Best Michael Troiano Podcasts (2024)

1
The Alaska Election Frontier: Our July 4th Trek Across Three Episodes 24:42

12h ago24:42

24:42

In this bonus episode we revisit the vast nation-sized state of Alaska, model for election reform in numerous states around the country even as that voting system of an open, unified primary plus instant runoff general election faces a potential 2024 recall ballot measure back in the frontier state. The Purple Principle has made three previous audi…

1
Making All Votes Count in DC: Proposer Lisa Rice & the Yes on 83 Team 42:53

8d ago42:53

42:53

It was nearing summer temperatures on this early June primary voting day outside a polling station in Washington, DC. Lisa Rice, official Proposer of Initiative 83, is wearing a sandwich board with the message, “Ask Me Why I Can’t Vote Today?” “Why can’t you vote today?” asks a woman on her way to vote. “Because I’m an independent,” Lisa replies. “…

1
Idaho's Open Primaries & Final Four Voting Initiative: Sometimes it Takes a Coalition! 41:11

21d ago41:11

41:11

In April of 2024, Luke Mayville, co-founder of the grassroots organization ReClaim Idaho, addressed volunteers on the final day of signature gathering for this year’s Open Primaries and Final Four Voting ballot initiative. “We are here today because we are tired of playing the same old game under a broken set of rules,” Luke told the 50 or so volun…

1
Yuval Levin's "American Covenant" is a blueprint for peace-making and effective governance 58:37

1M ago58:37

58:37

It is the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I just finished watching the ceremony in France, where they honored WWII vets who still live, and those who never came home. It was incredibly moving. But we can't just look back and grow emotional during inspiring video montages. We must think about how to avoid the paths of division that could send future youn…

1
Can Competition Foster Better Government? Reform Strategist Katherine Gehl on 2024 Ballots & Beyond 38:37

1M ago38:37

38:37

Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry and Founder of The Institute for Political Innovation, has always asked herself what she needed “to do in order to change the political situation.” “So at first I needed to sell my business,” Katherine tells us. “Then I needed to make the intellectual case.. And then I needed to try to sell this re…

1
United States of Gerrymandering? Ripple Effects from State House to White House 36:27

2M ago36:27

36:27

“The Presidential race might get thrown into the House of Representatives,” says Dr. Sam Wang of the Princeton Gerrymandering Initiative in this episode. “And in the House of Representatives, every state gets one vote.” Both a neuroscientist and recognized authority on gerrymandering, Wang is highlighting the connection between partisan gerrymander…

1
Dissenting Voices on Today’s GOP: Interviews from The 2024 Principles First Summit 19:47

2M ago19:47

19:47

The 700-plus attendees at the 2024 Principles First Summit in Washington DC come from various locations and backgrounds yet attended this event for similar political reasons: all are concerned about authoritarian trends within today’s GOP. Blaire Egan, for example, had been questioning her GOP political orientation since interning on Capitol Hill f…

1
Higher ed has lost sight of mission and purpose, John Inazu says 40:59

2M ago40:59

40:59

John Inazu's new book is Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect. John teaches on criminal law, law and religion and the First Amendment at Washington University in St. Louis. He is an expert on religious freedom. And he is a senior fellow with Interfaith America. He is also a former Air Force of…

1
Former RNC Chair Michael Steele: An Alarmed Critique of a GOP Transformed 31:05

3M ago31:05

31:05

“I’m still in it to hold a mirror up to my GOP colleagues,” former RNC Chair Michael Steele tells us in this episode. “To show them how unLincolnlike they have become.” Michael Steele has borne painful witness to that transformation over the past two-plus decades as the first African American Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, then RNC Chair in 2009-…

1
Asa Hutchinson on 2024 GOP Primaries: Hard to Get Any Other Message Out! 18:34

3M ago18:34

18:34

“I'm the only candidate that was Head of the DEA, that was in charge of border security in the Bush administration, governor for eight years,” says our featured guest, Asa Hutchinson. Yet despite possessing perhaps the most impressive resume among GOP presidential candidates, Hutchinson failed to receive substantial media attention or garner signif…

