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Reasonably Optimistic

Enough with the doom and gloom — we’re ready to talk about how America can thrive. Hosted by Washington Post Opinion columnist Megan McArdle, “Reasonably Optimistic” is your weekly conversation about how America can get unstuck and build a better future. Stop feeding your rage and start embracing our possibilities. Episodes drop Wednesdays.

Copyright: © The Washington Post

Latest Episodes:

An impromptu ‘Impromptu’: Processing Trump’s conviction May 31, 2024

Show notes

Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank and Karen Tumulty got together to talk about their immediate reactions to Donald Trump’s guilty verdict, the quality of his defense, and why the most knowledgeable people in Washington were expecting something different.

Do we actually want AI that seems human? May 29, 2024

Show notes

Do we actually want AI that seems human?

Chatbots are being made to act and sound like humans. That makes them easier to talk to, but there could be other consequences. As our relationships with artificial intelligence evolve, do we need to draw a brighter line between what is technology and what is us? Opinions columnists Josh Tyrangiel, Bina Venkataraman and Amanda Ripley talk about what we really want out of AI.

Read more on AI from our Washington Post columnists.

Josh Tyrangiel:

“Honestly, I love when AI hallucinates”

“Let AI remake the whole U.S. government (oh, and save the country)”

“College students are dropping out in droves. Two sisters could fix that.”

Bina Venkataraman:

“When technology of the future traps people in the past”

“Can AI solve medical mysteries? It's worth finding out.”

Take advantage of our Memorial Day sale and subscribe to The Washington Post for just 99 cents every four weeks for your first year. This deal runs from May 21-June 3, 2024. Subscribe here.

Is home ownership the wrong dream for America? May 22, 2024

Show notes

The house, the yard and the picket fence have long been part of the American Dream. Owning a home is lauded as a way to grow your wealth and pass it down to future generations. But high demand and short supply, coupled with today’s soaring interest rates, have made home ownership out of reach for many Americans. Opinions columnist Catherine Rampell and associate editor Alexi McCammond join deputy editor Charles Lane to talk about the cultural and financial forces at work and the generational shift in thinking about whether buying a house is the best place to put your money.

Read more from the Washington Post:

“The YOLO economy is saving American cities”

“Cities try every tool to fix the housing shortage except what works”

“Stop blaming millennials for the housing crisis”

Take advantage of our Memorial Day sale and subscribe to The Washington Post for just 99 cents every four weeks for your first year. This deal runs from May 21-June 3, 2024. Subscribe here.

Rethinking identity in a fractured America May 19, 2024

Show notes

As trust in institutions plummets and many people search for shared values, what is the state of American identity? This bonus "Impromptu" episode features a live discussion between Opinions columnists Shadi Hamid and Jason Willick and the hosts of "Post Reports" Martine Powers and Elahe Izadi about the importance of identity in a changing world.

For more from our colleagues in the newsroom, listen to "Post Reports," a daily afternoon podcast, where you can hear deep dives into the biggest and most important stories of the day.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

It's bigger than Caitlin Clark May 15, 2024

Show notes

The WNBA season began this week following a college tournament where the women were more popular than the men. Is this shift about more than Caitlin Clark and the fantastic players in basketball right now? Sports columnist Sally Jenkins joins Opinions columnists Theodore Johnson and Amanda Ripley to talk about what athletes have done for the women’s movement and whether the women’s game can avoid some of the pitfalls that have plagued men’s sports.

Read more from our columnists about what they discussed in this episode.

Sally Jenkins: “Title IX showed generations of women what was possible” and “Caitlin Clark is coming, and the WNBA better get ready for her”

Theodore R. Johnson: “Healing medicine for a fractured nation? College basketball.”

Fewer Americans believe in God. Is that a problem? May 08, 2024

Show notes

When asked about their religious affiliation, nearly 30 percent of Americans identify as “nones,” or “nothing in particular.” And over the past 25 years there’s been a steep decline in people belonging to any type of church, synagogue or mosque. But what is lost as people drift from religion? Is it at all responsible for today’s loneliness crisis?

Read more from our columnists about what they discussed in the episode.

Perry Bacon: “I used to be a Christian. Now I miss church.”

Kate Cohen: “How atheists can fix a broken America” and “Go back to church! (Or something like it.)”

Shadi Hamid: “The dilemmas of living in a post-religious world.”

Campuses are wrestling with the politics of war. So are we. May 01, 2024

Show notes

Campus protests across the country have renewed Americans' attention on the Israel-Gaza war and are scrambling U.S. politics, particularly on the left. Senior Opinions Editor Amanda Katz speaks with columnists Dana Milbank and Shadi Hamid about how their views have evolved since Oct. 7, whether there’s a double standard on free speech, and what the protests could foreshadow for the upcoming presidential election, particularly among young people.

(Note: This episode was recorded Monday, April 29 and does not reference events that took place after)

Read some of the columns referenced in this episode. Dana Milbank wrote on what it felt like for him in the weeks following the Oct. 7 attacks: “It’s a lonely time to be a Jew in America”

Shadi Hamid wrote about the recent Israeli aid bill and some Democrats’ changing views: “Why it matters that some Democrats voted against aid for Israel”

Is Trump above the law? The Supreme Court weighs in. Apr 24, 2024

Show notes

The Supreme Court is set to decide to what extent former President Trump could be immune from prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021, as his lawyers have claimed. Post Opinions columnists Charles Lane, Ruth Marcus and Jason Willick discuss the strategy and timing of these arguments and what we might expect the justices to decide in this showdown about the future boundaries of presidential authority.

Read Ruth Marcus on why she thinks this case is “simultaneously bogus and important.”: “How the Supreme Court should rule on presidential immunity.” And here’s her column on what she sees as the Trump team’s delay tactics: “How Trump could win by losing, and delay his trial date.”

Check out Jason Willick’s column where he describes the “nightmare scenarios” that dominate this debate: “Trump’s immunity claim at the Supreme Court deserves to fail, as does his Jan. 6 prosecution.” Here’s more on his thoughts about how this case has been prosecuted: “Special counsel Jack Smith has exposed his error in prosecuting Trump.”

What the 'tradwife' trend says about modern life Apr 17, 2024

Show notes

Some women are retreating to stereotypical, retro gender roles that embrace the patriarchy. Known as “tradwives,” they are all over TikTok. Style columnist Monica Hesse, letters and community editor Alyssa Rosenberg and senior editor for Opinions Amanda Katz discuss how this trend exposes a continued struggle over equality for men and women in modern society.

Read Monica Hesse’s column: Tradwives, stay-at-home girlfriends and the dream of feminine leisure

Read the Cut article that kicked off a lot of recent controversy over #TradWives: The Case for Marrying an Older Man

How to cope with the absurd, high-stakes 2024 election Apr 10, 2024

Show notes

America is entering a grueling presidential election season that’s also a rematch of the one from four years ago. Many Americans report feeling dread and exhaustion about politics and the news. So how do we stay engaged? What can journalists do to help? Three of our columnists talk through it.

Read Amanda Ripley’s deep dive crowdsourcing a playbook for election-year sanity: How to survive another Trump-Biden election

And we want to hear your strategies too! Let us know how you plan to make it through this election year. Are there things you are doing differently to manage stress, preserve relationships and feel like you are making a difference? Tell us here.

Read Perry Bacon’s latest on voters of color shifting right: More voters of color are backing the GOP. Should Democrats panic?

And check out Jim Geraghty writing about why we all need to stop pretending this election is normal: Welcome, Democrats, to the 'abnormal is the new normal' charade

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