The Braver Angels Podcast
by Braver Angels Media
Our lives have changed – our politics need to change too. Now is a time for us to remember that we need each other as Americans. Now is a time for us to reject those voices that say we don't. The Braver Angels Podcast brings you face to face with leading voices from across the divide alongside remarkable Americans you did not know existed. Experience a movement to reignite the spirit of America and defeat the forces that divide us. With John Wood, Jr., Ciaran O'Connor and April Lawson.
Episodes
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Bringing Back Intellectual Humility
How does intellectual humility matter in journalism, conversations about race, religion and politics? In this special episode of the Braver Angels Podcast sponsored by the Greater Good Science Center John Wood Jr. leads a conversation with founder of the Flipside Annafi Wahed, former CIA...
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Introducing "A Braver Way" | Mónica Guzmán with April Lawson
Braver Angels has a new podcast – "A Braver Way" hosted by Braver Angels Senior Fellow for Public Practice Mónica Guzmán. Monica explains how the podcast came to be, and why there is such a need for a podcast like this to help show everyday Americans HOW they can bridge divides in their own…
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Launching "Uniting America" | John Wood Jr. with Ciaran O'Connor See More from John Wood
Braver Angels national ambassador John Wood Jr. has launched a new podcast with the goal of uniting Americans. But episode one hit a splash of controversy after remarks from guest Sam Harris spread across the internet, provoking criticism from Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro and others. John explains the...
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Want to fight polarization? Take a vacation! | Aziz Abu Sarah with Randy Lioz
Aziz Abu Sarah started Mejdi Tours to create a new kind of experience for travelers within conflict zones. Their trips, through places like Israel and the Palestinian territories, Northern Ireland, Colombia and the Baltics, present multiple perspectives on each site they visit, building ties with...
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What's Up With Elon Musk? | A Braver Angels Podcast Holiday Special
Seriously: what's going on with Elon Musk? And what happens when "free speech absolutism" runs up against the realities of running the nation's defacto digital public square? How has Joe Biden performed in his first two years in office? And what can Americans expect from Braver Angels in 2023? In...
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What's your 'red line'? | Jonathan Haidt with Mónica Guzmán
"The struggle between 'for' and 'against' is the mind's worst disease." In this episode of the Braver Angels Podcast, we brought some of the big, hairy questions that challenge political bridge building to one of the most outspoken voices in social psychology — NYU professor and best-selling…
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"What Liberals Miss About Conservatives"
Paul Norris, who helps lead Braver Angels' Red Caucus, convenes an all-red panel to discuss what liberals, academia, and the mainstream media miss about conservatives. Featuring Mark Reinecke, Elizabeth Doll, and Barbara Farmer.
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What Curiosity Can Teach Us | Monica Guzman with Ciaran O'Connor
Monica Guzman is Braver Angels' Senior Fellow for Public Practice and the author of the best-selling book "I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times." Over the past few months, Monica's been traveling the country to lead curious...
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The 2022 Midterms: A Humble Debate | Ciaran O'Connor and John Wood, Jr.
Braver Angels leaders John Wood, Jr. (red) and Ciaran O'Connor (blue) come together for a wide-ranging debate on the most critical issues animating the 2022 midterm elections, including the economy, abortion, and the future of American democracy. Throughout the discussion, John and Ciaran...
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How Civil Wars Start — And How to Stop Them | Barbara Walter with Ciaran O'Connor
Barbara Walter is a political scientist and professor at the University of California San Diego who specializes in studying civil wars. Here she joins Braver Angels CMO Ciaran O'Connor for a wide-ranging conversation on the current state of political violence in the United States, what America…
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A Trump Supporter Interviews a Biden Supporter
This week we put a Biden supporter in the hot seat. Wilk Wilkinson, a conservative Republican, interviews Jordan Carmon, a staunch Biden supporter, on everything from Hunter Biden to January 6th — showing us what's possible when we bring good faith to our richest, most passionate disagreements....
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A Catholic, a Jew, and a Protestant Walk Into a Bridge-Building Movement | Eduardo Andino & Randy Lioz with April Lawson
From Braver Seders to the Catholic belief that we need not fear the truth, three Braver Angels leaders talk about how their respective religious traditions inspire their bridge-building work. They explore the spiritual side of Braver Angels, and how we can learn from the insights of each…
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A Trump Republican on the FBI's Mar-a-Lago Raid
Braver Angels CMO Ciaran O'Connor is a progressive Democrat who previously worked for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Wilk Wilkinson is a Trump supporter who helps lead Braver Angels' efforts to engage working class Americans. In this episode of the podcast, Ciaran and Wilk come together to...
