The Realignment: Saagar's Best Reads of 2020 and Why Culture, Not Economics Could Drive American Politics

The Realignment's interviews with Joe Scarborough and Avik Roy, Saagar's 2020 book list, a new paper on the populist right, listener mail, and more

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Welcome Back to The Realignment

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This newsletter goes out every Friday afternoon. Comment below with any suggestions or things we should add/expand on.

This week, we aired episodes with Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough about his new book Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization. We then spoke with the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity’s Avik Roy about his post 2020 election conference, Agenda 2025, along with his vision for a new centrist political coalition.

Unsurprisingly, our conversation with Joe was one of our most polarizing episodes yet. If you’d like to hear more, listen to the opening Q&A section of our Avik episode. The TL;DR is that Joe’s perspective, especially on the ways political outsiders fail in D.C., is well worth listening to. And frankly, whether you agree with Joe’s views or not, he holds one of the most important platforms on cable tv and arguably channels the Joe Biden 2015 restoration worldview better than anyone else we could speak with. Us ignoring him and building an echo chamber on this podcast wouldn’t do anyone any favors (while also boring the two of us to death).

Lastly, Avik wanted us to pass along the following links:

1) His Agenda 2025 Talk

2) The referenced Rick Perry speech on race, plus the WSJ’s coverage

Weekly Must Read(s)

We’re going to start throwing up links to pieces, podcasts, Tweets, and videos that we think will provide useful perspective.

Today’s is a paper by George Hawley and Richard Hanania of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology that makes some controversial claims about the future of the populist right.

The National Populist Illusion: Why Culture, Not Economics, Drives American Politics

From the summary:
During the Trump presidency, some of the most interesting and innovative thinking on the center right has come from writers and politicians sometimes called “national populists.” This group challenges Republican orthodoxy on questions of economics and suggests that a new policy agenda, focused more on working-class concerns, could realign the U.S. electorate. We consider the plausibility of their claims, examining the relevant scholarly literature and recent trends among voters. The data show that most voters who supported Trump were overwhelmingly driven by cultural rather than economic concerns. This implies that the national populist vision is unlikely to provide major electoral gains for the Republican Party.

Definitely know what you think about this one.

2020 Book List Part One

As promised, here’s Saagar’s top book list for 2020. Check back here next week for Marshall’s list. If you’d like to purchase any, visit our bookshop.org list. For more info, see the next section of the newsletter.

1. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

   1. In a year where pop-general nonfiction on race politics in America today have become ever more popular, I found it important to return to the classics and our roots. Battle Cry of Freedom is considered the definitive one volume history of the American Civil War. Reading it in the midst of social and political chaos in America gave me profound hope that America at its best can overcome even its worst challenges, that the best lives inside of us at the darkest moments, and underscored to me the importance of great political leadership in times of crisis.

2. Disney War X The Ride Of A Lifetime X The Revolution Was Televised

   1. The pandemic has forever changed the way Americans consume media, the type of media they consume, and the companies that produce that media. These three books detail the evolution of the modern-American media conglomerate, how that conglomerate was then transformed and innovated to become a streaming juggernaut in the 2020’s, and how high quality premium content took over the world. As a content creator understanding the history and evolution of the medium, the business models, executives, and other players behind the scenes I found these books invaluable. 

3. Billion Dollar Whale

   1. The moment I started reading this book, I just couldn’t stop. Wall Street Journal reporters are masters of narrative non-fiction and this book does not disappoint as it details how a pudgy Malaysian 20-something was able to con the highest levels of the financial, media, and political elite into making himself a billionaire. I often say that corrupt political elites outside of the West understand us much better than we do ourselves. To see how easily our most powerful institutions are manipulated by money and cunning, read this book. 

4. Loudest Voice In The Room X The Man Who Owns The News X Morning Show X Up All Night

   1. I am someone who basically owes all of my success to the failures of television cable news in the modern era. Understanding how exactly the medium came to be with CNN, how it became forever disrupted by Roger Ailes, and how Rupert Murdoch changed the way we report the news across 3 different continents has paradoxically helped me understand how to better grow my two projects at Rising and The Realignment. I also read Brian Stelter’s ‘Morning Show’ to understand the precursor to TV news in the form of the Today and Good Morning America franchises which to this day are relied upon by millions of people. A common theme of many of the books on my list this year is that to innovate in the future you need to deeply understand your predecessors in the space you’re operating in. 

