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TMOS EXTRA: Aaron Perlut and "The Death of Compromise"

Mike O'Meara, Robb Spewak, Josh Sroka

July 22, 2026 · 51 min

In this TMOS Extra, Robb talks to author Aaron Perlut about his new book The Death of Compromise. It's a non-partisan discussion about how we arrived at the current trend of vilifying opponents and seeking power instead of striving for the common…

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In this TMOS Extra, Robb talks to author Aaron Perlut about his new book The Death of Compromise. It's a non-partisan discussion about how we arrived at the current trend of vilifying opponents and seeking power instead of striving for the common good. Is it too late to fix this... or do we still have the power to influence our present trajectory? This is Aaron's second TMOS appearance and he also discusses his band, Atomic Junction, and why compromise is important in the arts as well as in politics. You can buy the book HERE and you can find out about the band and more Aaron info at www.AARONPERLUT.com.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Michael Mera, Radio Entertainment.

[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to this Michael Marisho extra and a return engagement of my buddy Aaron Pearlett who I went to college with and I won't hold that against your Aaron.

[SPEAKER_01]: How you doing today?

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm great even better now because the Dave Mason intro.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm wondering you've done a lot of a press for this book that you've written has anyone played Dave Mason to bring you on.

[SPEAKER_02]: No one has, I've actually interviewed him the late Dave Mason, late great.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he just like a couple months ago, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Just recently, Pastor.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I have my on my load on music podcast, wonderful guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's well.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm pleased to bring the sound of 70s, late 70s rock, to a very valuable discussion we're going to have today.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the reason the air in has joined us is as everyone knows, it's one of the greatest times in American history.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is what we're here to celebrate.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're hot, we're hot, this country is hot, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, hot, baby, everyone wants to be us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone wants to date us.

[SPEAKER_01]: They want to be like us.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm kidding, of course.

[SPEAKER_01]: Aaron is written a book.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's called The Death of Compromise, how an unquenchable thirst for power, racism, and media killed political and cultural compromise in America.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is by Aaron Perlet, and you can find it at Amazon, link in the description.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a compelling title.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think just by reading it, you kind of know where we're at as a country.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we need to start by saying this is not a partisan book.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not trying to influence anybody on either side of the political spectrum, but more of sort of an analysis of how we got here, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's far from a partisan book trying to get someone to in any way change their political views, because I think that would be a fruitless endeavor.

[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, it's more of an historical analysis as to how we got to the point we're at now in American history, which in terms of how we're working together with people that we disagree with at an all-time low.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's scary.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is literally a scary time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I do, you know, five podcasts, sometimes six a week and I'm sort of forced to look at current events and try to put some sort of fun spin on it and it's gone to a point where you can't because it's just so grave.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, how did this project start for you?

[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm a long-suffering centrist, which means everyone disagrees with me when you're in the middle.

[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I've been noting this kind of gradual rise in tensions and political politically-fueled violence that's been happening over the last, I'd say 15 years.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's been very disturbing.

[SPEAKER_02]: Last year, my son's 21st birthday, you know, I'm doing what a lot of

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sitting around thinking about how proud I am in my son and I see a news item that Charlie Kirk was shot.

[SPEAKER_02]: I didn't really prescribe to to what Charlie Kirk had to say, but I appreciated how he went about doing what he was doing.

[SPEAKER_02]: He was essentially going to college campuses and speaking to young people and

[SPEAKER_02]: trying to engage them in thoughtful debate and conversation and change hearts and minds in that way, which I actually thought was pretty brilliant.

[SPEAKER_02]: And for that he got shot in the throat and killed as a father of a couple small kids.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it just I guess it was that tipping point for me because it was coming on the heels of two legislators in Minnesota that had both been shot

[SPEAKER_02]: And it just the snowball seems to be going faster and faster downhill and picking up speed and picking up girth and and it was very concerning and so you know I thought I'm not a political right to your point about not trying to change anyone's opinion I'm certainly not a political.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm I'm I follow politics, but I'm more of a political novice.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and I thought what what what can I do that and it's been it had been in the back of my mind for years and years.

[SPEAKER_02]: What can I do about this because it's getting worse and worse and I see my children being affected by it.

[SPEAKER_02]: I see my friends being affected by it.

[SPEAKER_02]: I see friendships torn apart by as your family members torn apart.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: I said, well, I'm a content creator at at at

[SPEAKER_02]: at heart professionally, I can write, I can write very well.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so I spent probably the next eight weeks in my spare time researching and writing.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then I was able to, fortunately, speak with some some really impressive people, former U.S. senators, former lobbyists.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, let me, let me, let me jump in and ask a question.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because you spoke it's a pretty impressive list.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tom Dashle, John Danforth, you even got an X Navy seal Dutch van Horn to write your foreword, which is incredible.

[SPEAKER_01]: Were they open to the discussion of this?

[SPEAKER_01]: Did they come in with an agenda?

[SPEAKER_01]: What was it like when you approached them and said, hey, this is what I want to write?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you want to comment to it?

