glenn Show. Let’s get into it.
John and I are both busy guys, but people might not realize how much juggling it takes to manage life as both an academic and a public intellectual. I talk about why I may soon wind down my role at Brown University and devote myself more fully to public endeavors. We then move on to discuss psychiatrist Jeffrey Lieberman, who has been fired or suspended from several academic and medical appointments after referring to Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech as a possible “freak of nature” in a tweet. It was a tacky, poorly worded tweet, no doubt. But clearly Lieberman was attempting to compliment Gatwech in the same way one might might refer to an unusually gifted athlete as a “freak.” John and I ask, does Lieberman really deserve to have his life destroyed over this? We then move on to discuss how the word “Negro” is now getting the n-word treatment in some quarters. To me, there is absolutely no justification for eliminating the word “Negro” from our lexicon, especially since it was once used to confer dignity on black people. Relatedly, John reports that efforts to replace “Latino” and “Latina” with “Latinx” are not faring well outside of academic circles. The question of when to capitalize “black” comes up, and I discuss why we don’t do so here at the Substack and why I’m opposed to doing so in general. We ask why children who come from families with highly varied racial and ethnic backgrounds are still often raised as “black” in the US if even one of their parents or grandparents is black. Why does blackness take precedence? We close on two unrelated topics. The first addresses whether or not academic tenure is necessary. The second addresses the very grim situation in Ukraine and Europe more broadly.
It’s always a pleasure to talk with John, and I hope you enjoy the conversation!
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0:00 Glenn contemplates exiting academia
7:28 Why should Jeffrey Lieberman lose his jobs over a tacky tweet?
15:11 The historical significance of the word “Negro”
24:05 The revolt against “Latinx”
27:49 Why Glenn doesn’t capitalize “black”
34:04 Why does “blackness” take precedence?
40:09 Glenn: Tenure without mandatory retirement can be a problem
49:31 Will the US send troops to Ukraine?
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “One Graceless Tweet Doesn’t Warrant Cancellation”
William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony
The New York Times book, How Race Is Lived in America: Pulling Together, Pulling Apart
John’s NYT piece, “I Can’t Brook the Idea of Banning ‘Negro’”
John’s NYT piece, “Capitalizing ‘Black’ Isn’t Wrong. But It Isn’t That Helpful, Either.”
Thomas Chatterton Williams’s book Self-Portrait in Black and White: Family, Fatherhood, and Rethinking Race
Stanley Crouch’s book, Notes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979-1989
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week, I welcome Matt Rosenberg to TGS. Matt is a journalist who grew up in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood and the author of the recently published book What Next, Chicago?: Notes of a Pissed-Off Native Son. The book delves into the causes and effects of the city’s recent, alarming rise in crime and also chronicles those who are trying to address the problem. As a native of Chicago’s South Side, I share Matt’s concerns, and I highly, highly recommend that everyone read his book.
We begin by talking about Matt’s personal connection to the city, and his memories of the Yippie protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Matt explains what drove him to return to Chicago after leaving the city years ago. He then gets into the deep relationship between street crime and political corruption in the city. He notes that he’s not the only person covering these stories, but there are few journalists making systematic efforts to connect the dots between them. It’s not all bad news from Chicago, though. Matt discusses a few organizations that are making change at the grassroots level, including Corey Brooks’s outstanding Project H.O.O.D. We move on to one the city’s most pressing problems: schools. Matt underscores the necessity of school choice and charter school funding in a city where many public schools are underserving students and parents. One under-discussed but important story Matt covers is Chicago’s sizable and thriving Latino communities. He finds them full of hard-working, family-oriented folks who are making the most out the opportunities afforded them. We then move on to talk about the problem of crime and enforcement. Is a highly punitive crackdown on the crime the best way to combat rising crime? Matt doesn’t think it’s that simple. We know that incarceration is linked to the break-up of traditional family structures, but is it really the primary cause? Matt introduces us to Darryl Smith, a remarkable man who did time in prison but came out and turned his life around while helping out his neighbors in Englewood and staging nonviolent protests that resulted in construction unions opening their ranks to local black laborers. We end the discussion by taking a broad view of the South Side’s decline and talking about what can be done to reverse the damage.
This is a subject near and dear to my heart, and one that has broader significance to other troubled communities across the country.
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0:00 Matt’s new book, What Next, Chicago?: Notes of a Pissed-Off Native Son
8:48 Piecing together the puzzle of race, crime, and corruption
18:53 Some Chicago success stories
23:19 Matt: Charter schools are a necessity in Chicago
34:16 Chicago’s thriving Latino communities
40:35 Is increased enforcement the best way to solve Chicago’s crime problem?
54:08 What is disrupting traditional family structures in Chicago’s black communities?
59:02 Darryl Smith, the (unofficial) Mayor of Englewood
1:03:43 The decline of the South Side and the efforts to revive it
1:14:42 So, what’s next for Chicago?
Links and Readings
Matt’s book, What’s Next, Chicago?: Notes of a Pissed-Off Native Son
Corey Brooks’s Project H.O.O.D.
University of Chicago’s Crime Lab
Northwestern University sociologist Andrew Papachristos
Jane Jacobs’s classic book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
John McWhorter is back, just like you knew he would be. This week we’re talking about the future of affirmative action.
We begin by discussing Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s new film adaptation of the classic musical West Side Story. John argues that people who dismiss the musical as just “something some old white people wrote” are far too simplistic and limited in their view. I haven’t yet gotten a chance to see the new adaptation, but I’m a fan of the music and lyrics, so I’m inclined to agree with him. We then move on to affirmative action. When the Supreme Court takes up the Harvard admissions case next term, there’s a good chance they’ll end up declaring affirmative action unconstitutional. If that happens, John and I agree that we’ll likely see fewer black students admitted to elite universities, though I think administrators unwilling to scale back their focus on diversity will find ways to admit black students who may not be academically on-par with their peers. John and I are deeply concerned that orienting academic standards—from undergrad admissions to the hiring and tenure process—around diversity and identity will have disastrous consequences for the university system, for the long-term health of the nation, and, yes, for black people. As an object lesson, John presents a (rigorously anonymized!) account of a star black academic who, in John’s account, derives their profile more from their ability to represent their race than their scholarly achievements. Is this person respected by their colleagues for the quality of their work? More worrying, will people simply assume that all black students, academics, and professionals—even those who are truly accomplished—achieve their status due to their race? John worries that people will condescend to his young daughters in that way. If I had young children, I’d worry, too.
Things get a little heavy this time out, but that’s because the issues themselves are heavy. I want to know your thoughts—tell me about them in the comments.
Correction: In the video, I say that Lisa Cook studied under Paul Romer at Berkeley. This is an error. She was David Romer’s student.
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0:00 John: Don’t dismiss West Side Story just because it was written by “old white people”
14:59 If the Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action, will higher education “resegregate”?
24:34 Are meritocracy and racial diversity initiatives inherently opposed to each other?
35:41 What, if anything, are we losing when we give significant weight to racial preference?
47:19 John: Certain black academics are valued for the way they represent their race rather than their scholarly achievements
56:54 The perils of the DEI industry
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “Yes, Some Musicals Are Unwoke. That’s Not a Writ to Rewrite Them.”
John’s NYT piece, “The Gilded Age’ Is Depicting Black Success. More TV Should.”
Heather Mac Donald’s City Journal piece, “March of the Revisionists”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
On this week’s show, I’m talking to the political scientist Steven Rhoads, author of the influential book The Economist’s View of the World, which was recently reissued in a substantially updated edition. Steven thinks the fundamental principles of economics can help even non-economists see the world in a more rational and solution-oriented way, and I have to say, I agree!
I begin by asking Steven how a political scientist came to write a book extolling the virtues of economics—why not write one about his own discipline? After all, economists are constantly saying unpopular things that can sound a little heartless (at least if you don’t understand the reasoning). Steven explains what attracts him to economics. We get into the concept where all modern economics begins: the market. Steven asks, if, as some people suppose, only right-wing ideologues champion the efficiency of markets, why do left-wing economists like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz praise them (with qualifications)? We then approach three ideas fundamental to the study of economics: opportunity costs, incentives, and marginalism. We approach these ideas through practical problems, like why it’s sometimes necessary to make roads and public spaces less safe. (Hint: It’s not because economists are walking calculators devoid of human feeling!) We end the conversation by talking through some pressing questions where economists really should be listened to. Is it a good idea to pay out unemployment benefits to individuals indefinitely? Is it rational to rely on nuclear power when we know the dangers of radiation and nuclear catastrophes? Should individuals be able to undergo as many medical tests and procedures as they want? And, finally, are we overcounting the number of deaths caused by COVID?
If you’re wondering how to start thinking like an economist, Steven’s book and this conversation are great places to start.
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0:00 Steven’s recently reissued and updated book, The Economist’s View of the World: And the Quest for Well-Being
5:28 Why is Steven, a political scientist, interested in how economists think?
9:41 The virtue of markets
17:24 Opportunity costs explained
27:07 If everyone needs water and almost no one needs diamonds, why are diamonds more expensive than water?
35:10 Prices, incentives, and compensation
45:43 Would unlimited unemployment benefits help or harm unemployed people?
50:47 Is it rational to expand our reliance on nuclear power?
52:58 The difficulty of reducing healthcare costs
56:58 COVID’s opportunity costs
Links and Readings
Steven’s book, The Economist’s View of the World: And the Quest for Well-Being
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
I’m back with my friend John McWhorter for one of our regular conversations. A lot has happened on the race and politics front over the last two weeks, so we’ve got a full docket of topics to discuss.
And speaking of dockets, after overcoming some technical difficulties, we spend a good chunk of time on matters relating to the Supreme Court. Ilya Shapiro, the incoming director of Georgetown University’s Center for the Constitution, was put on leave by the school after tweeting criticism of Joe Biden for passing over his preferred candidate for the Supreme Court in favor of a “lesser black woman.” Shapiro refers to Biden’s promise to nominate a black woman to fill Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat on the Supreme Court when he retires later this year. Was Shapiro’s tweet racist? Neither John nor I think so, though it was poorly phrased. We go back and forth over the how much representation should play into the composition of the Supreme Court. We’re talking about an extremely elite institution with very few people on it, so I don’t think proportional representation is possible or necessarily even desirable, but it’s a complex matter. I say if Biden had simply nominated a black woman instead of announcing he was going to do so ahead of time, this wouldn’t even be an issue. How much do ordinary black people care about representation on the Supreme Court, anyway? The nomination of Clarence Thomas is an instructive case.
We then move on to discuss Whoopi Goldberg’s unfortunate comment about race and the Holocaust. Was she mistaken to say that Nazi persecution of the Jews had nothing to do with race? Absolutely. Do John and I think she should be pilloried for saying it? No. It’s a case of ignorance, not antisemitism. She apologized, and she should be allowed to get on with her life and career. The Joe Rogan affair is next. A montage of the comic and podcast host using “the n-word” several times over the years went viral last week. John raises the point that he wasn’t directing the word at anybody, he was citing it. There’s a difference between hurling a racial slur at someone and uttering a racial slur in order to discuss it. The word itself should not be off limits for the purposes of discussion, and we both think that anyone who simply can’t bear to hear it in any context needs to grow up.
As you can see, we take our role as “The Black Guys” seriously in this one. Let us know what you think!
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0:00 Ilya Shapiro’s controversial tweet about Biden’s imminent Supreme Court nomination
6:03 John dips out and Glenn delivers a soliloquy
13:22 John returns and clarifies his academic resume
17:40 Why John thinks that Georgetown shouldn’t fire Ilya Shapiro
23:07 Why should race be a factor in Biden’s Supreme Court pick?
33:43 Should Biden have announced the gender and race of his pick ahead of time?
40:55 John: “There’s real ideological diversity in the black community”
47:34 How bad was Whoopi Goldberg’s statement about the Holocaust?
55:07 Glenn and John agree that Joe Rogan’s use of the n-word is not cause for cancelation
Links and Readings
John’s NYT piece, “Don’t Assume Ilya Shapiro’s ‘Lesser Black Woman’ Tweet Was Racist”
John’s NYT piece, “It’s Time to End Race-Based Affirmative Action”
John’s NYT piece, “End Affirmative Action for Rich White Students, Too”
Glenn’s audio essay, “The Call of the Tribe”
John’s book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern, “The Nasty Double Standards That Make This SCOTUS Nomination So Toxic”
James Scott’s book, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance
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Here at The Glenn Show, I’m taking a little break from politics and culture to talk dollars and cents. My good friend and former Boston University colleague Larry Kotlikoff is here to discuss his new book, Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life. In it, Larry brings his knowledge and expertise as an economist to bear on the everyday problems of spending, saving, and investing. In this episode, he shares some of that advice with TGS viewers.
