Politicology

Hagar Chemali (Former spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations) joins Host Ron Steslow to unpack Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington—and why the two powers keep meeting more often while agreeing on less. They begin with the administration's turn from tariffs to hospitality, and why a quickening calendar of summits signals not warming ties but a conflict neither side can resolve—w...

Ron Steslow and Mike Madrid unpack the suspicious four-day push by some of the biggest AI companies begging to be regulated and why it’s less a safety awakening and more a bid to build a moat around who gets to control this technology.  Then, they turn to an essay by Franciscan sister Ilia Delio’s essay on why our fear of AI is really a fear of confronting what it means to be human. Read Ilia...

Mike Madrid (author of The Latino Century) joins host Ron Steslow trace how eroding trust, the kind that backs the electoral map and the dollar, is reshaping American politics and everyday affordability.  They start with the redistricting wars and how they eroded trust in institutions and how both parties traded credibility by using zero-sum tactics. Next, they turn to dealignment, the genera...

Hagar Chemali (former spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations) and Nick Anthony (Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute and a Fellow at the Human Rights Foundation) join host Ron Steslow to trace how the financial surveillance regime born after 9/11 is being rebuilt for programmable money. They begin with the machinery of financial surveillance: reporting, identification, blocking, s...

Zack Czajkowski (co-founder of Civly) joins host Ron Steslow to map the first election of the chatbot era and to ask why the party that once led on campaign technology is now the one recoiling from it.  They begin with voters already asking chatbots how to vote, perhaps millions directly and tens of millions more nudged by AI summaries without even realizing it.  Next, they turn to how c...

Katherine Mangu-Ward (Editor in Chief of Reason) joins host Ron Steslow to examine the growing revolt against automated license-plate surveillance company Flock and what it reveals about privacy in the age of AI.  They begin with the backlash against flock: cameras cut down across dozens of states, communities canceling contracts, and an unlikely coalition uniting against the technology.&nbsp...

Susan Del Percio (crisis communications expert and political analyst at MS NOW) joins host Ron Steslow to trace how a revolt against data centers opens larger questions into how the AI buildout is financed and who holds the risk.  They begin with the politics of the backlash and the town by town opposition that has turned data centers into a bipartisan populist flashpoint. Then they look at t...

Hagar Chemali (former spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations) joins host Ron Steslow to take the Democratic Socialists of America’s foreign policy seriously on their own terms, reading what the movement has written down. They begin with the DSA’s ascent: a run of 2026 primary wins and Democratic leadership inclined to accommodate the energy rather than resist it, echoing MAGA’s ta...

Mike Madrid (author of The Latino Century) joins host Ron Steslow to examine how AI is redrawing the machinery of politics and forcing a reckoning with what remains distinctly human.  They begin with campaigns, where operatives now test messages on synthetic electorates, AI agents built to think like real voters, before a word reaches anyone.   From there, they turn to the parties,...

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus In this episode, Ron talks to Nick Anthony (Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute and a Fellow at the Human Rights Foundation) about Central Bank Digital Curriences, their potential to invade privacy, alter the dynamics of financial control, how governments are trying to justify them, and why those...

Molly McKew (writer and lecturer on Russian influence and information warfare) joins host Ron Steslow to examine how Ukraine’s widening reach is bringing the war home to Russia and what a defeated Russia could become.  They begin with the war’s new geography: strikes that have idled a quarter of Russia’s refining capacity, and drones now reaching the Caspian corridor between Russia and Iran.&...

Catherine Sanderson (Poler Family Professor and chair of the psychology department at Amherst College)  joins Ron Steslow to discuss emotional intelligence and how it impacts success in the workplace, politics, and our everyday lives (01:40) What emotional intelligence is and how we measure it (03:55) Why emotional intelligence is important  (07:03) How self-awareness impacts emotional i...

