Know Your Enemy

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. In this conversation, Matt and Sam range widely, beginning with Sam's recent NYT review of a book explaining how Hitler "dismantled a democracy in 53 days" then discussing the late, great conservative historian John Lukacs's Hitler of History , a survey of the many biographies written of the Nazi dictator. What makes for a useful historical analogy, especially in our age of the "fascism debate"? What about the past can we truly understand? And what should induce us to humility? From there, your co-hosts press on to more contemporary matters: Charlie Kirk's assassination, one year later, and how its consequences seem so different now than in the days after his death; how to know what truly matters now , to say nothing of hindsight; the slopification and inundation of our political consciences; and more! Sources: Sam Adler-Bell, " What the Third Reich Can Teach Us About America Today ," New York Times , Sept 1, 2026 Timothy W. Ryback, 53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy (2026) — " How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days ," The Atlantic , Jan 8, 2025 John Lukacs, The Hitler of History (1997) — The Last European War: September 1939–December 1941 (1976) — Historical Consciousness: The Remembered Past (1968) Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy (2006)

Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in American history, and it isn't close. Between his family's crypto business — designed to enable foreign oligarchs, criminals, and state actors to bribe the administration while enriching Trump and his family — his insider trading and manipulation of the stock market, a tariff regime designed to bind business interests to Trump's personal whims, and the advent of a virtual market for criminal fraudsters to purchase pardons from the president himself, Trump and his family have accrued billions of dollars while hollowing out the rule of law and corroding what's left of our democracy. It is brazen, appalling, and poisonous. To guide us through this many-circled hell, we're joined by Jacob Silverman, author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley , who's been covering the crypto beat and the Trump-family corruption for years. Jacob helps us wrap our heads around the immensity of this problem — and what, if anything, can be done about it. Further Reading: Jacob Silverman, " Teapot Dome. Watergate. They’re Nothing Compared With This ." NYTimes , Oct 17, 2025. — " Zyn and hustling in Las Vegas: Three days at the world's biggest Bitcoin party ," Business Insider , Jun 6, 2025. — " Binance’s MAGA-Branding Strategy ," The Nation, Feb 27, 2026. — " He Will Steal As Much As You Let Him ," Jacob Silverman Substack , Jul 11, 2025. Thomas Edsall, "‘ A Blatant and Gargantuan Conflict of Interest ,'" NYTimes , Aug 18, 2026. U.S. House of Representatives, Judiciary, Democrats. " Trump, Crypto, and a New Age of Corruption ," Nov 24, 2025. Michael Waldman, " Epic Corruption in Plain Sight ," Brennan Center , May 19, 2026. John Ganz, " Trump's Third-Worldism ," Unpopular Front , Aug 24, 2026. ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. We talk to Astra Taylor and Aaron Regunberg about their recent New Republic article about MAGA's embrace of animal rights—which, like RFK Jr. and "Make America Healthy Again," has allowed them to make inroads with constituencies typically associated with the left. What actually is the Trumpist right's vision of animal rights, and how does it differ from the left's? What might the matter reveal about the curious, combustible politics of this moment? And what should the left learn from this, not just when it comes to animal rights but the opportunities they seem to keep giving conservatives to offer compelling alternatives to the left on key issues? We take up these questions and more. Sources: Astra Taylor & Aaron Regunberg, " How MAGA Stole Animal Rights from the Left ," New Republic , Aug 17, 2026 — " Is Animal Rights the Next MAHA? " The Bemusement Tapes , Aug 17, 2026 Daniel Engber, " MAGA's Animal Nationalism ," The Atlantic , Feb 22, 2026 Matthew Scully, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy (2002) Jay Caspian Kang, " Why an Agnostic Animal-Rights Activist Went to Seminary ," New Yorker , Jan 27, 2026 Pope Francis, Laudato si': On Care for Our Common Home (2015) Sunaura Taylor, Beasts of Burden , (2017) Astra Taylor and Sunaura Taylor, “ Our Animals, Ourselves ,” Lux , Jan 2022. Out in September: Astra Taylor & Naomi Klein, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World

