Gems from the Ezra Klein Show convo w historian @anneapplebaum

Very often the best way to fight this culture war or populism is not even to deal with it. In other words, don’t take it on. Don’t fight the culture war at all. 1/3

Instead, do real stuff- Fix the roads, work on healthcare, focus on real things that people can see. 2/3

If you can get the convo back to stuff that actually affects people & that they can see, then you have a better chance of -1st of all- winning elections; this is 1 way to win against populists. But then also of calming this & ending this polarization once you can take power. 3/3