Best John Ganz Podcasts (2025)

1
What We Got Wrong During the Pandemic with Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee 1:16:47

2h ago1:16:47

1:16:47

Hello! Today we talk with the authors of “In Covid’s Wake: How our Politics Failed Us” by Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee. We talk about what we got wrong during the pandemic, how to battle groupthink, especially when it comes to science, and why so many people were willing to accept one version of public health without proper debate or questioning.…

1
Resisting Threats to Democracy with Rep. Robert Garcia 57:52

3d ago57:52

57:52

The Democratic Party has its work cut out. Meanwhile, there’s a fundamental issue: the party doesn’t currently have formal power. It doesn't have a majority in either House of Congress, it doesn't control the executive branch, and the Supreme Court has a 6-3 Trump majority. And all of this is creating a kind of impotent rage, frustration and feelin…

1
Conspiracy Theory 1:12:06

1d ago1:12:06

1:12:06

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched the 1997 action thriller Conspiracy Theory, directed by Richard Donner (which explains a lot) and starring Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts and Patrick Stewart. In Conspiracy Theory, Gibson plays Jerry Fletcher, a cab driver who is consumed with all manner of conspiracies, using his captive …

1
The Democrats Play Dead and Trump's Ukraine Reality Show 1:25:37

7d ago1:25:37

1:25:37

Hello! Today we talk about the big WWE showdown at the White House between Zelensky and the tag team of Trump and JD Vance, where our alarm meters are for “wait maybe Trump actually is going to do all the stuff he said he’s going to do,” and we talk about the Democratic plan to “play dead” and wait for the perfect moment to form like Voltron and co…

1
"Exit From Within" (August 2022) 20:42

9d ago20:42

20:42

Here's something a little creepy. In a bonus episode from August 2022, Matt and Sam were discussing Sam's profile of Arizona Senate hopeful and Peter Thiel-protégé Blake Masters when we found ourselves imagining how a future union of MAGA nationalism and Silicon Valley libertarianism might try to run the government. A listener flagged it for us, no…

1
The Darkest Corners of the Internet with Elle Reeve 54:21

10d ago54:21

54:21

Trolls have basically taken possession of the U.S. government. How have trolls been able to go from being mostly cordoned off in dark parts of the internet to gaining so much influence in American culture and politics? Our guest this week has spent years researching and reporting on-the-ground to learn more about how the battle online between the r…

1
Elon's E-mail Phishing Scheme, the JFK files, and Leap Years 1:33:54

14d ago1:33:54

1:33:54

Hello! Today we talk about Elon’s gambit to get everyone to respond to a work email on a weekend, the Eagles will they/won’t they trip to the White House, the Trump administration’s vague crackdown, and we talk for a long time for some reason about leap years and how they’re weird. ENJOY! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with…

1
The Stalled Engine of American Opportunity with Yoni Appelbaum 58:50

18d ago58:50

58:50

A defining feature of America from its inception has been physical mobility. And that physical mobility has been the engine of social mobility. But we’ve seen a great deal of economic and social sclerosis over the past few decades. Our guest this week has how, for many people, America has ceased to be the land of opportunity. Yoni Appelbaum is a de…

1
How Bad Is It? [TEASER] 4:27

18d ago4:27

4:27

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy Just over a month into Trump's second term, Matt and Sam offer their thoughts on where we're at—and, to be blunt, the assessment is fairly depressing. They take stock of the troubling truth that Pete Hegseth's confirmation reveals about Trump's hold over the Repu…

1
The Future of America is in the Southwest with Kyle Paoletta 1:11:34

22d ago1:11:34

1:11:34

Hello! Today, Jay talks to long-time TTSG community member Kyle Paoletta about his new book, American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest. We talk about British travel writing, the building of Albuquerque and Phoenix, climate change, Las Vegas and how the future of American cities might be found in the history of hundreds of ye…

1
Pay Attention! (w/ Chris Hayes) 1:01:37

24d ago1:01:37

1:01:37

We're all anxious, and none of us can pay attention. We don't read long books anymore; our kids don't read at all. When we watch TV, we scroll at the same time. And we absolutely cannot be alone with ourselves. These are the symptoms of a modern malaise that is everywhere diagnosed but rarely treated with the dire seriousness it deserves: an epocha…

