The American Mind Podcast

Elon Musk’s DOGE helps lead an effort to pull out the rug from under Sri Lankan pronoun education, Vietnamese inclusivity programs, Bolivian transgender operas, and more—with the U.S. Agency for International Development caught in the first sweep. An outrage! Or so say leftists. In retaliation for that and more, the liberal media unearths the qualifications of Musk’s young staff, who turn out to b...

Kicking off the Cincinnatus Series, a set of six weekly Roundtable special episodes, Claremont Institute president Ryan Williams is joined by Inez Stepman , Scott Yenor, and David Azerrad to discuss leftist agendas within universities, and the opportunity for state legislatures to pull the reins and reverse course. Among the levers for dismantling the radical ideological infrastructures are the cr...

The uphill battle to restore common sense continues with Trump’s executive orders against gender ideology and transition for minors. Meanwhile, a rebellion against the liberal establishment takes joyous shape among normalcy-craving youth. Pinehill Capital president and  We the People  podcast host Gates Garcia joins the guys to discuss these vibe shifts and the extremely hinged reaction  from the...

Objective normalcy makes a comeback. In several inauguration speeches, Trump delivered a searing indictment of the elites, a symbolic rebuke to the old order, and a reassertion of American ideals. He followed this up with a barrage  of executive orders , including one overturning federal affirmative action. Though these are dramatic actions in one sense, in another they’re just first steps toward...

The age of the normie has arrived. As Mark Zuckerberg lifts Facebook’s censorial boot off the neck of its users and moves its moderation team from California to Texas, which seems to signal a sincere tech bro realignment, America is at the dawn of a freer era. Elsewhere in the digital world, conservatives on X discuss the job market: there are two paths, bootstraps or victimhood—what will it be, y...

To kick off the new year, the guys open the mail and answer listeners’ questions on everything from cutting back the glut of unaccountable bureaucratic offices to buying Greenland .  Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom and the radical conservationists of California, in attempting to create an anti-human environmentalist utopia, have tragically but predictably turned Los Angeles into a literal dumpste...

Is that a bird, is that a plane? No, it’s drones! Or aliens? Demons? Iran? The guys take a look up in the sky and down at the public frenzy, which betokens an all-too-real breakdown of trust in government. Democrats, meanwhile, disappointed in Biden for not taking Trump-proofing seriously, float running dud-candidate Kamala again in '28. We're with her! Plus: is it gay to sleep? The hosts close ou...

The ACLU’s most deranged lawyers try to enshrine kid- transing  in  United States v.  Skrmetti ; a true domestic terrorist assassinates a healthcare CEO; and Syria’s Assad government is toppled by Islamic rebels. The editors are joined by Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow and  p resident of Pinehill Capital Gates Garcia to discuss the poison fruits of DEI and identity politics, the celebration of...

Biden tosses his son Hunter an early but unsurprising Christmas present in the form of a sweeping presidential pardon. In doing so he undermines the moral grandstanding of liberals who claim to be above the fray of political warfare. Simultaneously, and haunted by their pasts, the Democrats struggle to distance themselves from their own extreme rhetoric, administrative chicanery, and hostility to...

As Biden’s lame duck administration winds down, he—or whoever's in charge—is leaving a few fun parting gifts for the incoming Trump Administration. From escalation in Ukraine, to a re-opened border surprise, to the intractable financial situation, Trump's team will have their work cut out for them. Democrat strategists, however, seem determined not to learn anything from their electoral failure, w...

With a historic second Trump presidency on the way, there's a new vista of possibility just over the horizon. Immigration, trade, and international relations are each in for a major overhaul. But amid the scramble to plan out Trump's first 100 days, there's one critical area that has largely evaded conservative attention: education. Ryan and Spencer are joined by Professor Amy Wax to unpack some o...

Trump assembles a notably youthful cabinet of swamp-draining avengers, grinding the gears of the Left. Democrats, meanwhile, face a Hobson’s choice between declining into irrelevancy and admitting they were wrong about Trump all along. Some are taking a sober look at the future while others spiral into BlueAnon conspiracy and outrage, doubling down on race politics despite its failure or getting L...