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Generosity in America: 1 Working Person's View of Politics & Life | Annette Ritter with April Lawson Kornfield
April Lawson Kornfield interviews Annette Ritter about what it means to be working class in America, how she sees regular people engaging politics, and how her own journey through trauma and addiction led her to become an addiction recovery counselor. Annette shares openly and with great insight...
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Keeping the Faith | John Wood Jr., Monica Guzman, April Lawson Kornfield, & Ciaran O'Connor
At a time of deepening polarization and social division, it's easy to become discouraged, disillusioned, and depressed. In this special roundtable episode, Braver Angels leaders Ciaran O'Connor, John Wood Jr., April Lawson Kornfield, and Monica Guzman come together to discuss how they keep the...
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Braving the Gun Divide | Mark Beckwith & Wilk Wilkinson with Ciaran O'Connor
As the U.S. Congress and the Supreme Court weigh in on gun rights and gun safety, Americans remain bitterly divided on the right to bear arms. Is it possible to bridge this divide on the level of shared values? What can we learn from one another's lived experiences that influence our thoughts and...
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A Jalapeño a Day: What America Can Learn From Bridging in the Hispanic Community | Monica Guzman & Daniel Acosta-Rivas with April Lawson Kornfield
Monica Guzmán and Daniel Acosta-Rivas share intimate stories about growing up in their respective Hispanic contexts and the diversity of the Hispanic world. They offer riveting insights on why the Hispanic community is underrepresented in organizations like Braver Angels and why Venezuela's...
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Gen-Z & the New Center | Manu Meel with John Wood Jr.
Manu Meel and the students of the cross-partisan campus group BridgeUSA are the vanguard of the civic bridge-building movement nationwide. What characterizes the 20-year-olds who are working across the divide to save American democracy, and what is the theory of change that defines the...
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How Braver Angels Began, Part 2 | David Blankenhorn, Bill Doherty, & David Lapp
In the year that followed the first Braver Angels workshop in December 2016, Braver Angels went from an experiment with a handful of citizens in small-town Ohio to a growing national movement. In this second part of "How Braver Angels Began," the co-founders of Braver Angels (David Blankenhorn,...
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What's It Like To Be Gen Z in Today's Climate? Two Zoomers Discuss | Isaac Humrich & Ope Tukuru with April Lawson Kornfield
April Lawson Kornfield hosts two thoughtful young people—Zoomers, as they're sometimes called—for a conversation about depolarization, campus culture, and what it would take to bring more youth into the bridge-building movement. Isaac Humrich is a rising sophomore at Arizona State University and...
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Will Trump Run in 2024? | Robert Gibbs & Rick Wilson with Ciaran O'Connor
Will Donald Trump run again in 2024? How will the recent leak of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade affect the 2022 midterm elections? How can Democrats and Republicans address the divides within their own parties? Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Lincoln...
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From the Depolarization Movement to the U.S. Senate? | Steven Olikara with John Wood Jr.
U.S. Senate candidate Steven Olikara has already had an impact on American democracy. He's the founder of the Millennial Action Project, a nonprofit that works with young policymakers on both a national and state level to bridge the partisan divide and spur collaborative legislation. But is that...
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Braver Politics is Live! Plus: Seeing the Unseen | Rev. Mark Beckwith with Ciaran O'Connor
Braver Politics is here to fix our broken politics. In this episode, Braver Angels CMO Ciaran O'Connor introduces our new initiative to engage politicians across the United States and transform the incentives that drive division. Then, Ciaran chats with Mark Beckwith, a Braver Angels leader and…
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President Trump, Ukraine, & the Future of Conservatism: Reds Discuss | Steve Saltwick, Marc Ang, & Paul N. with April Kornfield
Four Reds with different views of President Trump debate how conservatives should think about the former president, his legacy, his current behavior (including on January 6), and his possible run in 2024. The conversation expands into the future of conservatism, Ukraine, and what it means to be a...
