Ross Douthat on Trump, Mysticism and Psychedelics
The Ezra Klein Show25 Huhti 2025

Ross Douthat on Trump, Mysticism and Psychedelics

I have no earthly idea how to describe this conversation. It’s about religion and belief – at this moment in our politics, and in our lives more generally.

My guest and I come from very different perspectives. Ross Douthat is a Catholic conservative, who wrote a book called “Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious.” I’m a … Californian. But I think everyone would enjoy this conversation — believers, skeptics and seekers alike.

Some questions touched on: Is the Trump administration Christian or pagan? How do Christian Trump supporters reconcile the cruelties of this administration with their faith? Can religious experiences be explained by misfiring neurons? Should organized religions embrace psychedelics? Can mystery provide more comfort than certainty?

And if you do enjoy this episode, be sure to check out Douthat’s new New York Times Opinion Audio show “Interesting Times,” available wherever you get your podcasts, and on YouTube.

Mentioned:

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

Donald Trump, Man of Destiny” by Ross Douthat

Living with a Wild God by Barbara Ehrenreich

Book Recommendations:

Modern Physics and Ancient Faith by Stephen Barr

After by Bruce Greyson

Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Elias Isquith. Fact-checking by Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Mixing by Isaac Jones, with Aman Sahota and Efim Shapiro. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Marina King, Jan Kobal, Kristin Lin and Jack McCordick. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(500)

What We Got Right — and Wrong — in ‘Abundance’

What We Got Right — and Wrong — in ‘Abundance’

“Abundance” came out a little over a year ago. It’s been exciting — and a little disorienting — seeing how it’s rippled out into the world, and the ways it’s been embraced and debated and critiqued. S...

28 Huhti 2h 3min

Stewart Brand, Silicon Valley’s Favorite Prophet, on Life’s Most Important Principle

Stewart Brand, Silicon Valley’s Favorite Prophet, on Life’s Most Important Principle

Stewart Brand might be the most influential philosopher of the internet – at least in its more idealistic era. In the 1960s, Brand was the central bridge figure between the San Francisco countercultur...

24 Huhti 50min

Why Are Palantir and OpenAI Scared of Alex Bores?

Why Are Palantir and OpenAI Scared of Alex Bores?

Leading the Future, a super PAC whose funders include the founders of companies like Palantir and OpenAI, is spending millions of dollars this election cycle, and a considerable amount of that money i...

21 Huhti 1h 32min

Our Tax System Should Make You Furious

Our Tax System Should Make You Furious

Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Warren Buffett are three of the richest people in the world, but they pay little in income tax relative to their wealth. In 2021, ProPublica published an investigatio...

17 Huhti 1h 5min

Reckoning With Israel’s ‘One-State Reality’

Reckoning With Israel’s ‘One-State Reality’

For decades, most discussions of Israel and Palestine were framed around the eventual creation of a two-state solution. That effort has been dead for years. What has emerged in its place is what the p...

14 Huhti 1h 27min

Fareed Zakaria on the Moral Cost of Trump’s War

Fareed Zakaria on the Moral Cost of Trump’s War

When President Trump didn’t annihilate “a whole civilization” on Tuesday, as he had threatened to do, much of the world exhaled. But the damage of his statements — a U.S. president, the commander in c...

10 Huhti 1h 7min

Why Iran Believes It Has the Upper Hand

Why Iran Believes It Has the Upper Hand

In a prime time address on Wednesday, President Trump proclaimed that America was “on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat.” But he also kept open the option of boots on the ground. The effective...

3 Huhti 1h 1min

Michael Pollan’s Journey to the Borderlands of Consciousness

Michael Pollan’s Journey to the Borderlands of Consciousness

Consciousness is this amazing, mind-bending riddle. It’s the only thing any of us truly knows. We experience everything else in life through it. And yet we barely understand it. We don’t know what it’...

31 Maalis 1h 28min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
tervo-halme
rss-podme-livebox
aihe
viisupodi
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
rss-asiastudio
rss-pinnalla
the-ulkopolitist
radio-antro
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-polikulaari-pitka-kiekko-ja-muut-ts-podcastit
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
rss-girls-finish-f1rst