1
Grand Old Party or Brand New MAGA? Contrarian Conservative Charlie Sykes 32:43

4M ago32:43

32:43

“I had been a conservative critic of mainstream media bias for many years,” says author and MSNBC columnist, Charlie Sykes, a “contrarian conservative” and our featured guest. “It suddenly occurred to me that we had succeeded in not just critiquing the liberal bias, but in destroying the credibility of fact-based media altogether.” Sykes is the aut…

1
We Are Not Powerless: American Politics is "Entirely Fixable" says Nick Troiano in his new book "The Primary Solution" 54:21

4M ago54:21

54:21

We keep looking at our broken political system — the politicians who show up on our TV's and our phones, the lawmakers who end up in Congress, and the general lack of solutions to our biggest problems — and we shake our head. We promise to vote the bums out. We vow to drain the swamp. We pledge to overturn the plutocracy. But we don't think about o…

1
A Primary Solution to Unite America? New Book From Election Reformer, Nick Troiano 25:22

4M ago25:22

25:22

“My goal in this book isn't just to diagnose the problem,” explains Nick Troiano, Executive Director of Unite America. “But to give people a solution that is viable and can happen right there in their own states.” That book is “The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes,” published this week by Simon & Schuster in time for anothe…

1
Systems Level Failure? Veterans for All Voters Takes on Polarizing Elections 26:50

5M ago26:50

26:50

“Every time I talk to someone about running for office, the first thing they say is, Eric, you have to pick a team,” confides Navy veteran Eric Bronner, COO of the non-partisan group Veterans for All Voters. “And something didn't sit right with me. So the pump was primed, as my parents would say, for some kind of awakening.” That awakening occurred…

1
What is a Christian politics? Michael Wear's new book argues it's mostly about who we are 53:02

5M ago53:02

53:02

Break the system. That's what one New Hampshire voter, a 58-year old retired Army officer, said he wants the president to do, in an interview with Politico Magazine. It's only the most obvious example of many of us tend to do from time to time. We pretend, or actually believe, that politics is a form of magic. In other words, we think we can elect …

1
Breaking Bread, Sharing Salad & Final Four Voting: Alaska Representative Mary Peltola 25:08

6M ago25:08

25:08

“I know that I would not be in this position if we didn't have the Final Four system,” Representative Mary Peltola (D-AK) tells us in this first Purple Principle episode of season four. “Because I would not have made it through a partisan primary.” A native Alaskan, Representative Peltola gained re-election to the US House on the third ballot of th…

1
David Leonhardt's book joins a chorus of warnings for the Democrats 40:44

7M ago40:44

40:44

The 1950's and 60's were an age of widely shared prosperity in the U.S. — across class and economic lines — that have never quite returned. Things were improving for all parts of society during the post-war period, and for all groups including Black Americans, despite the real presence of racial bias and discrimination against them. And things have…

1
Tim Alberta's new book portrays a tug of war for the soul of American Christianity 1:05:51

7M ago1:05:51

1:05:51

Tim Alberta's new book: The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals In An Age of Extremism, is a sobering look at the results in history when a religious movement morphs into a political movement, and allows its identity to be taken over by political imperatives and goals. Alberta's book documents the spread of Christian Trumpism, …

1
BUILDERS Interview: Matt Murphy on how community & music help him fight the paralysis of our times 37:35

8M ago37:35

37:35

This is a Builders conversation. I'm doing these about once a month to highlight people who are not just cursing the darkness but are also building up their local community — and the country — through making something beautiful, through problem-solving, and by stitching together places of belonging and meaning. (Thank you Joy Moore for the inspirat…

