I have been a big fan of this podcast for several years. I have appreciated Yascha’s willingness to talk about the uncritical nature of the identity politics-branch of the left. This was very helpful 3-5 years ago. Now the thinking seems to have ossified around Yascha’s book and detached from the moment. Talking about gender pronouns with James McWhorter seems lazy and, worse, boring given the upheaval of our time.

Love your show, would you consider having Katherine Stewart on with her new book Money, Lies and God?

Excellent show!

I am a leftist, or whatever. I’m pretty sure there isn’t any true threat to the advancement of political ideas and philosophies that have been under attack from cancel culture; I tend to find that framing of accountability the more ordinary means of deflection over reflection. It also gets nowhere, because it is guided only by the false pretense of “seeing truths and challenging assumptions” as it’s purpose and, in that way, is perpetually unsatisfied and wanting. I agree with Mounk here and there, and I generally end up listening by accident, my feed rolls to this one because Saturdays are more light in terms of offerings. All of which is to say: there are any number of reasons for me to delete this podcast, I likely will. And it’s also true that not a single reason motivates that choice in as far as I’ve yet found. Maybe the gut works here before the reason: I just read Mr Mounk as a bit uninspired, as a bit of a trope of the thoughtful, ever so softly worded misogynistic learned philosopher who knows that he knows it better than you, but invites you in to discover this, not in all episodes but most that’s the vibe. It’s arrogance and spite, it’s so sure that it’s the opposite of that that surely the world is its cancel antagonist. TLDR: just don’t, you’ll just feel sad.

Yascha wrote an article ‘The Deep Roots of the Left’s Deafening Silence on Hamas’ on Oct 16, 2023. The title says it all. The attack killed 1200 Israelis and as far as I know every member of the elected Left of the Democratic Party immediately criticized it. There were some corners of the internet that didn’t and they were rightly castigated. Now, the date I am writing this is July 24, 2024. It has been 291 days since Israel began its genocidal campaign in Gaza. Roughly 40k Gazans are killed. Tens of thousands of more are believed to be dead under the rubble. The after-effects of this war can cause hundreds of thousands of more deaths. Yet, Yascha has not published an article condemning this carnage nor did he make a case to stop sending more military aid to Israel. Neither has a condemnation come from so-called Centrists or the Right. The Deep Roots of Yascha’s Deafening Silence on the Gazan Genocide are not a mystery. It is the essence of his thinking that uses intellectual sophistication as a mask to his base instincts of racism. Shame and hypocrisy are words that can’t be found in Yascha’s dictionary

Yascha is the kind of interviewer that more popular podcast hosts should aspire to be. He gently but clearly challenges assumptions and theories to tease apart causation and correlation, all while keeping the guest from feeling threatened. For the listener, we get to drill down deeper into the essence of a subject thanks to this approach. Thanks and keep em coming!

Yascha's style is contentious in an overtly academic way. He reminds of professors during invited speaker talks when I was in my PhD program in Philosophy. He talks way too much. This podcast however manages to reach such an exceedingly high level of intellectual tone and character that I have to give it the top rating possible. I just think Yascha conducts himself during these conversations as though his audience didn't exist, which I find utterly maddening. He gets so singularly focused on trying to articulate as many objections to the interlocutor's thesis or theses, that he takes up way too much of the conversational space and it winds up feeling far less like an actual interview and much more like I am witnessing someone's doctoral dissertation defense.

Soooo inspiring

I love Yascha Mounk’s work as an interviewer. He is well versed in the background of each guest and manages to push them to dig deeper than a lot of other podcasts do. He has a mild manner that belies the sharpness of some of his questions; he can be challenging without ever seeming to be bullying. He lets his guests have room to breathe and respond fully. He also has great, often significantly knowledgable, guests from a wide variety of political and knowledge spectrums that are consistently worthwhile to explore. This has risen above the ranks to become my favorite interview style podcast. I can’t recommend it more highly.

Very interesting conversation again

The episode with Anshel Pfeffer in the immediate weeks after October 7 does not age well 6 months later. The complete inability of the guest — or even the host — to imagine or articulate Palestinian suffering or Israeli oppression and instead to cast the conflict as one purely of irrational, religious hatred and terrorism does a disservice to listeners (not a single mention of colonization, ethnic cleansing, mass dispossession or apartheid is had). The questions asked are so obviously biased in favor of a pro-Israeli sympathy, which the guest shares, that there is a complete lack of any understanding of the situation they are supposed to be illuminating. The latent racism against Arabs and Palestinians is palpable beneath throw away lines of mourning any innocent life lost and then focusing exclusively on Israeli suffering. Not worth your—or anyone’s— time.

