The Argument
Jerusalem Demsas & Matthew Yglesias
42 episodes listed below
Sharp political debate with policy detail and real disagreement.
The gist
The Argument treats politics as a set of arguments that have to survive contact with institutions, facts, and moral friction. Episodes move from internet anonymity and affirmative action to criminal justice, housing, opioids, liberalism, childhood, and the modern right.
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About The Argument
The Argument is built around structured disagreement between Jerusalem Demsas, Matthew Yglesias, and a rotating set of guests. The show favors concrete policy disputes over broad partisan mood-setting, often asking whether a popular liberal or conservative assumption actually holds up. Episodes on affirmative action, internet anonymity, housing opposition, climate politics, and criminal justice all lean on studies, institutional details, and examples from recent political fights. Demsas often presses on social costs, institutional incentives, and the way ideas play out in real communities. Yglesias often brings a liberal policy-writer lens, with attention to trade-offs, coalition politics, and whether reform proposals can work at scale. Guest episodes add subject expertise from writers, economists, legal scholars, environmentalists, and political commentators. The tone is argumentative but usually analytic, more seminar-table than shouting match. A recurring strength is that the hosts are willing to separate moral instincts from empirical claims. The show is especially good when it turns familiar culture-war subjects into more precise questions about institutions, evidence, and implementation. Listeners should expect detailed political debate, occasional ideological friction, and a strong bias toward policy substance.
Made for: Best for listeners who like politics, public policy, and ideological debate grounded in evidence rather than partisan performance.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its mix of friendly host chemistry, pointed disagreement, and unusually policy-literate arguments.
In their own words
Has affirmative action gone too far? Should we abolish internet anonymity? Is liberal hypocrisy worth defending?Welcome to The Argument, a weekly podcast from Jerusalem Demsas and Matthew Yglesias, where two friends argue about politics, policy, and whatever else is on their minds. This is a debate show for people who want the nitty-gritty without the typical screaming matches or softball interviews. Each week, one host argues a distinctive point of view — armed with facts and research, not just pundit bluster — and then Matthew and Jerusalem hash it out. New episodes post every Thursday. You can find The Argument on Subs...
As heard by us
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Jerusalem Demsas and Matthew Y Yglesias make policy disagreement productive by testing evidence, assumptions, and values in the same conversation.
The Argument turns policy disputes into sustained exchanges between Jerusalem Demsas and Matthew Yglesias, with each question tested through evidence, incentives, and competing values.
Why you'd press play
This is the show that makes your political priors sit through cross-examination.
Press play if you want
- Matthew Yglesias and Jerusalem Demsas pushing each other past the easy answer
- policy arguments that force your values to confront the evidence
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Episodes
- 1
How worried should we be about AI?
Sep 24, 2026·1h 14m - 2
Are we on the road to serfdom?
Sep 17, 2026·1h 35m - 3
How 9/11 changed American politics forever
Sep 10, 2026·1h 38m - 4
Nate Silver on why the center-left is losing
Sep 3, 2026·1h 26m - 5
Derek Thompson on the antisocial century
Aug 27, 2026·1h 16m - 6
Are elites just whoever you don’t like?
Aug 20, 2026·1h 14m - 7
What's wrong with Bowling Alone?
Aug 13, 2026·1h 23m - 8
#MeToo didn’t go far enough
Aug 6, 2026·1h 18m - 9
You don't actually want to buy a house
Jul 30, 2026·57m - 10
Why AI might not replace us after all
Jul 23, 2026·1h 5m - 11
What AOC and Bernie Sanders get wrong about the oligarchy
Jul 16, 2026·1h 10m - 12
What AOC and Bernie Sanders get wrong about the oligarchy
Jul 16, 2026·1h 10m - 13
Was Jane Jacobs the first NIMBY?
Jul 9, 2026·1h 26m - 14
Is assimilation racist?
Jul 2, 2026·1h 12m - 15
The Biden legacy: A ranking of failures
Jun 25, 2026·1h 19m - 16
Andrew Tate, Dan Bilzerian, and the death of romance
Jun 18, 2026·1h 4m - 17
How environmentalists lost the plot
Jun 11, 2026·1h 13m - 18
Do we need to build God to cure cancer?