In this episode, we're pleased to welcome back historian Kim Phillips-Fein, one of the truly outstanding observers of the right, past and present, working today, for a conversation about her new book, Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America . It makes for a companion episode of sorts to our recent discussions on Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence, but this time about those who rejected equality: proponents of slavery, biological racists (in various forms), captains of industry, and more, from the American founding through today's tech billionaires like Peter Thiel. Listen: Bob Dylan, " My Back Pages " Listen Again: " The History of the History of the Right (w/ Kim Phillips-Fein) ," Know Your Enemy , Jan 18, 2024 Sources: Kim Phillips-Fein, Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight against Equality in America (2026) — Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics (2017) — Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal (2009) Steven Hahn, Illiberal America: A History (2024) Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It (1948) Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America: An Interpretation of American Political Thought Since the Revolution (1955) ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. What is going on with the right? Why are they so mad at each other? What accounts for their apparent malaise? Why are they arguing about the price of burritos? Is anyone qualified to replace Ross Douthat at the NY Times? How is Reihan Salam's Manhattan Institute gearing up to combat Mayor Zohran Mamdani? Will it work? And why is Chris Rufo suddenly so worried about the far-right fever swamp, which he did so much to cultivate? Matt and Sam check in with their favorite enemies — and find them wanting. This episode was edited and produced by the great Colin Wambsgans (Jesse is on vacation). Sources: Ezra Klein interview with Chris Rufo , New York Times , June 30, 2026 Rufo & Lomez, " Trump Won...Now the Online Right Is Falling Apart ," BlazeTV, Jul 28, 2026 Eliza Shapiro & Nicholas Fandos, " Can This Man Stop the Mamdani Agenda? Reihan Salam Loves New York. He Loves the Free Market. And He’s Very Worried ," New York Times , July 29, 2026 Sohrab Ahmari, " Trump Was the Never the One ," UnHerd , Mar 19, 2026. Natalie Allison & Isaac Arnsdorf, " Trump Privately Tells Donors to Back Vance While Publicly Keeping 2028 Open, " Washington Post , Aug 6, 2026 Dan Adler, " Tucker Carlson Threw Down the Post-MAGA Gauntlet. Can He Actually Build a Movement? " Vanity Fair , Aug 6, 2026 Amos Barshad, " Tucker Carlson: 'I'll I Have Is the Power to Talk and Be Heard ,’" Columbia Journalism Review , July 1, 2026 Brendan Rascius, " MTG and Tucker Carlson Announce New ‘Movement’ in Photo Packed with MAGA Renegades ," The Independent , Aug 1, 2026 Russ Buettner, " Trump Crypto Took $100 Million From a Businessman With Red Flags ," NYTimes , Aug 9, 2026 Christopher Hitchens & Christopher Caldwell, eds., Left Hooks, Right Crosses: A Decade of Political Writing (2002) Reihan Salam & Ross Douthat, Grand New Party: How Republicans can Win the Working Class and Save The American Dream (2008)

This episode begins by noting the proximity of two of the most significant events of the twentieth century, one archaeological, the other political: the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 and the founding of the modern State of Israel in 1948. What do they have to do with each other? A lot, it turns out, at least when it comes to archaeology's role in Israeli nationalism, from justifying their claim to "Judea and Samaria" to using the legal and bureaucratic aspects of protecting "heritage sites" as a way to seize territory to the draw for Christian Zionists of Israel's supposed stewardship of "the Holy Land." Throughout the conversation, we draw on our guest Jasper Nathaniel's years of reporting on these matters, and especially his heroic work documenting the brutality of Israeli settlers — and their enablers— in the West Bank. Support Jasper's essential work by subscribing to Infinite Jaz . Listen: Johnny Cash, The Holy Land (1968) Sources: Jasper Nathaniel, " In Ruins​: Archaeological Warfare in the West Bank ," The Drift , Dec 16, 2024 — " Israel's Archaeological Apartheid: An Update ," Dec 19, 2025 Rachel Poser, " Common Ground: The Politics of Archaeology in Jerusalem ," Harper's , Sept 2019 Bezalel Smotrich, " Israel's Decisive Plan ," 2017 James Genn, " 'Grandpa, Look What We Found': Huckabee Family Uncovers Ancient Coins in West Bank Caves ," The Jerusalem Post , Jan 6, 2026 Gary Rendsburg, " The Dead Sea Scrolls ," Great Courses lecture series, July 2013 ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