1
The Uncertain Future of USAID with Jeremy Konyndyk 50:53

25d ago50:53

50:53

So much has happened in the past few weeks. And we’ve seen a speed game of sorts being played by the Trump administration to try to act as rapidly as possible to rework the administrative state of the government. One example of that is the attempts to end the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The letters have even been taken off of…

1
The 2028 Celebrity President Draft and How to Think About DOGE 1:17:03

29d ago1:17:03

1:17:03

Hello! Very excited to see so many new subscribers to the podcast over the past two weeks. As a reminder, we are a fully listener supported show so if you could help us keep the lights on over here with a paid subscription, we would greatly appreciate it. Our goal is to always at least provide one show a week for free, which TTSG has been doing now…

1
Crypto in Trump 2.0 with Zeke Faux 49:15

1M ago49:15

49:15

A lot of things are changing. And there’s a lot of things that the new White House administration wants to do differently. One of the areas where we’ve seen a lot of attention is cryptocurrency. Some of the latest developments are pretty confounding, to say the least. Lucky for us, our guest this week has spent years following crypto. Zeke Faux is …

1
Listen to “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki” 36:18

1M ago36:18

36:18

On a new podcast series, “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki,” host Jen Psaki dives into two crucial questions: where do Democrats stand in this moment? And how can they win again? Listen to the full first episode here, as Jen sits down with Governor Wes Moore of Maryland. They reflect on the meaning of patriotism, where the party can be bolder, and auth…

1
MAGA x DOGE, So Far (w/ John Ganz) [TEASER] 2:11

1M ago2:11

2:11

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy The first three weeks of Donald Trump's second administration have seen a flurry of vicious executive orders aimed at the federal workforce, trans people, government agencies, and others—all while Elon Musk and his deranged band of young sociopaths, otherwise kno…

1
Air Force One 1:21:56

1M ago1:21:56

1:21:56

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by Max Read — of the Max Read Substack — to talk Air Force One, the 1997 action thriller directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring none other than Harrison Ford as The President. Air Force One also stars Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson, Paul Guilfoyle, Willia…

1
Elon! Elon! Elon! with Ryan Mac 1:00:37

1M ago1:00:37

1:00:37

Hello! Today we’re talking all things Elon with Ryan Mac, a reporter at the NYT and the co-author along with Kate Conger of CHARACTER LIMITS: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter. Ryan’s probably reported more on Elon than pretty much anyone in the press and he gives us his perspective on what’s happened, what moves Elon has made that he also made durin…

1
The Reality at the Border with Jonathan Blitzer 58:40

1M ago58:40

58:40

It’s no surprise that immigration policy is an area that we’ve seen so much focus on recently. The Trump administration has moved with lightning speed to roll out its immigration agenda. With everything that’s going on, we thought it would be good to have a conversation about some of the deep roots and complexities in history that have brought us t…

1
Ayn Rand Against the World (w/ Jennifer Burns) 2:00:31

1M ago2:00:31

2:00:31

An atheist, a radical for capitalism, a caricature of a greedy libertarian, a best-selling novelist, a difficult partner and passionate lover, and the self-proclaimed greatest philosopher since Aristotle: Ayn Rand was many things, and we talk about almost all of them in this epic episode. To do so, we called upon historian Jennifer Burns, whose int…

1
DeepSeek's Sputnik Moment with Karen Hao 57:27

1M ago57:27

57:27

Hello! Today we have on repeat guest Karen Hao, a journalist who writes for the Atlantic and has been one of the sharpest minds on OpenAI and this emerging industry. We talk about DeepSeek, the Chinese AI model that deleted over a trillion dollars out of the NASDAQ and temporarily tanked NVIDIA’s seemingly unstoppable growth and how it might change…

1
How Republics End (w/ Mike Duncan) [TEASER] 2:36

2M ago2:36

2:36

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy A stock rhetorical trope on the right is to invoke ancient Rome when talking about American decline—often making direct comparisons between the Goth invaders and contemporary immigrants, obsessing over homosexuality and Rome's fall, and more. If their understandi…

1
WITHpod Special: Hear a Chapter of Chris’ New Book: ‘The Siren’s Call’ 56:33

2M ago56:33

56:33

Hi, WITHpod listeners! It’s an exciting day and we have a special treat for you. Today, we’re sharing the first chapter of Chris’ new book, “The Sirens’ Call: How Attention How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource." From the book description: We all feel it—the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things…

