The Realignment

Failure to Communicate Substack: https://failuretocommunicate.substack.com/Danielle Lee Tomson: https://failuretocommunicate.substack.com/p/the-authenticity-gapRealignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail the Show: [email protected]. Danielle Lee Tomson, author of the Failure to Communicate Substack and the forthcoming Under the Influence: What's Real When America Feels Fake, returns to The Realignment. Marshall and Danielle revisit her concept of the "authenticity gap": the growing mismatch between our expectations and lived reality, and its defining role in America's turn to populism, why technocratic campaigning and politics crowds out meaning, culture, and first-order questions, why effective storytelling is a critical candidate and movement skillset, and why the next phase of left-liberal politics will require fusion between feuding camps, not factional warfare.

Niskanen Summer Institute: https://www.niskanencenter.org/niskanen-summer-institute-democracy-that-works/Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail the Show: [email protected] M. Dougherty, author of Beast in the Machine: How Robotics and AI Will Transform Warfare and the Future of Human Conflict, joins The Realignment. Marshall and George discuss how robotics and AI are triggering a military revolution as consequential as mechanization a century ago, why the real story isn't "drones" but "universal precision: a 100-1000x leap in lethality on the battlefield, the need to rethink offense, defense, and initiative, how small states and non-state actors are innovating faster than the U.S. and legacy defense ecosystems, and what today's equivalent of the outmoded WWII battleship is.

Niskanen Summer Institute: https://www.niskanencenter.org/niskanen-summer-institute-democracy-that-works/The Affordability Framework: https://economicsecurityproject.org/news/introducing-the-affordability-framework-a-tool-for-understanding-americas-affordability-crisis/Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail the Show: [email protected]

Oliver Libby Forbes Profile: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelldebevoise/2025/11/11/why-americas-next-big-idea-isnt-about-doing-more--its-about-building-smarter/Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail the Show: [email protected] Libby, civic investor and author of Strong Floor, No Ceiling: Building a New Foundation for the American Dream, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Oliver discuss his post-2024 Strong Floor, No Ceiling framework: a strong floor below which Americans shouldn't fall (healthcare, education, work, housing, opportunity), and no ceiling on aspiration and growth (with rules), why Americans are giving up on the American dream, what a successful national service program would look like (and why previous versions failed to meet their promise), how wealth and power stress the social contract, and why an alternative to MAGA hasn't arrived yet.

Hardball Substack: https://thechrismatthews.substack.com/Realignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail the Show: [email protected] Matthews, former host of MSNBC's Hardball (now on Substack) and author of Lessons from Bobby: Ten Reasons Robert F. Kennedy Still Matters, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Chris discuss Robert F. Kennedy's legacy after last month's 100-year centenary of his birth, what his life, career, and assassination meant for American liberalism, the politics of working-class and rural Americans, RFK's ability to surmount racial divisions, and why authenticity matters more than surface-level branding, as demonstrated by the careers of President Trump, Representative AOC, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Senator John Fetterman.