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Bridging the Divide in the North Carolina General Assembly | John Torbett & Becky Carney with Ciaran O'Connor
Rep. Becky Carney is a Democrat representing Mecklenburg County in the highly polarized North Carolina General Assembly. Rep. John Torbett is a Republican representing Gaston County. Together, they lead the House Transportation Committee. In this episode of the podcast, the legislators join…
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The Musical Life of Coleman Hughes | with Alma Cook
Coleman Hughes has made a name for himself as a public commentator. A contributor at City Journal, Quillette, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times among others, he's been celebrated for his sober analysis of American race relations. He's also… a rapper. Today, he joins Braver Angels...
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Racism, Colorism, & the Complicated Legacy of Hollywood | Joy Donnell with John Wood Jr.
Since the advent of film, the racial dynamics of American life have been reflected, or perhaps distorted, by a movie and entertainment industry whose impact on racial issues has been more complex than many realize. Joy Donnell, cofounder of the Center for Intersectional Media and Entertainment...
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The Power of Curiosity | Mónica Guzmán with Ciaran O'Connor
We think we have the answers. But what happens when we start asking more questions? In her new book, I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, Braver Angels' director of storytelling Mónica Guzmán explains how and why we should get...
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Cocaine, Black L.A. and the Story of Lorenzo Murphy | with John Wood Jr.
From the mid 1980's to the early 1990's, the United States of America was ravaged by the violence and destruction associated with the crack cocaine trade and epidemic. But more than anyone, inner-city African American communities felt the pain, setting the stage for mass incarceration and the...
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Can We Talk About Class? | Annette Ritter & Len Breslow with David Lapp
Annette Ritter is a school-of-hard-knocks grandma and community college student from rural Little Orleans, Maryland. Len Breslow is a retired cognitive psychologist from suburban Chevy Chase, Maryland. Annette used to couch-hop on the poor side of Berkeley, California; Len got a graduate degree...
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Straight Outta the Black Bourgeoisie | John Sibley Butler with John Wood Jr.
Professor John Sibley Butler (University of Texas in Austin), described as America's leading black business historian, is "straight outta the black bourgeoisie." Yes African-American history is riddled with tragedy and oppression. But this Black History Month, and every other month for that…
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Depolarization in the Age of Misinformation | Jonathan Rauch with David Blankenhorn & Ciaran O'Connor
Braver Angels has never been shy about engaging our nation's most sensitive political issues. Last year, we held a public debate on the 2020 election exploring themes of voter fraud, voter suppression, and disagreements about the outcome. Recently, we hosted a podcast with a guest who claimed…
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The Man Who's Seen It All | Daniel Seddiqui with Mónica Guzmán
Plagued by pandemics of fear and distrust, many of us have come to hold some scary ideas about different people and places across our country. But what's the reality? Daniel Seddiqui has seen more of America than almost anyone. After working 50 jobs in 50 states in 50 weeks in 2009—from coal…
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The Future of Depolarization | Esther Cash with Ciaran O'Connor
Esther Cash is a liberal college student at Biola, a conservative Christian university in California. As a program associate for Braver Angels, she helps coordinate our debates program in communities and colleges across the country. Today, she joins the podcast to discuss her own political...
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A Conservative Perspective on January 6th & the 2020 Election | Peter Wood with Ciaran O'Connor
Peter Wood is an anthropologist and president of the National Association of Scholars. He believes—like many Americans on the right—that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and the January 6th riots were incited by the left in collusion with the FBI. He's also the author of a new book...
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The Meaning of January 6th | John Wood, Jr. & Ciaran O'Connor
In the first Braver Angels Podcast episode of the new year, John Wood, Jr. and Ciaran O'Connor share a deep and heartfelt conversation about the state of American politics on the one-year anniversary of January 6th, 2021. Happy 2022! Ready to become a Braver Angels member and build a house united...
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Building the Beloved Community in 2021 | Rev. Adam Taylor with John Wood Jr.
In the 1950's and 60's the reverend Martin Luther King Jr. inspired a nation with a message of hope, aimed against the forces of racism, inspired by the philosophy of nonviolence and what he believed to be the moral and spiritual teachings of the gospel. Is that philosophy relevant to today's...
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How Braver Angels Began | David Blankenhorn, Bill Doherty, & David Lapp
On the weekend of December 9, 2016, a small group of citizens—half Donald Trump voters, half Hillary Clinton voters—gathered in South Lebanon, Ohio, for an experiment. Could we talk with each other rather than at each other? Five years later, the co-founders of Braver Angels (David Blankenhorn,...
