The Commentary Magazine Podcast

TV showrunner and our Hollywood Commentary columnist Rob Long joins today's podcast to give his view of the Hollywood writers' strike in which he is now a shockingly willing participant—but before we get to that we discuss the weird drone event over the Kremlin and the reaction to the chokehold death of a menacing subway schizophrenic in New York City. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast looks at the Biden administration's effort to do something—anything—to address the crisis at the southern border and examines how the problems we face really began with the Obama administration's determination to do something good and noble. Beware! Also, why is the Surgeon General talking about loneliness? And Day Two of our new feature, Commentary Picks. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast today discusses Joe Biden's change of tactics in inviting Republican leaders to the White House next week to talk about the debt ceiling and how this suggests the new standing as a political player of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But will Donald Trump and his town hall next week on CNN play a role too? And we debut our new feature: Commentary's Daily Pick. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast tries to find the link between bank failures, tech failures, moral failures on the part of politicians and tech giants, and the growing lack of trust in American society. Also, why the pessimism on Ukraine may be unwarranted. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk about the battery and defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump and what it could mean if he loses. Then we take up the matter of Joe Biden's age, its possible effect on his reelection prospects, and how it shapes America's current role in the world. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast examines the larger political meaning of the Republican success in getting a debt-ceiling bill through the House of Representatives, the larger media meaning of the fact that major news organizations are supplying the president with questions in advance, and the larger social meaning of Ron DeSantis having some trouble with his anti-woke campaign. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the occasion of Israel's 75th anniversary, the podcast takes a look at why Israel has become a financial powerhouse while India (which gained independence in the same year) remains so economically problematic. And then, speaking of being economically problematic, we talk about the debt ceiling. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eli Lake joins the podcast today to talk about what on earth is going on with the Georgia investigation into Donald Trump, the meaning of Joe Biden's reelection video announcement, and the defenestration of Tucker Carlson. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast discusses the upcoming Biden reelection announcement and the fact that it is happening just as the hijinks surrounding the media and intelligence efforts to suppress the news from Hunter Biden's laptop become ever more scandalous. Also, why is Biden's press secretary criticizing Americans trapped in the middle of a Sudanese civil war? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's podcast we reflect on the kinds of coercive policies advocated by Americans on the Left that harden our resolve as conservatives, taking off from the news that people with good credit are about to be charged extra money to support people with bad credit. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Schanzer, Middle East expert, joins us to discuss a four-pronged threat to Israel led by Iran. But before we get to that we talk about the spate of false stranger-danger shootings across the country and what it might mean. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eliana Johnson joins the podcast today to assess the damage to Fox News Channel from its colossal settlement with Dominion, after which we look at the damage done to Ron DeSantis over the past couple of weeks. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Liel Leibovitz joins the podcast today to discuss his lead article in the May COMMENTARY, "The Return of Paganism." But before that, he gives us his impressions of the political situation in his native country, Israel. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's podcast, the leak story gets more complicated, Chicago gets more lawless, and the New York Times gets more gaslighty. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast expresses bewilderment at the developing facts surrounding the terrible military leaks and the arrest of Jack Teixeira, gamer and social-media guy. And views the increasing bewilderment of Joe Biden on his Ireland trip with alarm and what it might portend for his reelection. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our tech columnist, James B. Meigs, joins the podcast today to talk about the kid who leaked the intelligence documents, the lab-leak hypothesis and those who lied about it, and fact-checking the fact checkers. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast asks what the big intelligence leaks actually tell us about the war in Ukraine, how Donald Trump is speaking about foreign policy, and what it means that Sen. Tim Scott might be poised to enter the presidential race. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Halperin joins the podcast today to talk about the cascade of leaked intelligence documents online, what they say about the Biden administration's policies, and how both the issue set facing the American people and the fact of Joe Biden's decline may affect the 2024 election. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast discusses the political nonsense in Tennessee and how it's a way to move the conversation about the horrifying shooting in Nashville away from the shooter's motivations to other, more politically palatable subject matter for Democrats and liberals. And yes, we talk about the Trump indictment again. Eli Lake joins us. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump is indicted, arrested, arraigned, and gives a speech. Chicago votes for a progressive. Wisconsin elects a progressive to the State Supreme Court. Fun! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we discuss the elections in Chicago and Wisconsin and what they may reveal about the issues of abortion and crime. We also cover new and unsettling revelations about that Chinese spy balloon. And then we drill down on Donald Trump's coming arraignment, the media spectacle, and Trump's next move. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump's looming indictment has united the Republican Party behind him, it seems, and that may be everything the Democrats could possibly have wanted. We talk about that. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump has been indicted. We talk about it. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast points out the unprecedented nature of Joe Biden's attack on Benjamin Netanyahu, as it involves not international conflict but internal domestic Israeli government structures. And David Bahnsen joins us to discuss the banking crisis three weeks after the run on Silicon Valley Bank. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast wonders at Joe Biden making ice cream jokes and anti-Republican quips in response to the school shooting in Nashville and how it is he is not held more to account for his simple bad taste. Also: are we going to see the shooter's manifesto and if not, why not? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast examines the horrible school shooting in Nashville and the steps that must be taken to protect institutions at risk of future assault. What is the connection between Nashville and the shock poll that reveals a decline in American attitudes on marriage, patriotism, churchgoing, and other essentials? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Senor joins the podcast to talk about the protests in Israel, how we got here, the firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the choices now facing Benjamin Netanyahu and the government. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we journey from the mess in Israel to the hearing on TikTok to the continuing crisis of John Fetterman to the banking story. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast ends with a conversation about the growing consensus that the Chinese military should not be dominating American social media. But before we get to that, we got some Trump, we got some DeSantis….Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast discusses the change in tactics by the Biden administration when it comes to sending tanks to Ukraine. Then: DeSantis and Trump. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast examines Ron DeSantis’s first real salvo against Donald Trump for his personal conduct even as he criticizes the prosecutor who is apparently about to indict the ex-president—and Trump’s return volley. And: China’s Xi makes his move internationally. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monday’s podcast is all about the apparently weak case Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg intends to prosecute against Donald Trump and why—if the leaks are correct about the nature of the proceedings—all it will do is strengthen Trump and hurt the country. Also, Iraq 20 years later. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up the breathless claim that a new source of the COVID pandemic has been located—it comes from a raccoon dog! Hmmm. Meanwhile, China is making moves in the Middle East and with Russia as it continues to elude responsibility for its role in the deaths of 7 million people from the virus. And why is Janet Yellen saying she’ll bail out some banks but not others? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast wonders at the notion that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg might be bringing a case against the former president whose star witnesses for the prosecution would be a convicted felon and a porn-star-sex-worker. Is that wise, or just one string in a Lilliputian trap for Donald Trump? Also, will there be extended fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast discusses the geopolitical impact of Russia’s harassment of an unmanned American drone, what this suggests about Ron DeSantis and his foreign-policy views, and the assault on free speech and simple good manners at Stanford Law School. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast features our old friend Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, who joins us to discuss Ron DeSantis’s characterization of the war in Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” in which we should not become entangled. And then we talk about the stunning news that China has brokered a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia and what this says about American foreign... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast discusses the political impact of the sudden bank crisis in the United States before turning to the Oscars. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up the astonishing effort by the research organization that found COVID masking to be ineffectual to deny that its own study said what its lead investigator says it said. (To follow the logic, listen to the podcast.) Also, jobs numbers and Chinese balloons. Eliana Johnson is in for Christine. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast is about a shameful New York Times story that offers a cheerful and positive look at a stroke victim in a profound depressive state and wonders why the paper did it. And why it is that Democrats on the committee investigating the origins of COVID took out after a journalist rather than deal with his reporting. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes apart Joe Biden’s op-ed in the New York Times that proposes to “save” Medicare. And then we talk about Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast looks at how extremists of the Left are going to make it hard for Joe Biden to get himself in a good position when it comes to crime—and how Tucker Carlson and others are going to make it hard for the GOP to get independent voters when it comes to soft-pedaling what happened on January 6. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eli Lake joins the podcast to talk about his article, ‘ The Iraq War, 20 Years Later.” But first we discuss Donald Trump’s stemwinder at CPAC over the weekend and whether a New York Post story on Anthony Fauci’s conduct in February 2020 is a smoking gun. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up Joe Biden’s decision to violate his own party’s principles and refuse to veto a Congressional move against bad crime rules in the District of Columbia. Does this herald a new era of pragmatic politics inside the Biden White House? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk about Congress’s move against the left’s ideological repurposing of retirement funds and what it means for the future of ESG investing. We also discuss Ron DeSantis’s Disney slap down, the wild success of his new book, and what he may or may not do to check Donald Trump’s gains. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast today examines the stunning rejection of incumbent Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot in a Democratic primary that ended with her getting 15 percent of the vote after a landslide four years earlier. Why did it happen? And what does it say about municipal governance and crime? Also, student loans and the feeling that you’re a sucker if you work hard and play by the rules. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up the New York Times story about how the Biden administration is going to layer on regulations and rules directing companies it supposedly wants to strengthen the semiconductor industry to do nice progressive things. Is this constitutional? More to the point, is it stupid? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast today examines how three pillars of the American COVID response—masking, vaccination rather than natural immunity, and the denial of Chinese responsibility for the outbreak—are all collapsing at once under the harsh light of actual scientific reality. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast marks the year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the order of battle—and the order of the ideological and partisan battles inside the United States—right now. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast discusses Trump’s trip to the site of the train derailment in Ohio—which came at the same time it began to dawn on those hopeful he would be taken down by a Georgia prosecutor that the grand-jury foreperson in that case might have been destroying the possibility of a successful proceeding against him. Also, will a Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action have the same... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast discusses the political impact of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, especially as regards Democratic darling Pete Buttigieg; considers the presidential candidacy of Vivek Ramaswamy (who?); and assesses the presidential chances of Republican Sen. Tim Scott. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices