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The American Mind Podcast

The Claremont Institute

The American Mind Podcast uncovers the ideas and principles that drive American political life. The hosts engage Claremont scholars and critics in thought-provoking discussions about the real causes of our current political and cultural reality.

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26 episodes
Avg 33 min
English

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Thursday · 5 min
Dolly Parton, RIP
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com Dolly Parton, a widely adored icon in country music and American pop culture, passed away last week at 80. A friend to both the right and left, Parton transcended national politics by her personal grace and remarkable philanthropy. Born to a poor, illiterate family, she leaves behind a legacy of generosity that includes Imagination Library, a nonprofit delivering millions of books to children worldwide at no cost to their families. Dolly Parton, rest in peace.
#333
Wednesday · 58 min
FIRE Challenges Trump’s Deportation of Pro-Gaza Immigrants
Richard Lim, historian at Prager U. and host of the This American President podcast joins the guys to discuss his recent book on George Washington’s legacy, Refusing a Crown. Breaking through mainstream secularist assumptions, Lim argues that Washington’s greatness is best understood in the context of his Christian faith. Meanwhile, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has challenged the Trump Administration’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Özturk for anti-American speech. FIRE argues the constitution protects resident aliens, and even that immigrant speech cannot be scrutinized in the vetting process. Will reason prevail? Recommended: Refusing a Crown: How George Washington Changed the World This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
August 27 · 4 min
Offensive Truths: Dr. Nathan Cofnas and the State of the Academy
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com Dr. Nathan Cofnas has been accused of “scientific racism” for his studies of race and genetics. Now he's been suspended by the University of Ghent and banned on Substack for his role in exposing the academic dishonesty of the late Jason Arday. As the DEI debate flares, the academic and radical Left communities have attempted to discredit and even threaten Cofnas, revealing again the civilizational threat posed by an unchecked race regime.
#332
August 26 · 58 min
The Great American Trade War Continues
Trade negotiations between the U.S. and Canada broke down in the final hours of last Friday. This week, Trump’s 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods have gone into effect. Amid a rekindled trade war, the guys consider the president's and Congress’s role in shaping world history in light of electoral concerns before the 2026 midterms. Meanwhile, Lindsay Clancy is on trial for the alleged murder of her three children. The defense claims postpartum psychosis, but an alarming number of women are expressing misplaced "solidarity" with a woman accused of infanticide. Recommended: Republicans Embrace the Vice Economy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
August 20 · 5 min
President AOC? The TikTok-ification of Politics
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez angling to become president in 2028? Ahead of the election, both California’s Gavin Newsom and AOC, who just last week denounced “Woke One,” have aimed to gain broader appeal. In AOC's case this means oversharing about fertility treatments and making TikTok-esque video shoots. But will her attempt to moderate progressivism and play social media politics pay off?
#331
August 19 · 1 hr 2 min
Groypers, Grifters, and the GOP: Florida's Primary Election
Florida is conducting a primary election to pick Governor Ron DeSantis’s conservative successor. President Trump’s choice, Representative Byron Donalds, leads in the polls. Opposing him, political newcomer James Fishback leads a young, online centric and anti-Israel platform. Meanwhile, the Left coalition continues its reckoning with Woke, reordering to capture populist, pro-Gaza, and anticapitalist energy. Plus, backlash against Big Tech: data centers, Flock cameras, and more! Recommended: Subaru Socialists and the Great Disappointed The Summer That America Became a Nation of Luddites This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
August 13 · 5 min
An Education Academies Won’t Provide: Claremont’s Lincoln Fellowship
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com President Ryan Williams reports on the Claremont Institute's Lincoln fellowship. On the docket: America’s political economy and the utility of tariffs, RFK’s new dietary guidelines, and more!
#330
August 12 · 1 hr 4 min
AOC Goes from Woke 1 to Woke 2: A New Left Coalition Forms
“Woke One was crazy.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, questioned this week on ABC about a fellow Democratic Socialist’s call to cancel Thanksgiving in 2020, rolled out a new messaging strategy for the Left. Woke 2 will try to distance itself from COVID-era messaging while still demanding that America be transformed to suit its latest grievance coalition. Plus: inflation of the racial oppression narrative, and the purge of liberal arts colleges. Recommended: AOC can’t escape ‘Woke One’ Why I Quit the Tenure Track This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
August 6 · 5 min
Common GoodGate, Again
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com Common good discourse, recently a central topic of right-wing discussion, suffered distortions as it became a catch-all term for the worst fears of the Trump-deranged. Now, as Trump’s possible heir, J.D. Vance has occasioned new debate over the term, its meaning, and its future. How much involvement should the government have in private morality? And is Vance truly "post-liberal"?
#329
August 5 · 58 min
Catastrophe at Cambridge – Jason Arday and the Scandal at DEI
Jason Arday, who rocketed to academic stardom as the youngest black professor at Cambridge, now faces claims that his PhD thesis contains plagiarism. That's not all: huge portions of his story seem likely to be fabricated, from a supposed brain surgery days before his defense, to an appearance on the documentary Seven Up. But is Arday really the problem? It seems the institutional decay goes much deeper. This week, hosts Spencer and Mike discuss the necessity of a reckoning in the academies. Plus: is America having a Catholic moment? Or is she an irrevocably Protestant nation? Recommended: Questions Mount Over a Star Scholar’s Life and Career A Catholic Moment or an Evangelical Century? The Political Theory of the American Founding This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