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Can We Talk About Abortion? | April Kornfield, Alma Cook, Sage Snider, & Mónica
In a special all-women roundtable edition of our podcast, two Red and two Blue Braver Angels leaders get passionate, personal, and curious about what led them to hold opposing views on one of the toughest political dilemmas in America: abortion. How do voices on the left and right strengthen or...
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Understanding the American Schism | Seth David Radwell with Ciaran O'Connor
What are the historical roots of political polarization in America? Why do Americans hold such dissonant perspectives on the meaning of our core ideals? How might we understand our history to create a more perfect future union? Ciaran O'Connor hosts Seth David Radwell, author of American Schism,...
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Grace Under (Political) Pressure? | Kirsten Powers with Mónica Guzmán
Toxic levels of ungrace are tearing us apart. That's the diagnosis from Kirsten Powers, senior political analyst at CNN and former political analyst at Fox News. But is grace really possible across divides this huge and seemingly threatening? In a candid interview with host Mónica Guzmán, Kirsten...
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Moving Depolarization Forward | Andrew Yang with John Wood, Jr. & Silas Kulkarni
Andrew Yang isn't done challenging the way Americans look at politics. The former presidential candidate and entrepreneur is launching the Forward Party: a third-party effort to depolarize our politics through election reform. Can it work? And what does Yang have to say about the sensitive issues...
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A BLM Leader, a Trump Supporter, & an ICU Doctor Talk Vaccines | Hawk Newsome, David Iwinski, & Dr. Tess Russell with Ciaran O'Connor
Ciaran O'Connor convenes Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York; David Iwinski, a Trump supporter who helps lead Braver Angels Debates; and Dr. Tess Russell, an anesthesiologist and intensive care specialist at Columbia New York Presbyterian Hospital for a raw and...
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Wait, You're Married?! How a Republican & Democrat Keep It Together | Barbara Thomas & Rick Hotchner with Mónica Guzmán
Barbara Thomas is a lifelong liberal. Rick Hotchner is a committed conservative. As a couple, they are one of a dwindling number of politically mixed marriages between Democrats and Republicans in America. They made a life-changing decision last summer to leave a diplomatic post abroad to...
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Breaking the Social Media Prism | Christopher Bail with Ciaran O'Connor
Social media has become a prism that distorts our identities, empowers status-seeking extremists, and renders moderates all but invisible. In his new book, Breaking the Social Media Prism, Duke professor Christopher Bail challenges common myths about echo chambers, foreign misinformation…
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Mind Your Mandates | Ciaran O'Connor, John Wood, Jr., Alma Cook, & Mónica Guzmán
Ready to take on the COVID-19 divide? In this special roundtable edition of our podcast, two red and two blue Braver Angels leaders tackle big questions about vaccines and vaccine mandates. How do the left and right help and hurt America's struggle against the pandemic? Are President Joe Biden's...
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Can Conservatives Trust Journalists? | Joy Mayer with Mónica Guzmán
Joy Mayer just launched a bold effort to help conservatives trust journalists. What will it take for America's local journalists to tell stories responsibly—not just for liberals, whose views most journalists identify with, but also for conservatives, whose views are easier for most journalists…
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What Being Homeless Can Teach Us About Dignity & Overcoming Division | Morgan Brown with David Lapp
After enduring significant childhood trauma, Morgan Brown spent much of his adult life homeless. Now an advocate for housing and mental health, Morgan shares his perspectives on trust, dignity, and how "going the extra gracious mile and beyond" can make all the difference—both on the streets and…
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The Power of Strangers | Joe Keohane with Ciaran O'Connor
Is it worth striking up a conversation with the stranger in the checkout line? What's on the other side of that silence, and how do we bridge it? Journalist Joe Keohane is out with a new book, The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World, which explores the lost art of...
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Why National Service in 2021? | Sri Preston Kulkarni with Luke Nathan Phillips
Ever wonder just how expansive the American national service system is and how those involved in it see their work? Luke Nathan Phillips interviews AmeriCorps' chief of external affairs, Sri Preston Kulkarni, about the work and mission of the organization. They discuss how AmeriCorps aims to...
About this show
Our lives have changed – our politics need to change too. Now is a time for us to remember that we need each other as Americans. Now is a time for us to reject those voices that say we don't. The Braver Angels Podcast brings you face to face with leading voices from across the divide alongside remarkable Americans you did not know existed. Experience a movement to reignite the spirit of America and defeat the forces that divide us. With John Wood, Jr., Ciaran O'Connor and April Lawson.
Hosted by
Braver Angels Media