1
Listen to “Trumpland with Alex Wagner” 33:25

2M ago33:25

33:25

Introducing “Trumpland with Alex Wagner.” On “Trumpland,” MSNBC’s Alex Wagner takes a break from the anchor chair to get out into the field and speak with the people on the frontlines of Trump’s policies—and promises. Listen to the full first episode here, as Alex travels to DC—but not for the inauguration. Hours after President Trump was in sworn …

1
Biden's Pardons, Trump's Speech, Elon's Upstaging, and Why the Libs Have Been So Quiet 1:09:48

2M ago1:09:48

1:09:48

Hello! We talk today about the Biden Crime Family, Trump’s sleepy and then not-sleepy speech, the Panama Canal, Mars, and whether Trump actually had prepared for his big (second) moment. Then we go into Elon’s salute and the eerie silence that has fallen over the “resistance” and what that might mean for the next few years. Enjoy! This is a public …

1
The Entrepreneurial Ethic & How We Work Today (w/ Erik Baker) 1:36:26

2M ago1:36:26

1:36:26

This is a fascinating episode that takes up thinkers that the podcast has covered before—the Koch brothers, Austrian economists like Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, and others—but from a different angle: that of the entrepreneurial work ethic. Historian Erik Baker's superb book on the topic, Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Eth…

1
Musk in the Trump 2.0 Era with Kate Conger 52:14

2M ago52:14

52:14

We’ve never had a situation where the world’s richest man has essentially joined the White House as a co-president of sorts. What might this mean, especially when we consider Elon Musk’s history of unchecked power? Kate Conger is a New York Times reporter based in San Francisco, covering X and other technology companies. She’s also a co-author, alo…

1
Contact 1:05:50

2M ago1:05:50

1:05:50

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Contact, the 1997 science-fiction drama directed by Robert Zemeckis. Based on the book by Carl Sagan, Contact stars Jodie Foster as Dr. Ellie Arroway, a SETI scientist who discovers extraterrestrial life and is eventually chosen to make first contact with the alien life.…

1
Phone Alienation, Body Optimization, and Make America Healthy Again with Maya Vinokour 1:13:28

2M ago1:13:28

1:13:28

Hello! Today’s episode is a lively one! We talk about optimization, working out, RFK Jr., and how health and the woowoo New Age trends of the 1970s somehow got right-coded and then turned into a pathway to becoming one of the worst people on earth. Our guest to discuss all this is Maya Vinokour, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian S…

1
Weight Loss Drugs for Curing Addiction? with Nicholas Reville 56:23

2M ago56:23

56:23

The amount of overdose deaths in the U.S. is staggering. And while addiction is a disease, there’s no specific medical treatment or cure for it. Our guest this week points out that weight loss drugs and GLP-1s, or glucagon-like peptide-1s, which are used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, can be effective for helping people reduce cravings and c…

1
UNLOCKED: Are Progressives to Blame for Urban Disorder? (w/ Hayes Davenport) 56:24

2M ago56:24

56:24

A bunch of you requested that we un-paywall this recent bonus episode, which features some highly practical insights for organizers, volunteers, and public servants. So we have! (All the other bonus episodes are good too; please subscribe.) — Right wing movements thrive by cultivating fears of disorder. Conservatives depict blue cities as sites of …

1
Are We Already Forgetting about January 6th? with John Ganz 1:33:55

2M ago1:33:55

1:33:55

Hello! Today we have a belated 1/6 anniversary special with repeat guest John Ganz, whose great book “When the Clock Broke” can be ordered here and whose essential substack can be read here. We discuss how the public will remember January 6th and whether it might already be fading from the collective memory. What do we make of it today after last N…

1
Strategies for the Resistance 2.0 with Leah Greenberg 52:34

2M ago52:34

52:34

Well, here we are. The second inauguration of Donald Trump is quickly approaching. And there’s no doubt that progressives have a lot of work to do in the months and years ahead. Our guest this week co-founded one of the biggest groups that initially came about in response to Trump 1.0. Leah Greenberg is co-founder and co-executive director of Indiv…

1
Are Progressives to Blame for Urban Disorder? (w/ Hayes Davenport) [Teaser] 3:59

2M ago3:59

3:59

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy Right wing movements thrive by cultivating fears of disorder. Conservatives depict blue cities as sites of rampant crime, chaos, and iniquity. And often enough, it is progressives — with their overdeveloped empathy and concern for the poor and criminalized — who …