But, wait a minute. Larry is a serious academic economist. Why did he write an advice book? He explains what he’s trying to accomplish with Money Magic. Larry talks about why investing in stocks may not be the best use of your money even when the market is up (especially if you’re carrying debt). I ask Larry about some of my own recent experiences managing my money, and he breaks things down in a way that non-economists can understand. For example, he says, if someone (including the U.S. government) is trying to sell you on a financial product that seems really, really complicated, it’s probably a swindle. What about major life decisions, like divorce? Even then, Larry says, you’re better off balancing the costs and benefits than making a decision without considering the financial consequences. We then get into education. Millions of people in this country carry unmanageable loads of student debt. But Larry thinks you can get an elite education without going into debt at all, and he explains how. Why does the federal government issue student loans, anyway? And is there a more equitable way it could arrange for repayment? Finally, Larry and I get into our personal history and talk about what makes successful individuals the way they are.
Whether you’ve got pressing financial questions or not, you’ll want to hear what Larry has to say.
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0:00 Larry’s new book, Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life
4:36 Why did Larry, a serious academic economist, write a financial advice book?
14:23 Why investing in stocks may not be as safe as it seems in the long term
24:17 Larry: If a personal finance product is complicated, it’s a swindle
29:34 An economist’s guide to divorce
32:48 Is a free online Stanford education more valuable than a debt-laden traditional degree?
44:20 Why does the government offer student loans?
51:12 Larry: “We’re all self-made people at some level”
Links and Readings
Larry’s new book, Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life
Glenn’s classic 1981 paper, “Intergenerational Transfers and the Distribution of Earnings”
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John McWhorter and I often find ourselves aligned on the issues we discuss on The Glenn Show. We’ve even received criticism for how much we agree with each other! This episode should please those critics, as John and I actually find ourselves in stark (though productive and friendly) disagreement on a few matters. Let’s get into it.
We begin by talking about Joe Biden’s recent press conference. Personally, I think he performed pretty badly, as the White House subsequently had to walk back several of his statements. Are these just more of Biden’s characteristic gaffes, or do his misstatements reflect a deeper confusion within the administration? What values does Biden’s presidency represent, anyway? We go on to discuss voting rights and election legislation. We disagree about proposed changes to state-level voting laws: John thinks they're racist in their intent, and I remain to be convinced of that. We also disagree about the meaning of their effects. I have no problem with voter ID requirements, tightening the enforcement of existing laws, and other reasonable ballot security measures. But John is wary. He seems to be concerned that Republicans’ voting security measures are veiled attempts to increase their relative share of the turnout in certain contested districts by decreasing the participation in elections of (reliably Democratic) black voters. Why, he wonders, has ballot security become such an issue now? Of course, I have my responses! I then ask John what he thinks about New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s performance in his first weeks on the job. John was quite critical of Adams last time we talked, but he’s changed his mind. Finally, we get into the Amy Wax issue. Her recent TGS appearance and its aftermath lead us to discuss crucial questions about speech, platforming, and teaching. My fellow John Stuart Mill fans will want to pay close attention to this section.
This is a rich exchange that I’m sure will provoke much commentary, so please do weigh in.
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0:00 What political values does Joe Biden represent?
8:53 Do new election laws amount to race-based voter disenfranchisement?
23:00 Glenn: Black people are free. But what should we do with that freedom?
36:06 John changes his mind about Eric Adams
42:21 John addresses linguistic informality and Sidney Poitier in his recent columns
44:28 Amy Wax: heterodox thinker, provocateur, or racist?
Links and Readings
Bill Maher, “New Rule: First Lady Barack Obama”
John’s NYT piece, “Don’t, Like, Overanalyze Language”
John’s NYT piece, “On Sidney Poitier, Code Switching and the Black Voice”
Amy Wax’s Race, Wrongs, and Remedies: Group Justice in the 21st Century
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week we’ve got Heather Mac Donald on The Glenn Show. Heather is a fellow of the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor to City Journal, and author of several books, including The Diversity Delusion, The War on Cops, and The Burden of Bad Ideas. Heather’s writing combines meticulous research and sharp, uncompromising prose. Her positions on crime and policing have led some on the left to regard her as a bit of a boogeyman. But while she is a fierce critic of failing progressive policies, she’s also a deep and surprising thinker, as you’ll see here.
We begin by exploring Heather’s recent readings in African American literature, and her reflections on the behavior of white people in this country through the mid-twentieth century. We then move into one of Heather’s area of expertise: crime and policing in American cities. She points out that those who blame rising violent crime rates on the Covid pandemic are neglecting data from other countries. The virus hit Peru, for example, much worse than it hit us, but they saw their violent crime rates drop. Why? Heather goes on to ask, if progressive activists, politicians, and media figures are so concerned with “black lives,” why do we see so little coverage of black children harmed or even killed by violent crime? You can be sure we’d hear about it if they were white. We then get into the difficult matter of family structure in black communities. Out-of-wedlock births and fatherless households are often extremely detrimental to child development. These phenomena are particularly pronounced in black communities, but they’re a problem everywhere. In fact, it’s such a problem that it seems like virtually no one has the moral authority to try to fix it. We go on to discuss the civilizational threat posed by the dissolution of academic and professional standards, the lack of responsible black leadership in the U.S., and the oft-forgotten fact that the loudest advocates for harsh drug penalties during the crack epidemic were black leaders and voters.
Hope you enjoy!
Note: When we discuss the work of my friend Alice Goffman, I mistakenly say that she attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. She actually went to Princeton.
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0:00 Heather’s deep dive into African American literature
14:23 The impact of George Floyd on violent crime rates
22:26 Heather: Why doesn’t the mainstream media cover the violent deaths of black children?
28:07 The difficulty of addressing black out-of-wedlock birth rates
39:44 Who has the moral authority to advocate for traditional family structures?
46:17 Heather: Giuliani was one of America’s greatest mayors
51:39 Glenn: Lowering academic standards threatens the foundation of our civilization
1:00:21 Looking for black leadership
1:08:54 Was the reaction to the crack epidemic a “moral panic”?
Links and Readings
Video of Glenn’s National Conservatism Convention keynote, “The Case for Black Patriotism”
The text of “The Case for Black Patriotism” in First Things
Gene Dattle’s Reckoning with Race: America’s Failure
Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
Alice Goffman’s On the Run: Fugitive Life in America
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John McWhorter is back for our first conversation of 2022. Let’s get into it!
We begin by discussing the death of the groundbreaking black actor Sidney Poitier. Portier was best known for his roles in films like The Defiant Ones, Lilies of the Field, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. John puts forward the fascinating theory that Poitier’s Caribbean origins and mannerisms made him acceptable to white American audiences who were unaccustomed to seeing black men in dramatic leading roles. We also recently lost the legal scholar Lani Guinier, who was involved in a political controversy in the ‘90s when Bill Clinton nominated her for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and then pulled the nomination after receiving political pressure from the right. Though Lani and I were on different ends of the political spectrum, she was an important legal thinker, and I think what happened to her was terribly unfair. Of course, while her views were controversial then, John and I note that they’re widely accepted now. We then go on to discuss a question it hadn’t previously occurred to me to ask: Why don’t we see more women in the ranks of heterodox black public intellectuals? (If you know of some I’m forgetting, let me know in the comments!) We then turn to the anniversary of the January 6 riot. John and I agree that it didn’t rise to the level of an “attempted coup” or an “insurrection,” but it doesn’t bode well for the stability of our elections or the country itself. Are we going to see more violence of this kind in future elections? And finally, John we do a quick review of some of John’s prodigious recent output for the New York Times and his podcast, Lexicon Valley.
It’s great to be back with John after a month-long hiatus. Let us know what you think of the conversation!
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0:00 The significance of Sidney Poitier’s Caribbean origins
9:27 Revisiting the Lani Guinier controversy
24:09 How Guinier’s views eventually triumphed
29:50 Where are the “heterodox” black women?
38:36 Glenn: I’m worried about the stability of our electoral process
49:12 Are we on the precipice of violent political conflict?
1:01:04 An update on John’s prodigious output
Links and Readings
“They call me Mr. Tibbs.”
Susan Sturm and Lani Guinier, “The Future of Affirmative Action: Reclaiming the Innovative Ideal”
Abigail Thernstrom, Whose Votes Count?: Affirmative Action and Minority Voting Rights
Carol Swain, Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress
David Brooks’s NYT column, “Why Democrats Are So Bad at Defending Democracy”
John’s NYT newsletter post, “I Can’t Brook the Idea of Banning ‘Negro’”
John’s NYT newsletter post, “Stephen Sondheim Wrote My Life’s Soundtrack”
John’s NYT newsletter post, “Yes, the Classics Make Us Better People”
The new home of John’s language podcast, Lexicon Valley
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This week I’m honored to have the distinguished Robert Woodson on the show. Since joining the civil rights movement as an activist and organizer in the ‘60s, Bob has dedicated himself to finding solutions to the problems of poverty and dysfunction in America. Through the Woodson Center, Bob helps fund and advise programs that are on the ground and working to solve some of the toughest problems in American communities. He’s got more awards and achievements than I can possibly list here, and there’s no telling how many lives he’s changed over the years.
In this conversation, Bob and I talk about some of the problems with large-scale anti-poverty funding. Bob argues that, while big programs and studies may have their hearts in the right place, they are plagued by inefficiency and often vulnerable to misappropriation. Moreover, welfare programs can introduce perverse incentives into vulnerable communities, creating cycles of dependency that prevent recipients from achieving self-sufficiency. Bob emphasizes the importance of working with people from within those communities, especially those who use faith as a starting point for practical reform. I ask Bob how local programs like this can scale up, especially when they’re religious in nature, and he points to a heartening example in Philadelphia. Bob then takes us through some of the programs the Woodson Center is partnered with and describes the phenomenal work they do.
Finally, I announce in public something that has been in the works for a while here at TGS. Starting this year, 10 percent of The Glenn Show’s net earnings will be donated to the Woodson Center to help fund programs of the kind Bob describes. I’ll also periodically have some of the people behind those programs on as guests to talk about their work. I’m grateful for all of the success I’m having here, and it feels right to pay it forward.
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0:00 Bob: “There is no monolithic ‘Black Community’”
8:27 How much anti-poverty spending actually goes to poor people?
19:35 Recalibrating welfare’s perverse incentives
25:15 Can community faith-based interventions scale up?
34:37 The moral inconsistencies of progressive policy
42:24 What should we focus on instead of race?
46:54 How the Woodson Center is working to restore communities
1:01:59 Why is there no religious dimension to current racial justice movements?
1:05:00 The Glenn Show gives back
Links and Readings
The Woodson Center
The Piney Woods School
Voices of Black Mothers United
VBMU’s Sylvia Bennett-Stone on The Glenn Show
Project H.O.O.D.
Hope for Prisoners
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It’s been a big year here at The Glenn Show. So as 2021 draws to a close, I thought it would be a nice idea to round up some choice selections from the conversations I’ve had with John over the past year. This episode is a kind of “best of” compilation of segments that got a big response from viewers or that I personally thought were important or noteworthy. I couldn’t include all of the highlights, but I think these clips give a good sense of what my conversations with John were all about in 2021.
I must also offer my thanks and gratitude to everyone who read, listened, watched, and commented this year, and especially to those of you who continue to support TGS by subscribing to this newsletter. We wouldn’t be able to do it without you. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you!
I’m sure I left out things that regular viewers think were worthy of inclusion. What were some of the segments that resonated with you over the last year? What caused you to think, changed your mind, or made you laugh? Post ‘em in the comments!
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0:00 A special “thank you” from Glenn
6:23 Race and classics (June 18)
18:20 Maintaining domestic tranquility in the face of political differences (March 22)
36:06 The “badass motherfucker” problem (April 19)
46:31 An “aria” on free will and community (July 2)
51:04 Responding to “Simone” (November 19)
56:18 Glenn: “I was wrong” about Trump (January 22)
1:09:37 Reflections on Obama's legacy (October 1)
1:18:32 Finding hope amidst wokeness (November 19)
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On this week’s show, I talk with Professor Amy Wax of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. As you might have guessed, we get into some very controversial territory. But that’s why I enjoy talking to Amy—she doesn’t pull her punches.
Amy begins by talking about her position at Penn Law, where a group of alumni are attempting to get her fired. It’s not the first time people have tried this—as Amy notes, she’s been “canceled” many times, but she’s still here. We move on to a discussion of immigration. While I think the U.S. has benefitted from the talent and value of non-Western immigrants and will require more of them in the future if we’re going to compete, Amy is more skeptical. She wonders whether immigrants from South Asia and East Asia have democratic sensibilities that are compatible with American culture. She worries, too, that these immigrants will adopt woke political positions. But is it necessary to look abroad for a supply of talented, technically minded people? Why can’t we find them here? Amy and I both think that would be a good idea. Amy asks me how conservatives should deal with the problem of wokeness. I tell her that we have to fight these battles as they come. We spend the last third of our conversation talking about the extremely contentious issues of white identity, European history, and colonialism.
