The Ricochet Podcast

What can we say? Frustration has a way of concentrating the mind, and this week we’ve got one word: Afghanistan. Victor Davis Hanson joins us to talk about our absurd administration and its pathetic priorities. Then national security correspondent Eli Lake joins us to speak on the Taliban, Biden’s “return to normal” on the world stage and his moral illiteracy. The fellas also have a chance to muse... Source

Do you follow the science? Do you have an aversion to the scolds who routinely declare code reds for humanity? Perhaps you’re being driven to despair. But we at Ricochet hope to see you flourish, we want to see you b(j)orn again! Our guest this week is the absorbingly optimistic Bjørn Lomborg, exactly the man to set us straight on the U.N. climate report and the cataclysmic media circus that’s... Source

Peter’s out this week, so it’s a Lileks and Long show. But we wouldn’t want to be without a Hoover man. Our guest is Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, whose decades of service in the Middle East make him the perfect man to help us make what little sense we can of the hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan. (And be sure to check out his piece in the Wall Street Journal.) The guys also wonder about... Source

A dizzying week calls for steady remedies. We’ve got the great Larry Elder, who’s hoping to save his home state by taking on Gavin Newsom in California’s upcoming recall election. Next, we bring back our pal Dr. Jay Bhattacharya since CoViD wants to stay in the news. Should the Delta variant motivate you to encase yourself in plastic wrap before leaving the house? You’ll have to listen to find out. Source

This week we’ve got old friends as guests: The Discovery Institute’s Dr. Stephen Meyer joins to remind us that the God hypothesis gets us a lot further than alien astronauts. (Check out his excellent New York Post piece.) And then our own Dr. George Savage follows to speak about the new ominous Delta variant, and to point out that industrial policy is better left to innovators rather than... Source

The Founders™ are on their own this week, but even on a James-less week, the show must go on! First up, Rob and Peter discuss the tumult in Cuba, along with their personal attachments to our tragic seaside neighbor. Then, journalist David Adler joins as their guest to make his case on the particular triumph of Operation Warp Speed. His article for American Affairs Journal is a deep dive on the... Source

Ok. We know you’re bummed. There’s no R> Podcast this week because we decided to take the Fourth of July holiday on the backend this year. But don’t despair. Because James Lileks is The Hardest Working Man in Show Bidness™ he still showed up to do his part for this week’s edition of The Best of Ricochet on the Radio America Network (“Check Local Listings,” as the man says…) and is bringing the... Source

To kick off a great Fourth of July Weekend we’ll need firecrackers, but, of course, only with adult supervision. For the former, we’ve got John Yoo filling in for Rob and Charles C.W. Cooke as our first guest – for the latter, Mr. Bill McGurn. To start, Peter and James get to pick Yoo’s brain on a few of the recent Supreme Court decisions along with Bill Cosby’s release. Then Charlie gives an ode... Source

We’re rollin’ in the dough this week with a double dip of interesting business talk. First up are Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann of The Wall Street Journal who look at the rise and fall of one of America’s iconic companies. In Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric, Gryta and Mann lay out the consequences that came from believing in the mythology GE created for itself. Source

They asked for an honest conversation on race, right? Enter this week’s guest Charles Murray, author most recently of Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America. He and guys jostle on this most sensitive of subjects, but do so with the kind of generosity you can only find on Ricochet (We let things be too chummy around here!) Rob, Peter and James also get into the G7 and a rudderless Biden... Source

We’ve got another Happy Hour show this week! (If you haven’t heard, we like Happy Hour.) And who better to spend it with than our very own members? Rob, Peter and James field questions from the men and women who make Ricochet the best “place” for civil conversation and debate. So grab your favorite cocktail, beer or wine and enjoy another episode from the website whose biggest problem is that we... Source

What can we say? We enjoy a good time on Ricochet, and today’s episode is no exception. After slogging through Fauci emails, the guys get to chat with London’s honorable firebrand, Laurence Fox. He goes over the silver lining of his lost bid for mayor, and his future as an actor-turned-outspoken-conservative. Then Rob and James muse over a piece in The Atlantic on America’s drinking problem... Source

