Tom McGrath was the editor-in-chief of Philadelphia magazine, as well as chief content officer of Metro Corp., the parent company of Philadelphia and Boston between 2010 and 2020. Under his leadership, the magazines won more than fifty awards for editorial excellence. In 2022, he was named Writer of the Year at the National City and Regional Magazine Awards. He’s written two previous books: “MTV: The Making of a Revolutio,” and, with John Basedow, “Fitness Made Simple.” He has a Substack, called Common Good. His new book is “Triumph of the Yuppies: America, the Eighties, and the Creation of an Unequal Nation.”

Greg Olear talks to Tom about his new book, the Yuppie movement and what it portended to the country, Ronald Reagan and Jack Welch, and nostalgia. In the second half, they talk about how the media is broken, how it might be fixed, and how Gen Z could be just the folks to do so. Plus: media songs!

Prevail is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/greg

Follow Tom:
https://x.com/tmcgrathphilly

Buy his book:
https://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Yuppies-America-Eighties-Creation/dp/1538725991

Check out his Substack:
https://tmcgrath.substack.com/

Subscribe to The Five 8:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0BRnRwe7yDZXIaF-QZfvhA

Check out ROUGH BEAST, Greg’s new book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D47CMX17

ROUGH BEAST is now available as an audiobook:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Rough-Beast-Audiobook/B0D8K41S3T

Subscribe to The Five 8:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0BRnRwe7yDZXIaF-QZfvhA

Check out ROUGH BEAST, Greg’s new book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D47CMX17

ROUGH BEAST is now available as an audiobook:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Rough-Beast-Audiobook/B0D8K41S3T

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Greg Olear opens with his thoughts on Project 2025, Trump’s odd fascination with Hannibal Lecter and his bromance with Jeffrey Epstein, and the Democratic palace coup, led by Danny Ocean.

Then, Greg welcomes the Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko for a discussion about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin, Zelensky, and his new book, “I Will Show You How It Was: Yhe Story of Wartime Kyiv.”

llia Ponomarenko is a Ukrainian journalist known as a former defense and security reporter at the Kyiv Post and subsequently a co-founder of the Kyiv Independent. He has covered the war in eastern Ukraine since the conflict's earliest days, as well as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022. He has also had deployments to Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an embedded reporter with UN peacekeeping forces. Ponomarenkowon the Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellowship and was selected to work as USA Today's guest reporter at the U.S. Department of Defense. He lives in Bucha outside Kyiv.

Plus: dictator disco!

Prevail is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/greg

Follow Illia:
https://x.com/IAPonomarenko

Buy his book:
https://www.amazon.com/Will-Show-You-How-Was/dp/1639733876

Subscribe to The Five 8:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0BRnRwe7yDZXIaF-QZfvhA

Subscribe to The Five 8:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0BRnRwe7yDZXIaF-QZfvhA

Check out ROUGH BEAST, Greg’s new book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D47CMX17

ROUGH BEAST is now available as an audiobook:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Rough-Beast-Audiobook/B0D8K41S3T

Would you like to tell us more about you?
http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=short

In this, the first episode of PREVAIL in three weeks, Greg Olear opens with his thoughts on the debate, the immunity ruling, the Kamala option, and the politically suicidal push to replace Biden at the top of the ticket.

Then, Greg welcomes “Bad” Brad Berkwitt, a veteran who served for more than 20 years in the U.S. Navy, including 16 and a half in Naval Intelligence. After retiring from the military, he served as a government contractor for the Dept of Homeland Security. He also hosted a boxing show, Ringside Reporter. And he’s now the host of the Bad Brad Berkwitt Show, where he interviews key figures in the fight for democracy. In this conversation, Greg talks to Brad about his career, intelligence services, the Gulf War, Gitmo, and how to take on MAGA. Plus: a new executive search firm!

Follow “Bad” Brad:
https://x.com/BadBradRSR

Watch his show:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheBadBradBerkwittShow

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Subscribe to The Five 8:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0BRnRwe7yDZXIaF-QZfvhA

Check out ROUGH BEAST, Greg’s new book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D47CMX17

ROUGH BEAST is now available as an audiobook:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Rough-Beast-Audiobook/B0D8K41S3T

Would you like to tell us more about you?
http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=short