The Commentary Magazine Podcast

We celebrate a triumph for COMMENTARY and for today's guest Naomi Schaefer Riley, whose article "College Board Games" exposed and brought down a program that could have continued to sneak racial preference into college admissions. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More and more, progressives are not only wishing their enemies dead, but making movies lionizing those who commit violence against authority figures and spreading stories about the virtues of assassination. What is this demonic impulse? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now that an appeals court has ruled against most of Trump's emergency tariffs, we may get some sense of how the economic future is going to be managed—once the Supreme Court weighs in. But even so, the administration's hunger to take stock positions in U.S. companies poses a different kind of threat. We talk about this and about what's about to happen in Gaza. Give a listen. Learn more about your...

Both the American right and the American left are addicted to the idea that we are living in a perpetual series of emergencies that require extraordinary rather than ordinary measures to combat. This is not healthy. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the second time in two years, a trans person has committed a mass shooting at a Christian school he or she attended. The mainstream media and liberal politicians seem obsessed with protecting the "trans" part of the story, but the trans part of the story may be the whole story. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there a larger cultural meaning to the engagement of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? Does it connect somehow to Cracker Barrel ditching its redesign? And what does it all say about American happiness and connection? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We can't overlook the wild swings at American norms being taken by the Trump administration over the past week, from firing someone the president cannot fire at the Federal Reserve Board to sending FBI agents to the home and office of a critic to announcing a new kind of federal police force. So we don't overlook them! Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We dive right into the Cracker Barrel rebranding kerfuffle. Is the new logo woke or just pointless? And what's really at stake? And is the FBI's raid of John Bolton's home legitimate or just a taste of Trumpian revenge? Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In one of our chill summer episodes, the COMMENTARY crew offers individual recommendations for the best single book your inbound college freshman should read, and we make our picks of the best board games (and games). Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On another special summer podcast, the crew delves into great works of art that leave us cold or angry or depressed or that we just don't enjoy. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a special news-less show, the COMMENTARY crew shares with you some of our favorite and surprising historical sites around the world. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this special Summer Recommendations podcast, the crew suggests places to go in America you might not have thought of or even heard of, including a road, a beach, a park, a museum...and some websites. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a special news-free podcast, we offer you our list of our favorite Broadway musicals—not necessarily the best, but our faves. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The DC crime crackdown is driving Trump critics into fits of insanity and weird criminality; why can't they find a way to oppose and confront him soberly? That's the question for today. And the podcast concludes with a disastrous song performance by yours truly. Stay for the horror. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do the Kennedy Center Honors and the Smithsonian Institution have in common? They are both expressions of the surprising determination of the Trump administration to challenge liberal orthodoxy on the arts and on the question of American history and who gets to tell the tale. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to make sense of the goings-on in Anchorage on Friday between the president and Vladimir Putin? We try. Who knows if we succeed. One thing that does seem to be succeeding is the way Trump is dominating the national conversation with his move to take over public safety in the District of Columbia, and how it connects to general feelings about crime and security among citizens nationwide. Give a...

New evidence that New York City's Jews are refusing to conform with liberal propaganda and still disfavor Zohran Mamdani's candidacy by a margin of 4-1 is discussed before we get to the president's decision to use a 1974 law to take over the administration of criminal justice in the District of Columbia—and what the freakout about it says. Also: Should you be allowed to see a movie made by Roman P...

On today's mailbag episode, we discuss whether the word "Zionism" should still be in use, what books are good primers for conservatism, and what we think explains the reasons you are a podcast follower. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Israel's decision to adopt a new strategy to win the war in Gaza is wildly controversial—but maybe not as controversial as the people who oppose it (as they oppose all of Benjamin Netanyahu's moves) seem to think. The Israeli public is divided, and world opinion matters less than Trump opinion. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The semi-announcement of a Trump-Putin meeting coming as the deadline for punishing sanctions against Russia approaches raises the question of whether the president will go through with those sanctions or delay them. And the tariffs begin, with unknown consequences—but then, the consequences have thus far been surprising. And are we understanding the Democratic bad poll numbers right? Give a liste...

News of the possible retirement/firing of Howard Stern, the most important voice in radio of the past 50 years and one of the most transformative figures in American culture (and the culture of business), has us reflecting on his impact and how he laid the groundwork for Donald Trump. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk about the radicalism of Zohran Mamdani, his standing among New York Jews in a new poll, and how it is that bad ideas and failed concepts keep coming back. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast notes the deep problems with Donald Trump firing the head of the agency that issues the jobs report every month while also noting that these job numbers reports are horrible and no one is trying to fix them. And we note our deep sadness and anger at those who are conveniently shifting their views on Israel to conform with the liberal blob. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad ch...

On today's podcast, we discuss letters from listeners about Central America and Communism, just and unjust wars, and how Neville Chamberlain was a very complicated figure indeed. Give a listen! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty-seven Democratic senators voted against aid to Israel on Wednesday, a mark of the Jewish state's abandonment by one of the two major parties in America. But wait! What's this? Polling in 1982 that almost perfectly matches the polling today on support for Israel? Maybe be of better cheer if you are an advocate for the Jewish state, or nah? And...the amazing Sydney Sweeney jeans ad and what i...