Since 2016, we’ve watched women rack up unprecedented wins in statehouses, city halls, and even Congress — and thousands more are throwing their hats into the ring. How did factors like Donald Trump’s win and #MeToo influence this wave, and why does the movement seem to be taking hold now? Writer Rebecca Traister (“All the Single Ladies”) leads a discussion with Christine Matthews , president of Bellwether Research and consulting; Ashley Nickloes , a candidate running for a Tennessee Congression...
Jul 27, 2018•1 hr•Ep. 209
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats goes over President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in this discussion held July 19th. These are his first public comments after standing by the intelligence community’s findings on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has questioned the intelligence assessment. Coats manages America’s 17 intelligence agencies and serves as the President’s principal intelligence advisor. He spoke with Andrea Mitchell , chief foreign af...
Jul 24, 2018•56 min•Ep. 208
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has defended the Trump administration’s controversial "zero tolerance" immigration policy that has led to families being separated at America’s southwest border. In this discussion, she addresses illegal immigration, saying it reflects a broken system. Her conversation with Peter Alexander , national correspondent for NBC News, also touches on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign and terrorism. Alexander asks if homegrown, lone-wolf terr...
Jul 19, 2018•54 min•Ep. 207
FBI Director Christopher Wray is firm in his position that Russia was involved in the 2016 presidential campaign. “The intelligence community’s assessment has not changed,” he says, “and my view has not changed, which is that Russia attempted to interfere with the last election.” Wray spoke July 18 at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado. His interviewer, Lester Holt of NBC News, also asked Wray about the indictment of 12 Russian nationals, the Robert Mueller investigation, China, and Nor...
Jul 19, 2018•53 min•Ep. 206
A lot has happened since US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in May a “zero tolerance” policy for illegal crossings at the southwest border. The family separation policy that contributed to dividing nearly 3,000 children from their guardians was halted and now the US government is working to reunite families. In this episode, Mimi Marziano , president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, talks about why she thinks the situation is a “horrendous human rights crisis” that’s far from over. He...
Jul 18, 2018•52 min•Ep. 205
President Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday during a time when international relations are being tested. On the heels of a tension-filled NATO summit, Russia experts wonder whether Trump’s meeting with Putin will address the Russian government’s rising belligerence. Putin’s government is increasingly acting as an outlaw state across the international stage — undermining European democracies, launching devastating ransomware cyberattacks, harassing US diplomats, executi...
Jul 13, 2018•54 min•Ep. 204
Hours before President Trump attends a NATO Summit in Brussels, we examine the role of the alliance and how it fits into Europe’s recent struggles. Brexit, terrorism, a new anti-establishment government in Italy, and rising nationalism fueled in part by a flood of immigrants from the Syrian war are testing the grand European experiment. How should the continent move forward? And how will the region handle Trump’s anti-European and anti-NATO rhetoric? The Aspen Institute’s Elliot Gerson leads a c...
Jul 10, 2018•49 min•Ep. 203
Former FBI Director James Comey says transparency and a desire to maintain his agency’s credibility prompted him to reopen the Hillary Clinton email investigation in 2016. He sent a letter to Congress days before the presidential election saying he had new evidence in the case. To this day, some people blame him for Clinton’s defeat. In this episode, he speaks with journalist Katie Couric about the details surrounding the decision. He also talks about his book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and...
Jul 03, 2018•57 min•Ep. 202
As the nation’s top doctor, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has pledged to lead with science and collaborate with local entities to tackle national health crises. In this episode, he speaks with NPR’s Alison Kodjak about children being separated from their parents at the southern US border, the opioid crisis, gun violence, and mental health. Adams is the 20th person to serve as Surgeon General. In the position, he promotes wellness strategies, warns the public against emerging health hazards, an...
Jun 27, 2018•1 hr•Ep. 201
What makes two people click? What does it really mean to say, “we have chemistry”? The Atlantic 's Olga Khazan talks to biological anthropologist Helen Fisher about the four styles of thought and behavior that Fisher has identified through brain scans that help explain the biological underpinnings of romantic love, love addiction, adultery, and divorce. Based on data collected from 35,000 single Americans, Fisher explains modern courtship, why a trend she calls “slow love” makes her optimistic a...
