"Obama, Trump & the Great American Contradiction" with Pulitzer-Prize-winner Paul Starr

Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Josh Szeps

Society & Culture, Comedy Interviews, Self-improvement, Comedy, Education

4.5 • 905 Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2025

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The difference between America's last two consequential presidents (sorry, Joe) couldn't be starker. How did the same country - sometimes even the same voters - endorse an urbane, professorial, hopey-changey Black man and a foul-mouthed, regressive clown? Is there some deep American contradiction that explains them both? That's the claim of Paul Starr, a Pulitzer-winner who co-founded the iconic magazine The American Prospect. He worked in the Clinton administration and is now a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University. Starr's new book is "American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now". He joined Josh to explain how, from MLK to Nixon to Gingrich to NAFTA to tariffs to wokeness, we find ourselves in the latest cycle of a grand American battle between revenge, fear and freedom. Go to https://surfshark.com/joshs or use code JOSHS at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey humans. You know, putting on your pants is a lot like using a VPN. It keeps the important staff private,
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0:14.9	Hallelujah, Surf Shark VPN is giving you four extra months of their military grade encryption at surfshark.com
0:24.0	slash Josh S or by using the code Josh S at checkout.
0:28.9	You know, without a virtual private network, you're a sitting duck for snoopers and trackers
0:33.3	and identity theft and fraud, especially on public Wi-Fi, which I use a lot at libraries
0:39.1	and airports and such, which is one reason I use Surf Shark VPN.
0:44.5	That's not the only reason, though, the privacy stuff.
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0:51.9	and you start browsing flights and hotel reservations from
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1:11.9	slash Josh S, you can be anywhere you want to be. Plus, wherever you are, a Surfshark VPN also
1:18.7	enables you to stream your favorite shows or access websites that are geo-blocked from the region
1:23.7	that you're actually in. With Surfshark, you can break through all the online barriers and access content from all
1:28.9	over the world.
1:29.4	So don't let online threats catch you off guard, take control of your online security with a 30-day
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1:51.2	G'day, humans.
1:52.8	Welcome to the safe space for dangerous ideas.
	...

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