It wouldn’t be a conversation with Amy Wax if we didn’t push every possible hot button. I’m very curious to know what you all think of the conversation. Let me know in the comments!
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0:00 The latest attempt to get Amy fired from Penn Law
5:41 Should we be worried even about elite non-Western immigration?
19:21 Amy: “There’s nothing wrong with stereotyping” when it’s done correctly
26:28 Glenn: America need immigrants if we’re going to compete
34:23 Why aren’t we looking harder for technical talent in America?
40:09 The problem with “equal representation”
47:15 Glenn: Wokeness is a political problem that must be fought politically
59:38 The collective action problem of “commonsense” race politics
1:02:36 Is Charles Murray right to worry about white identity politics?
1:18:12 Glenn: “We need to abandon the identitarian matrix altogether”
1:26:37 Was European colonialism especially bad or an expression of broader human tendencies?
Links and Readings
Glenn’s 2021 National Conservatism Conference speech, “The Case for Black Patriotism” in First Things.
A transcript of Amy’s 2019 National Conservatism Conference speech
Matt Taibbi, “The Red-Pilling of Loudoun County, Virginia”
Yuval Levin, “The Changing Face of Social Breakdown”
Michael Anton, “Unprecedented”
Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghosts: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
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The “common sense” of the Woke Left sees so many issues, from the historical effects of redlining to the relationship between race and IQ, as matters that no longer require discussion. “Redlining is responsible for present-day racial wealth disparities, period. There is no relationship between race and IQ, period. End of discussion.”
But the discussion is not over, these matters and many others are not settled. Treating them as such just papers over matters of vital concern that require serious thinking. John and I have in some sense made it our mission to unsettle these so-called settled questions. And in the course of doing it, we’ve unsettled the people that consider the questions settled as well. We talk a bit about in this week’s conversation.
I begin by talking to John about reaching what may be the current high-water mark of his fame: He was a clue on a recent episode of Jeopardy. There are perhaps more data-driven ways of understanding how fame works, but if the writers on Jeopardy know who you are, you must be exerting some kind of influence on the culture. We then move on to discuss attempts by activists to change math curricula in order to (these activists claims) make them more accommodating to black students. Some argue that these changes don’t alter the fundamental character of math education, but John strongly disagrees. Which is not to say that considerations of diversity have no place in the sciences. Graduate programs in technical fields could take more risks in who they admit to their programs without lowering their overall standards. Doing so might net them the next Roland Fryer (or even the next Glenn Loury). We then return to the small screen. John talks about going on The View to promote Woke Racism, and I talk about debating Michael Eric Dyson on Bill Maher’s Real Time. With the Jussie Smollett verdict in, we reflect on the bizarre story the Empire actor tried to sell and his maybe even more bizarre refusal to admit he lied. We then go on to discuss America’s “black-white” racial binary. With so many people of so many different backgrounds, ethnicities, and colors now populating the country, does this mindset still make sense? And finally, we ask why cultural explanations for racial disparities are still taboo for so many people.
As always, this was a stimulating, deep, and fun conversation with my good friend. I hope you enjoy it!
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0:00 This regular TGS guest was recently a clue on Jeopardy
2:23 Is race-conscious math education as radical as it sounds?
14:17 Why diversity, when done right, can be an asset
19:55 John on The View, Glenn on Bill Maher
26:34 The strange case of Jussie Smollett
43:42 Does the American “white-black” binary make sense anymore?
49:39 If America is irredeemably racist, why do so many non-white people immigrate here?
58:18 What’s the matter with “culture”?
Links and Readings
John’s appearance on Nathan Robinson’s podcast
Stephon Alexander’s Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider’s Guide to the Future of Physics
David Austen-Smith and Roland Fryer, “An Economic Analysis of ‘Acting White’”
Andrew Sullivan, “The Woke: On the Wrong Side of History”
Matt Taibbi, “The Red-Pilling of Loudon County, Virginia”
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The audiovisual experiments continue here at The Glenn Show. In some of our recent conversations, John McWhorter and I talked about how we would reply to “Simone,” a fictionalized version of one of my students at Brown who believes that systemic racism causes most or all of the racial disparities in the US. I think Simone is wrong about that, but this idea is so widespread that John and I agreed that we can’t just brush it aside. We need to address and refute it head on.
We attempted to do that in this conversation. And I think we did a pretty good job! But in a comment, a reader, Adam, pointed out that we neglected to anticipate some very strong arguments that Simone might have made in her own defense. I replied to Adam, but I think our exchange deserves a more prominent place, so I recorded an audio version and Nikita Petrov created some visuals to go along with it.
We’re looking to produce more content like this in the future, but we’d love your input. Let me know what you think in the comments!
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This week on TGS we’ve got Rav Arora. He’s a compelling writer on race matters in the US. He’s also a college undergraduate, though it would be a mistake to underestimate him. He’s already published in a number of widely read outlets, including the New York Post, Quillette, and City Journal. He’s also got a Substack called Noble Truths, where he writes about psychedelics, meditation, and cultural trends.
I begin by inquiring into Rav’s intellectual background. What is this young guy from Canada doing writing about race and crime in the US, anyway? Rav talks about how the summer of 2020 led him to rethink his views and begin writing about them for the public. Rav is quite critical of the way that race, crime, and policing are covered in the US media, but he’s got a nuanced view of things. He talks about why he thinks we need police reform and also more police on the streets. We then move on to a discussion of systemic racism. I say it’s not inconceivable that a police department with a disproportionately high number of black officers could perpetuate racial inequality, though Rav doesn’t seem quite convinced that’s the case. From there, we discuss the misguided claim that violent crime in some black communities is driven solely by poverty. When the question of genetic factors in crime rates comes up, I don’t demure. I don’t know whether there actually is a genetic component, but I’m not ready to dismiss it out of hand. And we round out the discussion by touching on alternatives to incarceration, the increasing earning power of Asian American women, and the recent historic rise in US homicide rates.
Rav and I covered a lot of ground in this one. He’s a vital new voice, one I’ll be paying close attention to—I hope you will, too.
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0:00 How Rav got his start on the crime, policing, and identity politics beat
10:33 Why is a Canadian college student writing about race and crime in the US?
21:30 Rav: We need police reform but also more police in black communities
31:34 Will hiring more black police officers make police departments “less racist”?
43:26 Glenn: It’s ridiculous to say that violent crime is driven only by poverty
50:04 Is it possible that racial disparities in crime rates have a genetic basis?
55:09 Are there any effective alternatives to prison?
1:00:52 Why Asian American women are out-earning white men
1:10:23 What’s behind the historic rise in homicide rates?
Rav’s Substack, Noble Truths
Aldon Morris’s Scientific American essay, “From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter”
Rav’s Quillette piece, “A Peculiar Kind of Racist Patriarchy”
Urban Labs’ Becoming a Man program
David Frum’s 2016 interview with Barry Latzer about crime waves
Last year’s famous study of the “Minneapolis effect”
The Marshall Project’s analysis of race and victimization in 2020
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John and I often talk about how we feel about race in America, but we rarely delve into why we feel the way we feel. What factors in our own lives primed us for those emotional responses? While John and I often agree about where the politics of race have gone wrong, we just as often experience very different feelings about these matters.
I start the discussion off by raising a question a friend put to me recently: are we wasting our time engaging with “red meat” issues in the race debate? Should we stick to the hard data before wading into the culture war? This leads us to discuss our very different emotional responses to the people we disagree with. I tend to go to anger and John tends toward empathy. We look to our respective pasts to try to understand why we diverge in this way. In fact, we stay in the past for a while, looking back on our exposure to Afrocentrism and black radicalism in our youths and to the skepticism that often attended those encounters. Finally, we work our way back around to “Omar.” Personally, I believe that the Omars of the world can and must lay claim to their agency. That they often refuse to is source of constant frustration and, yes, shame.
It’s an intense episode. It’s also one marred by technical difficulties. John lost his connection at several points during the conversation, and finally what had been a dialogue became a monologue. Apologies for the rough edges!
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0:00 Are Glenn and John wasting their time by talking about race?
10:36 How Glenn and John’s families shaped their attitudes toward race
20:42 Looking back on past radicalism
27:15 Glenn: Is my anger necessary?
33:26 Can “Omar” change his ways?
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In this week’s TGS, my old friend Larry Kotlikoff, an economist at Boston University, is back to talk about some of our most pressing economic concerns. Chief among them is the inflation rate, which has hit a 30-year high. By some accounts, inflation is now threatening to do major, possibly longterm damage to the US economy. But are things as bad as they seem? Larry will take us through his analysis and talk about some other looming economic troubles. If you want to understand how these things work, Larry is your guy.
We begin by discussing just why high inflation poses such a dire threat to the economy. Obviously it’s something to be concerned about, but will it get bad enough to send us the way of Weimar Germany? This leads us to discuss Biden’s recent policy decisions, including the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Larry argues that it’s not as costly as it sounds when you consider that it’s parceled out over the course of a decade. Larry is much more concerned about the fiscal gap, which is enormous and, according to Larry, could eventually lead the US into insolvency. Larry sees this as a problem that can only be solved by responsible political leadership, but we have trouble naming any current politicians with the influence to get it done.
It’s always great to have Larry on the show (even if he has a tendency to make some pretty frightening predictions about the future). As always, I’m interested to know what you think!
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0:00 Why high inflation is a potentially dire problem
9:00 Are we headed the way of Weimar Germany and Argentina?
20:37 How short-term government spending can function as a longterm investment
30:02 The looming threat of the fiscal gap
37:08 Why is the US’s fiscal gap so large compared to that of other countries?
41:30 Larry: We’re on the path to becoming a second-rate country
46:37 Why Larry thinks we should index taxes to inflation
53:36 Can we pay for what we’re spending without printing money?
Links and Readings
Steven Rattner’s NYT guest essay, “I Warned the Democrats about Inflation”
Larry Summers’s WaPo op-ed, “On inflation, it’s past time for team transitory to stand down”
Larry’s website
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A couple weeks ago in this space, I published an autobiographical sketch called “The Double Life.” It elicited such a strong reaction from readers that I wanted to revisit it, so I recorded an audio version and Nikita Petrov, my creative director, created a video feature to go along with it. I plan to do more of these audio/video pieces in the future, mostly for subscribers. Let me know what you think of this new feature in the comments!
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This week, John and I continue our discussion of systemic racism, which was kicked off when one of my students wrote a searing critique of some of my positions. John and I agreed that “Simone” (not her real name) deserved a real, intellectually serious response. We can’t just blow off Simone and people like her—that is, sober-minded, sincere, intelligent progressives and leftists who happen to think that systemic racism is responsible for all or most of America’s racial disparities. In responding to their critiques, we hope to persuade them that there are more accurate ways to describe the situation. The first part of this attempt came by way of our conversation with Randy Kennedy. This is the second entry. In our next conversation, John and I hope to move from outlining the problems to proposing some solutions.
This conversation kicks off with the revelation that demand for John has outstripped supply—he simply doesn’t have time to talk about his book Woke Racism on podcasts anymore. We then set the table a bit and outline our broad critique of theories of systemic racism. We talk about whether it still makes sense to attribute racial disparities to black people’s status as victims of perpetual injustice. Are we really victims? Or has that story gotten old? We then move on the racial wealth gap, where we debunk claims about redlining and discuss why comparing the median incomes of whites and blacks makes no sense if you want to see what’s important about wealth disparities. We then move on to a slightly trickier subject: crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparities and incarceration. This is an area where I really do think there’s probably something to accusations of systemic racism, though that is not the only issue at play. John wants to know whether academic historical analyses of systemic racism can offer any counsel to ordinary people today. We end the discussion proper on the question of a racist white backlash against the excesses of woke politics.
I think many of you will find this one quite satisfying. I’m interested to hear what you think!
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0:00 John takes a step back from podcasting
3:29 Confronting the critique of systemic racism
14:18 The persistence of victimhood
19:36 Accounting for the racial wealth gap
31:50 Glenn: When it comes to incarceration, we have to take systemic racism seriously
46:29 Can analyses of historical systemic racism offer us counsel today?
51:52 John: Certain members of "the Elect" would be pleased to see an alt-right backlash
Links and Readings
Matthew Desmond’s piece on plantation slavery from the 1619 Project
Michael Fortner’s book, The Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment
James Forman, Jr.’s book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America
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Recently, I was asked to deliver a speech at the National Conservatism Conference, which was held in Orlando, Florida. It was high-profile affair with many prominent conservative intellectuals, media figures, and politicians speaking and in attendance. And I don’t mind saying I had a prime speaking slot! I used the speech to develop some ideas I’ve aired here on TGS, and I think many of you will be gratified by the reaction they get from the crowd. But make no mistake: I’m not just telling them what they want to hear.
