Episodes
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Dan Perry: Israel, Hamas, and The Big Picture
I first met Dan Perry in Romania 1990. He was the AP Bureau Chief, and I was freelancing for the summer. There’s no one I’ve met who better understands collectively Israel, the Middle East, and the U.S. So after the Hamas attack and Israel’s declaration of war, I knew whom to call. Dan was awoken...
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Ben Rhodes: After the Fall
For eight years, Ben Rhodes served as Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama. Now Rhodes has written a book — After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made — about his personal post-Obama journey that sought to answer a simple question: What happened to the world, America…
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New Spike
(Click audio player above to listen) 6 Minutes or Less: Can America Run a Fair Election? This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: Following the latest…
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Blindsided
6 Minutes or Less: Einstein & Investment Risk This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: Einstein said that the most powerful force in the universe is…
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Heckled & Spiraling
6 Minutes or Less: Gene Sperling on His Parents, Race & Economic Dignity This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: Gene Sperling’s new book is “Economic...
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Stunning Rise
(Click player above to listen) 6 Minutes or Less: The Neurobiology of Altruism This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: As protests and the ongoing…
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Mattis Speaks
(Click player above to listen) DocuPod: Gen. James Mattis’ Statement This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers. This is a DocuPod. No conversation; no interview. Just a reading of the document itself. I offer DocuPods because with our democracy under stress, certain...
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Escalating Unrest
(Click player above to listen) 6 Minutes or Less: The Oxygen-COVID Discovery This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: Doctors made the incredible discovery...
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40 Million
(Click player above to listen) 6 Minutes or Less: Poverty in Coronavirus Age This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: People living in NYC’s poorest...
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Honoring 100,000
6 Minutes or Less: 1918 Pandemic & Today’s This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: All 50 states reopened. U.S. coronavirus deaths approach 100,000. The...
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Strong Likelihood
(Click player above to listen) 6 Minutes or Less: Putin and the Pandemic This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: Russia faces falling oil prices and…
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Contrasting Visions
6 Minutes or Less: Austin Mayor Steve Adler This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: Austin, TX is the state capital, 11th-most populous city in the U.S.,...
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Massive Jump
6 Minutes or Less: ‘Enemy of the People’ This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: The phrase “enemy of the people” was used in 1793 revolutionary France by...
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Skilled Hackers
6 Minutes or Less: Kim Jong Un This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: After reports surfaced that North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un was in “grave danger”…
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Nancy Pelosi’s Mother
6 Minutes or Less This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: Nancy Pelosi’s father Thomas D’Alesandro was a US Representative and Baltimore mayor. But the…
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Widely Oppose
6 Minutes or Less This newsletter-only feature will be available only to paid subscribers: I ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that states struggling to cope with coronavirus...
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Jonathan Karl: Front Row at the Trump Show (Live Event)
This is a special live Zoom edition of Chris Riback’s Conversations, the first in our new series of political book conversations sponsored by Cornell’s Institute of Politics & Global Affairs. What does it mean for democracy when the President attacks the free press as fake news? How should...
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Introducing '6 Minutes or Less'
6 Minutes or Less Today I’m introducing a new newsletter only feature that, as I refine it, will be available only to paid subscribers: I will ask a thought leader or expert to educate/enlighten/explain an issue via audio in 6 Minutes or Less. Issue: President Trump said states should “seriously...
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Mayor Noam Bramson: From Patient Zero to New York as Epicenter
Chances are, you may not have heard of New Rochelle, NY before about a month ago. It’s New York’s 7th largest city, located just 30 minutes north of Manhattan. It was founded by refugee Huguenots – French Protestants – who were fleeing religious persecution in France in 1688. During the 1930s…
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Rep. Steve Israel: Running for President in Time of Coronavirus
When I first scheduled an election analysis discussion with former U.S. Representative Steve Israel, it’s fair to say that my initial set of questions had nothing to do with how to run for President in a time of Coronavirus. That’s where this conversation begins, but not where it ends. Because...
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Rick Hasen: Can America Run a Fair Election?
Today we continue with our check on the state of American democracy. We began with Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt to get an update on “How Democracies Die” and the question: How much more can our institutions take? Today we’ll look at the cornerstone of our democracy and a...
