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
Clint Smith III on confronting the legacy of slavery
Was the cruelty the point?
How seashells shaped the world — and predict our future
Bill Maher on free speech, comedy, and his haters
Robert Reich wants you to take on the system
Marty Baron on the future of news
The death of cool
We need to talk about UFOs. Seriously.
Philadelphia's progressive prosecutor
Fareed Zakaria on the fate of democracy
Jane Goodall on the power of hope
Why we love drugs
The rugged majesty of revision
How to forgive
What makes a great conversation?
Introducing: Now & Then
The science of dating
Honoring Juneteenth with Ibram X. Kendi
Digital dictatorship
The man who proposed reparations in the 1860s
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