Bookworm Room's Podcast

What really happened in the 2026 midterm elections, and why did Republicans suffer such devastating losses? Andrea Widburg examines the election results, compares economic data from the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, and considers whether Americans' negative perceptions of the economy reflect reality or relentless media messaging. She also explores Republican voters' frustrations with Co...

What do Israel's uncertain election results, America's looming midterms, Donald Trump's approach to Iran, and biblical archaeology have in common? They're all subjects in my wide-ranging conversation with author, filmmaker, and political commentator Dinesh D'Souza. We discuss Netanyahu's political prospects, the failures that allowed October 7 to happen, Trump's successes and shortcomings, the gro...

Minnesota's election laws are supposed to protect the integrity of the vote, but do they instead invite fraud? I look at the state's astonishing voter-vouching system, James O'Keefe's undercover investigation, and the decision to prosecute O'Keefe and Cam Higby. Thanks to the Streisand effect, that prosecution may have exposed Minnesota's election practices to far more scrutiny than the authoritie...

In this wide-ranging conversation, Andrea Widburg speaks with Troy A. Miller, president and CEO of NRB , an association of Christian communicators, about why so many Christians stay on the political sidelines despite holding strong moral convictions. They explore the misunderstood separation of church and state, the chilling effect of the Johnson Amendment on political speech from the pulpit, and...

In this podcast, I explore two defining weaknesses of the modern left: a lack of nuance and a failure of imagination. Beginning with a Scottish museum's absurd decision to remove ancient Egyptian mummies out of respect for the dead, I examine how progressives increasingly ignore context, intention, and human complexity. From gun control and Obamacare to Islamism and identity-obsessed academic psyc...

In today's podcast, I start with the growing violence in Europe, where the alliance between Islamists and leftists raises troubling questions about whether Europeans still have the will to defend their civilization. Then I turn to American politics, where J.D. Vance's suggestion that he might sit out the 2028 presidential race makes me wonder whether Marco Rubio's rising star—and Vance's continued...

I've realized that I've become a single-issue voter—but probably not for the reason you'd expect. In this podcast, I explain why antisemitism, abortion, euthanasia, statism, and the value of individual human life all connect for me, and why that connection now shapes how I look at politics. It's a blunt argument about life, death, liberty, and the moral divide between the parties—and why I think t...

What happens when a culture celebrates sexual freedom but leaves young people without a moral compass? I revisit the Cornell fraternity controversy to explore shame, personal responsibility, and the double standard surrounding intoxication and consent. Then I consider young people's search for traditional faith—and troubling polling about their attitudes toward Sharia law. If the next generation i...

If everyone involved is drunk, drugged, and making terrible decisions, why is one person presumed incapable of consent while the others are presumed fully responsible? Using the Cornell rape allegations and the Brock Turner case, I challenge the double standard surrounding intoxication, sexual consent, and personal responsibility—and ask whether our culture has confused bad judgment with criminal...

The only thing that will help Republicans win this fall is if the hardcore political types—the types who read political sites all year long, not just in the lead-up to presidential elections—vote. In other words, this is a vote for the base. However, too often, Republicans are so caught up in the need for political perfection that they take their marbles and go home rather than vote. This podcast...

Last Friday, Trump kicked CNN, POLITICO, and MS-NOW out of the White House press briefing for their long history of erroneous reporting. Today, the four major network news outlets—CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX News—announced that they are boycotting the White House until the outcasts are returned to their seats. The White House and the media are now in a standoff, so the question is, which matters more t...

Contrary to the doom-and-gloom feeling that pervades America, the economy is roaring and, on average , Americans are doing very well. Moreover, when compared to prior times in America—and again, I look back at the 1950s, a time of both atomic threats and boundless optimism about the future—we're getting more bang for the buck than ever. I wouldn't say anything as facile as "don't worry; be happy,"...