In the speech, I try to make the case for black patriotism, the forthright embrace of American nationalism by black people. I argue that, ultimately, most black people want the same things as most other Americans: safety, a shot at improvement, a fair and just government, and personal freedom. Black people share a common culture with the rest of the country—emphasizing racial difference obscures that essential fact. I also argue that conservatives need to go beyond making generic, color-blind claims about America and leaving it at that. Racial inequality is real, and there do need to be initiatives put it place to remedy it. I then go on to outline some “unspeakable truths” about race pertaining to four topics: racial disparity, the racialization of police violence, the threat of white backlash, and American equality. I end by engaging with Frederick Douglass, who gave a famous address about slavery and the Fourth of July. The Fourth is, indeed, “ours”—all of ours.
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0:00 “Tolstoy is mine. Dickens is mine. Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein are mine”
4:13 “Our Americanness is much more important than our blackness”
7:39 Conservatives cannot go back to "business as usual" on race
9:22 A conservative prescription for persistent racial inequality
11:38 The roots of racial disparity
17:17 Putting police killings of black Americans into perspective
23:58 From white guilt to white backlash
28:10 The “lie” that the American Dream doesn’t apply to blacks
34:47 Black people “must seize equal status”
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This week’s TGS features two incomparable guests: John McWhorter and Randall Kennedy. John, of course, needs no introduction. Randy is a professor at Harvard Law School and the author of many books, the latest of which is Say It Loud!: On Race, Law, History, and Culture.
In this episode, we get into it pretty much immediately. Randy admits to being “thrown” by Donald Trump’s election and to finding his campaign openly racist. I, as you may know, think that is an oversimplified explanation of Trump’s appeal in 2016. We go on to discuss how a certain amount of racism will be with us for the foreseeable future, and we’ll just have to deal with it. Given that the situation will never be perfect, what would constitute an “acceptable” level of racism? We then go on to discuss two of the “big issues”: Policing and affirmative action. There’s a lot of intensity in this conversation, and I’m excited for you to hear it!
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0:00 Randy: “I feel torn and, frankly, bewildered” about the state of race in the US
7:17 Can we blame Trump for the tenor of racial discourse today?
17:27 Crediting the achievements of black Americans after Emancipation
25:46 Is the criminal justice system as discriminatory as it appears?
34:55 Glenn: We need to deracialize the conversation about policing
45:54 Taking account of culture in debates about racial inequality
56:49 Affirmative action with an asterisk
1:08:29 Does affirmative action require lowering standards?
Links and Readings
Randy’s new book, Say It Loud!: On Race. Law, History, and Culture
W.E.B. Du Bois’s book, The Philadelphia Negro
Glenn’s conversation with Wai Wah Chin
Glenn’s book, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
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I know this week everyone is expecting one of my conversations with John McWhorter. But due to some unforeseen events, we ended up shifting things around a bit. Next week you can expect to see John and I speak with Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy, where we’ll engage issues of systemic racism, among other topics. Two weeks after that, John and I will be back to have our own discussion about systemic racism. We said we wanted to formulate serious responses to those who believe systemic racism is still the cause of racial inequality in the US, and you can expect to see that in the coming weeks.
For this week’s episode, I’m presenting a recent lecture I gave at Baylor University and the Q&A session that followed. The lecture distills some of my ideas about social capital, the bias narrative and the development narrative, and the problems that beset urban black communities. The students and professors also offered some fantastic questions that provoked me to think about intersectionality and mass incarceration, the language of racial discrimination, and whether my critiques of the bias narrative offer aid and comfort to the enemy. I’m grateful to Baylor for having invited me, and I’m pleased to be able to offer the lecture to you here.
Note: If you’re listening to the free audio version of this conversation, you’ll notice that there are now ads. I explain why I’ve started to take on advertisers at the beginning of the episode. If you’d like to continue receiving the podcast without ads, you can subscribe below for access to the ad-free podcast feed, as well as monthly Q&As with John McWhorter and me, early access to TGS episodes, and other subscriber benefits.
0:00 A quick announcement
2:00 “Structural racism is an empty category”
4:35 The bias narrative vs. the development narrative
10:43 Race as a social phenomenon
19:10 Racism is not the cause of behavioral problems in black communities
27:41 “White people cannot give black people equality”
32:31 Q&A: How has economic thinking about racism and the market changed?
39:20 Q&A: What strategies will help people engage in modes of development?
43:00 Q&A: What are the prospects for improvements?
48:54 Q&A: How has the language of racial discrimination changed?
53:12 Q&A: Is intersectionality a factor in racial inequality?
1:02:03 Q&A: Do Glenn's claims reinforce white prejudice against blacks?
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
In this week’s TGS, we’re talking about an issue that seems local but has big national implications. Wai Wah Chin is the Charter President of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York, and she joins me to discuss an ongoing controversy in New York City’s exam schools. These schools are rigorous public high schools that focus on STEM subjects, and admission is determined by student performance on a single exam. If you can excel on one test, you can get access to a free first-rate education, regardless of income, race, zip code, or even past academic performance. This is especially important in a city where top private schools often charge tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.
Historically, exam schools have been a triumph of colorblind meritocracy. They’ve brought untold numbers of talented but under-resourced students to the attention of top universities. But, as Wai Wah explains, the exam school system is currently under threat from advocates who regard the high numbers of Asian American students (over 50% in some cases) at these schools as evidence of de facto segregation that excludes blacks. Wai Wah explains why proposed changes to the exam school admissions system discriminate against Asians, and why parallel attempts to eliminate the Gifted and Talented Program for New York students will only exacerbate racial disparities in the education system. Finally, Wai Wah connects discrimination against Asians in education to the disturbing increase in violence against Asians across the country.
Wai Wah is a passionate advocate for her cause. I can tell you this is not the last time I’ll be discussing these crucial matters on TGS.
A New Home for TGS
I’ve started a new YouTube channel, and I invite you to subscribe to it (and click the bell button!) now so that you don't miss future offerings. This newsletter will continue to publish as usual with the same benefits for subscribers.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 What are NYC exam schools?
5:25 The recent attempt to change exam school admissions
11:50 Wai Wah: Changes to exam schools will discriminate against Asian students
17:40 Wai Wah's attempts to expand the Gifted and Talented Program
27:26 Are exam schools "segregated"?
39:29 Eric Adams's support for increasing the number of exam schools
42:00 Wai Wah: Asians are being scapegoated
Links and Readings
The Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York
Dream Factories, a mini-doc about NYC exam schools
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
In this episode of The Glenn Show, I’m back with my friend John McWhorter, and we have much to discuss. John joins me fresh from a day trip to Brighton Beach, a neighborhood in Brooklyn where Russian language, food, and culture abound. He talks about teaching himself Russian and the benefits of the Glossika language-learning tool. Then, in a continuation of last week’s conversation with David Kaiser, we move on to the history of redlining, which is quite a bit more complex than some recent commentaries would have you believe. A recent edition of John’s New York Times newsletter addressed the issue, and it received some criticism from the distinguished historian Thomas Sugrue. This leads us to discuss the problems of authority and perception that attend writing from the Olympian heights of the paper of record. From there, I give a progress report on my memoir, delving into my life, my break from conservatism in the ‘90s, and the difficulty of living in good faith. The temptation to “play to the crowd,” to seek affirmation by repeating the common sense of your tribe, is very powerful, and it can work on you in subtle ways. Heterodox thinkers like John and I have to check ourselves constantly to make sure we’re being true to our own thought and principles. In that spirit, we end on a question that’s sure to ruffle some feathers here at my Substack: How can we start seriously addressing questions about “systemic racism” and stop simply disregarding them as just so much wokespeak?
As always, I’m curious to hear your thoughts!
A New Home for TGS
The video for this episode is hosted on my new YouTube channel, which is now the home of The Glenn Show. I invite you to subscribe to this channel (and click the bell button!) now so that you don't miss future offerings. This newsletter will continue to publish as usual with the same benefits for subscribers.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 John's linguistic adventure in Brighton Beach
7:59 The complex racial and economic dynamics of redlining
17:30 The problem with John's NYT “megaphone”
26:40 A progress report on Glenn's memoir
41:29 The temptations of playing to the crowd
46:43 What, if anything, does it mean to be “authentically black”?
51:13 Taking "systemic racism" seriously
Links and Readings
The language-learning tool Glossika
John’s column about Glossika
John’s piece about redlining
Glenn’s conversation with historian David E. Kaiser
Thomas Sugrue’s Twitter thread about John’s redlining piece
John’s book, Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
In this episode of The Glenn Show, I’m talking to David E. Kaiser, author of many books about American and international political history. As a distinguished professional historian, David has seen many changes in the way history is written both inside and outside the academy, not all of them for the better. In this conversation, David talks about why Ta-Nehisi Coates’s highly influential 2014 essay “The Case for Reparations” and the view of race and American history it represents leaves out many crucial facts about how we came to be where we are.
We begin in a slightly counterintuitive place, with a discussion of how many historians’ views of the Cold War changed after Vietnam. In David’s telling, it became more and more common to see historians placing blame for escalating hostilities on the U.S.’s foreign policy rather than the U.S.S.R.’s. David sees a similar sort of revisionism at work in contemporary historians’ perspectives on the New Deal, which is now sometimes described as a purposefully racially discriminatory enterprise. David pushes back against this interpretation, pointing to the South’s pursuit of industry and cheap labor as a better explanation for the New Deal’s flaws than racial animus. We also discuss statistics indicating that, while blacks did earn significantly less money than whites, the years after World War II saw tremendous economic growth in black communities. And, while redlining policies certainly did have a negative impact on the ability of blacks to acquire wealth, those policies alone only tell part of the black economic story. Finally, David ends our discussion by reading from a fascinating 1940 editorial in the black newspaper the Chicago Defender that endorses FDR for a third term.
I truly enjoyed this conversation, and I hope you will as well!
A New Home for TGS
The video for this episode is hosted on my own new YouTube channel, which is now the home of The Glenn Show. I invite you to subscribe to this channel (and click the bell button!) now so that you don't miss future offerings. This newsletter will continue to publish as usual with the same benefits for subscribers.
0:00 Intro
2:35 The post-Vietnam reevaluation of the Cold War
13:12 David: Academic historians largely have abandoned the idea of objective truth
18:23 Were black people really excluded from the New Deal?
32:06 The fortunes of black veterans after WWII
40:19 Why redlining doesn't tell the whole story about the racial wealth gap
49:49 Why the Chicago Defender endorsed FDR in 1940
Links and Readings
David’s memoir, A Life in History
David’s book, No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War
David’s book, American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War
Glenn’s conversation with Daniel Bessner, “American Empire before and after 9/11”
Ira Katznelson’s book, When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in America
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s essay, “The Case for Reparations”
The Chicago Fed’s paper, “The Effects of the 1930s HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps”
Andrew Fenton’s article, “WTF happened in 1971 (and why the f**k it matters so much right now)”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
For this week’s episode of The Glenn Show, we’ve upped our production game a little. In late August, John McWhorter and I met up for an all-too-rare in-person conversation in Manhattan, and the filmmaker Rob Montz and his crew were on hand to record it. It was wonderful to be able sit face-to-face with John, and Rob did a wonderful job capturing the energy in the room.
It wouldn’t have been possible to pull all of this together without the support of the subscribers here: Thank you! We’re hoping to create more special content like this in the future, so your contributions are greatly appreciated.
John and I begin by discussing his gig writing for the New York Times, in particular a recent piece about Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s Blues Opera. It’s never been produced, and John is assisting in trying to usher it to the stage. We move from the blues to matters that are just plain blue: The word “motherfucker,” which began as black vernacular and has since been absorbed into the English language at large. This naturally leads us to talk about the treatment of sex and money in the TV show Billions. From there we move to more serious matters: The New York City mayor’s race. John is not a fan of the probable winner, Eric Adams, and I press him as to why. Weget into it over the squandered opportunities of the Obama years, and we really get into it over Al Sharpton. John is ready to forgive him for the deplorable behavior that defined the first half of his career, and I’m not. And finally, we look at the Jacob Blake shooting a year after the fact. What do we know now that we didn’t know then?
We had a lot of fun doing this one, and I hope you have just as much watching it. Let me know what you think here or on Discord.
Next week I’ll be posting a conversation with historian David E. Kaiser about the role of “racial justice” in the politicization of historical studies. If you’d like a preview, you can find a previous conversation of ours here.
