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The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Is America broken?

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

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

4.610.8K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What do you think of America’s institutions? Alana Newhouse, founder and editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, says that may be the most important political question in America. In an essay published more than two years ago, Newhouse argued that there is a new political divide, one in which your place — and the place of your allies and adversaries — is determined by whether you believe that America’s institutions should be fixed or destroyed. Her argument feels eerily prescient in light of the Trump administration’s recent efforts to dismantle government programs. In this episode, which first aired in February of 2023, Alana and Sean debate what that divide means for America’s present and future, and whether it supersedes labels like "left" or "right" and "Democrat" or "Republican." Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Alana Newhouse (@alananewhouse) editor-in-chief, Tablet and author of "Brokenism." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey Jack, I'm seeing your business everywhere. Have you got a new marketing person or something?

0:04.8

You could say I've got a new secret weapon for print. Print? Oh, Vista print, right? That's not a secret.

0:10.8

How did you know? Come on. Custom posters, branded mugs, stylish flyers. Only one place prints all that. Vista print.

0:17.7

Yeah, I got business cards, stickers, t-shirts, booklets, signage, even photo books from my last holiday.

0:23.2

Print everything for your business with VistaPrint.

0:25.9

If you need it, we print it at vistoprint.co.uk.

0:30.2

Hi, I'm Jorge Just.

0:32.4

I'm the editor of the Grey Area, and I'm taking a very short break from my new hobbies of doom-scrolling and disaster

0:38.6

refreshing to tell you about this week's episode.

0:42.0

It's a conversation between Sean and Alana Newhouse from two February's ago, and at least

0:46.8

for me, it helps put into context all the chaos and cluster effery that's taken over the

0:51.7

United States government the last couple of weeks.

0:54.8

In the episode, Newhouse uses a concept that she calls brokenism.

0:58.6

She uses it to argue that the most important political divide in the country is not between the left and the right,

1:03.7

but rather between those who want to repair America's institutions and those who want to destroy them.

1:09.1

It's a real eye-opener.

1:11.0

After listening, I kind of wanted to go back in time to when it was first published,

1:15.1

so I could play it for everyone, tell people, pay attention.

1:18.1

This might be coming.

1:19.5

But that is impossible.

1:22.1

So, instead, we've brought the episode forward in time to now.

1:26.2

To play it for everyone.

...

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