5. No Filter

   1. I’ll say it, I respect the hell out of Mark Zuckerberg. That’s probably not the takeaway for most people after reading this book, but to have the foresight of what Instagram would become when it had only a million users, 10 employees, and not a dollar in revenue is legitimate genius. This book is the story of Instagram, but to me it is the story of how technology quite literally shapes America culture, the media, the restaurant industry, and the very idea of what we think of as aesthetically pleasing. On the business side, this book was a fascinating insight into how Mark Zuckerberg operates as CEO of Facebook, what exactly he views as threats to his core business in the long run, and the many tradeoffs that tech companies have to make between user experience and increasing ad revenue. 

6. Bitcoin Billionaires X Digital Gold

   1. 2020 for me was the year of Bitcoin. To be honest, Bitcoin and the enthusiasts behind it are the polar opposite of my politics. But the theory of bitcoin, its utility, and the subculture that birthed it is nonetheless an important and profound one that will shape the way we use the internet as the years progress. The many personalities behind Bitcoin (like the Winklevi twins) make the story of its meteoric rise in the last decade even more compelling. What I learned most from reading and participating in the Bitcoin community is how the very means through which you conduct transactions is itself a reflection of your culture, what you prioritize, and how you govern yourself. 

7. Scott and Amundsen  X Mawson’s Will X The Kingdom Of Ice X River Of Doubt X Lost City Of Z

   1. This was a stressful year, I think that’s probably the case for everyone. I’ve always had a strong strain of wanderlust inside me as my parents dragged me all over the globe as a child so being restricted home was tough. I got through it by escaping into the tales of explorers from Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen’s race to the South Pole, to Douglas Mawson’s tale of survival in the Antarctic all by himself, to the RIVETING tale of Percy Fawcett’s obsession with the Amazon, and our own former President Theodore Roosevelt’s journey down that river. I love reading stories of extraordinary men facing off against the most extreme that nature has to offer, what can go wrong, how to persevere, the sheer wonder of laying eyes on somewhere new for the very first time. To give you an idea of how obsessed I am, these are only he best exploration books I read this year….email me if you want some more recommendations. 

8. Michael Jordan: The Life X Endgame

   1. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t particularly like sports. I probably haven’t watched a professional basketball game in over a decade, but of course 2020 was the year that the documentary ‘The Last Dance’ on Michael Jordan’s life and career was released. I was absolutely glued to the screen watching it and quickly realized that the story of Jordan is not the story of sports, but the story of American culture in the 1990’s, the story of the exact type of mindset it takes to be the very best in your field, and the many pitfalls that come from a singular dedicated obsession with being the best. Later on this year I ended up binging The Queens Gambit and found almost identical behaviors by Chess prodigy Bobby Fischer. Bobby in his own right was a cultural icon of his time, his obsessions, innate abilities, and demons are fascinating to read despite how sadly his life ultimately turned out. 

9. Empire Of The Summer Moon X The Road To El Dorado X American Buffalo

   1. 2020 was the year my fascination with the American West began to really flourish. It began as many of my weird obsessions do with a Joe Rogan Podcast with the author of the Empire of the Summer Moon. I quickly became obsessed with the early history of the American West, its culture, and the collision of history between American Settlers and Native Americans. Every vacation I was able to take in 2020 I went West and tried to spend as much of it outside as possible treading some of the same ground explored in these books. In all 3, I took away a deeper appreciation for this incredible country, its history, and symbiotic relationship between man and wildlife at the most basic form of life. 

10. Deng Xioping and the Transformation of China X The Scientist And The Spy

    1. These two books complement each other in a way I’m not sure many would realize. The first is the story of the extraordinary life of Deng Xioping who succeeded Mao Zedong as ruler of China in the 1980’s and turned into the quasi capitalist-authoritarian country that it is today. Deng understood the West better than many politicians in America, from the beginning he laid out a strategy of exploiting the greed of the American elite to steal, repurpose, and build China’s own native capacity while maintaining the integrity of its authoritarian system. I begrudgingly respect his genius. The latter book is a microcosm of the threat we face from China with the tale of a Chinese agricultural espionage agent with connections to the top of the Chinese political elite. The espionage case itself is likely representative of thousands of spies within American business and gives one a glimpse of how these networks operate. 

