Please, Go On with James Hohmann - podcast cover

Please, Go On with James Hohmann

The Washington Post
Washington Post columnist James Hohmann chats with the voices behind the viewpoints. Hohmann sits down each week with the author of a compelling or unexpected guest column for The Post’s Opinions section. Together, they unpack arguments that are shaping the public conversation about issues of importance. “Please, Go On” features marquee names, as well as everyday people with original perspectives. New episodes released Fridays.
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Episodes

A doctor’s advice for limiting holiday omicron risk

Public health expert Dr. Leana Wen explains why those who are vaccinated, boosted and tested should keep their holiday plans. Read Dr. Leana Wen’s column. Subscribe to The Checkup with Dr. Wen. Buy “Lifelines.”...

Dec 22, 202124 min

A ‘ghost gun’ killed his daughter. He’s fighting back.

Two years ago, Bryan Muehlberger’s daughter, Gracie, was killed in a shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif. She was 15 years old. Read Bryan Muehlberger’s op-ed. Learn more about the GracieStrong Foundation....

Dec 17, 202125 min

'The house that Fred built': The life and legacy of Fred Hiatt

Post legends come together to discuss the legacy of Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt after his untimely death. For more, please read selected writings of Hiatt from 1996 to 2021 , the news obituary by Matt Schudel , Graham's op-ed and the Editorial Board’s appreciation . The Post has also published touching tributes by David Von Drehle ("Hiatt led with wisdom, wit and a transfixing whisper"); Lane ("Fred Hiatt deserves to be remembered long after he is gone"); Milbank ("What I ne...

Dec 10, 202144 min

The radicalization of the Supreme Court

Ruth Marcus, The Post's deputy editorial page editor, offers insight into the challenge to Roe v. Wade and explains how a conservative "rule of six" is poised to reshape the nation. Read Ruth Marcus's Opinions Essay here.

Dec 03, 202125 min

The team behind Glenn Youngkin's victory in Virginia

The pollster and strategists for Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) discuss how they pulled off an upset victory, what it says about Virginia and how their model might be replicated in 2022. Read the op-ed.

Nov 24, 202126 min

Larry Summers says inflation will get worse before it gets better

Former treasury secretary Larry Summers has long sounded the alarm over inflation. As prices climb, Summers warns that failing to address an overheating economy could spell defeat for Biden in 2024. Read Summers's column on inflation. Read Summers's column on IRS reform....

Nov 19, 202121 min

A cold-case investigator on rage and rising homicides

Liz Thomson, former head of Albuquerque's homicide unit, recently returned to the police department as a cold-case investigator. She weighs in on the worsening murder rate, and how rage plays a role. Read Liz Thomson's op-ed.

Nov 12, 202125 min

Mitt Romney says it's filibuster or bust

The Republican senator and 2012 presidential nominee voted twice to impeach Donald Trump. He warns that ending the filibuster could be catastrophic for the Senate and give a potential future Trump presidency unrestrained power. Read Mitt Romney's op-ed here.

Nov 05, 202122 min

The burden of being the first Black anything

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote about the life and legacy of Colin Powell, who in four decades of service, helped shape U.S. national security. Read Robinson's column here.

Oct 22, 202122 min

Lessons from a writer who spent 15 years pretending to be a White guy

Until quite recently, Annabelle Tometich wrote all her restaurant reviews under the pseudonym Jean Le Boeuf. She spoke with James about what that double life taught her about White privilege and her own racial identity. Read or listen to Annabelle Tometich's op-ed here ....

Oct 15, 202124 min

Our constitutional crisis is here

Robert Kagan warns that the United States faces its greatest political and constitutional crisis since the Civil War. Read Kagan's essay here.

Oct 08, 202132 min

How to stop the coming crisis with North Korea

North Korea is testing new missiles. Victor Cha — a hardliner — encourages U.S. diplomacy in response. A foreign policy advisor to George W. Bush, Cha advocates for humanitarian assistance. Read Victor Cha's op-ed.

Oct 01, 202123 min

It's been 20 years since 9/11. Are we safer now?

