The Argument

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Complaints to @JerusalemDemsas

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

Liberalism deserves better.

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

Maybe the answer was Harry Potter 3 all along.

This week’s peer review looks at a study finding that violent crime dropped when big “violent” movies came out — because young men were busy watching them instead. Watch the full episode: https://t.co/07tpHyuSKB

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

Did TikTok cause the “vibecession”?

Lakshya Jain analyzed more than 15,000 survey responses and found no evidence that social media users were more economically pessimistic than anyone else.

Americans weren’t upset about the economy because of bad vibes online, he argues. They were upset because inflation and rising costs materially changed their lives.

Read more: https://t.co/nav64ySYJp

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

When people talk about the "Ferguson effect," what are they actually talking about?

In the latest episode, @mattyglesias and @JerusalemDemsas debate the argument that crime rises after major anti-police protests because officers pull back from policing, not because the protests themselves cause crime. Watch the full episode: https://t.co/c3ry5MiZ50

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

What if the biggest missing piece in the crime debate isn’t “more police” or “less police” but police union reform?

@JerusalemDemsas and @mattyglesias debate why collective bargaining rules may be central to both public safety and police accountability. Watch the latest episode of The Argument: https://t.co/jeBMbDGO8c

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

Are Waymos actually worse at detecting people of color?

@KelseyTuoc traced the claim back to a widely cited study — only to find that the study’s final published version no longer showed meaningful racial disparities at all.

Her argument isn’t that people have to like self-driving cars. It’s that debates about AI and automation should be grounded in accurate research, not outdated or misleading claims.

Read the full article: https://t.co/l4DVaYgi0h

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

.@JerusalemDemsas just wants to buy a cheap Chinese EV. @mattyglesias thinks it’s more complicated than that.

In this episode, they debate why Americans can’t buy some of the world’s most advanced electric cars and how tariffs, China policy, Detroit nostalgia, labor politics, and Elon Musk all got tangled up in the EV fight.

Watch the full episode: https://t.co/bgti4anXdF

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

No parent wants to be first. No parent wants to be last.

In our latest Peer Review section, @JerusalemDemsas and @mattyglesias talk phone bans, parenting norms, and why schools become the place where families try to make collective decisions about screens. Take a look at the full episode: https://t.co/bgti4anXdF

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

A wealthy Massachusetts town went viral after one resident asked the question many housing advocates have been thinking for years:

“Are we kind of being pricks?”

@jerusalemdemsas uses Marblehead’s fight over multifamily housing to make a bigger argument: Local governments are structurally bad at solving housing shortages because existing residents are often incentivized to block new neighbors.

The result is a system where towns can technically comply with housing laws while making sure very little actually gets built.

Read more: https://t.co/rrSGsEwXZ0

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

The U.S. says it wants more EVs.

So why can’t Americans buy some of the cheapest, most advanced ones?

@JerusalemDemsas and @mattyglesias get into Chinese EVs, tariffs, and the politics of “protecting” American car companies. Watch the full episode: https://t.co/Mybf7p4ocV

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

The story we keep hearing: Women are thriving in the modern economy.

The reality in The Argument’s polling: Women are more likely than men to say their income isn’t keeping up, they couldn’t cover a $1,000 medical emergency without borrowing, and they’re worried about retirement.

Maibritt Henkel writes that this gap isn’t just “vibes.” It reflects the economy women are actually living in: low-wage caregiving work, weaker benefits, high child care costs, and the daily pressure of making household budgets stretch.

So, why do women feel so broke?

Because, for a lot of women, the economy still is not working. Read more: https://t.co/8jZ1vDcAof

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

.@JerusalemDemsas and @mattyglesias dig into why BYD’s edge over Tesla isn’t just “China subsidizes EVs.”

It’s batteries, vertical integration, and decades of manufacturing know-how.

The real question is can the U.S. actually build that kind of capacity, or are we already 30 years behind? Take a look at the latest episode: https://t.co/bgti4anXdF

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

The blocked JetBlue merger was supposed to preserve Spirit as the ultra-low-cost airline keeping fares down.

Instead, Spirit started moving away from the ultra-budget model entirely, adding premium seating and trying to compete more like a traditional carrier.

So the bigger question becomes: If Spirit itself no longer believed the ultra-cheap model was sustainable, what exactly were regulators trying to save?

Watch the full episode: https://t.co/792Kp5SNAO

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

AI skepticism is warranted, but not all skepticism is useful.

In this piece, @KelseyTuoc argues that the strongest case against AI isn’t “nothing here is real,” it’s that even though AI may have real economic value, it can still carry serious financial, social, and infrastructure risks.

Models have improved, costs have fallen, adoption has grown, and people are paying for tools they find useful.

None of that means AI companies are safe investments — or that the hype is justified. But it means the critique has to keep up with reality.

Read the full piece: https://t.co/lnOqzMbYPv

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

Flying used to be glamorous. It was also wildly inaccessible.

We’ve all seen those nostalgic photos of 1960s air travel: bigger seats, better service, roast turkey on a platter. But those photos leave out one pretty important detail: Fares cost roughly what business class costs today, in a country where people had less money.

That’s the trade-off at the heart of the airline debate: cheaper, worse flights mean a lot more people get to fly.

Is that a better system? Take a look at the latest episode of The Argument out now: https://t.co/pDoCQMpfId

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

Trump is unpopular. But that doesn’t mean voters are automatically ready to hand Democrats the keys.

Here’s one central problem for Democrats: Trump’s approval is cratering, but Republican vote share is not collapsing at the same rate.

One reason? Crime.

Even among some voters who disapprove of Trump, Democrats still face a trust gap on public safety and criminal justice. And if the party is still mismatched with voters on issues like crime, immigration, and disorder, anti-Trump sentiment may only take them so far.

Read the full piece: https://t.co/pMEjeRXtfM

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

What does Spirit Airlines’ collapse reveal about the bigger fight over competition, deregulation, and antitrust?

In this clip, @mattyglesias literally puts on the tinfoil hat and argues that the debate over airline deregulation is a “tell” for a much larger ideological divide: whether policymakers should use antitrust to make markets more competitive — or use the language of competition to justify bringing back older, more heavily regulated economic frameworks.

Watch to the full episode of The Argument: https://t.co/pDoCQMpfId

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

Reading Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique today means running into some truly unhinged arguments.

In this clip, @JerusalemDemsas and @mattyglesias get into one of the book’s stranger claims — that the alleged “softness” of Korean War POWs could somehow be blamed on being raised by housewives.

Listen to the full episode of The Argument: https://t.co/TMPtgXSTHv

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

It’s obvious that banning new restaurants or making food truck permits wildly expensive would mean fewer options and higher prices.

So why do we pretend housing is different?

Milan Singh breaks down the “anti-market delusion” behind the housing crisis: Local governments restrict what can be built, make construction harder, and then voters blame landlords and developers when prices rise.

But the evidence is clear: When cities let people build more housing, supply goes up and prices come down.

Read the full piece: https://t.co/U86h3kXQHo

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

TONIGHT: The Argument Debates "Can AI Cure Cancer?" with Jerusalem Demsas and Kelsey Piper!

https://t.co/foYGT1vUrs

[The Argument @TheArgumentMag]

Can AI cure cancer — or are we in the middle of a very expensive illusion?

On May 13, @JerusalemDemsas and @KelseyTuoc go head-to-head in San Francisco.

Join us! https://t.co/MqPwJILH7U