The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Eli Lake joins the podcast on the eve of the midterm elections to discuss, you know, the midterm elections—and we conclude with a pretty heated discussion of Eli’s new COMMENTARY piece, “Can the FBI Be Saved From Itself—And Can We Be Saved From The FBI?” Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Kornacki joins us a day before he will instruct all of America on the midterm elections from his Big Board to express final thoughts on these tumultuous midterm elections, why the polls are so hard to understand, and what we might expect. He uses Virginia as the test case for Republican gains—you’ll find out why if you give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author, columnist, and co-host of the “Not Even Mad” podcast, James Kirchick, drops in to talk about Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg’s searing indictment of his party’s record on crime. Also, stronger than expected jobs numbers, and what they say about inflation. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden delivered another speech last night about the threat Republicans pose to the health of American democracy, this time drawing a straight line from the January 6 riots to the attack on Paul Pelosi. Is he right? Or are Democrats as conditional as Republicans when it comes to their affection for the mechanisms of self-government? Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AEI scholar and George Mason University assistant professor of law, Adam White, rejoins the program today to discuss the Supreme Court’s deliberative process ahead of what looks to be a momentous decision on the legality of Affirmative Action. Also, the left finally allows itself to notice Joe Biden’s gaffes. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Senor joins the podcast today to map out five scenarios for the Israeli election results—Israel is voting today. And then we discuss why professional Republicans seem a little more anxious than thrilled about the clear pattern in the polling about what's going to happen next Tuesday here in the American elections. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The horrific attack on Paul Pelosi, and the abhorrent response to it from those who think it might convey political advantage and want to maximize or neutralize it. Also, what to make of polling discrepancies with eight days left before the midterms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did Elon Musk just conclude the most ill-considered financial transaction in human history when he purchased Twitter? We’ll soon see. Also, the frenetic effort on the left to claim that crime is a manufactured election-year issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats struggle to reconcile the data, which doesn’t suggest a massive Republican wave is inbound, and the general sense of the political landscape. And it’s driving them crazy. Also, how a New York judge’s ruling against a vaccine mandate for municipal workers scuttles the Democratic Party’s confused Covid narrative and the amazing life of the late Lucianne Goldberg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tuesday night’s senatorial debate in Pennsylvania treated voters to a voyeuristic spectacle that was painful to watch. Can voters look beyond John Fetterman’s infirmities on November 8? Also, Lee Zeldin shines in the New York state gubernatorial debate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eliana Johnson of the Washington Free Beacon joins the podcast today to talk about the jaw-dropping letter from House progressives to Joe Biden on Ukraine and how this sudden attack from his left suggests nothing good about Democratic prospects two weeks hence. And a lot of other stuff. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast examines the devastatingly bad findings of the latest educational assessment of American schoolchildren—and how they show the need for a true reckoning on the costs of the COVID regimes put in place in March 2020 and then kept in place even as the scientific facts made it clear they were unnecessary and injurious. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast takes up an article in The Federalist arguing that the New Right should stop calling itself conservative because conservatives reject using state power to punish your enemies. Also, the Democratic Party’s “precriminations” have begun, but the most potent excuse for the party’s loss in November is to blame voters for putting their economic situation above American democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast begins with talk about the potential Red tsunami before taking up a genuinely shocking and disgusting New York Times article that accuses Israel of stealing Palestinian recipes as a form of cultural genocide. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Democrats stare into the abyss they avoided staring into for many months, Barack Obama has emerged to scold them for being "buzzkills." He's right. But on today's podcast, we explain why he was the author of the Democratic Party's current woes. Oh, and we extend a surprise invitation to our roast to one James Bennet. Why? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast features a conversation about Kanye West and Donald Trump and their incendiary comments about Jews. And, again, the midterm elections. And, again, COVID. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In John’s absence today, New York Sun columnist and host of “The Reeducation” podcast, Eli Lake, joins the show to talk about how nuclear deterrence works and why. Also, an update on the Durham probe, the state of play ahead of the midterm elections, and a nascent revolution in the streets of Iran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast debates Trump’s role on January 6 and whether, to borrow 9/11 conspiracy theory lingo, he LIHOP (let it happen on purpose) or MIHOP (made it happen on purpose). And what was the January 6 commission’s goal? To establish Trump's culpability or to create the conditions for accountability down the road. Also, John Fetterman is one of a handful of Democrats in America who wants to be seen with Joe Biden, which tells you something. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up the latest hit on Donald Trump—someone's moving boxes around? Really? And the latest on the FBI's behavior toward Trump. And the latest on the January 6th hearings. And the latest on inflation. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast breaks down Joe Biden’s interview with CNN host Jake Tapper and Democrats circling the wagons around John Fetterman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The possible indictment of Hunter Biden. Hints of polling momentum for Republicans. Democrats bringing up ancillary issues in hopes they can distract. It's four weeks until the midterms. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast examines the news from the Ukraine War—the bridge attack followed by terrorist strikes on cities—and weird things politicians and intellectuals are saying about it. And the crime issue really comes home, literally, in the case of New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast begins with a recitation of 18—count 'em, 18—different news stories all from yesterday and all deserving of attention, beginning with Joe Biden musing about "armageddon," which is maybe not what you want a president to be doing? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the news that OPEC+ plans to pare back oil production, the Biden administration has to worry about gas prices again at the worst possible moment. Also, the Georgia GOP’s process of rationalizing themselves into voting for Herschel Walker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast picks up a conversation from yesterday about Ukraine, nuclear weapons, Putin, and the United States's response, and more fireworks explode! Plus, Herschel Walker and the long dark night of the pro-life voter's soul. We're off tomorrow for Yom Kippur. Back Thursday. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast begins calmly with a conversation about whether people and voters take issues seriously or are now primarily motivated by negativity toward the other side. Then we start talking about Ukraine and Russia—and all hell breaks loose. If you dare, give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast begins with a horror story from Chicago—a criminal run amok just a day or so after a judge released him on his own recognizance—and broadens it out to wonder whether the seeming halt in the Democratic polling surge is due to Republicans hitting them hard on crime. Then we get pretty dark about the possibility of bad stuff happening with nukes in Ukraine. It's crushing morosity! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Continetti joins the podcast to discuss the alarming behavior of President Biden, who called out to a member of Congress who died in a car crash this summer. Not to mention the alarming behavior of Vladimir Putin, whose flailing in the course of his world-historic mistake may have a nuclear component. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast notes the $400 billion cost of Joe Biden's student debt "forgiveness" program and notes the irony of a supposedly progressive party favoring the well-to-do at the expense of the poor. Then there's the comic denouement of Joe Manchin's career and the approaching hurricane horror in Florida. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain's shocking attempt to claim Joe Biden came into office with an unemployment rate 40 percent higher than it was in point of fact—more evidence they're looking to retrofit the truth to help them in the midterms. And what's this about "long COVID"? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast goes through the bad news the ex-president received yesterday and whether the focus on Trump in the news is forestalling and covering up a shift back toward Republicans in the 2022 elections. And: Will Putin use a nuke? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Adam White joins the podcast to take on the courts. Did Joe Biden step on a legal landmine when he declared the pandemic “over?” Did Donald Trump err in pushing for a special master to review the classified documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago? And how can the Supreme Court preserve its legitimacy? Adam makes the case in his cover article in the October issue of Commentary, “God Save This Honorable Court—and We Can, Too.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Commentary contributor and former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Tevi Troy, joins the podcast today for a wide-ranging conversation on his latest for the magazine, “ The CDC’s Inadequate ‘Reform Plan.’” Did Joe Biden step in it when he declared the pandemic “over,” and can the CDC reform itself to avoid the failures it stumbled at the onset of the Covid outbreak? Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Commentary podcast reviews Joe Biden’s first one-on-one interview in a long while with CBS’ “60 Minutes.” Our verdict: meh. He didn’t set himself on fire, but nor did he defuse the issues that may cost Democrats control of Congress in November. Is “just fine” good enough for Joe Biden? Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast looks at a New York Times poll suggesting Democrats increasingly think the country is on the "right track." If so, what does the phrase "right track" actually mean, if anything? And more on illegals being treated so horribly they get to spend their first days in America on Martha's Vineyard. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast looks at the breakthrough that will apparently prevent a nationwide rail strike and what it means for the upcoming elections. And we discuss the transport of illegal immigrants from red Texas to blue Martha's Vineyard. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast wonders at Joe Biden's decision to celebrate the "Inflation Reduction Act," complete with James Taylor warbling a 50-year-old ditty about drug abuse and suicide, on the day a terrible inflation number is released. The question: Will the media succeed in turning attention away from that and toward Republican extremism and abortion rights? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast looks at the worse-than-expected inflation numbers and the determination of the media and Democrats to frame them as some kind of new normal and wonders what kind of strategy this might be for November. Best way to play a bad hand, or handing an opportunity to their Republican rivals to beat them about the face and neck? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Liel Leibovitz joins the podcast today to discuss the New York Times’s hit piece on Hasidic schools in New York state and why it is so egregious. But we begin with the startling news out of Ukraine and what it portends. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The passing of Queen Elizabeth provides us with an opportunity to consider the question: Is there any figure left on the world stage who is known and admired for restraint rather than oversharing? And we express amazement at the current state of play in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to expose the hypocrisy of “sanctuary city” mayors like Lori Lightfoot of Chicago by sending illegal immigrants northward to live where they are supposedly more “welcome”—which has caused Lightfoot to sputter in outrage. Also, issue polling: Does it tell us anything? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up the leak about a highly sensitive document found in the Mar-a-Lago search and the Washington Post’s characterization of it. Then we go after Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters with a rhetorical two-by-four. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast looks at the politics of the judge's decision to appoint a special master to deal with the documents taken from Donald Trump's home and who will be helped or hurt by that. Plus, can it really be true that Democrats are viewed more favorably on COVID response than Republicans? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden’s speech outlining the threat to democracy posed by pro-Trump Republicans was bad. How bad? Let us count the ways. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noah Rothman returns from vacation as we consider every piece of bad political news for Republicans and the indictment trap Donald Trump seems to be laying down for himself. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hudson Institute’s Tod Lindberg joins us to discuss the question of what kind of world-historical figure Mikhail Gorbachev actually was—a purposeful change agent or fortune’s fool? Also, will Joe Biden suffer or gain from his harsh attacks on Republicans? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re joined by the great Chris Stirewalt to discuss the media frenzy over the redacted Mar-a-Lago affidavit, the transformation of the news business, the birth of the news cycle, and how it all relates to Chris’s new book, “Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back.” Take a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast features political-data sage Steve Kornacki as we try to make sense of the very clear change in the direction of the 2022 elections and why it might be happening. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we take up the matter of Joe Biden’s executive order on student loans. How bad is the policy? How good is the stunt? How cynical can you get? And, anyway, will it actually happen? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eliana Johnson joins the podcast today to talk about the verrrry interesting results in last night’s primaries and special elections and what they portend for November. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices