Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other

Credentials used to be enough. Rachel Kleinfeld and Renée DiResta on what earns trust now.Rachel Kleinfeld of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Renée DiResta of Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy join Corey to talk about their new paper, "How to Engage With New Media: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Organizations," co-authored with Margot Treadwell. The conversation moves from an institution caught flat-footed when a researcher becomes a target, to why a big following no longer guarantees reach, to how hard disagreements go better when nobody fears being screenshotted.Calls to Action✅ Leave a rating and review: lovethepodcast.com/politicsandreligion✅ Subscribe on Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com✅ Watch and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion✅ Share this episode with someone who still thinks red versus blue explains anythingKey takeawaysKleinfeld says academic credentials and a nice institutional home no longer confer legitimacy. Authenticity and trust do, and they come from building a community that listens.The paper cites Meta data showing 41% of posts on the average Facebook feed come from recommended content unconnected to people the user follows. DiResta explains why that means a large following no longer guarantees reach.The paper's four questions come before any posting: who the audience is, what the mission is, which gatekeepers shape the field, and how to create content. Kleinfeld says audiences should be sorted by values and worldview, not demographics.DiResta finds hard conversations work best in private group chats where no one fears being screenshotted. Kleinfeld says the place to start is common values.About Rachel KleinfeldRachel Kleinfeld is a senior fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she advises governments, philanthropists, and activists on how democracies make major social change. Raised in a log house on a dirt road in Fairbanks, Alaska, she earned her BA at Yale and her graduate degrees at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.About Renée DiRestaRenée DiResta is an associate research professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and a contributing editor at Lawfare. She is the author of "Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality" and was formerly research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory.Links"How to Engage with New Media: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Organizations": carnegieendowment.org/research/2026/08/nonprofit-organizations-how-to-engage-social-media-new-media-strategy"For Expertise to Matter, Nonpartisan Institutions Need New Communications Strategies": carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/09/communications-social-media-nonprofit-institutions-new-media-environmentRachel Kleinfeld on Substack: rachelkleinfeld.substack.comRenée DiResta: reneediresta.comConnect with usSubstack: coreysnathan.substack.comYouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligionInstagram, Threads, Bluesky, X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn: @coreysnathanPartnersProud to be part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts examining what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.Expertise still matters. Trust is what makes people listen to it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens when the people who read your writing talk back?A couple weeks ago, The Dispatch published an essay Corey wrote about his hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, growing older alongside his friends from high school, and what it means to lose someone who isn't gone. This episode, recorded live on Substack, Corey reads it himself and reacts to comments in real time on Substack Live as well as some that came in at The Dispatch, including one from a stranger that turns into a pretty candid moment.Calls to Action✅ Leave a rating and review: lovethepodcast.com/politicsandreligion✅ Subscribe on Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com✅ Watch and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion✅ Share this episode with someone from your hometown you haven't talked to in a whileLinks and ResourcesRead the original essay at The Dispatch: "Whatever Happened to Freehold, New Jersey?" - thedispatch.com/article/freehold-new-jersey-springsteen-politicsConnect with UsSubstack: coreysnathan.substack.comLinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, TikTok, X: @coreysnathanYouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligionOur PartnersProud to be part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts examining what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.Some things deserve disagreement. Few deserve losing a friend over. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mike Madrid on why both parties are running on empty, and what's actually filling the vacuum.Mike Madrid, author of The Latino Century and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, joins Corey to argue that neither party is being reshaped so much as replaced. The conversation moves from a 13,000-person Texas town that could decide the midterms to what it costs a person to spend a career in gladiator politics, and why Madrid traded that fight for painting, pilgrimages, and personal writing.Calls to Action✅ Leave a rating and review: lovethepodcast.com/politicsandreligion✅ Subscribe on Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com✅ Watch and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion✅ Share this episode with someone who still thinks red versus blue explains anythingKey takeawaysMadrid argues both parties are "zombie parties," hollow shells running on inertia while voters increasingly organize around issues instead of labels.Beeville, Texas, a 70% Hispanic town that went 70% for Trump, is why Madrid calls it the most important town in America for the midterms.State Rep. James