One Leftist. Two Conservatives. All at Harvard Law. | Part 1 (ATB #15)

WEEK 15 (Part 1): In front of the Harvard Law library, we sit down with Larissa Truchan — a Harvard Law student and viral leftist political influencer — for the first part of a two-part conversation across ideology, faith, morality, and power.We start by getting to know Larissa: her background, family, and path to Harvard Law, as well as how she built a large political following online — including what it’s like to create content that doesn’t always land the way you expect. We also dig into the distinction between leftism and liberalism, and how Larissa understands that divide.From there, we talk faith. Larissa reflects on growing up Catholic, attending Boston College, and how she thinks about religion, morality, and justice today. We discuss how faith does — and doesn’t — shape political commitments, especially in elite academic spaces like Harvard.The heart of the episode centers on Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory, as we walk through a series of provocative moral hypotheticals designed to test whether our disagreements are about right and wrong or simply about taste and culture. These scenarios reveal sharp contrasts and many similarities in how leftists and conservatives reason about morality, norms, and meaning.We close by turning to foreign policy and power: whether the United States should act as “the world’s policeman,” and how to think about American intervention abroad, including the recent U.S. operation in Venezuela and what it reveals about sovereignty, justice, and global order.This is Part 1 of a longer conversation. Part 2 continues with deeper disagreement, sharper exchanges, and higher stakes.Email [email protected] with your questions/comments or submit a voice memo at https://www.speakpipe.com/approachthebench for a chance to be featured on the show! You can also submit anonymous comments through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/9Zjxzkpwajivx19z800:00 Introduction01:30 Getting to Know Larissa02:57 Why She Came on the Show09:34 Distinguishing Leftism from Liberalism11:38 Faith, Christianity, and Morality24:13 How Larissa Got into the Social Media World27:05 Infighting on the Left and Right29:37 Differences Between the Left and Right at Harvard31:19 Moral Tastes Hypotheticals53:27 American Hegemony: Good or Bad?1:33:27 Next Week!