JULY 2025 – Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and TikTok are our sources of popcorn these days, so we’re usually not scoping around those parts in search of exemplary journalism. But given these times – vulgarity, superficiality and. in our political sphere, willful destruction of American institutions – it’s worth pointing out that an 86-year-old retired adman named Martin Puris is producing hopeful, reassuring commentary with a common theme to 600,000 followers: America as we know it is worth saving.
They are not exactly hard-hitting news or exposes, but Puris’s short videos – he calls his channel “America The Possible” – focus on the current threats to undermine our institutions and to upend the rule of law – and our current capacity to not take the long view. He conveys a sense of both dismay that we’ve gotten ourselves in this situation, and a sense of low-key resolve that we can get out of it. If nothing else, it’s constructive popcorn
https://www.instagram.com/americathepossible/
Puris co-founded the successful ad agency Ammirati & Puris and he’s long retired. Now, with his son Jason, he is cranking out videos that gently and persuasively remind us that much of America is quite good, and democracy is worth fighting for. There are no specific policy recommendations, but the videos are full of reminders – street protests are not a waste of time, for instance – that our democracy needs us now.
It looks as though Puris is putting his money where his mouth is: Last week, a popular real estate site, robbreport.com, let us know that Puris has put his 5-acre Hamptons estate on the market for a relatively modest $7 million.
https://robbreport.com/shelter/homes-for-sale/martin-puris-hamptons-whimsy-farms-1236889273/