Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right: Anand Giridharadas on Democracy, Dystopia & Becoming American

[@azusa9963]

Anand is brilliant. Thank you for this interview! His point on contempt and dismissal really hit home for me and will definitely affect my interactions moving forward.

[@lynnbardwell7580]

I loved watching this interview. I especially loved Anthony's view on a woman's right to choose. I'm Catholic but I'm also pro-choice because I believe "to each their own". I won't force you to have a kid if you don't force me to have an abortion. Don't tell me how to live my life and I won't tell you how to live yours. If more people lived by this mantra, we wouldn't be so polarized.

[@debrabelaska3175]

Hi Anthony love this podcast with Anand Giridharadas, didn't know he was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, we call the the east side of Cleveland. I was born on the west side, small world...

[@lindascanlan6317]

Anand ....you are a blessing .....keep fighting the good fight.

[@lindascanlan6317]

Love love love this man....Anand is brilliant...

[@lizannewhitlow1085]

“America can draw from the world.” What a great statement.

[@lyndiekempfer1855]

Anthony, Thank you so much for this program!!! I just found it by chance. I have admired Anand for some time. He is amazing! My husband and I are white, in our 70's, and have a diverse view of America. I guess you would have called us "Moderate" Republicans...until 2016. Our grandparents were Republican voters...and as new voters, way back in the 60-70's, it was expected to follow suit. However, if a Democrat was the better candidate...that is who we voted for. Trump opened our eyes to one important fact...the Democratic party best represents who we are. But, I have to give full credit to God for giving us discernment to truth vs lies...and being who we are with our fellow human beings.❤

[@jintzie1950jth]

Amazing. I love this. What is the opposite of contempt and dismissal? Acceptance and appreciation. That is not weakness but our country's source of wisdom, energy and power.

[@davidhawkins7138]

Great interview! Anthony - all the best with this channel. You have picked great guests and you engage in honest dialog.

[@susanfrancis5471]

Anthony says Anand’s book has too much Emotion. I call it Passion, and I Love It!

[@janetsargent7274]

Great conversation. Very thought-provoking.

[@therealanthonyscaramucci]

Thank you for listening! Make sure to hit the subscribe button for brand-new interviews each week.

[@stephenrickstrew7237]

New subscriber .. I’m glad you started your own channel ..!

[@jannichi6431]

Will do, not ready for a contempt and dismissal divorce YET💓🇺🇲 Forever Respect, maybe A Mooch Movement 🤩🫶👉

[@jmedmison5456]

​@@stephenrickstrew7237p😢😮9and 😢9😂

[@thecontextual1one411]

Are you a soccer fan by chance?

[@missiongardens9678]

I wish I can hit subscription more than once!!

[@barbd.1628]

Very interesting discussion; lots to think about here.

[@LukeO870]

"Rather Break The Republic Than Share It", Spot On Assessment. If America Would Embrace Its Diversity, The Skies The Limit...🤔 🇺🇸💪🇺🇸

[@aaronwright6058]

Great show. Learning how to put into words what is seen, heard, and felt. We have a long way to go, but we act just like a teenager ( As a whole) with growing pains, and the conflict of self discovery.

[@alanmcrae8594]

An interesting interview and conversation. With all the problems brewing in the 21st century, we don't have the luxury of not returning to "regular order" and simply not getting anything done because of polarization, demonization and dismissal. As the most powerful 3rd party in nearly every situation, our involvement is critical to optimize outcomes and shape what is to come. Sure, it's maddening to engage with global humanity, and it often feels futile to exert global influence when so many special interests seek to hijack every opportunity. But with power comes responsibilities. Unfortunately, we have been losing our credibility & moral authority at an alarming rate, and even our allies want to become less dependent upon our unreliable self-serving whims. Our competitors would love to dethrone the US dollar as the world's reserve currency, and our recurring flirtation with defaulting on our national debt is playing right into their hands. Stepping back from excessive globalization, relocalizing & realigning our supply chains, asserting a wise national industrial policy, and re-investing in ourselves & our aging infrastructure should all be on the table as we attempt to return to regular order and get our own house in order. Note: it's interesting in a conversation when an emotionally charged trope suddenly pops out of nowhere and invokes a WTF response that amounts to "nobody is actually advocating that, so why go there?" I have always wondered about emotionally charged hyperbolic beliefs that are ascribed to controversial people and how those beliefs actually formed. Then comes the doubling down when asked for specific examples and rarely the ability to cite any actual specifics. Beliefs without factual evidence are a kind of religion or, perhaps, an unconsciously adopted political or social creed. Part of our current polarization & paralysis is an abundance of emotionally charged beliefs & creeds that explode during debates, negotiations and compromises when pressed for rational, factual rationalization. And once the need to defend is evoked, regular order goes out the window and the circling of wagons begins in earnest. So, here we are circled up in our defensive positions, demonizing the enemy, while much bigger enemies are on the move...

