The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Meghan McCain joins the podcast to help buck up our spirits about how ordinary Americans really feel about Israel and Hamas as opposed to the elites on campuses who are siding with evil. And we discuss, yet again, the politically suicidal nature of Joe Biden's courtship of the forces who want to keep Israel from winning the war. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up the horrible story of the still-unsolved murder of Samantha Woll and the haste with which Detroit police said it had not been a hate crime—but never said why they believed this and have not yet even apparently found a person of interest in the case whose presence would refute the idea that a young synagogue president was stabbed to death without apparent cause. And where are the Cambridge and Harvard police when it comes to the president of the Harvard Law Review menacing and possibly assaulting a Jewish student? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast asks what kind of condition the presidential race is in a year before we vote, and whether the gravity of a deteriorating world is being met with the kinds of political figures up to the challenge. Then....hotel showers! Why are they so terrible? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast features three listener questions about the success of Hamas's PR strategy, how the Jewish community can protect itself, and whether Jews should demonstrate the way the anti-Semites are demonstrating. And Commentary Recommends is back! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

oday's podcast takes up the fact that the kosher dining hall at Cornell University was closed yesterday out of an "abundance of caution" because of some online threats. We discuss the danger represented by this attitude and how people need to move out of the pre-October 6 idea of how to handle things into the post October 7 fact of how Jews are to protect themselves, be protected, and fight back against those who would do us ill. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast is about how the idea that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are two different things has been completely demolished by the targeting of Jews worldwide in the wake of a massacre...of Jews. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eli Lake joins us today to continue our conversation about the nature of the rhetorical and protest attacks on Israel and how they are meant to befuddle, confound, and depress Israel's followers. The only real solution: Israel needs to win in Gaza. Plus: A new speaker! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast discusses the psy-op the Left and the anti-Zionists and others are working on everyone who wants the world to stay focused on the threat to Israel and the Jewish people—and offers some tips on how to help combat the psy-op and give it back to them. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk about the Biden administration's sudden alarm about Israel's war on Hamas. Where is this coming from? Is this what the president meant by standing with Israel? We also touch on Trump's rise in some new polls and try to make sense of what's happening among Republicans in the House. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have with us Michal Cotler-Wunsh, who is Israel's envoy for combatting global anti-Semitism. If there is one COMMENTARY podcast we've ever done that you should listen to from beginning to end, this is the one. So don't just, as we say, Give it a listen. Listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COMMENTARY senior editor Seth Mandel makes his debut on the podcast to discuss Joe Biden's strange and unfortunate address from the Oval Office last night. What should the president have said about assisting Ukraine and Israel? What did he say instead? And why was the whole thing so all over the place. Plus mailbag. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast looks askance at, and is horrified by, and laughs at, the protest at the Capitol yesterday by "Jewish organizations" working as propagandists for Jew-killing organizations. And then we take apart, word by word, the New York Times's effort to exculpate itself for responsibility for the violence in the wake of its false reporting of the hospital rocket strike. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Schanzer, author of this month's lead article, joins us to discuss Biden's visit to Israel and the seeming delay in Israel's moves to begin the war it must fight in Gaza. What's happening and why? And we spend some time commending the people who are putting their money and their words where their ideas are and hitting colleges and universities in their pocketbooks. Also, nepotism be damned, I recommend my father Norman Podhoretz's legendary article, "J'Accuse." Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are joined today by the American-Israeli tech entrepreneur Michael Granoff, who is organizing an unprecedented effort to provide Israel with a supply chain from the United States. It's called Operation Falcon, and you can find out more at tinyurl.com/operationfalcon. We talk about the mood in Israel, the mood in America, and why Israel will not be easily buffeted by the inconstancy of American and American-Jewish public opinion. And we make some announcements about changes at the magazine and the website. Today's recommendation: the seminal 1968 COMMENTARY article, "Jewish Faith and the Holocaust: A Fragment." Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast raises the question: Are we dwelling too much on the trauma being suffered in the wake of the Hamas slaughters and on the humanitarian-crisis nature of war in general rather than stiffening our resolve and readying ourselves for a long and necessary conflict? