This fortnight, while Andrew and I are on our annual Dishcation in August, we are airing a two-part interview of Andrew from 2012, conducted by the journalist Johann Hari (author of the bestselling books Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs and Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope ). The idea to re-air the interview all started with this reader: I began reading Andrew in the early 2000s, and even though I’m a huge fan, I’ve never heard him system...
Aug 27, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Moynihan is one-third of the The Fifth Column — the sharp, hilarious podcast he does with Kmele Foster and Matt Welch — and he’s a long-time correspondent for Vice. In this episode we mostly cover the cascading news out of Afghanistan, but also bounce around to topics like old media, woke media, neocons and Israel, Big Tech, and third rails. We also reminisce a little about our mutual friend, the late Christopher Hitchens — like that one time Hitch called me a lesbian on air. You can listen to t...
Aug 20, 2021•1 hr 35 min
Michael, currently in Hong Kong, is a veteran journalist on East Asian affairs and a regular contributor to The Atlantic and Bloomberg. He’s written a book on Confucius , and his most recent one, Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World , explores the driving force behind the current Xi regime. After our episode with Peter Beinart that touched on China, and after the reader dissents that made me rethink, we wanted to bring on a Sinophile to help us sort through the most important...
Aug 13, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Michael’s latest book, The Premonition , spotlights a band of dissenting doctors that battled the inept government response to Covid-19. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. For three clips of my conversation with Michael — on how we should approach Covid right now, on why Americans in particular are so vulnerable to viruses, and on the profound grief of ...
Aug 06, 2021
Wesley is a columnist for Tablet magazine, the author of The Souls of Yellow Folk , and a newly minted substacker . I’ve long admired him both for his essays and for his dry-as-toast Twitter feed . In this episode, we discuss the Great Awokening and critical race theory in great detail. You’ve be warned. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player above (or click the dropdown menu to add the Dishcast to your podcast feed). Read the full transcript here . For three clips of our c...
Jul 30, 2021
Peter is a long-time friend and fellow former editor of The New Republic. His latest book is The Crisis of Zionism , and he’s the editor-at-large for Jewish Currents and the creator of his own substack, The Beinart Notebook . In this episode we focus on foreign affairs — China, Israel, and South Africa — as well as our shared apostasy when it comes to Iraq and neoconservatism. In the last half-hour of the pod, we get into a heated debate over the merits of racial diversity and viewpoint diversit...
Jul 23, 2021
One of the writers I most revere in journalism, Michael has a style that is as lucid as his research is exhaustive. His new book, This Is Your Mind on Plants — specifically coffee, poppies, and the San Pedro cactus — is a continuation of his magisterial How to Change Your Mind , a deep dive into psychedelics that made the subject more respectable than it’s ever been. (My 2018 review of that book, “Just Say Yes to Drugs,” is included in my new essay collection .) You can listen to the episode rig...
Jul 16, 2021•1 hr 19 min
Amy, who you probably know as the Tiger Mom, is a law professor at Yale and the author of several books, including The Triple Package and Political Tribes . In this episode we discuss the experience of being an immigrant, of being a minority within a minority, and the importance of, in Amy’s words, “turning being an outsider into a source of strength,” not victimhood. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast a...
Jul 09, 2021
Katie Herzog, one of the last remaining lesbians in America, is the co-host of Blocked and Reported alongside her battered pod-wife, Jesse Singal. Gay neocon Jamie Kirchick is a Brookings fellow and the author of the forthcoming book Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington . If you’d like to hear a politically incorrect gay and lesbian conversation that would never be aired in the MSM, check it out. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right b...
Jul 02, 2021•1 hr 36 min
Michael is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a prolific writer, primarily for National Review. His first book is My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son’s Search for Home , a beautiful memoir I reviewed here . You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. For three clips of my conversation with Michael — on the countercultural rebellion of teen ...
Jun 25, 2021•2 hr 19 min
Prof. Hooven is an evolutionary biologist and the author of the awesome new book, T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us . She’s a teaching star at Harvard and it’s easy to see why. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. For three clips of my conversation with Carole — on how male horniness is increasingly shamed; on testost...
Jun 18, 2021
Bryan, who teaches economics at George Mason University, is the author of the graphic nonfiction NYT bestseller Open Borders . His views on immigration, nation-states, and democracy are extremely different from my own, so we debate all throughout the episode. Bryan has been the most recommended guest by our readers, who clearly want to see some fireworks on this issue. I had a lot of fun. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click...
Jun 11, 2021
Jon and I go way back to the early days of the marriage movement. In this episode we discuss his important new book, The Constitution of Knowledge , and get into some heated exchanges over Trump, the MSM, and Russiagate — Jon as the optimistic liberal and me as the pessimistic conservative. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player above (or click the dropdown menu to add the Dishcast to your podcast feed). Read the full transcript here . For three clips from my conversation w...
Jun 04, 2021
Charles has a new — and probably explosive — book coming out soon, Facing Reality . This conversation is not about that. Instead, I wanted to discuss his last book which received almost no attention, Human Diversity . You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player above (or click the dropdown menu to add the Dishcast to your podcast feed). Read the full transcript here . For three clips of my conversation with Charles — on the different career choices that high-IQ women often make;...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 56 min
Niall is one of my oldest and dearest friends, stretching back to our time at Magdalen College. The prolific historian is out with a new book, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe . One of the hardest convos I’ve yet had. Simply because Niall and I go back so far together, and our friendship is deep, it’s tough to interview him without abandoning objectivity — but I hope I did ok. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in...