This episode originally aired June 15, 2026 on Patreon — we're unlocking it for the rest of you. Author and Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart returns to "Know Your Enemy" to discuss Tucker Carlson's newfound anti-Israel politics, their connection to his broader nationalist project, and how the left should think about right-wing anti-zionism. Sources: Peter Beinart, " What Tucker Carlson Means When He Talks About Israel ," New York Times , April 28, 2026 — " Progressives Must Not Give Tucker Carlson a Pass ," The Beinart Notebook , May 11, 2026 — Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning , (2025) Daniel G. Hummel, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism (2023) " Tyler Oliveira: Exposing Somali Welfare Abuse, Republican Hypocrisy & the Group You Can’t Criticize ," The Tucker Carlson Show , May 8, 2026 Will Alden, " The Many Equivocations of Curt Mills ," Jewish Currents, April 16, 2026.

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. Matt and Sam are joined by their great friend Dorothy Fortenberry to discuss the debacle of Graham Platner: the Maine Democratic Senate nominee who was forced to drop out amid allegations of rape. We compare notes about our evolving estimations of Platner, his appeal, and his scandals; uncover the gendered fantasies involved in his rise and fall; and game out what lessons can be learned from this experience — for the left and for the Democratic Party. Dorothy is an essayist, playwright, and TV writer/producer, including four seasons on “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In previous appearances, she's discussed #Resistance moms , art and climate change , and Trump's women-hating cabinet . A new show she worked on, “Nocturne,” is coming out on Apple TV in October. This episode was edited and produced by Colin Wambsgans (Jesse is on vacation). Further reading: Jessica Piper & Adam Wren, " Woman who dated Graham Platner says he sexually assaulted her ," Politico , July 6, 2026. Katie Gluck & Lisa Lerer, " Several Women Who Dated Graham Platner Recall 'Unsettling' Behavior ," NYTimes , June 4, 2026. Lisa Lerer, Katie Gluck, & Michael Kruse, " ‘A Slow-Rolling Disaster’: Inside the Implosion of the Platner Campaign ," NYTimes , Jul 8, 2026. Will Steakin & Chris Sommerfeldt, " ‘Professional malpractice’: The Platner fallout engulfs the operatives who made him ," Politico, July 7, 2026. Dorothy Fortenberry, " Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore ," Commonweal , Nov 5, 2020. — " One of Those Serious Women, " Commonweal , Apr 29, 2019. Moira Donegan, " Why was the pundit class so quick do defend Graham Platner ," The Guardian , Jul 10, 2026. Rebecca Traister, " What Women Saw in Graham Platner ," New York Magazine , July 9, 2026.

Lindsey Graham's death last week at 71 was as remarkable for the senator's relative "youth" as its possible political and electoral consequences, so much so that it actually prompted conspiracy theories about the precise nature of his passing. Meanwhile, 84-year old Mitch McConnell's status as among the living remains shrouded in mystery, and former president 83-year old former president Joe Biden announced that his memoir would be published in November via his cadaver-esque presence in a promotional video. In short, everywhere we look the signs of our decline into a sclerotic gerontocracy are present, and perhaps no one has approached this problem as comprehensively as Samuel Moyn in his new book, Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth—and What to Do About It . In this episode we talk with Sam about the historical precedents for our gerontocracy; the nature, extent, and causes of it; why his book is not an attack on the elderly; and possibilities for creatively rewriting our society's intergenerational contract; and more. Sources: Samuel Moyn, Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth—and What to Do About It (2026) Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison , Sept 6, 1789 James Madison, Federalist 49 , Feb 5, 1788 James Ceaser, " The Constitution: Sweet as Honey ," First Things , Sept 20, 2009 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835) ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. This conversation is something of a follow-up to our last episode on Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America . We begin by "providing receipts" for the views of prominent midcentury conservative intellectuals (Willmoore Kendall, Russell Kirk, and Mel Bradford, to name a few) about the Declaration, equality, and Lincoln, then take a step back to discuss what their quarrel with Lincoln, Harry Jaffa, Garry Wills, and other partisans of equality might reveal about the nature of the American founding and the shape of our country's history. After all that—and more—we consider NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's July 3 speech celebrating America's 250th anniversary and the promise and perils of leftwing patriotism. Listen again: " Lincoln at Gettysburg ," Know Your Enemy , July 6, 2026 Sources: Zohran Mamdani, " Remarks as Prepared: Mayor Mamdani Delivers Address Marking America’s 250th Birthday ," July 3, 2026 Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America (1992) Abraham Lincoln, " Letter to Joshua Speed ," Aug 24, 1855 — Speech at Chicago, Illinois , July 10, 1858 — Message to Congress , July 4, 1861 Alexander H. Stephens, " Corner Stone Speech ," March 21, 1861 James Madison, " Federalist no. 39 ," Jan 16, 1788 Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Roger Weightman , June 24, 1826 Willmoore Kendall & George W. Carey, The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition (1970) George W. Carey, In Defense of the Constitution (1997) Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order (1974) — John Randolph of Roanoke: A Study in American Politics (1951) Harry V. Jaffa, A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War (2000) George W. Bush, Second Inaugural Address , Jan 20, 2005

We're ringing in the 250th anniversary of the United States with an episode on Garry Wills's superb, Pulitzer Prize-winning 1992 book, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade the America . It's central argument is that Abraham Lincoln succeeded in revolutionizing how Americans thought of the founding of their country, especially the Declaration of Independence, with the Gettysburg Address—a revolution not just in "thought" but in "style," one that placed the Declaration's assertion of equality at the very center of our political tradition. The book is one that only Garry Wills could have written, with his PhD in Classics allowing him to compare Lincoln's "funeral oration" to that of Pericles, with his long meditation on the American presidency and leadership preparing him to grasp the enormity of the task Lincoln set himself, and with his time at National Review in his youth helping him understand why the American right never forgave Lincoln for succeeding. We discuss all this and more in our conversation about one of our favorite writer's very best books. Tickets for Sam's events: Tuesday with Tad Devine / Thursday with Dan Denvir . Previous KYE episodes on Garry Wills: Nixon Agonistes The Kennedy Imprisonment (w/ Jeet Heer) Bomb Power (w/ Madeleine Baker) Sources: Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America (1992) — Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State (2010) — " Martin Luther King Is Still on the Case! " Esquire , Aug 1, 1968 — "The Blind Teach Us to See," Boston Globe , Aug 20, 1970 Abraham Lincoln, " Letter to Joshua Speed ," Aug 24, 1855 Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1959) Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order (1974) Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey, The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition (1970) ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. In this episode we break down the results from last week's Democratic primaries in New York City, which saw candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America prevail in key congressional races (as well as downballot in local and state races). We break down what happened, review the deranged responses from both the right and centrist Democrats, the place of Israel/Palestine in these contests (and the ludicrous if expected charges of anti-semitism that followed), and consider what it might mean for the left in the age of Trump—however much longer that lasts—and more. Sources: Peruse all the results from the NYC Democratic primary at the New York Times . Noah Rothman, " The DSA Is a Hate Group, and What It Hates Is America ," National Review , June 24, 2026 — " The Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party That Everyone but the Democrats Saw Coming ," National Review , June 25, 2026 Brianna Lyman, " Socialist Primary Wins Prove Mass Migration Remakes America ," The Federalist , June 25, 2026 Jonah Goldberg, " Crazy Begets Crazy in New York City ," The Dispatch , June 24, 2026 Michael Luciano, " 'I'm Done, I'm Not in That F*cking Political Party':James Carville Freaks Out After Progressives Win Big in Democratic Primaries ," Mediaite , June 24, 2026 Elizabeth Kim, " 'You're next': The Black and Latino New Yorkers Feeling Burned by Mamdani's Primary Sweep ," Gothamist , June 24, 2026 Michael Lange, “ DSA vs. WFP ,” The Narrative Wars, May 18, 2026

As promised, here is our episode about Pope Leo XIV's recent encyclical, Magnifica humanitas , in which he brings to bear Catholic social teaching on the perils of artificial intelligence and what they reveal about what it really means to be human being. It's a distinctly Augustinian reading of our nature and destiny, marked not just by Leo's attention to our limits as flawed and fallible creatures, but the joy and hope found by living into them—which, finally, becomes his plea to see life from the perspective of the lowly, the downcast, the abandoned. To help us explain such a rich document, we had on our friend Jack Hanson, one of the most perceptive American writers on the Catholic Church. We tease out the connections between this Leo's first and encyclical and that of his namesake Leo XIII's Rerum novarum , an intervention on behalf of working people during the industrial and considered the origin of Catholic social teaching; Leo's "Augustinianism"; the encyclical's critique of artificial intelligence and what that has to do with its account of what really makes us human; and more. Sources: Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica humanitas , May 15, 2026 Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum , May 15, 1891 Jack Hanson, " A Serious Man: The Militant Mysticism of Charles Péguy ," Commonweal , May 3, 2021 – “ The Heresy of Americanism ,” The Drift , Jun 10, 2025. Michael Oakeshott, "The Tower of Babel" in On History and Other Essays (1983) Reinhold Niebuhr, "The Tower of Babel" in Beyond Tragedy: Essays on the Christian Interpretation of History (1937) Donna Haraway, “ A Cyborg Manifesto ,” (1985) ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. Author and Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart returns to "Know Your Enemy" to discuss Tucker Carlson's newfound anti-Israel politics, their connection to his broader nationalist project, and how the left should think about right-wing anti-zionism. Sources: Peter Beinart, " What Tucker Carlson Means When He Talks About Israel ," New York Times , April 28, 2026 — " Progressives Must Not Give Tucker Carlson a Pass ," The Beinart Notebook , May 11, 2026 — Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning , (2025) Daniel G. Hummel, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism (2023) " Tyler Oliveira: Exposing Somali Welfare Abuse, Republican Hypocrisy & the Group You Can’t Criticize ," The Tucker Carlson Show , May 8, 2026 Will Alden, " The Many Equivocations of Curt Mills ," Jewish Currents, April 16, 2026.

Pull up a chair and pour yourself a drink! For the third installment in our occasional series on important conservative books, or important books written by or embraced by conservatives, we take up Leo Strauss's Natural Right and History , based on his 1949 Walgreen Lectures at the University of Chicago (where he taught for two decades) and published in 1953. To help us, we called on our friend Matt Dinan , a political theorist who's associate professor in the Great Books Program at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, Canada. If you've listened to previous episodes and wanted us to go deeper on Leo Strauss, the German-Jewish political philosopher who came to the United States after fleeing Nazism, "Straussianism," and what they might have to do with American conservatism and our present political moment, here you go. After offering some background on Strauss and the context of Natural Right and History 's publication, we discuss Strauss's patriotic appeal to Americans in the book's introduction, walk listeners through the chapters that follow (explaining what "natural right" is and why it's paired with "history" in the title along the way), and close out by exploring Strauss's ambiguous relationship to American conservatism—and more! Sources: Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (1953) — On Tyranny (1963) — Spinoza's Critique of Religion (1965) Harry V. Jaffa, Thomism and Aristotelianism: A Study of the Commentary by Thomas Aquinas on the Nicomachean Ethics (1952) James W. Ceaser, " The American Context of Leo Strauss's Natural Right and History ," Perspectives on Political Science , Spring 2008 Richard Velkley, Heidegger, Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy: On Original Forgetting (2011) — " On the Roots of Rationalism: Strauss's 'Natural Right and History' as Response to Heidegger ," The Review of Politics , Spring 2008 ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. Last month, on May 14th, we were joined by nearly 800 listeners in New York City for the first ever Know Your Enemy live show, " Decline and Fall ." The event was a fundraiser for Dissent , so we called in the big guns, our great friend Mike Duncan, to join us on stage. Many KYE listeners will be familiar with Mike, the brilliant and prolific host of the Revolutions and, especially relevant for the purposes of this conversation, History of Rome podcasts. We discuss how the right talks about decline, their hilariously ignorant invocations of Rome, our very symptomatic obsession with political decline and dissolution, the power of nostalgia and declension narrative—and then answer audience questions! Thank you again to everyone who joined us in person, to Mike Duncan, to Patrick Iber and Rosalie Ryan and everyone at Dissent , to our intrepid producer Jesse Brenneman (who was able to fly in from Montana to join us), to listeners near and far who so generously continue to support Know Your Enemy! Donate to Dissent here . Photo credit: Jack Califano Sources: For quotes from conservatives about Rome's decline: Reagan , Nixon , Buchanan , Vance Mike Duncan, The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic (2017) James J. Walsh, The Thirteenth, Greatest of Centuries (1907) Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (1962) Kate Wagner, " Fear of a Breakdown ," Late Review, May 11, 2026. D.W. Winnicott, " Fear of a Breakdown, " Intl. Review of Psychoanalysis, (1974)