A New Home for TGS
The video for this episode is hosted on my own new YouTube channel, which is now the home of The Glenn Show. I invite you to subscribe to this channel (and click the bell button!) now so that you don't miss future offerings. This newsletter will continue to publish as usual with the same benefits for subscribers.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 Some posh new (temporary) digs for The Glenn Show
1:08 The challenges and liberties of John's New York Times gig
5:24 John's efforts to help mount an unproduced black opera
14:45 The deracialization of “motherfucker”
16:58 The erotics and economics of Billions
20:58 Why John didn't support Eric Adams for NYC mayor
31:04 What undermined the potential of the Obama years?
43:22 Can Glenn ever forgive Al Sharpton?
55:16 Will Eric Adams be able to operate effectively as mayor?
59:58 The Jacob Blake shooting, a year later
Links and Readings
John's NY Times piece, "How 'Woke' Became an Insult"
John's NY Times piece, "Can White Men Write a Black Opera?"
John's book, Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
For this edition of The Glenn Show, I’m joined by someone who may be familiar to long-time viewers: Bob Wright. Bob is a distinguished journalist and the author of many books, including The Moral Animal, Nonzero, and Why Buddhism is True. He also happens to be the co-founder of Bloggingheads, the platform on which The Glenn Show was born and has flourished.
In our conversation, Bob walks us through the early days of Bloggingheads and the flash of inspiration that led him to create the site. We then move on to discuss Bob’s ideas about evolution and international relations, and how they’re influenced by game theory (something I know a bit about). Bob’s ideas about the nature of conflict and cooperation have a number of implications for combating the sort of nasty political tribalism that we see so much today, both domestically and internationally. Of course, more non-zero sum thinking could possibly help us turn down the temperature in conflicts over race in the US, which would be a welcome change. And finally, we turn our attention to new developments in the relationship between The Glenn Show and Bloggingheads. Both Bob and I are excited about what’s to come!
A New Home for TGS
The video for this episode is hosted on my own new YouTube channel, which will soon become the home of The Glenn Show. I invite you to subscribe to this channel (and click the bell button!) now so that you don't miss future offerings. This newsletter will continue to publish as usual with the same benefits for subscribers.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 Subscribe to The Glenn Show on YouTube
0:26 The origins of Bloggingheads
11:30 Non-zero-sum thinking on the global stage
20:30 Bob: We’re not focusing on the most pressing foreign policy dilemmas
29:13 Bridging the globalist vs. nationalist divide
34:13 Could more cognitive empathy ease racial tensions?
45:00 Changes afoot for The Glenn Show and Bloggingheads
Links and Readings
Bloggingheads.tv
The Wright Show
Bob’s Substack newsletter, The Nonzero Newsletter
The Nonzero Newsletter, “The Last Word on GWOT”
Bob’s book, The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology
Bob’s book, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
Bob’s book, Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
In this week’s TGS, I’m joined once again by intellectual historian Daniel Bessner. Given Daniel’s area of scholarly expertise—US foreign relations—it should be no surprise that the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan colors our discussion. But we range much further than that. We debate Daniel’s conception of “American empire” and its origins in the Cold War. He is quite critical of American foreign policy during that period (and beyond), and I do push back on some of his more pointed critiques. We go on to discuss the course of America’s engagement with the world after the Cold War’s end, and Daniel offers a theory as to why the 1990s saw so much popular interest in World War II. We move on to discuss climate change as a particular kind of foreign policy problem. I out myself not exactly as a “climate skeptic,” but as someone who thinks we may be panicking prematurely. And yet, I think that changes in the climate may force us to radically rethink where and how we find meaning in our lives. Finally, since we’re both professors, we talk about Covid and the state of the modern university.
As you’ll see, Daniel and I have some very stark disagreements. But he’s a sharp, erudite, and good-natured debating partner, and it’s always a pleasure having him on the show. And if you’re intrigued by his arguments, subscribe to his podcast, American Prestige. I’m sure you’ll have some comments on this one, and I’m looking forward to reading them.
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 Daniel’s new podcast, American Prestige
10:22 Did the US needlessly prolong the Cold War?
14:59 Daniel: The Cold War actually limited political liberty within the US
21:27 The cultural logic of American empire
32:59 Global inequities and existential threats
40:52 The spiritual challenges of climate change
50:34 Glenn: Capitalism is “the natural order of things”
55:23 What Covid reveals about the modern American university
Links and Readings
Daniel’s new podcast, American Prestige
Paul Thomas Chamberlin’s book, The Cold War’s Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace
Daniel Rodgers’ book, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age
Peter Novick’s book, The Holocaust in American Life
Peter Novick’s book, That Noble Dream: The “Objectivity” Question and the American Historical Profession
Roosevelt Montás, Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation
Glenn Loury’s Intellectual Origins (with Daniel Bessner)
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
John McWhorter is back for this week’s episode of The Glenn Show. In it, we discuss John’s new gig writing a newsletter for the New York Times. Anyone wondering whether he’s being stifled by the paper’s editorial sensibilities will be glad to hear the answer is a definite “no.” We spend a while discussing John’s recent piece about the removal of a “racist” rock from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus after administration gave in to student activists. From there we move on to a broader discussion of the historical relationship between the slave trade and American universities. We ask whether modern universities are morally culpable for the sins of the distant past. The scope broadens even further as we ask whether we can ever truly extricate the benefits of the modern world from histories of brutality and genocide. And finally, we move on to a discussion about black conservatives and accusations of “selling out.” This has particular relevance for the case of Larry Elder, a black conservative who is currently nipping at the heels of Gavin Newsom in the California governor’s recall.
This is a deep and provocative discussion, and I hope you’ll join in by commenting below. Let me know what you think!
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 John's new gig writing for the New York Times
5:01 Wisconsin students get a "racist" rock removed from campus
16:39 Are present-day universities morally accountable for their involvement in the slave trade?
26:38 Debating the legacy of Christopher Columbus
40:18 Can we extricate modernity's benefits from its history of brutality and genocide?
50:52 Is California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder a sellout?
Links
John's new New York Times newsletter
John’s piece, “The Performative Antiracism of Black Students at the U. of Wisconsin”
John’s piece, “Let’s talk about ‘Sellouts’”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Here’s something different for you. In this episode of The Glenn Show, I sit down with artist, writer, and TGS Creative Director Nikita Petrov to discuss two fundamental questions: “What the hell is going on?” and “What is to be done?” If those questions sound both deep and broad, there might be a reason. They occurred to Nikita in the wake of a recent psychedelic experience. Not your typical TGS fare, to be sure!
The conversation begins with Nikita explaining what he’s learned from working with me and observing my relationships with others. I confirm his suspicions: I am in a very exciting and satisfying stage in my life and career. Nikita then goes on to describe the meditations on human interconnectedness he experienced during his trip. He wants to know: How can we tell a healthy connection from an unhealthy one? Can we formulate a theory as to how to make such a distinction? And how can we apply such a theory to my own present area of concern, the rise of CRT? I try to explain why I think CRT promotes “unhealthy” human connections, and why it risks shutting us off from the richness of human art, culture, thought, and knowledge. We then discuss the relationship between ideology and identity, and we find some parallels between Russian and African American history and politics. And finally, we try to get to the heart of what makes a “Glenn rant” a Glenn rant.
I’d love to know what you think. Let me know in the comments. And don’t forget to check out Nikita’s YouTube channel and his newsletter, Psychopolitica!
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 Glenn's book leave
1:45 A psychedelic experience inspires Nikita to talk to Glenn
16:23 Healthy vs. unhealthy human connection
23:12 Glenn: Critical race theory is “self-absorbed and small”
38:03 Rising above “sectarian obsession”
49:14 A brief history of Russian political infantilization
57:28 Is Glenn the Jimi Hendrix of ranting?
Links
Glenn’s conversation with Cornel West and Teodros Kiros
Cixin Liu, The Three-Body Problem
Irving Howe, A Margin of Hope: An Intellectual Autobiography
Nikita’s newsletter, Psychopolitica
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Today, I’ve got a special treat for TGS fans: my first ever recorded conversation with John McWhorter, which occurred on (brace yourselves) November 7, 2007. People who started following John and me in recent years may not be aware of how long we’ve been at this, but it’s been almost 14 years.
As you might expect, while the topics we discuss are familiar, our positions relative to each other have changed. In 2007, I was clearly to John’s left! One thing that hasn’t changed is John’s superhuman productivity. He notes at the beginning that he is just finishing up writing two books.
We begin by talking about John’s gig as a columnist for the New York Sun. I put the screws to John and ask him in a purposefully un-nuanced way if he is a conservative, and he answers with a typically nuanced response. We discuss John’s then-recent resignation from UC-Berkeley (a very gutsy move) before moving on to broader concerns like globalization’s impact on the black working class, the prospects for cross-racial class solidarity, and how to address racial disparities in education in a more targeted fashion than simply crying “more funding.”
At the conversation’s end, we both remark on how much fun it was to talk with each other (even on ancient technology like John’s cordless phone). I’m happy to report that it’s still fun. And I am extremely curious to know what you all think about the differences and similarities between where we started and where we are today. Let me know in the comments!
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 A walk down memory lane
1:02 John's gig as a columnist
4:38 The black intellectual's challenge
17:17 John: There is life outside the academy
34:00 Disappearing factories and black poverty
40:53 Glenn calls for cross-racial working-class solidarity
51:39 Is unequal school funding a red herring?
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Recently I had a rich, deep conversation with lawyer, Current Affairs contributing editor, and former Bernie Sanders National Press Secretary Briahna Joy Gray on her podcast Bad Faith. Briahna and I occupy very different ideological spaces, so I thought TGS viewers would be interested in watching the discussion. She has generously given me permission to share it here.
We begin by debating the possible causes of racial disparities and my own ideas about what we should do about it. More funding for social services is often floated as a possible remedy, but I have questions. This segues into a discussion of my essay “The Case for Black Patriotism.” Briahna asks whether my vision of patriotism necessarily entails a belief in American exceptionalism, and this leads into an exploration of capitalism and socialism more broadly. Finally, Briahna asks me a question that many people wonder about: Given my political views (and the fact that I’m not shy about proclaiming them into a microphone), how do my Bernie-supporting wife LaJuan and I keep the peace at home?
Briahna and I had a real debate here, but I was surprised by how many concerns we actually share. I hope you enjoy listening to the conversation as much as I enjoyed participating in it!
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 Intro
1:40 The bias narrative vs. the development narrative
7:02 What are the causes of “behavioral maladies” in black communities?
11:36 Will more funding for social services reduce violent crime?
20:37 Glenn: The clock is ticking for the least advantaged African Americans
31:44 Debating black patriotism
43:40 American exceptionalism and the dominance of capitalism
54:47 The necessary checks on capitalism
1:01:41 The call (from Bernie Sanders) is coming from inside the house
Links
Glenn’s essay, “The Bias Narrative vs. the Development Narrative”
Glenn’s essay, “The Case for Black Patriotism”
Nikole Hannah-Jones’ introduction to the 1619 Project
Nathan J. Robinson’s Current Affairs essay, “Why Critical Race Theory Should Be Taught in Schools”
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
On this edition of TGS, John McWhorter is back for one of our twice-monthly conversations. We take a long, critical look at the concept of "systemic racism"—what it is, what it isn't, and why it's become so popular in progressive discourses about race in the US.
We focus attention on institutions of higher education, drawing on our own experience to question whether this concept really applies at the elite institutions (Brown/Berkeley/Columbia) with which we have been associated. We open on a laconic note: neither of us were in the best of moods when we had this conversation. We close by inviting you to suggest topics for our future discussions that are, a) not about race, and, b) areas where John and I are likely to disagree. We hope you'll take us up on this!
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 Intro
2:19 Does systemic racism still exist in the US?
12:26 Addressing “racial inequities” rather than “systemic racism”
18:30 John: “The idea that modern colleges and universities are racist spaces is false”
29:18 Race and the academic job market
34:40 Why does anger persist even after progress toward racial redress?
44:57 The (possible) origins of the recent wokeness wave
52:55 Glenn and John agree to disagree
Links
Khalil Gibran Muhammad, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Above you’ll find my conversation with University of San Francisco law professor Lara Bazelon. She specializes in criminal law and has won exoneration for wrongfully convicted incarcerated people.
We discuss systemic racism in the criminal justice system and debate the pros and cons of various reform efforts. We go into the details of Yutico Briley’s wrongful conviction case in which Lara and her sister Emily were involved (you can read Emily’s piece about it here). Then we shift gears and discuss the challenges of writing fiction. We talk about Lara’s absorbing new novel A Good Mother and my memoir-in-progress. These are pretty deep waters, as we reflect on how our writing has forced us to confront some hard questions about our roles as professionals and parents.
As always, I’m interested in your thoughts! Let me know in the comments!
This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
0:00 How Glenn and Lara each approach systemic racism
6:46 Lara: The Yutico Briley case exposes the roots of systemic racism
17:32 Trying to understand the equities and inequities of crime and punishment
28:20 The differing perspectives on justice involved in the Briley case
34:44 Are progressive criminal justice policies having an impact?