Jun 19, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 200
In a recent Alabama Senate election, 96 percent of African American voters supported one candidate, and according to a Pew Research Center survey, 66 percent of Latino voters chose just one candidate during the most recent Presidential election. Do Democrats take the "people of color" vote for granted? How can Republicans appeal more to people of color? What are the ways in which people are viewing voting through the lens of race? How is voting being encouraged, or suppressed? This panel discuss...
Jun 13, 2018•57 min•Ep. 199
A hip-hop musical about America’s founding fathers with a virtually all minority cast. A reimagining of La bohème as a rock musical uncovering the AIDS crisis in New York City. A coming-of-age musical about the anxieties of entering adulthood told through cartoons. These are just a few of the radically relevant and compelling concepts that Tony Award-winning producer Jeffrey Seller has turned into Broadway gold. In this episode, David Rubenstein , co-founder of the Carlyle Group, interviews Sell...
Jun 05, 2018•55 min•Ep. 198
Bill Gates portends doomsday is coming. The late Stephen Hawking said we should prepare for our robot overlords to take their thrones. But is the future as glaring as HAL’s red eye? Or is it more complicated than that? What does a future powered by algorithms and big intelligence mean for our lives? What are the game-changing developments made possible by AI? How will AI transform industry and disrupt business? A panel of tech and business experts, including Tim O’Reilly, Gary Marcus , and Micha...
May 29, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 197
News from around the globe is dominating US headlines. President Trump plans to meet with North Korea's Kim Jong-un in June, Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is continuing his probe into Russian meddling. Former members of the US intelligence community and the White House weigh in on these global moving parts. Lisa Monaco , former advisor to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, John Brennan , former CIA director, and James Clapper...
May 22, 2018•56 min•Ep. 196
By trying to provide the perfectly happy childhood, a generation of parents may be making it harder for their kids to actually grow up. Hear from psychologists Polly Young-Eisendrath and Madeline Levine , as well as psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb on how our preoccupation with choice, self-esteem, and happiness may be yielding a generation marked by entitlement, materialism, narcissism, and an inability to face the challenges of adult life. The conversation is led by award-winning journalist Katie...
May 15, 2018•55 min•Ep. 195
The #MeToo Movement has exposed sexual harassment in the workplace, but what about the problem of gender inequality? Journalist Joanne Lipman says every woman knows how it feels to be marginalized, not taken seriously, overlooked, and underpaid at work. Lipman, editor-in-chief at USA Today , wrote the book “That’s What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) About Working Together.” She calls it a realistic handbook that helps professionals solve gender gap problems. Findin...
May 08, 2018•55 min•Ep. 194
Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter insists that serving in city council is the best job in politics. He served two terms as mayor and managed to lower the city’s homicide rate and increase the high school graduation rate. Still, he says, it wasn’t enough. Though it may not be as glamorous as working in national politics, Nutter says you can more easily see progress when serving at the local level. In this episode, he talks with Jonathan Capehart , editorial writer for the Washington Post ,...
May 01, 2018•55 min•Ep. 193
As our lives become increasingly tech driven, we’re more vulnerable to cyberattacks, and our workplaces and government are too. William Evanina , director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), says it takes a whole-of-nation counterintelligence and security effort to keep our data safe. His organization is helping lead the charge. In this episode, he talks with NPR counter-terrorism correspondent Dina Temple-Raston about why Americans easily fall prey to spear phishing ...
Apr 25, 2018•56 min•Ep. 192
Big philanthropy can contribute to a democratic society by addressing problems that neither government nor the private sector will take on. Yet philanthropic institutions and foundations are institutional oddities within a democracy: exercises of power by the wealthy with little accountability, donor-directed preferences in perpetuity, and generous tax subsidies. What, if anything, confers democratic legitimacy on foundations? Might foundations be a threat to democratic governance? Or are there ...
Apr 17, 2018•56 min•Ep. 191
Author Luis Alberto Urrea 's latest novel, The House of Broken Angels , is inspired by his own Mexican-American family. Set in a San Diego neighborhood, the book's characters celebrate a final birthday for a beloved brother dying of cancer, and a funeral for his elderly mother. The farewell doubleheader may sound depressing, but the book buzzes with joy. And so does this talk from Urrea, held on stage in Aspen, Colorado as part of an Aspen Words lecture series. Aspen Words is the literary progra...