[SPEAKER_02]: Michael Mera, Radio Entertainment. [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to this Michael Marisho extra and a return engagement of my buddy Aaron Pearlett who I went to college with and I won't hold that against your Aaron. [SPEAKER_01]: How you doing today? [SPEAKER_02]: I'm great even better now because the Dave Mason intro. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm wondering you've done a lot of a press for this book that you've written has anyone played Dave Mason to bring you on. [SPEAKER_02]: No one has, I've actually interviewed him the late Dave Mason, late great. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he just like a couple months ago, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Just recently, Pastor. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I have my on my load on music podcast, wonderful guy. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's well. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm pleased to bring the sound of 70s, late 70s rock, to a very valuable discussion we're going to have today. [SPEAKER_01]: And the reason the air in has joined us is as everyone knows, it's one of the greatest times in American history. [SPEAKER_01]: And this is what we're here to celebrate. [SPEAKER_02]: We're hot, we're hot, this country is hot, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Right, hot, baby, everyone wants to be us. [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone wants to date us. [SPEAKER_01]: They want to be like us. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm kidding, of course. [SPEAKER_01]: Aaron is written a book. [SPEAKER_01]: It's called The Death of Compromise, how an unquenchable thirst for power, racism, and media killed political and cultural compromise in America. [SPEAKER_01]: And this is by Aaron Perlet, and you can find it at Amazon, link in the description. [SPEAKER_01]: It's a compelling title. [SPEAKER_01]: I think just by reading it, you kind of know where we're at as a country. [SPEAKER_01]: I think we need to start by saying this is not a partisan book. [SPEAKER_01]: You're not trying to influence anybody on either side of the political spectrum, but more of sort of an analysis of how we got here, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's far from a partisan book trying to get someone to in any way change their political views, because I think that would be a fruitless endeavor. [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, it's more of an historical analysis as to how we got to the point we're at now in American history, which in terms of how we're working together with people that we disagree with at an all-time low. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's scary. [SPEAKER_01]: It is literally a scary time. [SPEAKER_01]: I do, you know, five podcasts, sometimes six a week and I'm sort of forced to look at current events and try to put some sort of fun spin on it and it's gone to a point where you can't because it's just so grave. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, how did this project start for you? [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm a long-suffering centrist, which means everyone disagrees with me when you're in the middle. [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I've been noting this kind of gradual rise in tensions and political politically-fueled violence that's been happening over the last, I'd say 15 years. [SPEAKER_02]: And it's been very disturbing. [SPEAKER_02]: Last year, my son's 21st birthday, you know, I'm doing what a lot of [SPEAKER_02]: I'm sitting around thinking about how proud I am in my son and I see a news item that Charlie Kirk was shot. [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't really prescribe to to what Charlie Kirk had to say, but I appreciated how he went about doing what he was doing. [SPEAKER_02]: He was essentially going to college campuses and speaking to young people and [SPEAKER_02]: trying to engage them in thoughtful debate and conversation and change hearts and minds in that way, which I actually thought was pretty brilliant. [SPEAKER_02]: And for that he got shot in the throat and killed as a father of a couple small kids. [SPEAKER_02]: And it just I guess it was that tipping point for me because it was coming on the heels of two legislators in Minnesota that had both been shot [SPEAKER_02]: And it just the snowball seems to be going faster and faster downhill and picking up speed and picking up girth and and it was very concerning and so you know I thought I'm not a political right to your point about not trying to change anyone's opinion I'm certainly not a political. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm I'm I follow politics, but I'm more of a political novice. [SPEAKER_01]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and I thought what what what can I do that and it's been it had been in the back of my mind for years and years. [SPEAKER_02]: What can I do about this because it's getting worse and worse and I see my children being affected by it. [SPEAKER_02]: I see my friends being affected by it. [SPEAKER_02]: I see friendships torn apart by as your family members torn apart. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: I said, well, I'm a content creator at at at [SPEAKER_02]: at heart professionally, I can write, I can write very well. [SPEAKER_02]: And so I spent probably the next eight weeks in my spare time researching and writing. [SPEAKER_02]: And then I was able to, fortunately, speak with some some really impressive people, former U.S. senators, former lobbyists. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, let me, let me, let me jump in and ask a question. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because you spoke it's a pretty impressive list. [SPEAKER_01]: Tom Dashle, John Danforth, you even got an X Navy seal Dutch van Horn to write your foreword, which is incredible. [SPEAKER_01]: Were they open to the discussion of this? [SPEAKER_01]: Did they come in with an agenda? [SPEAKER_01]: What was it like when you approached them and said, hey, this is what I want to write? [SPEAKER_01]: Do you want to comment to it? [SPEAKER_01]: Or did they come in saying, oh yeah, I can give you all the answers. [SPEAKER_01]: What were they like when you approached them? [SPEAKER_02]: Actually, they were terrific. [SPEAKER_02]: Right, everyone I spoke to, including, someone I'd grown up with, he was actually, he's a former lobbyist for the NRA. [SPEAKER_02]: And he really surprised me. [SPEAKER_02]: I expect him to come in with conservative talking points, and he was, [SPEAKER_02]: wonderful to speak with and had great perspective that is shared with in the book. [SPEAKER_02]: But Senator, Senator Dashrell and Senator Danforth, and then I also spoke to someone who a long time CEO in the energy industry, who at one point, he was actually tab to be the energy secretary had Hillary Clinton won the presidency. [SPEAKER_01]: Wow. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_02]: But at one point, he was the highest paid employee of the federal government, because he ran the Tennessee Valley Authority, which is quasi-governmental. [SPEAKER_02]: And so I knew that all these people would have great perspective and great insights. [SPEAKER_02]: And again, I wasn't looking to, you know, again, to change anyone's opinion or what have you. [SPEAKER_02]: I was looking to find insights to help me better understand it. [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it was as much a process of me learning. [SPEAKER_02]: Sure. [SPEAKER_02]: Over the past 67 years of what has gotten us to this point today. [SPEAKER_01]: When you talk to these powerful people, and that's something they all share, they all have a degree of power in different spheres. [SPEAKER_01]: Did anything they say surprise you? [SPEAKER_01]: Something that really sort of came out of the blue that they said, and you like, wow, I didn't think that person would say that opinion. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, there was a handful of things. [SPEAKER_02]: I'll start with Bill Johnson, the retired energy executive. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: He really believed that the fracture began. [SPEAKER_02]: after the civil rights legislation was ushered in by LBJ in the mid-60s because that did have a pretty tumultuous impact on the evolution of southern representation. [SPEAKER_02]: South used to be completely democratic and then over the next decade after that there was something called the Southern Strategy that was implemented by the Republicans and it kind of [SPEAKER_02]: around the civil rights act, okay. [SPEAKER_02]: So I thought that was kind of fascinating. [SPEAKER_02]: Not surprising because racism is our kind of original sin here in the United States. [SPEAKER_01]: We have sadly thought, oh yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: There's racism everywhere. [SPEAKER_02]: We just have our special brand of it. [SPEAKER_02]: Senator Dashall had really interesting perspective in terms of, he felt that [SPEAKER_02]: was an incredibly slippery slope and looking back, it really was because it, it, it, [SPEAKER_02]: It didn't begin the era of performative politics, but it put on steroids. [SPEAKER_01]: I hadn't even thought of that, is that, you know, you've got, at that point, 200 years of government, where it is, I mean, the result is the same, it's law, but the road to law was sort of a closed club. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you got 100 senators, what, 435 reps, and outside of those 535 people, [SPEAKER_01]: no one sees what goes on until they put it on TV and then it's a whole, it's a whole different thing. [SPEAKER_01]: It's like when movies went from silent to talkies. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the whole business had to be reinvented and so that's such a great word he used or you use, performative. [SPEAKER_01]: That really altered the presentation of what goes on to make our laws, yeah? [SPEAKER_02]: It certainly did and then, you know, [SPEAKER_02]: So the next, I would say, wronging the ladder with something called, there was something called the fairness doctor in that, that journalism had to be holding to until 1987. [SPEAKER_02]: The people's time law. [SPEAKER_02]: Well essentially it just said you had to be fair. [SPEAKER_02]: It was because I actually more about how you covered media and being unbiased. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: In 1987 that was removed by the federal communications commission and that led to the creation of Rush Limbaugh Fox News MSNBC. [SPEAKER_01]: Was this part, this was part of a lot of government deregulation, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I, it probably wasn't even heavily spotlighted at the time, because so much stuff was being deregulated. [SPEAKER_01]: It was sort of all put together. [SPEAKER_01]: It was one of the last bigger achievements I think, if I recall, of the Reagan administration, is, you know, de-governmentalizing things, and they got looped in with that, and they didn't think that it probably would have such a lasting effect, but yet it did. [SPEAKER_02]: Exactly. [SPEAKER_02]: And that had been in place since 1949. [SPEAKER_02]: So that was a really important thing because Rush Limbaugh truly changed the game and then, you know, Fox News followed on. [SPEAKER_02]: And today you've got all kinds of online and traditional outlets. [SPEAKER_02]: And then social media has taken that that has been the next step in the latter in terms of the performative politics where politicians have been able to leverage these digital channels to again perform for constituencies. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So I thought what Senator Dashal had to say about C-SPAN was fascinating to me. [SPEAKER_02]: Senator Danforth, who is also should we note it in ordained minister? [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_02]: He believes that religious leadership in this country has failed Americans in that it's they have an essentially rained in their flocks. [SPEAKER_02]: They've allowed the framework set up this country with a separation of church and state. [SPEAKER_02]: church doctrine in many cases, conservative church doctrine, and he really believes that there has been a failure of moral leadership by church leaders across the U.S. Do you feel that or did he feel that this sort of lacks attitude and raining in your flock was almost to make the religious community more palatable? [SPEAKER_01]: Make them want to come in because I mean, [