Vox

How to fix America’s spiritual crisis | The Gray Area - June 29, 2026 - Vox
Sean talks with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy about the crisis lurking beneath America's political dysfunction. Murphy’s new book “Crisis of the Common Good” argues that the country is suffering from a collapse of connection, belonging, and purpose. They discuss loneliness, powerlessness, liberalism, democracy, Trumpism, corporate power, social media, and why so many Americans feel disconnected from their communities, their institutions, and each other.
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Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)
Guest: Sen. Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT)
00:00 Intro
01:11 America’s ‘spiritual sickness’
06:34 What does it mean to pursue the ‘common good?’
10:33 In America, the powerful profit from ‘the disintegration of the broader populace’
12:14 The story Trump is telling America
16:25 How does the Right diagnosis America’s spiritual crisis?
23:14 Why the Left’s rhetoric isn’t landing
36:35 Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party
38:48 Why AI is the most important policy fight of the future
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Young men are turning on Trump. Here’s why. | America, Actually - June 27, 2026 - Vox
Young men are no longer happy with Donald Trump. His net approval rating among the group that famously helped propel him to the White House in 2024 has dropped by 56 points.
But is this shift real, or just noise? Vox’s Astead Herndon recently went to an event billed as an opportunity for the administration to reconnect with young men to find out: the UFC Freedom 250 event in Washington DC.
00:00 - Is Trump losing young men?
00:58 - Inside the White House’s UFC event
01:25 - Gas prices and the Iran war
03:15 - Epstein files and a crisis of elite transparency
09:01 - Where masculinity and politics overlap
12:43 - Jack Posobiec on how Trump reached young men in 2024
16:58 - Defending the Trump administration’s foreign policy
17:49 - The Epstein dilemma
23:07 - Can JD Vance woo young men?
24:01 - The Blue Dog strategy
26:40 - What Astead took away from his trip to Washington DC
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The internet is all bots now | The Gray Area - June 26, 2026 - Vox
Sean talks with Atlantic writer Charlie Warzel about the increasingly weird experience of being online. They discuss AI-generated content, bots, algorithms, the “dead internet theory,” and why so much of the web now feels artificial, manipulated, or unreal. They also explore psyops, conspiracy culture, social media, and the deeper question lurking beneath the AI boom: What are human beings actually for?
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Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)
Guest: Charlie Warzel (@cwarzel)
00:00 Intro
01:45 The bot-haunted internet
08:53 Why the internet feels fake
15:11 The post-human internet
22:37 What is a psyop?
29:22 What is AI slop?
37:57 Charlie Warzel’s favorite part of the internet
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What masculinity does to men | The Gray Area - June 22, 2026 - Vox
Sean talks with journalist Jordan Ritter Conn about his book “American Men,” an intimate look at four men trying to figure out what manhood and masculinity have given them versus what they have cost them, and what to do with the gap between the men they think they’re supposed to be and the men they actually are. They talk about being fathers and sons as well as about violence, shame, ambition, male friendship, loneliness, and why being a “good man” might mean finally letting go of the desire to perform manhood.
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Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)
Guest: Jordan Ritter Conn (@jordanconn)
00:00 Intro
00:47 Beyond the ‘what’s wrong with men’ debate
06:30 Why so many men feel like they’re not enough
08:14 Four different paths to manhood
16:17 The role of fathers
19:44 Achieve doesn’t always bring confidence
24:54 The cost of male loneliness
33:21 Rethinking what it means to be a good man
We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.
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