1
Where Have All the Democrats Gone? With Ruy Teixeira 54:14

8M ago54:14

54:14

This week's podcast interview (audio above) is with Ruy Teixeira, about his new book with John Judis, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes. It is an argument that both parties have been co-opted by big business. It spends all its time blaming the Democrats for their part in this, but that's because the au…

1
Evolution denial is a bigger deal than I realized 49:58

9M ago49:58

49:58

I have never cared all that much about the debate over evolution. But I grew up in an evangelical home and church. So in my world, the origins of the species were definitely up for question. To me, it all seemed rather silly. I didn't see any conflict between evolution and the Christian faith, or even between evolution and the Bible. But I have kno…

1
BUILDER interview: Joel Searby on overcoming broken politics & hopelessness 33:53

9M ago33:53

33:53

In American politics, we saw the latest sign of total dysfunction in Congress, as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted for daring to pass a bipartisan solution last week to avoid a government shutdown. Many people are desperate for a new kind of politics, and Joel Searby has dedicated the last several years of his life to that cause. Joel worked…

1
Yascha Mounk's measured response to the "Great Awokening" 41:40

9M ago41:40

41:40

I've interviewed Yascha Mounk about his book The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, which was released this week. "Mounk has told the story of the Great Awokening better than any other writer who has attempted to make sense of it," The Washington Post wrote in a review. Yascha's book says that we can reach across our differences…

1
Talking to Shannon Harris about "The Woman They Wanted" 51:18

10M ago51:18

51:18

Shannon Harris is on the podcast this week. We talk about her new book The Woman they Wanted: Shattering the Illusion of the Good Christian Wife I have a particular interest in this book because it's a behind the scenes look at the culture of the church I grew up in: Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. There is national relevance for Sh…

1
Andrew Whitehead argues against Christian empire with data and his own personal conviction in American Idolatry 48:38

10M ago48:38

48:38

Andrew is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives (theARDA.com) at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Here’sAndrew’s Substack His first book in 2020, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United …

1
Are We Really Stuck With Biden Vs Trump, Again? 1:01:33

11M ago1:01:33

1:01:33

Large numbers of Americans are unhappy with the idea of a Biden vs Trump rematch, polls show, but both the Democratic and Republican parties appear to be paralyzed, unable to do anything about it.There’s a reason why.Both parties are shells of their former selves, and strong political parties are the foundation of a healthy democracy, many politica…

1
Karen Swallow Prior's "Evangelical Imagination" Describes a Culture in Crisis 40:09

11M ago40:09

40:09

Karen Swallow Prior is the author of multiple books, including On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books. Her new book is called The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images & Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis. It's out August 8 from Brazos Press. She is a professor of English literature and a popular speaker and writer. Ka…

1
How Russell Moore Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Apocalypse 41:28

12M ago41:28

41:28

I interviewed Russell Moore on the podcast this week about his new book Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America, which is out next Tuesday, July 25. In his book, Moore refers to the "post-2016 era" as an "apocalypse." Now, you hear that word, and you might think Zombies! Both those reactions to the word "apocalypse" have to do wi…

1
John Blake was a "closeted biracial person" until he met his white mother 59:18

1y ago59:18

59:18

I don't know if I've ever read a book quite like John Blake's "More than I Imagine." The subtitle is: "What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew" John is a senior writer at CNN. In this conversation, John and I talk about: his very difficult childhood growing up in West Baltimore in the 60's and 70's how he grew up disliking …

1
A New Book by Ben Terris Shows How Badly We've Misunderstood Power in the Age of Individualism 39:52

1y ago39:52

39:52

A new book, "The Big Break" by Washington Post feature writer Ben Terris, is a story of how many institutions in Washington are failing those within them. But it's also a cautionary tale of how the idealism and passion of youth is being squandered in today's politics by our focus on individualism and our deemphasis on institutions. Ben's book trace…

1
The Stanford Free Speech Incident with David Lat 46:14

1+ y ago46:14

46:14

Nobody has covered the Stanford free speech incident more closely than David Lat. He's a legal affairs writer at his Substack, Original Jurisdiction. David is a Harvard undergrad and a Yale law school graduate who has a fascinating backstory. He was originally an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted federal crimes under former U.S. Attorney Chris…

