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What History Says About Today’s Supposedly Unprecedented Political Crises

To a lot of people, the political challenges facing the country today feel unprecedented, but the historian Greg Jackson says that’s just not true.

Fake news, hyper-partisanship, disputed elections, political violence – these all may seem to be unique problems in American history. But the country has been through a lot in 250 years, and the issues we’re dealing with today do have historical precedents. As Jackson puts it, “We’re the same brilliant and stupid, generous and stingy people we’ve always been,” it’s only the particulars that change. He joins us to recount how we confronted and overcame past political difficulties. If we’ve done it before, Jackson says, we can do it again.

GUEST

Airdate: July 2, 2026

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