A podcast for the old left. I do hope it does not get cancelled and Mounk is able to continue with having important conversations.

intelligent, substantive long form discussions where differences of opinion are handled respectfully & with nuance

Love the thoughtful conversations. I’m so glad to have found this pod.

In a vast sea of podcasts that push one narrow point of view and one narrative The Good Fight stands out for being a true open discussion of ideas. 5 Stars.

This is always a good place to find a thoughtful and principled conversation about something that matters.

Consistent veritable application of enlightenment values cuts through the loud haze of today’s political, civic, and social landscape. As a high school teacher of kids from a rather balanced and wide set of politically oriented group of households, maintaining a balanced delivery of content in my classroom is essential. The Good Fight provides support for me in the same way I strive to support all my students, even those with whom I politically disagree. Not always in agreement, but always respectful. How so very human. Keep up the great work!

Get a better audio setup. The audio quality is so bad I cant listen to it and drive at the same time.

He is a critical thinking and has great conversations. My only complaint is the quantity of ads. They are often interjected so often as to break the continuity of some conversations in snippets.

Brilliantly moderated, guided by principles of independent and critical thought, replete with incisive and learned guests. This podcast serves a model direction out of and beyond the conformist, tribalist, calcified, polarized, self-censored thinking that is so prevalent in our media and intellectual culture.

Yascha Mounk presents intelligent discourse on interesting political science subjects. As the founder of Persuasion it’s no surprise that his podcast is in the same spirit: advocating open dialogue, free society, the careful analysis of ideas. His guests are generally knowledgeable, sometimes experts, always interesting and presenting original and complex ideas that are discussed patiently. Yascha presents reasoned scrutiny to these ideas, with good questions, deep understanding of the important material, and allows a truly intellectual exchange to thrive. Podcasts of this quality are rare and can be counted on one hand.

Love the podcast. Don’t always agree with Yascha or his guest, but they always make me think about my position.

i listen to a lot of political podcasts and this is my favorite. the conversations are so good and i learn so much. thank you for this. i look forward to it every week

Mr Mounk tries to be balanced. He often is. However, the point of view will always be very Left. He attempts to give a fair shot to a spectrum of speakers, but surprisingly we always end up at the same place: Americans must vote Democrat. I do enjoy him trying to think through things but ultimately it really doesn’t matter. Vote Democrat. Circular? Yes. Stimulating? Yes. I recommend.

Every single episode starts sounding like a satire of intellectual public access media of the 1970s. But within a minute I’m always hooked by the seriousness of the issues being discussed, and the intelligence and experience of the guests. Mounk draws no attention to himself during the main discussion, asking unobtrusive questions. But at the end he often provides global commentary that invariably improves my understanding of global politics. SImply top-notch, the only political podcast I listen to.

Since Ezra Klein stopped doing his podcast, I have been searching for a series like this one. Intellectually interesting and brave, and genuinely curious. Thank you!

Thanks for your consistency in podcasting and for having guests that demonstrate their concern for world cooperation. Keep up what you are doing as it is “well done.”

Amazing when scholars who grew up in other countries can objectively look at the United States and despite all of our obvious issues they can see the bright side and have faith we can pull through.

If you care about preserving dialogue and multifaceted perspectives this is the show for you.

This podcast is reasoned, intelligent, and what we need in these turbulent times. The topics are excellent and the conversations are rational and educational. Thank you!

In an intellectual world that endeavors to eliminate viewpoint diversity - the most important kind - this podcast is a profoundly refreshing alternative. Mounk invites a broad range of guests and treats all with respect, including by carefully and thoroughly preparing. His questions are thoughtful and informed, and his interaction with guests is unfailingly gracious. The content is rich and complex. I respect him and his work very much.