[@lupemerrit]

Thank you. Wonderful interview.

[@ursulapaciullo7100]

Great conversation! Another book I will read for sure

[@lesilluminations1]

Refreshing.

[@AnitaD28]

Love your channel! 👍

[@shermanefouche4162]

Anand, the mooch took your theory personally and didn't understand that you were talking theory. You turned it beautifully to address what he argued even though it wasn't your point. That's why I truly admire you!

[@ELL289]

Libertarianism is just a label that puts an “acceptable” facade on a right wing economics policy. Individual equality, less government interference. There’s no discrepancy between Charles Koch and the average citizen??? That’s magical thinking. Just like working in the Trump administration was something to be proud of. You seem like a good man, and your interviews are interesting. Thank you. I subscribed.

[@stephrainspirite9985]

Becoming this this and that is nOT a thing. Great point for a 66 yr old woman looking to become an expat. TY

[@lindascanlan6317]

"Stand for the bold thing" YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! Provoke Make people go wild...message message message ......

[@eliseleonard3477]

This was a great episode.

[@susanfrancis5471]

Anand has a great understanding, and he speaks so comprehensively. Haven’t seen him in a few yrs tho.

[@KarennaC]

really enjoying your interviews. thank you, Anthony, ya done good !

[@scguy681]

First love me some Anth S. - Anand hits on a point with the left not successful in illustrating to the right the benefit of a new perspective , however there is is a lot of soul reaching and cleaning up behaviors and educating themselves that BOTH sides need to do. All people have the same fraility

[@aldorenda9610]

I do appreciate your honesty Anthony in how you were mesmerised at the opportunity of working in the White House. Though not always a supporter of you I do admire your current work.

[@monacophotographyevents2384]

I do agree with your comments about becoming French. I'm afraid that the French don't even like each other, let alone outsiders. I do think though that in the UK, one does become British. The UK has probably one of the most multi cultural and integrated societies in the World.

[@bethleslie3994]

Brilliant.

[@latisarahman1924]

l love listening to Anand.I think he is brilliant.I wish he talks about the occupation & the brutalization of Palestinians by Israel

[@MrGHenchel]

Watching this from Australia. Thankyou for a very intelligent discussion. This is the third of these interviews by Anthony all of them entertaining and informative. You have come a long way since your brief stint with Trump. You were perceived as a loudmouth wanker but in fact your removal from the Trump grasp, like Michael Cohen, have been the best thing for you. You have a willingness to learn that seems missing by many Republicans.

[@garretttedeman]

Agree 110% with Anand's main points here. As a descendent of immigrants myself, and as someone who has traveled a fair bit, it's just such a big deal. It's the "American Experiment". As stated, the Progressive side needs to tell a better story, and as the saying goes to be *FOR* something, rather than just be against various issues.

[@marieryan9592]

Anand Giridharadas is brilliant with some great hair.

[@P.Galore]

Two lefts don't make a right...but THREE do!

[@MeBo-kp2lp]

Very entertaining, thanx Mooch

[@JohnWLewis]

Brilliant … including important and very interesting comparisons and contrasts with other countries (which Americans rarely make) … but not with the UK (which might be closer to the USA in the terms discussed)? 🤷🏼‍♂️ And, in another take on the clever comments about the clever title: two lefts make the same as two rights. Doubling the turn in either direction (including, incidentally, about any other axis) results in an about turn!

