PODCAST · society
Bully Pulpit
by Booksmart Studios
A wry and pointed take on politics, media and society from Bob Garfield. bullypulpit.substack.com
Episodes
-
Off the Air
After nearly four decades of commentary, interviews and storytelling, Bob hangs up his headset. But because he is not yet technically dead, he gets to write his own radio obituary. Like much of his work, it’s a saga, 1400 hours rolled into 80 minutes — some of it kind of dramatic, and some just...
-
What Future?
Bob speaks to his youngest daughter about the despair of her generation. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
May You Suffer for Your Crimes
Bob promised good faith arguments. He promised never to become “a spasm of id.” Then they massacred the children. Again. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Tarring the Coal
David Michael Slater has written 22 books without breaking out on the bestseller lists. His next — The Vanishing, out this fall — may increase his visibility. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
What's Russian for 'Lie'?
We observe in horror and astonishment Putin’s poisonous, preposterous, obvious lies. But we needn’t look eastward for that. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Bully Pulp
Journalist Mark Leibovich has a suggestion for the craven Republicans who cower before the domineering ex-president. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Before Evil — Part 2: Dynamite
In the second half of their conversation about the origins of tyrants, Bob and Before Evil author Brandon Gauthier consider the immense power of ideas. Bully Pulpit with Bob Garfield is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or…
more -
Before Evil — Part 1
Historian Brandon Gauthier looks at the lives of six murderous dictators to assess the role of childhood trauma on their adult barbarity. But he finds other, surprising influences. Bully Pulpit with Bob Garfield is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please...
-
Listen to America
Bob splices together a soundscape of a society. And just this once, he mostly keeps his mouth shut. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Russian Undressing
In its horror and its rage, Western society is lashing out at anything Russian. Bob speaks to Northwestern University Professor Gary Saul Morson about cultural vigilantism. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
The Cruelty Cult — Part 2
Bob continues his conversation with Elizabeth Williamson, author of Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
The Cruelty Cult — Part 1
Bob speaks with Elizabeth Williamson, author of Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Inside Baseball
With labor catastrophe once again narrowly averted, Bob speaks to a dyed-in-the-wool free marketeer about the mysteries of the baseball economy. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
The Age of Aquarius
Bob wonders what’s that in your hand, and why you’ve been schlepping it around with you all day. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Cynthia’s Ordeal
Bob speaks with writer, actor, comedian and musician Cynthia Kaplan about men, Nazis and Important People who never call back. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
The Cosmic Lie — Part 2
In Part 1 of Bob’s conversation with New York Times global economics correspondent Peter Goodman, we learned how the world’s billionaire class rapes the world’s treasure as billions of souls can barely get by. This week, Goodman names names. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at...
-
The Cosmic Lie — Part 1
The world’s billionaire class strong-arms governments, exploits workers, and repeatedly monetizes human crisis as it siphons off the riches of the world. On this week’s Bully Pulpit, Bob talks with New York Times global economics correspondent Peter Goodman, author of “Davos Man: How the...
-
The Many Evils of Books
A Tennessee school board voted unanimously last month to remove Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” — a Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust — from its 8th grade curriculum. Sadly, it’s not the first time a book will be banned in school and it won’t be the last. Bob talks with Professor...
-
Nobody Knows Anything, Part 2
In the second part of Bob’s conversation with author Emer Gentway, they discuss the capacity of Zen to open our minds and diminish our dangerous levels of certainty. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Nobody Knows Anything, Part I
Tricks of perception, mental shortcuts and a bias toward humanity limit our understanding of our universe and ourselves. Having trouble coping? It may be because you trust too much in what you believe. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Trained Seals in a Legal Circus
Bob examines the claim that our heroes are being forced “to choose between their God and defending our freedoms.” The only thing wrong about the accusation is … everything. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Carbon Assprint
In which Bob, now that he is a gentleman of a certain age facing yet another New Year, attempts a self-audit of his worthiness. It’s a journey, that’s for sure. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
The Botched Experiment
Bob Garfield sits down with private equity tycoon and author David Rubenstein to discuss his latest book, The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream, consisting of interviews with scholars and other notable Americans. TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely, there never was a fight better worth making than…
more -
Live From the War on Christmas
SPECIAL WAR BULLETIN 24 DEC 2021 Not since Edward R. Murrow has a reporter so bravely brought home the terrible soundscape of war. Happy New Year! In the warm and generous spirit of the holidays, we’re offering 30% off a subscription to Booksmart Studios until the end of the year. You’ll get…
more -
The 60-Year Coup, Part 2
Part 2 of Bob’s conversation with author Anne Nelson about the Council for National Policy, which has spent decades exploiting bugs in the system to gain minority control of our politics — and our future. * TRANSCRIPT * TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely, there never was a fight better worth making than the...
-
The 60-Year Coup, Part 1
Bob speaks with author Anne Nelson about the Council for National Policy, which has spent decades exploiting bugs in America’s system of democracy to gain minority control of our politics... and our future. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Evidently, You *Can* Go Home Again
Once upon a time, Bully Pulpit’s Bob Garfield played the role of amateur linguist on a delightful show called Lexicon Valley. Today, to celebrate the re-release of ten vintage Lexicon Valley episodes — remastered and ad-free — Bob and Mike Vuolo bring you a special reunion episode filled with...