This week, we’re bringing you another double feature of Politicology+ special previews.  First, Ron Steslow talks with Mike Madrid about Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. Using the Pope's choice between "constructing Babel" and "rebuilding Jerusalem,” they confront what happens when we hand life-and-death decisions to machines that can't be held accountable. Then, Ron and...

Katty Kay (veteran reporter and four-time NYT bestselling author) joins host Ron Steslow to discuss her new book The Power Code: More Joy. Less Ego. Maximum Impact for Women (and Everyone), co-written with Claire Shipman.  (02:12) Katty’s background and why she started looking at power  (07:07) Women are passing men in college degrees, but not the boardroom  (13:10) Why women have b...

This week, we’re bringing you a double feature of Politicology+ special previews.  First, Ron Steslow talks with Mike Madrid about his invitation to debate at the Oxford Union, where he argued the position that Donald Trump has betrayed the conservative movement.  Mike describes the pageantry and weight of history at one of the world’s most storied debating societies, the case he built a...

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus In this episode, Ron talks to  Casey Michel (Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation) about his book Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World and how foreign money  influences our politics. They discuss:...

Host Ron Steslow welcomes Alex Gladstein (Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation) to discuss the significant and often misunderstood role of Bitcoin in protecting human rights and fighting against authoritarians around the world. Segments to look forward to: (02:07) Alex’s background in human rights work and why he became interested in Bitcoin  (16:18) Bitcoin vs other cryptocu...

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus In this episode, Ron talks to Jay Solomon (executive director of investigations at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University and cohost of The Threat podcast) and Hagar Chemali (former spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the UN and cohost of The Threat podcast) about what the latest...

Mike Madrid (Author of The Latino Century) joins Host Ron Steslow to dive into how populism is consuming both parties and the institutions meant to contain them, from a socialist sweep in New York to a building debt-and-oil crisis. They begin with New York's primaries, where DSA-aligned candidates won and Zohran Mamdani emerged as a kingmaker—signaling the Democratic party’s “Tea Party moment.”  F...

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus In this episode, Ron talks to Grace Pak (founder and cake artist behind Duchess of Cameron, and the artist selected by America 250 to create the official cake for the country's 250th birthday) about how a single dessert became a bipartisan project. They explore her path from a Columbia neuroscience...

Susan Del Percio (crisis communications expert) joins host Ron Steslow to examine what becomes of a populist movement once it captures the institutions it was built to attack. They begin with the Epstein files and a new book from New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan about the White House’s behind-the-scenes scramble to respond, including a Situation Room damage control meetin...

Billy Binion (reporter at Reason Magazine) joins host Ron Steslow to examine how democratic governments are redefining speech as a harm to be managed and who pays the price when they do. They begin with the White House's negotiation with Senator Marsha Blackburn, a deal that would trade federal preemption of state AI laws for the Kids Online Safety Act, the No Fakes Act, and federal age verificati...

To unlock subscriber-only content, visit: https://politicology.com/plus Géraldine Blanche (Intellectual Property Lawyer and PhD candidate in Intellectual Property Law at the Sciences Po Law School in Paris) joins Ron Steslow to discuss the politics of fashion and intellectual property law (01:26) Fashion in Politics  (05:36) Iteration, interpretation, and inspiration (09:47) The need for time in f...

Hagar Chemali (Former spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the UN) is back in studio with host Ron Steslow to map the widening gap between the Trump Administration's declared aims in the Iran war, and the murky reality now shaping the region and the world. First they discuss the state of the war with Iran and the supposed negotiations in which the two governments are describing opposite realities—...

To unlock subscriber-only content, visit: https://politicology.com/plus Géraldine Blanche (Intellectual Property Lawyer and PhD candidate in Intellectual Property Law at the Sciences Po Law School in Paris) joins Ron Steslow to discuss the politics of fashion and intellectual property law (01:25) History of laws protecting creativity  (09:20) What IP lawyers do (12:50) What led Géraldine to fashio...