Conversations With Jim Zirin

People are living longer than ever before. This year, the average life expectancy for men is 76.5 years. Author Michael Clinton argues that times have changed, and the average American child born this year has a good chance to live to 100 and remain healthy. Living to 100 or beyond, he says, will become the new normal. He tells Jim of new strategies for longevity and the societal impact of people...

Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, tells Jim left wing NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his "preliminary budget" projecting a deficit of $5.4 billion which he would close by imposing a "tax on the rich." To accomplish this goal, he needs authority from Albany, unlikely in an election year. Robust pushback has come from the more moderate City Council which must approve the p...

In March 2025, invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, never before used in peacetime, Trump, in violation of a court order, sent hundreds of Venezuelan men, alleged to be gang members, to the infamous CECOT prison in El Salvador. Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union tells Jim Zirin of the lawsuits that rescued them from torture and abuse.

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson takes a critical look at the agency he headed and wonders whether the Trump administration is undermining the DHS core mission to protect Americans from terrorist threats to pursue a program of mass deportation.

Yoruba Richen is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, the founding director of the documentary film program at the Craig Newmark graduate school of journalism at the City University of New York (CUNY). She tells Jim of her latest project, a blockbuster film called "Free Joan Little," about the first woman in US history to be acquitted of murder on grounds of self-defense to sexual violence.

Since 1803, the Supreme Court has discharged assumed a duty to rein in the excesses of the president. On its "shadow docket," however, the Court has ruled for Trump over 80% of the time. These are interim orders, but will they become final? Constitutional law expert and Supreme Court follower Stephen Vladeck tells me that interim orders can leave an indelible impression even if eventually vacated.

Patrick Healy heads the New York Times quality control department of standards and trust. He tells Jim how the paper meets its critics from left and right, satisfies itself it has it right, and its coverage fair as it deals with the controversial and searing issues of Trump 2.0 and the Gaza war.

Glenn Lowry just stepped down as the sixth Director of New York's iconic Museum of Modern Art after a 30-year run in which he was acknowledged as one of the greatest museum directors in the world. Glenn Lowry led MoMA into the 21st century with a new focus on contemporary art. He oversaw two major expansion projects, met challenge after challenge, including the shocks of 9-11, the 2008 financial c...

Michael Froman served in the Obama cabinet as United States Trade Representative. He is now president of the Council on Foreign Relations. He tells Jim Zirin that some tariffs are necessary for national security or to curb unfair trade practices, but others are needlessly inflationary, disrupting foreign relations by punishing small nations or others which we would want to be our friends and allie...

Trump ran in 2024 with more negatives than any candidate in American history. Yet, he won the election over Kamala Harris who should have easily beaten him. Where did she go wrong? Could she have won? Best-selling author Chris Whipple with insider access concludes those around Biden ignored his cognitive decline, and tells Jim Zirin Harris never succeeded in separating herself from Biden.

Mark Pomerantz is a premier lawyer with blue ribbon credentials. He was a law clerk to conservative Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart. He served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. Later, he became a partner in Paul Weiss. Trump vindictively singled him out for criticism in his March 14 speech at the Department of Justice. He tells Jim of how Trump's attacks on lawyers...

Nothing so far has worked to solve the vexing Israel Palestinian issue. Trump proposes to relocate the two million Palestinians in Gaza and create a "Gaza Riviera." But will it work? Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations, an old Mideast hand, weighs the imponderables and tells us how peace can be achieved even if Trump's plan is unworkable.

Author Jean Strouse tells Jim about the extraordinary relationship between a wealthy British art dealer Asher Wertheimer, his large family, and John Singer Sargent, the iconic portraitist of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her book is entitled Family Romance, and with great skill Jean paints a Sargent-worthy portrait of the Gilded Age featuring the opulence of a decadent aristocracy and shining a lig...

Jonathan Alter, best-selling author of four books on American presidents, has interviewed nine of the last 10 presidents. The trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan Supreme Court was undoubtedly the trial of the 21st century with a jury verdict of guilty on 34 crimes, Alter attended every day of the 23-day trial for the New York Times and the Washington Monthly, Then, he wrote a terrifically important...

The polls say it is too close to call, but Doug Schoen, our resident political analyst, never fears to step up to the plate. Doug reads the tea leaves, and comes up with the answer. He has been right in eight out of the last nine elections.

Political lawyer Bob Bauer, who prepared Biden for his debate with Trump, pleads for ethics in a political climate where incivility, lawfare, and outright misrepresentations have become the order of the day.

Biden cedes the contest against Trump to Vice President Kamala Harris who instantly captured the lead in the polls. Will it last? Veteran Washington journalist Matt Cooper gives Jim Zirin his take on the volcanic changes in the race.

Courts have found Donald Trump inspired an insurrection, sexually abused a woman in a department store dressing room, engaged in a scheme to defraud for which he was fined $500 million, and was guilty of 34 felony offenses involving a hush money payment to a porn star. Amazingly, he is the GOP nominee for president. Journalist Nina Burleigh, author of the newsletter "American Freakshow," tells whe...

No stranger to New York, Dr. Kyung Wha Kang, the former foreign minister of Korea, has hit the ground running at the Asia Society. She tells Jim of her goals for the society, and candidly discusses US foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific region.

Richard Lifton, the 11th president of Rockefeller University, the nation's leading research institution located in New York City, tells Jim about the latest advances in scientific research and the never-ending search for a cure.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the risk consultancy, Eurasia Group, as well as the popular host of GZERO World which people can see on public television, in a thought-provoking interview analyzes for us the top 10 global risks this year. Heading the list is unsurprisingly the presidential election looming on the horizon, with the internal political challenges we facing us at home.

Barbara McQuade, former US Attorney for Michigan, is author of a new book, which has swept the nation, this week #3 on the New York Times best seller list. The book is entitled "Attack from Within—How Disinformation is Sabotaging America." In the book, she shows how dictators spew disinformation online, and use it to seize power. We discuss how, if possible, we can overcome the danger of disinform...

I sit with Louise Mirrer, the guiding spirit of the New-York Historical Society for the past two decades. Under her leadership, the museum has reinvigorated its commitment to greater public understanding of history and its relevance with blockbuster exhibitions about slavery and the Vietnam War.

Donna Shalala, for eight years Bill Clinton's Secretary of Health and Human Services, was later elected to Congress from Florida. An staunch advocate for reproductive rights and a fierce opponent of hate speech on campus, she has spent most of the past two decades, in higher education. Now, she ponders her future as interim president of the New School.   #DonnaShalala #Congress #TheNewSchool #Heal...