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Podcast: Reducing polarization all by yourself

Podcast: Reducing polarization all by yourself

Across the board— from voter access to questions of race and gender, and views of the economy— the gap between Republicans and Democrats has grown wider in recent years. According to recent polling, a rising share of Americans say that having political conversations with those they disagree with is “ stressful and frustrating ”.

Political polarization and the recent actions of party leaders have prevented compromise and resolution of critical problems.


How Do We Fix It discusses five personal ways to reduce polarization with guest, Kamy Akhavan, Director of the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California, and former CEO of the well-known non-partisan site procon.org

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Trump isn’t interested in being honorable — he’d rather be feared

President Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 4, 2026.

(Joe Raedle/Getty Images/TNS)

Trump isn’t interested in being honorable — he’d rather be feared

A decade ago, a famous and successful investor told me that “integrity lowers the cost of capital.” We were talking about Donald Trump at the time, and this Wall Street wizard was explaining why then-candidate Trump had so much trouble borrowing money from domestic capital markets. His point was that the people who knew Trump best had been screwed, cheated or misled by him so many times, they didn’t think he was a good credit risk. If you’re honest and straightforward in business, my friend explained, you earn trust and that trust has real value.

I think about that point often. But never more so than in the last few weeks.

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USA, Washington D.C., Supreme Court building and blurred American flag against blue sky.
Americans increasingly distrust the Supreme Court. The answer may lie not only in Court reforms but in shifting power back to states, communities, and Congress.
Getty Images, TGI /Tetra Images

Hypocrisy in Leadership Corrodes Democracy

Promises made… promises broken. Americans are caught in the dysfunction and chaos of a country in crisis.

The President promised relief, but gave us the Big Beautiful Bill — cutting support for seniors, students, and families while showering tax breaks on the wealthy. He promised jobs and opportunity, but attacked Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. He pledged to drain the swamp, yet advanced corruption that enriched himself and his allies. He vowed to protect Social Security, yet pursued policies that threatened it. He declared no one is above the law, yet sought Supreme Court immunity.

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Portrait of John Adams.

This vintage engraving depicts the portrait of the second President of the United States, John Adams (1735 - 1826)

Getty Images, wynnter

John Adams and the Line a Republic Must Not Cross

In an earlier Fulcrum essay, John Adams Warned Us: A Republic Without Virtue Cannot Survive, I reflected on Adams’s insistence that self-government depends on character as much as law. Adams believed citizens had obligations to one another that no constitution could enforce. Without restraint, moderation, and a commitment to the common good, liberty would hollow out from within.

But Adams’s argument about virtue did not stop with citizens. It extended, with equal force, to those who wield power.

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A Man Who Keeps His Word — Even When He’s Joking

U.S. President Donald Trump tours the Ford River Rouge Complex on January 13, 2026 in Dearborn, Michigan.

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A Man Who Keeps His Word — Even When He’s Joking

We’ve learned why it’s a mistake to treat Trump’s outrageous lines as “just talk”

“We shouldn’t need a mid-term election” is his latest outrageous statement or joke. Let’s break down the pattern.

When a candidate says something extreme, we, the public, tend to downgrade it: He’s joking. He’s riffing. He’s trolling the press. We treat the line like entertainment, not intent.

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