Exceeding  even the most optimistic expectations, Trump swept across the states handily to the chagrin of the Harris-Walz campaign, winning both the electoral and popular votes—and becoming the second-only president to serve two, nonconsecutive terms. The editors react to the election results, the Left’s wild missteps and pending meltdown; the Trump campaign’s successes; and what his first 100 day...

Joe Biden has October surprised everyone by saying what he really thinks for a change. In a pitiful effort to characterize Trump's Madison Square Garden rally as a Neo-Nazi gathering, Biden unguardedly referred to Trump supporters as "garbage." As both candidates make their closing arguments, the editors share their final thoughts on the election, the strengths of each campaign, and the dangers of...

Conservative-backed litigation is whittling away at the administrative state to protect the rights and decision-making power of the people. Meanwhile, liberal thinkers hyperventilate over the need for “experts,” and cast the average pleb as unworthy of having a voice. Back on the campaign trail, Trump enjoys McDonalds once again–but as a fry cook. In response, the Harris crowd goes ballistic in a...

As election season heats up, Harris loses steam in battleground states--and loses grip on support from black voters and men. After years of wishfully presenting the emasculated man as an ideal of "enlightened" masculinity, the campaign reverses course and marshals the full force of Democrat media savvy in an attempt to shame men into voting for Kamala because that's what  real  manhood looks like....

Trump was back in Butler this week after a failed assassination attempt there—and joining him on-stage this time was none other than Elon Musk. But will MAGA Musk last? Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has been giggling her way through a few shows and podcasts, notably including the crude and awkward chat pod, Call Her Daddy. The editors discuss Harris’s many faceplants, the potential of the pod-bro vote,...

Seth Barron returns to the podcast to discuss Tuesday’s rousing VP Debate, in which a silver-tongued J.D. Vance thoroughly trounced a sputtering and nervous Tim Walz. Will it matter at all? Meanwhile, the world collapses in on the giant power vacuum left by America’s absent president, as Hurricane Helene ravages six states and Iran launches missiles at Israel. Plus: immigration expert Todd Bensman...

In today's special edition of The Roundtable, Ryan Williams, President of the Claremont Institute interviews Vivek Ramaswamy about his latest book "Truths: The Future of America First." Buy the book here . In "Truths: The Future of America First," Ramaswamy shows exactly how honesty about the most important issues will get our country back on track. The America First movement emphasizes the issues...

Not even two months after the first assassination attempt against him, President Trump survives another one. Media coverage of the event has been—predictably—atrocious. Meanwhile, Ketanji Brown Jackson has, by citing a junk study to support affirmative action, perfectly illuminated the dishonesty inherent in modern uses of social science. One of which is to support the Left’ in its march toward ma...

In a special, up-to-the-minute episode of The Roundtable , Mike, Spencer, and Ryan give their first impressions of what was, by all accounts, a dog's breakfast of a debate. Topics include Trump's missed opportunities, Kamala's boldfaced lies, and the hellaciously biased moderation by ABC's David Muir and Linsey Davis. Plus: will Trump's closing mic drop be enough to win voters over? This is a publ...

In a time when the slimmest margins in just a couple of swing states can flip national elections, Democrats are making a play for the pews. Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow and Daily Wire Reporter Megan Basham joins the editors to discuss her latest book, Shepherds for Sale , which describes a left-wing effort to wield evangelical voting power and moral prestige for woke causes. Plus: Brazil is...

RFK Jr. has stepped out of the presidential race and thrown his weight behind Trump. Will it help, or will he be forced back onto the ballot in swing states by the court? And will RFK’s movement be absorbed by the Right, or remake the Right in its image? Meanwhile, Disney tried to argue that a man couldn’t sue them and would have to go through arbitration because he once signed up for a Disney+ tr...

As the spectacle of the DNC passes before our screens, the Obamas expertly put a button on the Left's fable of Joe's evanescence and Kamala's rise to greatness. But will it stick, and how far can media hype take Comrade Kamala? She has been surprisingly aggressive about wearing Trump’s campaign policies as a skinsuit, yet  simultaneously running economically to the left of...herself and her own ad...

As we hurtle ever closer to the election and headlines fly past left and right, it can be hard to tell which news stories will make a dent, and which will vanish into the memory hole. Spencer and Ryan bring on former Bureau of Justice Statistics Director Jeffrey H. Anderson to game out what major points of late will ultimately help determine the final electoral count, from Walz’s dubious military...