The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Does Jeffrey Toobin deserve to be treated with compassion and forgiveness when woke culture is busy showing the opposite of both to anyone that crosses it? And how will the media atone for their false coverage of what happened in Lafayette Park in 2020? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The progressive left is having a fit over its more moderate members, who have failed to support their transformative designs. But aren’t they saving Joe Biden’s presidency from the unforeseen consequences of pursuing a sweeping agenda on which he didn’t even run? Also, the journalistic backlash against reporting on Israel objectively. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Stirewalt joins us today to discuss his brilliant COMMENTARY article, “Republicans, Stop Believing Your Own Election Myth,” before we get to the question of what’s worse, wokeness or the new American aristocracy that is enshrining it? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a hilariously bad response to NBC’s Lester Holt when she was asked why she hadn’t visited the border yet amid her efforts to oversee the ongoing border crisis. The episode adds to the mounting evidence suggesting that Harris is not great at politics. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast points out our continuing cultural confusion when it comes to political correctness, law, and the mistreatment of women before moving on to the Democratic party’s insistence that Republicans are trying to destroy the voting franchise. And what spicy thing did Biden say about war? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The disappointing jobs report will be answered by an explosion of cliches, we say on today’s podcast, but the ability of the Biden administration and liberals in general to make excuses for the failures of their own policies is waning by the day. As is, perhaps, Donald Trump’s sanity. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tech Commentary columnist James Meigs joins the program to talk about his latest piece for the magazine “Thank God for Big Pharma.” We discuss the “lab leak” hypothesis and the terrifying consensus within the scientific community that shut its advocates up. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Financial guru David Bahnsen joins us today for a deep dive into the COVID numbers and offers his fascinating take on why the threat to the future is not inflation but deflation. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The numbers don’t lie. We’re weeks away from the pandemic being over in the United States, and yet the bitter clingers still threaten our future. Why? And why are Trump fans saying he will be “reinstated” as president? And why, if it happens, is Bibi Netanyahu on his way out? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The rehabilitation of the “lab leak” theory of COVID-19’s origins in the press is now accompanied by the Biden administration calling for an investigation. But what will his administration do with that information if the worst is proven correct? Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We channel Sally Field’s notorious Oscar speech in offering thanks to listeners for their kind words in response to our inquiry yesterday about whether we should continue to record daily podcasts. Then we react with horror to the Biden budget proposal! Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though it is particularly true of New York City, it’s apparent across this country: The political class has lost its enthusiasm and affection for the nation. They are focused not on revivifying and reinventing it, but on divvying up what’s left while you can. It’s not just a Democratic fixation, either. The GOP’s obsession with relitigating the 2020 election prevents them from looking forward... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New positive COVID tests are at or approaching historic lows across the United States. Deaths and hospitalizations are reaching rates associated with a typical flu season. The pandemic is on the eve of its conclusion. The only question is when elected officials will acknowledge it. Also, the Democratic Party’s advocates in the press have discovered the real problem with anti-Semitism: it detracts... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we try something new: Each panelist chooses a topic. We talk about the effort to equate anti-Semitism with Islamophobia. We talk about whether the Biden administration will hold China accountable on the virus. And we talk about the state hijacking of a commercial European jetliner. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Street violence targeting American Jews is on the rise across America. It is being provoked and condoned by progressives within the Democratic establishment, and the party is doing nothing about it. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast goes over the latest in the ideological war of the Left against Israel, the political hijinx over the January 6 commission, and what on earth is going on with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the news is good. All the trends are great. Why are the media focusing their sympathetic attention on people who seem to want to live in perpetual lockdown? And why isn’t the Biden administration turning on Israel (yet)? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first podcast of the week takes up the continuing assaults on Israel’s defensive action against Hamas in Gaza and the continuing confusion over the lifting of the masking rules by the federal government. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast asks what changed that made it possible for the president to announce the end of masking for vaccinated Americans? Was this the result of the “science” or a naked political move to distract from the bad news of the week? And why are liberals clinging to their masks? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inflationary signals are glowing red hot, and it’s starting to scare the markets. Will the Biden administration and Democrats be similarly spooked? Also, the contrived effort on the part of Trump critics to use the conflict in Israel to run down the Abraham Accords, which misunderstands their purpose. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s podcast, I read my exchanges yesterday with my sister from her bomb shelter in Tel Aviv to give listeners a real-time sense of what it’s like to be under rocket attack. And then we express our outrage at the liberal effort to blame Israel for the assault upon it before we take up the ouster of Liz Cheney from House leadership and what it portends about the Republican future and Donald... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up the catastrophic error made by the Centers for Disease Control in assessing the risk from outdoor transmission of COVID, as detailed by David Leonhardt in the New York Times. Then we go into the catastrophic error made by Joe Biden on pumping unemployment money into the economy, which he tried to correct on Monday. And then into the potentially catastrophic error made by... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast exults in what can only be called exit-velocity numbers about the pandemic and a shift in tone from the panjandra of the public-health community given the good news. Then we tell you the truth about what’s going on in Jerusalem before making fun of liberals trying to explain the reasons for the bad jobs report. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s podcast: Unfortunate job numbers—job creation expected to be around 1 million coming in at 266,000 instead—may be the perfect expression of how intrusive government policy in the form of direct unemployment benefits from the federal government are actually encouraging people to stay home rather than go out to work. More bad policy is in the potential offing through the infrastructure... Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden’s administration has inexplicably decided to abrogate the intellectual property rights of vaccine manufacturers to satisfy a fringe progressive demand. Why? And the New York Times has all but declared the pandemic behind us as vaccination rates in the U.S. crater. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The long knives are out for Liz Cheney within the GOP, but does ousting this meddlesome priest from her role in leadership really serve Republican interests ahead of the 2022 midterms? And Joe Biden supposedly revamps his vaccine strategy, but his statements make it plain that the administration has no idea what to do about declining demand for inoculations. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blue states like New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are following the leads set by Texas and Florida and racing to reopen, regardless of the Biden administration’s desires. Also, the census data showing that racial characteristics aren’t immutable—they can change over time—and why it shows how the theory of Intersectionality as an organizing principle is a dead end. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is wokeness creating anew the force Richard Nixon called the "silent majority"? And why are fully vaccinated people still wearing masks after the CDC said they don't have to? And what about Andrew Yang? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Joe Biden, wearing a mask even if you’re fully vaccinated and everyone around you is fully vaccinated, is now patriotic. But is patriotism so conditional? Also, how Republicans become culture warriors when they notice Democratic culture-warring, and the effort to disenfranchise minority children in the name of “equity.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden made a lot of promises in last night’s semi-State of the Union address, most of which involved spending vast sums of money. But will this promissory note that is unlikely to materialize in the real world energize Democratic voters as much as it drives Republicans to the polls in opposition? Also, Sen. Tim Scott’s clever and impressive rebuttal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their long-anticipated masking guidelines for the fully vaccinated and it turns out that your privileges are… functionally indistinct from those afforded the unvaccinated. If anyone is still listening to this agency, it isn’t the people public health officials need to reach. Also, Human Rights Watch’s embarrassingly unconvincing allegations against Israel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast discusses a heartening display of defiance in France to protest the unjust verdict rendered in the anti-Semitic murder of Sarah Halimi, which further reinforces the case for Zionism. Also, the racial condescension on display among progressives who heap scorn on white vaccine holdouts but handle skeptical minorities with kid gloves. And finally, countering the narrative that Joe Biden is no culture warrior. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast discusses what it means that the Oscars were so badly executed, whether we're about to be released from having to wear masks outside, and what John Kerry told the Iranians that should have him hauled up before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast takes up Joe Biden's determination to cut carbon emissions in half in nine years and what such a ludicrous promise means politically. What does it tell us about what he thinks his job as president is and what he wants the history books to say about him? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COMMENTARY gang expresses its shock and disbelief at the ability of liberals and the Biden White House to disregard the unmistakable evidence in the police shooting in Columbus, Ohio in favor of their preferred narrative about how cops are systemically racist—and how they might be giving birth to an "Enough Already" Party. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A jury of 12 peers listened to the evidence and rendered a verdict. Before the verdict, the jury's impartiality was questioned by the Left. After, it's being questioned by the Right. And what of the efforts to turn a shooting in Columbus, Ohio, into a new George Floyd case? And what of the vaccination numbers slowing way down? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first COMMENTARY podcast in 14 months with three regulars in our podcast studio at our New York offices! Is normalcy returning? Ehhh.... not really. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does Rep. Maxine Waters get to call for "confrontation" in case the verdict in the George Floyd case doesn't go the way she wants? Shouldn't she be named and shamed? Or is that just to be left to liberal reporters who get to pick and choose who's named and shamed? And here's one for you: Why aren't Fauci et. al. naming and shaming the Americans who won't get the vaccine? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is inflation coming? The answer is "yes," but the experts are saying not to panic. Really? Ever lived through an inflationary spiral? We discuss that, the refusal to distribute conservative books, and the media's refusal to hold itself accountable for false stories about "Russian bounties on American soldiers." Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our friend Yuval Levin joins the podcast today to talk about Democratic House members moving to pack the Supreme Court and pushing an extreme agenda in general—what's going on there? And what on earth is happening with a United States Ambassador to the United Nations attacking... the United States? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bloomberg View columnist Eli Lake joins the podcast today to discuss Joe Biden’s plan for withdrawing all NATO forces from Afghanistan on, of all dates, the twentieth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. What are they thinking? Also, the fallout from the decision to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James B. Meigs joins the podcast today to discuss the news that the FDA and CDC have "paused" the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and what it might mean. We also discuss infrastructure bills and polling misses. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eliana Johnson of the Washington Free Beacon joins the podcast today to discuss the recent shooting near her hometown of Minneapolis, the worry about the South African variant, and how liberals are reacting to the degrading of the Iran nuclear program. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast looks at the media coverage of the murder trial of police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis with the clear suggestion that the full story of what is going on in the courtroom is not being made clear enough to the American people. And will moderate Democrats hold Joe Biden accountable for moving farther to the Left than he suggested he would during the campaign? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On guns, illegal immigration, and schooling, Democrats from Joe Biden to Stacey Abrams to Andrew Cuomo to Randi Weingarten are pushing policy prescriptions and spending that seem entirely out of whatever the political center is. Will they pay a price? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast takes up the moves by the Biden administration to reopen talks with Iran, as well as the evidence that the crime spike of 2020 was not about economic hardship but rather an offshoot of the war on the police. Also, what is the difference between voter depression and voter suppression? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The gang engages in a series of generalized rants about the class-based COVID theatrics to which some are more committed than others and Joe Biden’s transformative agenda, which he did not run on and for which no one voted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast takes up the outrageous “60 Minutes” effort to defame Gov. Ron DeSantis and the vaccine rollout in Florida before we go on extended rants about the way the success with the COVID vaccine is being twisted into a new crisis in general by a media determined to continue to force us into lockdown life. Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noah Rothman returns from vacation to help us make sense of the Biden administration’s claim we need trillions in “infrastructure” spending at a time when job creation is going through the roof and the American economy is about to soar. Also, what on earth is going on with Matt Gaetz? Give a listen. Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wilfred Reilly, author of this month’s COMMENTARY cover article, joins us to talk about “The Good News They Won’t Tell You About Race in America.” Give a listen! Source Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices