The Commentary Magazine Podcast

The president’s diagnosis has shattered the unreality of this presidency and reminded Americans of the very real consequences that result from public policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What has Donald Trump’s COVID diagnosis done to the national political landscape? Will the public respond with sympathy or does the event merely reinforce the belief that the president’s recklessness has contributed to the longevity of this pandemic? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How will Donald Trump’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis reshape the political landscape? No one knows. But we do have some speculative thoughts on how this could play out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the polls seeming to be moving away from the president, it’s time to prepare for the prospect of a Biden presidency and a Democratic Congress. What will that look like? What will Biden do and what won’t he be able to do? And how will Republicans respond to their loss? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COMMENTARY crew breaks down the unholy spectacle to which we were all privy during Tuesday night’s first presidential debate. Strap in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The revelations about how little Donald Trump paid in income taxes may be a central issue in tonight’s debate, but that could overshadow other issues that are more beneficial to Joe Biden and his party. What do the candidates need to do to “win” the first presidential debate? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The gang convenes on a Sunday morning for a very special episode of the COMMENTARY podcast, and it’s all about Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court seat last held by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Amy Coney Barrett. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump’s apparent decision to make people apprehensive about whether he will vacate his office should he lose the election has lent credence to some otherwise insane theories about how the election will play out. Also, the looming threat of a second lockdown and the psychology of COVID malaise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does Donald Trump have a plan when he does absurd things like refuse to entertain the prospect of a peaceful transition of power if he was to lose the election? Of course, he doesn’t. But that doesn’t make it any less contemptuous. Also, the indictment of a Kentucky police officer in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor, cosmic injustice, and our culture’s inability to handle moral ambiguit...

What is the Biden campaign’s pathway to victory? The campaign is sending plenty of signals about what demographics it needs to win, but Biden’s party and its preferred preconceptions have become an obstacle in that pursuit. Also, the looming backlash against the cultural dominance of Critical Race Theory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the principle at stake if Republicans pursue a raw exercise of power over Democratic objections to confirm a new justice to the Supreme Court? We’re not sure. But it’s also possible that the equilibrium some fear might be overturned by such a course of action doesn’t exist because there is no normal anymore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast reflects on the life of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and discusses the nervous breakdown to which Democrats have succumbed following her death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Noah-less podcast features the Commentary crew's horrified disbelief at Alex Ross's astounding claim in the New Yorker that American classical music originates from white supremacy, moves on to the justice or lack thereof in the coming ban on Chinese social media platforms in the United States, and then judges Joe Biden's town hall performance on CNN. Give a listen. Learn more about your a...

With Noah Rothman out today, we podcasters are joined by Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt, polymath and creator of colorful metaphors, to discuss this important question: Does anything matter? Is the election still up in the air or is the result baked in the cake? To find out, give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COMMENTARY crew is having none of the efforts on the part of some in the press to downplay historic developments in the Middle East. Also, the hosts debate whether Donald Trump’s performance during Tuesday night’s ABC News town hall was up to par. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The realignment of geopolitics in the Middle East has many fathers, and Donald Trump was only one of them. What the thaw in Sunni states’ relations with Israel means for America moving forward. Also, for all the talk of the president’s “white grievance” politics, he’s performing better among minority voters in polls than he did in 2016 while white voters are fleeing his coalition. Learn more about...

The media can't bear to report it, but the polling over the weekend shows movement toward Donald Trump and rising concern over urban unrest—and they're going hand in hand. Can the Biden people see what's happening or are they blinded by their press coverage? And we discuss Christine Rosen's important article, "You Will Be Re-Educated." Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

The 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has been met with a campaign to compare the deaths from that day to those attributable to the pandemic, which is rather gross. Also, is Donald Trump’s campaign showing signs of life? And, finally, film and television recommendations from the COMMENTARY crew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump stares into the storm as revelations he himself gave to Bob Woodward about how he deliberately downplayed the threat posed by COVID-19 dominate the news. He is, as ever, his own worst enemy. Also, the absurd and highly politicized reports around how gatherings of Trump supporters (and seemingly only Trump supporters) represent a public health emergency. Learn more about your...