Politics + Media 101 Justin Higgins and John Gunnison

Justin and John discuss Ron DeSantis's presidential campaign launch, which was held on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk and David Sacks. The PM101 hosts draw on their extensive experience in social audio to critique the unusual launch event.

In this episode, John and Justin breakdown former President Trump's recent CNN townhall, how the media approaches Trump and more.

Justin and John address two media controversies that unfolded in previous weeks, Donald Trump's indictment on 34 criminal counts by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the social media boycott of beer brand Bud Lite. They discuss how public figures have responded to these stories and whether wading in these controversies is truly necessary.

In this episode John and Justin discuss Silicon Valley Bank and the state of the US banking system with Aaron Klein, the Brookings Institution's  Miriam K. Carliner Chair and senior fellow in Economic Studies. This discussion also gets into the Biden Administration's response and what policymakers and regulators must do in the future to ensure a strong US banking system.

Justin and John sit down with Amir Tibon, a journalist at Israel's Haaretz newspaper. Amir explains the controversial proposals for judicial reform that have sparked the largest protest movement in recent Israeli history. With Israeli democracy in a precarious position, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces unprecedented international criticism, including from crucial security partners such as the United States.

Read more from Amir: https://www.haaretz.com/ty-WRITER/0000017f-da25-d42c-afff-dff77f020000

Justin and John sit down with Shadi Hamid, author of The Problem of Democracy. Shadi's book explores the "democracy dilemma," the challenge of accepting democratic outcomes that may be illiberal or alarming but win public support. He explains how the experience of the Egyptian Revolution informs his concern that elites are often unwilling to allow religiously conservative voters a chance to determine public policy. The group discuss "liberal backstops" on democracy and when those may be appropriate to protect social pluralism.

Shadi is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, contributing writer at The Atlantic, research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Seminary.

Find the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-problem-of-democracy-9780197579466