The Dispatch Podcast

Endorsements don’t matter, Fox News lied to its audience, and experts got COVID wrong. Jonah, Sarah, and Kevin give us all a reality check AND a grammar lesson. Plus: a Jonah rant on journalistic principles. If you enjoyed this conversation, join our Book Club for more presidential talk. Show Notes: -Sarah Isgur: The Sweep: Looking Out for No. 2 -Jonah Goldberg: Utter corruption of editorial leade...

The world's abuzz with nuclear war rhetoric as Vladmir Putin rips up a treaty limiting arms control. David Drucker speaks with Peter Rough, an expert on foreign policy from the Hudson Institute, to talk about the spector of a potential world war, the state of our defense capabilities, and why defending Ukraine might be the best way to stave off Russia from attacking the U.S. Show Notes: -Peter Rou...

The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio was should have been a moment for the Biden administration to publicly transcend politics. Sarah, David, and Declan wonder why this chance was frittered. Plus: between a new DeSantis bill and the Dominion lawsuit, what should we think about the state of defamation law? Show Notes: -Train crew had little warning before Ohio wreck, probe finds -‘Incredibl...

Nikki Haley is officially in the race... but is she ready to take on Trump? Steve, Sarah, and Jonah are joined by David Drucker, who was on the ground for her South Carolina launch. Plus, who’s leaking all the anti-Kamala content, and why isn’t the Biden administration answering questions about spy balloons? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Economist Jason Furman joins Declan Garvey on this episode of the Dispatch Podcast to break down the confusing economic state of the U.S. The unemployment rate is great, the rapid pace of job growth is on an uphill trajectory, and inflation is low. But, is that too good to last? Furman breaks down the scenarios that could cause the economic successes to come to a screeching halt. Learn more about...

With the the State of the Union in the rearview mirror, Declan and David join Sarah to break down Biden’s re-election chances and the mood of the Democratic Party. The crew also takes a look at polling between Trump & DeSantis and their sway with voters. And yes, some balloon content drops, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Sarah, Jonah, and Kevin as they welcome David Drucker in his debut DisPod appearance. The crew looks into the Tyre Nichols tragedy and the root causes of bad policing. They give a nod to the dog and pony show of House committee assignments and conclude with a fiery debate about Nikki Haley's presidential dreams and whether Trump admin veterans deserve the mark of Cain. Finally, Sarah highligh...

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu stops by Dispatch HQ to talk with Steve about his record, from pandemic response to school choice. With eyes towards 2024, they discuss The Granite State's role in primaries, Sununu's own presidential prospects, and his unfiltered thoughts about former president Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Jonah in the driver's seat this week as he bring along Declan and Kevin to talk about the debt ceiling mess, the over-classification of documents, and whether Ron DeSantis' all-in-on-the-culture-war approach is simply what right wing politics is going to be from now on. Show Notes: -The Dispatch: Debt Ceiling Coverage -Nick Cattagio: VP MTG?  -CBS News: Why A&W put pants on its cartoon bear a...

Elon Musk opened up the secret Twitter vaults before a select group of journalists who went on to chain-tweet their findings. David French sits down with Kmele Foster, co-host of The Fifth Column podcast, to figure out whether the response to the findings should be a vociferous freak out, a tired shrug, or something more nuanced. They discuss political censorship, media spins, and Big Tech. Show N...

China’s population is getting older and older and analysts warn this could have significant global impact. Deputy Morning Editor of TMD Esther Eaton sits down with Scott Kennedy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies to dig into the root causes behind the country’s demographic decline and the impact this will have on economic and labor conditions. Show Notes: Esther Eaton's TMD Piec...

Sarah, Jonah and David wonder what's left of fiscal responsibility in the Republican Party as the debt-ceiling deadline hits Congress. Who’s serious about digging in and balancing the budget? Will taking on the "weaponized" beauracy make a dent? And, haven’t we been in this before? The crew also tallies which countries are providing tactical support to Ukraine (and how much). And of course, stay t...

