Nate Silver on why the center-left is losing

Nate Silver thinks the center-left might be right about a lot of policy questions, but they're still losing the political argument. He joins Jerusalem Demsas, Matt Yglesias, and special guest Jeremiah Johnson (staff writer at The Argument and host of the New Liberal Podcast) to dive into his recent article, "12 questions for the center-left." They get into whether liberalism and centrism are actually the same thing, why liberals need to be more vocal about their accomplishments, and whether many "anti-establishment" politicians like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders are actually part of the establishment.

Plus a peer review of a new paper on AI-assisted decision-making in child protective services and what it reveals about human and algorithmic bias.

(00:00) Nate Silver's questions for the center-left
(03:48) Vibe check for the center-left
(07:44) Liberalism vs. centrism: not the same thing
(09:48) Zohran Mamdani and sewer socialism
(19:45) Answering Hasan Piker: do centrists believe in anything?
(24:52) Why the Democratic establishment won't get overthrown
(46:31) Why the center-left won't get angry
(50:36) What happened to the center-right?
(57:29) Is the DSA a threat to liberalism?
(59:57) California, LA, and the failure of one-party rule
(01:08:04) Peer review: Can AI make CPS decisions less biased?

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The Argument is produced by Justin Zuckerman, fact-checked by Eli Richman, with music by Breakmaster Cylinder and art by Ben Tousley.