Apr 11, 2018•55 min•Ep. 190
In rallies from coast to coast, students across the United States are calling for tighter gun control. The deadly Parkland, Florida shooting resurfaced the conversation but the issue of gun violence is all too familiar for people in Chicago. For residents in certain neighborhoods, shootings are frustratingly frequent. In 2016, a particularly deadly year, there were nearly 800 murders, and about half of the gun crimes happened in just five neighborhoods, according to the University of Chicago Cri...
Apr 03, 2018•56 min•Ep. 189
A young, courageous African American woman risked it all to gain freedom from America’s First Family in the late 18th century. Ona, or “Oney,” Judge escaped George Washington’s Philadelphia mansion after years of serving as a seamstress for the famous founding father. There’s little written about Judge. Historian Erica Armstrong Dunbar stumbled on Judge’s story by chance when she discovered a runaway slave advertisement. “I remember sitting back and saying, ‘Who is this Ona Judge and why don’t I...
Mar 27, 2018•58 min•Ep. 188
For centuries the human race has been grappling with how to live a moral life. In this conversation we hear from scholars who think deeply about moral philosophy and helping others. David Brooks suggests that, “We have words and emotional instincts about what feels right and wrong,” yet questions the criteria we use to “help us think, argue, and decide.” New Yorker author Larissa MacFarquhar profiles a number of do-gooders whose deep, even extreme moral commitment leads as frequently to criticis...
Mar 21, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 187
Throughout history, young people have been at the center of activism: the Civil Rights movement, Black Lives Matter, the labor movement, and now gun violence. What barriers do young people have to overcome to get adults to listen? What tactics must they employ to get people in power to take them seriously? We hear from young student activists working on issues of racism, inequity, and transgender rights. One recent movement, the #MeToo effort, has mobilized people across the globe in a short per...
Mar 14, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 186
Why do people do evil things? We hear from Yale psychologist Paul Bloom and journalist Graeme Wood about the nature of evil. Bloom studies morality in babies, children, and adults. Wood immersed himself in ISIS, readings the terror group’s propaganda and conversing with its members, in order to write the book The Way of Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State . Graeme explains that ISIS members aren’t crazy but are driven to do horrific evil deeds, like murder and rape. Why do they carry ou...
Mar 06, 2018•50 min•Ep. 185
The debate around gun laws is resurfacing in the wake of the deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Can America’s shared sorrow inspire a consensus that gun violence should be tackled as a public health issue? For years former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has labeled gun deaths this way. “Whenever you have large numbers of people who are dying for preventable reasons,” he says, “that constitutes a public health crisis.” Murthy is a supporter of gun laws. In fact, his confirmation i...
Feb 28, 2018•51 min•Ep. 184
Historian Jon Meacham has written extensively about the presidency, with acclaimed books on Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt, and most recently, George H. W. Bush. What does his research into these presidents suggest about the nature of the office? What might we learn from the past about the current state of politics, the White House, and perhaps more broadly, democracy in America? He speaks with John Dickerson , co-host of "CBS This Morning." Find the Aspen Insight episode, ...
Feb 21, 2018•54 min•Ep. 183
US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith says her true self comes out in her work. Poetry, she says, helps her wrestle with dark, sometimes unresolvable questions. In this episode she reads new and old work that examines subjects like death, the afterlife, nature, and African American history. Smith is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ordinary Light , and three books of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars . Her book Wade in the Water is due out this spring. She was appo...
Feb 13, 2018•51 min•Ep. 182
If you’re white and middle class, you were probably raised thinking that discussing race was impolite. Color blindness was seen as a virtue. But in truth, color blindness is an insidious form of racial oppression, says Ford Foundation President Darren Walker . In this episode, Walker and Jeff Raikes , former CEO of the Gates Foundation, speak with Michele Norris , director of The Bridge at the Aspen Institute , about how color blindness affects social policy. Find the Aspen Insight episode, "Wha...
Feb 06, 2018•59 min•Ep. 181
Norman Lear is the prolific television writer and producer of stories about diverse American life—among them “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son,” “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times,” and “Maude”—as well as a lifelong political and social activist. Khizr Khan is a Pakistani American lawyer, speaker at the 2016 Democratic Convention, and parent of US Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 during the Iraq War. Born 28 years and 7,000 miles apart in Connecticut and Pakistan, today they are ...
Jan 31, 2018•59 min•Ep. 180