One thing that characterized the 1950s was its optimism. Despite the era's troubles (and there were many), people believed in the future. Moreover, we live in the glorious future they imagined. AI has the potential to create an even more glorious future, provided we don't let leftists and other naysayers stampede us into a blind panic that gives China a strong advantage. SOURCES Disney's " There's...

Although I'm creating this on 9/11, it's not about 9/11. Our volunteer writers have expressed themselves with passion and moral clarity, so I don't feel the need to add anything. Instead, I want to discuss how America is a place in which high school and college students—including those in Red States—feel comfortable celebrating and mocking Charlie Kirk's death.

A young man I know asked a very important question: If we stop people from voting for socialism or Islam, aren't we violating the entire principle of our Constitution, which is representative democracy? I thought about that a bit and have some ideas

One of the most powerful tactics Democrats have in the upcoming Midterm election is their demoralization campaign. By downplaying or ignoring news about Trump's success entirely and by skewing polls (see Patrick Ruffini's essay ), they make Republicans, who should be happy warriors, inert blobs. Inert blobs do not vote, which allows angry leftists to win. To resist this, Republicans must focus on...

Beginning in the 20th century, and with accelerating ferocity in the 21st, leftists have ensured that America's colleges and universities have entirely abandoned education. Instead, they are dedicated solely to leftist indoctrination, focusing primarily on intersectional victimhood. This podcast takes you on a quick jaunt through just a few days' worth of reports about the complete collapse of aca...

It's fun to treat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez as a joke, given that she frequently says exceptionally foolish things. And ridicule is a very powerful weapon. Nevertheless, it would be a terrible mistake to underestimate just what a formidable political presence she is. She'll come into the campaign with good looks, a demographic advantage, a recognizable brand, and a crazy-like-a-fox ability to be pol...

The new law in Massachusetts allowing abortion to birth is a Moloch law, and AOC's decision to freeze her eggs is a weird, creepy, anti-woman way of announcing a run for president, but those topics are so obviously awful that they didn't leave a lot of scope for me. Instead, I wanted to discuss how an unearthed video of Hasan Piker just a few years ago perfectly illustrates the non-black Muslim di...

Germany was unified in 1866, bringing together a hodgepodge of duchies and kingdoms, none of which was very powerful, but all of which shared a sort of Germanic culture. Kaiser Wilhelm's dreams of an All-Powerful German nation died on the battlefields of WWI, while Hitler's dreams of a racially pure Thousand-Year Reich died on the battlefields of WWII. Germany was broken in half, and that seemed t...

If you want to see me get mad, rub my face in the fact that South Carolina has an open primary. Listen to this video to hear why, complete with examples from how the largest circulation paper in the state, the Post and Courier, is trying to game the open primary system. Also, I offer my personal endorsement (this is NOT an endorsement from American Thinker) to my friend Duke Buckner, someone whom...

Chick-Lit used to be wholesome and patriotic. A perfect example is a book by D.E. Stevenson, a very popular British mid-century women's writer. Her book, Listening Valley , embodies the patriotism necessary for a country to win wars. We no longer have that patriotism, so it's questionable whether we can still win wars.

Winston Churchill famously said that an appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile in the hope that it will eat him last. Now that the radical Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim socialist, has become the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, old-line Democrats are running scared—and they're right, too, because the Democratic Socialists of America and Muslims have made it clear that they're not going to...

Jason Arday, a storied black academic at Cambridge University in the UK, and Angel Reese, a less storied black basketball player in the WBA, have both had their narratives called into question. Arday's fall from grace (allegations of plagiarism and lies about his past) has become a cause célèbres, while almost no one noticed what was going on with Reese's little Barbie tale. However, both speak to...

Last week, DataRepublican (Jennica Pounds) announced that her new book, Unelected: How You Paid a Sinister Elite to Take Over America , is coming out in October. She added that she and her ghostwriter, Joshua Lisec, will be giving interviews. I instantly pounced on that opportunity, so Joshua and I arranged an interview. I found what Joshua had to say fascinating, for he expanded on the book's bas...