I’ve been a long time listener and paid subscriber. But this podcast is losing its “juice.” Most episodes now are just 50 minute discussions about terms and labels. Ironically, in doing this, I think Marshall is living out his own critique of moderation and centrism.

Marshall’s slow trajectory towards the center-left has yielded him practically incapable of any meaningful dialogue at this point. As with most of the DC crowd, they have convictions and interesting conversations just until the other party gets into power. Since Trump regained the WH, this podcast has focused less on political thought/critical reasoning in the realignment of the American politik than it has merely laid the groundwork for the left/DSA to have political standing. This podcast readily went from being the JD Vance equivalent of 2023 to the feckless Chris Murphy of 2024. Marshall no longer hides that this is effectively an organizing effort for laying the political framework of the center-left going in to 2026/2028. Marshall, enticed by the Ezra Klein manifesto of 2025, yearns for an “abundance” equivalent of Obama in 2015, all the while the Hassan Pikers/Kyle Kulinskis/Abdul El-Sayeds/AOCs have a stronghold on the party. I’m embarrassed for him.

Let your guests talk. I stopped listening half way through episode 593 due to only the host talking. May as well not even have guests on and make it a one man show. There’s nothing wrong with short, concise sentences.

I’ve been listening to the realignment since its debut and it has been interesting to follow Marshall’s intellectual journey. I come from the left, and over the last 2 years have become increasingly skeptical of the best the left has to offer. In that period, Marshall has supercharged that skepticism by bringing on such a robust array of different figures within the left policy and campaign/ advocacy spaces. It is clear now that the left is merely chasing the knee jerk populism that lives within trumps base, without any regard to the long term health of the society or economy. These clowns yearn for the collapse of a more meritocratic country so that iPad spinners who spend 9hrs a day on their phone feel more comfortable in society?? It’s bizarrely immature, self serving and incoherent. The Democratic Party Marshall and Ezra yearn for died when the social media era started, as it exposed the academic left for being such close bedfellows with the biggest drains on social productivity and progress. RIP to the meritocratic America that lead to us being the world superpower

Very boring episode. Raihan used to be interesting now he is just telling silly stories.

Marshall- we know you are smart. But you need to pontificate less and engage with the guest more. The guest is why I listen. Not to hear you go on and on.

This used to be one of my favorite podcasts with interesting conversations addressing multiple topics, eras, and perspectives. I found great value it it’s dynamism and energy. Now, I find its singular focus on the abundance agenda flat and frankly boring. I have no issue with the abundance agenda as a whole but it’s just not a topic I care to hear about weekly. This podcast used to generate interesting conversations over dinner or long car rides but now I just remove it from my feed.

Just listened to the ep where Nancy Scola was allegedly being interviewed. How many zyns did Marshall pop beforehand? She was fighting for her life trying to get a word in.

Look, I want to like this show, but Marshall is not a good interviewer. He appears to use guests as props for his own monologues. I think what he really wants is a solo show, problem is I’m interested in the guests but I don’t get to hear them, and it’s too bad Marshall can’t be a little more curious and a little less delighted by his own voice.

Boring

Can finally listen to Saagar talk without Krystal yapping her mouth off about everything and complaining!

Marshall is one of the most effective podcast hosts. His ability to interview the world’s leading thinkers and draw from his own vast knowledge about foreign and domestic affairs makes this truly the bleeding edge of thought and discussion on these topics. I find myself envying Marshall and his ability to go toe to toe with the world’s leading thinkers on topics as diverse as the war in Ukraine, and US housing policy. Huge kudos to Marshall and the guests for providing one of the most important forums of discussion on critical topics of the day.

This is a pretty useful exploration of a historic political evolution that is happening in real time. Unrelated: I would suggest a drinking game. Every time Marshall starts a list by saying “one” or “A” and never comes back to finish the list with “two” or “B” - take a drink.

Realignment has a refreshing neutral tone

Marshall comes across as doing his best to be intellectually honest and maintains some humility when expressing his opinions, many of which I don’t even agree with. Saagar is the opposite and I find his delivery and lack of humility obnoxious. Fortunately he’s barely ever on anymore. I struggle to even finish anything that he is on.

As much as i wanted to like this podcast, I’ve determined that the hosts are socialists committed to the elitist woke thinking that is leading this country into ruin. They seem to have no ability to think outside the 3x5 card of mainstream allowable opinion. Very disappointed.

Love the show! RE Fat Leonard the I agree that the lack of morals when our high ranking officials thought no one was looking is astounding, but it leads me to ask what this story says about our culture. That the people who maintain our borders and infrastructure: from privates to admirals and day laborers to licensed engineers are valued at fractions of bankers or software maintenance for entertainment platforms in terms of pay scale. How are these incredibly important fields supposed to recruit and maintain top talent when our society values values the antics of Mr. Beast well above secure clean water or bridges that don’t collapse as you’re driving on them? And what can rational people do to move the needle toward responsible priorities?

Used to be higher quality. Not worth your time these days….

This was so embarrassing that I had to unfollow

This is a podcast called “The Realignment” yet features conservatives plugging the same failed center right policies as they have for 40 years. Lots of talk of “changing the culture” since solving the problems discussed on this pod would mean addressing economic problems with a new ideology. Misleading title, but clever enough to get people to think there’s something original being discussed.

First listen: Peter Turchin episode : show seems intellectually humble + honest. Interviewer asks question and then listens to answer without interruption. Whatever bias interviewer may have he does not let it take over. Guest shared a lot of information on his topic. Well done.

Fantastic Noah Smith episode. Because of you two I have hope for the future of our country and a rational path to achieve it. My favorite podcasts in the rotation, by far. I’m glad NS put out Econ 102 and I’d like to hear more of the arsenal of democracy podcast. These are clear views without hedging with fact based historical examples that illuminate the path forward. This provides a well articulated definition of success. I mean who says we need bigger and better government institutions ?! Absolutely the right kind of MAGA. Like they guy I didn’t vote once said ‘I can hear you and the whole world will hear us.’ Press on !! (Chuck Yeager)

If you're looking for some hard-hitting, well-rounded political commentary, look elsewhere. This show is basically Fox News with a fancy coat of paint. In the land of biased media, this show is like the king of the castle. A master class in propaganda, presented with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop.

I just hope Marshall finally gets a Time Machine, so he can actually go back in time with his guests and ask the question instead of just saying "say it's 1972…”.

John Lovell said some of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s hilarious that he can’t accept that the number of people who still reason like him is dwindling, and that he would recover a lot faster if he just took full responsibility for his declining following, and made some adjustments in his thinking. The people that live in these alternate realities like him, haven’t figured it out yet that they are at a disadvantage when it comes to predicting the future in many ways BECAUSE they are bad at reasoning. For example: To not have the capacity to understand a black athlete wanting to use his platform to raise awareness about an obvious issue affecting black men, and to frame it instead as he hates the flag or the country is willful ignorance. To not recognize that taking a woman’s right to make choices about her own body away, and that awakening to systemic racism and sexism is a good thing, suggests he may have another agenda that he’s not fully disclosing. Great content! -Niles

With each episode raising a new apocalyptic warning it’s different not to be skeptical when it boils down to a book release press run.

I’m starting from episode 1. It’s like time traveling to beginning of the pandemic.

Not a single mention of the only issue that matters - now, in 2024 and beyond - ABORTION. Why are Marshall, Sagar and Henry afraid to touch this issue? The GOP will get right with women’s rights or never hold meaningful political power again.

Marshal is gutless. Pathetic. Has become a dump for woke r-words and washed up war hawks feigning disbelief that the populace views their forever wars as criminal enterprise.

This is my favorite political podcast. They always have a diverse group of guests and a diverse group of ideas being presented, always being presented in a non condescending way which other podcasts lack. I appreciate Marshall letting guests speak their mind and responding rather than trying to push his ideals or condescend on guests.

So appreciate Mr. Holman’s shoutout. This is a very interesting, very well done podcast.

For a current events/politics podcast that is based on a jumbled “realignment” of politics, it has now devolved into bringing in smart high end guests with little to no push back on the guest’s intended narrative. Noah Smith episode is a good example. The host let’s him go unchecked as he makes blanket statements and affirmation of the nation outlook with little to no response. There’s nothing challenging or interesting at play.

