18 Minutes From Nuclear Annihilation

The 'retail apocalypse' is upon us, they say. In the United States, 2017 saw emptied malls, shuttered department stores, and once-iconic brands falling into bankruptcy. Yet retail spending continues to grow, in strange new directions that could have significant effects. What will shopping look like in the future? How will these changes reverberate throughout the country? Atlantic editor Gillian White joins our hosts to discuss. If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey. Links - “The 4 Reasons Why 2017 Is a Tipping Point for Retail” (Derek Thompson, November 16, 2017) - “All the Ways Retail’s Decline Could Hurt America’s Towns” (Alana Semuels, May 2017) - “The Future of Retail Is Stores That Aren’t Stores” (Joe Pinsker, September 14, 2017) - “How to Rebuild After the Retail Apocalypse” (Richard Florida, December 23, 2017) - “How Dollar General Became Rural America’s Store of Choice” (Sarah Nassauer, Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2017) - Futureface (Alex Wagner, 2018) - “The Appropriate Weight of Grief” (Michael Zadoorian, ART + marketing, May 6, 2016) - “The Lesson of the Moth” (Don Marquis) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Jan 201841min

As the anniversary of his inauguration nears, a new book filled with salacious claims about the Trump administration has become a bestseller. Faced with renewed questions about his mental and temperamental fitness for the office, President Trump has pushed back, declaring himself a “very stable genius” and attacking his critics. But no new claims or revelations, James Fallows wrote recently for The Atlantic, have been more telling than Trump's public behavior. If the stories presented in a book about the president constitute a scandal, Fallows asks, what does it mean that the scandal continues in public view? What dangers are courted by speculating about the president's mental acuity? What steps could be taken to make such speculation unnecessary? Fallows joins our hosts to discuss. If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey. Links - “It's Been an Open Secret All Along” (James Fallows, January 4, 2018) - ”Is Something Neurologically Wrong With Donald Trump?” (James Hamblin, January 3, 2018) - “The Case for Hillary Clinton and Against Donald Trump” (The Editors, November 2016 Issue) - “A Time Capsule of the Unpresidential Things Trump Says” (James Fallows, May 23, 2016, to November 20, 2016) - Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President (Justin Frank, 2004) - “John Dean: Nixon ‘Might Have Survived If There’d Been a Fox News’” (Edward-Isaac Dovere, POLITICO Magazine, January 02, 2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Jan 201848min

As 2018 begins, tensions and tumult in America are high. But before the end of 1968, Conor Friedersdorf reminded us in The Atlantic, "Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy would be assassinated; U.S. troops would suffer their deadliest year yet in Vietnam—and massacre scores of civilians at My Lai; Richard Nixon would be elected president; the Khmer Rouge would form in Cambodia; humans would orbit the moon; Olympic medal winners in Mexico City would raise their fists in a black power salute; President Johnson would sign the Civil Rights Act of 1968; Yale University would announce that it intended to admit women; 2001: A Space Odyssey would premier; and Led Zeppelin would give their first live performance." What does that turbulent year have to tell us in this tumultuous moment? What forgotten history is worth revisiting? And in the past half-century, where has the nation made progress, and where has it struggled? Conor Friedersdorf joins us to discuss these questions with our hosts. If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go www.theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey. Links – ”1968 and the Making of Modern America” (Conor Friedersdorf, January 1, 2018) –  ”Put Your Husband in the Kitchen” (Helen Keller, 1932 Issue) – “Report: Washington” (Elizabeth Drew, April 1968 Issue) – “Americans' Respect for Police Surges” (Gallup, October 24, 2016) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Jan 201840min

Every year is impossible to synthesize. Yet 2017 was not just another year. To help us wrangle the chaotic, extraordinary events of the last 12 months into some sort of shape, we posed a question to journalists from across The Atlantic's staff, and to our listeners: What were the ideas of 2017? In this episode, Jeff and Matt discuss the many different responses to that question we collected, and share their own ideas of the year. Share yours: 202-266-7600. And here's to the year ahead. If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey. Links –The End of History and the Last Man (Francis Fukuyama, 1992) –“It's Still Not the End of History” (Timothy Stanley and Alexander Lee, September 1, 2014) –“This Article Won’t Change Your Mind” (Julie Beck, March 13, 2017) –“The Challenge of Fighting Mistrust in Science” (Julie Beck, June 24, 2017) –“Professor Smith Goes to Washington” (Ed Yong, January 25, 2017) –“The Climate Scientist Who Became a Politician” (Ed Yong, February 2, 2017) –“Do Scientists Lose Credibility When They Become Political?” (Ed Yong, February 28, 2017) –“The Movement of #MeToo” (Sophie Gilbert, October 16, 2017) –“How America Lost Faith in Expertise” (Tom Nichols, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2017 Issue) –“A Political Opening for Universal Health Care?” (Vann R. Newkirk II, February 14, 2017) –“The Fight for Health Care Has Always Been About Civil Rights” (Vann R. Newkirk II, June 27, 2017) –“The Republican Lawmaker Who Secretly Created Reddit’s Women-Hating ‘Red Pill’” (Bonnie Bacarisse, The Daily Beast, April 25, 2017 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Des 201749min

Vladimir Putin just announced, to the surprise of no one, that he will run for reelection as President of Russia. In her January/February 2018 Atlantic cover story, Julia Ioffe writes that Americans misunderstand the man ruling the former Soviet empire: he’s not a master tactician playing three-dimensional chess, he’s a gambler who won big. "Over the past year, Russian hackers have become the stuff of legend in the United States," Julia writes. "But most Russians don’t recognize the Russia portrayed in this story." What do they see that we don't? How does America look right now from their vantage point? And what does Vladimir Putin ultimately want? Julia joins our hosts, along with Atlantic global editor Kathy Gilsinan, to discuss. If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go www.theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey. Links – “What Putin Really Wants” (Julia Ioffe, January/February 2018 Issue) – “Vladimir Putin, Action Man” (Alan Taylor, September 13, 2011) – “How the Kremlin Tried to Rig the Olympics, and Failed” (Julia Ioffe, December 6, 2017) – “It Took Two to Make Russian Meddling Effective” (Julia Ioffe, June 23, 2017) – “Putin’s Inauguration: Satire and Violence” (Julia Ioffe, The New Yorker, May 7, 2012) – "Why Do They Stay?" (Hilzoy, Obsidian Wings, April 10, 2009) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Des 201753min

That Pence is the vice president of the United States is "a loaves-and-fishes miracle," writes McKay Coppins in the latest issue of The Atlantic. It's remarkable enough that "an embattled small-state governor with underwater approval ratings, dismal reelection prospects, and a national reputation in tatters" would be chosen as a presidential running mate at all. But unlikelier still is the fact that Pence, known for his devotion to Christ, would become the most prominent character witness for President Donald Trump. How did Pence reconcile his deeply held Christian values with his defense of Donald Trump after the revelation of the Access Hollywood recording? Would he support Trump if the presidency were within his own reach? And what do his decisions illuminate about evangelical Christians' attachment to the president? In this conversation, McKay shares what he's learned about Pence from reporting on his stints as governor, radio host, and frat snitch. Links – “God’s Plan for Mike Pence” (McKay Coppins, January/February 2018 Issue) – “The Odds of Impeachment Are Dropping” (Peter Beinart, December 3, 2017) – “Jared Kushner Responds (Very Briefly) to Flynn's Plea Deal” (Uri Friedman, December 3, 2017)“Should Christian Bakers Be Allowed to Refuse Wedding Cakes to Gays?” (Conor Friedersdorf, February 25, 2014) – “If Indiana's Religious-Freedom Law Isn't Discriminatory, Why Change It?” (David A. Graham, March 31, 2015) – Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950 – “Terry McAuliffe’s Dead-Serious Advice For Democrats: Have Some Fun!” (Ruby Cramer, BuzzFeed News, December 3, 2017) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Des 201754min

In December 2007, the U.S. marked the beginning of its longest recession since World War II. Now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency born in the ashes of the nation's economic downturn, is under new leadership that promises big changes. Meanwhile, a tax plan speeding through Congress could have far-reaching effects on the economy, well beyond taxes. On paper, the U.S. economy looks robust. But for whom, and for how long? This week, Annie Lowrey and Alana Semuels join our hosts to look at what's happened in the decade since the Great Recession, and what's happening now. What lessons have we learned from the crisis? And which are we doomed to repeat? Links: - "The Never-Ending Foreclosure" (Alana Semuels, December 1, 2017) - "The Great Recession Is Still With Us" (Annie Lowrey, December 1, 2017) - “The GOP Targets America’s Most Loved and Hated Tax Break” (Alana Semuels, November 2, 2017) - “The U.S. Isn’t Prepared for the Next Recession” (Annie Lowrey, October 31, 2017) - “Mick Mulvaney Is Pretending Everything's Totally Normal at Work” (Gillian B. White, November 28, 2017) - “Could a Tax Fix the Gig Economy?” (Alana Semuels, November 6, 2017) - “Trump Says His Tax Plan Won't Benefit the Rich—He's Exactly Wrong” (Annie Lowrey, September 29, 2017) - "Could a Memo by Christina Romer Have Saved the Economy?" (John Hudson, February 22, 2012) - “The Fight Over the CFPB Reveals the Broken State of American Politics” (David A. Graham, November 28, 2017) - "The Shadow of the Stimulus" (Ross Douthat, February 1, 2009) - "Return of the Shopping Avenger" (Jeffrey Goldberg, December 1, 2009) - The Half Has Never Been Told  (Edward Baptist) - The Unwinding (George Packer) - "The Nutshell Studies" (Katie Mingle, 99 Percent Invisible) - "The Reason This 'Racist Soap Dispenser' Doesn't Work on Black Skin" (Max Plenke, Mic.com, September 9, 2015) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Des 201746min

For generations, Hollywood has defined what masculinity means in the U.S., with iconic screen figures such as John Wayne. But Wayne's stoic, taciturn image was the product of a complicated relationship with the director John Ford, one that offers different lessons about masculinity and its constraints. As scandals about men and their behavior fill the news, we discuss the legacy of John Wayne and other male screen icons. Our cohosts are joined by Atlantic staff writer Megan Garber and Stephen Metcalf, author of the story "How John Wayne Became a Hollow Masculine Icon." Links:  - "How John Wayne Became a Hollow Masculine Icon" (Stephen Metcalf, December 2017 Issue) - "Masculinity Done Well and Poorly" (James Hamblin, September 25, 2017) - "The End of Men" (Hanna Rosin, July/August 2010 Issue) - "Angry White Boys" (Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, August 16, 2017) - "Toxic Masculinity and Murder" (James Hamblin, June 16, 2016) - "Does Masculinity Need To Be 'Reimagined'?" (Erik Hayden, September 21, 2010) - "How Hollywood Whitewashed the Old West" (Leah Williams, October 5, 2016) - "Hollywood Has Ruined Method Acting" (Angelica Jade Bastién, August 11, 2016)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Nov 201750min