Keen on America: Andrew Reflects on 2025 & 2026
Happy New Year everyone! As the final show of 2025 and first for 2026, we turned the tables and had me interviewed by the formidable David Masciotra. As you will see, my reading of 2025 is more optimistic than many of my guests. And my sense about 2026 is that it will be a happier year for America than 2025 (which isn’t saying much). As I explain to David, I suspect the zeitgeist is shifting back to a cautious optimism about the American future. Despite all the doom-mongering, 2025 was actually an exciting year for movies, books, and music — the artistic world being at least as vibrant and diverse as it was twenty years ago. That said, I warn about the medieval wealth gap between rich and poor, Trump’s pride in willful cruelty to immigrants, and the increasingly chasmic divide between young and older Americans.
This is all speculative, of course. But what I can promise is that this show will remain a daily broadcast featuring America’s leading commentators. So stay tuned. I can guarantee that 2026 will be an exciting year for all KEEN ON AMERICA viewers, listeners and readers.
Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Nick Seabrook: How Gerrymandering Is Killing American Democracy
Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström: No, Sweden Isn't Perfect: On Racism, Xenophobia, and Not Even Feeding Your Own Guests
Jennifer Senior: How America's Rasputin, Steve Bannon, Is Simultaneously Clubbable and a Mortal Threat to the Republic
Ethan Lou: Is Today's Crypto Crash Terminal or Just Another Chapter in Its Inevitable Takeover of Our Financial System?
Christopher Leonard: How Today's Inflationary Crisis is Likely to Further Inflame Our Democratic Crisis
Simon Kuper: What Political Lessons Can We Learn From a Well-Run Football Club Like FC Barcelona?
Oliver Bullough: How Britain Became the Jeeves of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats, and Criminals
James Kirchick on the Hidden History of Gay Washington
Nabil Ayers: Why Writing an Autobiography Is More Like Recording an Album Than Making a Single
Rebekah Caruthers: How We Can Use the January 6th Insurrection to Create a More Perfect American Democracy
Gene Andrew Jarrett on Paul Laurence Dunbar, the Caged Bird That Sang
Nicole Eustace: What the Murder of an Indigenous American in 1722 Tells Us About the Dark Origins of the United States
Chloe Maxmin: Why the Democrats Need to Start Listening to Rural America