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Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt: Revisiting “How Democracies Die”
It’s time for a democracy check. With the Trump Impeachment Trial over and the 2020 presidential primaries in full bloom, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I imagine many other people are wondering, too: How’s our democracy doing? Are America’s democratic norms still valid? How much more can…
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Philip Rucker & Carol Leonnig: A Very Stable Genius
The first time he said it – or rather tweeted it – was in January 2018. In describing his business, television, and political accomplishments, President Trump typed: “I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius… and a very stable genius at that!” He said it again at a NATO meeting that...
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Rick Wilson: Running Against the Devil
Rick Wilson – the sharp-witted, wise-cracking Republican political strategist, ad-maker, analyst, columnist, and crazy-good tweeter – joined me in Westchester County, NY for a live conversation about the 2020 election, impeachment, and his new book, “Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save...
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Matt Stoller: The American Battle Between Monopoly and Democracy
As our 2020 Presidential campaign becomes more intense and pointed, it’s clear there is a battle going on for, among other things, America’s economic soul. Politically, the debate has exploded a revival of -isms… Populism, authoritarianism, socialism. But through the issues – from Trump’s tax…
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Peter Bergen: Trump and His Generals
It started with the generals. Mattis. Kelley. McMaster. Along with Rex Tillerson, they were part of the “Axis of Adults,” the ones, as the story of this presidency has been told, who stood between President Trump and chaos – between President Trump and his own, unchecked impulses, particularly in...
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Fintan O'Toole: Think It’s Crazy Here? Time to Look at Brexit
If you’re feeling lousy about the state of politics in America, now might be the time to surround yourself with some Brits. As they surely must ask about us: What in the world is going on over there? The UK is now more than three years into Brexit, the unexpected, unplanned and so far unfinished...
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Julie Hirschfeld Davis & Michael D. Shear: Inside Trump's Assault on Immigration
Between the alligator moat revelation and horrendous, inhumane taking of children from their parents, when considering Donald Trump’s immigration policy, it can be hard to get past the headlines. But it turns out, the immigration story serves as an incredibly useful way to consider the entire…
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Andrew McAfee: Why Capitalism & Technology Will Save the Planet
If one question has driven mankind’s quest for innovation, it very well might be this: How can we get more from less? For most of our time on this planet, the answer was simple: We couldn’t. As my guest Andrew McAfee points out, for just about all of human history – particularly the Industrial…
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Isaac Stone Fish: Why China is America’s Biggest Threat
October 1st marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China – the name given by Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong in 1949. To understate the reality, a lot has happened in China over the last 70 years. The fact is, a lot has happened in China over the last…
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James Poniewozik: How the Trump Show Happened
As regular listeners of this podcast know, I read a lot of books. Most of them, frankly, are excellent – smart people making thoughtful arguments in engaging ways. Every once in a while, though, I read one that’s not just excellent, but delivers something more: It shifts your lens on the world....
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Philip Mudd: Trump & the Attack on U.S. Intelligence
It was a perfect week to have Philip Mudd, CNN counterterrorism analyst, on the podcast. Phil spent some 25 years at the highest levels of the CIA – reaching Deputy Director of the National Counterterrorism Center – and FBI, where he was hired to be its first National Security Branch Deputy...
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Tim Alberta: How Trump Filled the GOP Leadership Vacuum
What happened to the Republican Party? You’ve heard of it: One of the two major political collectives in America… the one that counts Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan among its heroes? The modern GOP branded itself on ideals of fiscal responsibility, fighting dictators from the Soviet Union to...
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Robert Tsai: Is Justice Possible? Your Supreme Court Questions Answered
You may have heard last week’s conversation on the Supreme Court. Well, there’s something about the Supreme Court that gets listeners’ attention. I received a lot of follow-up questions – so many, that I wished I had immediate access to another constitutional scholar. Turns out, I did. I already...
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Adam Liptak: How Far Did Trump Tip the Supreme Court Balance?
It was the Supreme Court session Democrats feared and Republicans had waited a generation for – a solidly conservative 5-4 majority. It took the Merrick Garland block and Brett Kavanaugh hearings to get here, and now that first session is complete. So how’d it go? Were the fears and hopes…
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Angela Stent: Explaining Putin’s World
Here’s a parlor game: Outside of President Trump, who’s the most curious figure on the world stage today? China’s Xi? North Korea’s Kim? MBS of Saudi Arabia? As Trump’s interactions with global leaders raise never-ending questions, few are as perplexing – or, if we only could understand it, might...
