The Ricochet Podcast

Ricochet Founders® Peter Robinson and Rob Long take your questions (after they chat about current events for a few minutes). Thanks to everyone who chimed in with the great queries. We’ll do this again in a few months. Happy end of summer! Music from this week’s podcast: I’m Still Here by Follies (New Broadway Cast Recording) Yes, you should absolutely subscribe to this podcast. It helps! Source

This week, a special edition of the Ricochet Podcast. Peter Robinson and Rob Long (Lileks is cruising the Atlantic) are joined by The Weekly Standard’s Andrew Ferguson and the great P.J. O’Rourke. You’ll definitely want to check out P.J.’s new venture AmercianConsequences.com. As you would expect, this show a wide ranging ramble through the culture, but past and present, including but no limited... Source

Another busy week and to help us parse it, we enlist Ricochet Editor @jongabriel (not a member? Join Ricochet using the new ExJon leve1!) and guests Victor Davis Hanson and The Federalist’s Ben Domenech. We cover everything: the protests, the statues, and the firings. Listen! Music from this week’s podcast: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band (from The Last Waltz) The all new opening... Source

In our continuing effort to bring as much ideological balance to the flagship podcast, today we bring you Bill Bennett, host of The Bill Bennett Show (conveniently available right on this site) sitting in the Long Chair®. You’d think that would be enough, that we wouldn’t need to go even further in our quest to feature all sides of the movement. But no! We go even further with this week’s guest... Source

This week, our good pal Larry Kudlow sits in for the making-tv-great-again Rob Long. We’ve also got Henry Olsen, author of The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism who tell us what why Reagan’s greatest influence may have been Franklin Roosevelt, how The Great Communicator would’ve come down on the health care debate, and supposes who would have won in... Source

This week, we take something of a break from the rough and tumble of the news cycle and spend an hour chatting with our old friend, the great Harry Shearer (hit this link if you are one of the few unfamiliar with his work). We stalk some politics, we talk some media, we talk about Nixon (you must see Harry’s one man show Nixon’s The One immediately), we talk about comedy. Oh, just listen. Source

The President is on the record, the WSJ’s Bill McGurn talks about Charlie Gard, The Washington Post’s Bob Costa on the mood in DC, @Lileks ponders Russian history, Long wonders who’s going to get fired, and Robinson has one last question. Or three. Music from this week’s podcast: Charlie Don’t Surf by The Clash The all new opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by... Source

On the Ricochet Podcast, we go to great lengths to provide breadth and depth in covering the news of the day. Where else can you hear incisive legal analysis from John Yoo and great social commentary and levity from Pat Sajak? Nowhere else, that’s for sure. We give some free legal advice to those in need, talk about walls (those that were torn down and those yet to be built)... Source

We were going to take this week off, but the opportunity to do a special holiday weekend edition of the Ricochet Podcast with just The Founders *and James Lileks, of course) proved to be too tempting. The guys talk about Presidential tweets, what to do about health care, what they like to do on the 4th, and life in the ten years since the iPhone debuted. Enjoy the weekend, everyone. Source

Summer’s here and that means vacations and that means….guest hosts! Today, Peter Robinson teams up with our podcasting colleagues at The Weekly Standard, Steve Hayes and Fred Barnes. They talk about Georgia’s 6th district race, and of course the new health care bill now in front of the Senate. On the topic, we call on the most knowledgeable person we know on health care law, Avik Roy. Also... Source

Another busy week with much to talk about and to help out we’ve got (along with @jongabriel sitting in for Rob Long) the great Yuval Levin and Adam Carolla. Yuval schools us on the rumors that the President will fire Robert Mueller and the black box that is the Congressional Budget Office, and Adam stops by to talk about his upcoming film the Dennis Prager ( they’re raising money to underwrite it... Source

Long Parkcasting We’re all over the globe physically and all over the map topically this week as we cover the British elections with our guests Toby Young from The Spectator (read his take on the election here) and we’ve got the great Andrew McCarthy on Comey, the NSA, and Trump’s legal conundrums. Also, Rob is in a park in London. Yes, in a park. Now, that’s devotion. Music from this week’s... Source

The hard thing about producing a weekly podcast is coming up with relevant topics to talk about. Nothing ever happens in this boring administration we’ve elected. Yawn. This week, we’ve got Pat Buchanan (you must buy his new book Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever) who weighs in on those endless Nixon/Trump comparisons... Source