The Realignment’s Bookshop.org Storefront

As a reminder, we’ve created a Realignment podcast affiliate shop for books by our guests at bookshop.org. The shop currently features the books of 10 of our guests including Michael Lind, Scott Galloway, Reeves Wiedeman, Ross Douthat, Matt Stoller, and Lisa Napoli. We’ll soon have all of our previous guests’ books uploaded to the shop.

If you purchase a book using our link, we get a 10% commission, a local bookseller gets supported, and you get an awesome book! Watch this space for new uploads and future lists by topic.

Listener Mail

Adding the Realignment Qs section was one of our favorite things about relaunching the podcast in July. We take a question an episode, along with the monthly Q&A shows. Still, there usually isn’t enough space to respond to everything, so we’re going to use this space to feature questions and feedback. As on the show, you can reach us at realignmentpod@gmail.com.

This week’s feedback’s in response to Joe Scarborough. We’re huge fans of the “how to do populism” show frame and will definitely put one together.

Brandon writes:

Just wanted to send some feedback/ideas regarding the pod. 

While I don't agree with much of what Joe said I thought his opinions on Trump, Obama, and Bush contrasting with Biden in their respective adeptness/willingness (or lack thereof) to work within the DC politics machine were interesting. There's a common criticism of the populist left and right that while these political groups have a variety of very bright thinkers there are very very few individuals around who can actually work in politics effectively. The fact is this is a major problem, if we lack a contingent of individuals who are actually politically savvy we're just going to continue to be a bunch of nerds on the sidelines shaking our fists at the machine. Or worse, we choke on so many blackpills that all of the nascent populist movement turns into that branch of left-twitter that likes to pretends the only route forward to effect any changes, often on subjects that already have existing infrastructure to accomplish (e.g. trust-busting and anti-monopoly), will require some kind of bloody violent revolution.

So my feedback/idea is the following. I think it'd be interesting to get some political populists on the pod who have run for office, have helped somebody else run, or are in the pressure-politicians type of populist activism, in order to pick their brains on things like:

1) How to run on a populist message effectively?

2) Mistakes or things they wish they'd known beforehand.

3) Things they learned that made populist policy implementation difficult. 

4) A general discussion on the political nitty-gritties of running for office or advancing populist change within the existing political machine.

I know some prior guests like Zephyr could be cool for this, but other like Briahna Joy Gray, Hawley's campaign manager Kyle Plotkin, Glenn Greenwald's husband David Miranda (Brazilian, but I'm sure there's applicable crossover related to running in local politics, which is by far the most important base to build right now for populism) would likely have useful insights. I'm sure there are others who I'm missing.

Next Week’s Episodes

On Tuesday, we’ll air an episode with Alex Kantrowitz who writes the awesome Big Technology Substack. He used to cover tech for BuzzFeed News and just wrote Always Day One: How the Tech Titans Plan to Stay on Top Forever, so he’s the perfect guest to cover Facebook vs. the FTC and states, Section 230, TikTok, and how the Biden Administration will approach tech.

On either Thursday or Friday, we’ll speak with Jennifer Harris, who directs the Hewlett Foundation’s Economy and Society Initiative. Hewlett’s just announced a five-year, $50 million initiative to “develop a new intellectual paradigm to replace neoliberalism — the framework that has dominated our economic and political debates for more than forty years.”

They recently did a Q&A with Realignment favorite Oren Cass about conservatism’s role in replacing neoliberalism.

If you have any thoughts/questions about what we should discuss with Alex and Jennifer, leave a comment below or email us at realignmentpod@gmail.com.

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Let us know what you think about this, or any week’s, episodes. Please share it with anyone who’d enjoy the podcast.

We’re excited to build out this newsletter, so we’d also appreciate any suggestions. You can reply directly to this email or send us a note at realignmentpod@gmail.com. Have a great weekend!