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Podcast: A defense of truth with Jonathan Rauch

Podcast: A defense of truth with Jonathan Rauch

Online trolls and political disinformation. Cancel culture and Twitter pile-ons. We're living in a time when truth itself is under perpetual assault by growing numbers of our fellow citizens (and more than a few Russian bots) who simply don't want to believe anything that they — well — didn't already want to believe. This rising tide of illiberalism from across the political spectrum has many of us yammering on until we turn blue about respectful disagreement and the marketplace of ideas. But what if defenders of truth are missing the most fundamental conceptual revolution at the very core of this American experiment and the enlightenment — of western civilization itself? Jonathan Rauch connects our past to our present challenge as he introduces us to "The Constitution of Knowledge" — the extraordinary system of how we flawed humans gain knowledge that scales and endures. Rauch argues we must know the constitution of knowledge exists if we are to have any hope of defending it.

This frame-shifting conversation is offered in partnership with Florida Humanities as a part of a multi-year series "Unum: Democracy Reignited," exploring the past, present and future of the American idea — as it exists on paper, in the hearts of our people, and as it manifests in our lives.


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Trump’s Imperial Presidency: Putting Local Democracy at Risk

U.S. President Donald Trump visits the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Getty Images, Anna Moneymaker

Trump’s Imperial Presidency: Putting Local Democracy at Risk

Trump says his deployment of federal law enforcement is about restoring order in Washington, D.C. But the real message isn’t about crime—it’s about power. By federalizing the District’s police, activating the National Guard, and bulldozing homeless encampments with just a day’s notice, Trump is flexing a new kind of presidential muscle: the authority to override local governments at will—a move that raises serious constitutional concerns.

And now, he promises that D.C. won’t be the last. New York, Chicago, Philadelphia—cities he derides as “crime-ridden”—could be next. Noticeably absent from his list are red-state cities with higher homicide rates, like New Orleans. The pattern is clear: Trump’s law-and-order agenda is less about public safety and more about partisan punishment.

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To Trump, ‘Truth’ Is Only What He Wants It Be

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while answering questions from reporters as he tours the roof of the West Wing of the White House on Aug. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

To Trump, ‘Truth’ Is Only What He Wants It Be

You know the old philosophical question: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Well, in President Trump’s America, the answer would depend on whether or not he wanted it to.

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The Return of Loyalty Tests and the Decline of American Democracy

Faded American flag

The Return of Loyalty Tests and the Decline of American Democracy

Remember when loyalty oaths were used to ferret out and punish people suspected of being Communists? They were a potent and terrifying tool, designed to produce conformity and compliance at the height of the late 1940s, early 1950s Red Scare.

Today, they are back, but in more subtle, if no less coercive, forms. The Trump Administration is using them in hiring and retaining federal employees, in dispensing federal grants, and in passing out perks.

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Chaos Theory Meets Trump: Why America’s Institutions and Psyche Are Under Siege
File:Donald Trump (29496131773).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Chaos Theory Meets Trump: Why America’s Institutions and Psyche Are Under Siege

There’s a branch of mathematics and science known as chaos theory, which studies dynamical systems; systems that evolve according to specific rules, yet behave in ways that appear random or unpredictable. Despite being governed by deterministic laws, these systems can produce outcomes so sensitive to initial conditions that even the slightest change can dramatically alter their trajectory.

This concept, famously illustrated by the butterfly effect, suggests that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil might set off a tornado in Texas. In other words, minute actions can trigger cascading consequences across complex systems. Chaos theory has long influenced fields like meteorology and economics, helping explain why markets react wildly to rumors or why weather forecasts become unreliable beyond a few days.

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