Yuval Levin on What Conservatism Is for Today

Conversations with Coleman

The Free Press

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does conservatism mean in an age of populism, executive power, and institutional distrust? Yuval Levin is a political theorist, the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again. Today he argues that the deepest divide in American politics is no longer left versus right, but populism versus institutions. Levin traces the shift within the conservative movement from an emphasis on morality and constitutional limits to a more confrontational style of politics, and he explains why durable reform requires coalition building, legislation, and respect for procedure. He reflects on his time in the Bush administration, the limits of presidential governance, the fight over universities, the coming politics of AI, and why the Constitution was designed to hold a divided nation together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.5	Welcome to another episode of Conversations with Coleman. My guest today is Yvall Levine.
0:36.1	Yvall is a political theorist author and public intellectual
0:39.0	known for his work on constitutionalism, civil society, and the structure of American
0:44.2	political institutions. He's the editor of National Affairs, a senior fellow at the American
0:49.5	Enterprise Institute, and the author of many influential books, including The Fractured Republic and A Time to
0:56.2	Build. In this episode, we talk about the differences between liberals and conservatives, both philosophically
1:02.2	and psychologically. We talk about the Trump administration's heavy-handed approach to higher
1:07.8	education reform. We talk about the difference between conservatism and right-wing
1:13.5	populism. We talk about the decline of religion in American life, and much more. So without further ado,
1:21.7	Yval Levin. Thanks so much for coming on my show.
1:34.3	Thank you very much for having me.
1:36.3	So I want to give my readers a sense of who you are, what your background is before we get into some of the questions that I want to ask you.
	...

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