The American Mind

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The American Mind Podcast uncovers the ideas and principles that drive American political life. In each episode, we engage Claremont Institute scholars, co-conspirators, and critics in thought-provoking discussions about the real causes of our current political and cultural reality. We explore these ideas with an eye towards restoring American civic health.The Roundtable is a weekly show, hosted by our editors and publisher with a unique blend of joviality and intellectually stimulating conversation, boosted by an occasional glass of whisky. Each episode focuses on a handful of topics that carry significant weight in the debate of ideas for the best path of American life, both privately and civically. Of course, we do reserve some time for fun in each show. Occasionally, we produce special podcast features on individual topics with commentary from the top thinkers in America today. Think of American Mind Podcast specials as succinct audio-documentaries.Tell us what you think! Subscribe to our channel, rate us, leave a review, and help spread the word to your friends and colleagues! Interested in hearing from us on a particular topic? Email your suggestions to americanmind@claremont.org. And visit our website, americanmind.org, for essays, editorials, debates, and more.The American Mind, The Roundtable, and our specials are productions of the Claremont Institute. The mission of the Claremont Institute is the recovery of the American idea—the timeless principles that have made America great since its founding.

Recent Episodes

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Recent Reviews

ballpeen brain

What a galactic disappointment…

New music to podcast is quite the ‘galactic’ letdown. Sounds like a piece that should be in a Sci-Fi movie. I truly miss the iconic theme you had. 😞 Suggestion? Play your original iconic piece to open the show and perhaps play the new theme when signing off? 🤷🏻‍♂️ You had an excellent iconic piece! Absolutely consider bringing it back. 🙂
MJF 46

Recess is over Nov 21

Great show Great guest Thanks
78magnum

Very Interesting

Enjoy listening to an adult podcast. My go to podcast. Thank you.
CaisonB

Appreciative

Incredibly appreciative for these wordsmiths. They always give well founded and balanced reviews of the latest current events in politics.
Autimontseratti

Thank you.

So grateful for your thoughtful heart informed perspective. You bring a necessary voice to the collective perspective.
333710

Episode 220 college commencement speech

Update on Butker’s speech at Norbertine College: NFL quickly divorced itself from Butker’s address and reaffirmed its commitment to DEI ideology. I lost interest in the NFL’s product 2 decades ago - 17 minutes of predictable football tucked into 2&1/2 hours of mindless advertising and phony hype. Loosing the BSA is a true loss to our culture & society and reflective of the moral failure of our country’s leadership and misguided direction. Society will survive quite well loosing the NFL and its false gods
CAH2

Refreshing!

How refreshing to find clear and intelligent adult conversation.
cactuson2848

Klavan is too wordy

OMG this guy doesn’t stop talking. Needs to speak less.
wewwweewwwww

God save the US

I’m praying that this podcast reaches more and more listeners because it proves that scholarly erudition focused largely on politics is attainable and utterly necessary to critique/combat the madness engulfing our Nation. Long Beach, IN
Israeli Maniac

Do Better

very low recording quality. get a producer in the mix for God’s sake. like listening to children whispering under a blanket across the room. be for real
Sargesatt

I Love It!

I love the format, with different people providing their takes on today’s issues, while maintaining a big picture perspective. It not necessary for me to believe, or agree with, everything I hear, but I do appreciate having my ideas challenged. It’s like we’re in a cigar bar, discussing these issues. Keep it up!
jk76705

Seth Barron is amazing

Seth is great and I love his New Yorker voice and his takes on the issues. I wouldn’t quite put his tone as cranky; more of a very direct, honest approach. Only criticism is James Poulos. An important voice, to be sure, and I agree with him that conservatives need to master tech and not shoo it away, seeking refuge in wood-paneled studies reading the Great Books a la Roger Scruton. However, his rants are too long and exhausting. When he starts speaking it’s such a disheartening feeling because I know he’s about to take up the next 10-15 minutes of a 60 minute show. So James, you’re an important voice but maybe try to keep it at 5 minutes from now on.
old lady geologist

Inspired by Listening to people talk

This is the one podcast I look forward to most eagerly each week. Why would I want to listen to this group of young men talk casually about the events of the day and the way our culture is flying off of the cliff? While the topics often leave me with a sense of vertigo, they give a different twist, they laugh, if darkly, and after each podcast, I am inspired to write an essay, or do something more than what I am currently doing. It’s rare to get a combination of intellectual stimulation and inquiring minds matched with common sense and broad base of knowledge having conversations like this. I want to thank every single one of these “Claremonsters”. I have become a subscriber to the Claremont Review of Books which I enjoy immensely. Thank you so much and please keep doing this. You’re helping people like me keep our sanity. One criticism: you’re done too soon.
Gunzobuns

Refreshing

Always enjoy the banter between Spencer, Seth and anyone else joining the conversation.
Janice Fahy

Every time I listen to someone talk about

‘Baby killing’ and/or ‘Satan’ when he/she/it discusses therapeutic abortion, I register another one of my sons’ 20-year-old Georgia friends to vote and put their name on my list to get to each and every future election. Civil rights LARPing is keeping me busy!
beau the fnaf fan

Soft Talker

When Ryan starts speaking up, I’ll give the podcast 5 stars.
aloysha k

Great show

I learn something new in every episode. The guys and guests have energized and encouraged me.
vw10

Too bad I can’t tell who’s speaking.

