Talks on polarization: Media appearances by me, Zach Elwood, in 2025 and 2026

I’m Zach Elwood, and I’ve been talking about and writing about toxic political polarization for about seven years now (e.g., learn about my books). I haven’t updated the media page on my book site for a while, so I figured I’d list some of the podcast and other media appearances I’ve done here:

• Polarization makes us dumb. For The Coddling Movie, I talked to Ryan Self, sharing my views on toxic polarization, and why I see it as humanity’s biggest problem.

• The what, why, and how of polarization. I talked with Nick Hagen of Never Close the Inquiry. An interesting fact about Nick: he stepped away from his legal career to focus on reducing polarization—so you should give him a follow for that alone! We talk about how the point of depolarization isn’t to argue less; it’s to argue better. And we talk about practical tips for those who want to help with this work.

• A talk with a radical independent. I talked with Chris Jerome of The Radical Independent. We discuss the self-reinforcing contempt/animosity cycle of polarization, the underlying emotional forces at work, the growing number of political independents, and more.

• A talk with a pro-Trump and anti-Trump person. I talked to the Asynchrony Podcast, which is hosted by Kevin Shively and Dean A Bagley, two friends with majorly different political views. We talk about my views on polarization, how their approach with their show ties in to my philosophy, and many other things.

• An attempt to derate the hate. I was on the show Derate the Hate | Wilk Wilkinson. Wilk is a key figure with the bridge-building organization Braver Angels. We talk about the role of confirmation bias in shutting down dialogue and amplifing contempt, why I view excessive contempt as our primary problem, and more.

• Thoughts on how we fix it. I talked to Richard Davies for his show How Do We Fix It? We talk about my journey from anti-Trump online ranter to seeing toxic polarization as the underlying cause of our societal contempt and dysfunction. Richard asks me why I wrote a book aimed specifically at liberals/Democrats.

• Liberal Patriot pieces. If you missed it, I’d written a couple pieces for the now-closed-up outlet The Liberal Patriot. Here’s one about how both sides can be right about the nature of the conflict, in various ways, even as many people filter for evidence that the problem is all their fault. Here’s one about how both “sides” can build narratives that it’s the “other side” that is more (or just as) undemocratic.

For more media appearances, see my polarization book site.