The Gray Area with Sean Illing
Society & Culture:Philosophy
Jon Favreau was President Obama’s chief speechwriter. In those days, he was a frequent critic of the political media, frustrated, as many in the Obama administration were, with its focus on conflict, on ephemera, on appearing even-handed even when reality was persistently skewed.
Today, Favreau is changing the media from the inside. He’s a co-host on Pod Save America, and co-founder of Crooked Media, both of which have seen tremendous growth in 2017.
In this conversation, we look back on 2017, talk through the first year of the Trump White House (“a day-to-day shitshow”); the Democrats he’s watching for 2020; the mechanics of building a podcast empire; Favreau’s concern about the left (“we need to take the time to persuade other people of what we believe”); and the rot in the Republican Party.
To Favreau, the right-wing media is “the real center of gravity in that party; it’s not the Republicans in Congress, it’s not even really Donald Trump, although I guess you could say that he is, in some ways, a creation of that media machine.”
Books:
What Happened by Hillary Clinton
The News: A User’s Manual by Alain de Botton
All the Truth is Out by Matt Bai
The madness behind The Method
David Cross is disappointed in you guys
Author Kiley Reid on why we read novels
The conversation about guns we're not having
Why does middle school suck?
Russia's war with Ukraine — and reality
Robert Glasper on why Black Radio is back
Could we lose delicious foods forever?
What Don't Look Up is really about
Democracy in crisis, part 2: The two-party problem
Why we can't pay attention anymore
Democracy in crisis, part 1: Ross Douthat isn't too worried
Pod Save the Democrats
A Yellowjackets creator spills his guts
A scientist's case for "woo-woo"
Imagine a future with no police
Novelist Lauren Groff on the other Matrix
Are we living in a simulation?
Rep. Jamie Raskin on living through the unthinkable, twice
Best of: Why fascism in America isn't going away
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