New York Congressman Mike Lawler sits down with Margaret Hoover to discuss his approach to legislating as one of only three Republicans in the House representing a district Kamala Harris won in 2024 and why he believes his Democratic-leaning constituents should reelect him next year. Lawler, who recently ruled out a run for governor, talks about defending his record at often rowdy town halls and highlights instances where he has stood up to the Trump administration. He also explains how he has s...
Aug 02, 2025•46 min
Conservative economist Jessica Riedl joins Margaret Hoover to talk about tariffs, tax cuts, and the threat of the growing national debt. She explains why President Trump’s tariffs have not yet upended the economy and why she believes American consumers will ultimately bear the costs of Trump’s policies. Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, assesses the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and argues it is unlikely to produce the rapid economic growth the White House has predicted. She discus...
Jul 26, 2025•35 min
Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) sits down with Margaret Hoover to discuss her economic “war plan” for Democrats and her approach to bridging the ideological divisions within the party. Slotkin–who won her seat even as Donald Trump won her state–calls for Democrats to stop being so sensitive, responds to the rise of progressive populists like Zohran Mamdani, and addresses the challenges of confronting the national debt. She also comments on Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the use of the phrase “global...
Jul 19, 2025•38 min
Former Vice President Mike Pence sits down with Margaret Hoover to discuss the first six months of Donald Trump’s second term and his advocacy for adhering to the conservative principles that he feels led to success in the first Trump administration. Pence assesses President Trump’s apparent shift toward a more aggressive posture against Vladimir Putin and makes the case for continued U.S. aid to Ukraine. He also praises Trump’s support for Israel and suggests the debate over striking Iran’s nuc...
Jul 12, 2025•56 min
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski joins Margaret Hoover to discuss her new memoir “Far from Home,” in which she reflects on her rise in Washington, D.C. and her role as a moderate Republican in the time of Donald Trump. “My place in the middle is often uncomfortable, sometimes lonely,” Murkowski tells Margaret. “But it's where I feel I belong.” While she maintains only Congress can declare war, Murkowski defends President Trump's strikes against Iran. And as the Senate debates Trump’s“Big Beautiful ...
Jun 28, 2025•34 min
Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley joins Margaret Hoover to discuss his new book, “The Affirmative Action Myth,” in which he argues that Black people were progressing at a faster rate before racial preferences became widespread in the 1970s. The prominent conservative also discusses racial disparities in education, saying that universities that pursue diversity just want “window dressing,” and that race-based college admissions policies have failed Black students. Riley cites evidence tha...
Jun 21, 2025•50 min
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes joins Margaret Hoover to discuss his new book, “Marketcrafters,” in which he examines how American policymakers have shaped markets for social and political goals over the last century. Hughes, who is now pursuing a PhD in economics at the University of Pennsylvania, sees growing support on the left and the right for using the levers of government to cultivate markets for the common good. Hughes says that President Trump’s tariffs are not marketcraft but "governm...
Jun 14, 2025•48 min
Dr. Fei-Fei Li, known as the godmother of AI, talks to Margaret Hoover about the ethical development of artificial intelligence and the challenge of regulating the rapidly advancing technology. Li, who recently received a lifetime achievement award at the Webbys for her AI research, explains why she focuses her work on “human-centered AI” and how she believes human dignity can be protected as AI progresses. Li discusses the role of government funding in academic research and the importance of di...
May 24, 2025•43 min
Historian Niall Ferguson sits down with Margaret Hoover to assess the first 100 days of President Trump’s second term and the challenges that lie ahead for the White House. Ferguson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, contrasts Trump with FDR and considers whether his early actions will have lasting impact. He also explains why he sees Trump 2.0 as “Richard Nixon’s revenge.” Ferguson criticizes Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine and his sweeping use of tariffs that have rattled th...
May 17, 2025•57 min
Actor Kelsey Grammer joins Margaret Hoover to discuss his new book, his decadeslong journey of healing after tragedy, and his politics. When most people think of Grammer, they think of his charming character Dr. Frasier Crane on “Cheers” and “Frasier,” but there is a darker side to his story. In “Karen: A Brother Remembers,” Grammer reflects on the vicious murder of his sister Karen, who was raped and stabbed 42 times in 1975 when she was 19. “She was my North Star,” Grammer tells Hoover in an e...
