Cheap Talk
Jeff Kaplow and Marcus Holmes · Jeff Kaplow
Show overview
Cheap Talk has been publishing since 2020, and across the 6 years since has built a catalogue of 132 episodes. That works out to roughly 90 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence, with the show now in its 6th season.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 51 min and 1h 2m — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Government show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 6 days ago, with 20 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2024, with 32 episodes published. Published by Jeff Kaplow.
From the publisher
Cheap Talk is an every-week-or-so international relations podcast with Jeff Kaplow and Marcus Holmes, professors of government at William & Mary.
Latest Episodes
View all 132 episodesEnvoys of Friendship
Humans Make Mistakes Too
The Lingo of Our AI Tech Overlords
Not Routine at All
This Could Result in an International Incident
Twice as Popular as Taylor Swift
All of This Has Been Done
Other Forms of Dust
Waiting at the Airport
It's Real and It's Dangerous
Something Revolutionarily Wonderful
S6 Ep 22Seems Like a Bad Idea
How Russia benefits from the Iran war; President Trump’s recent statements about how the war is going; China is both helped by and hurt by the Iran war; prediction markets as an aggregation mechanism for the wisdom of crowds; insider trading and insider influence; the characteristics of wise crowds; and Marcus will never make that mistake againThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop.Further Reading:Will Oremus and Jeremy B. Merrill. 2026. “A journalist reported a missile strike. Then came the death threats.” Washington Post.See all Cheap Talk episodes
S6 Ep 2115 Points of Agreement
Uncertainty about the state of US-Iran peace talks; the challenges of US military operations in the Strait of Hormuz; getting nuclear material out of Iran; whether the United States needs a negotiated settlement to end the war; and Marcus is afraid to put his mugs in the dishwasherThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop.Further Watching:International Institute for Strategic Studies Panel, “Securing the Strait of Hormuz in Wartime: Military Options and Strategic Challenges.”
S6 Ep 20Had You Asked Us, We Would Have Said No
Washington’s allergy to the “w”-word in describing the conflict in Iran; the Trump administration seems to have been caught off guard by some aspects of the conflict; what we have learned about the real drivers of the conflict; the extent to which the parties are achieving their strategic goals in the region; leadership assassinations and the quest for stability; calling on allies to help deal with the Strait of Hormuz; speculation about the timeline for an end to the war; and Marcus’ predictions were right, but came ten months lateThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop.See all Cheap Talk episodes
S6 Ep 19Analysts Are Fairly Skeptical
Failed diplomacy in the lead-up to the conflict; rationales for military action; windows of opportunity and the road to war; the prospects for regime change in Iran; the track record of strategic bombing campaigns; the economics of missile interceptors; what all this means for China and Russia; and Marcus wants to get some figures on the tableThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.See all Cheap Talk episodes
S6 Ep 18Those Secret Words
The State of the Union foreign policy lightning round; the possibility of imminent war with Iran; confusing signals from the US; strategic clarity and the effectiveness of deterrent threats; the challenges of finding another Iran deal; tension between Anthropic and the Defense Department; hints of AI governance; and Marcus isn’t sure premium gas is worth itThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.See all Cheap Talk episodes
S6 Ep 17Pro-Peace and Prosperity
The last remaining nuclear arms control treaty has expired; the beneficial side effects of arms control; the value of treaty-breaking as a low-cost signal in international relations; the decline of arms control as an international priority; China’s strategic calculus; whether verification is important in arms control treaties; arms control as a casualty of the war in Ukraine; planning our next move in a post-arms control world; and Marcus is a little naïveThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Get a Whoop:Chase Sapphire cardholders can get a free or discounted Whoop fitness band and Whoop Life subscription. Be sure to register for the discount first on the Chase website, then get an additional discount when you sign up with code B663EDA6. See all Cheap Talk episodes
S6 Ep 16Learn to Code, Kids
Cheap Talk takes a break from IR to discuss vibe coding; the CheapTalkBot origin story; new opportunities to express creativity via vibe coding; mid-century modern architecture in Palm Springs; whether non-programmers can really do this; ChatGPT vs. Claude; context windows in AI tools; the use of AI for Retrieval Augmented Generation; and Marcus isn’t being creative enoughThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Further Exploring:Check out Jeff’s Palm Springs Scavenger Hunt AppSee all Cheap Talk episodes
S6 Ep 15It's Doomsday Day!
It is 85 seconds to midnight (according to the Doomsday Clock); evaluating the risk of catastrophe; the latest Board of Peace developments; another speech pointing to the end of the international system as we know it; what it means for Europe to take more responsibility for its own defense; and Marcus recalls World War IIThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Further Listening/Reading:Cheap Talk Podcast. 2024. “Exercise in Optimism” (Jan. 27), via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the web.Gabriel A. Almond and Stephen J. Genco. 1977. “Clouds, Clocks, and the Study of Politics.” World Politics 29(4): 489–522.See all Cheap Talk episodes
S6 Ep 14Crazy Things in Foreign Policy
Cheap Talk returns from winter break to discuss the Venezuela situation; what is driving US Venezuela policy; implications of the US capture of Maduro; signaling US seriousness in international affairs; similarities between Venezuela and Greenland; IR theory in Canadian PM Carney’s Davos speech; and Marcus was, yet again, surprised by eventsThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Further Watching:Special Address by Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026See all Cheap Talk episodes