Bill Galston
Special guest
William A. Galston holds the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program, where he serves as a Senior Fellow. Prior to January 2006 he was the Saul Stern Professor and Acting Dean at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, founding director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), and executive director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal, co-chaired by former Secretary of Education William Bennett and former Senator Sam Nunn. A participant in six presidential campaigns, he served from 1993 to 1995 as Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Policy.
Galston is the author of nine books and more than 100 articles in the fields of political theory, public policy, and American politics. His most recent books are Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy (Yale, 2018), Public Matters (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), and The Practice of Liberal Pluralism (Cambridge, 2004). A winner of the American Political Science Association’s Hubert H. Humphrey Award, Galston was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.
Galston has appeared on all the principal television networks and is frequently interviewed on NPR. He writes a weekly column for the Wall Street Journal.
Bill Galston has been a guest on 112 episodes.
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Hinge Moment of History
February 25th, 2022 | 54 mins 28 secs
AEI's Adam White joins the group to consider whether the invasion of Ukraine will shake the US from its decline into imbecility. Also whither the Supreme Court?
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San Francisco Sends Democrats a Message
February 18th, 2022 | 1 hr 29 secs
George Will joins to discuss the San Francisco warning, the Republicans' drift, and the inflation danger.
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Open Everything?
February 11th, 2022 | 1 hr 5 mins
Tom Nichols joins the panel to discuss whether it's time to end Covid restrictions, Ukraine and democracy, and "legitimate political discourse."
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A Canceling We Will Go
February 4th, 2022 | 56 mins 45 secs
Peter Wehner joins the group, which includes Bill Kristol this week, to discuss the Whoopi Goldberg and other cancel controversies as well as Trump's acknowledgement of attempting a coup, and who's really abandoning democracy, Republicans or Democrats.
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Putin Wants to Turn Back the Clock
January 28th, 2022 | 52 mins 32 secs
belarus, biden, breyer, confirmation, defensive weapons, democracy, democrats, energy, france, georgia, gerhard schroder, germany, manchin, merkel, nord stream, nuclear power, olaf scholz, pew, putin, qatar, republican base, russia, scotus, senate, sinema, soviet union, supreme court, tucker carlson, ukraine
Stanford’s Francis Fukuyama joins the group to discuss Ukraine and the impact of a new Supreme Court justice on politics and jurisprudence.
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Do's and Don'ts of Democracy Protection
January 21st, 2022 | 55 mins 19 secs
arizona, biden’s first year, big lie, black voters, brennan center, desantis, early voting, economy, gdp, georgia, inflation, new york, presidency, republican legislators, senate, unemployment, voter id, voting rights, voting rights act, water bottles
CATO's Walter Olson brings his libertarian insight to a discussion of voting rights and wrongs — and Biden's first year.
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Biden's Nadir Week?
January 14th, 2022 | 55 mins 21 secs
ballots. vote counting, belarus, biden, bull connor, chicken, covid, eastman, eric adams, europe, filibuster, georgia, gerrymandering, green card, harry enten, immigrants, jefferson davis, lincoln, lukashenko, mcconnell, milk, nato, new york city, nyc, omicron, russia, ruy teixeira, senate, sinema, stacey abrams, supermarket shelves, supply chain, swing states, ukraine, vote casting, voter turnout, voting, voting rights
A.B. Stoddard and Ben Parker join the group to discuss Biden's kamikaze voting rights push and Putin's threats to Ukraine.
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Were the Clintonites Right after All?
December 24th, 2021 | 59 mins 25 secs
activists, bbb, biden, bill clinton, build back better, centrists, child tax credit, cultural issues, defund the police, democratic leadership council, education, federal spending, hillary, hispanics, house boat, immigrants, latinos, manchin, non-college education, obama, pelosi, progressives, protesters, reagan era, senate, sister souljah, spending, suburban swing voters, the 90s, the clinton era, the squad, viriginia, west virginia, white working class
The centrist wing of the democratic party is making a bit of a comeback. With Joe Manchin calling the shots on BBB — and cultural issues like "defund the police" not winning even among Black and Hispanic voters — is it time for the Democratic leadership to stand up to the progressives? The Atlantic's Ron Brownstein is this week's special guest.
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Was January 6 a Coup Attempt?
December 17th, 2021 | 1 hr 9 mins
2024, antifa, biden, bob dole, chris wallace, congress, covid, democrats, economy, fox news, house committee, incitement, insurrection, kamala harris, liz cheney, mark meadows, martial law, military, montana, primary, service workers, trump
The Washington Post's Dan Balz joins the panel to discuss the January 6 committee, whether Biden will/should seek reelection, and how the pandemic has affected work/family balance.
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Resentful Animosities
December 10th, 2021 | 1 hr 1 min
aggression, american conservatism, biden, bob dole, china, cold war, culture war, damon linker, david brooks, democracy, democracy summit, government benefits, government spending, gun fetishism, gun safes, guns, hispanics, infrastructure, involuntary manslaughter, iran, latinos, latinx, linda chavez, michigan, mona charen, north korea, parental responsibilities, parental rights, peter meijer, peter wehner, pew, police, realism, ron brownstein, rural living, russia, school shootings, tim alberta, united states, us, war, william galston
Peter Wehner joins the group to discuss threats to democracy, the GOP's gun fetish, and more.
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If Roe Goes
December 3rd, 2021 | 53 mins 45 secs
abortion, biden, bill galston, bill kristol, birth control, boosters, constitution, covid, damon linker, debate, democrats, eunuch, fox news, governors races, griswold, harper's magazine, ilhan omar, kevin mccarthy, lauren boebert, lawrence v texas, marjorie taylor greene, masks, midterms, mona charen, mondale, morning in america, nancy mace, obergefell, omicron, protests, puberty blockers, reagan, republicans, roe vs wade, same-sex marraige, scotus, senators, substack, supreme court, trans kids, transgender kids, travel restrictions, trump, tucker carlson, will saletan, women
Slate's Will Saletan joins the group, including Bill Kristol, to discuss the implications of a possible reversal of Roe and Biden's opportunities to recover.
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How Scary Is Inflation?
November 19th, 2021 | 1 hr 8 mins
afghanistan withdrawal, biden, democrats, gas lines, independent voters, interest rates, jay powell, jimmy carter, lael brainard, leadership, moderates, nixon, oil companies, paul volcker, polls, price controls, progressives, rate of inflation, reagan, recession, rising prices, the 1970s, the rust belt, volckerize
Noah Smith helps the panel diagnose the inflation threat as well as the political peril for Democrats.