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Jared Cohen: Accidental Presidents
With 20 candidates and 2 Democratic debates spread over 48 hours this week, the 2020 Presidential campaign season is officially underway. We know the process: For the next 16 months, candidates will debate, boast, fundraise, debate, and fundraise some more. Then on Nov. 3, 2020, we’ll have the...
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Joseph Stiglitz: Saving Capitalism From Itself
It’s already one of the major issues of the 2020 presidential campaign: Does American capitalism still work? In the face of ever widening income disparity – not just exponential upward movement at the top, but also, at best, stagnation near the bottom — economic inequality is a key social and...
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Sen. Maggie Hassan: 'No More Medical Surprises'
So you’re in a restaurant. Great meal. The bill comes, and it’s got a surprise – an unexpected $10 charge because, well it turns out your entrée required a special ingredient the server forgot to mention. Would you pay it? Would you expect to have to pay it? Now look at our health care. You go to...
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Live from Harvard's Kennedy School
This is a special live edition of Political Wire Conversations. On Friday, I hosted an outstanding live event and discussion at Harvard’s Kennedy School: Midterm Elections Preview: Blue Wave or Red Save? I was joined onstage by an All Star cast of panelists: Rick Wilson, Republican Political...
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Richard Clarke: Democracy Is On the Ballot
The countdown to Midterms is on. With less than three weeks to go, many questions remain and the stakes couldn’t be higher. How high? According to my guest today, “the nature of our democracy is on the ballot.” I’m not sure I disagree.You may remember Richard Clarke for his 30 years in the U.S...
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Michael Lewis: Who’s Actually Running Our Government?
How do you make the most arcane, overlooked, eyes-glaze-over – and most critical – aspect of the U.S. government – interesting? How do you help folks understand that the so-called deep state – the parts of the bureaucracy that some people ignore and belittle – is actually vital to our safety,...
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Rebecca Traister: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger
One thing is sure about the extraordinary, once-in-a-generation Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing last week: There was a lot of anger in the room.Judge Brett Kavanaugh: Angry. Senator Lindsay Graham: Angry.But it might have been the anger outside the room that changed everything. You’ve seen…
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Major Garrett: What’s It Like to Cover the Trump White House
Think your life is crazy? How’d you like to be a White House correspondent with Donald Trump in the Oval Office?After all, if your daily schedule doesn’t get turned around multiple times, you always could get cursed or threatened at a campaign rally. In fact, just 60 minutes before my…
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Doris Kearns Goodwin: Trolling Trump on Leadership
Doris Kearns Goodwin. Do I need to say more?Seven books; multiple New York Times’ best sellers; Pulitzer Prize. She is simply one of our nation’s great presidential historians.And Doris has spent much of her career studying four of the best – Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and LBJ. Now she takes…
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David Kaplan: The Most Dangerous Branch of Government
How important has the Supreme Court become in American life? From gun rights to personal relationships, from money in politics to healthcare, whether it’s access to abortion, the voting booth or even our borders, the Supreme Court increasingly dominates how we work, live, and play – it defines,...
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Michael D’Antonio and Peter Eisner: Who Is Mike Pence?
Who is Mike Pence? It seems strange, but more than two years after he entered our national stage, how much do you feel you know about the Vice President? He’s a man of faith – we know that… but what exactly does it mean? He has acted as something of an economic libertarian – he’s a favorite of…
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Jason Kander: Lessons In Everyday Courage
Jason Kander has a lot going on.To begin, he’s running for mayor of Kansas City. For most of us, that would be a full-time job. But as you’ll hear, Jason Kander is most definitely not the rest of us. It’s not just that he can rebuild a combat weapon while blindfolded, as he proved in a 2016...
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Rick Wilson: A GOP Strategist on the 'Worst President Ever'
Rick Wilson doesn’t expect you to like him. For the last 30 years, Rick has been part of the underbelly of American politics: A self-described “Republican political strategist and infamous negative ad-maker.” And he’s done it for Republicans at all levels – state, local, & national, ranging from...
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Catherine Rampell: What, Exactly, is Trumponomics?
The latest economic numbers are out, and by the time you hear this podcast, Donald Trump surely will have told us all why they are great, why tariffs work, and why this economy is the best ever.But you know better. Or at least Washington Post opinion columnist Catherine Rampell does. While we may...
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