A year ago this was one of my favorite podcasts, now I find myself listening to one out of every ten episodes, max. I think there are two problems, which may or may not be interconnected: - First, Saagar’s role in the show has been substantially diminished. He used to participate in most of the interviews but he now only comes on twice a month for discussion episodes with Marshall. I know that this is because of his increased commitments to Breaking Points (which I subscribe to) but I always find myself missing his questions during interviews. Marshall is good at a lot of aspects of interviewing but he rarely has any tough questions for his guests. Marshall says this is because of his interviewing style, which I would accept if I hadn’t heard him pointedly question interview subjects with dovish or right-leaning views in the past. Unfortunately, this issue seems to be a product of Marshall finding himself in general agreement with most of his guests’s positions on the topic at hand and thus unable or unwilling to find significant areas of difference to tease out. - Second, the distribution of guests has noticeably shifted over the past year. Originally this show’s guests were varied and interesting, both in terms of the topics they discussed and their positions on those topics. Unfortunately, that diversity has been waning on both fronts. Today there are 3 archetypal guests on The Realignment: hawkish foreign policy analysts (most of whom used to work for the US Government), esoteric VC/tech personalities, and left-liberal commentators who have a direct stake in the preservation of the current neoliberal regime. There are still some episodes on issues like industrial policy or the problems with higher education with guests who are making interesting arguments that you won’t find in mainstream sources, but they’re not as common as they used to be. I know the show has always stayed away from social/cultural issues but issues that could be addressed in a non-culture warry way like immigration and crime are never discussed. In the end, while I still check in on new episodes, I doubt that I will be able to re-engage with this show in the way I used to. It seems to have found a new niche that I personally find much less interesting.

Big fan of the show, but every time I here the theme show music it gives me a very Calvin and Hobbesian-Rocket ship underpants kinda feeling of what is gonna come next in terms of the discourse.

Unicorn blend of education, humility, intellect, youth, experience, exuberance and wisdom. Not maxed out in all of the above, but high enough scores to make for an excellent (not “excrement”, spellcheck!) pod.

Interesting topics and conversations. I may not agree with all the guests, but that would be pretty boring, lol. Marshall has a great voice & calm demeanor. He could challenge the guests a bit more & probably would make it even better :)

Why is this now a woke, left leaning show?

Most of the shows are great and informative. The Ricks episode was laughable. File it under fiction. Good to hear Saagar without Krystal.

I used to look forward to the this pod, but it is close to becoming an unfollow.

& Thomas E Ricks is an idiot…

Guy has some good shows but the majority is nonsense held with zero evidence. You can get the same shpeel he’s pushing by watching cnn. Pick your episodes wisely and it’s worth a listen.

Also so great to hear Saagar w/o Krystal

It’s becoming addictive to hear well informed, passionate and common sense solutions for ideas that modern society is facing.

I used to like Saagar, even when he went on Fox News or other places and regurgitated the party line talking points for the day. However, after listening to the latest episode, the blatant ignorance regarding JFK’s foreign policy (e.g. “the JFK admin orchestrated the coup in Vietnam”) and basic facts about the Vietnam War (e.g. “…we didn’t even really invade Vietnam”), I have unsubscribed and am leaving this review. We all have limited time in our lives and we choose to rely on certain sources as experts (or at least for their well-informed assessments) to save us time of having to do the research ourselves (your listeners have jobs, families and responsibilities). In sum, if you can’t do the work to make sure you’re statements are accurate and well informed, then people won’t listen to your podcast.

The Realignment is one of those podcasts that is pretty regularly going to make you uncomfortable by challenging your presuppositions. Marshall and Saager are both excellent interviewers and manage to ask insightful, thoughtful, and probing questions without disintegrating into partisan hackery. Well worth listening to, *especially* if you’re in the over-40 category and don’t quite grasp how the next generation of thinkers are approaching the world they will inherit.

Love the podcast I’ve been a listener for a while keep up the great work! Loved your latest interview with Peter Zeihan he was an excellent guest!

Great job by Marshall standing his ground today interviewing Ian Bremmer who really comes across as a bully from the Right. Interrupts Ian seamlessly to continue the conversation intelligently. Breadth of knowledge is admirable. Thanks for your work

Marshall in particular is a very, very strong interviewer. Super relevant topics and much needed even handedness and thoughtfulness.

I really appreciate Marshall and Saagar’s perspective and approach to interviewing a variety of guests on challenging topics. It’s so rare to find a podcast like this. Thanks Marshall and Saagar! Keep up the great work.

If only I wasn’t indebted to the United States Government, $425 a month for the next 17 years, I would be able to donate and become a lifetime member.