The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Today's post-Jewish-holiday podcasts takes up many topics we missed—Hunter Biden's conviction, Joe Biden's wandering off during a ceremony with the Italian prime minister, the upcoming debate, Gaza, Antony Blinken, Glenn Youngkin....it's a cornucopia! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James B. Meigs joins us to talk about Anthony Fauci's shockingly disingenuous, and possibly perjurious, testimony before the House on the origins of COVID—as we recall and recollect the series of disastrous policies he and others enacted without consequence to themselves. And here today, from New York to D.C. to Los Angeles, it's Charlottesville 2017 every day, and the Biden people are fiddling while anti-Semitism catches fire. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The contrast could not have been starker: Israel rescues hostages while demonstrators defile the park across from the White House and chant "death to America"—in Washington, D.C. Hello, Joe Robinette McFly? Anybody home? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Washington Post's new publisher tells the staff the truth—they stink, the product stinks, it's lost half its audience and $77 million in the past year, and there will be massive change. A watershed moment moment 40 years in the making? Eli Lake joins us to discuss, and we play his weekly AI song to boot. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The polling is coming in and...sorry, but the Trump verdict isn't changing anything, it appears. Nonetheless, liberal journalists and politicians keep believing their take that "the rule of law is on the ballot" applies to the aftermath of a Trump victory rather than describing what's happening right now in the wake of the New York case. Also: Veepstakes! Veepstakes! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we discuss both the remarkably confusing interview Joe Biden gave to Time and the Wall Street Journal's not-so-deep dive into the state of the president's cognitive abilities. Just how bad is it? And is the administration's disordered policy simply a result of Biden's disordered thinking? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Schanzer joins us today to consider whether Benjamin Netanyahu has lost his capacity to affect events in the way he wants to, how the Biden administration's policies are getting Israeli soldiers killed, and why America seems allergic to military victory. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What the heck happened on Friday with Joe Biden's speech apparently saying Israel had agreed to some plan to end the war in Gaza with Hamas still in power—or maybe not still in power—or maybe kind of still in power? What did Israel do to give Biden the opening to move the goalpoasts in this way? And what will the Hunter Biden trial mean for the president? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Settle in for a rollercoaster ride as the entire COMMENTARY crew considers the legal questions of the Trump verdict, its political implications for 2024, and the question of how America will view this matter in the context of (yes, we mean it) the legitimacy of the United States and its institutions. Plus, an Eli Lake song! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Josh Kraushaar joins the podcast to discuss how Donald Trump is now gaining on or leading Joe Biden in states that Biden won in 2020. And what do Democrats misunderstand about minority voters? Also, what's the state of the Jewish vote now? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why on earth would the Biden campaign haul out 80 year-old Robert De Niro to tussle with protesters outside the New York courthouse? Could it be that, for Biden, De Niro is a strapping young fellow with the vim and vigor to speak to today's youth? More seriously, Jonathan Schanzer joins us with some actual good news coming out of the Israeli effort in Rafah. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we discuss the massive Democratic meltdown over Joe Biden's reelection chances, the left's bottomless desire for salacious but politically useless stories about Donald Trump, Rashida Tlaib's cheerleading for a terrorist organization, and Israel's campaign in Rafah. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House grilled a new round of university presidents who seemed to have benefited from a kind of human machine learning. They avoided some previous mistakes but continued to bring shame on their institutions all the same. And Donald Trump was up to something very interesting in the Bronx. Plus a new AI song from Eli Lake. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up the text of Psalm 94, which is a stunning evocation of the moment facing Israel right now and the threat to its enemies—not from Israel itself but from the God of Israel. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has Donald Trump's hush-money trial hurt him yet? While in court, he expanded his lead across the electoral map. But why aren't Trump's imitators enjoying the same good fortune? Meanwhile, the Biden bloopers pile up daily. And why hasn't any aid dropped at the American-built pier reached Gazans? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why did American institutions express sorrow at the passing of Iran's monstrous president? Why does anyone pay attention to the International Criminal Court? Why is an awful academic named Dov Waxman running a Jewish studies program at UCLA? Why did Biden say he was vice president during COVID? Why did the judge in the Trump case get all hysterical about a case of "side eye"? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has history been altered by the helicopter crash that has apparently killed the president and foreign minister of Iran? Will Israel be blamed? Did Israel do it? Won't Israel be blamed even if it didn't do it? And what blame attaches to American policy for Israel's increasingly parlous political and military confusion? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Eli Lake joins the podcast to discuss Michael Cohen's terrible day in court and the liberal panic over the direction of Donald Trump's criminal trial. And how much power, if any, do school administrators have to meet the demands of pro-Hamas protesters. Plus the debut of a weekly musical feature! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We split on who has the upper hand in the coming debates, but all agree there are risks and rewards and that the race could use a little shaking up. Less shook up, it appears, is American public opinion when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians, which remains firmly in the latter's camp. And the COVID reckoning is speeding up. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The offer this morning from Joe Biden to debate Donald Trump twice, in June and September, was semi-accepted by Trump a few minutes after it was proposed, so the game might be afoot. Why does Biden want this? What could it mean? And what do the very interesting primary results last night suggest about the state of the Republican party in particular? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the Trump trial about crimes he supposedly committed or just simply a litany of ways in which the former and maybe future president just seems to be a rotten guy? And what are we to make of the new connections between American wokesters and actual Middle East jihadists who want the mass murder of the Jews? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new New York Times poll not only has terrible news for Joe Biden, it reveals how wrong-headed his electoral concerns are when it comes to Israel and Palestine. Also, we end the show with an AI-generated song about COMMENTARY from our own Eli Lake. Give a listen! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We begin with a clip of an interview with Joe Biden in 2019 saying the idea of withholding military aid from Israel would be unthinkable to him. And we're off and running with the question of just how damaging and destructive his moves this past week have been. Plus: can you "slut-shame" a porn star? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taking the measure of Biden's decision to impose a kind of arms embargo on Israel when he sought the arms in the first place is our task today. Our answers are not complimentary. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The news that the Biden administration has deliberately chosen to withhold certain armaments from Israel despite the passage of the aid bill last month is a landmark moment not only in the peculiar behavior of the White House toward the Jewish state since October 7 but also in the annals of American warfare. We don't try to win wars any longer; are we now committed to ensuring that other nations can't win wars either? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we sort through conflicting accounts of the Hamas ceasefire agreement that wasn't and discuss the leverage that Israel will now gain by going into Rafah. We also reflect on the straightforward anti-American fury of pro-Hamas protests and the Kristi Noem trainwreck. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A landmark podcast episode in which we all take turns claiming the situation between America and Israel and between college campuses and the rest of the country is worse. Who's right? What is worse? And what's the TV show you should watch but shouldn't Google anything about if you want to enjoy it? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was Joe Biden's at-long-last three minute statement about the unrest on college campuses sufficient for the moment, or the least he could do, or not even the least he could do? We discuss this and the fact that the protestors are asking for sexual aids and pass-fail grades, and whatever happened to elementary shame. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump is solidifying his case against Joe Biden, and it's eerily similar to Joe Biden's case against Donald Trump in 2020—there's chaos everywhere and the president is responsible. Polling suggests Trump has the better of the argument, especially since Democrats are split even on as basic an issue as opposing anti-Semitism. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Columbia encampment is shut down and the students who occupied a campus building are charged with burglary. A mile north of Columbia, cops are attacked by protestors, who are promptly zip-tied and thrown into an NYPD bus. Order is being restored, but for how long? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Senor, co-author of The Genius of Israel, reports on his recent trip there and how torn the Israeli people are between the fate of the hostages and the country's final push against Hamas in Rafah. And how the protests in the United States are only emboldening Hamas. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Adam J. White joins the podcast, and first we discuss whether the pro-Hamas cry-bullies will have the ability to function in life beyond the campus. Then we take up the Supreme Court's response to arguments over Donald Trump's immunity and presidential immunity in general. The justices seem warmer to immunity than the liberal commentariat would like. And after the Court rules, how will the lower courts respond? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noam Blum joins the podcast today to discuss the strategy Hamas is pursuing to stave off the Israeli action in Rafah—the use of a hostage video to freeze Israeli society in place and turn the conversation away from victory and toward rescue. What are the consequences? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we discuss the state of play between universities and the pro-Hamas encampment movement, and we consider Mike Johnson's seeming declaration of a counter movement. Speaking of encampments, why are tents proliferating in urban areas and what does it say about society? We also talk about the terrible new GDP numbers, why no one took a victory lap after Joe Biden signed the foreign aid bill, and much more. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The refusal both of Columbia University officials and New York City's mayor to confront and end the siege of the school's campus and the open threats to Jews is the culmination of 40 years of academic rot, and we describe why. Also: The House passes aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and moves to end Chinese Communist control of TikTok. Is this a new path forward or a one-off success for House Speaker Johnson? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Schanzer joins the podcast for an immediate after-action report on the details of the Israeli strike on Iran, whether deterrence has been reestablished, and how last night might represent the most significant game-changing moment in recent Middle Eastern history. And what's this? Columbia University throws the book at the Hamas-supporting tent city on its campus and has the NYPD arrest more than 100 people? Is this a game-changer too? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That's the advice of podcast guest Liel Leibovitz, zooming in from Tel Aviv to discuss the Columbia hearings before the House yesterday and how the anti-Semitism revealed there has unmistakable echoes of past horrors—and threatens future horrors. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden is having a good month at the polls, but Donald Trump is finding new and inventive ways to campaign for president despite his humiliating courtroom experience—will it help? And do Israelis want a strong strike against Iran or not? And what is Mike Johnson doing? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yesterday's protests in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle suggest again that the pro-Hamas Left is moving into a new and more dangerous phase, one in which they are openly chanting "Death to America" and may be readying violent acts of "resistance." The parallels to the 1960s are unmistakable. And things are only going to get more heated as Israel does what it has to in Rafah and against Iran. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A full house of COMMENTARY podcasters today as we try to reckon with the many possibilities relating to Iran's repelled attack on Israel—and the fact that America now seems fixated yet again on holding Israel back rather than making Iran pay for its aggression. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The death of OJ Simpson this week prompts us to discuss everything that changed in the wake of the murders he committed, the escape he bungled, and the trial at which he was acquitted. Also, what are we to make of the chatter about Iran striking Israel imminently? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iran is said to be preparing or on the verge of a direct strike on Israel, and it's not clear Americans know about it. They will when it happens, and we discuss why they'd do it and what Joe Biden has done to suggest to them it might be worth the cost. Republicans in the House continue to display paralysis. Sonia Sotomayor continues to serve on the Supreme Court despite liberal efforts to get her to quit. And the Japanese prime minister is here! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden tells an interviewer Israel should do a unilateral ceasefire for six to eight weeks. Tom Friedman of the New York Times explains there's a 5 percent chance for a Palestinian state and that we should focus on that 5 percent. People are yelling "Death to America" inside America and the president says nothing. What on earth is going on here? We try to explain. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did Donald Trump help or hurt his chances in November with his statement yesterday that he did not want federal action on abortion? Did Joe Biden help or hurt his chances in November by announcing a new effort to pay off student-loan debt? Did Wolodymyr Zelensky help or hurt his nation's future by saying Ukraine would lose the war if the American aid package stalled in the House didn't pass? Did Bibi Netanyahu help or hurt his nation by acceding to Joe Biden's demands over the weekend and then declaring there is a date certain for the invasion of Rafah? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast tries to make sense out of the Biden administration's now-undeniable harsh turn against Israel and the incomprehensible behavior of the Israeli government over the last 48 hours in relation to the war in Gaza, the negotiations over the hostages, and the threat from Hezbollah. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast reels in horror from the administration response to the tragic errors that led to the Israeli attack on a food convoy and how it represents what may be the final turn of the Bidenites against the war effort to extirpate Hamas. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk about the increasing failure of Joe Biden's contradictory position on Israel. He's now all but accused Israel of a war crime but will continue to supply it with weapons of war. Israel's supporters are fed up with his rhetoric and Israel-haters are fed up with his policy. Moreover, his incoherence is inviting Iranian aggression. We also discuss the unique success of NATO as it turns 75 and what Mike Johnson may or not do to push Ukraine aid. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up the question of the Biden administration's problematic response to the tragic strike on a food aid convoy in Gaza—something for which Israel took immediate responsibility and for which it apologized wholeheartedly at the highest levels with little effect on the condemnations that continue to pour on its head. Meanwhile, Biden's polling continues to suggest a loss in November with no changes in strategy from Biden or his people. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we discuss unforgivable acts of Jew-hatred—including a riot outside a synagogue where money was being raised to help a Jewish burial society—and forgivable tragic events that occur during war. There is a difference. A big difference. Also, a beautiful statement by a grieving Israeli father and Donald Trump's very good day in and out of court. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Jonathan Schanzer joins the podcast to talk about what's been going on in public and behind the scenes between American and Israeli officials regarding a ground operation in Rafah. How much longer can Israel afford to wait? And what can we learn from the drone attack on an Israeli naval base over the weekend? But first we discuss the White House's declaring Easter Sunday Transgender Day of Visibility. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices