My guest this week is my old friend Joshua Cohen. Josh is a political philosopher who teaches at Apple University and UC Berkeley Law School and who co-edits the Boston Review. Josh and I go way back, and he’s responsible for two major developments in my career. As editor of MIT Press’s Boston Review Books imprint, he published my book, Race, Incarceration, and American Values. He also invited me to participate in a conversation on something called “Bloggingheads.” Soon after, Bloggingheads co-founder Robert Wright suggested I start hosting conversations myself, and so The Glenn Show was born.
We begin by talking about life. My life, as reported in my memoir, and Josh’s recent loss of his mother-in-law. From there we move on to Donald Trump’s recently concluded trial. Neither Josh nor I see anything worth celebrating in the former president’s conviction. Still, Josh thinks Trump is a threat to democracy. And yet, as I remind him, half the country supports Trump, and many of them do so because he expresses their contempt for an elite political class that, they feel, has left them behind. We then move on to Gaza, and a new Substack piece I published reflecting on a speech I delivered at the Palm Beach Synagogue in Florida and the problem of self-censorship during wartime. It’s proving to be rather controversial, as I expected it would. Josh suggests that I may have been too hasty in anticipating that, had I aired my views on Gaza at that synagogue, I would have offended the congregation. Do I underestimate my audience’s appetite for dissent?
This post was released on Monday to paying subscribers and is now unlocked. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
Sign Up for City Journal’s Newsletter
City Journal provides rigorous analysis that allows you to reach your own conclusions, rather than rehashing ideologically “safe” talking points. Explore it for yourselves and sign up for their free newsletter today.
0:00 How Josh got Glenn started in podcasting
3:05 Early career advice to Glenn: Don’t be an asshole
6:30 A recent loss in Josh’s life
8:36 Did Trump’s prosecution and conviction set a dangerous precedent?
15:37 Biden’s uninspiring presidential campaign
19:38 Josh: Trump is “an enemy of and a threat to … fundamental political values”
23:22 The problem of the meritocracy
28:54 The “shame” Glenn felt after his speech at a synagogue
39:19 The things left unsaid about the Gaza War
47:22 Were Glenn’s fears about reaction to his thoughts about Gaza overblown?
51:23 Can mistaken ad hominem inferences about audiences initiate self-censorship on the part of speakers?
55:55 When Manhattan Institute President Reihan Salaam when to Berkeley
1:00:58 Josh: Campus protests have basically been a good thing
1:09:33 Josh’s thoughts on what John Rawls might have said about the State of Israel
Recorded June 1, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn’s writing for Boston Review
Glenn and Josh’s first Bloggingheads conversation
Michael Lind’s UnHerd piece, “Trump’s Conviction Is an Assault on Democracy”
Michael Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit
Michael Sandel’s Boston Review piece, “How Markets Crowd Out Morals”
Michael Sandel discusses The Tyranny of Merit on TGS
Glenn’s Substack post, “Self-Censorship in a Time of War”
Glenn’s Palm Beach Synagogue speech, “What Has Become of the Partnership between Black and Jews”
Reihan Salam’s book, Melting Pot or Civil War?
John Rawls’s book, A Theory of Justice
John Rawls’s book, The Law of Peoples
Josh’s essay, “Is There a Human Right to Democracy?”
Joshua Cohen – Donald Trump's Conviction