This podcast is a joy to listen to: great choice of guests, excellent host etc. But it’s more than that. Persuasion’s project is a breath of intellectual fresh air in times of dangerously deteriorating public discourse. Podcasts such as this (and similarly the substack) are the best vaccine for civic society against the polarization trap that allows us to spiral into democratic backsliding and renders us impotent against rising populism and reactionary authoritarianism that creeps from all sides (to varying degrees and in varying forms). Keep up the good work!

This provides great, wide-ranging conversations with thoughtful, rigorous, and heterodox guests. Humble and intellectually inspiring host. Love.

I have listened to this show a few times including latest with Gasporov and I’m surprised by this constant bothside-ism. So we have the GOP, who are rising authoritarians and are openly advocating for political violence and moving steadily towards fascism and it’s called only “cult of personality”. Then we have the Dems, who are having debates on what is free speech and whether there should be censoring in any of it and it’s put on the same level as rising fascism by Mounk and many of his guests. Except Chomsky, thankfully. I suppose when one’s worldview is white, male aligned, anything like “cancel culture” threatening their position, is treated the same as rising authoritarianism. You’re smarter than this. When I listen to this drivel, I see clearly how this democracy will go down. When the GOP starts fulfilling their project of destroying the democracy and the violence begins, “moderates” will be twisting their fingers, saying, “oh, but the cancel culture is too much!” We are in trouble.

Habe nach langer Zeit wieder mal hier reingeschaut und mir die Diskussionen mit Michael Powell und Andrew Yang angehört. Es fühlt sich sehr gut an to leave my liberal bubble which has not been able to effectively solve the problems this country is increasingly facing despite earnestly trying. Many impressive guests and thoughtful discussions. Yascha koach! ;-)

Get rid of the host and the ads.

The Good Fight podcast and Persuasion are both important media interventions. Nuanced discussions like the ones here and at Persuasion should be more common.

Yascha, thank you for bringing so much nuance, critical thinking, clarity, good will, and just plain intelligence to your discussions on the topics that threaten to confound the whole liberal project.

I thoroughly enjoyed James Carville!!!!

I’m shallow. I started listening to this after hearing Yascha on another podcast, and I liked his accent. Subscribed and started listening and I found I enjoy most of the topics. Yascha discusses some of the topics of the day, but also touches on things that are off the beaten path. Really interesting!

Tasha is a great journalist from The Atlantic. Hers very well rounded. Breath of fresh air to listen to nuanced conversation from people you trust (don’t have to agree with)

Mounk is my favorite. He’s a great interviewer. He’s a very rational, fair, and open-minded critical thinker. He questions beliefs, but not too much. He’s the best public intellectualism has to offer.

Yasha Mounk rules and I used to follow him on twitter before my suspension. He is very well rounded in that he seems to understand American as well as world issues. His accent and voice are so melodious that even my two kids will sit quietly and listen to him. They are not quiet children.

He explained so much! Reframing what is happening in the US and the world through psychology rings very true ....and the first thing I’ve heard that can show us a way out of this. Thank you

Mounk is a fabulous interviewer who knows how to ask questions and push back without talking over or above guests. He poses insightful questions that enable thoughtful discussion about contemporary issues. It’s so refreshing to hear someone speak outside of traditional political and media narratives.

The discussion with Jonah Goldberg was fantastic. Keep up the excellent work!

Yascha Mounk is an amazingly good interviewer. He asks interesting questions, challenges his guests without being rude or condescending, and tries to look at both sides of an issue. I don’t know how he’s so good at interviewing. My understanding is that he’s not a journalist. He’s a philosopher. I’m impressed.

I listened to today’s episode with Fred deBoer and was struck by the extent to which his views jibe with people like Robert Putnam or Charles Murray. It also prompted me to go back to listen to the episode about meritocracy with Michael Sandel. I think Yascha was right to press him about the alternative to meritocracy. Sandel never did offer a good answer on how we are to allocate prestigious positions like a surgical residency without using merit. I cannot imagine Sandel truly believes that we should allocate, say, endowed Professorships at Harvard Law School on the basis of a lottery system. Finally, his concept that meritocratic winners should have humility sounds right to me and echoes a very old virtue-noblesse oblige. I cannot say enough about Persuasion and this podcast. Great work.

I have become a big fan of this show. If you are looking for erudite, balanced discussion of the issues that explore all the angles, look no further.

Yascha Mounk consistently delivers incisive and thoughtful shows. I have been a listener since 2017 and I still look forward to his podcasts.