Category: 3-SometimeCommentary

America is turning 250. And we’re throwing a yearlong celebration of the greatest country on Earth. The greatest? Yes. The greatest.

We realize that’s not a popular thing to say these days. Americans have a way of taking this country for granted: a Gallup poll released earlier this week shows that American pride has reached a new low. And the world at large, which is wealthier and freer than it has ever been in history thanks to American power and largesse, often resents us. We get it. As journalists, we spend most of our time finding problems and exposing them. It’s what the job calls for.

But if you only focus on the negatives, you get a distorted view of reality. As America hits this milestone birthday, it’s worthwhile to take a moment to step back and look closely at where we actually are—and the reality of life in America today compared to other times and places. That reality is pretty spectacular.

Could Thomas Jefferson and the men gathered in Philadelphia who wrote down the words that made our world—“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”—ever have imagined what their Declaration of Independence would bring?

The Constitution. The end of slavery—and the defeat of Hitler. Astonishing wealth and medical breakthroughs. Silicon Valley. The most powerful military in the world. The moon landing. Hollywood. The Hoover Dam. The Statue of Liberty (a gift from France). Actual liberation (a thing we gave France). Humphrey Bogart and Tom Hanks. Josephine Baker and Beyoncé. Hot dogs. Corn dogs. American Chinese food. American Italian food. The Roosevelts and the Kennedys. The Barrymores and the Fondas. Winston Churchill (his mom was from Brooklyn). The Marshall Plan and Thurgood Marshall. Star Wars. Missile-defense shields. Baseball. Football. The military-industrial complex. Freedom of religion. UFO cults. Television. The internet. The Pill. The Pope. The automobile, the airplane, and AI. Jazz and the blues. The polio vaccine and GLP-1s, the UFC and Dolly Parton.

The list goes on because it’s really, truly endless. Ours is a country where you can hear 800 languages spoken in Queens, drive two hours and end up among the Amish in Pennsylvania. We are 330 million people, from California to New York Island, gathered together as one.

Each of those 330 million will tell you that ours is not a perfect country. But we suspect most of them would agree that their lives would not be possible without it. So for the next 12 months, we’re going to toast to our freedoms on the page, on this podcast and in real life. And we’re doing it the Free Press way: by delving into all of it—the bad and the good and the great, the strange and the wonderful and the wild.

And today—on America’s 249th birthday—we’re kicking off this yearlong event with none other than Akhil Reed Amar. Akhil has a unique understanding of this country—and our Constitution. Akhil is a Democrat who testified on behalf of Brett Kavanaugh, is a member of The Federalist Society, who is pro-choice but also anti-Roe—and these seeming contradictions make him perfectly suited to answer questions about the political and legal polarization we find ourselves in today.

Akhil is a constitutional law professor at Yale and the author of the brilliant book The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760–1840. He also hosts the podcast Amarica's Constitution, and you might recognize his name from his work in The Atlantic. I ask him about the unique history that created our founding document, the state of the country, our political polarization, the American legal system, and what this country means to him.

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With a tiebreaking vote from Vice President JD Vance, the Senate has adopted President Trump’s giant domestic policy bill, which now heads back to the House for a final vote.

The legislation is defined by the staggering amount of debt it will create: more than $3 trillion.

Andrew Duehren, who covers tax policy, and Colby Smith, who covers the economy, talk about how Republicans have rewritten the rules to make that debt vanish, and why the world is less and less convinced that the United States can handle its debts.

Guest:

• Andrew Duehren, who writes about tax policy for The New York Times from Washington.
• Colby Smith, a New York Times reporter covering the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy.

Background reading: 

• The Senate bill would add at least $3.3 trillion to the national debt, the budget office says.
• The bill puts the nation on a new, more perilous fiscal path.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Ken Cedeno/Reuters

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Can we feed the world without destroying it? Zachary and Emma speak with Michael Grunwald, award-winning journalist and author known for his work on the environment and national politics. He is currently a senior writer for Politico Magazine and author of We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate. Michael discusses ways to farm using fewer acres of land, the improvements in plant-based products, and technology innovations including gene-edited crops and lab-grown meat. He points to recent growth in energy with solar panels and electric cars, hoping that farming could have a similar revolution.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

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The episode kicks off with a withering look at the “Big Beautiful Bill,” a deficit-busting tax cut that showers the rich while hacking away at Medicaid for the poorest Americans. Then, a trip to Minnesota’s Iron Range, where Bethany McLean discusses the bitter fight over Nippon Steel’s bid to buy U.S. Steel—and the awkward dance between union leadership and the workers they claim to represent. It’s a story about how economic reality collides with political theater, and why Democrats keep misreading the mood in places that once anchored their coalition. And in the Spiel, a reminder that no amount of spectacle can disguise the trade-offs hiding in plain sight of that big, beautiful boondoggle. Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠ad-sales@libsyn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist Instagram Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠GIST INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow The Gist List at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pesca⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠

Last week, Kennedy announced the U.S. would not renew its $1.2 billion commitment to the global vaccine agency Gavi.

The new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also met for the first time last week since Kennedy fired and then replaced its members.

We talk about the outlook for U.S. vaccine policy both at home and abroad.

Then, we switch gears to discuss the link between menopause and an increased risk of cardiovascular illness.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women in the U.S. according to the American Heart Association. We discuss the link between heart health and menopause.

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From pro wrestling and Beanie Babies to Insane Clown Posse and Jerry Springer—author Ross Benes looks at the explosion of low culture in the mass media in the late ’90s. His book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times reveals its profound impact and how it continues to affect our culture and society today.

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