Jon Ward

Thank you to @aliciamenendezxo for having me on Sunday evening! Alicia was enthusiastic about the book from the first time I mentioned it, and I am grateful for the time to talk and promote Testimony! Link to full interview is here: /american-voices/watch/-a-lot-of-my-upbringing-was-framed-around-fear-the-evangelical-influence-on-gop-politics-171961925635

Loving God with your mind certainly doesn’t mean agreeing with me. But it should involve careful study of history, excavating the ways that our most dearly held beliefs and views have been shaped by deposits of culture and politics and other man-made forces. Balance faith and reason, the mighty and the mundane. We are not hatched ex nihilo, as @jameskasmithbr writes. @morningjoe @joescarborough @mikabrzezinski @williegeist @esglaude @mikebarnicle had me on for 15 minutes today to talk about the book. Thank you all! You can see the full segment here: /morning-joe/watch/an-insider-s-perspective-on-the-rise-of-the-christian-right-171501637576

@jonwardwrites joins @tom.lobianco on the Ground Game Pod to discuss Jimmy Carter's legacy and popular misconceptions of the former president who died yesterday at age 100. #breakingnews #jimmycarter

When the world shut down, I sat on my couch in shock. I felt paralyzed with worry and fear those first few days. In the middle of that darkness, Bruce Springsteen was a ray of light. He released the full concert footage of his 2009 show in London’s Hyde Park that first week of the shutdown. I had never seen Bruce live, but had heard tales of his legendary shows. When I watched that 2009 show, I was taken aback by his ferocity — he “hit[s] the strings of his Telecaster with the force most people use to drive nails” one music critic wrote — and the frenzy of the massive, massive crowd singing along to his songs. The vibrancy, the joy, the human connection of being in a giant throng singing along with one another, connected by music and memory — all of it seemed so, so far away. But I vowed then that when it was all over, some day, I’d see Bruce live. I remembered that moment suddenly Saturday night at Nats Park in D.C., standing amidst 40,000 souls and next to Ali, watching Bruce and the E Street Band rip through a 29-song, 3-hour set. The weather was perfect, the music was loud, the congregation was overjoyed to be there, and I was grateful to be among them.

It is the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I just finished watching the ceremony in France, where they honored WWII vets who still live, and those who never came home. It was incredibly moving. But we can’t just look back and grow emotional during inspiring video montages. We must think about how to avoid the paths of division that could send future young men and women to similar fates. We can honor those brave WWII vets further — now — by listening to those who are trying to help us remember how to resolve our differences peacefully, rather than through violence or force. Yuval Levin is one of those people. His new book, AMERICAN COVENANT, is a deeply intellectual, historical and practical guide to how we can guide American politics back to a more productive place. Our constitutional system, he says, was designed to give us “peace, but not quiet.” Unity means acting together especially when we don’t agree on many things, not thinking alike on everything. The question is, how do we do that? That’s the question Yuval’s book seeks to answer. The book can be pre-ordered now and will be available next week. My interview with Yuval is live today on the Border Stalkers Substack and through the Long Game podcast on all major podcast platforms. Check it out, and honor our sacred fallen by doing more than just rewatching Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. Link to the Substack and podcast are in my bio.

Why is American politics so messed up? Some would say it’s the other side’s fault. But there are larger forces at work that shape all of us and mold our actions and our points of view. One of those forces is the quality of our leaders. Another force is technology, and the way it shapes and changes communication. Our communication technologies shape us, the way we think and act. The story of the last century of American politics can be told through the lens of its people, or through the lens of our media, technology and communications. Today I interviewed the author of a book about the tectonic plates underneath all of this, and how these invisible structures, rules and systems have changed and changed us. It’s about how better understanding this substrata of our politics can help us shape a better future, to act together even if, and especially when, we don’t agree on many things. Yuval Levin’s book is “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation — And Could Again.” It’s his fifth book. This one will be read by the most influential people in American politics. If you want to understand how we can make our system better, you can read the book. If you need some translation of the book, or want to understand it better, read my Substack series this June at “Border Stalkers” about the book, which kicks off this week with our interview. Link in bio.

I didn’t get all my Yahoo photos and videos in. Post 2.

A decade at Yahoo News is ending today, and a new chapter is beginning that I’m really excited about. I’m looking back on the last 10 years at Yahoo with extreme gratefulness today. We built something incredibly special and unique over the past several years. I have been really lucky to do one of the best jobs in the world with some of the most decent and kind people I've ever met. I’ll have more to share soon about what’s next.

I’m very excited about the books I’m reading and writing about on Substack, for my Border Stalkers newsletter! In April I’m doing “Learning to Disagree” by @johninazu . Next month I’m going through “At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968” by Taylor Branch. And in June I’m reading and writing about Yuval Levin’s new book “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation―and Could Again.” Read/subscribe here: /

if you want more choices you probably need a different set of of rules

@mikedcosper ’s new book is out today and you can buy it here: https://a.co/d/95YigxW Here’s what I wrote about Mikes book after reading it. “There are a lot of Christians―like Mike Cosper and like me―who have experienced a lot of grace in church, and who have also been deeply wounded in that same place. Through telling his own story, Cosper grapples deeply with the religious PTSD that is all too familiar to so many, and he describes how he has come through brokenness and despair. He’s not in a rush to fully heal. He’s still invested in a local church, but with a moderated emotional attachment. I think many Christians put too much hope in the idea of church and in their religious leaders. Cosper’s book shows why that’s a mistake, and it traces a path toward a more balanced approach.”