July 30 · 5 min
Zohran Mamdani Comes for the Pieds-à-Terre
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration announced a special pied-à-terre tax on non-primary residences in an attempt to price out affluent owners—noting down properties and owners who might be subject to it in a publicly available list. As the Democratic Socialists rise to take the lead of Democratic politics, how will Republicans respond?
#328
July 29 · 57 min
A New Phase in the Iran War
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu entered meetings with Trump this week to discuss their respective wars with Russia and Iran. Will Trump shift strategies to bring an end to the conflicts in time for the midterms? Will Thibeau, director of the American Military Project, joins the guys to survey the battlefield and its implications. Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul released pages of Fauci’s COVID-era diary ahead of the ex-public health official’s appearance before a Senate committee, prompting a retrospective on the dark days of lockdown. Recommended: US military is powerful enough to crush enemies, but can it defeat their ‘final 10%?’ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
July 23 · 5 min
Are Millennials and Gen Z Losing Out on Boomer-Level Wealth?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com Faced with ever-greater housing costs, Millennials and Gen Z are finding little comfort in the decreased price of luxury goods like TVs and phones. Despite traditional indicators, today's economic landscape is far grimmer than the one the Boomers faced. How will America bridge this generational disconnect to restore a sense of civilizational continuity?
#327
July 22 · 58 min
Trump Reopens the Trade War
President Trump this week has announced a set of 50 percent tariffs on various Canadian goods, with a 30-day window to negotiate before they are imposed. In retaliation against Canada’s quotas on American cars and alcohol, Trump proposes to levy tariffs on wine, hockey sticks, and cement. But does it serve America and the Right ahead of midterms? Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearings, following the dismissal of Pam Bondi, give a snapshot of the Right's shifting composition ahead of midterms. Plus: Lindsey Graham, RIP. Recommended: Let’s Not Do That Again This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
#326
July 16 · 55 min
Marco Rubio to the Globalists: Get Lost
This week, Marco Rubio declared a crusade against the International Criminal Court, citing the ICC’s aim to deny America its sovereignty on behalf of globalist elites. But the New York Times recently reported that the U.S. is managing Venezuela’s oil export revenue. Does the "Donroe Doctrine” run against the administration's wider outlook on nationalism? Meanwhile, two fatal ICE shootings, in Maine and Houston, call into question if the public can stomach immigration enforcement ahead of the midterms. Plus: Thoughts on Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey and Young Washington. Recommended: The Viceroy of Venezuela This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
July 15 · 5 min
Graham Platner Ousted – Where Does the Left Go Now?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com Graham Platner, a self-proclaimed communist and the Democrats’ former working-class role player in Maine’s Senate election, has withdrawn his candidacy following allegations of sexual misconduct. The Left has now jettisoned Platner despite mainstream media attempts to downplay his reported behavior. Can the Left appeal to the white working class when they so obviously despise it?
July 10 · 5 min
Is Race Communism Ascendant in America?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com Appropriating the U.S. Founding to deliver a message of never-ending “progress,” New York Mayor Mamdani scowled into the camera and delivered a joyless indictment of America as it really exists. In contrast, President Trump lead a jubilant Independence Day festival in D.C., honoring the truth that our strength derives from founding principles and the representative framework they preserve. In a battle for the soul of America, Trumpism now faces off against an ascendant socialist faction of the Left.
#325
July 9 · 58 min
Supreme Court Roundup with John Eastman, Part 1
This week John Eastman, Founding Director at Claremont’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, joins the show to discuss recent landmark Supreme Court rulings. In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court ruled to hold executive agency heads accountable to the president. Meanwhile, delivering the Court’s opinion in Trump v. Barbara, Chief Justice Roberts upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship. Where do the conservative and progressive movements go from here? Recommended: 1776, Not 1608: What the Supreme Court Got Wrong on Birthright Citizenship This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
July 2 · 28 min
The Future of America and the Claremont Contribution
Reporting from Claremont’s Publius fellowship, where rising young conservatives receive instruction on America’s founding principles from distinguished scholars, President Ryan P. Williams examines the politics of the Right’s youth—and the necessity of the programming. The fellowships equip members to fend off radical progressivism, think about American history, and contribute to the future of the Right in 2028 and beyond. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe
#324
July 1 · 1 hr 4 min
What Makes an American—Birthright Citizenship and the U.S. at 250
On the cusp of America’s 250th anniversary, the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission has prepared a lineup of events celebrating the nation’s virtues. This week, Lucas Morel, member of the commission and professor of politics at Washington and Lee University, joins the show to celebrate the many and varied expressions of patriotism this occasion has called forth, while emphasizing the need to recover the merits of the Founding. Plus: Several important Supreme Court decisions have been handed down. Among them, birthright citizenship has been upheld in Trump v. Barbara. What does this spell for Trump, and America’s political community? Recommended: Justice Thomas’s Declaration Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

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