Know Your Enemy Matthew Sitman

As happened for me with other thinking-together podcasts(see Slate’s Gabfests), I’ve come to admire and like the hosts as much as the subject. Matthew and Sam are smart, honest, fair, thoughtful, deeply informed, kind and politically engaged. A terrific dose of critical thinking about the American right-wing and its past—and other interesting topics as well.

This is one of, if not the, best podcast out right now. The hosts are thought-provoking, brilliant, and engaging in a way that seems hard to find elsewhere. They take the episodes and discussions seriously but not stuffily -and filling it with humanity & kindness too.

It also sounds very good! The production quality is superb. And it’s very clear the hosts care about not wasting the audiences time - some podcasts seemingly just start BSing about the news off the cuff (which sure, there’s a place for that) but Know Your Enemy actually prepares - and it shows! The discussion is so much more interesting as a result, getting to hear the surprises they learned while researching.

If you’re left leaning at all or right leaning and want to hear someone take the muck of conservatism seriously (as well as a delightful mix of other topics) listen to this podcast.

I greatly enjoy this thoughtful, intellectually rigorous podcast. Ignore the slight dismissals from conservative trolls - if anything the hosts are rather too respectful to the enemy (and it’s their podcast, after all).

A personal request would be an episode on Francis Schaeffer and his influence - and more generally on religion, gender/sexuality, and (particularly) race, which are far more important preoccupations in modern conservative/fascist circles. And yes, the show is not about demagoguery, but the demagoguery has its roots (and “intellectual” defenders). I really appreciated the episode with Gillian Branstetter due to the immediate, urgent relevance.