The Commentary Magazine Podcast - podcast cover

The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Commentary Magazinericochet.com
Commentary is America's premier monthly magazine of opinion: General, yet Jewish. Highly variegated, with a unifying perspective.Listen to The Commentary Magazine Podcast, along with more than 40 other original podcasts, at Ricochet.com. No paid subscription required.

Episodes

Popes, Pizzas, and Policies

Today's podcast welcomes the American pope, questions the value of deep-dish pizza, reminisces about old baseball days, and then gets serious about campus misbehavior. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 09, 20251 hr 7 min

A Perilous Week Ahead

Jonathan Schanzer joins us to talk about the Houthis, Israel, Iran, Qatar, dangerous negotiations, the universities, and side business deals. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 08, 20251 hr 9 min

Events, Dear Boy, Events

If you had a war between India and Pakistan on your 2025 bingo card, congratulations—because nobody else did, including the Trump administration. What are the possible consequences, and how will they interfere with Trump's trip to the Middle East in the coming days? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 07, 20251 hr 12 min

Lights! Camera! Tariffs!

Why is the president talking about putting tariffs on foreign films instead of attacking California's liberals and the way their management of the state is destroying the entertainment industry there? We talk about this and about just how crazy the month of May is going to be in the Middle East. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 06, 20251 hr 8 min

Trump Meets the Press

John is out for the day, but the rest of us take up Donald Trump's wide-ranging appearance on Meet the Press, New York's hit piece on John Fetterman, and what to do about the undeterred Houthis. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 05, 20251 hr 9 min

The Big Mailbag Episode!

We promised and we delivered: Your questions, answered! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 02, 20251 hr 4 min

New Twists in the Ukraine Saga

The signing of a mineral deal with Ukraine represents a new turn in the Trump administration's handling of the war there and Russia's recalcitrance—is it a good turn or a bad turn? And we examine the media misreporting of the circumstances around the attempted deportation of an anti-Israel and anti-Semitic green-card holder. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 01, 202557 min

A Mixed Bag

How are we to evaluate Trump's first 100 days—border, foreign policy, war on liberalism, etc? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 30, 20251 hr 5 min

Oy, Canada

Congratulations to Donald Trump on the results in Canada, which seem to have turned entirely on him and turned against him at the same time. He says he runs the world, and sometimes when you do, you run aground. Thus begins our conversation on his first hundred days. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 29, 20251 hr 2 min

100 Days Equals Four Years

The fights that have erupted during the first hundred days of the Trump administration have not only set the agenda for the White House going forward. They will literally be the fights Trump will be fighting until his tenure is over, as every action is met with a response in court. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 28, 20251 hr 18 min

Courts and Space—The Final Frontiers

COMMENTARY's tech columnist, James B. Meigs, joins the podcast today to talk about the important lawsuit lost by Greenpeace and what it means for leftist activism going forward, and about new developments and needed developments when it comes to the exploration of space. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 25, 20251 hr 8 min

The Self-Inflicted White House Wounds

Bret Stephens joins the podcast to dissect Donald Trump's declining poll numbers, attributing them to self-inflicted wounds on unexpected issues like tariffs. The discussion explores Trump's policy missteps, economic impacts, and the broader implications for both domestic and international politics, including insights on Europe and Israel.

Apr 24, 20251 hr 17 min

The Meaning of Israel's Oct. 7 Failures

Journalist Jonathan Foreman joins the podcast today for a deep look at his seminal May 2025 COMMENTARY lead article, "The Untold Story of How Israel Failed on October 7." We also begin by discussing the belly-up nature of the Trump "I'll end the Russia-Ukraine war in a day" fantasy. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 23, 20251 hr 43 min

Do It Right!

