The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast

On episode 78, Charles talks to Ilya Shapiro about his new book, 'Lawless: The Miseducation of America's Elites.' Why did he write it? Why does it matter if law schools are illiberal? Why is the law writ large threatened by the rejection of classical liberalism? What can do we do about it? Who is doing the right things? Is he optimistic about the future? The dial-up tone in the introduction was re...

On episode 77, Charles reads from a book about Kamala Harris he got for Christmas, and then talks to Jonah Goldberg about whether the United States should absorb Canada and to Michael Brendan Dougherty about why he's not appalled by the idea of invading Greenland. 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 co...

On episode 76, Charles talks to Jim Meigs about the drone panic in New Jersey. What's it all about? What exactly are drones? What's the likeliest explanation for what's going on? In the future, will my pizza be delivered by a drone? What military threat do drones pose? The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWi...

On episode 75, Charles talks to Rich Lowry, Dominic Pino, and Michael Brendan Dougherty about the rules of baseball. Why is Dominic against all change? Why is Rich in favor of most change? What is the case against robot umpires? Why does the NFL innovate so freely, where baseball seems stuck in the mud? Can baseball ever be the most popular sport in America again, or is there something about it th...

On episode 74 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, Charles invites Luther Abel, Dan McLaughlin, and Mark Wright to discuss time travel. Among the topics discussed are how far one would have to go back in time before one's knowledge was useless; how many modern soldiers it would take to beat various historical armies; whether one would prefer to have been in the first wave on D-Day or in the infantr...

On episode 73, Charles confesses that he has replaced every switch in his house, and then talks to Ethan Blevins about the problems that have been caused by the federal government's refusal to finish homesteading. How much land in America is owned by Washington D.C., anyway? Is it constitutional for the federal government to own land? Why are there so many stupid rules on the land that is owned by...

On episode 72 of the Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, Charles notes that the reaction to Trump's victory has been more muted than it was in 2016, and then talks to Lathan Watts of the Alliance Defending Freedom about the state of conscience rights in 2024. 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 p...

On episode 71, Charles talks to Luther Abel, Jack Butler, and Phil Klein about what they would do if everyone other human on earth was wiped out. Where would they go first? How would they get around? What would they eat? How long would they survive? If they could only take one tool, what would it be? What would they do for fun? The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is...

On episode 70, Charles confirms that Luther Abel is real, discusses his attempt to get into Canada, and then talks to Caleb Kruckenberg about federalism. 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.

In episode 69, Charles talks to Luther Ray Abel about their Most Excellent Whizzbang American Roller-Coaster Adventure, which took them from Virginia to California, via Hersheypark, Cedar Point, Great America, Magic Mountain, and Disneyland, in both a Ford Bronco Raptor and a Ford Mustang Dark Horse, while wearing Hawaiian shirts every moment of the day. The dial-up tone in the introduction was re...

On episode 68, Charles talks to Keith Whittington, a professor at Yale Law School, about his new book, You Can't Teach That: The Battle over University Classrooms . Among the topics discussed are why universities are different than K-12 schools; why governments (and taxpayers) can't decide what is taught, given that they're paying the bill; how Civil Rights law intersects with academic free speech...

On episode 67, Charles talks to David French about David's column in the New York Times , 'To Save Conservatism From Itself, I Am Voting for Harris.' Among the questions Charles asks are why David has changed his view of Harris since 2019, why she hasn't reached the disqualification threshold, whether her support for abortion is a problem for him, and whether he thinks that she will win. The dial-...

On episode 66, Charles talks to Charles Fain Lehman about drugs and crime. Charles asks Charles to tell him why he's wrong about the drug war, why marijuana is different from alcohol, whether we should ban substances to protect people from themselves, what the problem is with "harm reduction," how bad the drug crisis is, whether we talk about it seriously, and why drugs are more potent now than th...

On episode 65, Charles talks to Randy Barnett about his memoir, A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist . Among the topics they discuss are: How did Randy get interested in the law? How did he become a law professor? What is an originalist? Why is he one? What sort of originalist is he? What was it like arguing before the Supreme Court? Why does he still defend the Lochner decisi...

On episode 64, Charles writes an opera for his most persistent critic, 'Boiling Rug,' and then talks to Clark Neily about the problem of coercive plea bargaining. 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 advertisi...

On episode 63, Charles talks to Wilfred Reilly about his new book, Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me: Debunking the False Narratives Defining America's School Curricula . Among the topics they discuss are: Who is this 'liberal teacher'? Why does Wilfred feel a need to argue about this? Are the people who tell these lies aware that they are doing it? What lies do conservative teachers tell? Is the pr...

On episode 62, Charles tells tale of his difficult two weeks, and then talks to Andy McCarthy about the Trump conviction. 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 61, Charles talks to Rick Brookhiser about his new book, Glorious Lessons: John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution . Among the topics they discuss are: Was Trumbull a good painter? Was he regarded as such in his time? What did he hope to achieve? Why did he have such a tumultuous relationship with Thomas Jefferson? What is the thing that Rick likes the most about him and the t...

On episode 60, Charles talks to Peter Robinson about the famous 'Tear Down This Wall' speech that he wrote for President Ronald Reagan. Among the topics they discuss are how Peter became a speechwriter in the first place, what Ronald Reagan was like, and how The Speech came to be. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Hosted by Simpleca...

On episode 59, Charles invites Michael Brendan Dougherty and Noah Rothman to continue the debate over Ukraine that they started on Tuesday's episode of The Editors . 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 advert...

On episode 58—recorded from Lord Ravenscroft's desolate manor—Charles reviews objections to his approach to counting states, relates the most recent problems he's had with his golf cart, and talks to Tim Carney about his new book, Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be . Among the questions Charles and Tim discuss are why we should have "lower ambition...

On episode 57, Charles announces a special jigsaw puzzle and relates which 44 states he's visited before talking to Robert Frommer about an extraordinary case of civil asset forfeiture.  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 per...

On episode 56, Charles talks to Father Nathaniel Meyers, the Pastor of the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Buffalo, MN, about whether God exists, how we can know, and whether it ultimately matters. Fr. Meyers's reading list: St. Augustine's City of God A Contemporary Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God Anything by Cardinal Ratzinger Letters of St. Paul The dial-up tone in the introducti...

Charles invites Gareth Russell to tell him all about his latest book, The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court . Among the topics they discuss are the wives of Henry VIII, the use of séances to get one's own way, the first performances of Macbeth and Hamlet , the writing of the King James Bible, snobbery within eighteenth century chocolate producti...

Charles introduces a new section on the show: Manatee Fact Hour. Then he invites that reprobate Kevin Williamson on for another throwback show. Presented by Prang and Company. 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...