Politicology

Alua Arthur (Death Doula) joins host Ron Steslow to discuss the importance of embracing mortality, talking about death, and her new book, Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life and Getting Real About the End.  Segments to look forward to: (02:31) What is a death doula?  (05:39) Alua’s journey and embracing mortality  (07:28) The impact of avoiding conversations about death  (10:33) Prac...

The Epstein files were supposed to bring clarity—what happened, who knew, and who was protected. Instead, the slow drip of disclosures, redactions, and missing records has deepened a broader crisis: collapsing trust in institutions in the U.S. and beyond. Guest Host Hagar Chemali and Mike Madrid (Author of The Latino Century) unpack what the files reveal (and what they still don’t), why the rollou...

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus In part two of this series, Ron talks to Rebecca Roiphe (Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor of Law at New York Law School) about critical legal studies, the attacks on our understanding of what the law is and how it should function from across the political spectrum.  They focus on how the chil...

What if the “next big thing” out of Silicon Valley isn’t an app—it’s a political project engineered to bypass democracy? In this episode, Guest Host Mike Madrid sits down with Gil Durán (journalist and author of “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and The War on Democracy”) who’s been tracking an increasingly explicit ideology emerging from venture capital and tech power circles that treats de...

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus In this two-part episode, Ron talks to Rebecca Roiphe (Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor of Law at New York Law School) about critical legal studies, the attacks on our understanding of what the law is and how it should function from across the political spectrum.  They discuss: (04:57) The ch...

Americans largely agree on two immigration goals: securing the border and deporting people here illegally who have committed violent crimes.  But inside the United States, enforcement has become a political flashpoint. Guest Host Susan Del Percio is joined by Jeh Johnson (Former Secretary of Homeland Security) to discuss why border crossings can fall quickly based on deterrence and perception and...

Are there tendencies within Christian tradition that put some versions of the faith in tension with core principles of democracy? What is “Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity?” How can a pluralistic society guard against the rise of political figures—including Donald Trump—aiming to weaponize this phenomenon? In this two-part conversation, we dive into these provocative questions with the Rev....

Guest Host Lucy Caldwell and Dmitri Mehlhorn (Founder, The Atoll Society) have a conversation about political risk, institutional blind spots, and what scenario-based thinking reveals that conventional analysis often misses. They discuss the Atoll Society’s simulation salons, which use scenario-based exercises to test assumptions about power, institutions, and the rule of law. Rather than predict...

Are there tendencies within Christian tradition that put some versions of the faith in tension with core principles of democracy? What is “Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity?” How can a pluralistic society guard against the rise of political figures—including Donald Trump—aiming to weaponize this phenomenon? In this two-part conversation, Ron Steslow and Rev. Prof. David Gushee (Distinguished...

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, Guest Host Mike Madrid and Susan Del Percio (MS NOW political analyst and crisis communications expert) grapple with a central question: when Americans say “this isn’t who we are,” are we describing an aspiration—or denying a reality? They confront the collision between ideals and reality, examining government overreach, due process, and what...

Iran is erupting in protests—and the regime is cracking down with extraordinary violence.  Guest Host Hagar Chemali sits down with Jay Solomon (investigative reporter at The Free Press) to unpack why protests are surging nationwide, what the regime’s economic rot reveals about its fragility, and what (if anything) the U.S. and Israel might do next. They dig into a bank-collapse story that helped i...

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus For most Americans, losing access to a bank account sounds like a customer-service hassle—not a political problem. But what if your ability to get paid, pay bills, run a business, donate to a cause, or even shop online or just withdraw cash at an ATM can be shut off quietly, without a trial, withou...

For most Americans, losing access to a bank account sounds like a customer-service hassle—not a political problem. But what if your ability to get paid, pay bills, run a business, donate to a cause, or even shop online or withdraw cash at an ATM can be shut off quietly, without a trial, without an explanation, and without a meaningful way to appeal? In this two-part episode, Ron Steslow is joined...

Ron Steslow kicks off 2026 with a “Smash Brothers” weekly featuring Lucy Caldwell, Hagar Chemali, Susan Del Percio, and Mike Madrid to look at the forces they think will define the year ahead—geopolitical disruption, institutional failure, civil dysfunction—and the transformational period we’re living through. Then they share some exciting news about The Weekly in 2026. Finally, in Politicology+,...

In the first week of the new year, the U.S. launches a dramatic operation in Venezuela that ends with Nicolás Maduro (and Cilia Flores) in U.S. custody, transported to New York to face narco-terorism charges.  Ron and Hagar Chemali (Fmr. spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the UN) unpack what we know about the raid, why the administration says it happened, and why the real motive may be bigger th...

Ron Steslow and Lucy Caldwell talk about the current healthcare landscape and the ongoing debate about how we pay for healthcare. They critique the ACA’s effectiveness, the challenges of health insurance coverage and explore market-based solutions. They also highlight the importance of personal advocacy in navigating healthcare and the evolving discourse around health and wellness, particularly in...

Ron Steslow and Olivier Knox discuss whether thinking is becoming a luxury good. They explore the alarming trend of declining literacy and the implications of digital media and AI on human thought and social interaction. Later, they discuss how the shift towards a post-literate society, characterized by short-form content and algorithmic reading, threatens the foundations of democracy and critical...

You can pre-order Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation now at https://www.jonwardwrites.org/ Jon Ward (Journalist and author of Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation)  joins Ron Steslow to discuss growing up in the Evangelical Church, “Christian Trumpism,” and his new memoir. (06:05) Why Sarah Palin resonated with so many Christians  (10...

You can pre-order Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation now at https://www.jonwardwrites.org/ Jon Ward (Journalist and author of Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation) joins Ron Steslow to discuss growing up in the Evangelical Church, “Christian Trumpism,” and his new memoir. (03:28) Why Jon wrote the book (08:10) Being a “border-stalker”...

Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus. Ron Steslow and Mike Madrid discuss the redistricting wars, the Supreme Court case that could upend a central part of the Voting Rights Act, how Latinos becoming the largest minority group will make us rethink what being a “minority” even means, a...

Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus. Ron Steslow and Mike Madrid unpack historian Gordon S. Wood’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed arguing that the United States is built on shared ideas, not shared bloodlines—and what that means in an era of rising “blood and soil” nationalism and...

In this episode, Ron is joined by Hagar Chemali (Fmr. spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the UN) to break down the Trump administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy—and why it reads like multiple agendas stitched together. They dig into the document’s big shift toward the Western Hemisphere, what “partnership without shared values” really implies, and how the administration’s internal split...

In this episode, Ron is joined by Lucy Caldwell (Board Advisor to the Renew Democracy Initiative) to confront the question hanging over Democratic politics: Can the Democratic Party keep pretending we’re not in a populist era?  Lucy breaks down the party’s internal struggle between centrists and insurgents—and why both sides are wildly overinterpreting recent election results. Using the Maine Sena...

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus Last weekend, eleven Politicology listeners from all over the country joined Ron and Mike in person for a salon style retreat called Unscripted: A Politicology Gathering. They explored big questions like “What is the point of America?” and “What does it mean to be a citizen in the digital age?”  In...

Have you ever thought about what it means to be anonymous?  Have you considered what it means that you can walk down the street or go to the grocery store or out to dinner without someone you’ve never met knowing your name, everything you’ve posted online, or your political leanings? Or when you go on a first date with someone, they’d walk in knowing your dating history, your political affiliation...