The Best People with Nicolle Wallace

Ken Burns thinks we’re going to make it. An award-winning documentarian, Ken’s celebrated career seeks to find humanity in our country’s imperfect story. He threads this idea through his documentaries about everything from our national pastime (“Baseball”), to our offbeat experiments (“Jazz”), and our violent beginnings as seen through his latest project, “The American Revolution.” As our nation's 250th anniversary approaches, he joins Nicolle at 92NY for an intimate conversation about the American experiment — how its failures and its successes inform each other and nudge the country forward. Ken understands that political turmoil is a hallmark of our democracy; fundamentally, we’ve been here before. To illustrate this, he shares the words of a German Hessian soldier spoken as he surrenders at Yorktown: “Who would have thought a hundred years ago that out of this multitude of rabble could arise a people who could defy kings?”

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Chris Hayes’ antidote to anxiety is always curiosity. Whether on TV with "All In," on his podcast (aptly named “Why Is This Happening?”), or writing about our waning attention spans in his latest book, he looks to make sense of this era’s firehose of information by seeking out the reasons behind the very human decisions we make. This curiosity prompted a deep dive series on his podcast into artificial intelligence: "The AI End Game," tracing AI's evolution to how it will impact our democracy and what guardrails need to be applied. This week, Chris joins Nicolle to talk about how Democrats can rebuild faith in government in a “low trust” democracy, what we can learn from our political past “while not being obsessed with it and trapped in it” and what deeper questions we should be asking about AI. And in his search to understand this technology, he discovered an unintended source of inspiration because “it brings us back in some ways to what we find beautiful and thrilling about being human.”

Search "Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast" to listen to the full series, "The AI End Game."

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AI – and coverage of it – is everywhere. But what is artificial intelligence, really, beyond the buzzword? Each week, in a special new miniseries - ‘The AI End Game’ - Chris Hayes is joined by preeminent experts on AI and its effects to help make sense of this revolutionary time in history.

The series will feature in-depth conversations with experts, including: The Atlantic journalist Derek Thompson; professor at Wharton and New York Times bestselling author Ethan Mollick, professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and member of the Berkeley AI Research Group Alison Gopnik; former co-lead of the Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team at Google and co-founder of Black in AI Timnit Gebru; philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers; author, host of the “Better Offline” podcast and writer of the “Where's Your Ed At” newsletter, Ed Zitron; The New York Times journalist and author, Michael Pollan, and more. The first episode is available now wherever you get your podcasts. 

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Sarah Longwell listens to voters. As a GOP strategist and pollster who felt herself languishing in the wilderness as Trump 1.0 took root, she founded “The Bulwark” in 2019 with a stated mission “to put country over party... and to build a home for the politically homeless.” This masthead has become a movement, and Sarah, its fearless leader, sees defending democracy as the quintessential goal. After leading voter focus groups for the last eight years, Sarah understands that what matters in the beltway ‘bubble” rarely translates to what matters to America’s median voter, and why Trump’s approval is flailing: “People know that the tariffs are Trump’s, people know that the Iran war is Trump's... and that it is raising their prices, and that is what they are mad about.”  Sarah uses these insights to chart a path for how Americans can move past the MAGA movement and take the “weird” out of government again. She joins Nicolle for a conversation about the power of simply listening to voters, how the two wings of the MAGA movement are fraying, and what Democrats can do to capitalize on Trump’s failures.

And a note to listeners: Last chance to get tickets for a live taping of "The Best People" with iconic documentarian Ken Burns at the 92Y in New York City. It’s happening on Tuesday, May 12th. You can learn more here: https://stage.92ny.org/event/ken-burns-and-nicolle-wallace

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Governor Mikie Sherill's best leadership lessons came from the Navy—and her kids. As a mom of four, the retired Navy helicopter pilot and former Congresswoman doesn’t have time to waste, and with less than 100 days under her belt as New Jersey's governor, she’s showing Democrats a refreshing governing approach: move quickly and fix things. She believes in the American ideal of kids doing a bit better than their parents but is not looking to replicate the pre-Trump era that held “a great deal of inertia.” Instead, she wants to chart a new path for effective government that’s fast and reliable.  She joins Nicolle for a conversation on the quiet benefits of being underestimated, how states are looking to expand their powers, and why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “is a debacle.” Governor Sherrill also advises on what battles to choose with Trump: “I'm looking at fights that are systemic and problematic... I'm not looking at problems of a patio off the White House that a good bulldozer can deal with in a week.”

 

And a note to listeners: Tickets are now available for a live taping of "The Best People" with iconic documentarian Ken Burns at the 92Y in New York City. It’s happening on Tuesday, May 12th. You can learn more here: https://stage.92ny.org/event/ken-burns-and-nicolle-wallace 

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads. You'll also get exclusive bonus content and early access to new episodes of "The Best People."

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.