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Historian Jill Lepore on the US at 250 - The Mishal Husain Show
Jul 3, 2026 The Mishal Husain Show
For America’s 250th anniversary, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore joins Mishal Husain to take her through her book on the US Constitution.
"We The People" explores how the Constitution came about and, crucially, how there was an expectation that it would likely change over time.
This is not, however, an episode entirely set in the past, because Jill Lepore is acutely alive to the pressures of the moment and of the contested sense of what America is or should be.
Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net
Visit https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal
00:00 Introduction from Mishal Husain
02:36 “I was a secretary at Harvard”
03:52 “Cadet, you can’t be in the military”
05:06 Using the past to understand the present
05:57 Growing up in an Italian-American family
09:12 “We’re swimming in our history”
09:30 The US Constitution
14:35 “It’s effectively impossible to amend the Constitution”
17:44 Trump on the Constitution
21:19 The cult of the presidency
22:14 “Is this unprecedented?”
27:44 Finding fault with Liberal America
31:00 Harvard on the frontline?
33:18 The Founding Fathers
37:48 Finding escape in poetry
For America’s 250th anniversary, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore joins Mishal Husain to take her through her book on the US Constitution.
"We The People" explores how the Constitution came about and, crucially, how there was an expectation that it would likely change over time.
This is not, however, an episode entirely set in the past, because Jill Lepore is acutely alive to the pressures of the moment and of the contested sense of what America is or should be.
Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net
Visit https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal
00:00 Introduction from Mishal Husain
02:36 “I was a secretary at Harvard”
03:52 “Cadet, you can’t be in the military”
05:06 Using the past to understand the present
05:57 Growing up in an Italian-American family
09:12 “We’re swimming in our history”
09:30 The US Constitution
14:35 “It’s effectively impossible to amend the Constitution”
17:44 Trump on the Constitution
21:19 The cult of the presidency
22:14 “Is this unprecedented?”
27:44 Finding fault with Liberal America
31:00 Harvard on the frontline?
33:18 The Founding Fathers
37:48 Finding escape in poetry