The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast

Charles talks to Michael Auslin about his new book, National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America . What is the Declaration of Independence? Who wrote it? How close we were to losing the original copy? Why did it appeal to early nineteenth-century socialists? Why did the committee remove the lines condemning the slave trade? When did women start using it to demand the vote? H...

After the success of the Virginia gerrymander, Charles asks Sean Trende about the history of gerrymandering. What is it? Why is it called that? When did it start? What is a dummymander? When did our modern gerrymandering fights begin? Is mid-decade redistricting a historical anomaly? Who is playing defense here: the Democrats or the Republicans? Why have Republicans opposed federal laws banning ge...

On episode 101, Charles talks to Sarah Isgur about her new book, Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court . What is the role of the Court? Do Americans understand it? Why has it survived? Do the justices get along? Why does everyone hate Citizens United? Is it a paradox that to get the Court to change the law, one often has to break th...

On episode 100, Charles celebrates having made it into triple figures, and then talks to Sean Beienburg, first about the interesting history of progressive federalism, and then about whether Prohibition worked. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our c...

On episode 99, Charles talks to Tim Chapman of Advancing American Freedom about the role of a think tank in contemporary politics. Are we still in an era where ideas matter? How much will be up for grabs when Trump leaves the scene? How do advocacy organizations avoid being captured by political parties? Are young people really lost to the bad actors of the world? What's the biggest challenge faci...

On episode 98, Charles offers a brief apology to Ohio, and then talks to Scott Winship about whether everything is awful. Has the middle class disappeared? Is it impossible for young people to buy a home? Why do people say that one can have a '1950s living standard if one wants one' when regulations make that tough? Is society worse than it was in the 1950s or 1970s? Is the new poverty line really...

On episode 97, Charles talks to Luther Ray Abel about the Best and Worst of many things: American cars, American holidays, American fast food chains, American restaurant chains, Beatles albums, American states, Christmas songs, rollercoasters, alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, movies, American roads, and desserts. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used un...

On episode 96, Charles briefly praises a tiki bar in Grand Rapids, MI, and then talks to Shawnna Morris about her fascinating new book, The Cambridge Spy Ring: The Treachery of the Five Who Got Away . Among the topics they discussed were: Who were the Cambridge Spies? Why were they susceptible to recruitment? How did they get away with it? Why were none of them prosecuted or executed? Why does Sha...

On episode 95, Charles takes his last chance to talk to Dominic Pino as a colleague before Dominic heads to the Washington Post. Among the topics they discuss are whether free markets are superior to the alternatives; whether tariffs are a good or a bad idea—and what the exceptions should be; whether industrial policy can work; what to do about America's massive national debt; whether it's a bad m...

On episode 94, Charles talks to Peter Just about his book on the post-premiership career of Margaret Thatcher: Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street . Was she happy? Did she think she could do a better job than her successors? Was she aware how ill she was? Was she "playing a role"? Why did she mostly stay away from Parliament? Would today's British public vote for someone like Thatcher now...

On episode 93, Charles talks to Luther Ray Abel about his trip to Pigeon Forge, TN, which is supposedly the "tackiest place on Earth," but which is actually a lot of fun. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for a...

On episode 92, Charles talks to Marcus Gadson about his book, Sedition: How America's Constitutional Order Emerged from Violent Crisis . Among the topics they discuss are: What is a constitution? What is a constitutional crisis? What are some good examples of constitutional crises throughout American history? Who gets to decide when it's time for a new constitution, and by what process ought it to...

Ahead of July 4, Charles and Luther share some of their favorite things about America.  The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 90 contains the audio of the debate between Charles and Andy McCarthy, on the topic, "Does President Trump need Congress's permission to attack Iran?" If you'd rather watch the debate, click here . The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collec...

On episode 89 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast , Charles talks to Christopher J. Scalia about his new book, 13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (but Probably Haven't Read) . Among the topics they discussed were: Why haven't conservatives read these books? Why should people read novels? Are these books 'conservative' or just books that conservatives will like? What are the best books progressives w...

On episode 88, Charles talks to Ross Benes about his new book, 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times . Among the topics they discuss are how Jerry Springer helps explain Donald Trump, how 'kayfabe' took over the world, how porn explains much of Internet, how video games became respectable, and whether it matters that the elite class watches completely diffe...

On episode 87, Charles asks Ross Douthat about his new book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious , and, in particular, to explain to him why he, Charles Cooke, should be religious.  The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of pe...

On episode 86, Charles talks to Michael Jahr about his upcoming documentary movie, Liberty at Stake , which is about the escape from slavery of Joshua Glover in 1854, the abolitionist activism of the people of Wisconsin, and the subsequent founding of the Republican Party. Then Charles talks to Dan McLaughlin about the background to, and structure of, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. The dial-up tone...

On this special pop-up episode, Charles talks to Scott Lincicome about Donald Trump's massive unilateral tariff hike. What is a tariff? What are tariffs for? Why aren't they good? Don't we need them to fight against our rivals, who are taking advantage of us? Other countries do it—why, if they are bad? What about our "hollowed out manufacturing base"? What about China? The dial-up tone in the intr...

On episode 84, Charles talks to Michael Vorenberg about his new book, Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War . When did the Civil War end? Why is it hard to tell? What about other wars? Does it matter that war aims can evolve over time? Can one be anti-war when slavery or the Holocaust are at stake? Are modern wars more difficult to end? The dial-up tone in the introduction wa...

On episode 83, Mary Katherine Ham tells Charles how Ultimate Fighting Championship explains the vibe shift toward Trump. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On episode 82, Charles talks to Senator Tom Cotton about China—in particular, about his new book, Seven Things You Can't Say About China . Why does Senator Cotton say that the Chinese Communist Party is 'evil'? Why does he think it's preparing for war? What does he mean when he says that it's engaged in 'economic warfare'? Has it really 'infiltrated' the United States? Why should TikTok be forced...

On episode 81, Charles talks to Andrew Heaton about his new book, Tribalism is Dumb: Where It Came from, How It Got So Bad, and What to Do about It . Is tribalism bad per se, or is it just bad in politics. Why has it got so much worse recently? To what extent is technology to blame? What can we do about it? The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0...

On episode 80, Charles talks to Molly Nixon, a separation of powers attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, about whether the delegation of the tariff power is constitutional. Why do we accept Congress giving this away when we wouldn't accept Congress giving away the authority to set tax rates? When did this start? What are the main laws that Congress has written that achieve it? Can this be rev...

On episode 79, Charles talks to Justin Shubow , the president of the National Civic Art Society, about the importance of classical architecture. What is classical architecture? Why is it "humanistic"? What's wrong with modern art? Why do people defend it? Would it be too expensive to return to classical architecture? Why was Penn Station knocked down? Should it be rebuilt? What are the prospects o...