The Federalist Radio Hour

John Miller, director of the DOW journalism program at Hillsdale College and writer at National Review, joins Federalist Radio Hour to discuss journalism, j-school students, higher education, and technological changes in how we consume books and essays. Miller said he believes that no student should ever major journalism, but that there will be continue to be jobs for journalists even as media changes. The world will always want content providers and I dont know if in 10 years were going have no more paper newspapers...but the world will always want storytellers, Miller said. andnbsp;

Paul Coyer is a historian, a professor at the Institute of World Politics, and a contributing editor at Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy.  Coyer discussed the foreign policy challenges facing the new administration including relationships with Russia, China, and radical Islam. Coyer discussed the balance between the dangers of extreme American exceptionalism and the importance of national values and identity.  There are always going to be negative impulses in nationalism because it is human nature to be tribalistic in a negative sense, he said. Donald Trump and the people around him have a better grasp of nationalism not as a negative thing, but it can be a positive. Fighting radical Islam is more than about military force. It requires attacks against the ideology of jihadism. You need to attack the ideas. You need to attack the metanarrative. You need to counter the whole idea of muslims as always the victims of Christianity, he said.

Megan McArdle, columnist at Bloomberg View, joins Federalist Radio to offer her best advice and economical perspective on Valentines Day, restaurants, and cooking at home. McArdle and Domenech also discuss what the data says about couples who marry, divorce, or cohabitate. As a self-claimed food communist, McArdle explains the most economical ways to eat out with your significant other. We have a negotiating process. We order everything jointing. We eat it jointly, she said. Especially when youre going out with another person who you have a long-term relationship with, you have all this potential for gains from trade. McArdle discussed how the data shows that people should actually be looking to get married as soon as possible. One of the really sad things is that people say I have to be stable before I get married... I have to get financially to where I want to be before I can get married, which is kind of backwards. andnbsp;

Joy Pullmann, managing editor at The Federalist, interviews professor and author Dr. Anthony Esolen on Federalist Radio. Esolen discusses his latest book, Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture and how we can save art, beauty, music from the crumbling institutions of Western civilization and the sexual revolution. Dr. Esolen also shared the story of a campus outrage against him at Providence College where he is a literature professor. I was the object of a month or two of campus-wide scorn, he said. All is not lost here but the fight is going to be bitter and bloody. Pullmann and Esolen discussed some practical ways parents and children can restore culture and encounter the natural world. We need the kids out doing wholesome play without the parents direction, he said.

Bryan McGrath is deputy director of the Center for American Seapower at the Hudson Institute. McGrath joins Federalist Radio to discuss a range of national security issues facing our Navy, including the size of its fleet, the Western Pacific, and military technology. McGrath said we have overused the Navy while its become progressively smaller. When the world gets no smaller, and the fleet does get smaller, and you overuse that fleet, you use it up faster, he said. We have a Navy that is too small for the things we ask of it and we have not taken care of it. Domenech and McGrath discuss military strategy and how the Navy should respond to threats from other world powers like China. We will not cede one inch of sea space. We will sail proudly and routinely through international waters as we sit fit when we see fit, McGrath said.

Tim Ballard is the founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad, an organization dedicated to rescuing victims of human trafficking, child slavery, and bringing justice to their perpetrators. Ballard joins Federalist Radio to discuss the horrific details of this industry and how his team partners with law enforcement on operations around the world. There are two million children forced into the commercial sex trade. There is five and half million children if you include slave labor, Ballard said. OUR Rescue is unique in their ability to work on the ground, empowering and providing resources for developing countries. Our main mission is empowering law enforcement, but we can do it through very aggressive means if they want us to, he said.

Mary Katharine Ham hosts todays Federalist Radio to discuss this Sundays big game, including the politicized commercials, expectations Lady Gagas half time performance, Commissioner Roger Goodells latest antics, and of course Superbowl food. Rich Cromwell, senior contributor at The Federalist, explains why America needs to root for the Patriots. Guy Benson, editor at TownHall.com, gives his thoughts on the politicization of sports. And later in the hour, Matt Battaglia, explains why Goodell yanked the infamous Barstool Sports media credentials and then lied about it. [Lady Gaga] is right in that her message has always been something that now sounds like a lefty rebuke to Donald Trump, but actually could just be her normal performance, Ham said. Im not sure she would need to add that much, or need to be more blowhard, to be obvious that shes lecturing us.

Flagg Taylor is a professor at Skidmore College and author of the new book, The Long Night of the Watchman: Essays by Vaclav Benda. In light of the 40th anniversary of Charter 77, Taylor and Domenech discuss some of the key figures in Czech history and the totalitarian regimes that rose in the wake of WWII. In his study of totalitarianism, Taylor made trips to Czechoslovakia to interview former dissents and their families. You can feel that their reflections and writings come from the depths of their experiencing this repression, so I find that this is a great tool in explaining to students the phenomenon of totalitarianism, he said. What lessons can be pulled from Bendas essays about life under these regimes and applied to todays political landscape? The most frightening thing about totalitarianism as it existed in Czechoslovakia... is that to a large extent it succeed in not letting people have a taste for freedom anymore, Taylor said. Its not just the forms that liberty are gone, but that people are so isolated, theres so much mistrust.

Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, joins Federalist Radio to discuss the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, his credentials, and the Senate confirmation process. In [Gorsuchs] writing style, in the types of arguments he makes, really evokes Justice Scalia, Severino said. Very entertaining, very thoughtful and well-argued. His commitment to those judicial principles is very clear through his writing. They discuss the politics behind Gorsuchs confirmation and what whether we can expect Trump to have one or two more nominations. Its not President Obamas seat. Its not Merrick Garlands seat. Its not Chuck Schumers seat. This is a seat on the Supreme Court that ultimately belongs to the American people and the Constitution has a method that this gets filled by, she said.

Emily Ekins, research fellow and director of polling at the Cato Institute, shared some of her latest polling data on Federalist Radio. Domenech and Ekins discuss what polling says about immigration, refugees, cops, and the differences between Democratic women and Republican women who say theyve been discriminated against. Sometimes media coverage or reactions shared on Facebook and Twitter are not accurate representations of how most Americans feel about an issue. They actually found plurality to perhaps a slim majority in support of some sort of temporary ban like the one we saw this weekend, she said. The truth is people dont feel comfortable sharing their true feelings, which is a slim majority to a plurality support what [Trump] did. Emily also shares some of her research on policing in America and how different communities, races, income levels view the police. There are two things that stand out. Perceptions of unequal treatment under the law... and use of force. Those two perceptions really drive all these other attitudes about the police, she said.

Salena Zito spent the last year and a half driving across the country and interviewing over 4,000 Americans. Zito and Domenech discuss how blue states turned red, how the Democratic party has changed, and how politics has seemed to infest every area of our lives, including our sports. Zito is a CNN contributor, columnist at the New York Post, and reporter at the Washington Examiner. She said Middle America has a different idea of what they want to aspire to. People fundamentally want to be part of something bigger than themselves, she said. Elites do not understand that because a lot of them dont believe anything is bigger than themselves. As ESPN continues to loose subscribers, their programming continues to increase the amount of political news replacing actual highlights or sports analysis. Sports have become so politicized that people have just tuned out, Zito said. People are over saturated with politics. Everywhere they go.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted of murdering four people, including three babies, and it is suspected that he also killed hundreds, if not thousands of others in his House of Horrors abortion clinic. Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer join the Federalist Radio Hour to discuss their book, Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer and the upcoming film adaptation. Hed give the women drugs to make them give birth... the babies were born alive and then he would kill them by stabbing them with scissors, McAleer said. Hes in prison because he committed murder... his death toll goes back decades. andnbsp; andnbsp;

Emma Green, writer at The Atlantic, joins Ben Domenech in discussing the changing cultural landscape of religion and millennials. Green also shares her reporting on the Womens March and the divides between feminists and pro-life women. The way that millennials in particular have ordered their lives and the way they communicate with one another are outside of those institutions that used to be the center of their lives, Green said. Domenech and Green discuss utopian groups or communes who have emerged in response to Trump. I dont think its a huge phenomena, people choosing to withdraw and commit to that alternative lifestyle, she said. but I think its instructive for showing us, what are the frustrations that people have...with modern life.

Tim Carney, commentary editor at the Washington Examiner and visiting fellow at AEI, discusses the Inauguration crowd, what Trump will do with Obamacare, and reactions from the Washington establishment. Carney said Trump doesnt have a reason to worry about the lack of people who made it to DC for the Inauguration. Trump, unlike most Republicans, drew from further down the income ladder. People who were less likely to get up and travel to DC, he said. People who werent surrounded by strong institutions of civil society... people who didnt have a church group that could organize a bus. What kinds of deals is Trump making with Carrier, Boeing, and the like? Im afraid that Trump is showing up in these meetings and either getting fooled by these people, or doing what weve always done where the two people behind the closed door conspire against the rest of the country, he said.

Dr. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics andamp; Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, shares some of things hes praying for President Trump, his thoughts on SCOTUS picks, the pro-life movement, and the future of the church. They discussed some of the biggest issues facing conservative Christians in todays politics. If this becomes attached to only one party then that means that something as crucial the the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, rises and falls with whoever is in power at the time, Moore said. Newsrooms, urban cities, and rural red states have all seen a decline in church attendance and biblical literacy. Its going to take churches that are externally focused on the people who arent there, rather than simply living in nostalgia for the past, he said. andnbsp;