Doesn’t it feel like getting news and information about the world — especially about politics — has turned into a chore?
It’s like eating a mince pie: you have have to break through a nasty crust of bias, misinformation, and clickbait to get to the underlying content…and then it’s usually pretty dismal. Every time I consider opening a new email, I feel like I’m Brad Pitt in Seven asking “what’s in the box?”
That’s a problem. It means people are engaging less and less, not just with politics, but with news about the world more broadly. And the less informed Americans are, the more Donald Trump and the kinds of people who only care about their own power and prosperity can get away with.
But I really believe that this is something we can make better.
I’ve hosted the podcast Beyond Politics for four years, and my favorite moments are when an expert guest connects some dots or opens up a new window of understanding. It feels like stumbling into the back of a closet and ending up in Narnia.
Some of those conversations were about politics…like when Dartmouth professor Randall Balmer explained the real history of the religious right (turns out it wasn’t actually motivated by abortion, but by something else entirely). Some were about as far away from politics as you can get: for example, the lead project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope John Mather explaining what their most breathtaking discovery was.
I love all of it. So I write about politics, but also about interesting things that are just worth knowing. My recent articles for Newsweek about politics include:
What’s the MAGA endgame? Actually, there are three.
How the Movie “Office Space” helps explain what Trump and Musk might really be after as they attack the federal government.
But I also write about things like:
So that’s what I’m looking to do more of in this space.
Exploring not just politics, but fascinating ideas that keep me excited and engaged and ready to open that next email. History, science, movies, psychology: all the topics that make the world so fascinating…and that hopefully make us all want to leap back in.
Who I am I spent a decade working on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Director and Chief of Staff to three Democratic Members of Congress, and also worked as a senior advisor, campaign manager, and consultant on several Congressional races. In recent years, my writing has been featured extensively on Newsweek, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, and I host the Beyond Politics podcast, which was previously an award-winning radio broadcast on WKXL in New Hampshire. Despite being a native New Yorker, I’ve settled with my wonderful wife and kids in New England, and even turned into a Celtics fan.
