On the Next TGS Live: What to The Glenn Show Is the Fourth of July? Plus Rajiv Sethi
Tomorrow, Friday, July 3rd at 1:00 P.M. EDT
I’m back from vacation, feeling refreshed, and ready to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. That is, if I can stand the heat. With dangerously high temperatures here on the East Coast, the traditional Independence Day barbecue—standing over a hot grill in 100-degree weather—sounds less-than-appealing. Where in the Declaration of Independence does it say we have to celebrate outside?
Happily, tomorrow’s livestream—Friday, July 3rd at 1:00 P.M. EDT—is an indoor affair. I’ll be talking with my team—Nikita Petrov, Mark Sussman, and Robert Patton-Spruill—about a 250-year-old question: What does it mean to be an American? I’ll also be joined by Rajiv Sethi, whose Substack Imperfect Information is essential reading. Despite two-and-a-half centuries of debate, with untold gallons of ink spilled on the topic, we’re no closer to a definitive answer now than we were at our founding. I expect that, should the country still be intact, we’ll be asking it 250 years from now.
Some of the contemporary framing of American identity hearkens back to old questions about the nation’s population and constitution. Are we a coherent “people,” as the Declaration implies, or are we defined by a creed, a shared set of beliefs? What do the current immigration debates, and the policies of the Trump administration, tell us about our self-conception? Do native-born Americans whose families have lived here for generations have a more valid claim on American identity than those who arrived relatively recently? Do African-American conceptions of Americanness vary from those of the rest of the country. If they do, should they?
I’m also going to take advantage of our own in-house non-American, Nikita, to get an outsider’s perspective. Nikita has lived and traveled in the U.S., and he’s worked for Americans for years while living abroad. Still, there are some things about this country he finds peculiar, if not outright baffling. The Americans on the team will do our best to clarify.
So join us tomorrow, Friday, July 3rd at 1:00 P.M. EDT, for the latest iteration of a centuries-old debate. If you’re celebrating early, be advised that you can watch the show with a hot dog in one hand and a very cold beer in the other. Of course, only full subscribers can watch the stream. So if you’re not one already, please consider becoming a full subscriber. Your support is more important now than ever, and I want you to have access to every minute of The Glenn Show. You can also watch it through YouTube’s membership program—so if you want to do it that way, make sure you’re subscribed to my channel. Please consider signing up to ensure you keep getting the best we have to offer.
