Unmuted's Political Pulse
Hi there! The Political Pulse is a newsletter on events across the spectrum and occasional thoughts on America.
Ed Manzi here - I run Unmuted, an offline hub for intelligent people to discuss the issues of our time without judgment. In our newsletter, I highlight one upcoming Unmuted event a week, and we also highlight a number of other organization events that I find interesting across the political spectrum. In addition, every month we will publish one piece of thoughtful, Founding Member content. We’re open to feedback, so let us know what you like and want to improve!
Interested in moderating a future Unmuted event? Apply here and we’ll be in touch.
Unmuted’s First Comedy Hour
Politics and comedy have been intertwined since time immemorial. In the last thirty years, we’ve had classics like the Doonesbury newspaper strip, Will Ferrell’s George W impression from SNL, the original Jon Stewart show, and Obama + Zach Galifianakis on Between Two Ferns. I may or may not be aging myself with some of those, oh well!
Like literally everything else, comedy on politics in the last decade has become politicized in its own right. From Dave Chappelle’s controversies, the recent Riyadh comedy show, and (my personal least favorite) comedians who sound more like political commentators than actually funny. Good Trump impressions are gold though (Alec Baldwin and Shane Gillis are close to the top for me).
So we’re trying something new out and we don’t know how it’ll go - but we’d love to see you there. A nonpartisan political comedy hour (we’ll reveal comedians next week) followed by intimate group discussions on what the role of comedy in politics, and if there should be any rules at all.
Tickets here (free for you and a +1 if you sign up for our new member offering - details below). Drinks included. Next Thursday, January 15. 6:30 - 9 PM
Comedians who punch up, down, and sideways.
Upcoming Unmuted Events
Wednesday, 1/14: An Unmuted Dinner: Justice for Who? The Law in America (link)
Thursday, 1/15: An Unmuted Special: Capitalism. Communism. Comedy.
(link)
This Week
Events of the Week
The events I’ve got my eye on this week across the spectrum. No Unmuted events this week - but aiming to hit 1 per week on average going forward!
🗓 Monday, January 5
• 6:00 PM Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire (link)
Subject: Holocaust, Film Screening, Panel
Where: 1395 Lexington Avenue (between 91st & 92nd streets), New York, NY 10128
Who: 92NY
What: A screening of the award-winning film Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, about his father, followed by a discussion between Elisha Wiesel (his son) and Oren Rudavsky (the director). For those who aren’t familiar, Elie Wiesel is a legendary Auschwitz survivor who basically brought the word genocide into the public lexicon and publicly advocated for US intervention in human rights conflicts throughout the 20th century.
• 6:00 PM Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America (link)
Subject: Trees, History, War
Where: 46 E 70th St, New York, NY 10021
Who: Explorers Club
What: A book talk between a Cornell professor and an New York Times reporter Katherine Rosman on the history of evergreens, and how they singlehandledly led America to global dominance in the 20th century. Sound fantastical? Am I slightly over-selling the actual book premise? Only one way to find out - buy a ticket!
🗓 Tuesday, January 6
•6:30 PM – SoHo Forum Debate (link)
Subject: Child Welfare, Debate
Where: Sheen Center
Who: The Soho Forum
What: A debate on whether government-run child protective services should intervene more in the lives of children between an AEI fellow and NYU Law professor. I can’t attend this, but if anyone does, let me know what exactly they are arguing about? I really don’t know anything about this and I want to have an opinion lol.
•6:30 PM – The Trump Economy: A Midterm Winner? (link)
Subject: One Big Beautiful Bill, Economy, Midterms
Where: The Jewish Center Floor 10 White Room 131 W. 86th Street New York, NY 10024
Who: The West Side Republican Club
What: The toughest part for any event organizer during the Trump admin is that topics can feel so out of date so fast, simply on the basis that something else happened the next week! The OBBB feels like a century ago, what with Venezuela, the Epstein files revival, and a million other matters that have occurred since then. Still, I’m very curious what Steve Forbes (EIC of Forbes Magazine) has to say here. Regardless of political persuasion, I would attend this if you can.
🗓 Wednesday, January 7
• 6:30 PM - Danielle Sassoon: Former U.S. Attorney for the SDNY
Subject: Interview, Law, Eric Adams
Where: 35 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Who: Harvard Club of NY
What: Very cool. For those with a long memory, Danielle Sassoon was the conservative US Attorney who resigned from the SDNY when the DOJ required the SDNY to drop the investigation against former Mayor Eric Adams. Should be a very interesting talk. I am 50/50 on going to this - please message me at 978 302 5849 if you’d like to attend.
🗓 Thursday, January 8
• 6:00 PM – Visualizing Reproductive Justice (link)
Subject: Reproduction, Art, Talk
Where: 79 Essex St, New York, NY 10002
Who: International Center of Photography
What: For my liberal, art-inclined folks out there, this seems like a fun way to spend a Thursday night. I personally tend to avoid talks about the intersections of X topic (photography) and Y topic (reproductive justice) as it’s too much for my very literal brain to process. But if you’re up for it, could be the event for you. Worth at least checking out the very interesting descriptions of the people speaking here.
🗓 Friday, January 9
• 6:00 PM – An Evening with Congressmember Jim Clyburn (link)
Subject: Politician, Book Talk, American History
Where: 47-49 East 65th Street New York, New York, 10065
Who: Roosevelt House
What: Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC) in conversation about his new book, The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation. For those who don’t know, Clyburn is a 30+ year vet of the House from South Carolina. The book’s title doesn’t leave much to the imagination on the subject, but to further clarify, the book is about the first eight congressmen from South Carolina post Civil War. This is a free event and I will be attending. text me if interested in joining - (978) 302 5849. We can also take bets on whether this was ghostwritten or not (my favorite game to play about books written by politicians).
🗓 Saturday, January 10
None interested me!!
🗓 Sunday, January 11
• 8:45 AM - Fireside Chat w/ Michael Miscione and Daniel Steiner (link)
Subject:
Where: One World Trade Center
Who: One World Trade Observatory
What: A somewhat expensive (and poorly named) history tour at One World Trade about the city of New York. Daniel is obsessed with maps (it’s all over his IG), so if you’re into the type of history that shows how the city was divvied up from avenue to avenue and street to street - this could be for you!
Lastly, I’d like to introduce our Core Membership.
One thing we’re experimenting on in 2026 is moving from just an events organization to a true community. Many of you keep coming back, and oftentimes come to more than one event a month! So we figured we’d try to streamline this for y’all, by offering a $20/quarter membership. For now, that membership gives discounts on most events (we hold on average 1/week) and the first event after sign up is on us (including a +1).
We’ll also be grandfathering this price in if you sign up this quarter (so through March), which will be a major steal once we start adding more perks (member-only events and first call on intimate event sign ups).
That’s it for this week. Let us know if there are events to highlight in upcoming weeks!
Show up, think deeper, and as always, stay Unmuted!
The Unmuted Team