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Earlier this week on Honestly, Batya Ungar-Sargon, Brianna Wu, and Christopher Caldwell shared their views on President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance’s showdown with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, and on the Russia-Ukraine war more generally.
Simply put, Batya and Chris made the case that Russia is not an American adversary in the way China is and that Trump’s seeming sympathy toward Russian president Vladimir Putin is actually a strategic play to pull Russia away from China and into our orbit.
The conversation is provocative. It provoked many of us here at The Free Press. Not all of our listeners agreed with what they heard either. For some, it was frustrating or even angering to hear this perspective. Yes, contrary to popular belief, we do read the comments.
And there’s been a tremendous amount of debate inside our newsroom about America’s new posture regarding Russia and Ukraine, just as there is on all of the most important topics of the day.
We think that’s our strength. We believe in listening to arguments, in good faith, from people we respect. And if our panel show earlier in the week was dominated by a perspective sympathetic to Trump, today we want to offer a very different perspective from Eli Lake, Free Press reporter and the host of our new podcast, Breaking History.
In this episode, Eli explores how a different Republican president—Ronald Reagan—spoke out against Russian aggression. And how his words inspired dissidents from across the Soviet bloc, like the Czech playwright Václav Havel, to lead their own countries to freedom.
This is a show that looks to the past to illuminate the present, and we think this episode is especially important right now. So today, Eli Lake on Breaking History.
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.
Go to groundnews.com/Honestly to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on today’s biggest news stories.
After the First World War in France, many generals thought that the end of the war was really just a pause before another war began. They wanted to make sure that the next time war broke out with Germany, they were ready and could never be invaded again.
To that end, they created a series of defensive fortifications they believed to be impregnable.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.
Learn more about the Maginot Line, why it was built, and why it failed on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London.
And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening.
Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King’s College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt one of its first blows to President Donald Trump’s aggressive agenda to reshape how the federal government works. It was a minor decision: The justices rejected an emergency request from the administration to keep frozen some $2 billion in foreign aid payments. Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts joined the three liberals, raising questions about how the court will handle the waves of litigation crashing against the White House with Trump back in office. Jessica Levinson, a constitutional law professor at Loyola Law School, helps us read the SCOTUS tea leaves.
Later in the show, Missouri Farmers Union Vice President Richard Oswald joins us to talk about how Trump's tariffs will hurt farmers.
And in headlines: The Trump administration puts a one-month pause on auto tariffs for Canada and Mexico, some fired federal workers go back to work, and climate change might be making allergy season longer.
We’re talking about the White House cutting off Ukraine—not just from weapons, but information now, too.
Also, a partial truce in America’s growing trade war and why one industry won’t have to worry about tariffs—for now.
Plus, why shoppers are boycotting Target, where you’ll start having to show an ID to download an app, and how a star hockey player is working toward a record and a good cause at the same time.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
Four Loko is the #1 malt liquor in America… thanks to the Japanese philosophy of Misogi.
European stocks are shockingly beating American stocks this year… because Europe’s building a military.
Warren Buffett just revealed his favorite CEO ever… It’s an RV guy who didn’t have a computer.
Plus, Monopoly just launched a fintech version of the game (no more cash money)
$BRK.B $LMT $SPY
Want more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Doritos Locos Taco 🌮. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.
“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.
Maybe a couch, but it's more likely a table. That's where we gather for our meals and recap our days. And that table is likely made of wood – oak, mahogany, maple, or perhaps pine. If it's built to last, wood provides the sturdy material for our most crucial furniture and it can last generations.
But a masterfully-built piece of furniture requires a master builder. That's where our guest comes in.
Callum Robinson is a woodworker, furniture maker, and the author of the new book "Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman." He sits down with us to to talk decor, woodworking, and more.
A while back, Victoria Christopher Murray set out on a mission to learn about the women of the Harlem Renaissance. But in her research, she mostly found stories about men – until she came across Jessie Redmon Fauset. Fauset, whom Langston Hughes called "the midwife of the Harlem Renaissance," was a writer who eventually became literary editor at The Crisis, the NAACP's magazine. Her life serves as inspiration for Murray's new historical fiction novel Harlem Rhapsody. In today's episode, Murray speaks with NPR's Pien Huang about the historical impact of Fauset's romantic relationship with W.E.B. Du Bois and Murray's decision to include the affair in the book.
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
