American Dreaming

I sat down with Alexander von Sternberg to discuss the outstanding essay he recently wrote about the rising anti-Semitism in the US and the de facto excuses for it that are becoming increasingly common, told through the lens of the history of Japanese internment during WWII. We also discussed the viral quote from Ezra Klein’s recent Times piece on anti-Semitism, why anti-Semitism has been so persistent over time, Israel versus Jews as people, anti-Arab bigotry, the history of Arab nationalism, Alex’s article in American Dreaming about ICE’s activities in Minneapolis, its lingering effects among people in the Twin Cities, the dangers of fear and psychological war more broadly, the notion of history repeating or “rhyming”, political violence, the assassination attempts on Donald Trump, the role boredom plays in fueling illiberalism, the Epstein files, Michael Tracey, and more.Alex is a writer, historian, and host of the popular History Impossible podcast and Substack of the same name. His work has appeared or been mentioned in outlets including Quillette, Areo Magazine, Merion West, Uncommon Ground, Queer Majority, and the New York Times. He’s also a contributor to American Dreaming and a friend.Alex’s essays: “Enduring the Misfortunes of Others” and “The Psychological War on Minneapolis”Klein’s NYT piece: “This Is Why There’s No Liberal Joe Rogan”Other articles referenced: “The ‘Roaring 2020s’ and Other False Rhymes of History” and “Memory-Hole Archive: Political Violence” Research referenced: Pew Research (2023), Pew Research (2026), and Blue Square Alliance (2026) (and the Axios coverage of it)Jamie Paul is a writer based in Greater Philadelphia, founder of American Dreaming, managing editor at Queer Majority, and contributing editor at Bi.org. His work has appeared in outlets including Quillette, Persuasion, Areo Magazine, and Gazeta do Povo.American Dreaming is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Subscribe now and never miss a new post. You can also support the work on Patreon. Please consider sharing this article on your social networks, and hit the like button so more people can discover it. You can reach me at @AmericnDreaming on Twitter, @jamie-paul.bsky.social on Bluesky, or at [email protected] music: “Americana” by HoliznaCC0, CC0 1.0. Outro music: “Never-Ending To-Do List” by HappyWorldWithMochi, CC BY 4.0. Both from Free Music Archive. Get full access to American Dreaming at americandreaming.substack.com/subscribe

A solo episode exploring some ideas I’ve been kicking around about the political far left and far right and the limitations of horseshoe theory. I kept this one short simply because I have nothing else to say that I haven’t already said elsewhere at greater length. I’m no stranger to the long form, but not everything needs to be an hour. Articles mentioned:The Memory-Hole Archive“Yes, It’s Fascism” by Jonathan RauchJamie Paul is a writer based in Greater Philadelphia, founder of American Dreaming, managing editor at Queer Majority, and contributing editor at Bi.org. His work has appeared in outlets including Quillette, Persuasion, Areo Magazine, and Gazeta do Povo.American Dreaming is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Subscribe now and never miss a new post. You can also support the work on Patreon. Please consider sharing this article on your social networks, and hit the like button so more people can discover it. You can reach me at @AmericnDreaming on Twitter, @jamie-paul.bsky.social on Bluesky, or at [email protected] music: “Americana” by HoliznaCC0, CC0 1.0. Outro music: “Never-Ending To-Do List” by HappyWorldWithMochi, CC BY 4.0. Both from Free Music Archive. Get full access to American Dreaming at americandreaming.substack.com/subscribe

The Donald Trump era has been 10 long years and counting. Opinion journalists are still figuring out how — and how much — to cover him. More often than not, the media’s attempts to hold Trump accountable only backfire in his favor.Jamie Paul and Johan Pregmo discuss covering Trump after a decade, American Dreaming’s coverage of Trump, Jamie’s Trump Fatigue Syndrome, the GOP’s hive-minded message discipline, how Democrats should be messaging, why the left’s excesses seem to sway the public more than the right’s, the Abundance movement, Trump’s tariffs, the art of the boast, the uphill battle Trump’s successor will face, and more.Johan Pregmo is a writer based in Sweden and a contributor to American Dreaming. His work has appeared in publications such as Merion West, Queer Majority, and Future of Jewish.Jamie Paul is a writer based in Greater Philadelphia, founder of American Dreaming, managing editor at Queer Majority, and contributing editor at Bi.org. His work has appeared in outlets including Quillette, Areo Magazine, and Gazeta do Povo.American Dreaming is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Subscribe now and never miss a new post. You can also support the work on Patreon. Please consider sharing this article on your social networks, and hit the like button so more people can discover it. You can reach me at @AmericnDreaming on Twitter, @jamie-paul.bsky.social on Bluesky, or at [email protected] music: “Americana” by HoliznaCC0, CC0 1.0. Outro music: “Never-Ending To-Do List” by HappyWorldWithMochi, CC BY 4.0. Both from Free Music Archive. Get full access to American Dreaming at americandreaming.substack.com/subscribe