Declan joins Sarah, David and Steve to break down President Biden’s classified documents scandal. The team then discusses McCarthy's backroom dealing, the proposed SANTOS act, and the riots in Brazil. Plus: An anatomically descriptive Worth Your Time(?) segment that made David deeply uncomfortable. Show Notes: The Dispatch: House GOP Moves to Messaging Bills and Investigations Proposed Bill Text:...

As the House enters a third day of its parade of pettiness, Sarah, Steve, and Jonah discuss Kevin McCarthy’s slow, tortuous slug of concessions towards becoming a speaker in name only. Also on the agenda: Biden’s 2024 vision, Mayor Pete’s carpetbagging, and the online right’s grotesque response to Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest. Out of context: “That is a trifecta of wrongness.” Learn more about yo...

Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse will resign from Congress and take on a new role in February as President of the University of Florida. Sasse, a junior senator from Nebraska and member of the Republican party, has been a vocal critic of Trump's influence on the right and the GOP. He joins Steve Hayes to discuss the dangers of infotainment, the increasing tribalism of American politics, the future of acade...

Inflation has driven the cost of living to a record high and most recent reports are giving mixed signals about what to expect. Declan is joined by Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, to talk about interest-rate hikes and Lachman's critiques of the Fed in what he calls "monetary policy overkill."  Show Notes: -Desmond Lachman: “The Fed is playing with fire with i...

Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David (who heroically dragged himself from bed at the crack of the Tennessee dawn) discuss some of the best and worst stories of 2022. What will make the list? The Russian invasion? The Artemis launch? Asteroid nudging? The Ye-Fuentes summit? The resurgence of COVID in China? The unveiling of Donald Trump’s NFT? Come for the review of a wild year, stay for the wild(?) pred...

"Title 42," the pandemic-era immigration restriction, was slated to expire December 21, until the Supreme Court stepped in. Now, the Biden administration and conservatives are in loggerheads on what to do next. Esther sits down with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the Policy Director at American Immigration Council to discuss the historical context behind Title 42, its impact on border crossings, and what...

With new polls showing Donald Trump losing his grip on the Republican base, Sarah, David, and Steve debate the do's and don'ts of gauging Trump's political altitude. They also discuss Ron DeSantis' attempt to court the vax-skeptic voter, the recent COVID outbreaks in China, and what the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried tells us about America's cult of the CEO. Plus: Should we be talking about MTG? S...

Will the aftermath of Herschel Walker's defeat in Georgia create a rare window for Republican introspection? And can the infotainment right be part of the solution? Sarah, David, Jonah and Steve also discuss what we know (and don’t know) about the Hunter Biden scandal, wonder what ever happened to the Electoral Count Reform Act, and catch up on what’s going on in the rest of the world. Show Notes:...

Sarah, David, Jonah and –– believe it or not! –– Steve discuss whether and how the United States should support dissidents in China and Iran, ponder the poetic timing of the Fuentes dinner, and lament the intractability of America’s gun debate. Also: why is it so difficult to enjoy America beating Iran in the World Cup (besides it being soccer)? Also also: will David’s scotch-taped computer surviv...

With the war not going as smoothly as he might have hoped, Putin turns to Iran for help replenishing Russia's arsenal. Frederick W. Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project at AEI, joins David to explain the nature of this alliance-of-convenience and where things could go from here. Show Notes: -Critical Threats: Ukraine Stream - Critical Threats: Iran Crisis Updates Learn more about your a...

With Donald Trump officially running for president, Ron DeSantis faces a twisted decision tree. Sarah, David, and Kevin are here to make sense of it. Plus: how should the U.S. respond to the deadly missile incident in Poland?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah, Jonah, and David come together to give the midterms a post-mortem to end all postmortems. They discuss the vibe theory of political trends, the presidential prospects of Republicans Not Named Donald Trump, and the lessons both parties took away from the elections. Oh, and of course: do all roads lead to Georgia..? Again?? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s explainer, Declan is joined by RAND Corporation senior researcher David Luckey. A retired Marine Corps officer, David is now devoted to getting congressional attention to the thing that killed tens of thousands of Americans last year: fentanyl. David explains the scope of the overdose epidemic, its force multipliers, and the ways to fight it. Show Notes: -The Morning Dispatch on the Fen...