1
Understanding the political radicalization of Charismatic Christians, with Matthew D. Taylor 1:48:18

1+ y ago1:48:18

1:48:18

This interview is with Matthew D. Taylor, who wrote and created a recent podcast series called "Charismatic Revival Fury." Taylor is the Protestant Scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, in Baltimore. We know about the Proud Boys, and the Big Lie, and former President Trump's role in spreading it and deceiving millions …

1
Sen. Chris Van Hollen on another debt ceiling crisis in Congress 28:05

1+ y ago28:05

28:05

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) represents Maryland in the U.S. Senate. He was in the middle of the fight over the debt ceiling in 2011, as a member of the House. That was the first of several fiscal fights over those years. Now, we're back in another debt ceiling showdown, and I talked with Van Hollen mostly about that. If you want to read what I wrote …

1
Sara Billups wrote a book for disillusioned evangelicals who don't want to give up on their faith 47:32

1+ y ago47:32

47:32

Sara Billups is a Seattle-based writer whose book Orphaned Believers is out January 24. "In the wake of the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s, many young evangelicals found themselves untethered, disillusioned, and—ultimately—orphaned as they grappled with the legalistic, politically co-opted churches of their youth and embarked on a search for a…

1
Fixing Congress isn't a partisan idea. Quietly, a bipartisan group has been working on this. 35:20

1+ y ago35:20

35:20

I talked last week with Yuval Levin about the House Speaker fight and what lessons we might draw from it. This week I've got a different angle on the problems in Congress, and how they might be fixed. House Republicans who blocked Kevin McCarthy’s ascension to the speakership repeated a mantra during the four-day leadership fight that ended after s…

1
Yuval Levin is back with an optimistic take about the lessons from Kevin McCarthy's agonizing fight to become Speaker 58:19

1+ y ago58:19

58:19

Back in the summer of 2017 when I started this podcast, my first guest was Yuval Levin. And over the years, Yuval has been one of my most consistent conversation partners, in informal lunches and on this podcast. Levin is director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). This is his fifth time on t…

1
Election Lessons Unheeded? A Cautionary View of the New U.S. House 29:08

1+ y ago29:08

29:08

“The American people want serious people to solve serious challenges,“ declares former Texas Congressman Will B. Hurd in this season finale on the U.S. House of Representatives. “That’s the lesson we should take away from 2022.” But he’s quick to add, “I don’t think that lesson is going to be implemented in this new congress.” Hurd then dissects th…

1
Is the Fever Breaking? Two Centrist Senators on the 2022 Elections 39:12

1+ y ago39:12

39:12

“It appears to me that the fever has broken,” observes Bob Corker, former two-term GOP Senator from Tennessee. ”And there's gonna be a real serious debate on the Republican side of the aisle as to where the party is gonna go in 2024.” Fading GOP loyalty to former President Trump is the elephant in the room as we discuss the 2022 election, successes…

1
Congress is set to pass a compromise between gay rights and religious freedom, says Tim Schultz 56:45

1+ y ago56:45

56:45

Tim Schultz is president of the First Amendment Partnership, a group whose core mission is to advocate for religious freedom for all faiths and rights of conscience. Schultz and others say this bill gives something to both gay rights groups and to religious conservatives. It's a compromise, a tradeoff. On the left, there are some activists who say …

1
Repodcast: Deflating Political Football with Tania Israel 28:42

1+ y ago28:42

28:42

Happy Thanksgiving from The Purple Principle team! This week we’re revisiting an episode from November 2021. In the aftermath of another fractious election season, and heading into the holiday season, it feels appropriate to bring psychologist Tania Israel back into the feed. She explains the active listening methods we need to have genuine convers…

