“China is aiming to enhance its power with respect to the United States in particular, and eventually to emerge as the dominant player in the international system, and it’s working towards that goal…. It is not clear to me at this point what our strategy is, or even if we have one.” So argues Princeton Professor Aaron Friedberg in a new Conversation assessing the state of US-China relations in the wake of President Trump’s China summit and the ongoing Iran War. While the Iran War does not repres...
May 20, 2026•49 min
“The Ukrainians believe Putin’s now being faced with more dilemmas than they are.” So argues the distinguished historian and a leading analyst of the Ukraine War, Phillips O’Brien. Author of the indispensable Phillips’s Newsletter on Substack, O’Brien shares his perspective on where things stand in Ukraine and Russia, and assesses the broader implications for Europe and beyond. Kristol and O’Brien also consider in depth the massive technological transformations in warfare from Ukraine to Iran, w...
May 08, 2026•1 hr 7 min
“This branding binge [Trump] has been on: with everything he’s trying to have put his name on. To build the White House ballroom, the arch in front of Arlington Cemetery. And the war and military adventurism. It’s a way of trying to cement his state permanently as a dominant figure in history, because he knows he’s going to die.” So argues veteran political reporter A.B. Stoddard in a bracing analysis of President Trump’s character and conduct during his second term. Reflecting on the last ten y...
Apr 23, 2026•1 hr 4 min
“What is human happiness? What is political excellence? What is speech, and rhetoric? It’s always important to remind ourselves of that. But especially when you have artificial intelligence, and all of these vast possible changes in human affairs, it’s important to remind ourselves of what’s basic…. And Aristotle uncovers 80%, 90%, 95% of what really one could say, I think, reasonably, and intelligently about lots of political, and ethical matters.” So argues the distinguished scholar of politic...
Apr 09, 2026•56 min
“It’s hard for me to see how [the war] ends in a way that enhances our position in the world generally—and, in particular, enhances our position with relation to the country that I still think is our principal strategic challenge, namely China. And that’s what really worries me.” So argues Princeton professor and Aaron Friedberg in an incisive and sober conversation on the war in Iran and its broader geopolitical implications. Noting that there are a wide range of possible outcomes to the war, r...
Mar 19, 2026•1 hr 21 min
“Whatever happens in 2026, I think no one should take any interpretation of that as a precursor to what’s going to happen in 2028.” So argues Doug Sosnik, former political director for Bill Clinton and one of the shrewdest and most imaginative analysts of American politics. Sosnik considers possible scenarios in 2026 including a wave election year for Democrats driven by higher turnout of college-educated voters—but their prospects in a presidential election year are threatened by "atrophied sup...
Feb 27, 2026•1 hr 12 min
“The US government wants to arrest, detain, and deport one in every 24 people in the country—4% of the US population. That cannot be done without fundamentally transforming who we are as a people and our relationship to law enforcement.” So argues Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a leading expert on immigration and Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council, in a bracing Conversation on the scale and scope of the Trump administration's mass deportation mission. Reichlin-Melnick shares his perspect...
Feb 12, 2026•1 hr 20 min
“The Europeans have been in this alliance [NATO] to protect themselves, largely from Russia and other aggressors. And now it has an aggressor within the gates, so to speak. And that’s quite an extraordinary situation.” So argues the eminent political thinker Francis Fukuyama, who begins with his assessment of Trump’s bullying of Denmark and Western Europe in recent days. In a thought-provoking tour d’horizon Conversation , Fukuyama shares his perspective not only on Greenland but on a world in c...
Jan 22, 2026•1 hr 2 min
Where do things stand in American politics as we head into a midterm election year? To discuss these questions we are joined again by Ron Brownstein, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and senior CNN political analyst. Brownstein points to President Trump’s approval rating as perhaps the most significant indicator in the 2026 midterm elections—and potentially still a major factor in 2028. As he puts it, "Amid all of the swirling currents that you get whenever Trump is in the White House… the real mes...
