So much of what's been going on in this country seems performative and almost cinematic that we might need to consider how much Hollywood and pop-culture fantasy in general is leaching into our reality. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

Jonathan Schanzer joins the podcast to discuss the remarkable events unfolding in Iran, with the nation possibly in full-scale revolt against its barbaric regime. And I take exception to some mail we've been getting about the goings-on in Minnesota. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

The split-second confrontation between ICE officers and a woman driving a car that appeared to aim at one of them, leading to her death, threatens yet another unraveling of the American civilizational thread. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

Why is Mrs. Stephen Miller promoting the views of Jenny McCarthy—and what does it mean that the Trump administration is so intimate with the world of right-wing podcasting? What does it mean that former Trump official Dan Bongino is returning to the podcast airwaves in full attack mode against the Tucker Carlson podcast wing? What does it mean that…

We note that the airwaves yesterday were filled with desperate efforts to distract from the Venezuela story by focusing instead on Greenland or the Epstein files. What's happening here? Could it be that this is the way the media are trying to protect their friends in politics? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch…

We begin with Venezuela, of course, but move on to the startling announcement by Tim Walz that he is not running for reelection as governor of Minnesota owing to the burgeoning fraud scandal there—a staggering fall for a man who was almost vice president. And who's coming up the pike? Why, it's Zohran Mamdani! Give a listen. Learn more about your a…

Donald Trump's decision to arrest Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a massive and brilliant kinetic military action may prove to have long-lasting political, ideological, and strategic ramifications of an almost unprecedented scale. That's what we talk about on this rare emergency edition. Happy New Year and give a listen! Learn mo…

Today, John returns to discuss the life of his father, Norman Podhoretz. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

Today, we discuss the life, work, and ideas of longtime COMMENTARY editor and intellectual giant Norman Podhoretz, who died yesterday at age 95. From there, we move on to the strange developments in the Brown University shooting investigation, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles's unusual interview with Vanity Fair, and the Trump administration …

Eli Lake joins the podcast to discuss "The Palestine Firsters," his lead article in the January issue of COMMENTARY. Why do Ben Rhodes and a cast of others on the left and right want America to work against its core interests by breaking the U.S.-Israel alliance? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

The attack on Bondi Beach is not an isolated incident; it's the export of the Islamist war against the Jews to areas far from Gaza. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

Is Trump losing the thread as we head into 2026? And what's this—secular saint Oliver Sacks, the man who brought empathy to discussions of human weakness, made a lot of stuff up? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

With the boarding and seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker, the United States's confrontation with Venezuela ascends to a higher level. What's going on? And why are Democrats making crazy commercials and going with crazy candidates for 2026? And why am I recommending a movie from 1946–It's a Wonderful Life—that everyone has already seen? Give a liste…

Eli Lake joins us for a conversation that begins with Christmas music and ends with man's search for meaning. Today's COMMENTARY RECOMMENDS: The Bible. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

Today's podcast tries to make sense out of the incoherent Trump administration posture toward China, AI chips, tariffs, farmers, and the economy. Also, Christine Rosen recommends Chip War by Chris Miller and Philip A. Wallach's Why Congress? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

A full house today takes up Pete Hegseth's speech on American defense and the national security strategy document released by the administration—Good? Bad? Ugly? And how about that New York Times story revealing the way the Biden administration self-destructed on immigration? Plus, I recommend (with the provisos that it's very very very long and ve…

Enough with the pomposity about gerrymandering—each party does it and the other one has a cow and then they switch positions and do it all over again. Latest example: Texas. Also, Tom Cotton defends the boat strike, JD Vance puts a "Golden Noel" label on an event celebrating a Jewish holiday, and we answer listener mail. Plus I recommend the hilari…

Is Pete Hegseth really in more trouble than he was last week? You'd think that from the network news, but it's probably wrong. Is anyone even watching network news? How about cable news? Or is everybody just listening to podcasts? We discuss these matters, and Trump's pardons, today, and Christine Rosen recommends a work of Japanese crime fiction c…

Jesse Arm of the Manhattan Institute joins us as we examine the results of the special election in Tennessee that had a Republican candidate winning with a greatly reduced margin from Trump's showing in the district in 2024. Arm then shares with us some pathbreaking research into attitudes and ideas inside the Trump electoral coalition. And Abe Gre…

Today we take up the New York Times and its implicit takedown of the Washington Post story claiming Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike in an attack on a drug-smuggling boat in September. Then we wonder what possible incentive the U.S. can offer Russia to take its "peace deal." And for today's COMMENTARY RECOMMENDS, I choose t…

Did the U.S. military commit a war crime with a strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, or is the story made up? What exactly is President Trump up to regarding Venezuela? How do we fix immigration and asylum policy so that Muslim immigrants are better assimilated? And what's the mood in Israel regarding Netanyahu's pardon request? We rai…

In this special post-Thanksgiving episode, I ask COMMENTARY's editor about everything from endless ideological fights to Israel's supposed information-war failure to his favorite TV show. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

Today we try to parse the game behind Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff coaching his Russian counterpart on how to win Trump's favor before moving on to Zohran Mamdani's repulsive transition team. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

Adam White joins the podcast today to discuss the latest developments in the legal controversies surrounding Donald Trump and his administration, from the Comey case to the tariffs at the Supreme Court. Also: Why is JD Vance complaining about the "Beltway GOP" when he is the crown prince of the Beltway GOP? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad c…

Jonathan Schanzer joins today to discuss the torrent of developments from Gaza to Ukraine, from Trump-Mamdani to Rubio vs. his former Senate colleagues, from Twitterbot foreign agents to Muslim Brotherhood terrorist designations. Wow! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Today's podcast takes up Zohran Mamdani's spokesman's appalling declaration that a meeting inside a synagogue about how to move to Israel was a violation of international law—in effect justifying an anti-Semitic demonstration outside it. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

As a genocidal protest breaks out in front of an Orthodox synagogue in New York City, elsewhere in the cultural capital, a books-awards group hands out garlands to explicitly anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic work. This continues a trend that is alienating readers and movie audiences and others—the wild politicization of forms of education and entertai…

We talk about the remarkable new relationship developing between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the remarkable developing hostility between the U.S. and Venezuela, and the remarkable breakup journalism of Olivia Nuzzi and Ryan Lizza. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

James B. Meigs joins us to talk about how scared, or not, we should be by AI. Also: What gives with NASA? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

James Kirchick joins the podcast to discuss his new COMMENTARY article, "Neither American nor Conservative," about the isolationists of the American Conservative throwing a tantrum over Donald Trump's muscular support for Israel. And what does it mean that the Heritage Foundation board member Robert P. George just resigned? Give a listen. Learn mor…

Today's podcast notes eerily similar stories in the New York Times and the Washington Post on Trump's supposed troubles with MAGA—leading us to ask, is there such a thing as MAGA without Trump or independent from Trump? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

With the shutdown over, it's time to ask the question: What do Democrats actually want? We can't quite figure it out but we try. Also, Epstein. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

Late-breaking news of communications relating to Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump provide us with a chance to talk about conspiracy theories and how Trump's deployment of them is biting him now with the continued questions relating to the now-dead half-billionaire sex criminal. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc…

Today's podcast begins with continuing fallout from the end of the shutdown before moving on to worrying signs that President Trump doesn't understand how he sounds when he talks about the economy—and what he could do to sound better. Also, we're supposed to feel sorry for Hamas murderers trapped in their own tunnels? Seriously? Give a listen. Lear…

The government shutdown appears to be reaching its end, and that's because eight non-Democratic senators have effectively agreed to the deal that Republicans put on the table before the shutdown began. What went on here? And why is Trump now offering 2 grand to taxpayers as a "tariff bonus"? And, most deliciously, we explore the collapse of the BBC…

The freakout online at the suggestion that maybe Gentiles working at the Heritage Foundation might want to eat a Shabbat dinner at the home of a Jewish person really gave the game away this week–and not in a good way. Is this a game that Jews should even attempt to play? And is there really any way for conservatives to "educate" or "coopt" those wh…

Christine Rosen, Eli Lake, and I talk about the drama of yesterday's Heritage Foundation meeting, during which Kevin Roberts took another shot at apologizing and staffers in turn aired their outrage, support, and anti-Israel animus. And Christine and Eli make a bunch of Gen-X cultural references that I should get but don't. Give a listen. Learn mor…

In yesterday's elections, the Republicans took what John calls both a thumping and a shellacking. Donald Trump wasn't on the ballot, but he was on voters' minds. What are the Republicans to do? And what does the election of Zohran Mamdani herald for the country? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

California, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City all have potentially game-changing elections today and we break them down rather than having a breakdown, which will probably come tomorrow, once the results are in. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

We welcome Eliana Johnson to the podcast as our new daily colleague following the departure of Matthew Continetti as we discuss the crisis at the Heritage Foundation and the behavior of its chief executive in defending Tucker Carlson after he literally turned his airwaves over to a modern-day Nazi. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. V…

A farewell tribute to COMMENTARY podcast stalwart Matthew Continetti as he moves on to the Wall Street Journal to ply his wares. We reminisce, we say what we think we did right, and what we did wrong, and then Matt makes not one, not two, but three recommendations! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Donald Trump and Chinese premier Xi decided to back off their big fight and make concessions to each other for a year rather than end up in a full-scale trade war. The question: Did this aggressive move by Trump serve any real purpose? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Today's podcast takes up a story you may not yet know about because the media aren't reporting on it: A blockbuster report from the House detailing the ways in which Joe Biden in 2024 and 2025 was not actually performing his presidential duties and his aides were. Also: since when is Hamas breaking a ceasefire supposed to be reported out as Israel …

Today we look at Donald Trump's trip to Asia and how he might approach Xi Jinping on trade. We also consider the public's perception of what tariffs are doing to prices and why Trump always needs to have a shadow hanging over his accomplishments. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Today's podcast asks what Democrats might take away from next Tuesday's elections in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City—and how the political dilemmas they face are affecting the government shutdown. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

A conversation about how Donald Trump controls all news in this country morphs unexpectedly into a deep dive into large language models, uncanny valleys, AI, driverless cars, and everything scary about everything. Give a listen! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesOleh Commentary Magazine

As the agonizing over the White House ballroom continues, we continue to analyze it. And what's up with Donald Trump's interest in Argentine beef? Finally, we get to the NYC mayoral race and how Zohran Mamdani, if elected, might respond to his base. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

The liberal meltdown over the creation of a ballroom at the White House is another example of how liberals and the left keep stepping on their own substantive disagreements with Donald Trump because they get distracted by...stupid things. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Is the Trump administration's success in the Middle East going to have an effect on the way the more extreme elements of the right talk about Israel and Jews more broadly? And if podcasters continue to trash-talk Trump on this and other matters, will Trump take it lying down—or will he insist on a loyalty test for them too? Give a listen. Learn mor…

A huge show of anti-Trump force this weekend raises the question—to what end and for what purpose? And was Israel's decision to hit back hard at Hamas for violating the Trump deal really a sign of a division between the administration and the Israeli government or more of a tactical pause to see how Hamas reacts? Give a listen. Learn more about you…