The larger goals of the Trump administration are threatened by incompetent execution. The problem is that for many, making policy stick isn't as important as making a stink. What to do? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 22, 20251 hr 4 min

Chaos, Chaos Everywhere

Messes at the Pentagon, at the State Department, at Treasury, at the Department of Justice, and with tariff policy—can this administration survive itself, let alone survive the liberal media and the counterstrikes against Trump? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 21, 20251 hr 15 min

Eugenics and the Manosphere Anti-Semites

Eli Lake joins today's podcast as we discuss two major articles in the May issue of COMMENTARY: Christine Rosen on "consumer eugenics" and Seth Mandel on the anti-Semites in the conservative podcasting world. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 18, 20251 hr 24 min

Trump's Restrainers, Restraining Israel

A two-hander today as Abe Greenwald and I delve Talmudically into the New York Times story on how Donald Trump decided not to participate in an Israeli strike on Iran and why. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 17, 202555 min

Fight Fiercely, Harvard?

Eliana Johnson joins us today from the Washington Free Beacon to discuss the Trump-Harvard fight, Steve Witkoff's walk-back on Iran, and the firebombing of Gov. Josh Shapiro's house on the first night of Passover. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 16, 20251 hr 13 min

So Where Are the Great Negotiations?

On several fronts—the tariffs, Ukraine, and Iran in particular—we strain to see the supposed negotiating genius of Donald Trump and his team. And what of the legal messes all over the place? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 15, 20251 hr 9 min

Bungling the Good Things

When the Trump administration isn't doing unpopular things, it's doing popular things the wrong way. From bad actors abroad to the courts, we discuss the challenges the president is facing and the position he's put himself in. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 11, 20251 hr

The Larry Tate Trumpians

Donald Trump backs down on the tariffs and according to his fan base, this is a mark of his Machiavellian genius. This would seem to have something in common not with Machiavelli but with Larry Tate, the completely transactional boss on the sitcom "Bewitched." How? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 10, 20251 hr 15 min

Trump, China, Trade, and Covid

The 104 percent tariff on China is kicking off a very risky conflict with the People's Republic with potential geopolitical and military ramifications. Is it possible that, without even entirely understanding it, Donald Trump is sticking it to the Chinese over Covid? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 09, 20251 hr 15 min

The Supremes Step In

Constitutional scholar Adam White joins us to talk about the surprisingly complex Supreme Court edit on the plane deportations to El Salvador and what it portends for the fights on legal matters to come. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 08, 20251 hr 9 min

Intellectual Trade Deficit

The fallout from Trump's colossal trade-tariff moves has only just begun. What are the effects on the GOP? On the possibility of the Democrats finding their sea legs with a non-elite economic argument? On the world and our alliances? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 07, 20251 hr 15 min

How Did We Get Here?

Did the successive national shocks of the past half-century lead to the shock of "Liberation Day"? That was the focus of my COMMENTARY daily newsletter from yesterday, and today we use that newsletter as a launching point to discuss Trump's tariffs, the public's reaction, and if we ever lived in "normal" times. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 04, 20251 hr 13 min

Well, He Did It

David Bahnsen joins us today to discuss the Trump tariff earthquake and whether it's here to stay, will somehow be walked back, and whether any good can come from it. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 03, 20251 hr 10 min

Musk, Stefanik, Liberation from What?

Special elections last night offered a mixed picture of the political mood in the country, even as Democrats seem to be seizing on the idea that their path to victory is to focus on Elon Musk. Did Trump do America and Elise Stefanik herself a favor by making her stay in the House to continue fighting the culture war against the universities? And what exactly are tariffs liberating us from? Plus, Val Kilmer, RIP. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 02, 20251 hr 22 min

April Fool's: Kamala Harris

How did it happen that Kamala Harris ever rose to the summit? What forces led her there, and what does it mean that she was stopped and that Trump won over her and is doing what he's doing now? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 01, 20251 hr 5 min

The Two Faces of Trump

his weekend we saw Bad Trump—the one saying he could serve a third term because of, you know, reasons—and Good Trump—the one saying Putin and Iran are angering him and that he's not going to stand for much more of their shenanigans. Now come the tariffs. Are they the work of Good Trump or Bad Trump? And here's an idea: Barack Obama for president of Columbia! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 31, 20251 hr 12 min

Running Government as a Business

We discuss the defense proffered by Elon Musk and his Doge team in a fascinating interview last night on Bret Baier's Fox show for their actions and why, while laudable, their efforts to apply "business" practices to government have been tried before and usually backfire. And why you shouldn't take the media assaults on Trump's deportations at face value. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 28, 20251 hr 19 min
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