46:16 Lara's new novel, A Good Mother
54:37 Glenn and Lara's experiences of parenthood
1:01:08 Why Glenn really left Harvard's economics department
1:05:16 Glenn's rocky road as a father
Links
Bari Weiss’ forum on systemic racism
Glenn’s book, Race, Incarceration, and American Values
Glenn’s “intellectual obituary” of James Q. Wilson
Lara’s novel, A Good Mother
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
This week John and I have something a little different for you: An interview with Wall Street Journal columnist and Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jason Riley about his recent book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell. We discuss Sowell's ideas, their influence, and his place within the pantheon of American (and black America), intellectuals. Among his innumerable contributions, Sowell's books—especially A Conflict of Visions, Knowledge and Decisions, and Basic Economics—are a particular focus of this wide-ranging conversation. We also get into a broader discussion about black intellectuals, conservatism, and the academy.
And don’t worry, Substack subscribers, John and I will be posting our monthly Q&A later this week. Stay tuned!
As always, I’m curious to know what you think. Let me know here and on Discord.
0:00 Intro
1:10 Comparing the legacies of Thomas Sowell and George Schuyler
5:27 Making the case for Sowell’s significance
16:55 The task of the popularizer
23:55 Why Sowell’s book A Conflict of Visions is important
31:15 The norm of inter-group disparity
40:47 What happened to Glenn’s generation of heterodox Black intellectuals?
50:12 Why it’s hard to be a conservative in academia
59:54 Where is the left-wing critique of progressive racial politics?
Links
Jason’s book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell
Sowell’s book, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggle
Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper's talk with Adolph Reed
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Here is my conversation with NYU law professor Richard Epstein. In this conversation, Richard talks about his involvement with a legal action aimed at stopping construction on the currently planned site of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. We discuss the legal issues. We also talk about critical race theory—its origins in the legal academy of the 1970s and 80s, its foundational ideas, its impact on American education, and whether it should be banned by law. We conclude with Richard, who urged Trump to resign in January 2017(!), decrying what he sees as a lack of "comity" on the part of the Biden administration.
I hope you enjoy the conversation! As always, I’m curious to know what you think. Let me know here and on Discord.
0:00 Why Richard is trying to stop the construction of the Obama Presidential Center on its present site
10:20 Richard's stymied attempt to stop alterations to Chicago's Soldiers Field
15:12 Raising questions about the OPC's environmental impact
31:16 Richard's account of critical race theory
39:35 A legal history of racial redress in the US
48:59 Richard: Biden exhibits less comity than Trump did
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Here is my latest conversation with John McWhorter. We begin with a review of our respective academic careers and how being black has affected our work. We also assess the recent involvement of Al Sharpton and Benjamin Crump in the case of a white Arkansas man who was shot dead in June, under suspicious circumstances, by a police officer during a traffic stop. We close with an extended discussion of critical race theory, which we define carefully and evaluate thoroughly. We agree that CRT should not be banned by law, but we endorse the efforts of parents to weigh-in with their local schools against it.
And, in case you haven’t seen it, we are now taking questions for our next Q&A. Let us know what’s on your mind!
0:00 John McWhorter, master of his craft
5:18 Is John a “black linguist”? Is Glenn a “black economist”?
13:45 Al Sharpton and Benjamin Crump address police violence against white victims
24:25 What we talk about when we talk about CRT
35:35 Is the CRT debate comparable to other debates in education?
43:43 Glenn: It is tyrannical to ban the teaching of CRT
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Today I’m posting something a little different than normal. This is a conversation with NYU political scientist Larry Mead. It’s part of his series “Culture and Poverty,” and he’s generously allowed me to repost it here at The Glenn Show. We discuss some ideas from Larry’s book, Burdens of Freedom: Cultural Difference and American Power. Larry argues, among other things, that one of the major distinctions between “Western” and “non-Western” cultures is the role of individualism. Larry sees Western culture—as exemplified by the US—as predominately individualist in its orientation. When immigrants from non-Western cultures struggle to assimilate, he argues, it’s often because they have problems adjusting to this individualist orientation.
There are certainly merits to this argument. But in this discussion, I push back on Larry’s description of African American culture as basically non-Western. This, it seems to me, ignores a number of important facts about African American social and political history after the Civil War. It’s a lively back and forth, and I’m curious what you think.
0:00 Intro
2:04 Larry's view of Western and non-Western culture
5:32 Is African American culture "non-Western"?
14:57 Larry: "Freedom is a threat" to Black and Latino families
24:08 African American individualism after emancipation
36:00 The "paradox" of Asian academic success
48:26 What are the origins of European political development?
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Here, John and I begin with an assessment of a sharp, thoughtful Quillette piece by black intellectual Aaron Hanna which is critical of black conservatives. (Both John and I have written responses which Quillette will publish.) This lead us into philosophical terrain, where we engage questions about free will, ethnic/racial differences in culture and so on. We go on to discuss critically a recent New York Times piece by Jenée Desmond-Harris, “Which Black People Should You Listen To?” Her answer, which we dispute: not people like us! We critically assess Thomas Sowell's "black rednecks" argument, that black culture reflects the legacy of Scotch-Irish norms common to Southern/Appalachian enclaves. And we agree to disagree about the merits of Charles Murray's new book, Facing Reality, where I find more merit than does John.
As always, I’m curious to know what you think.
I originally posted this earlier this week for paying subscribers. I’m now releasing it for the general public. If you want to get the full episodes early, plus other exclusive content and benefits, please subscribe now. Let’s keep doing the work!
0:00 A peek inside Glenn’s writing process
3:31 Aaron Hana’s critique of Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele
13:50 Extending the presumption of free will to black communities
19:31 Who gets to opine on race matters?
32:09 Black rednecks
44:31 Is the “acting white” phenomenon real?
53:58 A critique of Charles Murray’s new book …
1:12:12 … and a defense of same
If there's a short segment (under 2:20) from this episode that you thought was especially good, please share the timestamps in the comments—we’re looking to spread the word on Twitter.
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Here is my conversation with Charles Murray (of The Bell Curve fame) about his new book, Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America. We review the argument of his book—that the "American Creed" of fair play and equal treatment for all is imperiled by a failure to reckon with the actual differences across racial groups in measured intelligence and participation in violent crime. We explore the evidence for his claim about racial differences, the extent to which these facts are being denied, and the plausibility of his concern that said denial threatens to undermine the republic. We also discuss the effectiveness of policy interventions aimed at reducing racial disparities.
As always, I’m curious to know what you think.
0:00 Intro
1:37 How Charles deals with his notoriety
5:26 Charles's new book, Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America
13:49 Grappling with the fact of group disparities
21:04 Threats from the left, threats from the right
27:33 The shift in white attitudes toward race since the 1950s
35:11 What would happen if white people revolted?
41:13 Charles: Black people are not genetically inferior
50:36 Why small differences in ability can have major consequences
54:29 Charles: We need universal, not race-based, public policy solutions
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Here’s my latest conversation with John McWhorter. Our talk ranges over a number of seemingly unrelated subjects. We discuss the decision by Princeton's classics department to stop requiring students to master Greek and Latin (which John sees as a lowering of standards). We analyze the general problem Black students face of deciding whether to "dispel" doubts about their abilities through outstanding performance on the tests, or to "dismiss" those doubts by rejecting the tests as intrinsically biased. We also talk about my appearance on Tucker Carlson's Fox News platform (which John had advised against). And we conclude, anticipating the upcoming Father’s Day celebrations, with some reflections on fatherhood.
0:00 Intro
1:30 John takes issue with antiracism in Princeton’s classics department
15:48 Glenn: Black people should embrace and exceed institutional standards
25:22 Meeting the challenge of academic performance
33:57 Stepping outside yourself
40:28 Glenn’s recent appearance on Tucker Carlson Today
51:14 Glenn and John remember their fathers
I need your help …
Now that we've got a community of listeners, readers, and viewers coalescing around the Glenn Show, I'd like to ask for your input. If you've got a favorite segment from this episode or any other video that I post here, let me know. Is there a minute or two (but no longer than 2:20) that grabs you? If so, comment below with a time stamp from the video or audio.
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Last week, I have announced at Patreon that I’m moving the operation to Substack.
I gave every Patron a complimentary subscription for the first month. If you’re reading this, chances are you are such a person, with a comp that will run out on July 2. At that date, you will have to decide if you want to continue getting subscriber-only posts for $7/month or $70/year. I hope the things you’ll see in this first month will convince you to stay.
Some of you have already made up your mind. I see that several hundred people have switched to a paid option and made the first payment. Many have chosen an annual rather than a monthly subscription, which is cheaper for you and costs less in transaction fees for us. Some people have opted for a “founding member” plan, which allows you to pay a custom, bigger amount. All of this is deeply appreciated.
This post is the first TGS episode published through Substack. It’s my conversation with noted philosopher and public intellectual Cornel West and philosopher Teodros Kiros.
We discuss their book, Conversations with Cornel West. Along the way we engage vigorously with one another on themes of religion, politics, aesthetics, identity, and nationalism. We find many points of agreement. It is a rich and intensive exchange.
Some timestamps:
0:00 Teodros's new book, Conversations with Cornel West
1:04 Cornel offers spiritual counsel to Glenn
11:06 Between commercialization and democratic decay
20:52 Glenn: “The glass is way more than half-full” for Black Americans
29:26 The centrality of Black music to Black experience
36:03 Cornel’s Chekhovian Christianity
43:40 What system, if any, can replace American capitalism?
56:42 The meaning of 1776
Notice that this post doubles as a podcast episode.
To subscribe to the RSS feed in your podcast app, click on the "listen in podcast app" link in the audio player, which will generate a private RSS for you, or you can access it from your account settings. There, you’ll need to click on a link called "Set up your podcast app."
Please, let me know in the comments if the new system is working, and if you have any questions or requests.
I’m looking forward to experimenting with different kinds of content, paid and unpaid, here at Substack.
I’m excited to embark on this new chapter with you!
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Larry's concerns about the debt-to-GDP ratio ... On the general relativity of fiscal language ... Why would anybody buy U.S. treasury bonds? ... Larry's defense of fiscal hawkishness ... A critique of Biden's COVID relief funding ... How to raise taxes while maintaining incentives to work ... There is no such thing as a corporation ...
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John's appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher" ... Why John's 2000 book Losing the Race remains relevant today ... The "noble victim complex" ... The counterproductivity of victim narratives ... Where do you draw the line in calling out nonsense? ... Trading agency for victim status ... The exciting roster of upcoming TGS guests ...
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The founding of Voices of Black Mothers United ... How the criminal justice system failed Sylvia's daughter ... Sylvia's work: advocacy, community intervention, and positive policing ... What is the role of systems and structures in street violence? ... How Voices of Black Mothers United is branching out ... Sylvia's book, Mind Fields: A Healing Journey to Survive the Murder of a Child ...
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Critical Race Theory's prevalence in American schools ... What’s at the root of racial disparities in education? ... Destandardizing the standards for success ... The evolution of how we communicate about race ... Kendi and the cops; Bazelon and systemic racism ... ...
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The impact of the Glenn Show and new initiatives ... How to reach out to the Glenn Show: thework@glennshow.com ... The current climate: how afraid are people and how afraid should they be? ... The current climate: how afraid are people and how afraid should they be? ... Seeking to engage productively with opinions we may not understand ... Glenn's interactions with his graduate and undergraduate students ...
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Fighting through Covid-19 and the pandemic ... Daunte Wright and how police violence goes beyond race ... The "fake" narrative about Black people and the cops ... The tremendously high stakes of race matters in the U.S. ... America's "badass motherfucker" problem ... Woke hypocrisy as the Chauvin verdict nears ...
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Life as a university professor during Covid ... What happened to the civil rights movement? ... Glenn and John disagree on voter suppression ... Debating Stacey Abrams’ approach to politics ... The exaggeration of victimhood ... How social media has changed academia ...
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Who was moral and political philosopher John Rawls? ... Why Rawls' "A Theory of Justice" is such an important text ... Is taxation an infringement on liberty? ... Understanding the freedom vs. liberty paradox ... Focusing on the poor to improve human well-being ... Accounting for earned success or failure ...
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The contentious origins of Glenn and John's relationship ... Cancellations at Georgetown and racial disparities in academic performance ... What is to blame for racial disparities in academic performance? ... The quality-fit tradeoff and the mismatch effect ... Is racism widespread in American universities? ... Cornel West's departure from Harvard ...
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Patreon Q&A announcement ... Glenn's initial impressions of BLM ... How should racial justice advocates advance their interests? ... The problem of colleges as "spaces of consumption" ... The pros and cons of cancel culture ... Cancel culture as a "weapon of the weak" ... Glenn's feelings about Trump's presidency ...
