The Ricochet Podcast

The midterm polls sure don't paint a rosy picture for Republicans. While Henry Olsen, Ricochet's in-house election analyst, isn't here to pretend the data suggest otherwise, he joins James, Charles, and Steve to add dimension to the GOP's bleak prospects. Listeners brave enough for the cold facts will hear important lessons about the Republican Party's growing pains, the value of persuasive speech...

With each passing wild week in the West, it can feel like a tall order to request an unequivocal defense of it. But when there's a meme, there's a way, and if Marco Rubio has taught us anything, it's that he's always up for the job. James, Steve, and Charles celebrate his statesmanship displayed on Wednesday's Acropolis speech; wonder about the wisdom of the proposed live streaming of the firing-s...

Sometimes life feels like a freak show, and the sane can either take it in or turn away. This week gave us more glimpses of horror than usual, which tends to make folks more amenable to harsh punishments. James, Steve, and Charles consider the death penalty in light of the heinous crime of an unsuccessfully executed Tennessee woman; they wade through the cloudy "Cornell Seven" case and draw import...

What exactly do the fight to save Piddington in Oxfordshire, the public betrayal of Najya Hannah-Jones by her activist mom, Trump's deal with Greenland, Russia's cultural inferiority complex, and a lesbian bar in Massachusetts have in common? For those of us who haven't worn an N-95 mask in at least five years, the distinctions are clear. Even so, they each command the attention of James, Charles,...

Sometimes our topsy-turvy world is more dizzying than usual—and in those times, it's best to stand on a firm foundation and in the company of dependable people. Rob Long returns to chat with Charles and Steve about controversies of all shapes, sizes and comprehensibility, from Bo French and the "NETTR" movement, a right planning to buy votes with $5,000 checks and a prudish left shocked by the......

It's been a quarter century, but the fury and grief have not dimmed in the slightest. James, Steve, and Charles recall that fateful day and reflect on life in America since. Sound from this week's open and close: The Brooklyn Youth Chorus sings the Star Bangled Banner at today's September 11th memorial in New York City. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-ricoc...

AI has many amygdalae flooding nervous systems with warnings; a rising share of Americans look toward digital technology with deep suspicion; and a data center revolt is underway. The worries are increasingly apocalyptic. But it's not that America has never experienced a transformation of comparable scale, only that no living American is old enough to remember it—or so argues today's guest: Mark M...

Canada is back in the news, but not in the good way like you want. So Steve and James find themselves weighing in on another renamed body of water while wading through the latest wave of weekly events. There's also curiously leaked reporting on CIA chief John Radcliffe's mission to Moscow, investigations into the Soros-backed DAs responsible for catch-and-release criminal justice, and another rich...

It's just James and Charles this week at the post: Post-elections in Florida, Minnesota, and South Carolina - post-mortem on l'affaire de Arday - and the post-partum madness of Lindsay Clancy, who is on trial in Massachusetts for murdering her three children and receiving an inexplicably large amount of support.   Opening sound this week: Sen. Darline Graham on American foreign policy and hospital...

For once, we can all agree with AOC: Woke 1 was crazy. But rather than laugh it off and set the stage for "true woke has never been tried," perhaps we could ask the youths to learn from their mistakes. To that end, we were pleased to chat with Evan Barker, a former fundraiser who worked within the Democratic Party's establishment and progressive insurgent wing. Having left the party in disgust in...

Britain is on its seventh prime minister since bidding adieu to the EU a decade back. There’s news of once-unimaginable crimes and ethnic strife shaking once sleepy shires. Even model citizens like scholar-slash-philanthropist and casual world-class athlete Jason Arday are having a hard go of it. For the lowdown on the United Kingdom’s political crisis, we’re joined by our new pal, historian and c...

It's a milestone episode! Number Eight Hundred. That calls for a celebration. Not only does Ricochet co-founder Peter Robinson join to host, but our dear pal Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is able to take a moment away from running both the NIH and CDC to talk about the downfall of Anthony Fauci and his team's work to restore public trust in America's leading public health and scientific institutions. With...