Great podcast but other then Spencer and Ryan, I can’t tell who’s talking. No one uses each others names. It’s irritating.
Lairdnolen

Bunch of Buffoons

Not worth your time.
GenXRocks

I love this podcast.

I am so glad that I happened on this podcast in my feed from Ricochet. It is so engaging and thoughtful. I look forward to it each and every week. I just love it. Thank you!
efwHunter

Oh the humanity

I thoroughly enjoy this podcast for the “human” theme. The contemporary issues are discussed and dissected with the constant question of “what does this say about so-and-sos view of humanity?” Or “how would this policy encourage/discourage a more humane way of life?” These are questions we need to hear yet it’s a level at which contemporary politics avoids even amongst so-called Conservatives. Great stuff guys keep it up!
Liberalain't

Strange Tangents

I am a moderate who enjoys listening to conservative takes on the news without having to endure Fox News. I like Seth’s takes. Ryan’s too generally, but he spends about 30% of his time off on a tangent where I genuinely am not even sure what it is he is talking about. Also, I think they spend more time critiquing both parties than really clarifying what it is they actually want to see done. It would be helpful somewhere for them to clarify how they differ from establishment Republicans.
Player 459

An excellent podcast marred by its own host

I'd give this show a five-star review, as it's some of the best right-wing commentary you'll find anywhere on the market. However, it's host, Spencer Klavan, makes this show hard to listen to at times. He ends every show by demanding five-star reviews - since when does a conservative feel entitled to perfect reviews? It's a bad look. Then the insistence that we "keep our criticisms to ourselves." Well, thankfully, we have the freedom to say "no" to such a ridiculous demand. Finally, there's that faux accent that Klavan breaks out into from time to time. He'll pronounce a word normally, only to suddenly pronounce it the way a Brit or Canadian would. It's bizarre. Otherwise, great show, in spite of its entitled host.
Miasarx

Plea to James

Dear James, I very much want to read Human Forever but I’m 72 and damned if I’m going to figure out digital currency. Please make at least some copies available to us boomers. Cash? A check?
StanimalnSons

New Follower (Thanks to Jocko)

I don’t typically write reviews but to help this podcast gain the traction it deserves, I’ll partake. I heard of this podcast via Jocko’s podcast and must say, that not only the host but the guest have won me over. I have a lot of catching up to do as well as look forward to future casts once I’m all caught up. Keep up the great work.
slowmileage

Appointment Podcast

I look forward to Friday to have the fellas accompany me on my long run with their insights, hope and wicked sense of humor. Seth Baron! We, the New Yorkers of the fanbase, appreciate you! Nice solo work on 08/18 🙌🏻
Matt 5237

Great thank you

Outstanding discussion with fresh ideas and thoughts. So rare now a days. But tell James to stop talking about the Metaverse so much. Thanks.
@Brahmski

Absolutely Right

The most spot-on political analyis in podcasting today. Claremont does itself proud. Read CRB, listen to The Roundtable, repeat. The future of the American mind is rooted in its past and present in every episode. The Ghost of Harry Jaffa is smiling. Brilliant!
BlowTheRoofOffTheDoor

Spencer Klavan has the best podcasts

This is a great podcast. It’s too bad they have to shut it down now that they’ve agreed with Bette Midler on something. …All kidding aside (hopefully I didn’t really just listen to the last episode), Klavan podcasts are all wonderful. Listen to this, Young Heretics, and Andrew Klavan (Spencer’s father, no relation). They’re all weekly, and hosted by well-read, funny, intelligent, good men.
dylanator247

whole lotta cope

Sure, these guys can identify the problem with society, politics, and culture today, but they lack solutions, so all you hear is a lot of venting, whining, coping, and weird rants about cyborgs taking over the world.
C0rnerst0ne

American Mind: Roundtable

God works in the peripheries of life, those smaller, intimate, and unassuming moments. He IS not loud. He IS Humility itself. This podcast and group is one one of those moments and circumstances. It is wise, quiet, and humble. God wants His World and Family back. This very much includes the political arena. What God is doing through The Claremont Institute and The American Mind: Roundtable podcast is laying the groundwork for a spiritual renewal, and the development of a theological political framework that will combat the anti-God, anti-Human demonic forces currently running amok in our nation. Now is not the time to be afraid. You all were conceived at this moment in our nation’s history for the important work of renewal and revival. Souls are at stake. Keep fighting humbly and fervently. You were born for this. In Christ, Andrew Duncan P.S. I recommend the development of a different and new political party (that starts in local communities, and not on the national stage) that speaks to and fights for our founding principles and documents.
Mlcrussell