May 21, 2021
A co-founder of Justice for Women, Julie has a long career campaigning against male violence. She’s the author of many books , and you can pre-order her latest, Feminism for Women, here . I disagree with her on many subjects but found strange agreement on others. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. For three clips of our conversation — on how Julie disti...
May 14, 2021
Eric is a professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, and he most recently wrote the book Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities , which I reviewed here . Be sure to check out his recent report on the social construction of racism in the United States. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. For three excer...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 42 min
Shawn is a first-generation college grad working at the New York Times and just penned a popular op-ed on his own experience growing up in a culture of opioids in suburban Philly. A more detailed version of his story was published last summer in Liberties. It’s a moving account of a Millennial tragedy. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. For two clips of...
Apr 23, 2021
Buck Angel was a pioneering porn star — the only trans man to ever win Transsexual Performer of the Year at the AVN Awards — and today he’s a sex educator, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. Helena Kerschner is a 22-year-old woman who lived as a man on hormone therapy for several years before detransitioning. Buck’s transition saved his life, while Helena’s transition was a bit of a calamity, but they share a resistance to the dogma of the trans activist community and speak forcefully and e...
Apr 16, 2021
Nick is the supremely talented reporter at the Washington Post covering immigration and DHS, and before that he was a foreign correspondent based in Mexico City and Havana. We tried to break down what is actually happening on the Southern border, and how likely it is to get exponentially worse. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. To hear three excerpts f...
Apr 09, 2021•1 hr 20 min
Emily has been the most fearless reporter on the fraught subject of sexual assault and due process on college campuses, first for Slate and then The Atlantic . She also wrote a hilarious book about a beagle, What the Dog Did . You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or just below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. To listen to three excerpts from my conversation with Emily — on the Democrats’ selective defe...
Apr 02, 2021
Tim is simply the best political reporter in Britain. He’s their Bob Woodward, but he can also actually write. His two books, Fall Out , and All Out War , are indispensable to understanding the politics of Brexit. He knows the Westminster political class as well as anyone. In this episode, we talk about Boris Johnson’s astonishing luck and charm, as well as the Labour Party’s floundering. For three clips of our conversation — on the Tory leader’s knack for winning over the working class; on his ...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Mickey is an old friend and colleague from way back. His 1992 book, The End of Equality , was hugely influential for welfare reform in the Clinton years. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. To hear three excerpts from my conversation with Mickey — on the history of how neoliberalism gutted the middle class; on whether Joe Biden’s amnesty policy amounts t...
Mar 19, 2021
Sally Satel, the author of many books, is a psychiatrist and journalist who just came back after spending a year with opioid addicts in Ironton, Ohio. She writes about that experience, and her views on addiction — that it’s not as simple as a “brain disease” — for the journal, Liberties . We also discuss depression, mental illness, and modernity. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will conne...
Mar 12, 2021
The indefatigable Greenwald needs no introduction for Dishheads. He was once a demon for the pro-war right; and now for the woke left. You can pre-order his book on Brazil under Bolsonaro, Securing Democracy , and you can donate to the animal shelter he started. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player above (or click the dropdown menu to add the Dishcast to your podcast feed). Read the full transcript here . To hear three excerpts from my conversation with Glenn — on the dan...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 26 min
Mara is a brilliant transgender rights activist and founding executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. I’m so grateful for her willingness to have a robust exchange of views on some issues, along with much agreement as well. Every few weeks, I hope to add another perspective to the debate over trans identity, a subject that has suffered from the mainstream media’s horror of open debate. Dana Beyer kicked the series off . You can listen to the episode with Mara Keisling ...
Feb 26, 2021
One of the leading intellectuals of Trumpism, Michael was a senior national security official in the Trump administration and is most widely known for writing “ The Flight 93 Election ”, an essay endorsing Trump in 2016. He’s out with a new essay, “ The Continuing Crisis ”, and a recent book, “ The Stakes ”. I think you’ll find our debate, er, lively. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will ...
Feb 19, 2021
Kmele is co-host of the brilliant and funny Fifth Column podcast and the lead producer at Free Think. You may have seen him on a recent episode of Real Time . A friend and an inspiration, Kmele really opens up in this conversation. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the Dishcast feed. To hear three excerpts from my conversation with Kmele — on the tensions between African...
Feb 12, 2021
David is a deputy editor at New York magazine and one of the sharpest journalists covering the Covid19 pandemic. (He edited my essay on plagues this past summer.) He’s also a clear-headed expert on climate change and the author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming . This pod is full of fact, insight and speculation on the virus, the vaccines, and the new variants. If you need to get your head wrapped around where we are in this plague, check it out. You can listen to the episode right ...
Feb 05, 2021
Chris is an old friend and, in my view, one of the sharpest right-of-center writers in journalism. A senior fellow at the Claremont Institute and contributing editor to the Claremont Review of Books, his latest book, The Age of Entitlement , is a constitutional narrative of the last half-century that is indispensable — especially for liberals — in understanding the roots of our polarization. Here’s a great primer from Sean Illing: Caldwell doesn’t defend racism or the apartheid system the Civil ...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 12 min