Christopher Nolan has another blockbuster hit in theaters and has set off the pop culture controversy of the year with his rendition of  The Odyssey.  To move beyond the visual spectacle and online hysterics, James, Steve and Charles are joined by Titus Techera for a discussion on the Homeric epic, the visionary Nolan, and the thunderous debate over ancient and modern morality. Plus, the trio stay...

CNN's Harry Enten joins Steve, Charlie and James to put a little pizzazz on polling data. The gang covers a great deal of ground: the DSA insurgency, a couple of key midterm races, economic pessimism, public suspicion about polling, and some of the forces behind American polarization. But it ain't all bad! Stay tuned til the end to find out about Harry's famous Uncle Neil and a story of inspiratio...

As the late Johnny Thunders would say, "Rock and roll is simply an attitude." And we bring the attitude this week with Free Press contributor Eli Lake , as we talk Graham Platner's Maine implosion, underestimating the Ukranians and how Donald Trump may have stumbled to the right answer in Iran. All that and Eli leads us through a round of "What Are You Listening To?" and Charlie's collection of se...

For a special edition of the Ricochet Podcast, Peter Robinson sits down with Steve Hilton, California's Republican candidate for governor. The duo discusses Hilton's uphill fight with the machine-backed Xavier Beccera, the corrupt alliance between unions, activists, and elected officials that's behind the Golden State's muted shine, and Steve's plan to deliver results for California's American dre...

Our hosts are out of sorts as they prep for the Independence Day celebration: Hayward is on the high seas, Lileks is in Boston, and the always-fashionable Cooke is even later than usual. But the gang had to get together once more before the holiday break to make their grumblings known about a less welcome kind of revolutionary spirit... Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/...

America's 250th birthday is just a few weeks out, and festivities are underway. But, leaving aside disputes about fist fights and daring stunts on the White House South Lawn, a question emerges about what a serious celebration of the American way looks and feels like. To consider this and more, Charles, James, and a visiting Peter Robinson sit down with Matthew Mehan, author and Associate Dean of...

It's just James and Charles to recollect and swap rants about the goings-on of the land of the free and the home of oddball. The cast of characters includes the world's first billionaire, an Angeleno who lost an election for common sense, a lunatic posing as a model working man, and the deeply flawed judgment of Democratic voters about guys like these. Lileks and Cooke also delight in watching Eur...

John Yoo returns to usher in SCOTUS opinion season, joining James and Steve for some friendly debates on law, politics and, most controversially, more than a few matters of taste. For our democrats in the audience, we've got chatter on California vote counting and Alabama map battles. News from the UK reminds us that the royalists are in even worse shape, as authorities there prove to be as confus...

Lots and lots of burning questions dominate the news. Do we need a $250 bill, and what or who should be on it? Mamdani flexes his communist urges in NYC, so what could possibly go wrong? And can a state tax a "slush fund" at 100%? James and Charles have thoughts. But the question we really want an answer to is, "Do we have a deal with Iran or not?" To answer that, we welcome back our old friend Ri...

James, Steve and non-stipendiary host Rob Long shoot the breeze as they face revolutionary changes big and small. From the impending phenonena of Pratt Summer and unstoppable AI to the DNC's stateside Commie drama and the Euros giving nationalism another go, the trio draws some important lessons: Local elections matter. They can even be fun! Political messaging is especially effective when your op...

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have ended their two day summit in Beijing with lots of talk and no announced breakthroughs. James and Steven break it all down. Speaking of breaking down, we welcome back National Review senior writer Noah Rothman to talk about the left's embrace of political violence that he covers in his new book,  Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence in America. It's...

Ricochet’s beloved former editor Mollie Hemingway is back with a new book, Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution . We’re so thrilled, in fact, that we couldn’t even keep Peter Robinson away. So Mollie leads our embarrassment of hosts through her exclusive scoop on the Supreme Court’s most enigmatic justice. Tune in for an in-depth report covering everythin...

Have we hit the "another week, another act of homegrown terror" phase of American history? Spencer Klavan joins Steve and Charles for a roundup of the (relatively) young academic's recent works on subjects ranging from Francis Fukayama's oft-misunderstood  thesis to the ascent of figures like Hasan Piker , who hope to microloot our stores of social capital (and Whole Foods, too). The trio also con...