Commentary Magazine Podcast

AEI scholar, journalist, and editor Matthew Continetti rejoins the COMMENTARY podcast. How has Donald Trump managed the crisis? In what ways will the pandemic reshape America’s ideological camps? And who will Joe Biden pick as his running mate? All will be revealed.

As the nation descends further into a passionate debate over how to balance public health with the needs of a functional society, the intractable conflicts between these two outlooks collide and manifest in bad-faith attacks on each side’s capacity for empathy and compassion. Can the country find an equilibrium between these two valid but competing interests?

The hosts of the COMMENTARY podcast minus one Christine Rosen, who is contributing to the moribund economy today, discuss the modest examples of good pandemic news on the horizon and what seems like the antipathy to it among thought leaders.

This can’t go on forever, right? Or can it? The COMMENTARY podcast debates the lockdown, and when the public will determine that the economic risks outweigh the public health concerns.

Former COMMENTARY editor and op-ed editor for the New York Post, Sohrab Ahmari, joins the podcast to talk about his article in the latest issue, “They Blinded Us with Science.” Also, the hosts break down the White House’s new phased guidance for states to pursue as they look to reopen their economies.

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracy’s Jonathan Schanzer joins the COMMENTARY podcast to talk about his article in the latest issue, “Countering a Corrupt China.” How Beijing has come to dominate international institutions, and how to roll back their influence after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Can You Trust People in a Pandemic? Writer, editor, and author James B. Meigs joins the COMMENTARY podcast to discuss his essay in the latest issue of the magazine, “Elite Panic vs. the Resilient Populace.” How one disaster tells the tale of American ingenuity and how they are so often not trusted to do the right thing by their leaders in government.

Donald Trump’s oversensitive comportment at his daily press conferences. Joe Biden’s familiar manner with women comes back to bite him. The New York Times’ embarrassing capitulation to the Biden campaign. The prospect of nationwide mail-in balloting. The sustainability of open-ended lockdowns. This episode of the COMMENTARY podcast has it all!

COMMENTARY's daily podcasters are joined by the inimitable Andrew Ferguson for a wide-ranging consideration of this question: Will we go to the mall? Can we go to the mall? What will it be like when we go to the mall? Also, we hear about Andy's decision to stop doing television, why I left government and how Noah Rothman may have convinced Jaoquin Castro to grow a beard. Give a listen.

The COMMENTARY podcast emerges from Passover hibernation for a special podcast to discuss the collapse of Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign and speculate on the Democratic Party’s future.

We (mostly Noah) describe our slow descent into madness as the public guidance and state-level lockdown policies grow stricter even as the long-term projections about the pandemic’s trajectory begin to look a little better. Also, the scandals involving the resignation of the acting Secretary of the Navy and Donald Trump’s vendetta against his inspectors general.

American-Israeli journalist Ruthie Blum joins the podcast to discuss how the Coronavirus pandemic has reshaped Israeli society and politics.

Jonathan V. Last, journalist, author, and executive editor of The Bulwark, joins the COMMENTARY podcast. With some qualified good news coming out of infection rate modelers, the hosts wonder if the worst—which is yet to come—will be as terrible as was once forecast.

Hard to tell, as we consider the issue on today's podcast. On the one hand, the curve is flattening in New York City. On the other hand, we're about to see terrible things happen. And the disease's spread will follow slowly across the country. If you're looking for a bright side, we conclude talking about Broadway musicals! Give a listen.

The bottom falls out of the labor market with over 6 million new unemployment claims. How will the country dig out of this mess and, when it does, what will the world look like?