In this episode we have a conversation with reporter Jasper Craven about his new book, God Forgives, Brothers Don't: The Long March of Military Education and the Making of American Manhood , which is a made-for-KYE feat of research that offers a fascinating way into perennial themes of this show: masculinity, U.S. empire, the relationship between violence and civilization, and the surprising camp of conservatism. Along the way we discuss Donald Trump, the mob, Peter Brian Hegseth, Graham Platner, and more. Sources: Jasper Craven, God Forgives, Brothers Don't: The Long March of Military Education and the Making of American Manhood (2026) — " Battle of the Sexes: Pete Hegseth's War on Women ," The Baffler , Sept 2025 Dan Gilgoth, The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War (2007) Dr. James Dobson, Dare to Discipline: A Pyschologist Offers Urgent Advice to Parents and Teachers (1970) ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. As always, listeners asked more mailbag questions than we could respond to in one episode, so we continue answering them here for subscribers. In this second round we take up: a playlist of KYE's Straussian-related episodes; (Straussian) esoteric writing versus (French) death of the author and the art of writing (and interpretation); prose style—what it is, why it matters, its relationship to poetry, and the rhythms of Norman Maclean; a "Straussian" reading of Steely Dan; and why liberalism is (mostly) worth defending. Thank you to everyone who attended our live event in NYC on Thursday! We had a great time. Sources: Leo Strauss, Persecution and the Art of Writing (1952) — Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958) Stanley Rosen, Hermeneutics as Politics (1987) Wallace Stevens, " The Snow Man ," Poetry , Oct 1921 Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories (1976) — The Norman Maclean Reader (2008) Edmund White, Nocturnes for the King of Naples (1978) Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (2004) W.H. Auden, " Friday's Child ," (1958) Sam Adler-Bell, " Can Liberalism Stop Being So Darn Liberal? " The New Republic , June 20, 2024.

Not only was May 6th the seven-year anniversary of Know Your Enemy, an occasion to celebrate your support of our work, but it's been nearly a year since we last opened the mailbag and answered listener questions. As always, we loved thinking about the topics you so thoughtfully and intelligently asked us to consider, and we take up a number of them in this episode: the future of the MAGA coalition and GOP politics post-Trump, the promise and perils of graduate school, novels we unexpectedly loved, our favorite places to read, how the left should understand liberalism, among others! * BUY TICKETS FOR KYE x MIKE DUNCAN LIVE IN NYC * Sources: Katherine Miller, Margie Omero, & Adrian J. Rivera, " 'Disappointed,' 'Surprised,' 'Betrayed': 11 Trump Voters on What Has Gone Wrong ," New York Times , April 27, 2026 Christopher Caldwell, " The End of Trumpism ," The Spectator , Mar 30, 2026 Helena Rosenblatt, The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century (2018) Daniel Schlozman & Sam Rosenfeld, The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics (2024) Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (1981) William T. Kavanaugh, " Killing for the Telephone Company: Why the Nation-State is Not the Keeper of the Common Good ," Modern Theology , April 2004 Roger Scruton, Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life (2005) ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. REMINDER: COME SEE KYE x MIKE DUNCAN LIVE IN NYC Given the string of recent episodes that, in various ways, grappled with religion we wanted to take a step back and offer a rather personal conversation about believing in God, or not, and what difference it might makes. The discussion begins by revisiting when we first met over a decade ago and talked a lot about faith, then ranges widely, including: atheism vs agnosticism, W.H. Auden, why we're not experiencing a religious revival in the United States (but could be soon), and more. Sources: Christopher Beha, Why I Am Not an Atheist (2026) Edward Mendelson, " The Secret Auden ," New York Review of Books , March 20, 2014 David Martin, w/ a reply from Edward Mendelson, " Why Auden Married ," New York Review of Books , April 24, 2014 Matthew Sitman, " Saving Calvin from Clichés: An Interview with Marilynne Robinson ," Commonweal , Oct 5, 2017 Ryan Burge, " Religion Has Become A Luxury Good For The Middle Class, Married College Graduate With Children ," Religion Unplugged , July 12, 2023 Daniel Cox, " The Illusion of America's Religious Revival ," American Storylines , Nov 13, 2025 Walker Percy, Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book (1983) — The Message in the Bottle: How Queer Man Is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do with the Other (1975) The Living Thoughts of Kierkegaard , edited & with an introduction by W.H. Auden (1999) W.H. Auden, " In Praise of Limestone ," in Nones (1951) " Jill Lepore on Nationalism, Populism, and the State of America ," EconTalk , April 15, 2019