American Excellence

Very engaging content, always pushing me to think on commonly shared challenges in a whole new perspective. Minds coming together to contemplate this mess of a place. Enjoy your content tremendously !
Damian_J

An unusually necessary podcast

The American Mind is the best, least passive voice of American conservatism. Conservatism always tended towards a kind of passivism, but if a culture war is going to be fought, it can’t be fought passively. The ideology of the Left is not passive. It’s tyrannically aggressive. It’s unending overreach won’t be curtailed and stopped by non-ideological neutrality. Even Irving Kristol came to the realization that only an ideology can counter an ideology. Utopian libertarians and pompous classical liberals won’t cut it. The American Mind publication and podcast are unusually necessary in our times.
DJB Wells

Perspective/questions of a man

For men offering strong feelings about this decision (SCOTUS leaked opinion)- does it feel odd to have strong positions on laws or consequential laws that impact women and their rights to make decisions about their bodies? Especially since men are often not held accountable for abandoned offspring. Wards of the state and welfare are obvious economic burdens - but that’s one situation with certain assumptions made. This seems like a broad topic that impacts a concentrated group of women that doesn’t address issues that are equally impactful to the country as a whole.
NC_Army

Fresh take on classic thought

Everyone young adult should put this podcast into their weekly listen.
Looking4IntelligentThoughts

Not going to learn much here

I enjoy listening to intelligent viewpoints from the left and right to get a rounded view of a topic. If you agree, this is not the podcast for you. They spent most of the time insulting the other side instead of discussing the merits of their viewpoint. I gave up when I heard they weren’t sure if the other side was “just stupid or evil”.
rednekk

Ignore them at your peril

great resource to understand what dangerous reactionaries and neo-fascists are thinking and planning. these guys just come right out and say it! truly insane stuff.
The other Ted

Boring and uneventful

Two young men talk about right wing issues without any insights or rhetorical skill. The tone of the speaker is dull as though even he isn’t interested in the “institution”. But knowing John Eastman started this joint explains a lot. Hopefully they will let him record episodes from prison.
PSAbq

CRB

West coast straussians have gone completely off the rails and it cracks me up.
Nord du Nord

Grifting rich kids

I have tried to like this podcast as I sympathize with the beliefs and desired outcomes. But, I don’t understand what has happened. All these commentators are my age, but virtually none have held real jobs, they must be children of wealth, they try to grift their projects and NFTs and they are frequently unhinged. The Claremont Institute has been destroyed by either a bit crazy or grifting kids of rich people who apparently never worked many real jobs. It oftne sounds crazy.
CHSulli

Can’t thank you enough…

for restoring sanity in public discourse. You are saving my personal mental health.
n0tBetty

Clear thinking

Thank you thank you thank you! A podcast that features people who think clearly and can articulate the thoughts I’m trying to form.
REVIEWER 5739138

Love this podcast

Always a clear headed and compelling discussion of national and international news. Thanks never miss an episode and often listen as soon as its released
Stanolszews

Hannity and Shapiro Should Subscribe

An excellent realistic and thoughtful analysis on the state of American affairs. This level of in depth analysis should be the standard when it comes to providing normal people an assessment of American politics.
ghjiiygggy

Michael Anton

Big fan of the stakes. Weekly show is good too.
LyWeb

Episode 100 was great; however

I listened to several sections more than once. I was particularly struck by the comment that many feel that there shouldn’t be consequences for their actions. Nothing is off limits. Nothing is considered shameful. THAT is shameful. Thank you! I look forward to this podcast more than any other. The ‘however’? Speaking of shameful, care to comment on how Matthew Peterson and many others were taken in, perhaps even groomed, by Jack Murphy?
iamchipdouglas

Ryan MUST stop reading WALLS of text on every episode

American Mind is a terrific podcast; I especially enjoy Matt’s contributions and often James’ as well. However, whenever Ryan hosts, he spends literally half of the podcast reading chunks of articles in his trademark, chronic-fatigued monotone. It’s OK to quote the best line to inspire conversation, but Ryan’s insistence on reading entire New Yorker-length articles in that unrelenting bored/tired sigh in which he speaks makes an otherwise great pod borderline unlistenable.
gpajake

no quarter

This podcast continues to be top notch. Keep it up folks. One of a very few podcasts where I will rewind a section just to rehear a well made point. I suggest putting Claremont on your giving list. We should not let this one get away.
herewegoagain1944

Wash, rinse, repeat . . .

C.S. Lewis may have framed this podcast from a 30,000 foot view in his work “The Abolition of Man” 60 years ago.
thicks51

Excellent

Good depth and variety of topics. The conservative/libertarian views work for me as does the style of the hosts. My only gentle criticism is that Klavan can overdo the rhetoric from time-to-time. He gives the impression he is in love with the sound of his own voice. To be fair, it’s a good voice and he is quite often the most quotable host.