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noam Blum of Tablet joins us to discuss Tablet's effort to collect the testimonies relating to the massacre of Jews on October 7. Can we bear to listen? Can we bear not to? (Warning: We use some explicit language on this one.) Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sen. Tom Cotton joins the podcast today to discuss Israel's path going forward, the potential inconstancy of the Biden administration in supporting Israel's prosecution of the war, the president's fecklessness toward Iran, and other cheerful items. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast commends Joe Biden's speech about Israel and Hamas, worries over the durability of his commitment, and cites the astonishing level of pro-Hamas support from places like...MSNBC, owned by Comcast, a multibillion-dollar cable company that seems to be OK with a network it owns providing propagandistic emotional support for Jew-killers. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eli Lake joins the podcast to talk about the fecklessness of the Biden administration and how that may have given Iran a sense it could act with impunity—and whether, once again, America will go wobbly when it comes to Israel defending itself. Only this time, will Bibi Netanyahu's country allow its leaders to go wobbly in response? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Senor joins today's podcast to mourn with us at the horrors in Israel, to reflect on the burdens and the courage of Israeli people, and worry about the world's inconstancy in the face of a long and possibly brutal war Israel must win. You will note there is no intro music and no outro music, and no ads. This is a grim day. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast dives deeply into the change in Joe Biden's attitude toward the border wall, noting a promise he made in August 2020 that his administration would not add "a foot of wall" to Trump's barrier. Well, here we are, and many feet of wall are about to be added. What gives? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast scratches its head at the news that Joe Biden is...building a border wall? And throwing $9 billion in debt-relief aid at student loans even though the Supreme Court said his last plan was unconstitutional? Meanwhile, in New York, Trump's argument that the fraud case against him is "election interference" is getting pretty good support from...the judge in the case? And the state attorney general? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Kraushaar of Jewish Insider joins the podcast today to survey the wreckage of the House Republicans in the wake of the defenestration of the Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and the triumph of his adversary, Matt Gaetz. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast looks at three shocking crimes committed in American cities in the past two days and wonders if this might be the turning point for the liberal dominance on these matters in urban areas. And Trump's on trial—how bad will this be for him or will it be bad at all? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Stirewalt joins today's podcast to talk about the House shenanigans over the past week, from Republicans at war with each other to radical Democrats pulling fire alarms. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Long joins the podcast to talk about the career of the late Dianne Feinstein, the end of the WGA strike, and the stunning success of Sound of Freedom. Plus Mailbag! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What on earth did we see last night at the Reagan Library? Did it change the race at all? Who, if anyone, benefitted from the shambolic but dull second Republican debate? And is there any utility to the format at this point in our politics? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Senor joins the podcast to talk about the upcoming Republican debate and what the strategies of the various debaters should be, what they should talk about, and how to maximize their own gains. Also, the Iran echo chamber turns out to have been created by...Iran? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast examines Joe Biden's trip to Michigan to stand in solidarity with the United Auto Workers strikers and how it might affect his standing with Americans on the economy. And polls, polls, polls! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up two important articles in the new issue of Commentary—Christine Rosen's "Criminals and Their Apologists" and Matthew Continetti's "The Left of the Right." Plus: Listener mail! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast assesses Merrick Garland's appearance on Capitol Hill, the continuing Democratic conviction that someone somewhere needs to shut Donald Trump up, and what's going on between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up three speeches at the UN this week: there's the one by President Biden, there's the one by Iranian thug Ebrahim Raisi, and the one by Wolodymr Zelensky of Ukraine. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast points out that while all the talk of a government shutdown centers on Republican infighting in the House of Representatives, the idea that the government must shut down if Republicans are not unanimous is based in the idea that no Democrat will vote to keep the government open. If that's true, won't they get some of the blame? And with the debt topping $33 trillion, can spending remain a secondary issue in our politics? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast finds commonalities in a congresswoman's disruptive conduct at a Denver theater, a would-be Virginia politician's selling sex acts on a website, and a new Senate code of conduct ending dress requirements for members of the world's oldest deliberative body. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast takes up the Hunter Biden indictment and how it's just the latest bad news for a presidency that seems awash in bad news and increasing fears among Democrats that Joe Biden cannot carry the banner to victory next year. Plus: What's going on with the strikes, and with gambling? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Senor joins the podcast today to give his view of both the domestic and foreign-policy challenges and opportunities facing the state of Israel over the next few months. We also talk about the U.S. courts and the executive branch's overreach and more Trump-friendly polling. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast tries to suss out the political motivations behind House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's "authorization" of an impeachment inquiry and what they say about his power and the upcoming budget battle. Also, did Biden really have a good trip to India and Vietnam? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast takes up the president's latest whopper, about being in New York on September 12, 2001 and seeing the wreckage of the Twin Towers. We all know Trump lies like he breathes, but Biden's lies have a different quality—they're not denials of things he did but efforts to aggrandize and mythologize himself. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast notes the remarkable confluence of two events. First, an appeals court finding that the Biden administration staged what a lower court judge called the worst assault by our government on First Amendment rights in this nation's history. And second, the decision by a Democratic governor to declare an emergency power suspending the Second Amendment in her state for 30 days. This is not good. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Halperin joins us to figure out why Democrats are scared to step up and challenge Joe Biden even as Democratic voters beg for an alternative. And why are Republican candidates, except for Donald Trump, scared of traditional media? Plus the second installment of the Commentary Magazine Podcast Mailbag. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eli Lake joins the podcast to discuss the news that Hunter Biden will be indicted...on a gun charge, and not on anything that has to do with influence-peddling and his father the then-Vice President. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yuval Levin joins the podcast to discuss an extraordinary piece in the New York Times alleging that the cost of Medicare has fallen radically to such an extent that it is no longer the budgetary monster looming on the horizon. Is that true? Or is it just a way of denying a danger and pushing it forward? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up the stunning WSJ poll that has Trump up 46 points over DeSantis and asks whether, five months before the first electoral contest in the GOP and 14 months before the 2024 election, the Republican race is all over but the shouting. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast considers the weak job numbers and the persistence both of inflation and higher interest rates and asks whether Joe Biden is making a mistake touting "Bidenomics." And...oh boy, the NYT story about the DeSantis consultant and the $50 million ask from donors. Plus the first installment of the Commentary Magazine Podcast Mailbag! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast asks what political benefits or liabilities a politician can accrue from their behavior in the wake of a natural disaster, with specific reference to Ron DeSantis, Joe Biden...and Chris Christie. And Mitch McConnell's second moment freezing before a camera in five weeks raises the question of how much longer our gerontocracy can go on. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Kirchick joins today's podcast to discuss the overdue outrage about our botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and a new book that's surprisingly critical of Joe Biden. We also get into the border crisis, its connection to terrorism, the pressure it's putting on blue and red states, and what it portends for our politics. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast today worries over the fact that the judge in the January 6 case set Donald Trump's trial date for the day before Super Tuesday next year, and what this portends about the politics of 2024 and the very real possibility that we are going to face a constitutional, or a political, or even a revolutionary crisis. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Eli Lake joins the gang to consider what some of us got wrong about last week's Republican primary debate. According to polls, Ron DeSantis did himself a bit of good. What did we miss? And why did DeSantis's performance work as well as it did? Then we talk about Eli's new COMMENTARY article "Profiles in Malarkey" and why Democrats are unable to face the significance of the Hunter Biden scandal. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the last day of listener-questions week, we take up the war on drugs. Was it doomed? Have we surrendered? What are the consequences? Then we respond to a listener who challenges Tip O'Neill's famous observation about all politics being local. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We interrupt this week's listener-questions podcasts with our analysis of last night's Republican debate. The talk centers on Vivek Ramaswamy, and as such, what does that mean for the race going forward? What effect will Nikki Haley's knockout performance have on her campaign? And whither DeSantis? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices