The Realignment

Latest Episodes:

439 | John Brennan: The AI Future We Were Promised Is Finally Here Dec 14, 2023

Show notes

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/

PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com

Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai

John Brennan, General Manager, Public Sector at Scale AI, joins The Realignment as part of the show's coverage of the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum. John and Marshall discuss AI's impact on national security and warfare, how the U.S. can maintain its strategic advantage technological competition, and the sector's transition decade-long transition from science-fiction to present-day reality.

438 | Mike Slagh: The Case for Building American Civil-Military Fusion Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

Defense Venture Summit Talks: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdhfXtyLBQ9GFdAgCBHDVME9hd3GgT_TS

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/

PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com

Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai

Earlier this month, the Foundation for American Innovation flew The Realignment out to the Reagan Defense Forum for a series of interviews covering the intersection of national security, technology, and foreign policy. For today's interview, Marshall spoke with Shift CEO and Defense Ventures Summit Founder Mike Slagh. They discuss the defense ecosystem, recap last month's Defense Venture Summit, and articulate the respective roles played by veterans, founders, technologists, civilians, venture capitalists, and policymakers when it comes to addressing defense challenges.

RE: Something Interesting | Johnny Smith on What Michael Jordan Meant for 1990s America, the Colorblind Racial Ideal, and Sports in Politics Dec 09, 2023

Show notes

Purchase Jumpman: https://bookshop.org/lists/re-something-interesting-book-list?

Welcome to RE: Something Interesting, The Realignment's new Saturday podcast focused on more casual conversations about American culture and society with people who've released something worth diving into. Today's guest is Georgia Tech's Johnny Smith, author of Jumpman: The Making and Meaning of Michael Jordan. Marshall and Johnny discuss how racial politics shaped Michael Jordan's career, the role of sports in society, how American culture shifted during the 1980s and 1990s, and why the country's 1990s-era racial optimism seems to have transitioned into racial pessimism during the 2010s and 2020s.

437 | Joe Lonsdale: The Role of Defense Technology in a New Era of Conflict Dec 08, 2023

Show notes

Joe Lonsdale's Blog: Joe Lonsdale | Substack

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/

PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com

Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai

Last weekend, the Foundation for American Innovation flew The Realignment out to the Reagan Defense Forum for a series of interviews covering the intersection of national security, technology, and foreign policy. Next up, Palantir co-founder and 8VC Managing Partner, Joe Lonsdale. Marshall and Joe discuss the evolution of the defense technology space from the War on Terror to the great power competition era of the 2020s, how technology can deter conflict, and his writing on how innovators can avoid becoming cogs in the legacy defense industrial complex.

436 | Shyam Sankar: From the "Last Supper" to the "First Breakfast" - How 30 Years of Consolidation & Financialization Broke the Defense Industry Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

Last Breakfast Substack: First Breakfast | Shyam Sankar | Substack

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/

PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com

Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai

Last weekend, the Foundation for American Innovation flew The Realignment out to the Reagan Defense Forum for a series of interviews covering the intersection of national security, technology, and foreign policy. First up, Marshall interviewed Shyam Sankar, Palantir's Chief Technology Officer, about his perspective on the emerging defense tech ecosystem. They discuss why the post-Cold War "Last Supper" and peace dividend led to a financialized and over-consolidated military-industrial-complex, the current lack of a pre-WWII style mobilization of industry, and the need for "founders" in the mold of those who led the U.S. to victory in WWII and the Cold War.

435 | Tim Alberta: Will Trump's Alliance with Evangelicals Lead to Victory in 2024? Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/

PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com

Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai

Tim Alberta, staff writer for The Atlantic and author of The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Tim discuss the evolution of Trump's relationship from Evangelical Christians from 2015 to the present, the impact of a secularizing America on faith's role in politics, and the long-term effects of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

RE: Something Interesting | Jason Del Rey on the Future of Black Friday and Holiday Sales, In-Person vs. Online Commerce, and How Amazon & Walmart Are Redefining How We Shop Dec 02, 2023

Show notes

Purchase Winner Sells All: https://bookshop.org/lists/re-something-interesting-book-list?

Welcome to RE: Something Interesting, The Realignment's new Saturday podcast focused on more casual conversations about American culture and society with people who've released something worth diving into. Today's guest is the journalist Jason Del Rey, author of Winner Sells All: Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets. Marshall and Jason discuss a listener's question about the state of Black Friday given the decline of in-person shopping, how the rivalry between Amazon and Walmart redefined the shopping experience, why both struggled with their in-person and online experiences, and why many of their efforts and startups they acquired during the 2010s floundered.

434 | Ben Mezrich: Will Elon Musk Make or Break X? Dec 01, 2023

Show notes

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/

PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com

Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai

Ben Mezrich, author of Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History, returns to The Realignment. Marshall and Ben discuss Elon Musk's prospects for turning X (formerly Twitter) into not only a fundamentally sound business, but also the biggest global platform for speech, whether a profit-driven company can ever achieve free speech goals, post-acquisition successes, failures, and missed opportunities, and whether the platform can ever build the requisite subscriber base to escape its dependence on advertisers.

433 | Adam Hammer: Funding and Scaling the Breakthrough Tech America Needs to Win the 21st Century Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/

Roadrunner Venture Studios: https://roadrunnerventurestudios.com/

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/

PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com

Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai

Adam Hammer, President and Co-Founder of Roadrunner Venture Studios, a new venture studio based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Adam discuss why America fell behind its rivals when it comes to developing emerging deep/frontier technologies, opportunities in quantum science, space, energy, advanced manufacturing, and clean tech, New Mexico's status as a past and future cradle of innovation, and how the "venture studio" model of company formation and funding can address the deep tech blind spots missed by traditional venture capital.

432 | Jennifer Burns: Is the Milton Friedman Era Over? Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/

PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Email Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com

Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai

Jennifer Burns, Stanford history professor and author of Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative & Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Jennifer discuss Milton Friedman's legacy, his foundational role in shaping the bipartisan neoliberal approach that supplanted the New Deal in the 1970s and 1980s, whether the 2008 Financial Crisis, the trade policy fueled Trump revolt in 2016, and the COVID supply chain crunch has discredited his market-oriented worldview, and why the return of inflation politics could end up revitalizing his work for future generations.

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