If your for seeking out the good amid the darkness these days, this episode’s for you. The doctors are in! And while the prognosis ain’t great, we’re gonna do what we can! First up is our friend Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who keeps us up to date on all things CoViD. Then we’re joined by Glenn Loury, the legendary Professor of Economics at Brown University and also the creator of one of America’s most... Source

We start this week easy as one of our hosts reports from wonderfully peculiar city of New Orleans. Then Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) joins to discuss the coming cyberwars and he and James exchange words about football. Then Zachary Karabell joins to talk about his newest book: Inside Money: Brown Brother’s Harriman and the American Way of Power, a history of the legendary private investment... Source

Who says we don’t break news on this show? The whole gang is back this week, and they’re joined by National Review’s senior political correspondent, Jim Geraghty for a long chat on Republicans leaving the party, fealty to you-know-who, and an update on Wuhan lab theories. Then, Elliot Abrams, who’s most recently served as President Trump’s Special Representative to Venezuela and Iran... Source

Rob’s out in an interview with Greg Gutfield, so it’s just Peter and James this week. Even so we’ve got a packed podcast-full of wonders and terrors. First up is Niall Ferguson to discuss his brand new book, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe. He and the hosts explore our fascination with disaster. (Be sure to catch his interview with Peter on Uncommon Knowledge as well!) Then they’re joined by... Source

We’ve got a packed, super-sized show for you this week, so let’s get right to it: first up (right at the top of the show), tech columnist Benedict Evans who takes us through the Facebook v. Apple privacy controversy and explains why Apple may not have the moral high ground they think they do. Then, Grace Church High School math teacher Paul Rossi (you must read the article he wrote for our friend... Source

There’s a lot at stake in this week’s jam-packed podcast. First up we’ve got Byron York (he of the Byron York Show on this very network) to update us on the administration that sees crises everywhere – except for the one at the border. Then the hosts get to chat with Andrew Gutmann, the New York parent who made waves recently for a publicized letter excoriating the fancy Brearly School for... Source

Rob Long returns this week – meaning we’re back to business. We’re joined by Harmeet Dhillon to discuss her upcoming legal battle with Twitter, representing James O’Keefe of Project Veritas, along with the many she’s fought over the last year against Gavin Newsom. Then we’ve got Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies to discuss the latest developments on our border crisis. Also... Source

We recorded this one on Friday evening, which is the reason most of you are receiving it on Saturday. We’re sorry about that, but to make up for it, we cast around for the perfect ensemble and we think we nailed it: Steve Hayward, John Yoo, and Erick Erickson. The latter joins to give us the lowdown on all of the politics in Georgia, which he knows better than anyone. After that, it’s a bit of an... Source

This week, we start in California, which is the subject of two piece published by The Founders in the current issue of National Review. Then, all the way from South Africa, COVID sceptic Nick Hudson, CEO of PANDA, a collective of leading scientists, actuaries, economists, data scientists, statisticians, medical professionals, lawyers, engineers and businesspeople working as a collective to replace... Source

We’re late –really late– so we’re going to make this brief: we’ve got our old friend Mickey Kaus to talk about Biden’s immigration policy, California politics, and other assorted ephemera, and we’ve got Mary Eberstadt on her book Primal Screams:How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics. We also punditize (yes, we just invented that word) Biden’s press conference, and debate what city... Source

This week, in an unparalleled act of commitment, we persisted and Naomi Wolf is our guest this week. It’s a fascinating, surprising, and yes, hopeful conversation and we’re very grateful she agreed to join us. But see what you think. Then, the delightful Deb Saunders –on hiatus from covering the White House– joins us to talk about how the current White House is covered vs. the last one and the... Source

Hello, Ricochet Podcast listeners This is a special preview of Rob Long’s weekly commentary podcast Martini Shot. To subscribe to the show, search for “Rob Long Martini Shot” on your favorite podcast platform or go to MartiniShotPodcast.com and click on the subscribe links. In this episode, Rob is re-reading David Allen’s “Getting Things Done,” but it’s not working out so well. Source

This week, Ricochet editor and podcaster to the stars Troy Senik stops by to talk about his new venture, Kite and Key Media, which produces explainers about issues in the news. So you could argue that this show is an explainer about explainers, but we are not going to be that meta. We also delve into the news of the day, including good governors and bad, what the heck is going on with President... Source

