HoS: Saagar Enjeti

Saagar Enjeti is co-host of Breaking Points, one of America’s most popular news podcasts (Congrats to them on reaching 1 million subscribers on Youtube as an independent venture). He’s also a guy with strong opinions on why successful creators shouldn’t sell out. In this pod, we discussed his takes on the corporate sagas of Barstool and 538, plus we addressed the following question: Is Fox News or ESPN more doomed going forward?

Conversation in this episode includes, but is not limited to the following topics listed by the astute Sam Schuette:

1. Why Saagar is anti-selling out`

   1. The importance of standing for the content and the audience

2. Why Breaking Points is not the model

   1. Being nuanced and normal is the exception to the rule of mainstream media

   2. Getting to talk about what you want because you work for yourself

3. The Chris Matthews Interview that went bad

   1. The clash of old media vs new media

4. The potential, imminent crash of Fox News

   1. Their diminishing cultural power over the public 

   2. Why the era of incubating network stars (Carlson, Maddow) is over

   3. How does Fox survive without Carlson?

5. Monoculture old media vs new media

   1. There’s no more universal cultural reach among celebrities

   2. “Fame is dead”

6. The Internet’s influence seeping into politics

   1. Vivek Ramaswamy and Andrew Yang rising the ranks via the internet rather than through mainstream legacy

   2. How Ramaswamy went from virtually unknown to competing with the former Vice President

7. The downfall of New Yorker profiles

   1. The dysfunction Ronan Farrow’s Elon Musk profile accidentally reveals

8. Politics shifting toward lifestyles

   1. How it shifted away from personal beliefs towards aspirational class

9. How hate fuels political involvement

   1. Why the left loves talking about Trump and the right loves talking about wokeness

10. Richard Hanania controversy: How did his book survive?

    1. What factors shielded him from an unearthing that would have recently been a death knell for others?

    2. How it’s difficult for the media reaction to process Hanania’s fundamental weirdness

11. The shifts in fashion among the general public

    1. Is it narcissistic to dress casually and expect respect?

    2. When Ethan wore a suit with athletic shorts and sneakers for TV work