Talarico is connecting with Latino voters by framing politics as class, not identity: the working class had the American dream stolen from them.After years of "gladiator politics," Madrid stepped back from the fight and now spends his time writing, painting, and teaching, calling it work that's better for his soul.About Mike MadridMike Madrid is a longtime Latino GOP political consultant and co-founder of the Lincoln Project. He's the author of The Latino Century: How America's Largest Minority Is Transforming Democracy, and co-hosts the Latino Vote Podcast with Chuck Rocha. He writes The Great Transformation on Substack, where most of his reporting and essays now live, and this fall he's teaching courses built around his book at USC and UC Irvine.Links"The Latino Century" by Mike Madrid: simonandschuster.com/books/The-Latino-Century/Mike-Madrid/9781668015278The Great Transformation on Substack: greattransformation.substack.comConnect with usSubstack: coreysnathan.substack.comYouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligionInstagram, Threads, Bluesky, X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn: @coreysnathanPartnersProud to be part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts examining what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.The parties aren't just dying. Something else is already replacing them. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two megaphones, two drinks, one bar. Corey quits talking about talking and just gets to the talkin'.Second edition of "To the Republic... To the Pub." Corey sits down with his buddy Chip, a Tea Party guy since the '70s, and it turns into a real fight: Trump's second term, JD Vance, ICE and the Home Depot raids, and whether bipartisanship even means anything anymore. Not talking about people we disagree with. Talking with them.FOR THE RECORD: Biden's Last Two Years vs. Trump's First 20 MonthsJobs: averaged 216,000/month in 2023 and 168,000/month in 2024 (BLS, revised). Under Trump, growth has slowed sharply, roughly 716,000 jobs added total from January 2025 through June 2026, versus 2 million over Biden's final 17 months.Inflation: fell steadily under Biden, from a 4.1% average in 2023 to 2.9% by December 2024. Under Trump it's climbed back to 3.4% for the 12 months ending July 2026.GDP: grew 2.9% in 2023 and 2.8% in 2024. Grew 2.1% in 2025, Trump's first year, and slowed to 1.5% in Q2 2026.Stock market: the S&P 500 gained roughly 53% and the Dow roughly 31% combined over 2023 to 2024. Since Trump's inauguration, the S&P is up about 26.5% and the Dow about 21%.Consumer sentiment (University of Michigan index): rose from 69.7 to 74.0 between December 2023 and December 2024. Fell to a near-record low of 44.8 in May 2026 and sat around 52 as of August.Calls to Action✅ Leave a rating and review: lovethepodcast.com/politicsandreligion✅ Subscribe on Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com✅ Watch and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion✅ Share this episode with someone who thinks bipartisanship is either the whole answer or the whole problemConnect with UsSubstack: coreysnathan.substack.comYouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligionInstagram, Threads, Bluesky, X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn: @coreysnathanPartnersProud to be part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts examining what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.Pull up a stool. Folks we disagree with? It's more fun to talk to 'em than to talk about 'em. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A newspaper editor from East Tennessee on why Dolly Parton was one of the last people almost everyone agreed on, and what that says about faith, place, and the work of editing well.Michael Reneau, executive editor at The Dispatch, joins Corey to talk about growing up 50 miles from where Dolly Parton was raised, and what her death revealed about a country that still finds a handful of people impossible to dislike. The conversation moves from Appalachia and Hurricane Helene to Bryan College, Flannery O'Connor, and the hardest thing Michael has ever watched his parents live through.Calls to Action✅ Leave a rating and review: lovethepodcast.com/politicsandreligion✅ Subscribe on Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com✅ Watch and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion✅ Share this episode with someone who still thinks "dominionism" is a fringe word.Key takeawaysDolly Parton's death pulled praise from across the political spectrum, and Michael sees that as a clue about what Appalachia's isolation and hardship actually produced: solidarity, not the caricature.Editing longer-form work, learned in part from mentor Marvin Olasky, means being ruthless about finding a story's essence, and Michael treats AI strictly as a tool, never as a substitute for that judgment.The formative event of Michael's faith was watching his parents grieve his infant sister's death and hold onto their belief anyway, not any theological argument he later studied.About Michael ReneauMichael Reneau is executive editor at The Dispatch, where he oversees editing across the newsroom. Before joining The Dispatch in 2022, he was editor of World Magazine, and prior to that spent several years as editor and writer for an award-winning daily newspaper in East Tennessee. He lives in Greeneville, Tennessee, with his wife and four kids.LinksThe Dispatch: thedispatch.comMichael's tribute to Dolly Parton: thedispatch.com/article/dolly-parton-tennessee-music-philanthropyConnect with usSubstack: coreysnathan.substack.comYouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligionInstagram, Threads, Bluesky, X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn: @coreysnathanPartnersProud to be part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts examining what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.Nobody agrees on much these days. Dolly was the exception. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.