Martin Gurri was invited as a thinker, but sounded like a hack to me. He was saying that his antennae go up when he notices a whiff of censorship, but was not alarmed about right-wing censorship. Intellectually dishonest. I didn’t hear any intellectually rigorous argument.

I generally enjoy listening to this show for the quality guests and thought provoking discussions. The episode with Martin Gurri left me disappointed. He demonstrated and seeming every point of the conversation that he was not as well versed in the issues being discussed as he claimed. His insistence of reciting conspiracy theories was disconcerting, but more troubling was the host giving platform to such an uninformed guest.

Ezra is to be admired for seeking out an alternate take on the political events happening as a result of Trump’s election. But Gurri’s take seems to be, basically, ‘ I don’t know what I think Donald Trump and his people are up to, exactly, but he’s for free speech, so I’ll just give him the benefit of the doubt. I hope it will work out well in the long run.’

I didn’t know Ezra & Fareed Zakaria were the combo I needed this weekend but it was right on point. Please have him back for discussing foreign affairs…his insight is trusted, honest and always educational. I always love him on GPS. And thank you Ezra for the show, it has become a favorite of mine the last six months. Looking forward to your new book as well.

It’s good that the Ezra Klein Show is also on YouTube for maximum outreach because the conversations are so important, now more than ever. But the podcast is and will always be my go-to media event to regain my sense of sanity. I love listening, even when the wonkiness is at a level I can’t follow (or don’t want to try to follow). It calms me down to know truly smart and dedicated people are still trying to make sense of what’s going on.

….but WOOF, Martin Gurri. That was an extremely unserious interview and he cited almost no real evidence to support his claims. I would’ve liked to hear Ezra push back against him more, even though I know that’s not his style, because feelings do not a reality make.

Overall this is a 5 star show. Martin Gurri was a major exception. I love that Ezra brings on different perspectives but this guy is just well below the shows normal standard for reasoning behind their arguments. Rough from the start but once he started casting doubt on the legality of USAID and responded to Ezra’s push back with “All I can tell you” and a string of easily disproven nonsense he cemented himself as the most laughable guests on here I’ve heard in quite a while

I am definitely to left of Ezra, but love the podcast. He needs to get better at interviewing stupid people lol, like not everyone has a well thought out, coherent ideology so the interviews are occasionally painful.

I love this show and love Ezra and I will continue listening, but wow the episode with Martin Gurri was bad—he had really bad takes and just felt like such an un-interesting thinker. Maybe his writing is interesting but he was not good as an interviewee.

Klein once again provides a forum for fascism, but this seems to be the primary mission of the NYT these days.