THE FIRST 100 DAZE with JONATHAN RAUCH
At some point during my video call with Jonathan Rauch on April 9th, 2025, it began to dawn on me that my planned release date for this episode would be on or around the 100th day of the second Trump Administration. It also occurred to me that I could not be speaking with someone better qualified to throw into vivid relief some of the dimensions of what this means. An expert on government, Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has written nine books and hundreds of articles and essays—often on policy, but also on topics ranging from gay marriage to agriculture to animal rights to height discrimination.
I have wanted to speak with Jonathan Rauch since 2021, when I first read his masterful book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth. The first half of our conversation centers on this book, with special attention to the propaganda and other cognitive warfare tactics Trump has adapted from the likes of Roy Cohn and Vladimir Putin. In the second half of our conversation, we discuss Rauch’s 2025 book Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy, which marks a profound shift in Rauch’s own thinking, and makes the case, based on arguments advanced by the Founders as well as contemporary events, that the U.S. requires a healthier relationship with the kind of religious practice Jesus himself embodied in order to endure.
SHOW NOTES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR. To learn more about Jonathan Rauch and his work, visit his page at the Brookings Institution. If you’re craving more insights specific to Trump 2.0, check out his February 2025 piece for The Atlantic.
RELATED EPISODE. During our conversation, Jonathan Rauch mentions an influential lecture by Jonathan Haidt. If you’d like to listen to or watch the YouTube version of my 2020 interview with Professor Haidt, it’s available here.
MUSIC. Point of Learning’s signature intro is a special instrumental version of “Weight of the World” authorized by its creator, Shayfer James, from the 2011 album Counterfeit Arcade. To find the latest tour and new release information for Shayfer James, visit his website. Because Jonathan Rauch indicated his appreciation for Maestro JoAnn Falletta’s 2023 performance of Antonín Dvořák’s 7th Symphony in D minor (Opus 70) with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Peter obtained Maestro Falletta’s permission to use this recording in the show. To hear (or watch the video version) of Peter’s interview with JoAnn Falletta, click here.
SPECIAL THANKS
Many people support this podcast in one way or another. Some are able to contribute financially, which sustains this passion project to share great ideas about what and how and why we learn. To make an episode that sounds like this takes me and my staff of zero other people about 40 hours. Be like Aaron Bartley in today’s patron break and consider a recurring donation, which helps with everything from audio software patches to buying my copy of Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Christianity. There are two easy ways to donate!
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