Jun 4, 2026·58m - 19
Why is crime falling everywhere?
May 28, 2026·54m - 20
Why Democrats and Republicans want you to pay $50,000 for a car
May 21, 2026·58m - 21
Did Joe Biden really kill Spirit Airlines?
May 14, 2026·1h 9m - 22
Boy moms and Nazi POWs: how "The Feminine Mystique" changed feminism
May 7, 2026·1h 5m - 23
Should we end asylum?
Apr 30, 2026·1h 13m - 24
Can America still be a force for good?
Apr 23, 2026·1h 3m - 25
Matthew Yglesias vs. Jerusalem Demsas: The Trailer
Apr 2, 2026·1m - 26
Stop Letting Instagram Explain Your Love Life -- The Science of Attraction
Feb 23, 2026·1h - 27
Did the Opioid Epidemic Help Republicans Win?
This episode examines how the opioid epidemic caused communities to shift toward the Republican Party, based on research by economist Carolina Arteaga.
Feb 2, 2026·1h 6m - 28
Are Children People?
A debate podcast episode exploring the political and philosophical tensions around children's rights and parental authority within liberal democracy.
Jan 26, 2026·1h 14m - 29
Why NIMBYs Oppose Housing (with Chris Elmendorf)
Hidden gemThe Argument episode with Chris Elmendorf focuses on a newer explanation for housing opposition: aesthetic judgment and symbolic cues, not only pocketbook fears or nearby discomfort.
Jan 19, 2026·1h 8m - 30
Best Of: Liberalism Under Pressure w/ Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, & Derek Thompson
The inaugural episode of The Argument podcast, where the host introduces the magazine's mission to revitalize liberalism through debate and persuasion on key policy issues.
Dec 29, 2025·1h 35m - 31
How Liberal Elite Failure Fueled Far-Right Populism
Jerusalem Demsas interviews Gabrielle Groton about the tension between technocratic governance and democratic accountability.
Dec 22, 2025·1h 18m - 32
America’s Reading Crisis: What Mississippi Got Right
Dec 15, 2025·1h 22m - 33
Why We Feel Screwed: Immigration, Growth, and the Zero-Sum Mindset
Dec 8, 2025·51m - 34
Is Inequality the Problem?
Jerusalem Demsas debates with Lane Kenworthy about whether inequality is the core problem affecting democracy and society.
Dec 1, 2025·56m - 35
The Climate Movement’s Biggest Miscalculation (with Robinson Meyer)
Jerusalem Dempsis opens The Argument episode "The Climate Movement’s Biggest Miscalculation" with Robinson Meyer, a Heatmap News founder and executive editor who also writes for The Argument.
Nov 24, 2025·1h 17m - 36
How Silicon Valley Became MAGA-Curious
A political debate podcast episode discussing the shift of Silicon Valley from liberal to conservative leanings.
Nov 17, 2025·1h 10m - 37
Why Free Speech Is Losing on the Left and the Right
Two hosts debate free speech issues, discussing inconsistency in defending free speech and interviewing a free speech advocate.
Nov 3, 2025·1h 15m - 38
Trump's Tariffs, Explained
Jerusalem Demsas and Joey Politano discuss the origins and impact of Trump's tariff obsession, debating the merits of protectionism and the feasibility of returning to a 1950s manufacturing economy.
Oct 27, 2025·1h 36m - 39
The Battle to Rewrite COVID-19
Oct 20, 2025·1h 29m - 40
RFK, Tylenol, and America’s Autism Panic
Oct 13, 2025·1h 28m - 41
Why even (some) liberals are worrying about the debt
Two hosts debate the importance of caring about national debt, with one arguing for liberal deficit hawkery.
Oct 6, 2025·1h 6m - 42
Liberalism Under Pressure w/ Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, & Derek Thompson
The inaugural episode of The Argument podcast features a live debate among opinion journalists on persuasion, media, and liberalism.
Sep 29, 2025·1h 35m