May 10, 2025•38 min
Robert Lighthizer, who served as U.S. trade representative in Donald Trump’s first term, sits down with Margaret Hoover to discuss the president’s trade agenda, his use of tariffs, and their impact on the economy. Lighthizer, author of No Trade Is Free , explains why he favors “balanced trade” over free trade and makes his case that tariffs can revive American manufacturing. He tells Hoover why he doubts chaos in financial markets will unseat the dollar as a global reserve currency, but he argue...
May 03, 2025•57 min
As wars continue to rage in Ukraine and Gaza, chef and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés joins Margaret Hoover to discuss his approach to humanitarian aid in disasters, his reaction to losing aid workers in Gaza, and his new book, “Change the Recipe.” Andrés, whose organization has served millions of meals in Ukraine, urges the Trump administration to change course amid threats to walk away from peace negotiations. "I support his willingness to achieve peace, but he has to achieve peace ...
Apr 26, 2025•36 min
As the world reels from President Trump’s trade war, conservative economist Glenn Hubbard joins Margaret Hoover to discuss the impact of Trump’s tariffs, his doubts on the return of manufacturing jobs, and the difficulty of decoupling from China. While Hubbard credits President Trump with recognizing the problems of globalization, he says tariffs are not the way to fix the problem. “It means higher prices, disrupted supply chains, job losses and lost output,” he says, adding that it also creates...
Apr 19, 2025•43 min
Politico politics bureau chief Jonathan Martin, New York Times reporter Adam Nagourney, and USC Center for the Political Future Director Bob Shrum join Margaret Hoover to discuss challenges facing the media in Donald Trump’s second term, threats to freedom of the press, and the future of journalism. In a panel recorded at the CPF’s Warschaw Conference on Practical Politics in January, Nagourney says the obligation to call out Trump’s lies puts the media in a difficult position. "If you don't go ...
Apr 05, 2025•38 min
In September 1994, an 18-year-old musician named Lawrence Perelman sent a letter to William F. Buckley Jr., offering to perform a piano recital for him as a thank you for Buckley’s political work. The friendship that ensued lasted until Buckley’s final moments, all of which Perelman recounts in his new book, American Impresario: William F. Buckley Jr. and the Elements of American Character . One hundred years after Buckley’s birth, Perelman joins “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover” to discuss his...
Mar 15, 2025•49 min
As President Trump wages tariff wars around the world and upends the U.S. alliance with Ukraine, conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat and Margaret Hoover discuss the president’s actions, his address to Congress, and the future of the GOP. While Douthat defends the Trump administration's goal of achieving an armistice in Ukraine and convincing Europe to take on greater responsibility, he says that calling Zelensky a dictator “is not a good plan.” He also suggests a lasting peace wil...
Mar 08, 2025•53 min
Before Kevin Hassett was named director of President Trump’s National Economic Council, he sat down with Margaret Hoover last September to discuss Trump’s economic record and his second-term agenda. In this new cut of that interview, Hassett assesses the impact of tariffs in Trump’s first term and defends his threats to impose new ones, including reciprocal tariffs on goods from countries that tax U.S. imports. Hassett, who previously served as chairman of Trump’s White House Council of Economic...
Mar 01, 2025•26 min
As President Trump ratchets up trade wars with America’s adversaries and allies, two experts on the economy — Jeff Ferry, chief economist emeritus at the Coalition for a Prosperous America, and Scott Lincicome, vice president of General Economics and Stiefel Trade Policy Center at the Cato Institute — clash over whether tariffs will bolster or crush the U.S. economy and what tariffs mean for Americans. Speaking before a student audience at Hofstra University, Ferry defends President Trump’s tari...
Feb 22, 2025•44 min
As President Trump and Elon Musk launch an assault on the federal bureaucracy, Will Marshall, the president of the Progressive Policy Institute, and Philip K. Howard, lawyer and author of “Everyday Freedom,” tell Margaret Hoover that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has the right diagnosis, but the wrong cure. Speaking before a student audience at Hofstra University, Marshall and Howard agree that the federal bureaucracy is due for an overhaul and must be streamlined. But Howard, w...
Feb 15, 2025•44 min
As Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services advances in the Senate, former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona talks to Margaret Hoover about the danger he fears Kennedy could pose to public health. Carmona criticizes Kennedy’s history of spreading misinformation about vaccines and health care and falsely linking vaccination to autism, but he also acknowledges some valid concerns raised by the Make America Healthy Again movement. Carmona, who advised...