Dec 30, 2025•1 hr 23 min
“We take for granted the degree of peace that we’ve enjoyed over the past eight plus decades. And we think that’s the norm. The norm is actually a lot more like what the world looked like before 1945. Certainly, the previous 100 years were one of constant great power warfare. And I don’t think people are ready for that—the world that we’re now moving into.” As the distinguished historian Robert Kagan puts it in this provocative Conversation , Trump’s foreign policy may be a decisive break from t...
Dec 04, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Dick Cheney (1941-2025) is widely regarded as one of the most consequential vice presidents in American history. To discus his life and legacy, we are joined by Steve Hayes, CEO and editor of The Dispatch and author of Cheney (2007), who had extraordinary access to Cheney during his time as vice president. In this Conversation , Hayes shares his personal reflections on Cheney’s character, views, and decades of public service, which spanned from the Ford through the George W. Bush administrations...
Nov 20, 2025•1 hr 19 min
How has the second Trump presidency differed from the first? How did Trump’s experiences during his time out of office and on the campaign trail in 2024—including his trial in New York and the assassination attempts—shape him? What can we expect in the months and years ahead? In this Conversation , Jonathan Karl, a leading chronicler of Donald Trump and author of Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign that Shaped America , argues for the centrality of retribution in understanding Donald Trum...
Oct 28, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Where do things stand in the United States nine months into the second Trump administration? Where do things stand in Ukraine, and what are the implications of the war for the future of liberal democracy around the globe? In this Conversation , the distinguished historian Timothy Snyder reflects on the situation of the United States, Eastern Europe, and the politics of the current moment.
Oct 17, 2025•54 min
“It’s hard for me to imagine a voter that votes in 2026 that doesn’t have Trump on their mind.” According to veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, Trump "keeps jacking the stakes up, every day” and remains the focal point of American politics as we head towards the midterms next year. As he puts it, the Republican Party has become a “personality cult” while the Democratic Party is "a coalition in search of itself." As he explains: “I don’t think Democrats can know who they are until Demo...
Oct 03, 2025•1 hr
The second Trump administration’s approach to China so far differs from the more consistently hawkish posture of the first term. To analyze the increasingly dangerous state of our geopolitical situation and the threat posed by China, we are joined again by Princeton professor Aaron Friedberg. According to Friedberg, China continues to strengthen in military, technological, and geopolitical might as it continues to advance its ties to Russia and North Korea. Meanwhile, in Washington, the position...
Sep 11, 2025•1 hr 20 min
Much has happened since we were last joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum in February, including the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska and the Zelensky visit to the White House that provoked an alarmed and last-minute rush to join by European heads of state. In this Conversation , Applebaum shares her perspective on the situation on the ground in Ukraine and the response in European capitals to reduced US support for Ukraine on the battlefield. Drawing on her recent book Autocrac...
Aug 28, 2025•53 min
How is President Trump’s new tariff regime different from the trade deals of his first term? How might the new tariffs affect American businesses, consumers, and the country's macroeconomic outlook? To discuss, we are joined by Scott Lincicome, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a columnist at The Dispatch . Drawing on his own background as a trade lawyer, Lincicome analyzes the effects of Trump’s tariffs on American firms and consumers. Lincicome shares real-world examples of the knock-o...
Aug 08, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Six months in, what has the Trump administration done with immigration and deportation—and what have we learned about where it may be headed? To discuss, we are joined, again, by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. A leading expert on immigration and Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council, Reichlin-Melnick presents an in-depth analysis of the situation that goes beyond the headlines. As he puts it: “We are seeing a pace of enforcement unlike anything we’ve really seen in decades….with [immigratio...
Jul 17, 2025•1 hr 12 min
What has the Supreme Court done—and not done—to check the Trump administration so far? What are the broader political and constitutional implications? What might the next months and years look like? To discuss these questions we are joined, again, by Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University, former special counsel in the Department of Defense, and co-editor of NYU Law’s Just Security blog. According to Goodman, “there are many danger signs coming from the US Supreme Court that they [...
