Welcome to The Realignment (Newsletter)

First edition of The Realignment newsletter, plus our episodes with Scott Galloway and Andrew Sullivan.

Where to listen:

• Browser

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• YouTube (video’s coming back soon, we promise).

Welcome to The Realignment

Hope you all are having an awesome Thanksgiving weekend! And a huge thank you to everyone who signed up for the first edition of The Realignment’s newsletter. We’ll send this out every Friday afternoon. Comment below with any suggestions with things we should add/expand on here.

We dropped two great episodes with Professor Scott Galloway and The Weekly Dish’s Andrew Sullivan this week. Scott came on the show to promote his new book: Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity. Andrew covered his hopes and fears for the coming Biden presidency.

Speaking of books, we’ve created an affiliate shop at bookshop.org. We’ll feature our guests’ books and anything else we’ve used to prep for the show. If you purchase a book using the link, we get a 10% commission, which really helps the show. We’ve gotten several requests for suggested reading and other materials, so watch this newsletter for future lists.

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, we’re going to use this space to feature questions and feedback. As on the show, you reach us at realignmentpod@gmail.com.

This week’s feedback is in response to our episode with Scott Galloway. The response is long, but we really appreciate it. Thomas, the listener, brings up some fair points. We’re on Thanksgiving vacation, so we’ll respond during Tuesday’s episode, but we want to use this newsletter as a forum for our growing Realignment community.

Thomas writes:

Dear Marshall & Saagar, 

I look forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays, as I get to listen to new episodes of "The Realignment" on my drive to work. Although I do not agree with all of your (or your guests', for that matter) political beliefs, I find myself learning something new every time I tune in. I am grateful that you are able to post episodes so regularly, with consistently high-quality commentary and guests.

However, I found yesterday's episode with Scott Galloway to be an exception. I understand that Mr. Galloway is a very accomplished person. However, it was an immense struggle to make it through the episode with him. Despite your brand of populist politics, I think that something that you both are consistently off about are the corona lockdowns. It seems to be your opinion that even if they are inconvenient, that it's nothing some money can't fix. Any objections pertaining to government overreach and philosophical questions are totally overlooked. This may explain your inability to push back on Mr. Galloway's hyper-privileged take on the U.S. 's "failed" coronavirus response. 

Although he acknowledged his fortunate position in life near the beginning of the episode (when he commented about having more money and time for boogie boarding with his kids now that he doesn't have to fly back and forth from Florida to NYC, or something like that), Mr. Galloway went from bad to worse throughout the episode. From stating that he would guess that "two-thirds of restaurant owners are millionaires," to wondering why Americans just can't make sacrifices like they did during WWII, to his ad hominem attack on Senator Rubio, I was aghast at Mr. Galloway's detachment from the lives of non-elite people. This was especially apparent during the section where he stated that business owners are not entitled to any government money in spite of their operations being shut down, or severely restricted, for the past nine months. He says that rich people are rich, and will continue to be rich (and I guess in his head, all small business owners are rich) after lockdowns pass. Therefore, they should just do their patriotic duty, shut down, and stop complaining. 

I can't help but think that if it were his bank account and career that was being impacted, if he weren't able to work as a professor, write books, and run an online business from the comfort of his home office, that he would be singing a different tune. His cavalier attitude towards those whose lives and livelihoods have been curtailed by state and local governments this past year is so emblematic of the problem our country faces. It's not that American's don't "believe in science," as Mr. Galloway stated. It's that people across the country are being told to take huge hits to their pocketbook and their quality of life by people whose social and economic status shield them from nearly all of the negative consequences of coronavirus related measures. 

Exit polls from the presidential election found coronavirus to be a significantly smaller concern for the average voter than we were led to expect by our punditry class. I hope that you and Saagar can begin to push back on any guests who treat the issue with as little nuance, and as much hyperbole, as Mr. Galloway did. 

Again, I appreciate the hard work you and your team put into the pod. This isn't intended as anything more than a piece of feedback. Just thought that it might help you to think a little bit differently about these issues moving forward. 

Thanks for hearing me out. Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

We’re betting Thomas wasn’t the only one with pointed thoughts on the episode. Reply to this an email or comment below.

Incoming Merch

We’re officially set to launch our mugs. Here’s a preview. Let us know what you think. Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten those of you who put in the early requests for free mugs.

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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!