In a special 9/11 anniversary edition, a counterterrorism expert argues that the threat of foreign terrorists attacking the United States at home has vastly diminished. Plus, a writer who lost her father on Sept. 11, 2001 shares her pain after two decades. Read Michael Leiter's op-ed. Read Kimberly Rex's op-ed....

Sep 10, 202128 min

John Bolton wants U.S. to get tough on Pakistan after fall of Afghanistan

Trump's former national security adviser says the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan presents an opportunity for the United States to confront Pakistan over its ties to the Taliban and nuclear stockpile. Read John Bolton's op-ed. Read Josh Rogin's interview with Pakistan's national security adviser....

Aug 27, 202120 min

An Afghan journalist's escape from Kabul

Nasrin Nawa, an Afghan journalist, narrowly escaped the Taliban's takeover of Kabul. But leaving her home country also meant leaving her parents — and sister — to an uncertain future. Read Nawa's op-ed here. And here are four related op-eds: The mujahideen resistance to the Taliban begins now. But we need help. My Afghan news channel won’t stop its important work. We hope the world doesn't look away. The Taliban says it will respect women. But we Iranians have seen this movie before. The all-gir...

Aug 20, 202120 min

Why a Florida superintendent is defying DeSantis on masks

Carlee Simon, superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools, defends her district's decision to require masks, even if it means losing her own salary. Read Carlee Simon's op-ed here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/09/florida-schools-mask-mandate-ban-desantis-alachua/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on

Aug 13, 202122 min

Norman Lear, 99, reflects on Archie Bunker in the age of Donald Trump

Fifty years after “All in the Family” premiered, the legendary television writer and producer laments how many headlines seem drawn from the past. Read Lear’s op-ed for The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/27/norman-lear-99th-birthday/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on...

Aug 06, 202117 min

Why employers should do away with college degree requirements

Byron Auguste, CEO of Opportunity@Work and former jobs czar under the Obama administration, joins James for a conversation about degree discrimination in the workforce. Read Byron Auguste's op-ed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/20/majority-americans-lack-college-degree-why-do-so-many-employers-require-one/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on

Jul 30, 202128 min

The FBI's failures to investigate Larry Nassar

Former gymnast Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of assault, is now a lawyer and advocate. As the Olympics begin, she reacts to the Justice Department's inspector general report on the many warnings the FBI ignored. Read Denhollander's op-ed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/15/rachael-denhollander-larry-nassar-fbi-failures/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on Read Horowitz's report: https://www.washingtonpo...

Jul 23, 202137 min

The war on truth is raging. Here's how we end it.

How do you debate someone who's operating from a fundamentally different set of facts? We hear from Lee McIntyre and Jonathan Rauch about what it will take to win the war on truth. Read their op-ed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/25/war-truth-is-raging-not-everyone-recognizes-were-it/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on

Jul 16, 202121 min

Sociologist Philip N. Cohen says generation labels are meaningless — and we should quit using them

Marketers love them. Journalists often use them. But do generation labels like "baby boomer" and "millennial" mean anything? Cohen, who researches social identity, says no — and he and other sociologists want the Pew Research Center to stop using them. Read Philip N. Cohen's op-ed here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/07/generation-labels-mean-nothing-retire-them/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on

Jul 09, 202116 min

Gavin Grimm on a watershed moment in the fight for transgender rights

Gavin Grimm was a sophomore in high school when he became a household name in the movement for transgender rights. This week, vindication arrived from the Supreme Court. Read Gavin's op-ed here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/30/gavin-grimm-transgender-bathroom-supreme-court-victory/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on

Jul 02, 202125 min

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on the dark history of Indigenous boarding schools

The first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history opens up about her own grandmother’s experience with family separation after announcing a comprehensive review of the troubled legacy of federal boarding schools. Read Haaland's op-ed here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/11/deb-haaland-indigenous-boarding-schools/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on

Jun 25, 202123 min

VP Kamala Harris on women in the workplace

In the inaugural edition of "Please, Go On," Post columnist James Hohmann speaks with Vice President Harris about the exodus of women from the workforce during the pandemic. Read Harris’s op-ed here.

Jun 11, 202119 min
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