Episode 001
What is MAGA?
We take the phrase "Make America Great Again" three quarters of the way around. Not as a political attack or a defense — but as a genuine inquiry. When was America great? What made it great? Who made it great? And when did it stop being great? These are questions worth sitting with.
About this episode
This episode doesn't take sides — it takes the question seriously. MAGA as a slogan assumes a golden era worth returning to. But when you press on it, the answers reveal something fascinating about how we construct national identity, nostalgia, and the stories we tell about progress.
We explore: the economic boom of the 1950s and who it actually included, the mythology of American manufacturing, the role of global context in any era's "greatness," and why different Americans point to completely different decades as the peak.
The goal isn't to settle the debate. It's to understand why the question resonates so deeply — and what that tells us about where we are now.
Listener survey
What do you think?
These aren't rhetorical questions. We actually want to know where you land. Answer one or all — your perspective is the point.
When do you think America was at its greatest?
What made that era great in your view?
Who do you think deserves the most credit for making America great?
When do you think America stopped being great — or has it?
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