Since October 7th, 2023, we’ve covered the Israel-Palestine conflict quite a bit. Many of our articles have focused on the discourse surrounding the war and the anti-Semitism — not criticism of Israel, actual anti-Semitism —that has been so prevalent within the pro-Palestine movement.Writer Johan Pregmo has done more than contribute a couple of these articles — he’s spent the past year and a half deep in the online trenches actively debating Western pro-Palestine and anti-Israel activists. I wanted to sit down with Johan to pick his brain about it. We discussed the Israel-Palestine conflict, anti-Semitism in the pro-Palestine movement, common fallacies, tactics, and responses in debates, the psychology of Western pro-Palestine activists, whether these debates are useful, what Israel should be criticized on, why the truth matters, and more.At one point in the conversation, it was stated that Israel’s population is around five million. The correct figure is 9.7 million.Our Israel-Palestine pieces:“Intentionally Killing Civilians is Bad. End of Moral Analysis.”“Hamas’s Useful Idiots”“Cancel Culture Comes for Anti-Semites”“Young Voters Are Furious at Biden. That’s Nice.”“Letter to Young Americans”“No, Winning a War Isn’t ‘Genocide’”“Israel and Genocide, Revisited: A Response to Critics”“With Pro-Pals Like These, Who Needs Enemies?”“A Year of Leftist Anti-Semitism”The American Dreaming podcast is now officially up and running. Outside of Substack, you can find it on Spotify and Pocket Casts, and the sidebar links on this post allow you to easily import it into other podcast players. We’re working on getting American Dreaming indexed on Apple Podcasts, but Apple is being the absolute worst. We’ll get it ironed out eventually.American Dreaming is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Subscribe now and never miss a new post. You can also support the work on Patreon. Please consider sharing this article on your social networks, and hit the like button so more people can discover it. You can reach me at @AmericnDreaming on Twitter, @jamie-paul.bsky.social on Bluesky, or at [email protected]. Get full access to American Dreaming at americandreaming.substack.com/subscribe

Having perspective is as important in politics as it is in life. It’s a theme we touch upon often in American Dreaming. Understanding what America gets wrong, but also what it gets right, how the US relates to societies throughout history and around the globe, and how much worse things can be are crucial to accurately assessing the present and rationally thinking about politics.As the White House changes hands yet again, and we enter the deepest wave of populism in living memory, we see the effect perspective can have on a nation. In a country like the US, ascendent populism, anti-institutionalism, anti-intellectualism, and an appetite for disruption and tear-downs cannot grow from the soil of perspective or optimism. A decisive number of Americans are convinced that society is collapsing around them, or soon will. Popularity, however, doesn’t necessarily make something true. Truth isn’t a democracy. And yet, it has become so. How can people be persuaded to shift their perspective when every avenue of argument and every source of inconvenient information that might change their minds gains no purchase in a post-truth landscape?I brought this idea to my friend and contributor Johan Pregmo, and we got to talking. It wasn’t long before we saw that there was an article to be written here, perhaps one we could co-author. But the longer we spoke, a more wide-ranging and multi-faceted conversation unfolded — one that, we felt, may be better explored in audio than in a written essay.I may occasionally post audio of this sort moving forward, but American Dreaming will always remain, first and foremost, a written publication. In any event, I hope you enjoy the conversation!— JamieAmerican Dreaming is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Subscribe now and never miss a new post. You can also support the work on Patreon. Please consider sharing this article on your social networks, and hit the like button so more people can discover it. You can reach me at @AmericnDreaming on Twitter, @jamie-paul.bsky.social on Bluesky, or at [email protected]. Get full access to American Dreaming at americandreaming.substack.com/subscribe