1
H1B, Vivek and the Big Fight in the Right 1:13:23

2M ago1:13:23

1:13:23

Hello! After a long string of edifying and informative conversations with experts and thinkers, Tyler and I catch up on the big fight in MAGA world over H1B visa holders, highly skilled immigrants, and what we make of Vivek’s big tweet about… Saved By the Ball? Kids going to malls instead of studying? Really what year did he think he lives in? Anyw…

1
The Case for Unconditional Cash Transfers with Jiaying Zhao 47:07

2M ago47:07

47:07

Happy New Year! Given the holiday, we are sharing one of our most memorable conversations. Stay tuned through the end as we also share updates on this topic. From the original description: You’d probably guess that a major factor contributing to homelessness is a lack of money. Yet, very few programs provide unconditional and lump sum cash to unhou…

1
Women vs. The System (w/ Dorothy Fortenberry) 1:07:32

3M ago1:07:32

1:07:32

Back in October, before the 2024 election, we had on our friend—and brilliant screenwriter and playwright—Dorothy Fortenberry to talk about gender and the presidential campaign. Amid all the postmortems and Democratic soul searching, we wanted to have Dorothy back on to revisit some of those questions, starting with the difficulties women face in r…

1
What Happens When Americans Get $1,000 a Month Unconditional Cash Transfers? with Elizabeth Rhodes and David Broockman 44:35

3M ago44:35

44:35

What are the effects when you give $1,000 a month in unconditional cash transfers to low-income Americans for three years? Our guests this week studied the behavioral and political outcomes of this in a 3,000-person study. Elizabeth Rhodes is the research director for the Unconditional Cash Study at OpenResearch, a nonprofit research lab founded by…

1
Men in Black 1:11:30

3M ago1:11:30

1:11:30

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Men in Black, the 1997 sci-fi action comedy directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D’Onofrio and Rip Torn. Men in Black was written by Ed Soloman and shot by the late Donald Peterman — whose credits include Flashd…

1
The "Groups" and the Non Profit Industrial Complex with Dr. Claire Dunning 1:14:18

3M ago1:14:18

1:14:18

Hello! Today we have another informative and deep episode with Claire Dunning, a historian and associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. Her first book, which came out with the University of Chicago Press in 2022, is a history of urban nonprofits and philanthropic organizations titled Nonprofit Neighborhoods:…

1
Trump 2.0 and the Courts (w/ the 5-4 podcast) 1:05:00

3M ago1:05:00

1:05:00

It's been a while since we've had our friends from the 5-4 podcast on KYE, and we thought there was no better time to do so than the weeks before Donald Trump is inaugurated, again, as president. As listeners might guess, we wanted to talk to them about what opportunities Trump might have during his second term to reshape the federal judiciary—and …

1
“The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi” with Wright Thompson 52:41

3M ago52:41

52:41

The 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi, is one of the most infamous crimes in American history. Yet, decades later, so much of what happened to Till is still widely unknown. Our guest this week points out that this is no accident. Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN and is the aut…

1
What just happened in Korea? with Max Kim 1:17:05

3M ago1:17:05

1:17:05

Hello! Today we have on Max Kim, the Seoul correspondent for the LA Times and a repeat TTSG guest to provide a worthy service. If you are interested in what's happening in Korea but don't know a whole lot about Korea history, politics, or even who President Yoon might be outside of a few viral clips of him singing and his incredibly stupid recent c…

1
How Democratic Backsliding Happens with Steve Levitsky 52:23

3M ago52:23

52:23

We’re in strange times. In the U.S., we’re finding ourselves in a situation in which the possibility of genuine democratic retrenchment and some version of presidential authoritarian dictatorship is a real possibility. There’s a lot to consider as the liberal democracy we’ve become accustomed to could erode right before our eyes in the near future.…

1
Reagan, the Movie (w/ Jesse Brenneman) [Teaser] 4:11

3M ago4:11

4:11

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy We wanted to offer something of a palette cleanser for our subscribers, so we decided to watch the recent movie, Reagan, with our intrepid producer, Jesse Brenneman. Even better, it's based on the 2006 book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, …

1
Is the Online Gambling Bubble about to Bust? with David Hill 1:11:01

3M ago1:11:01

1:11:01

This week we have on David Hill, the author of a great Rolling Stone article on the online sports betting industry. Dave is the best writer on this topic in America and we talked about his childhood in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the history behind some of these big companies like Draftkings and FanDuel and how they try to exploit players to turn a prof…

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