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New anti-racist guidelines for teaching math in Oregon ... Defending the ideals of the Enlightenment ... What anti-racists get wrong about knowledge and achievement ... Why class matters more than race for improving education in the U.S. ... The Capitol riot and the threat(s) of political extremism ... Possible new frontiers for the Glenn Show ...
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Changing the narrative on race in America ... Navigating the increasingly polarized landscape ... Why Glenn takes issue with the 1619 Project ... Bob’s new Apocalypse Aversion Project ... Confronting nationalism and identity politics ... Globalization, privilege, and "meritocratic hubris" ... The evolution of Bloggingheads.tv ...
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Do Glenn and John over-discuss race and racism? ... The hurdles to hosting debates on TGS ... The guys consider their role in the national discourse on race ... The challenges of being a contrarian ... Confronting in-school violence among Black youth ... The New York Times' "contemptible" treatment of Donald McNeil ...
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Tracing wokeism's origins to mid-century postmodernism ... Determining the right historical narrative on race ... Do progressives have a problem confronting their own racism? ... What can and can't be said about the 2020 election ... Can the insurrectionists be defended? ... Biden vs. Trump on critical race theory ... James challenges Glenn's recent mea culpa on Trump ...
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Monthly Q&A with Glenn and John ... TGS 2.0, new newsletters, and John's new book ... Critiquing the Biden administration's first moves ... The excesses and dangers of critical race theory ... The latest stories of woke hysteria on campus ... The performative outrage of anti-racist crusaders ... Campus wokeism vs. corporate wokeism ...
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Robert's work on rising homicide rates in U.S cities ... The connection between work, school, and crime ... How some criminal justice reform attempts have failed ... Why the massive upsurge in crime in U.S. cities in 2020? ... The challenge of "engaging the family" in the U.S. ... The surprising data on gender in single-parent homes ... Did the summer 2020 protests lead to the rise in crime? ...
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Glenn Show 2.0 and reactions to the storming of the Capitol ... What if it was BLM protesters that stormed the Capitol? ... Glenn: I was wrong about the threat Trump posed to democracy ... The tectonic plates shifting beneath American society and politics ... Glenn and John debate the merits of impeachment ...
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The three books that pushed Glenn away from the right ... A crisis of identity: who is Glenn Loury and what is his project? ... Glenn's left-leaning moderatism and work in the 90s ... The link between Glenn's economic work and his social theory ... The evolution of Glenn's perspective on Obama ... The Iraq War, the 2008 crash, and how "the elites failed us" ... The current and future state of the American university ...
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Glenn's rightward shift in the early 80s ... A feeling of alienation from the Black elite ... Glenn and Daniel discuss neoliberalism and the "American empire" ... Glenn's emergence as a public intellectual ... How Glenn earned a unique place in public discourse ... Glenn's hiatus from and return to economic theory ... How Glenn helped coin the term "social capital" ...
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Why won't Jones, Kendi, and others come on the Glenn Show? ... The need for more discussions between black intellectuals who disagree ... The dilemma faced by contrarian black intellectuals ... John and Glenn ponder their niche ... What can't be said about race ... Will we see a more honest discourse on race after Trump? ... John explores the current controversy at the Dalton School in NYC ...
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A working-class undergrad with a job, a wife, and two kids ... Why Glenn was drawn to economics ... How studying economics shaped Glenn's politics ... Anti-Semitism at Harvard and the origins of MIT economics ... Why Glenn believes in meritocracy ... Glenn discusses his influential early work ...
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Coleman Hughes named to Forbes' "30 Under 30" ... The predictable platitudes of John's critics ... The waning of wokeness ... Should Thomas Jefferson have known better? ... What is driving today's race crusaders? ... The denial of Black agency ... Nikole Hannah-Jones and the “1619 Riots” ...
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The political landscape in Chicago in 2020 ... How do you improve a human being? ... What "The Bell Curve" missed about human development ... How teaching and empowering parents positively impacts children ... The taboo of family-focused anti-poverty efforts ... What is the source of implicit bias? ... James: Politicians on both sides cultivate and exploit racial turmoil ...
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Welcome to the Glenn Show 2.0 ... A path to forgiveness for the canceled ... John’s upcoming book and wokeism after Trump ... Why is it so easy to get away with junk sociology today? ... John speaks his mind on Ibram X. Kendi ... The mass delusion of the anti-racism movement ... What is required of public intellectuals? ...
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Leon's new journal Liberties and the current political climate ... Leon: Art "should not be subjected to a political standard" ... Glenn and Leon disagree on Trump ... Leon, an “unrepentant interventionist,” discusses foreign policy ... What's inside the first edition of Liberties? ... Leon defends the idea of Zionism ... America and Israel: two experiments in moving past anti-Semitism ... Thoughts on America's moment of racial reckoning ...
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Glenn announces a new version of The Glenn Show ... Eli and Shelby's new documentary, What Killed Michael Brown? ... "Why is it so hard to see the truth here?" ... Shelby: Post-'60s liberalism is the culprit ... What changed in black communities between 1950 and 1980? ... White guilt as a drug ... Eli: BLM had an agenda and was waiting for a tragedy to exploit ... Shelby: The solutions lie in old-fashioned values ... A father and son collaboration ...
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Jon's new book, Trump's Democrats ... Doing ethnography in the Rust Belt, an Italian-American suburb, and Appalachia ... Jon: Trump is a familiar figure to these voters ... How Trump embodies honor culture ... Trump's flouting of the norms of the professional class ... Why this style works better locally than nationally ... Jon: Race is not as important as place ... Will Trump's Democrats defect to Biden? ...
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Glenn critiques attempts to make race a part of academic hiring ... "Optics equality" and the denial of group differences ... Improving low-income primary schools ... Topics on which you can't challenge the consensus ... Glenn's letter denouncing his own university's president over BLM ... Can academics "cite inclusively"? ... Will online education disrupt colleges? ... Advice for a nontenured professor with heterodox views ... What should a university administrator do? ... ...
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A tribute from an Israeli fan and a mea culpa from John ... The political influence of Ice Cube and Kanye West ... Shelby Steele’s new documentary, What Killed Michael Brown? ... Appeals to American honor vs. appeals to American guilt ... The effects of economic restructuring on Black social mobility ...
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Glenn on the persistence of racial inequality ... Adaner on the persistence of racial inequality ... Determinism vs. individual moral judgment ... Is structural racism a real thing? ... Can exhortation change culture? ... Why Glenn prefers universal programs ... Does capitalism reinforce racial inequality? ... Contingent moments in America's racial history ... Glenn and Adaner offer some policy solutions ...
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Daniel's book, The Meritocracy Trap ... Daniel: Meritocracy props up medical innovation at the expense of health ... Examining meritocracy in economics departments ... Daniel says legal education in Germany is easier and better ... Daniel: Higher education is much too intensive and much too exclusive ... Olympic athletes are far better than they were 70 years ago. Is that a good thing? ... Glenn asks if Daniel's position requires him to repudiate affirmative action ...
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Ian's path from engineering to educational entrepreneurship ... Ian rebuts the "corporate type" charge ... "1776 Unites," an alternative narrative to the 1619 Project ... Glenn presents a conservative case against reparations ... What can be done to help the black family? ... Why are black students suspended more often than white students? ... Ian: Black faith leaders are needed to bridge the divide ...
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BLM and the looming threat of political violence ... Can social justice movements redefine what counts as “knowledge”? ... Sympathy and objectivity in ethnographic writing ... Remembering Stanley Crouch ... Princeton’s racial justice pickle ... Le Monde takes an interest in Glenn and John ...
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Peter: "Mismatch theory" is not a front for racial prejudice ... The problem of data transparency and affirmative action ... Who gets access to affirmative action data? ... Repairing the “broken trust” of America’s racial history ... Would more data transparency actually stop race-based affirmative action? ... Determining the optimal amount of affirmative action ...
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Peter's controversial research on racial disparities among STEM majors ... Is affirmative action leading to a dumbed down curriculum? ... Peter's work on the lawsuit alleging Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants ... Roland Fryer's research on race and lethal police force ... Stories vs. statistics ... Remembering Glenn's late wife, economist Linda Datcher Loury ...
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John detects a burgeoning pushback against racial wokeness ... The anti-racist “bluff” ... Glenn: Most Americans agree with Trump’s defenses of the police ... Comparing the 1963 March on Washington to its 2020 sequel ... Why doesn’t Trump disavow violence committed in his name? ...
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The complex heterogeneity of Black American politics ... Why are there so few conservatives in academia? ... Is there any hope of attracting more of them? ... Glenn proposes the creation of a Conservative Studies program ... How Covid-induced austerity might affect diversity in university hiring ... Would it even be possible to staff a conservative academic institution? ...
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Peter: The police aren’t hated, but politicians are listening to the haters ... What is driving rising violent crime rates in NYC? ... The problem of discussing racial disparities in crime and policing ... Contesting Jill Lepore’s account of the history of policing ... Disambiguating police defunding and police reform ...
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The two crises in Chicago ... Richard: "The quarantines are overdoing it" ... Richard's critique of clinical trials for pharmaceuticals ... The recent looting in Chicago ... A classical liberal approach to fixing housing on the South Side ... Why didn't the Chicago PD stop the looting? ... Richard praises Trump's "fairly solid record of achievement" ... Will vote by mail produce a disaster? ...
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The feasibility of group testing for Covid ... Is Trump responsible for inadequate testing? ... Larry: The government should fund companies developing rapid home testing ... Critiquing the FDA’s approach to testing ... Larry: Rapid home testing could bring the economy back within three weeks ...
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Why Michele thinks schools shouldn't have closed ... Are teachers’ unions bad for students? ... Glenn: Teachers are almost certainly not a high-risk group ... Is the school reopening fight about health concerns or politics? ... Maintaining student accountability in distance learning ...
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Debating Charles Murray’s new book, Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class ... Amy: It is an undeniable fact that there are IQ differences between whites and blacks ... Do group IQ differences have a place in politics? ... Does public opinion about race influence elites? ... Amy: Bohemians belong on the margins of society ... The benefits of a meritocratic society ...
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John on "a truly medieval moment" ... Why Glenn didn't sign the Harper's open letter ... Linguists petition against fellow linguist Steven Pinker ... Is this actually just about the economics of the collapsing media industry? ... Calling someone a racist vs. calling someone a witch ... John's harsh review of White Fragility ... Critiquing an open letter by 300 Princeton professors on anti-racism ...
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John explains how the current national crisis came to be ... Is civic discourse dead? ... Glenn: We are sliding into a state where the basic preconditions of society are at question ... Is America going backwards on race? ... Glenn: "I feel like my side is losing, and I think it's a catastrophe" ... Can faith help bind up the nation's wounds? ...
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John: White Fragility is "one of the worst books ever written" ... Debating how we should remember Woodrow Wilson ... Glenn: Our story is about more than just domination and oppression ... On being a dissident black academic ... Why John resigned from the board of the National Books Critics Circle ... Should John and Glenn fear defenestration by the mob? ...
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David's memoir, A Life in History ... David: Political history is being ignored in the academy ... Defending the Western model ... Did the Vietnam War spark a turn away from Enlightenment values? ... The 1619 Project and the ideals of the founding ... The lament of the white male ... Why is college so expensive? ... Did the founders actually believe in universal values? ...
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How Glenn and Carol first met ... Carol's 1993 book, Black Faces, Black Interests ... Would Stacey Abrams have won if she were pro-life? ... Carol's journey to Christianity ... Carol's prescient book on the new white nationalism ... Carol: "I have a lot of respect for Jared Taylor" ... Carol's harsh critique of identity politics on college campuses ... Are black conservatives winning, losing, or something else? ... Why Carol loves Donald Trump ...
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Coleman's post-collegiate life (with a cameo from Glenn's wife) ... Reopening and the invisible cost of agreeing with Trump ... Thomas Sowell's thoughts on partisanship ... Glenn: Trump is "bumbling his way through" the tradeoffs of reopening ... Masks as a way of life ... Do racial disparities in Covid deaths demonstrate systemic bias? ...
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John: George Floyd's murder was not an exclusively racial matter ... Glenn: "We're in the grip of hysteria" ... John: Apparently anti-racism trumps even medical science ... What it's like being a black contrarian right now ... Glenn: The real threat to black people is crime ... John argues that fixing problems with the cops has to be the first step ...
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Was the pandemic lockdown overkill? ... How Michele transitioned her high school students to distance learning ... Michele: We changed the rules on our students ... The “herd mentality” opposing herd immunity ... Michele: “Teachers should be getting back to work” ...
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Josh: This is a more dangerous moment than any I can remember ... Was George Floyd lynched? ... Glenn views police abuse as a universal problem and fears racialized backlash ... Josh worries about free and fair elections in November ... Glenn: Violence and looting must be denounced ... Glenn and Josh agree that Trump is not up to the task ... The price of order and the cost of chaos ...