1
As 2022 Election Results Roll In: Concern, Context, & Perspective 19:05

1+ y ago19:05

19:05

The 2022 election will consume us over the coming days, weeks, and months. There will likely be recounts, runoffs and court challenges before a new Congress takes shape. This Purple Principle episode highlights concerns surrounding this election, with many GOP candidates questioning election integrity, while providing context and perspective from a…

1
Paul D. Miller untangles the confusion around Christian Nationalism 48:27

1+ y ago48:27

48:27

Paul D. Miller is currently a professor of global politics and security at Georgetown University, and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He worked at the National Security Council under Presidents Bush and Obama, and was a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army prior to that. Miller's book is "The Religion of American Greatness: What'…

1
Test Driving Ranked Choice Voting: These Not So United States (AK Part 2 & NV) 27:39

1+ y ago27:39

27:39

Alaska will soon be the first state in the country to hold a ranked choice voting election for all representatives, state and federal. But can RCV moderate our severely polarized politics? If the August special election and current congressional campaign are any guide, the answer is a hearty, “Maybe.” That’s according to Matt Buxton, editor of the …

1
No Such Thing as The Latino Vote? Hispanic American Swing Voters (Finale) 32:02

1+ y ago32:02

32:02

TPP wraps up its series on Hispanic American Swing Voters with three very different yet highly insightful guests. Northwestern University historian Geraldo Cadava tells us that both parties have spun overly-simplistic narratives of the Hispanic voter – a mythical concept in his view. Carlos Mencia has always been an iconoclast aiming satire in all …

1
Bonnie Kristian's crucial new book on our knowledge crisis and our "screen-broken brains" 58:19

2y ago58:19

58:19

Journalist Bonnie Kristian joins to discuss her new book, "Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community." "We've spent forty years dramatically increasing how much information the average person encounters daily, and we've made no effort to equip ourselves to handle that shift,"…

1
Will Latinization Bring Moderation? Hispanic American Swing Voters (Part 2) 30:46

2y ago30:46

30:46

How’d you hear about The Purple Principle? Click here to answer our one question survey: https://fluentknowledge.com/tpp-survey How large a role will Hispanic voters play in 2022 elections? (Hint: It’s big.) How are the major parties appealing to this diverse voting bloc? (Not so effectively.) Can Latino candidates turn down the heat on our politic…

1
Repodcast: Politically Persuadable But Focused on Jobs? Hispanic American Swing Voters (Part 1) 32:21

2y ago32:21

32:21

How’d you hear about The Purple Principle? Click here to answer our one question survey: https://fluentknowledge.com/tpp-survey Today, we're re-podcasting the first episode of our 3-part mini-series on Hispanic American swing voters. The series continues into October for National Hispanic Heritage Month. Is a large and growing segment of Hispanic A…

1
End of Bay State Bipartisanship?: These Not So United States (MA Part Two) 30:21

2y ago30:21

30:21

How’d you hear about The Purple Principle? Click here for our one question survey: https://fluentknowledge.com/tpp-survey Massachusetts has long been a bipartisan enigma at the state level, electing moderate GOP governors for 30 of the past 60 years while seating a Democratic legislature. But the governor’s office is expected to revert to Democrats…

1
Deconstructing Christians who leave the faith are rejecting a "shadow" of the real faith, with James K.A. Smith 43:40

2y ago43:40

43:40

James K.A. Smith discusses his new book, "How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now," which released September 20, 2022, from Brazos Press. We discuss: the role of history in helping us learn discernment and live faithfully the ways that many Christians think they are living out ancient truths that are ac…

1
Deval Patrick Talks Governing: These Not So United States (MA Part One) 32:55

2y ago32:55

32:55

“There are all kinds of ways in which we, as a community, enable the American story,” says Deval Patrick, implying that our success stories overemphasize the individual. Patrick’s own American story is a remarkable one, starting in a tough South Chicago neighborhood, journeying to a planet called boarding school, then onto Harvard and a distinguish…

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Michael Troiano Podcasts

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