Commentary Magazine Podcast

On this week’s podcast, Noah Rothman and I attempt to explode the media conventional wisdom about Super Tuesday—arguing that Donald Trump did not close the deal despite what you’ve heard, that Ted Cruz outdid himself but got little credit for it, and that Marco Rubio may have found his voice as a candidate and done real harm to Trump with results to follow over the next couple of weeks. Also, some live Googling that forces Noah to tap-dance while I search frantically for facts to back up his assertions. Podcasting—it's like radio, only less polished. Enjoy.

John Podhoretz and Noah Rothman lament the failure of the Republican party to take on a certain orange-haired frontrunner, seek to explain the reasons the party has yet to challenge him, discuss the application of Occam’s Razor to 2016, wonder why the media are so determined to end the Bernie Sanders campaign, and argue that Barack Obama’s new plan to close Gitmo is an in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign and a middle finger to his fellow Democrats.

Editor John Podhoretz and Assistant Online Editor Noah Rothman try yet again to decipher the Donald Trump strategy—this time his decision to relitigate the War on Terror and the War in Iraq as a means of winning Republican support for his candidacy. What sense does this make for someone attempting to seize control of the very party that embraced both a decade ago, and still views itself as the better of the two parties when it comes to national security? Also on tap: Is Hillary Charlie Brown? Is the Democratic nomination the football? Is Bernie Sanders Lucy? And a tribute to Nino Scalia.

Noah Rothman and John Podhoretz convene in parlous emotional condition to reflect upon the horrors of this week's political events. A Socialist who wasn’t even a Democrat a year ago wins 61 percent. A billionaire reality-TV star who has never voted Republican is the clear frontrunner in the GOP. Can Hillary Clinton survive her own party’s doubts about her trustworthiness? Can the Republican Party survive its own cravenness in the face of Trumpism? Is America going the way of vaudeville and the Betamax?