Commentary Magazine Podcast

On the last podcast of the week, we argue over the meaning of the shock announcement about the investigation at the Justice Department into the propriety of FBI Director James Comey's behavior this year, and whether Donald Trump solved anything for himself by his semi-divestment of his business. Give a listen.

On the first of this week's podcasts, we dilate upon Meryl Streep attacking Donald Trump and Donald Trump attacking Meryl Streep and how Trump represents a different kind of combative conservative—one who has his own form of pop-culture reach that is beyond the capacity of the Streeps to silence or control. We also talk about why it is that the declassified Russia report is not the document it could have or should have been. And some other stuff. Give a listen.

On the last of this week's podcast, we try to make sense of the weeklong battle between the incoming president and the intelligence community—and whether his view that the IC is basically working against him personally has some merit. We also talk about the vote to condemn the UN resolution on Israel and what it means for the Democratic party. Give a listen.

On the first podcast of 2017, we discuss the first near-scandal of 2017—the quickly reversed effort to overhaul the Congressional ethics process in a manner highly injurious to the public image of the Republicans who agreed to it and then soon after agreed to dump it. The lesson: Trump can challenge norms but other Republicans don't have his Teflon. We also discuss the waning days of the Obama administration and its singularly graceless exit. Give a listen.

On the final Commentary podcast of the year, we discuss the threat posed to Germany's Angela Merkel by the mishandling of the suspect in the Berlin Christmas market massacre and what it portends about Europe's political situation. And we wonder at the record of John Kerry and the historical treatment of Barack Obama, whose drone policy has proved so unattractive to his own side that its definitive defense took place in...COMMENTARY, in this piece by Kenneth Anderson: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-case-for-drones/ Give a listen, and happy holidays and a happy new year from the podcasters.

In the first of this week's two podcasts, we talk about the ludicrousness of the effort to encourage "faithless electors" to disrupt the legitimacy of the Trump victory and the connection to fake news. We also get into the challenges the new president will face he has no clue he's going to face because presidents never know, and whether he has or will have a foreign policy "doctrine." Can an improviser be doctrinal? Who knows? Give a listen.

On the second COMMENTARY podcast this week, Abe Greenwald and I wonder at the weak sourcing of the stories about the Russian effort to hijack the 2016 election, while Noah Rothman scoffs that we could question the effort. Which we don't. As we explain. We also get a little testy at Obama's UN ambassador Samantha Power giving a high-and-mighty moral speech about Syria when she stood by as the Obama administration did nothing to prevent the genocide. Give a listen.

In this week's first podcast, we—by which I mean Noah Rothman, Abe Greenwald, and I—say many different things about the Russian hacking and the election, and about hacking in general, and try to keep it interesting even though we kept having to interrupt ourselves because of sirens going on outside our window. Also, why shouldn't prospective cabinet appointments be like Miss Americas? Give a listen.

On today's podcast, Abe Greenwald and Noah Rothman and I ventilate upon the president-elect's decision to attack a local union official by name—a classic instance of punching down, a style Trump has used to great effect—and wonder what it portends for a presidency that wishes to project strength above all. We worry about the PEOTUS's apparent unwillingness to divest himself of his businesses and the political problems it will cause both him and the Republican party, not to mention the potential for policy chaos. And we don't let Barack Obama off the hook either for his speech full of self-praise for the terrorism problem he has actually exacerbated. Give a listen.

On this week's first COMMENTARY podcast, we take up the decision to halt work on the Dakota Pipeline due to the tactics of protesters and whether this provides the incoming Trump administration with the possibility of a win. We dispute the contention of Mike Pence that the free market is a loser, and argue over the Taiwan phone call like teenagers arguing over the phone. Give a listen.

On this week's second COMMENTARY podcast, we discuss the ways in which the election results make it clear liberals are going to use the power they have left—cultural supremacy—to try and hold the line against Donald Trump and the Republicans, and whether it will work. And whether offering corporate welfare to Carrier will help Trump in the long run. Give a listen.

In the latest COMMENTARY podcast, the election you thought was over, well, isn’t. Hillary Clinton’s team announces its intention to join a recount in the upper Midwest, sending the nation hurtling back into its partisan corners and preventing Democrats from coming to terms with why they lost. Also, how the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro exposed a liberal nostalgia for revolutionary communism and, with it, an utter contempt for human rights.

What does South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s nomination to lead the American mission to the United Nations say about Donald Trump? Quite a few surprising and even encouraging things, according to COMMENTARY Magazine podcast hosts John Podhoretz, Abe Greenwald, and Noah Rothman. The gang discusses the prospect of Mitt Romney’s ascension to the post of Secretary of State, Donald Trump’s desire to divest from his company, and the high stakes should he choose not to do so.

In the first of this week's podcasts, we discuss the question of why and whether Donald Trump will, in fact, divest himself of the Trump Organization and the fact that he is now in the position of picking and choosing which policies he can attempt to put into effect since his candidacy did not rest on policy prescriptions. Also, why the liberal culture's refusal to be magnanimous in its victory has led the Democratic party to its present parlous state. Give a listen.

John Podhoretz is out on assignment this week. Filling in, Abe Greenwald and Noah Rothman dig into a weekend of anti-Trump protests and some violence, punctuated by reports of racist acts of harassment and vandalism by Trump supporters. Do Donald Trump’s early administration picks give us a window into how he will govern? Finally, which direction will the Democratic Party go as it enters a rebuilding period? We probably already know the answer to that one.