Jul 03, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Where do things stand in the war—and what will the future of Iran look like when the fighting stops? To discuss these questions, we are joined again by Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and one of the leading historians and analysts of Iran. Takeyh emphasizes that the Iranian leaders are “traumatized and stunned,” and that “the regime is facing a vast array of problems” from widespread discontent among the people to serious divisions within the elites. He explains t...
Jun 19, 2025•56 min
What have we learned so far about Donald Trump’s approach to the Middle East in his second term? In this Conversation , Eric Edelman, former ambassador to Turkey and Finland and Under Secretary of Defense,shares his perspective on the president’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. He presents a tour d’horizon of the highly dynamic and complex situation in the Middle East, not only covering the Gulf States butalso Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Israel. Edelman argues Trump has not been gu...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 9 min
What have we learned about the White House in Trump's second term? How are decisions made in the most consequential areas of national security? During the past week, Trump fired National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. To discuss this and many other matters, we are joined again by John Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor in the Trump White House from 2018 to 2019. Bolton shares the perspective of an insider who understands Donald Trump—and government at a high level of granularity. He d...
May 06, 2025•53 min
Where do things stand a month after Trump's “Liberation Day” tariffs and the announcements that have followed? In a thoughtful and wide-ranging Conversation , former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers shares his perspective on the economic and political consequences of the tariffs—and the threats to financial markets. According to Summers, our difficulties now go beyond any individual economic policy pronouncement by the Trump administration: “The issue is becoming, in a meta sense, confiden...
Apr 29, 2025•56 min
What are the likely effects of Trump’s tariffs, and what do they mean for the US economy? To discuss, we are joined again by Harvard economist Jason Furman, who was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in President Obama’s second term. According to Furman, Trump’s tariffs represent an enormous "shock to the system” likely to produce both short- and long-term economic pain. Furman considers both the direct and indirect effects of Trump’s policies, including the effects of uncertainty on t...
Apr 09, 2025•45 min
Where do things stand five months after Election Day? According to veteran reporter and commentator A.B. Stoddard, Trump’s second term has been far more radical than many anticipated. As she puts it: “The more power you give [Trump], the more he’ll take. And the less pushback that he gets, the freer he is. So I think what we’ve seen in the last couple of months is that he’s been given permission and he will take it. That’s the way Trump is…. So people need to not underestimate the fact that thin...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Where do things stand fifty days into Trump’s second term? According to Georgetown Law professor Steve Vladeck: “We’ve never seen such a wholesale attempt on the part of a president [to] hollow out the executive branch [and] install loyalists in all of the relevant positions of government.” Amid a blizzard of lawsuits in response to Trump’s executive actions, Vladeck analyzes whether and to what extent the courts, Congress, and other institutions might contain the Trump administration by asserti...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Where do things stand on the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine? What is the situation in European politics after the German elections? How should we think about the continued challenge of countering autocracy at home and abroad? To discuss these questions we are joined again by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum. As Applebaum explains, despite difficulties on the battlefield, Ukraine is holding up: “The [Russians] cannot win… without Trump." And she argues that the outcome of ...
Feb 25, 2025•48 min
What is the role of social media in our politics today? To discuss, we are joined by Renée DiResta, a leading analyst of the internet and its effects on politics and society. As DiResta explains, social media platforms today are significant sources of political power that are fundamentally different from traditional media like newspapers, radio, and television. Social media makes users active participants in the consumption of information and algorithms have reinforced the polarization in our po...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 11 min
What have we learned from the first two weeks of the Trump administration’s approach to executive actions? Ryan Goodman is a professor of law at New York University, former special counsel in the Department of Defense, and co-editor of NYU Law’s Just Security blog. According to Goodman, behind the Trump administration’s Executive Orders and actions is a claim of executive authority “different in character than anything that’s preceded it.” On issues such as birthright citizenship, TikTok, and im...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 20 min
What will immigration policy look like in the second Trump administration? How will it affect the country? To discuss, we are joined by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a leading expert on immigration and Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. In a wide-ranging analysis that covers the complex situation at the border—as well as the political and policy choices facing Trump and Congress—Reichlin-Melnick considers possible paths forward on immigration for the Trump administration and for the co...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 30 min