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The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis ... Is crime a moral failing? ... Glenn: "Black people in poor cities need the cops" ... The Central Park birder incident ... Meditating on the tears of Eddie Glaude ... Glenn decries Biden's racial pandering ... John: The problem is with cops and with guns, not racism ...
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Amy wants to starve the higher ed beast ... Do Americans need affirmative action for graduate school? ... Glenn and Amy criticize undergraduate instruction ... Amy: "There's a certain degree of feminization that is going on as well" ... How should students be graded during the pandemic? ... Amy explains what we should and shouldn't be doing during the pandemic ... The Wuhan lab theory ...
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Michael's new documentary, Created Equal: Justice Thomas in His Own Words ... Is some of the criticism of Thomas from the left racist? ... Why isn't he celebrated in the black community? ... Thomas's originalist view of the Constitution ... Thomas's wife Ginni, a conservative activist ... How Thomas's grandfather shaped his life ... The Anita Hill hearings and their legacy ... Why does Thomas rarely speak at oral argument? ...
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Nikole Hannah-Jones wins a Pulitzer Prize for the 1619 Project ... Glenn: This is "a desperate struggle for dignity" in the face of black failure ... Self-hatred and patronization ... Glenn: A bubble that I thought would burst hasn't burst ... Biden's black agenda vs. Glenn's black agenda ... John: Black men need jobs ... Race and the picking of fruit ... Glenn: Don't teach children that their future is outside of their hands ...
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Brandon explains what a coronavirus is ... Where the virus came from ... Evaluating the "laboratory escape" theory ... The path to an effective vaccine ... Brandon: We have not been alarmist about the pandemic ... Why a forecasting model can be way off but still correct ... Brandon: The federal government has underreacted from the start ... Brandon critiques the surgeon general's messages to African Americans ...
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Jody describes what it's like inside his hospital ... How an outbreak in a prison could overwhelm the local hospital system ... Jody: "Most people don't need to be locked up, and don't need to be locked up for that long" ... What about all the murderers and rapists? ... Why Jody is not a prison abolitionist ... How Covid kills ...
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How would the late Mark Kleiman have viewed the policy response to the pandemic? ... The democratic legitimacy of the administrative state ... Glenn: Policy experts can't determine human values ... Are the economic tradeoffs of shutdown too great? ... Harold: The costs of Covid are vivid in people's lives ... Did Trump unintentionally help tamp down civil unrest? ...
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How Bob joined and eventually split with the civil rights movement ... Critiquing the government bureaucracy of the American welfare state ... Bob: Affirmative action has been exploited by middle-class blacks ... Black achievement during the century after the Civil War ... Glenn asks, "what is to be done?" ... Bob: "I don't have any choice but to be optimistic" ... Glenn: "Black people ought not to be taught to hate our country" ...
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John on being at Covid ground zero in Queens ... The many racial disparities the pandemic has made plain ... But after the disparities are acknowledged, now what? ... Differences in life expectancy, health, and diet ... Does the pandemic make the case for universal healthcare? ... Racial discrimination by health care providers ...
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Wilfred's new book, Taboo: 10 Facts You Can't Talk About ... The view of corona from Western Kentucky ... Wilfred: A universal shutdown doesn't make sense... ... ...instead we need random serological testing ... Is the pandemic revealing a structural weakness of democracy? ... Examining the racial disparity in infection rates ... Glenn: Experts should be "on tap, not on top" ...
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Applying just war theory to the pandemic ... Danielle's three options: "freeze," "surrender," and "mobilize and transition" ... There's never been a vaccine for a coronavirus ... How Danielle's COVID-19 response working group came together ... Mixing free-market and command-economy strategies ... Trump's "request for proposals" ...
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John reports on sheltering in place in NYC ... Race and the coronavirus ... Is calling the disease the "China virus" xenophobic? ... John wants President Cuomo ... Glenn: "You go to the crisis with the president you've got, not the president that you wish you had" ... John maligns and Glenn defends the president ... Do you feel safe? ...
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Personal finance during a public health emergency ... Harold: No one totally understands the US economy ... Social isolation and emotional support ... Thought experiment: 600K deaths vs. a massive recession ... Looking back at the HIV epidemic ... Does it make sense to compare our situation with South Korea's? ... Will the virus kill identity politics? ... Harold is very pleased that Dems went with the moderate ...
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Rajiv: Testing is the key to defeating coronavirus ... How do we know if we're overreacting to the virus? ... Considering credit forbearance ... Rajiv argues for public banking through the Federal Reserve ... Debating universal basic income ... The ethics of public imposition ...
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Why quarantine is not enough ... Larry's proposal for a universal mandatory testing regime ... Glenn pushes back on Larry's plan on economic and libertarian grounds ... Is inflation coming? ... The importance of the "velocity" of money ... Why public health must come before economic health ...
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Heather argues that we are overreacting to the coronavirus ... Heather: "Everyone should be a capitalist in a pandemic" ... Public goods and exponential growth ... Grading the Trump administration's handling of the crisis ... Has the media exaggerated the threat? ... Glenn predicts this will be a major blow to populism ...
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How COVID-19 is affecting Glenn and John’s semester ... The mass psychology of coronavirus-inspired shutdowns ... Glenn: The social justice implications of the virus are legitimate ... Will Trump’s handling of the crisis be his downfall? ... Glenn: “The pussy grabber needs help!” ... Is Trump an effective politician or a hapless dolt? ...
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The recent spike in assaults on ultra-Orthodox Jews in NYC ... Is anti-Semitism or something else the root cause? ... Bob: The demonization of Israeli Jews has filtered down ... Are liberal Jews downplaying black anti-Semitism? ... Bob argues that Palestinians in Israel are doing relatively well ... Glenn: "There ain't gonna be no two-state solution" ... Ex-Leninist Bob makes the case against Bernie ... Would a Jewish president be good for the Jews? ...
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Ian describes the charter school network he runs ... How teachers are treated in charters vs. in public schools ... Ian rebuts the charge that charters cherrypick their students ... Why Ian's schools are all single-sex ... The political campaign against charters ... Ian's critique of using the 1619 Project as curriculum ... The "Who's your daddy?" truck in the Bronx ... Is the racial achievement gap the wrong problem to focus on? ...
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Glenn's landmark 1977 paper, "A Dynamic Theory of Racial Income Differences" ... Glenn's theory of "relations before transactions" ... Critics accused Glenn of "flirting with the idea of black inferiority" ... What William F. Buckley said that broke Glenn's heart ... Why do Maine and Vermont let prisoners vote, when most states don't? ... Glenn vows to finish his memoir this summer ... The roles that two black academics played in Glenn's early career ...
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Do blacks and Latinos have aligning interests? ... Ernesto: Immigrants have an irrational belief in the American dream ... Debating the benefits of immigration ... Can universal health care and open immigration be reconciled? ... Why Peter called Mexicans the "ambivalent minority" ... Will Latinos socially assimilate? Will blacks be left behind again? ... Revisiting Lincoln's Second Inaugural ... Ernesto: Most Latinos just want to work ...
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John: The central claim of the NYT's 1619 Project "simply isn't true" ... Glenn offers a defense of the Project's perspective ... What the Constitution's three-fifths clause really meant ... John: "America is an endless rehearsal" ... After Kobe Bryant died, was it bad taste to bring up his rape accusation? ... Glenn praises Khalil Gibran Muhammad's The Condemnation of Blackness ...
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Wesley's new book of essays, The Souls of Yellow Folk ... The meaning of Andrew Yang as an Asian American ... Ivy League admissions, intermarriage, and Harvard's "personality scores" ... Wesley: There's a "false crisis" about race in NYC elite public schools ... Wesley's essay about the Virginia Tech mass shooter ... The dismissed grievances of the Asian-American male ...
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John: The racial conversation has improved over the past decade ... Decrying the "racism" explanation when black people don't succeed in a given field ... Glenn: "You're the weakest sister at the table, and you're gonna place demands?" ... The young black men who jump turnstiles and cross in the middle of the street ... So what does Martin Luther King Day mean now? ... How and why black culture changed so much between 1960 and 1970 ... Do changing sensibilities exonerate Russell Simmons? ...
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Is impeachment justified? ... Summarizing Corey Robin's new book, The Enigma of Clarence Thomas ... Scott: Robin doesn't understand Thomas's actual constitutional interpretation ... Critiquing Robin's psychological reading of Thomas's childhood ... Thomas's actual views on gender and the family ...
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What's new about the culture wars? ... Meghan: "White women are the new white men" ... Reacting vs. responding ... Meghan: Gen Xers had the advantage of second-wave feminist childhoods ... Meghan's controversial essay on "toxic femininity" ... The different kinds of power men and women have ... The case for and against pussy hats ...
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Peter explains how stop-and-frisk went too far ... Who or what deserves credit for NYC's massive murder decline? ... Peter: Reducing poverty is not the way to reduce crime ... Are cops reaping the whirlwind? ... The aftermath of Freddie Gray in Baltimore and Laquan McDonald in Chicago ... Criminal justice reform and the potential backlash ...
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Bob reminisces about the origins of Bloggingheads.tv ... Where The Glenn Show fits into the BhTV ecosystem ... Speech policing, the "n-word," and the uses of ridicule ... What's Trump's executive order on anti-Semitism really about? ... Does the IDW care about protecting speech critical of Israel? ... Bob critiques The Trayvon Hoax ... Bob: Be wary of throwing around the word "hoax" ... Quillette accuses Bob of palling around with tyranny apologists ...
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Glenn and John respond to criticism of their discussion of The Trayvon Hoax ... Why Glenn finds the film credible despite its creator's conspiracy theories ... John: The public didn't get the full story of Zimmerman's 911 call ... The case as a forerunner of larger dynamics in American political culture ... Did Zimmerman have a rational prejudice? ... Glenn and John ain't running away ... What was Trayvon thinking? ...
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George Zimmerman sues a bunch of people for $100 million ... Rightwing filmmaker Joel Gilbert's The Trayvon Hoax ... Gilbert's past conspiracy theorizing ... An age of fake news and relativism ... What John thinks really happened ... Recent racially charged hoaxes ... The racial narrative and "whose side are you on?" ...
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Does the US tax system favor the rich? ... Why spending is more equally distributed than wealth ... How Larry makes his calculations ... How billionaires can avoid paying taxes ... Larry: We should tax consumption instead of income or wealth ... Larry critiques Andrew Yang's universal basic income plan ... Should Trump get credit for a good economy? ...
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Critiquing William Nordhaus's work on the economics of climate change ... Larry: My plan for carbon taxation is a win-win ... Can elderly voters who don't care about the future be won over? ... What about critics of capitalism itself? ... Accounting for the uncertainties of climate science ... The work of the 2019 Economics Nobel laureates ...
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The Niskanen Center's defense of a "free-market welfare state" ... Hidden ways the government obstructs the free market ... Why a wealth tax probably wouldn't work ... Steve's ambivalence about impeachment ... Glenn says the emoluments charges are "penny ante b**t" ... Steve: Trumpism has to be defeated at the ballot box ... The vain search for the "generic Democrat" ... What happens to the NeverTrumpers post-Trump? ...
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Buzzwords vs. the power of reason ... College students stay silent instead of saying the wrong thing ... Why cultural appropriation is such a flashpoint ... John: "It's hard to be an individual" ... Cosmopolitanism and fearing the cops ... The sense of belonging that comes from being oppressed ...
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Coleman's new essay, "The Case for Black Optimism" ... Does it make sense to compare blacks and whites in terms of progress? ... Glenn presents the counterargument ... Coleman detests that blacks are viewed as "one massive problem" ... Glenn sees many blacks as being in desperate straits ... The problem with focusing too much on problems ... Coleman's congressional testimony on reparations ...
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Glenn wants to hear more before supporting impeachment ... John: "Does it not bother you that your country is being run by an idiot?" ... Is Trump a truer tribune of the people than Obama? ... Glenn fears violent civil unrest if Trump is ousted ... Abortion and Trump's Supreme Court picks ...
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What does it mean to be a black conservative? ... Why Glenn's views on affirmative action have shifted back and forth ... What happens if affirmative action is eliminated? ... Glenn critiques the idea of a "New Jim Crow" ... The case against reparations ... Feeling like the token black conservative ... Could reparations lead to a national spiritual renewal? ... Glenn takes questions from the audience ...
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Is polarization a problem to be solved with "water or fire"? ... If Trump wins reelection, will national reconciliation be possible? ... How John's biography prepared him for this work ... Love thy political antagonist as thyself ... Marianne Williamson and the possibility of racial forgiveness ... Martin Luther King's legacy in today's black activist movements ... Glenn: Any movement for justice must be transracial ...
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