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The fight over America’s national story | The Gray Area - July 3, 2026 - Vox

Who are America’s heroes? Who deserves our admiration and a place in our nation’s story?

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In today’s episode, guest host Jonquilyn Hill talks with constitutional law professor Kermit Roosevelt about his book The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America’s Story, which argues that America’s most important ancestors are not the founding fathers but the heroes of Reconstruction. The two discuss the importance of founding myths, why Americans are constantly fighting over “the real America,” and what it means to be American.

Guest Host: Jonquilyn Hill, Host of Vox’s Explain It To Me podcast

Guest: Kermit Roosevelt, constitutional law professor and author of The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America’s Story

00:00 Intro

03:16 America’s two foundings

07:20 The fight over America’s founding myth

15:18 Why every nation needs a story

21:43 Does a national story have to be a success story?

34:06 Why are Americans so attached to their ancestors?

42:02 Will the political pendulum swing back-and-forth forever?

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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Democrats don't know 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

And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday.

Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members.

Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE

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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

America, Actually publishes video episodes every Saturday tackling key issues in politics, culture, and the economy. Subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel to get them. Listen to episodes of America, Actually on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.

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