The Realignment: The Case Against Presidential Primary Debates
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Hey everyone,
Two programming notes:
I hope everyone had a great weekend and the chance to listen to last Friday’s episode on the Truman Committee’s investigation into corruption during World War II. As I said in the episode’s intro, there has been a lot of audience interest in dedicated history content, so on the weeks that Saagar and I don’t post discussion episodes, there will be a free history episode.
Below you’ll find a paid post for Substack subscribers. As I said last week, we’re still figuring out the Substack/Supercast dynamic.
Last Week’s Free Episodes
369 | Steve Drummond: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win WWII
(AUDIO)
368 | Thom Shanker: Welcome to the Age of Danger - New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats
367 | Ashlee Vance: The Misfits and Geniuses Winning the New Space Race
Upcoming Episodes
May 16 | Timothy B. Lee on Why I'm not worried about AI causing mass unemployment
May 18 | Evan Thomas on Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II
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What We’re Reading: 2023 Edition
The Case Against 2024 Democratic Presidential Debates
During the last Realignment discussion and Ask Me Anything episode, Saagar and I got into a mild argument about the Democratic National Committee’s decision to follow the longstanding bipartisan tradition of not holding primary debates when an incumbent president runs for reelection.
Surprising no one, Saagar’s sympathies lay with Democrats who would like to see President Biden onstage with RFK Jr., Marianne Williamson, or some hypothetical (and frankly nonexistent) mainstream alternative. He echoed the dissatisfaction with the lack of available choices, born out in polling.
From my perspective, neither President Biden or then-President Trump in 2020 are/were under any obligation to participate in party primary debates. Both incumbent presidents won incredibly crowded, and open, presidential primaries, and represent the broad coalition that makes up their respective parties. Most importantly, incumbent presidents have actual governing records, which have their own pluses and minuses.
The above opinion won’t convince a single RFK Jr./Marianne Williamson is still somehow listening to the podcast and/or reading this Substack. So instead of just dismissing the pro-debate position, and before going into my broader critique of the debate format, I’ll offer constructive advice: