What Ben Rhodes has said about American national identity

2 quotes · 1 episode · May 31, 2026

Ben Rhodes, Former Obama speechwriter and deputy national security adviser, Crooked Media co-host and author of "All We Say", has been quoted on American national identity 2 times in 1 episode of Pod Save America, most recently on May 31, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.

In their words

  • Rhodes argued that one of two competing American stories is an inheritance-based nationalism he likens to originalism or blood-and-soil nationalism.

    “there is one story that is a nationality of inheritance that you can call it originalism. You can call it blood and soil nationalism”

    Pod Save America: What Does it Mean to Be an American? (May 31, 2026) · Listen from 9:53

  • Rhodes argued that advancing rights today requires embracing the whole American story, including its flawed founders, as Douglass and King did.

    “if you want to persuade people and if you want to advance rights in this country, you actually have to embrace the whole story, like even the parts we don't like”

    Pod Save America: What Does it Mean to Be an American? (May 31, 2026) · Listen from 42:15

Episodes

Others on American national identity

Ben Rhodes on other topics