Bodyslamming, Trump in Europe, the great Mollie Hemingway (you are hereby ordered to buy her new Encounter Broadside Trump vs. The Media right now), the lies we tell ourselves about terrorism (thanks John Kluge), and Peter Robinson once hung out with Roger Moore. No, we didn’t know that either. Happy summer, everyone. Music from this week’s podcast: Nobody Does It Better (The Spy Who Loved Me) by... Source

Another slow news week…yawn. Uh, no. With so much to talk about, we present another super-sized Ricochet Podcast clocking in at just under 90 minutes. We’ve got our pal David French, who wants us to Stop Making Terrible Arguments for Blind Loyalty. That’s followed by two Ricochet members (that’d be Robert McReynolds and Max Ledoux) who wants us to give the President the benefit of the doubt at... Source

It’s never a dull moment with the Trump administration and to parse everything that happened this week, we call on our good friend, former podcaster, and the newly minted host of Washington Week In Review Bob Costa. After that, we take a look back at the 2016 race with Jonathan Allen, co-author of Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign. Also, taping, vaping, and narrative shaping. Source

Never let it be said that the Ricochet Podcast does not scour the world looking for the best guests and conversation to elucidate the issues of the day and make you muy contento. This week, we’ve got Senator Ben Sasse direct from the backroads of Nebraska talking about his new must-read book The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis–and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance. Source

We’re a man down this week, as James Lileks is in Reno (no, he did not a shoot a man there just to watch him die), but we have lots to talk about and two great guests to discuss it all with. Our old pal David Limbaugh returns to give us insight into his new book The True Jesus: Uncovering the Divinity of Christ in The Gospels. It’s a fascinating book in which David combines the four Gospel stories... Source

We’ve got Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance here to talk about investing in startups in the midwest. We’ve got The Factor on permanent hiatus. We’ve got terrorists in France trying their best to influence an election. And we’ve got some unlikely dinner guests in the White House. What have you got? Are you a podcast listener who’s not a Ricochet member? We’ve got a special offer for you — join... Source

Another Saturday edition of the Ricochet Podcast with a super-sized running time and a legendary guest: The Podfather himself, Norman Podhoretz, whose seminal book Making It has just been re-released to mark its 50th anniversary. We talk about the book, and about the world, both past and present. Also, in-fighting at the White House, North Korea saber rattling, and what was your first concert? Source

We’re all over the globe for this show: Mexico, North Korea, the Middle East, the well of the Senate, and more. That’s in part due to the news cycle but mostly due to our great guests, the WSJ’s Bret Stephens, and the EPCC’s and National Review’s Ed Whalen. We talk military action, diplomacy, nukes (both parliamentary and real), filibusters, and more. Also, what was the deal with that Pepsi ad? Source

It’s a special Saturday edition of the Ricochet Podcast, and it’s special not only because of the day (April Fool’s Day!), but because we get to welcome back our regulate host, TV’s Rob Long. We cover the all the news of the past six months, Peter’s quest to buy a new TV, what it’s like to take over a network TV show in mid-season, take some questions from the chat room and from the Member Feed... Source

Yep, it’s another super busy week (and day), but as tempted as we were to cover the breaking news as it happens, we decided to take a step back and invite our good friend Rod Dreher on to discuss his new book The Benedict Option. Along with regular guest host Larry Kudlow, we get into the weeds on the the future of Christianity, faith, and the authority of Scripture and the wisdom of the ancient... Source

Yeah, yeah, there was an election earlier this week, but we’re all past that now. What will the first 100 days of the Trump administration look like? For that we (along with guest host Mona Charen) turn to the great Larry Kudlow, who has been a Trump supporter and advisor since the beginning of the campaign. Who will be, who will be out, what policies will be advocated, we cover it all. Also... Source

Another week, another show in which gab and you listen. This week, our guests are two world class gabbers: The Hoover Institution’s Bill Whalen stops by to discuss the state of the race, and some predictions for the next 55 days. Then, author and Ricochet Podcast Super Fan Tevi Troy Skypes in to chat about his new book Shall We Wake the President?: Two Centuries of Disaster Management from the... Source

This week, we’re lucky to be joined by the great Dr. Thomas Sowell, (buy his newly revised classic book Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective). The good doctor schools us on economics, school choice, and a particularly vivid metaphor for the current election cycle. Spoiler alert: those who fear flying may want to have their thumb on the 30 second skip button for that part of... Source

Let it never be said that this show does not go out of its way to present all points of view on the issues. This week, not one, but two guests from the pro-Trump side of the aisle. First up, Heather Higgins, whose post My Money Is on a Trump Victory has been quoted far and wide. Will she be able to convince the non-Trump supporting podcasters on this show to support the Republican nominee for... Source

This week, another fair and balanced podcast we bring you quixotic Presidential candidate Evan McMullin. His campaign is a long shot, but his qualifications and demeanor are beyond reproach. Later, the WSJ’s Bill McGurn joins the show. Among the members of the WSJ Opinion Page, Bill is the only pro-Trump columnist and he makes the case for his candidate in his typical straight down the middle of... Source

This week, author and Manhattan Institute fellow Heather Mac Donald joins the show to discuss her important new book, The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe. Also, Paul Manafort exits, auto promotion and Ricochet’s editorial voice (or lack of one), and a heartfelt “bye-bye!” to John McLaughlin, who’s long running show, The McLaughlin Group is a distant... Source

This week, Hillsdale President Dr. Larry Arnn stops by to make the intellectual and academic argument for Donald Trump (h/t to Ricochet member @rushbabe49 for her post This Might Change some Minds on the Election). Can the good doctor sway @roblong, the resident #NeverTrump representative on this podcast, into voting for the Republican nominee? The answer lies within. Public service announcement... Source

A few times a year, we banish the guests and open the floor you, our cherished members. And you didn’t let us down — dozens of great questions were submitted. Thanks for participating. We’ll do this again after the election. P.S. If you’re not a member, you’re really missing out. Do the right thing for yourself, your country, and for us and JOIN TODAY. Music from this week’s podcast: What Have I... Source

We open with some thoughts on the just concluded Democratic convention, and then segue into our guest, Avik Roy. His interview with Vox has been discussed extensively on Ricochet, and we give him the full court Ricochet Podcast press. Is the GOP on life support as Avik suggests and can be saved? Or, is everything just fine, and the party should stay the course? We delve into all of that with Roy... Source

The moment we’ve been preparing for all year finally arrived this week: Donald J. Trump is the Republican Party’s nominee for President of The United States. With the help of the Washington Post’s ace political reporter Bob Costa, we break down the whole week, from the family member speeches, Ted Cruz’s speech, Trump’s own speech ( and Peter Robinson’s brush with the Trump campaign)... Source

This week, Lileks is on vacation so we asked our good friend Larry Kudlow to sit in his chair as we welcome the Manhattan Institute’s and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley to the show to discuss the events of the last week. Yes, we also cover the presumptive nominee, and Larry makes a valiant effort to convince one of the hosts to support his candidate. Was Larry successful? Source

This week, we take a little break from politics to bring you one of our favorite people — writer/director Whit Stillman, who’s new movie Love & Friendship is in theaters now. We talk Jane Austen (the movie is based on Austen’s novella Lady Susan), his writing process, and some of Stillman’s favorite films. Then, Charles C.W. Cooke, newly minted National Review Online Editor (and co-host of the... Source

There’s a sit-in in the House, and the Emperor has no money. Seems like old times, except for the fact that we invited Twitter-famous Sonny Bunch to sit in for the traveling Peter Robinson. In addition to the fore-mentioned topics, in this completely Member Feed inspired show, the guys cover Gaius’ post A Thought Experiment: Inspired by Sen. Rubio, Robert Zubrin’s Campaign Launched to Free the... Source

This week, a debate about guns, some inside dope about Trump, courtesy of the great Byron York, one final conversation about Brexit compliments of the ever brash James Delingpole, and the complexities of giving up the thing you know. Music from this week’s episode: Happiness Is A Warm Gun by The Beatles The brand new opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James... Source

Another momentous week calls for a momentous podcast with Ricochet Editor-In-Chief Jon Gabriel sitting in for Rob Long. We’ve got Washington Post political correspondent Bob Costa on Trump and Bezos, and almost independent Presidential candidate David French, who clues us in on what might have been. Finally, some thoughts about The Greatest, Muhammad Ali. RIP. Music from this week’s episode: The... Source

It’s another Super-Sized edition of the Ricochet Podcast (1 hour and 20 minutes!) and we’re all over the map and all over the news to bring you very best in podcast punditry. First up, the great George Gilder (his new book The Scandal of Money: Why Wall Street Recovers but the Economy Never Does is a must read) stops by to talk about why conservatives have such a hard time winning the economic... Source

We recorded this one yesterday in New York City, and due to travel and other issues, we’re posting it now. We talk Trump, the now official Republican nominee, get the inside scoop on that Facebook meeting from our guest Brent Bozell, and a theory about Joe Biden. Yes, Joe Biden. Finally, what’s Peter Robinson’s favorite Bob Dylan lyric? The answer may surprise you (it surprised us). Happy summer... Source

This week, we present a super-sized edition of the Ricochet Podcast (75 minutes plus of thoughtful jabbering!) where within, we attempt to answer a few burning questions: First, is Peter Robinson in the tank for Trump? Rob Long and James Lileks investigate. Then, Tevi Troy stops by to opine on his recent Politico piece, How GOP Intellectuals’ Feud With the Base Is Remaking U.S. Politics. Then... Source

As we adapt to a world where Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for President, we figured we ought book some very grounded guests for this week’s show. So listen in as we welcome Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Governor has a new book, Broken But Unbowed: The Fight to Fix a Broken America. We also discuss bathrooms and his good friend Ted Cruz’s plans for the future. Then, The Weekly Standard’... Source

One of the nice things about being the Top Conservative Podcast is that we get to have the coolest and smartest people on the right stop by to chat. Case in point this week as we welcome two of the biggest brains on the right, Yuval Levin and Dr. Thomas Sowell. Yuval’s WSJ essay The Next Conservative Movement is a must read, and while you’re at it, order his forthcoming book The Fractured... Source

It’s not often that a news story breaks while we’re recording the podcast, but that’s exactly what happened today. We started off talking politics with Bill Kristol and Michael Barone (the former on #NeverTrump and the possibility of a third party and the latter on the now very important California primary and Michael’s WSJ piece “Trump Can’t Break the Republican Party”) and wound up discussing... Source

A little more than 6 years ago on a rainy day in the back room of a bungalow in Venice, California, we recorded the first Ricochet Podcast on an old school MacBook. The cast has changed slightly since then, but through one and a half Presidential cycles, two mid-terms, countless culture wars, good guests, bad guests, Skype glitches, and even bad weather, we have persevered. So it’s with great... Source

This week, some insight into the TV viewing habits of your favorite podcasters, followed by the very smart opinions of Wall Street Journal Opinion Page Editor Bret Stephens. Then, #NeverTrump progenitor and founder of The Resurgent Erick Erickson stops by to make the case (as if we needed the help) as to why Trump cannot be allowed to win the White House. Also, Lazy_Millennial‘s post Bernie: The... Source

Well, it’s another week that we must bring you yet another sobering meditation on the state of the Grand Old Party. Today, the Wall Street Journal’s Dan Henninger stops by to discuss his recent column Obama’s Greatest Triumph (it’s paywalled, but the gist is that The president is “is now close to destroying his political enemies—the Republican Party, the American conservative movement and the... Source

Another week, another set of brand name guests to debate the issues of the day. This week, first up is Karl Rove who stops by the discuss his terrific new book, The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters. How is an election held a 120 years ago relevant today. “The Architect” spills the beans. Then, our old friend David Limbaugh (AKA El Rushbro) cruises by to educate... Source

This week, we bring you two very different views of the current state of the Republican Party courtesy of two of the smartest observers we could find. First, former RNC chair and Mississippi governor Haley Barbour stops by to remind us to be adults and remember that Donald Trump will be a better president than Hillary Clinton. But later, the great Charles Murray (read his incredible essay “Trump’s... Source

This week’s podcast is a large as the plains that our guest, Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) hails from. We go from Trump, to party loyalties, to Rubio vs. Cruz, to remembering Nancy Reagan, Camille Paglia, and more. With the Senator, we delve into his very public argument against Donald Trump as the party standard bearer, why he’s a conservative, and the upcoming battle over the next Supreme Court... Source