-
The Gospel of Christie
How do you get the media to be your confederates in a phony redemption story? Criticize Trump, no matter how transparent your hypocrisy. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Madison Avenue Thinks You're Stupid
Guided by the Rule of Three, Bob demonstrates that the age when marketers start infantilizing you is going down, down, down. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Leptons But Were Too Afraid to Ask — Part II
In Part I, CERN physicist Steven Goldfarb attempted to explain to Bob the difference between leptons, muons, and quarks. In Part II, Goldfarb tackles a thornier question: In this age of so much disinformation, when scientific fact seems to carry no more weight than opinion, does science even...
-
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Leptons But Were Too Afraid to Ask — Part I
Do you know what a lepton is? A muon? A quark? A boson? Bob can’t even grasp the Facebook terms of service, but he found a particle physicist who both understands the nature of matter and was willing to explain it to him. Or try, anyway. Joining Bob for the first of a two-part conversation is...
-
Shopping for a Foxtrap, Part II
Bob has rethought his First Amendment absolutism, and challenges a legal scholar to do the same. Listen as Dean Lyrissa Lidsky of the University of Missouri School of Law somehow fails to bend to Bob’s will. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
Shopping for a Foxtrap
Bob thinks the repeated chicanery, misrepresentation and outright lies of the self-proclaimed “news” channel might offer an opportunity for prosecution or litigation under RICO — a.k.a. the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. After saying so on social media, and being ridiculed…
more -
Alec Baldwin is Everywhere
In this unholy amalgamation of interview and free-form kibbitz between two cranky former employees of WNYC, Bob Garfield and Alec Baldwin discuss life, acting, and the great Stockton Briggle. Plus, find out more about Bob’s split with “On the Media.” TRANSCRIPT: TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely there…
more -
The Tortilla Scandal
Bob stumbles on a controversy about a media personality’s enchilada recipe — and learns about truth, celebrity and Mexican food. TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely there never was a fight better worth making than the one which we are in. BOB GARFIELD: Welcome to Bully Pulpit. That was Teddy Roosevelt. I’m…
more -
Airing Dirty Laundrie
In the ongoing drama surrounding the murder of Gabrielle Petito, Bob realized that the media are telling us everything under the sun, except for what matters most. TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely there never was a fight better worth making than the one which we are in. GARFIELD: Welcome to Bully Pulpit....
-
What Would Jesus Inject?
Bob looks at how the so-called “religious exemption” for COVID-19 mandates is the latest assault on secular law and a grave risk to the nation. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe
-
The Outsider
Bob speaks with “The Outsider” co-director Steve Rosenbaum about his film documenting the fraught creation of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely there never was a fight better worth making than the one which we are in. GARFIELD: Welcome to Bully Pulpit. That was...
-
Back to the Future
Bob speaks with author and scholar Lawrence Weschler, who shares astonishment that The Machine Stops could — from very few data points — extrapolate our present, so paradoxically connected and detached. * FULL TRANSCRIPT * TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely there never was a fight better worth making than…
more -
Crime of the Century
Allan M. Brandt is a professor of the history of science at Harvard and author of The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America. He discusses the tobacco industry’s 20th-century campaign to make its addictive and deadly product somehow…
more -
Where There's No Smoke, There's Fire
The 174-year-old tobacco company spent much of its life blowing a cloud of deceit around the deadly effects of its signature product. Now eager for a do-over, PMI’s highly advertised “Unsmoke the World” initiative seems strangely noble, until you start asking questions. * FULL TRANSCRIPT * TEDDY...
-
It Wasn't Me. It Was My Dog.
Bob talks with Princeton scholar Orestis Papakyriakopoulos about the social media titan’s latest assault on transparency, and the all-too-familiar blame-shifting that followed it. That has become standard operating procedure from a company Bob describes as “amoral, except when it’s immoral.”…
more -
Bob Garfield Interviews the Author of "Pussypedia"
Owned by half the human race yet often shrouded in shame, secrets and lies, the (mostly) female sexual anatomy finally gets the scrutiny and plain talk it deserves. Author Zoe Mendelson discusses the heroic, misunderstood pussy. * FULL TRANSCRIPT * TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely there never was a fight...
-
Bridging the Divide
During moments of rhetorical generosity, politicians will give lip-service to bipartisanship or working across the aisle. Another favored metaphor of both Democrats and Republicans is “bridging the divide,” which, once upon a time, would actually happen on major legislation. With the Biden...
-
Things That Fall
Here we are. After all kinds of Sturm und Drang, my new foray into the interview/commentary form is here. Bully Pulpit is a podcast about politics, media, culture and society based on four simple principles: observation, argument, narrative and honesty. It should also go without saying that the...
-
Introducing Bully Pulpit with Bob Garfield
Bully Pulpit is a wry and pointed take on politics, media and society from longtime public radio personality Bob Garfield. His astute cultural criticism, infused with wit and humor, has earned him many prestigious journalism awards, as well as praise such as “very brave” and “national treasure.”...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
A wry and pointed take on politics, media and society from Bob Garfield.
bullypulpit.substack.com
HOSTED BY
Booksmart Studios
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Bully Pulpit have?
Bully Pulpit currently has 46 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Bully Pulpit about?
A wry and pointed take on politics, media and society from Bob Garfield. bullypulpit.substack.com
How often does Bully Pulpit release new episodes?
Bully Pulpit has 46 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Bully Pulpit?
You can listen to Bully Pulpit on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Bully Pulpit?
Bully Pulpit is created and hosted by Booksmart Studios.
URL copied to clipboard!