Donald Trump had been facing a swathe of lawsuits this year. Now he has won a second term in office, the cases against him are falling away. Why wellness trends may be contributing to iodine deficiency (8:02). And the secrets of elevator etiquette (13:58).
Peggy Noonan does what we try to do every day at The Free Press: tell the truth, make sense of things plainly and without pretension, frame the news in a way that helps the reader make sense of things, and put things in a historical context that gives the day-to-day depth and meaning.
The very annoying thing about Peggy Noonan is that she makes the thing that we know is so very hard look so very easy. And she does it week after week after week in The Wall Street Journal—which adds up to more than 400 columns over the last 25 years.
In her newest—and ninth—book,A Certain Idea of America, she collects 80 of her best columns published over the last eight years. Now, the idea that old newspaper columns might be good fodder for a book sort of seems like a weird idea, given that newspapers are most famous for being the next day’s fish wrapper. But somehow this book feels urgent and timeless. Which means that Peggy Noonan’s old columns are better than most people’s brand-new ones.
That’s probably because she knows a thing or two about rhetoric and American politics. She was a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan. She helped President George H.W. Bush get elected. She consulted for the TV show The West Wing.
In today’s conversation, we talk about how Peggy understands Trump’s win and the political revolution that we’re living through, what it feels like to lose in a values war, and what it feels like to defend things like civility and decency in 2024. We also talk about Trump’s appointments so far, Peggy’s first meeting with Trump, and how, despite our troubles, America remains a good and great country—and why it’s so important for young people to know that.
If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today.
This show is proudly sponsored by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). FIRE believes free speech makes free people. Make your tax-deductible donation today at www.thefire.org/honestly.
The exceptional opening of the archives of the pontificate of Pius XII (1939-1958) in 2020 did not end the controversies surrounding the silence of the pope in the face of Nazi atrocities. But, beyond the controversies, what do these new sources reveal? What do they contribute to our understanding of the Shoah, the Second World War and religious power? Do they allow us to grasp more finely the deep ambivalences of the Vatican, between charity and prejudice, in the face of anti-Jewish persecution?
Based on three years of examining these considerable funds in Rome, Lukewarm Souls: The Vatican facing the Shoah (La Découverte, 2024) probes the motivations and dilemmas of the people involved in this story, their voices but also their silences. Going beyond a classic approach focused on the pope and diplomacy, this work sheds light on the political, humanitarian, religious and cultural issues of the Holy See's choices. The book raises this question in the long duration of relations between the Church and the Jews in order to evaluate the weight of a centuries-old culture of hostility in the Vatican's responses to anti-Semitic persecutions, before and during the war, but also after the Shoah. Has this unprecedented level of violence against a minority shaken the old bedrock of Christian anti-Judaism?
Finally, by making the voices of those on the ground and the persecuted heard, in particular those of mixed Judeo-Christian families, this book questions more broadly the resilience of religion in the face of genocide and the capacity of our civil societies to respond to mass violence.
Geraldine Gudefin is a French-born modern Jewish historian researching Jewish family life, legal pluralism, and the migration experiences of Jews in France and the United States. She is currently a research fellow at the Hebrew University’s Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939.
For more than 350 years, a single problem stumped the world of mathematics.
The problem was extremely simple to state, yet it proved fiendishly difficult to prove.
For several centuries, bounties were placed on finding a solution, and many failed to prove it.
Finally, in 1994, seemingly out of nowhere, a proof was offered, but it was far cry from the initial promise of being simple.
Learn more about Fermat’s Last Theorem and its legacy in the world of mathematics on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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It’s been just three weeks since the election, and President-elect Donald Trump has already named most of his cabinet picks, including all of the big ones to head executive departments. They are, in a word, eclectic. A mix of traditional Republican establishment types, MAGA diehard and… former Democrats? It’s an open question whether Trump’s picks will find common cause beyond just wanting a seat at Trump’s table. Burgess Everett, Congressional bureau chief for Semafor, talks about how Trump Administration 2.0 could work.
And in headlines: Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped both of his criminal cases against Trump, California says it found bird flu in raw milk that’s available in stores, and Drake uses the courts to get petty.
In this candid interview, the leaders of the Harris-Walz Campaign speak for the first time about the challenges they faced and why they made the decisions they did. Dan sits down with Jen O'Malley Dillon, David Plouffe, Quentin Fulks, and Stephanie Cutter to talk about the campaign's roadmap, their approach to nontraditional media outlets like Joe Rogan, the voters they most needed to win over, why they fell short in the end, and what Democrats should do differently next time.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
What to know about President-elect Trump’s latest promise for day one: he’s laying out his plan for tariffs on America’s biggest trading partners.
And why Canada is expecting a surge of people crossing the border from the U.S. once Trump takes office.
Plus, specific advice for travelers as the Thanksgiving rush begins, the latest – and biggest – company to rein in its D-E-I programs, and what’s turning rap music’s biggest feud into a legal battle.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.
The 2024 edition of Books We Love is here. Each year, NPR staffers and critics submit their favorite reads of the year across genres. Those selections are compiled into a reading guide, where you can sort by filters, including Book Club Ideas, The States We're In, Rather Short or Rather Long. In today's episode, NPR's Andrew Limbong and Steve Inskeep discuss some of the 350+ books chosen by staff this year, including their own picks.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