[@justgivemethetruth]

I loved "Winners Take All", but "The Persuaders" was just a book he had to write to write something after Winners Take All. Still with the first one

[@teresaparnham9780]

Interesting conversation. But it seems disingenuous to say the Uber wealthy are the ones spending money. I own a small horse boarding stable. I have some value in my land, but cash flow is very tight. Although not wealthy myself I understand some basics. I listen to a wide variety of podcasts while I do chores, including those on economics and history. My understanding is that those that have 10's or 100's of millions don't or rarely spend their own money. How would that work with loans and loopholes? If I spend 10 million setting up a super pac does that get a VAT? Have been watching the money pooling at the top since 1980. Now with more information, declassified documents, reporters investigating tax dodgers, illegal offshoring, insider trading, wonky stock buybacks etc. I just don't see a VAT as helpful let alone equitable. So, I'm very curious how the math would work, and who the burden of supporting this society would really fall to.

[@lynnbardwell7580]

The ultra wealthy don't "spend" money in the same sense the rest of us do. That's why trickle down economics didn't work. The money at the top didn't get reinvested in people, better wages, expanded business, etc. It got reinvested in stock buy backs keeping the money at the top. Yet any time you give the rest of us a little extra money, we actually stimulate the economy with it🤷‍♀️

[@treycarmichael3605]

Anthony, where do you think the condescension from the left comes from? You and i are the same age, so you should know that conservatives have disparaged liberal thinkers ALL OUR LIVES! In contrast, I sure as hell didn't hear liberal thinkers disparaging conservatives. We didn't have a name like "libtard" when i was growing up (and we still don't), because we just didn't think it was necessary. And I grew up in Dallas Texas, where it would have been very easy to disparage conservative values and the people who represent them. So, tap the brakes please, on equating condescension from the left toward the right with the utter contempt of liberals by conservatives for the past 60+ years in this country. The funny thing is just how hollow that contempt really is - because in spite of it all, we have made some progress on race, we have made progress in sexuality, human rights, civil rights, etc... and that is not because liberals DID THAT to America; It's because Americans of all types are moving toward a more inclusive and productive society. The Greed we practice in all areas is America's penultimate cancer. Curing that is the only way we ever survive. Good show, Anthony. Anand is a national treasure even though he's probably too young to be one yet :)

[@stephenrickstrew7237]

But three lefts do make a right hand turn .. that being the convoluted pretzel logic way of over government

[@jannichi6431]

Moderation for a healthy life, same with politics.

[@ConanDuke]

"Two lefts don't make a right" But three lefts do.

[@dadaveda]

VAT is regressive in our present set up.

[@lindascanlan6317]

Sorry Mooch...you're not arguing apples to apples....you're way off with that equalizing outcomes crap.

[@guypepe9478]

👍🇺🇸👍

[@teresaamanfu7408]

As a progressive, no liberal, I know is for “equal outcomes”. That statement is absurd. Bernie Sanders is for equal opportunity.

[@lakennedycuomo446]

No, they don't but you can meet in the middle if two tights don't make a left. Or maybe they both do.-❤LA KENNEDY CUOMO

[@lindascanlan6317]

Mooch, are you living on Earth? We're talking about effing nazis...give a little on both sides? Huh? I don't think this podcast is for me....ty Anand for being....Linda 🐝

[@italythroughmyeyes]

Pleas stop interrupting your guests.

[@bend3rbot]

I hate to employ "condensation", but these guys are the difference between, smart guy - read a lot of books, y'know, a LOT, ..aaannd juxtaposed against intelligent and well-read. Im sure they'll tell us that they aren't scholars, but factually correct, and actually intelligent with theory would get them so much further.

[@septictopix4797]

...but three lefts do

[@question-question]

How dumb is Scaramucci? VAT is a poor persons tax. Seriously...

[@question-question]

And there's another one. Scaramucci: what I love about the book....if we just dialled down the rhetoric. Not ten minutes beforehand he's strawmanning Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren as wanting equal outcomes. And then says don't cut the top off the ladder. Moron..

[@ericrobinson7184]

Anthony is a bit close minded and a bit slow, yet he toggles on issues he doesn't clearly understand.

[@figgettit]

wow out of touch w cultural politics in like all the countries he mentions. deeply american.

[@didyeaye2481]

Ah, the mooch and his moronic economic "ideas"....🤦