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 Greenwald recommends a new HBOMax documentary called Paul Anka: His Way. Give a listen.
Sanae Takaichi was sworn in as Japan’s first female prime minister a little over a month ago, and she’s already making waves in the East and West. The first priority for the people of Japan is if her government can fix the country’s cost-of-living problem. Today on the show, we break down what Sanaeonomics could mean for the Land of the Rising Sun.
Nate and Maria game out the comparative benefits (and risks) of flying vs. driving vs. taking the train when traveling for the holidays. They also discuss Olivia Nuzzi’s new memoir, her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza’s substack revelations about her, and the current state of journalistic ethics.
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President Trump is purging the immigration court system. About 140 immigration judges have been fired by the administration or resigned. Meanwhile, the case backlog is growing.
What does it mean for immigrants caught in the middle? We speak with one of the judges recently let go.
The firings are part of an ongoing effort by the White House to overhaul the U.S. immigration system. Now, those judges are being replaced by “deportation judges.”
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This episode was produced by Daniel Ofman and Karen Zamora, with additional reporting by Ximena Bustillo and Anusha Mathur. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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 the actor Tim Blake Nelson's novel Superhero. Give a listen.
New York’s mayor-elect believes he can implement socialist policies through sheer rhetoric, as though mere words can make socialism work. However, economics involves real things and reality will hit New Yorkers soon enough, and they won’t like it.
Cato adjunct scholars Terence Kealey and John Early join Ryan Bourne to discuss the pair's new Cato working paper Mission Lost: How NIH Leaders Stole Its Promise to America. Kealey and Early detail how the National Institutes of Health's shift from financing mission-led research to funding basic science has reduced its effectiveness in improving Americans' health, all the while crowding out cutting-edge commercial science, and funnelling taxpayer dollars to a range of questionable projects.
My colleague Ross Douthat talks to the journalist who exposed Jeffrey Epstein.
This episode of “Interesting Times,” with the Miami Herald investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, came out back in July. But since Epstein has very much stayed in the news, I wanted to share it now. The conversation is such a fascinating and helpful explainer of the whole case, and the questions that remain unanswered — with the woman whose reporting led to Epstein’s re-arrest.
If you haven’t had a chance to check out “Interesting Times” this year, you really should. The team has produced so many great episodes, especially with leading thinkers and activists on the right. You can find them on the NYT Audio app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees launch an investigation into Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after a report that he ordered a second strike on a boat in the Caribbean while survivors were clinging to the wreckage. Was his order a war crime? Jon, Lovett, and Tommy discuss and then jump into the rest of the news, including the White House's reaction to the shooting of two National Guard members in D.C., Trump's pardon of a former Hondoran president convicted of helping drug traffickers bring hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States, and a special election in Tennessee where the Democrat has a fighting chance to flip a Trump +22 district. Then, Rob Sand, Democratic candidate for governor of Iowa, joins to talk about his race—and how Iowa farmers are reacting to the Trump trade war.
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Tariffs are bringing in some serious cash into the US Treasury’s pocket. The problem with that money is that it may need to be refunded. A case in front of the Supreme Court could declare several of Trump’s tariffs illegal, which would prompt a return of billions of dollars. Today on the show, we look at how that would work and why the process will likely not be easy.