How to fix America’s spiritual crisis

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

News Commentary, Philosophy, Politics, Society & Culture, News

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Sean talks with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy about the crisis lurking beneath America's political dysfunction. Murphy’s new book “Crisis of the Common Good” argues that the country is suffering from a collapse of connection, belonging, and purpose. They discuss loneliness, powerlessness, liberalism, democracy, Trumpism, corporate power, social media, and why so many Americans feel disconnected from their communities, their institutions, and each other. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling) Guest: Sen. Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at thegrayarea@vox.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show. And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday. Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We've all been there.
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0:31.2	Megan Rapino here.
0:32.7	This week on a touch more, the beautiful game.
0:34.8	I am sitting down with fashion designer DJ
0:37.1	and the Washington Spirit's first ever creative director, Domo Game, I am sitting down with fashion designer DJ and the Washington
0:38.0	Spirit's first ever creative director, Domo Wells, in her LA studio. We talk about Domo's unusual
0:44.4	path towards sports fandom and how her work as a DJ makes her a better designer. And what
0:50.5	designing for women's athletes and their fans should actually look like.
0:55.0	Check out the latest episode of A Touchmore wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube.
1:03.7	American politics is very good at giving us enemies.
1:08.0	Politics in general is good at this.
1:14.1	It tends to be much worse at giving us a sense of belonging. And that's a problem because a lot of what looks like ideology right now is really
1:20.6	loneliness, distrust, humiliation, and people looking for some kind of anchor, which is what we should expect.
	...

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