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Alex Kopytko is a ”radical centrist” that wants to understand the extremes. He has worked in politics and has studied public policy and political science. Alex argues that centrism is less about being a contrarian, it is about being able to change your mind and embrace an openness to new ideas. He is concerned about where the United States is headed and through conversations with people from all sides of the political spectrum, he wants to know how Americans can limit the tribalism that is flourishing. As someone that dances along the center-right of the political spectrum, Alex thinks the country needs to come together and talk to one another before it could be too late. This podcast covers domestic politics, as well as political philosophy, and international issues.
Episodes
Monday Mar 31, 2025
Monday Mar 31, 2025
In this episode, Alex is suffering from the Sunday Scaries so he decides to a service for his listeners and make that issue worse. He talks about Trump saying he is serious about running for a third term (though the logistics are complex and nearly impossible), he also talks about how Liberation Day (the day Trump has promised to fully enact all of the tariffs) is coming on April 2nd, and why the situation in Myanmar is worsening. As Myanmar’s authoritarian, military junta has called for aid after the earthquake, it has already started bombing areas that were heavily hit. Alex talks about how Myanmar now faces an earthquake on top of a violent civil war.
Sunday Mar 30, 2025
Sunday Mar 30, 2025
After mainly going after unsympathetic characters in Turkey, President Erdoğan has crossed the rubicon and jailed his main political opponent ahead of the 2028 presidential election. Alex talks about why this is troubling, why Turkish Democracy is crumbing, and how MAGA is using this same playbook.
Saturday Mar 29, 2025
Saturday Mar 29, 2025
In this episode, Alex rants about a myriad of topics related to the economy, Klarna teaming up with Door Dash to finance food delivery, JD visiting Greenland, why the process is the threat, and why Kristi Noem sucks.
Thursday Mar 27, 2025
Thursday Mar 27, 2025
In this episode, Alex talks about why he is starting to take Trump’s rhetoric involving Greenland more seriously. As JD and Usha Vance are set to visit Greenland, Alex worries that Greenland is Trump’s Crimea. He worries that Trump will use international security, minority opinion, and strategic necessity as pretexts to try and take the Danish territory.
Tuesday Mar 25, 2025
Tuesday Mar 25, 2025
In this episode, Alex worries about the concept of a dual state in an ossified or illiberal democratic system that is trying to still sell the guise of normalcy. Then he talks about the Signal group chat scandal that has unfolded over the last 24 hours. It seems likely that top cabinet officials in the Trump Administration accidentally added a journalist to their group chat. This wasn’t any group chat, they talked about classified information and leaked military operational information to someone that was not permitted to see it.
Tuesday Mar 18, 2025
Tuesday Mar 18, 2025
In this episode, Alex starts by mentioning that at the time of the recording, Trump had a (not-so-perfect) phone call with Putin. Putin rejected the ceasefire but said he was willing to put a hold on the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure. There are a lot of caveats to this and Alex does not think it sounds like Putin wants peace. For the rest of the episode, Alex talks about why the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has ended, why it was destined to fail, and what is next for this region as civilians have started to die again. Alex also talks about the US escalating attacks on the Houthi Rebels in Yemen.
Tuesday Mar 18, 2025
Sunday Mar 16, 2025
Sunday Mar 16, 2025
In this episode, Alex starts by ranting about airports, travel, and his need to get back to Europe soon. Then he reacts to a well-written article by Elliot Cohen in the Atlantic that talks about why invading Canada is a bad idea and has failed in the past. For the rest of the episode, Alex talks about how Spain’s economy has been the envy of Europe but that may change as it is being pressured to bolster its military spending towards NATO security. Spain has put the lowest percentage of GDP towards NATO defense spending and there may be growing pains if it plans to bolster its spending.
Friday Mar 14, 2025
Friday Mar 14, 2025
In this episode, Alex talks about how some Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to avoid a government shutdown. Alex is furious at Democrats like Chuck Schumer and spends the episode talking about how the Democrats are not equipped to handle this moment. He also argues that Democrats should start taking pages from the “Never-Trump” playbook and actually challenge Republicans before all of the damage is done. Sometimes, if you are in the wilderness for too long, you get very lost…
Thursday Mar 13, 2025
Thursday Mar 13, 2025
In this episode, Alex starts by reflecting on the COVID-19 Pandemic, five years after the first lockdowns. He reflects on his contradictory thoughts on what policymakers did right and wrong, and his time in Spain seeing a different policy perspective. For the rest of the episode, Alex talks about Trump’s reciprocal trade war with the European Union. It started with tariffs on European steel and aluminum, then tariffs on American whiskey, which led to Trump threatening tariffs on European alcohol. Trade wars can spiral out of control and this seems to be the case, as now France is threatening retaliation. Alex talks about how the worst part is that tariffs on American whiskey and almonds may damage these industries and hurt the economies of states like Tennessee and California.