The Close Read Podcast

As Trump’s presidency enters its latter half, will the administration stay on course where others have floundered? Editor Charles Kesler and associate editor Spencer Klavan meet live and in-person to discuss the new CRB. They are joined by Salvatori Fellow Glenn Ellmers to focus in on his latest piece, “The Big Three,” about Trump’s potential rank as a world historic figure. As midterms loom large...

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads his piece, “ Fightin’ Words ,” featured in the Claremont Review of Books’ Fall 2026 issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

Lane Scott joins Associate Editor Spencer Klavan to discuss her latest piece, “Cowboys and Carpetbaggers,” featured in the new Fall 2026 issue. The bitter domestication of America’s West during the 19th century, commemorated in Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove , offered opportunities for rugged conquest but also posed a challenge to civilized family life. Today, Taylor Sheridan’s hit show Yellowston...

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ Red and Dead ,” Daniel J. Mahoney’s essay featured in the Claremont Review of Books’ Summer 2026 issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

American schools are failing society. Illiteracy is rampant while progressive ideology overrides traditional curricula. Social studies, history, and civics are all captured by people and organizations devoted to anti-American revisionism. Mark Bauerlein, First Things contributing editor and Emeritus Professor of English at Emory University, outlines the dangers of teaching students to hate their c...

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ Bursting the Bubble ,” Michael Barone’s review of 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation , featured in the Claremont Review of Books’ Summer 2026 issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

The American Revolution produced a lasting republic, now in its 250th year. But is it still the country the founders envisioned? Claremont Review of Books editor Charles Kesler joins associate editor Spencer Klavan to review the CRB’s summer 2026 edition, including Kesler's own essay on the principles and lasting success of our revolution as distinguished from its English and French counterparts....

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ Wine Lunacy ,” Sam Schneider’s most recent entry to the column Under the Vine and Fig Tree, featured in the Claremont Review of Books’ Summer 2026 issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

Following Richard Nixon's victory in the turbulent 1968 election, an amendment threatening to dismantle the Electoral College gained startling momentum. Enter the young senate staffer Michael Uhlmann, whose 1970 report put forward what would become the definitive case for the institution thereafter. The amendment failed, but a torrent of new challenges to our constitutional system now arise ahead...

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has emerged as the leader of the global Left. As president of the Socialist International and co-founder of the Global Progressive Mobilization, Sánchez has pioneered a new strain of European politics to counter Trump. Contributing Editor Christopher Caldwell joins the show to discuss his latest piece, “Pedro Sánchez’s Kingdom,” and the anti-American sentiment...

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ Melville at Sea ,” Algis Valiunas’s essay featured in the Claremont Review of Books’ Summer 2026 issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

Excited by the prospect of capitalizing on China’s rise in the 2010s, American firms—notably Apple—funneled billions of dollars of capital and masses of infrastructure into the nation without regard for geopolitics. Today, China has realized its opportunity to rival the U.S. as a regional power, using our investments as a springboard. This week, Claremont Lincoln Fellow Emmet Penney joins Spencer...

The U.S. Military is the mightiest fighting force in history. Yet its evolution has been long and complex, and today it is suffering from the damage done by decades of social justice initiatives. Continuing a celebration the U.S.’s 250th year, American Military Project Director Will Thibeau joins Spencer Klavan to examine the pre-revolutionary origins of the Army and consider Donald Trump's effort...

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ We Shall Not Fight on the Beaches ,” Theodore Dalrymple’s review of The Camp of the Saints , featured in the spring 2026 issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan his piece, “ The Renegade Academy ,” featured in the spring 2026 issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

As America continues to celebrate its 250th year in existence, Glenn Ellmers, Salvatori Research Fellow in the American Founding, sits down with host Spencer Klavan to illuminate the life, teaching, and significance of Harry Jaffa, godfather of the Claremont Institute. Jaffa gave new life to, among other things, Abraham Lincoln’s rich understanding of Declaration’s principles. Ellmers and Klavan c...

Editor Charles Kesler hails the arrival of the Spring 2026 issue with Associate Editor Spencer Klavan. The issue, which went to press just after war broke out in Iran, features Charles's editor's note about Reagan's Cold War strategy and Trump's high-stakes new venture in the Middle East. Can he avoid recycling past mistakes? Elsewhere in the pages, the New Criterion’s Sam Schneider kicks off a ne...

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ The Founders’ Cups ,” Sam Schneider’s piece featured in the spring 2026 issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

To inaugurate a special podcast series celebrating the American Founding’s 250th anniversary, host Spencer Klavan and professor of politics at Washington and Lee University Lucas Morel discuss Abraham Lincoln’s history-making interpretation of the Declaration of Independence. All men are created equal. Drawing on a tradition that went right back to the founding, but making it vitally urgent for a...

Lane Scott, author of the Substack Matriarch Goals , and editor Spencer Klavan sit down to discuss the Netflix hit, Stranger Things , one of the biggest television sensations in the last decade. In an era of “despair porn," the show illustrated why good defeats evil and gave viewers a way to reflect on the bittersweet significance of growing up. Its analog, 1980s world stands in contrast to our mu...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ Never Trump After 2024 ,” William Voegeli’s review of Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites and Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign , featured in the Fall 2025-Winter 2026 double issue.

President of the American Main Street Initiative Jeffery H. Anderson joins associate editor Spencer Klavan to address a little-noticed assault on the Founding, the country, and its great men: the Woke takeover of our national parks. At hallowed ground across the U.S., activist curators have rebranded Washington and the Founders as “enslavers” and condemned America's icons—the Liberty Bell included...

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ Palace Intrigues ,” Barry Strauss’s review of Kant: A Revolution in Thinking , featured in the Fall 2025-Winter 2026 double issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe

John Quincy Adams, son of John, grew up amid the turmoil of the revolution. At just 14, he served as interpreter of French for America’s first minister in Russia. He grew into a diplomat, a secretary of state, a president, and a ferociously anti-slavery congressman —after leaving office. He saw deep into the heart of the Declaration’s logic and made it his guiding light. Browsing the diary of JQA,...

Associate Editor Spencer Klavan reads “ Streaming Shakespeare ,” Martha Bayles’s column featured in the Fall 2025-Winter 2026 double issue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com/subscribe