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There’s a rising trend in politics and media: the high-profile “conversation” across ideological lines. The idea—on its face—is a good one. In fact, it’s been my personal mission for the past 7-8 years. Sit down with anyone. Try to understand one another, so that you don’t see each other as enemies. Back when I was a divisive political asshole, I did view my political opponents as my enemies. So now I feel compelled to help heal the divide that I helped to create. And that only comes through conversation.
I believe dialogue is essential in a polarized society. But here’s the nuance that often gets lost in translation—especially lately: not every conversation is in good faith. And when it isn’t, it’s not just pandering for views; it serves no useful purpose, and it’s outright dangerous.
Take California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent decision to sit down with Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk. Or Bill Maher having dinner with Donald Trump. These moments were presented as brave acts of crossing the aisle. Bullshit. Let’s be crystal clear—they weren’t tough, uncomfortable confrontations with people holding fringey or provocative views. They were photo ops. Theater. And they were actively harmful to the social contract.
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When I say I’ll sit down with anyone, I mean it. But with someone like Bannon or Trump, there’s a huge caveat: it must be a conversation of good faith, and it must start with a reckoning around basic truths. The Earth is round. The 2020 election wasn’t stolen. Putin invaded Ukraine. Facts are facts. Without shared facts, a conversation becomes a performance—not a pursuit of understanding. I’d never sit across from them, smile for the camera, and call it bipartisanship. We’d have to begin by reckoning with reality, or we wouldn’t be moving forward at all.
That’s what makes Newsom’s move so infuriating. Bannon isn’t some curious, misinformed voter. He’s a calculated operator who traffics in conspiracy and disinformation. Sitting down with him without publicly, directly challenging the falsehoods he spreads only serves to sanitize those views. It validates them as one side of a reasonable debate. And that is a serious problem.
The same goes for Maher’s dinner with Trump. Was it a friendly attempt at bridge-building? Maybe. But Trump isn’t just a Republican with different views; he’s someone who has attempted—and is attempting—to undermine democracy itself. A casual meal with him, absent any public confrontation or reflection, isn’t about open dialogue. It’s about ratings. It’s about relevance. And that comes at a steep cost: the normalization of people of bad faith.
The social contract relies on shared truth. On mutual accountability. When we platform people who’ve repeatedly shown they are not operating in good faith, we aren’t promoting dialogue—we’re watering down reality. We’re telling people, this is just how some folks think, rather than saying, this is wrong, and here’s why.
So yes, I’ll sit down with people I disagree with. I do this all the time. I welcome those conversations. But the point is not civility for civility’s sake. The point is challenge, growth, and clarity. Anything less is not a conversation—it’s complicity.
We have to be honest about what we’re doing when we put a mic in front of someone who’s lied, manipulated, or incited harm. Are we pushing toward understanding—or just trying to get more clicks?
It’s a distinction that matters. A lot.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC:
Opinion | Larry David: My Dinner With Adolf [ [link removed] ] —The New York Times
Trump’s Latest Poor Polling Should Make Gavin Newsom Think Twice [ [link removed] ] —MSNBC
Gavin Newsom Under Fire for Calling Deported Man’s Case a ‘Distraction’ [ [link removed] ] —The Sacramento Bee
The Republic Hinges on This Case [ [link removed] ] —Notes from the Circus
EXCLUSIVE: Newsom on Democrats: ‘I Don’t Know What the Party Is’ [ [link removed] ] —The Hill
Newsom Defends New MAGA Friends After Dem Attacks [ [link removed] ] —The Daily Beast
What’s Your Take?
Some Americans are making every excuse under the sun to defend the Kilmar Abrego Garcia deportation to an El Salvador prison. What if Donald Trump escalates to deporting U.S. citizens solely for speech? For example, what if he disappeared a well-known commentator or activist, who was born in this country or is a naturalized citizen, for publicly speaking out against him?
SUBSTACK LIVE — NEW SCHEDULE! We launched a whole new schedule this week! Open to all subscribers. Don’t miss it!
Monday, 8pm ET [ [link removed] ] (click if you missed it)
Tuesday, 4pm ET [ [link removed] ] (with Jeff Pearlman, click if you missed it)
Thursday, 8pm ET [ [link removed] ] (with Cliff Schecter, click if you missed it)
Friday, 1pm ET
ENGAGE WITH US! Want to host a conversation with Joe in your town? Want to send us a 600-word op-ed or a video clip? Want to appear with Joe on Substack Live? Got another idea to share with us? Send it our way [ [link removed] ]! And please consider upgrading to a paid subscription [ [link removed] ] to support our work. Thank you!
Writing prompt this week: What’s your biggest fear for America? Email me [ mailto:[email protected] ] and let me know. I read everything.
Amid all the bad [ [link removed] ], awful [ [link removed] ], dumb [ [link removed] ], stupid [ [link removed] ], embarrassing [ [link removed] ], demoralizing [ [link removed] ], infuriating [ [link removed] ], outrageous [ [link removed] ], terrible [ [link removed] ], horrible [ [link removed] ], Constitution-defying [ [link removed] ] news of the past few days, we have to acknowledge the heroes among us…
BILL OWENS. The longtime chief of ‘60 Minutes,’ Bill Owens [ [link removed] ] resigned this week rather than compromise his independence or his journalistic integrity. The program faced mounting pressure in recent months from Donald Trump, who sued CBS for $10 billion, accusing the show of “unlawful and illegal behavior.” As Jake Tapper [ [link removed] ] reported on CNN: “One 60 Minutes source tells me, 'The lawsuit was baseless. Bill Owens wouldn't apologize. He wouldn't bend. He fought for the broadcast and for independent journalism and that cost him his job. It's shameful.’” The reaction of the CBS Evening News [ [link removed] ] anchors to the resignation says it all.
DEMOCRATIC DELEGATION. Four House Democrats [ [link removed] ] traveled to El Salvador this week in a second bid to secure the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Reps. Yassamin Ansari, Maxine Dexter, Maxwell Frost, and Robert Garcia, like Sen. Chris Van Hollen before them, left empty-handed. “We’re disappearing people,” Dexter said. “I’m here to vouch for every American citizen’s right, as well as anyone within our borders right, to due process.”
THE JUDICIARY. The courts are continuing to carry the checks-and-balances load, with a number of decisions against the administration this week. U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher [ [link removed] ], appointed by Trump, ordered the Trump Administration to facilitate the return of a Venezuelan man who was deported to El Salvador last month, saying his deportation violated a prior court settlement. Senior District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly [ [link removed] ] halted parts of a Trump order that requires voters to prove citizenship when registering to vote. And three federal judges [ [link removed] ] issued separate rulings on Thursday pausing his ability to withhold funds from schools with diversity and equity initiatives.
UKRAINE. As Russia launches its deadliest strikes on Kyiv in months, and Trump begs Vladimir Putin to STOP [ [link removed] ] in humiliating fashion, Ukrainian President Zelensky [ [link removed] ] and the Ukrainians hang tough. Slava Ukraini!
NINA JANKOWICZ. The Russian disinformation expert [ [link removed] ] spoke to the European Parliament this week and said: “Neither Washington nor the social media platforms it has captured are interested in preserving democracy. They are interested in preserving their power and hoarding profits.” That took some guts.
HONORABLE MENTION. No Republican who supports Donald Trump is a hero. Period. But Rep. Don Bacon [ [link removed] ] has been more critical of the administration than most. This week, he called for the firing of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whom he called “an amateur person.”
Did we miss anyone? Send your heroes our way [ mailto:[email protected] ]!
Good Reads for This Week…
The Project 2025 Presidency [ [link removed] ] —The Atlantic
It's Time for the Supreme Court to Step Up [ [link removed] ] –The Banter
The Deportation of Dissent [ [link removed] ] —The Bedrock Principle
Is America a Kleptocracy? [ [link removed] ] —Foreign Policy
A Ticking Clock on American Freedom [ [link removed] ] —The Atlantic
What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal [ [link removed] ] —The New York Times
The Quiet Deprogramming of Trumpers Has Begun [ [link removed] ] —Ossiana Tepfenhart
The Trump-Russia Timeline [ [link removed] ] —Craig Unger
Healing a Broken World, Pope Francis and His Saintly Namesake [ [link removed] ] —The Great Transformation with Mike Madrid
WATCH: Pastor Corey Brooks: Karmelo Anthony, Austin Metcalf and race in America [ [link removed] ] —Fox News
So what can you do?
GET YOUR #NOKINGS MERCH! If you’re going to protest, you might as well have the right gear. Click here [ [link removed] ] for our new online store!
Did you catch Walsh Wednesday, my weekly meetup with Michael Cohen? If you missed it, here it is:
HEY, LOUDOUN COUNTY! Join me for this event next month, if you can!
THIS WEEK’S QUOTES…
Donald Trump Said the Price of Eggs Had Fallen So Much They Were Basically Giving Them Away and Got Fact Checked Til He Farted [ [link removed] ] —The Poke
‘Two Beautiful Poles’: President Trump Turns the White House into a Joke [ [link removed] ] —Salon.com
Donald Trump's Message to Vladimir Putin Is Now a Meme [ [link removed] ] —BuzzFeed
Trump Branded ‘Super-Dangerous’ ‘Idiot’ in New Channel 4 Documentary [ [link removed] ] —Express
Here’s what some of you are thinking about this week…
Hi Joe,
I am more of a centrist on all things politically. Like you, I see things really tanking in our country.
My comment is simple and one I would like you to address. Could a reason Democrats are quiet regarding MAGA and Trumpism, is that they have spoken the truth to the American people, and it didn't work? The Jan. 6 hearings, the 2024 election, countless decent people with daily warnings through social media, etc. None of it worked. So, they now chose to be relatively quiet (with the exceptions of AOC, Bernie Sanders, Adam Schiff, etc.) because the truth was not heard. Therefore, they (Democrats) are waiting for these policies of disaster to reach the American people's front door and kitchen table. Sadly, experiencing that pain in the first person will probably wake up even the strongest MAGAs.
Thank you for all you do. —Spike Nard
Dear Editor,
I read and follow Joe Walsh's Social Contract posts and appreciate his call for feedback and comments.
I have two:
It strikes me that perhaps laughter is the best antidote to this madness. Many folks have mentioned the fable of "The Emperor Has New Clothes," but so far no one has gone so far as to respond to DT's lunacy with outright laughter. This evening, after reading some news about one more outrage, I began to laugh. Belly laughter.
This is all too much. A female commander in the military has been fired for "incorrectly displaying photos of Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth" in her office. This can't be serious: She didn't display these photos in the MAGA-politiko-correct position, with faces in frontal position, eyes following you everywhere? Apparently, she positioned the faces on the wall, not by the door for all to see. I wonder, was she intentionally rebelling against a law that said "you must put them this way, or else?" Or is it now an instinctive reflex, like a "Heil Hitler"? This is so outrageously pompous, it's impossible to read something like this without laughing out loud.
Along these lines, I hope you will urge your followers to read and watch classic anti-fascist media. Two suggestions: "That Hideous Strength," by C.S. Lewis, published just after WWII. "It can't happen here?" is the theme. It happened, and it happened right under their noses.
A great film is "The Man I Married," a 1940s anti-fascist propaganda film about an American who gets stuck in Germany just as Hitler is taking over. So absolutely spot-on to what is happening here in the USA. We can't miss the similarities.
Thanks for the opportunity to share. —Connie Foss
Hey, I want to hear from you!
What do you think of The Social Contract with Joe Walsh [ [link removed] ]? What are your thoughts about what’s happening this week? How can we fix the political mess we’ve created in our country? How do we mend our frayed social fabric and rebuild an America that works?
Tell us your story and share your ideas with us. Email our editor at [email protected] [ mailto:[email protected] ]. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Social Contract with Joe Walsh is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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