The Realignment - New Monday Edition: Show Changes, Realignment Live Meet-Up, and More...
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Welcome Back to The Realignment
Thanks for checking out The Realignment’s Substack newsletter.
If you’re new, hit subscribe to get future issues in your inbox every *Monday*.
As promised last Friday, The Realignment’s Substack newsletter now comes out on Mondays.
This is part of a broader set of changes to the show:
The Realignment will go back to releasing two, not three, interviews a week. Doing so will allow the show to stay laser-focused on making sure guests and topics fit into the overall thesis. Moving forward, that’ll enable us to release more As than Bs/Cs.
Note: I’m thinking about how I can use this Substack’s podcast feature to put together more history and book focused content that doesn’t pollute the main feed or feel random.
Fridays are now reserved for exclusive content such as the Q&A/AMA Supercast Saagar and I will release on the 10th. You can subscribe to our Supercast content here and check out some of the AMA questions subcribers have submitted.
I’m particularly interested in answering this question in response to our Vivek Ramaswamy interview:
Interviewing Politcians
After listening to your interview of Vivek Ramaswamy, I do think you both did a good job of asking pressing questions, making him answer the questions, and being fair. But I also can't help but find interviews of politicians to be completely pointless overall; there's no analysis being done, we know all of their answers ahead of time, so what's the point? Do you plan on interviewing more politicians in the future? How do you feel about this? I think the audience would be interested to hear you flesh this out.
What’s the difference between the Supercast and this Substack? The Supercast is where Saagar and I jointly respond to audience Q&A/post our discussion episodes.
This Substack is operationally owned by me (Marshall). As everyone knows, Saagar’s schedule isn’t compatible with expanded work such as this, so I’d like to offer this as another venue for expanding The Realignment’s work, something I’ll expand on in next week’s edition.
Both the Supercast and the Substack are competitively priced at $5 a month each. That said, if you’re a $500 lifetime member of our Supercast, I’m going to grandfather you into the Substack’s paid edition this week.
ICYMI: Last Week’s Free Episodes
350 | Busting the Myth of Market Fundamentalism with Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway
349 | Vivek Ramaswamy Makes the Case for His 2024 Presidential Campaign
348 | Is Taiwan Next?: Part II with Elbridge Colby
The Realignment Bookshop
We’ve created a Realignment Bookshop affiliate store showcasing books by guests, what we’re actively reading this year, and deeper dives into the featured topic of an episode.
If you purchase a book using our link, the show gets a 10% commission, a local, independent bookseller gets support, and you get an awesome book!
What We’re Reading: 2023 Edition
Realignment Live Event: Iraq War 20th Anniversary
I was hanging out with a Realignment listener/now friend in Austin last weekend. He works in tech, likes to read, and has a broad interest in politics, foreign policy, and tech (aka, the prime demographic for the show).
One of his laments is that he doesn’t know that many people at work who’re interested in these same topics, or at least want to talk about them beyond the surface level of everyday politics.
This feeling, which I bet many listeners/readers share, is exactly why I’m pumped to kick-off our Realignment Live online events at the end of this month. The first topic is the Iraq War, since this month is the war’s 20th anniversary.
Who is eligible: Paid Substack subscribers and Supercast lifetime members.
What: A Zoom/online meet up for Realignment listeners and I to hangout and chat.
Reading List
This is a broad list of books about the Iraq War that I’ve read, listened to, and encountered over the past decade. Absolutely no need to read all (or any) of them to participate in the discussion.
Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars by Daniel Bolger
Imperial Life in thee Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekran
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll
To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq by Robert Draper
Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush by Robert Draper
War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism by Douglas J. Feith
The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power by Fred Kaplan
The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War by Fred Kaplan
By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld by Bradley Graham
I highly recommend Errol Morris’ documentary on Secretary Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known
The Endgame: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama by Michael R. Gordon & Bernard E. Trainor
Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael R. Gordon & Bernard E. Trainor
Degrade and Destroy: The Inside Story of the War Against the Islamic State, from Barack Obama to Donald Trump by Michael R. Gordon
Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War by Michael Isikoff & David Corn
The Great Rift: Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, and the Broken Friendship That Defined an Era by James Mann
The Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet by James Mann
Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War by Peter Mansoor
Leap of Faith: Hubris, Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy Tragedy by Michael Mazzar
The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks
The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2009 by Thomas E. Ricks
The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today by Thomas E. Ricks
Known and Unknown: A Memoir by Donald Rumsfeld
The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq by Emma Sky
Bush by Jean Edward Smith
The Last Republicans: Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush by Mark K. Updegrove
Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick
The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg
Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Ice Man, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan Wright
I highly recommend the HBO miniseries based on the book. It’s peak 2000s (for good and for ill).
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
The Terror Years: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State by Lawrence Wright
Below the paywall, subscribers will find a poll to help me find a date to host the first event.