America's Next 250 with Ezra Klein
A conversation about freedom and attention
For a live show Q&A last year, we considered our dream guests for the podcast. Here’s Sarah’s response:
Well, today, part of Sarah’s wish has been granted. Ezra Klein is here to talk with us about where America sits at this anniversary, and what he’s thinking about as he looks ahead. We hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it. -Beth
P.S. Just putting into the universe that I’d still very much like to talk to French president Emmanuel Macron. Just sayin’.
Topics Discussed
The vision of abundance and why the future is so hard to imagine
Attention as a collective resource — and why ours is deranged
Freedom as choice vs. freedom as self-mastery
Virtue, vice, and the illiberal moment
Institutional trust, corruption, and the education debate
Natalism, AI, and whether we're living through an aberration
Outside of Politics: which founder would make the best podcast guest
Want more Pantsuit Politics? Subscribe to ensure you never miss an episode and get access to our premium shows and community.
Episode Resources
• Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson https://bookshop.org/a/124929/9781668023488
• Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein
https://bookshop.org/a/124929/9781476700366
• The Lost History of Liberalism by Helena Rosenblatt
https://bookshop.org/a/124929/9780691203966
• The Pursuit of Happiness by Jeffrey Rosen https://bookshop.org/a/124929/9781668002483
• The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson
https://bookshop.org/a/124929/9781250231321
• "Now Is a Time of Monsters" by Ezra Klein, The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/12/opinion/ai-climate-change-low-birth-rates.html?eafs_enabled=false
Episode Transcript
Coming soon…
Show Credits
Pantsuit Politics is hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers. The show is produced by Studio D Podcast Production.
Our theme music was composed by Xander Singh with inspiration from original work by Dante Lima.
Our show is listener-supported. The community of paid subscribers here on Substack makes everything we do possible. Special thanks to our Executive Producers, some of whose names you hear at the end of each show. To join our community of supporters, become a paid subscriber here on Substack.
To search past episodes of the main show or our premium content, check out our content archive.
This podcast and every episode of it are wholly owned by Pantsuit Politics LLC and are protected by US and international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. We hope you'll listen to it, love it, and share it with other people, but not with large language models or machines and not for commercial purposes. Thanks for keeping it nuanced with us.




