Derek Thompson
Derek Thompson
About the show
Longtime Atlantic tech, culture, and political writer Derek Thompson cuts through all the noise surrounding the big questions and headlines that matter to you in his podcast Plain English. Hear Derek and guests engage the news with clear viewpoints and memorable takeaways. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday, and if you’ve got a topic you want discussed, shoot us an email at plainenglish@spotify.com.
Hosts
Spotlight
Episode Breakdown
This episode’s guest is Molson Hart. He’s run a manufacturing business in the U.S. for the past 15 years. His company, Viahart, manufactures consumer products in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam and sells them both in stores and online—mostly in the U.S. His biggest vertical is toys, including Brain Flakes, which are molded plastic disks that kids and adults can snap together to build things.
This is not a bleeding-heart lefty. Quite the opposite: This is a guy who is rooting for the Trump agenda to succeed. This is a guy who told me in our interview that he wants to believe that the Trump team has its heart in the right place when it comes to bringing back manufacturing in the long run. Yet he has called these tariffs not just a bad idea … but the worst economic policy in American history.
I spoke to him this week, and he was just incredibly compelling and thoughtful about the toy industry, why it’s so difficult to bring back American manufacturing quickly, and how these tariffs could do incredible damage to America’s small businesses.
Hosts
Hosts
Episode Breakdown
This episode’s guest is Molson Hart. He’s run a manufacturing business in the U.S. for the past 15 years. His company, Viahart, manufactures consumer products in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam and sells them both in stores and online—mostly in the U.S. His biggest vertical is toys, including Brain Flakes, which are molded plastic disks that kids and adults can snap together to build things.
This is not a bleeding-heart lefty. Quite the opposite: This is a guy who is rooting for the Trump agenda to succeed. This is a guy who told me in our interview that he wants to believe that the Trump team has its heart in the right place when it comes to bringing back manufacturing in the long run. Yet he has called these tariffs not just a bad idea … but the worst economic policy in American history.
I spoke to him this week, and he was just incredibly compelling and thoughtful about the toy industry, why it’s so difficult to bring back American manufacturing quickly, and how these tariffs could do incredible damage to America’s small businesses.
The Latest Catch Every Episode
Abundance
By Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein • March 18
‘Abundance’ is Plain English host Derek Thompson and New York Times journalist Ezra Klein’s call to renew a politics of plenty, face up to the failures of liberal governance, and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life.More info
Trump’s Trade War Explained
Spotlight
Episode Breakdown
Generation Z, which was born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, has a unique economic, political, and cultural identity. In the 2024 election, Gen Z shifted strongly to the right. They are less likely than any previous generation to expect they’ll achieve the American dream. Most of Gen Z graduated into a pandemic economy or entered high school during the school shutdown years. They have record-high rates of anxiety. They use their phone … a lot.
Defined by the forces of scarcity, phone-driven media, and global crisis, they are different. And their differences will drive the future of U.S. economics, politics, and culture.
Hosts
Hosts
Episode Breakdown
Generation Z, which was born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, has a unique economic, political, and cultural identity. In the 2024 election, Gen Z shifted strongly to the right. They are less likely than any previous generation to expect they’ll achieve the American dream. Most of Gen Z graduated into a pandemic economy or entered high school during the school shutdown years. They have record-high rates of anxiety. They use their phone … a lot.
Defined by the forces of scarcity, phone-driven media, and global crisis, they are different. And their differences will drive the future of U.S. economics, politics, and culture.
Plain History The Full Series
