Aspen Ideas to Go

How do we save ourselves from repeating errors of our past? Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright poses this question in her new book, Fascism: A Warning . She thinks fascism now presents a greater threat to peace than at any time since the end of WWII. In this episode, she speaks with Aspen Institute CEO Dan Porterfield about what tools in the “national security toolbox” we can use to figh...

Across the US, students are heading back to college for the start of the school year. Many will wrestle with mental health challenges. Campus counseling offices are busier than ever and peer-run mental health clubs are popping up. Colleges are working to keep up as students’ academic, social, and athletic demands sometimes become too much to bear. In this episode, Teen Vogue editor Samhita Mukhopa...

Midterms are often seen as the first nationwide referendum on a first-term president. Donald Trump’s ratings have ranged from low to medium-low, but a “blue wave” of victories is far from guaranteed this fall. Where Democrats strive for inclusiveness with regard to race, gender, and immigration status, critics see “identity politics,” and successfully fending off that critique may determine the pa...

At age 25, Gaby Pacheco was the first undocumented Latina to testify in front of Congress. In this conversation with New York Times Contributing Op-Ed Writer Wajahat Ali , she talks about the struggles immigrants still face years later. She spearheaded efforts that led to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and participated in the Trail of Dreams, a four-month walk from Miami...

In our first “Off Stage” bonus episode, New York Times Contributing Op-Ed Writer Wajahat Ali speaks with former white supremacist skinhead Christian Picciolini . For 8 years, Picciolini was a follower, then a leader in the white supremacist movement. When the people he thought he hated showed compassion, he left the group. Now he helps others disengage from extremism. In this one-on-one discussion...

One year after a deadly hate rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the city continues to heal. White supremacists gathered at the University of Virginia and then in downtown Charlottesville in mid-August last year. Protesters clashed and a young woman, Heather Heyer, died in the fray. Now, the historic city that was once home to Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe is also associated with the white sup...

Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, singled out American-born businessman Bill Browder at a joint press conference in Helsinki, Finland. Putin, standing alongside President Trump, named Browder and his business dealings. Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia until he was arrested in 2005 and expelled from the country. His corporate documents were seized by Russian authorities, h...

Is the Republican Party in the United States having an identity crisis? Are the priorities of the Republican Party, conservative ideals, and the Trump administration’s policies aligning? Or, are we witnessing the factions of the party splintering off? Our panel includes Jonah Goldberg ( National Review ), Allysia Finley ( The Wall Street Journal ), Michael Steele (former Republican National Commit...

Since 2016, we’ve watched women rack up unprecedented wins in statehouses, city halls, and even Congress — and thousands more are throwing their hats into the ring. How did factors like Donald Trump’s win and #MeToo influence this wave, and why does the movement seem to be taking hold now? Writer Rebecca Traister (“All the Single Ladies”) leads a discussion with Christine Matthews , president of B...

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats goes over President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in this discussion held July 19th. These are his first public comments after standing by the intelligence community’s findings on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has questioned the intelligence assessment. Coats manages America’s 17 intelligence agencies and serves...

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has defended the Trump administration’s controversial "zero tolerance" immigration policy that has led to families being separated at America’s southwest border. In this discussion, she addresses illegal immigration, saying it reflects a broken system. Her conversation with Peter Alexander , national correspondent for NBC News, also touches on Russian m...

FBI Director Christopher Wray is firm in his position that Russia was involved in the 2016 presidential campaign. “The intelligence community’s assessment has not changed,” he says, “and my view has not changed, which is that Russia attempted to interfere with the last election.” Wray spoke July 18 at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado. His interviewer, Lester Holt of NBC News, also asked...

A lot has happened since US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in May a “zero tolerance” policy for illegal crossings at the southwest border. The family separation policy that contributed to dividing nearly 3,000 children from their guardians was halted and now the US government is working to reunite families. In this episode, Mimi Marziano , president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, tal...

President Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday during a time when international relations are being tested. On the heels of a tension-filled NATO summit, Russia experts wonder whether Trump’s meeting with Putin will address the Russian government’s rising belligerence. Putin’s government is increasingly acting as an outlaw state across the international stage — undermining...

Hours before President Trump attends a NATO Summit in Brussels, we examine the role of the alliance and how it fits into Europe’s recent struggles. Brexit, terrorism, a new anti-establishment government in Italy, and rising nationalism fueled in part by a flood of immigrants from the Syrian war are testing the grand European experiment. How should the continent move forward? And how will the regio...

Former FBI Director James Comey says transparency and a desire to maintain his agency’s credibility prompted him to reopen the Hillary Clinton email investigation in 2016. He sent a letter to Congress days before the presidential election saying he had new evidence in the case. To this day, some people blame him for Clinton’s defeat. In this episode, he speaks with journalist Katie Couric about th...

As the nation’s top doctor, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has pledged to lead with science and collaborate with local entities to tackle national health crises. In this episode, he speaks with NPR’s Alison Kodjak about children being separated from their parents at the southern US border, the opioid crisis, gun violence, and mental health. Adams is the 20th person to serve as Surgeon General. In...

What makes two people click? What does it really mean to say, “we have chemistry”? The Atlantic 's Olga Khazan talks to biological anthropologist Helen Fisher about the four styles of thought and behavior that Fisher has identified through brain scans that help explain the biological underpinnings of romantic love, love addiction, adultery, and divorce. Based on data collected from 35,000 single A...

In a recent Alabama Senate election, 96 percent of African American voters supported one candidate, and according to a Pew Research Center survey, 66 percent of Latino voters chose just one candidate during the most recent Presidential election. Do Democrats take the "people of color" vote for granted? How can Republicans appeal more to people of color? What are the ways in which people are viewin...

A hip-hop musical about America’s founding fathers with a virtually all minority cast. A reimagining of La bohème as a rock musical uncovering the AIDS crisis in New York City. A coming-of-age musical about the anxieties of entering adulthood told through cartoons. These are just a few of the radically relevant and compelling concepts that Tony Award-winning producer Jeffrey Seller has turned into...

Bill Gates portends doomsday is coming. The late Stephen Hawking said we should prepare for our robot overlords to take their thrones. But is the future as glaring as HAL’s red eye? Or is it more complicated than that? What does a future powered by algorithms and big intelligence mean for our lives? What are the game-changing developments made possible by AI? How will AI transform industry and dis...

News from around the globe is dominating US headlines. President Trump plans to meet with North Korea's Kim Jong-un in June, Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is continuing his probe into Russian meddling. Former members of the US intelligence community and the White House weigh in on these global moving parts. Lisa Monaco , former advisor to the preside...

By trying to provide the perfectly happy childhood, a generation of parents may be making it harder for their kids to actually grow up. Hear from psychologists Polly Young-Eisendrath and Madeline Levine , as well as psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb on how our preoccupation with choice, self-esteem, and happiness may be yielding a generation marked by entitlement, materialism, narcissism, and an inabi...

The #MeToo Movement has exposed sexual harassment in the workplace, but what about the problem of gender inequality? Journalist Joanne Lipman says every woman knows how it feels to be marginalized, not taken seriously, overlooked, and underpaid at work. Lipman, editor-in-chief at USA Today , wrote the book “That’s What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) About Working Tog...

Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter insists that serving in city council is the best job in politics. He served two terms as mayor and managed to lower the city’s homicide rate and increase the high school graduation rate. Still, he says, it wasn’t enough. Though it may not be as glamorous as working in national politics, Nutter says you can more easily see progress when serving at the local...