Marshall here, welcome back to the realignment.

As I mentioned on Tuesday's episode with Steve Telly's, for today I'm posting a

interview with Abundance co-author Derek Thompson of the Atlantic and Massachusetts Congressman

Jake Ockincloss.

I recorded this at Welcome Fest, the main annual gathering for moderate Democrats.

I want to specifically call out the section

of the interview where I asked Derek and Jake what story they tell about 2020s America,

given that it feels like the populist right and left, regardless of how true their

tellings are, both have strong persuasive stories about where we are as a country, why everyone

is so pissed off and anxious about

the future and where we should go from here.

I really enjoyed all of the conversations at Welcome Fest, but from my point of view, I

heard too much talk about polling and messaging and not enough about what people in the

center positively feel about the country and where they want to take us.

Too much 2024 campaign defense and not enough

forward-facing positive vision. I didn't share the question with Derek and Jake beforehand,

and I'm sure if I'd given them more time, they'd have long, eloquent answers to the question.

But I also know that if I were interviewing a Maga conservative or a left populist,

skeptical of the Abundance Agenda Project, they would have one. So hopefully this serves as a

helpful bit of homework for listeners on the center. Hope you all enjoy the conversation.

Welcome to the stage, Marshall Kozlov, Derek Thompson, and Congressman Jake Akinclos.

So Derek and I were chatting right before this started, and you're at, like, week 12 of the

...