The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Today’s podcast takes up the successful war by New York leftists against their own Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, and her choice for chief judge of the state’s court of appeals. Why are they attacking her? And why is the left ganging up on a hockey player who didn’t want to wear a warmup jacket of their choosing? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Editor, author, and columnist at the Jewish News Service and the Jerusalem Post, Ruthie Blum, joins the podcast today to explain why so many American Jews, in particular, are in a panic over the alleged threat to democracy in Israel posed by the country’s new government. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast asks whether it’s just a January funk or are we in an extended period of American social depression—from quiet quitting to mass shoplifting. Also, China’s in a funk too! Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up Noah Rothman’s lead February article, “The Worldwide COVID Revolts,” and what it says about the political fallout from the restrictions on human activity over the past three years. And we begin with the pickle the Biden people find themselves in if the special counsel pursues criminal charges against Donald Trump relating to classified documents. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eli Lake joins the podcast to discuss the Biden-documents revelations that caused Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the matter. And we pay tribute to the late Paul Johnson. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The allegation that Joe Biden also mishandled classified documents expands to include a second tranche discovered at an undisclosed location, which raises questions about the legal exposure of the president and his team. Or does it? And if it doesn’t, what does that suggest about the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s alleged misconduct? Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast considers a startling quote from Fed chairman Jay Powell, the nature of liberal vs. conservative beliefs about government power and regulation, and why classified documents in Joe Biden’s post-veep office were in a manila envelope marked “personal.” Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up the bizarre accusations against the GOP that it is somehow acting in an illegitimate way by fulfilling a campaign promise to stand against the growth in the size and aggressiveness of the IRS. And what’s this—Joe Biden took classified documents out of the Obama White House? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast today asks what exactly the future holds for Kevin McCarthy and the House Republicans in the wake of McCarthy’s 15th-ballot election as House Speaker. Nothing good, it seems. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast considers the argument made by the House rebels that they are merely practicing “democracy” as it was meant to be practiced—when, in fact, they are a tiny minority using the powers of obstruction, not majority opinion, to try and get their way. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast considers the argument made by the House rebels that they are merely practicing "democracy" as it was meant to be practiced—when, in fact, they are a tiny minority using the powers of obstruction, not majority opinion, to try and get their way. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re joined today by the journalist Nancy Rommelmann, whose shocking article, “ A Murder in Portland,” exposes the nature of the existential threat posed to ordinary people by progressives committed to freeing criminals. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Continetti joins the podcast to talk about Kevin McCarthy’s horrible day and what that day portends for the Republican party over the next days, weeks, and years. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the new year begins, the podcast looks with wonder and horror at the really insane start of the new Congress, in the hands of a tiny Republican majority—and controlled, it seems, by a tiny minority within the majority that wants to see the world burn. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It turns out 2022 wasn’t entirely irredeemable. We reflect on some of the year’s silver linings and positive developments. Noah: The revitalization of NATO. Abe: A bad year for autocrats. Christine: Candidates who deserve to lose lost. John: Nuclear fusion. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The gang discusses the movies they enjoyed (or really didn’t enjoy) in 2022. Abe: “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Moonage Daydream” Christine: “Top Gun: Maverick” Noah: “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” (yes, seriously). John: “Singin’ in the Rain”... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we dive into the television shows we watched and loved—or, at least, liked—in 2022. John: “1883” and “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” Abe: “Mr. Inbetween” Christine: “Severance” and “Slow Horses” Noah: “The Dropout” and “Inventing Anna”... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To open up a week of special Christmas week podcasts, we talk about the books we read and loved in 2022. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast today asks whether the January 6 report is an example of overreach or whether its findings may be morally merited if not a proper legal blueprint for action against Donald Trump. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Volodymyr Zelensky came to the nation’s capital, and, in our nation’s Capitol, he crushed it with a speech that was both substantive and heartening. We break it down and break down the resistance to it among elements of the Right. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast looks at the rank politics being played around the visit of Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Zelensky’s stunning one-day trip to Washington to meet with Joe Biden and speak to Congress. Also, seriously? We’re supposed to mask up again? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was it just grandstanding, or did the committee make its case for the criminal referrals it made to the Justice Department relating to Donald Trump? And does the final grab-bag spending bill actually have some good stuff in it? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast looks at the accelerating crisis at the southern border of the United States, and the fact that the Biden administration is putting its head in the sand and trying to ignore it—which other Democratic politicians dealing with the fallout will not allow. And, we wonder, how will the January 6th committee recommendations coming out on Monday affect Donald Trump’s standing in the GOP? Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast points out that Donald Trump’s bizarre announcement that he’s selling NFT images of himself was completely overshadowed later in the day by Elon Musk banning some journalists on Twitter. Does this mean Trump is now, literally, yesterday morning’s news and will remain so? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Rep. Ralph Norman’s calls for “marshall law” to prevent Republican officials from certifying 2020’s election results, to House Republicans’ attacks against Kevin McCarthy, to Kevin McCarthy’s attacks against Mitch McConnell, the GOP is at war with itself. And maybe that’s all they want to do. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Ron DeSantis pretty firmly taking the lead in 2024 matchups against Donald Trump, there also comes news of DeSantis seeking to convene a grand jury to investigate possible false claims about the efficacy of the COVID vaccines. Is this just pandering to anti-vax lunatics, or is something more interesting going on here? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James B. Meigs joins the podcast today to talk about his January COMMENTARY column, “Twilight of the Tech Gods,” and how the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX represents another example of the way in which the Silicon Valley techno-optimist culture has done injury to capitalism. And how about them Twitter files? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There has been a breakthrough in the development of sustainable fusion-generated power. Will this be a welcome development, or will there be a backlash? Also, Twitter’s weekend information dump confirms the persecutory nature of content moderation in the Trump years. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just when you thought it was safe to stop thinking about politics, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona shows up and throws a wrench into Joe Biden’s Democratic machine by announcing she is becoming an independent. Does it matter? Noah says no. I say it might matter a huge amount. For this debate, and talk about the Twitter transparency project, give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AEI fellow and author Matthew Continetti joins the program today to talk about the deal that has freed WNBA player Brittney Griner from Russian captivity. Also, why the president’s recent string of successes creates the conditions for a happy Biden, and why that could be a disaster in the making. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get ready for some harsh language as we discuss the final nail in the coffin of the Republican wave and the question of whether the GOP is on the verge of healing itself or spending 20 years in the relative wilderness politically. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast welcomes Tablet Magazine‘s chief technology officer and co-host of the “Ambitious Crossover Attempt” podcast, Noam Blum, to the program. We discuss Tuesday’s runoff election for U.S. Senate in Georgia, the behavior of clout-chasers on Twitter, and the relative menace posed by vampires and werewolves. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does it matter that Donald Trump explicitly called for extra-Constitutional means to reinstall him as president somehow? Does it matter that Republicans aren’t lining up to denounce him? And does it matter that the Iranian regime announced it would disband its “morality police”? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we discuss the horrifying Kanye West interview with the horrifying Alex Jones and how nearly two decades of treating West with kid gloves has led us to this pass. Also, is there going to be a new political calendar in 2024? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast points out that for the first time since 2015, every piece of American news doesn’t somehow revolve either directly or indirectly around a certain ex-president. Is this the sign of his new irrelevance? And will this make being a Republican less embarrassing? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we discuss New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s decision to seek the involuntary commitment of mentally ill street and subway people. How did we get to this point, and why, and will this help? And is the Senate’s vote to enshrine gay marriage into federal law a landmark—and in what way? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up the bizarre behavior of Republican election supervisors in a small county in Arizona who do not want to certify their election results—and the fact that if they were to succeed, a House seat would flip to the Democrats. How crazy is that? Not as crazy, perhaps, as the anti-Semitism-enabling behavior of a former president of the United States. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James B. Meigs, our Tech Commentary columnist, joins the podcast today to talk about the protests in China and how they relate to what we know about the Chinese government’s response to COVID—and our own government’s response. Plus, is Elon Musk just acting crazy or is he up to something interesting? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up Joe Biden’s extension of an “emergency” allowing him to suspend college loan payments, the revelation that the shooter in Colorado Springs is “non-binary,” and our true feelings about turkey. Happy Thanksgiving and give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we take up the reaction to the horrible shooting in the Colorado Springs club, which has already been blamed on people concerned about the rise of transgenderism rather than on the fairly evident psychosis of the shooter, who sought to bomb his own mother. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast takes up the news of Donald Trump’s weekend—first the announcement of a special prosecutor and then the way other Republican politicians started firing at him at the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas. What does it mean? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What will Nancy Pelosi’s legacy be? Savvy political operator? Anti-progressive obstacle? Or will she have a legacy at all? Also, Elon Musk continues to drive everyone insane. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump’s backers in the world of professional politics appreciated the limited restraint the former president employed in his speech announcing his new presidential run. Trump’s fans liked everything else. Which Trump will win? Also, do Democrats have any reason to think crime is a problem? Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frederick Kagan of the Critical Threats Project is one of the leading American authorities on the war in Ukraine. He joins us today to discuss the astonishing Ukrainian triumphs against the Russian military and where things might go from here. He also tells us about the ongoing and unprecedented protests in Iran and why we need to pay closer attention to them. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Today’s podcast continues to examine the details of the midterm disaster for Republicans and what Donald Trump’s putative announcement of his 2024 campaign portends. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political analyst and all-around great guy Chris Stirewalt joins the podcast today to discuss the bet he made with me on Election Day he won—because I swallowed the conventional wisdom about the midterms and he didn’t. We try to figure out what Donald Trump is doing by saying the white governor of Virginia has a Chinese-sounding name, among other kinds of crazy stuff. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meghan McCain joins the podcast today to talk midterms, Arizona and anti-McCainiac Keri Lake, about whom Meghan has some harsh, dare I say even unprintable, words. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast today looks at the astounding results of the midterms and asks Republicans whether they are going to continue to remain in an intimate relationship with a pathological loser narcissist who has now been humiliated by the American electorate in three separate national contests. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices