The Ricochet Podcast

On the occasion of the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Peter Robinson discusses his career and legacy with Father Paul Scalia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-ricochet-podcast--5817275/support .

The ghost of Christmas’ Present is here with words for the Bankman-Frieds. Since Peter’s just down the road, he’s got the top dog-walkers on the case listening in; Rob has some culinary advice for Andrew Robinson (who premiers on the podcast this week); Mr. Lileks posits the nobility of the trades he got to know in chilly Fargo, ND. And as Tiny Tim observed, “God bless us, every one. Source Become...

We couldn’t call it a year without both Founders on board, so with Rob out and about (there are rumors that he’s actually working…) we actually present our penultimate episode for the Year of Our Lord 2022. James and Peter work a two-man booth and they go fission for clean energy, talk about the journo meltdown on Twitter and then talk a little football… or is it soccer? We also welcome in our old...

They say you are the company you keep. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya learned that the hard way after he started cavorting with a bunch of fringe lunatics bent on killing grandmas — Or no, wait… the other thing. It was time spent with fellow reputable, highly credentialed scientists that got him into trouble. With the released Twitter files that show he was placed on an actual blacklist... Source Become a s...

Much as the world benefit from a new dance craze, it would behoove us to ensure that China doesn’t use our moves against us. Our first guest Geoffrey Cain is all too familiar with what the CCP can do with surveillance technology. He sits down with Rob, James and Charles to touch on the protesters, the extraordinary police state they’re up against, and he tries to convince a skeptical Rob and James...

Another reminder that glitter doesn't always lead to gold. FTX and its oh-so-scruffy whiz kid have tanked, and they're bringing a lot of risk takers down with them. But some of us can't help but wonder if they were even tricked by actual glitter. If they had been paying attention to Rich Goldberg—host of our Cryptonite podcast—they might've seen it coming. If they tune in today, they might at leas...

Tuesday was a buzzkill. How bad, exactly? Not sure yet… Arizona’s taking its time again. Which makes it the perfect opportunity to have a surprise guest appearance from Ricochet’s very own Jon Gabriel, Arizonan and King of all the stuff. Jon breaks down the state’s second consecutive election breakdown. He’s also got some pleasantly bold predictions! Then we’re joined by Luke Thompson... Source Be...

There is a tide… and depending on who you ask, Democracy is either drowning in it or she’s catching some righteous swells. With Peter and Rob elsewhere, James links up with guests- slash-hosts Charlie Cooke and Steve Hayward to soak up the vibes. There’s blue check mania and sleeper issues puzzling pollsters; not to mention Covid amnesty and Michael Beschloss coming down with whatever Chris Hayes....

We may be approaching the spookiest day of the year, but it’s the government that give grownups nightmares on all the rest of them. California isn’t ordinarily a place where suspenseful midterms happen, though our first guest Lanhee Chen has something to say about that. Running to be the Golden State’s top fiscal watchdog, he’s getting dangerously close to becoming the boogeyman for California’s.....

This week we’re talkin’ midterms and one very short term. England has been especially interesting these last few months, and we’re always happy to have Toby Young with us. He has much to say about the lightning-fast deterioration of Liz Truss, and the Conservative Party that may go down with her. Then Jim Geraghty returns to breakdown this peculiar midterm cycle. He gets into Fetterman, Oz, Walker...

Even without being on the ballot, Democrats are determined to make the midterms about Donald Trump. And since that’s what they want to talk about, we wanted to hear from our friend Debra Saunders again, whose just launched her podcast Covering Trump. Deb fields questions from Rob, James and Charles about meat-and-potatoes stories, the mythological neutral reporter, and the incentives to write... S...

America never fails to be interesting, and she tends to kick it into high gear around Election Day. Take Pennsylvania, for example. The Keystone state has shaped into one that is a much watch around this time – and on this go around, we’re watch Dr. Oz and John Fetterman… This is why we’re lucky to have our new friend Charles McElwee of RealClearPennsylvania to take us into the trenches of this......

It’s hard to win these days. Not only do we have worries about war, we’ve got worries over worries about war. Is the Biden administration’s foreign policy dangerously cautious? That’s what Peter and James discuss – and argue about – with our guest, AEI’s Kori Schake. The hosts (minus Rob, who was off podcasting elsewhere…) also chat about Italy’s Giorgia Meloni; James gets peeved, and it’a lots of...

Today we cover breaking news and the hardly recognizable past. Toby Young joins at the top to to tell us about his personal experience with PayPal’s shot at free speech. Later, our old pal Troy Senik returns to give Grover Cleveland the reassessment he deserves. (Get a copy of Troy’s book here!) Peter, James and Charlie (Rob’s sub for the day) chew over the FBI given whistleblower Kyle Seraphin’s....

As promised our old friend David Limbaugh returns to the podcast to rant a bit and maybe pitch a few books on the side. We talk open borders and Martha’s Vineyard and then cover his latest volume, The Resurrected Jesus: The Church in the New Testament, which he wrote with his daughter, Christen Limbaugh Bloom. We also welcome in American Enterprise Institute scholar Nicholas Eberstadt (fresh from....

It’s hard to call it unbelievable when a 96-year-old mortal shuffles off, but Queen Elizabeth II’s final departure has had a peculiar effect. Hoping to have the feeling articulated without sentimentality, we asked on a couple English friends ( Charlie Cooke filling in for Peter and London Calling’s Toby Young) to discuss her importance, and what her death means for the Commonwealth. Source Become...

You saw the pictures! The walls are finally closing in; or maybe it’s the floor that’ll finally move in on Trump! Or maybe everyone should cool their jets, as our guest Bill Barr might recommend. The former Attorney General joins us again to discuss what we know (and don’t know) about the latest legal troubles for the former president. Without getting ahead of the facts, Barr thinks through the......

It’s hard to put words to the audaciousness of President Biden’s latest charade. Good thing we have an Englishman! Our friend Charlie Cooke is filling in for Peter and James to talk about Joe’s promise to liquidate the American social contract. He and Rob also get into midterms and search in vain for a Republican national agenda. And since we can’t help but cling to a bit of good news, Dr. Source...

Since our plans to hide away forever at a remote Minnesotan lake house were dashed – on account of James not having one for us – we decided instead to jump on into the mucky swamp that’s swallowed up our institutions. At least we have Eli Lake (who, as you’ll hear, knows everybody) to tour us through the law enforcement agencies who’ve undermined their standing with the public in order to get the....

We’re not short on takes about the search (or whatever you wanna call it) at Mar-a-Lago this week; but one can’t ever get enough of people who know what they’re talking about when it comes to something as big as this! Ricochet’s old friend Andy McCarthy joins to provide just that kinda commentary. He gives some essential vocab clarifications; lays out the charges he believes the Justice Department...

With all the sound and fury surrounding Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, we think it’s timely to hear from an expert on the Indo-Pacific to see if it signifies much. Misha Auslin, host of The Pacific Century, joins to do just that. He identifies the silver lining in the whole affair; elucidates how China’s strategy has frozen us from stating our interests; points to the return of the engagement... S...

It’s a free-for-all on the Ricochet Podcast this week! Rob and Peter are off enjoying the last gasp of Summer, so filling in are the effervescent John Yoo and the mysterious “Lucretia”. Our official guest is Rafael Mangual, the newly minted author of Criminal (In)justice, which compiles his years of studying criminality in the U.S. and the progressive inaction of those charged with fighting it. So...

With heat waves, and the inevitable extinction of humanity practically around the corner, why not talk about what’s happening in the cool, comfortable theaters that we’re told are also doomed? To help us keep things light and pleasant, we’ve recruited film critic Sonny Bunch to chat about the elegiac Top Gun: Maverick, the rockin’ biopic Elvis, and the not-so-buzzy Lightyear. The trio also get......

This week, it’s another round of Question Time, this week with actual (OK, former) British person Charles C.W. Cooke sitting in for Peter Robinson, We cover Florida, guns, newspapers, — an entire smorgasbord of topics (what’s British for smorgasbord?). Music from this week’s episode: I Know There’s An Answer by The Beach Boys... Source Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/p...

We’ve made it to 600, and in spite of the seemingly never-ending buffet of bad news that got our hosts talking in the first place, we manage to have a good time. Our first guest is Noah Rothman, whose latest book, The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives’ War on Fun, takes a deep dive into the fanatics out to break up our good time. Then Toby Young (host of Ricochet’s very....