This week, Steve Hayward sits in for Rob (just a scheduling issue, not a Big Trip) and we’ve got British free speech advocate Laurence Fox and our good and very smart friend Dr. Jay Bhattacharya back to give some advice and comment on the state’s emerging plans to re-open. Also, a recent survey has some surprising results and Steve and Peter defend a maligned movie. Music from this week’s show... Source

This week, we go it alone. And by that we mean no guest, just our guys performing some Rank Punditry® on the news of the day, energy on Texas, WandaVision (well, James tries to talk about it), Rob’s recently completed trip to Kenya, Peter’s sojourn in Wyoming, and various other personal and political points of interest. We’ve also got new Lileks Post of The Week, courtesy of David Foster (our... Source

This week, we’ve got Powerline’s Steve Hayward sitting in for Rob Long ( who’s busy being lionized) as we bid a sad so long to Conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh. Then, Ayaan Hirsi Ali stops by to discuss her new book Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights. Also, be sure to visit her new website and subscribe to her new podcast. Also, Ted Cruz defies The Wall and goes to... Source

This week, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) –soon to be Citizen Portman– stops by to discuss impeachment, working with the Biden administration (or not as the case may be), his plans for the future, why he decided to throw in the towel in terms of the Senate, and yes, how this year’s popcorn crop is looking at his farm in Ohio. Also, Rob Long is going on safari (really!), Peter Robinson is looking... Source

This week, Jason Riley stops by to talk about his new documentary, Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World, which aside from being great, is also free to stream on YouTube. So the second you finish this podcast, we expect you will watch it. But before we get to Jason, we visit with Steve Krakauer, who writes the must-read Fourth Watch newsletter about all things media. Source

This week, Robin Hood is back, and this time he’s running a Wall Street retail brokerage firm. But the whole “take from the rich, give (or more accurately, keep) for the (relatively) poor” thing is still in effect. To discuss, we’ve got WSJ columnist Gerard Baker who explains and opines on it. Then our favorite Congressional correspondent on the planet, the Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio... Source

Settle in folks, this is a long one (and not in the Rob sense of the word). First up, Powerline’s Steve Hayward (and the host of the Powerline Podcast available on the Ricochet Audio Network) drops by to discuss the inauguration and preview the Biden administration. Then, a segment we have been looking forward to for a long time. Avi Loeb is a Professor of Science at Harvard University and the... Source

Another in a seemingly endless series of very busy weeks but we’ve got you covered. First up: The Oracle himself, Governor Haley Barbour. He’s got a perspective of 50 years in politics, so we thought we have him on to see what he thinks of the last few months. Prepared to get schooled. Then, as freedom of speech on digital platforms –like the one you’re reading right now– is now one of the most... Source

We discuss the events of the week, we talk to AEI’s Yuval Levin about leadership in a populist age and Andy McCarthy about the 25th Amendment and pardons. One of our hosts is dealing with a medical issue which he discusses here and in some members only content with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (available here). Keep calm, carry on, and be nice to each other. This too shall pass. Source

Last one of the year, people. And what a year it’s been; but hey, let’s not get into that now. To help us put a bow on 2020, we asked our official election law analyst, John Yoo to stop by to delve into the latest suits filed and what options are left (hie National Review piece published earlier this week worth reading before you listen to his segment). Then, we wanted to end things on a happy... Source

This week on the Big Show, one guest: John O’Sullivan. We booked him to fact check this season of Netflix’s The Crown as he was a speechwriter for Margaret Thatcher and was a witness to much of what occurred in the show (and what didn’t). But that wasn’t the only topic we covered with John. We also had a long and shall we say lively conversation about the Trump legal team’s efforts to overturn the... Source

We’re back from the holiday break and have Georgia on our minds. As such we welcome Erick Erickson, host of “Atlanta’s Evening News” on WSB AM/FM, and he joins to us to analyze “suitcase-gate” and give us his take on January’s double US Senate election in the Peach State. (Erick’s podcast is available right here on Ricochet.) Then we talk to old friend Dr. Jay Bhattacharya... Source

Two weeks after the election and we’re still deep into re-counts, ballot challenges, and other legal machinations. To help us sort it all out, we asked Powerline’s Steve Hayward to sit in for Rob Long and (as John Lennon famously said) give us some truth. And to give us even more truth, we welcome Sean Trende , Real Clear Politic’s Senior Elections Analyst. He takes us through many of the legal... Source

This week, John Yoo, the Ricochet Podcast Senior Election Fraud Analyst and the Joan and Ray Kroc McRib Scholar at Hamburger University sits in for Peter Robinson and kicks the show off with a deep dive on where we stand with all of the current court cases and challenges around the election. Then, Avik Roy (listen to his American Wonk/COVID in 19 podcast right here on Ricochet) stops by to science... Source

Is it the dawning of a new era or are we continuing the one we’re already in? The answer was not clear when we assembled today at 9AM Pacific Time (the best time zone, as everyone knows), but we do our best to pundit all of the facts we knew when we rolled tape clicked record. But before we start that, Rob Long has a statement he’d like to make. And Peter Robinson has some thoughts on why the race... Source

This is it, folks — the last Ricochet Podcast prior to the 2020 election. What a long strange trip it’s been (no, that is not the closing song, but we thought about it). To wrap this election season up, we give you another in a series of spirited debates between The Founders® –that’s Peter Robinson and Rob Long for you newbies– in which James Lileks once again tries to be moderator/peacemaker. We’... Source

As you may be aware, we had a Presidential debate last night. The President did well, we all agree on that. Will it move the polls? Do the polls matter? We discuss. Then, Hoover’s Shelby Steele and his filmmaker son Eli Steele have made What Killed Michael Brown, a provocative new documentary about race and the impact of the events in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The film is streaming on Amazon... Source

We’ve got some debates town halls to cover, we’ve got a good old fashioned social media shadow banning scandal, Joe Biden’s son is bad at influence peddling, we had a Supreme Court nominee sail through her hearing, and we get into the nitty gritty on the 1619 Project. But most importantly, we spend some quality time with Kim Strassel, she of the Wall Street Journal, and one of the most ardent... Source

With a little over three weeks to go before the election, we thought it would a good time to have a heart to heart discussion with our good friend Victor Davis Hanson. the Classics professor, the military historian, the farmer, the cultural observer, and the author of The Case For Trump, his best selling book that came out in 2017 and was re-issued earlier this year. It’s the most cogent case we’... Source

We know you like it when the hosts get into it and we know you like it when one of them gets triggered by a certain Chief Executive. So –no spoilers!– we think you’ll enjoy the opening segment of today’s Big Show. But stick around, because we want to introduce you to two members of the media we think you ought to be aware of. First up: Alex Berenson, once a card carrying member of the elite media... Source

The news cycle these days is crushing — warping time upon itself like a black hole. So how does America’s Most Balanced Podcast® respond? By booking a third guest, of course. On today’s lineup, we’ve got Casey Mattox;the Vice President for Legal and Judicial Strategy at Americans for Prosperity, a group dedicated to (among other things), getting Amy Coney Barrett through the nomination process. Source

Another jam packed week means another jam packed show: We’ve got the Ricochet Podcast’s Senior Court Packing and Confirmation Correspondent, John Yoo to help us sort out the coming SCOTUS confirmation hearings, and we’ve got Lt. General H.R. McMaster, U.S. Army, ret. to talk about his new book, Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World. Also, a Ricochet Podcast Presidential Debate Preview... Source

This week on America’s Most Benevolent Podcast®, another super-sized episode. First up, the Middle East is breaking out in…peace. That’s good, right? Well, depends who you ask. We discuss. Then, our good pal Dr. Jay Bhattacharya joins to bring us up to speed on the coming vaccine, the (very treacherous) intersection of politics and medicine, whether or not the lockdown was a mistake, and more. Source

This week, the rare single guest show. But when that guest is Senator Ben Sasse, he has enough brain power to fill two segments and that’s exactly what the does on today’s episode. Mostly, we discuss his WSJ Op-Ed, Make The Senate Great Again, which is a manifesto on how to fix the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body. Also, some thoughts on Woodward v. Trump and the less than great mayor of the... Source

Well, it’s crunch time now: we’re into the final lap of the election and things are going to be intense for the next 8 weeks or so. But first, some personal business: one of our intrepid cast is sending his youngest child off to college. Is his purpose in life now over? We discuss. Then Mr. Flight 93 himself, Michael Anton joins to discuss his new book, The Stakes: America at the Point of No... Source