Feb 08, 2025•39 min
Two veteran strategists–Democrat James Carville and Republican Mike Murphy–sit down with Margaret Hoover to assess the fallout from the 2024 election and the challenges that lie ahead for both parties. At the USC Center for the Political Future’s Warschaw Conference on Practical Politics, Carville and Murphy discuss the chaotic first weeks of President Trump’s new administration, the muted response from his opponents, and how Democrats can reshape their message going forward. Carville, one of th...
Feb 01, 2025•35 min
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich sits down with Margaret Hoover to talk about his new PBS documentary “Journey to America: With Newt and Callista Gingrich,” his longstanding support for legal immigration, and the executive actions President Trump has taken in his first days in office. Amid rising Republican skepticism of all immigration, Gingrich draws a sharp distinction between legal and illegal immigration, and he explains how the stories of nine immigrants told in the documentary–including...
Jan 25, 2025•44 min
Journalist and author Juan Williams joins Margaret Hoover to talk about civil rights in America as the nation prepares to inaugurate Donald Trump as president on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Williams, who wrote the companion book to the 1987 PBS documentary series Eyes on the Prize, discusses his latest book, New Prize for These Eyes, which charts the progress of what he calls the second civil rights movement in the 21st century. Williams details how civil rights activism has changed in the Black...
Jan 18, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Margaret Hoover sits down with three Belarusian dissidents–exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, athlete-turned-activist Katya Snytsina, and theater director Natalia Kaliada–to discuss their fight against Aleksandr Lukashenko’s dictatorship. Kaliada is co-founder of the Belarus Free Theatre, which recently debuted the play KS6: Small Forward in New York, starring Snytsina and telling the story of her journey from Belarusian Olympic basketball player to political activist. In 2020, T...
Jan 11, 2025•43 min•Season 7Ep. 828
Best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Peggy Noonan sits down with Margaret Hoover to discuss the presidential election, Donald Trump’s second term, and her new book, A Certain Idea of America . Noonan, a former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, details the Republican Party’s evolution since the 1980s and the party’s political and cultural missteps that provided a launching pad for Trump. The Wall Street Journal columnist assesses controversial Tru...
Dec 21, 2024•48 min
Three journalists on the frontlines of the global fight for press freedom sit down with Margaret Hoover at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York to discuss threats to the media around the world and how free countries in the West can help protect the press abroad. Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist wrongfully detained in Russia for more than six months, reflects on her captivity, the global campaign for her release, and the dangers her colleagues still face. Nobel P...
Dec 14, 2024•32 min
Sebastien Lai, whose father publisher Jimmy Lai is on trial in Hong Kong, and Jonathan Price, a member of Jimmy Lai’s international legal team, talk to Margaret Hoover about their effort to build global support for his release. Jimmy Lai had been a leading voice in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement before his arrest in 2020 under a controversial national security law. Now 77 and in ailing health, he took the witness stand at his trial this week as he faces a possible sentence of life in prison....
Nov 23, 2024•45 min
Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute joins Margaret Hoover to discuss Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy in his second term and how it may impact the U.S. and the world. Schake, a defense policy expert who served in Republican and Democratic administrations, makes the case for conservative internationalism and details the flaws she sees in Trump’s “America First” worldview. Although she has opposed Trump since 2016 and sees him as a genuine threat to constitutional order, Scha...
Nov 16, 2024•43 min
After Donald Trump’s historic reelection, presidential biographer Jon Meacham joins Margaret Hoover to discuss what the outcome means for the soul of the nation and what comes next. The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian had warned Americans against the “genuine risk” of returning Trump to power, but he explains why he accepts the results. He also reflects on how history can offer inspiration in this moment. Meacham, who has advised President Biden and helped him draft speeches, assesses the insti...
Nov 09, 2024•32 min
H.R. McMaster, Donald Trump’s second national security advisor, joins Margaret Hoover to discuss his tumultuous experience in the Trump White House, what he characterizes as Trump’s “disruptive” leadership, and what a second term could look like. McMaster, who recently published At War With Ourselves about his nearly 14 months in the administration, assesses the global threats facing the next president and offers insight into challenges posed by Iran, China, and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. McMaster...
Nov 02, 2024•48 min
