Shows / The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Commentary is America's premier monthly magazine of opinion: General, yet Jewish. Highly variegated, with a unifying perspective.Listen to The Commentary Magazine Podcast, along with more than 40 other original podcasts, at Ricochet.com. No paid subscription required.
Episodes
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Meaning of Israel's Oct. 7 Failures
Journalist Jonathan Foreman joins the podcast today for a deep look at his seminal May 2025 COMMENTARY lead article, "The Untold Story of How Israel Failed on…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Do It Right!
The larger goals of the Trump administration are threatened by incompetent execution. The problem is that for many, making policy stick isn't as important as…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Chaos, Chaos Everywhere
Messes at the Pentagon, at the State Department, at Treasury, at the Department of Justice, and with tariff policy—can this administration survive itself, let…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Eugenics and the Manosphere Anti-Semites
Eli Lake joins today's podcast as we discuss two major articles in the May issue of COMMENTARY: Christine Rosen on "consumer eugenics" and Seth Mandel on the…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump's Restrainers, Restraining Israel
A two-hander today as Abe Greenwald and I delve Talmudically into the New York Times story on how Donald Trump decided not to participate in an Israeli strike…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Fight Fiercely, Harvard?
Eliana Johnson joins us today from the Washington Free Beacon to discuss the Trump-Harvard fight, Steve Witkoff's walk-back on Iran, and the firebombing of…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
So Where Are the Great Negotiations?
On several fronts—the tariffs, Ukraine, and Iran in particular—we strain to see the supposed negotiating genius of Donald Trump and his team. And what of the…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Bungling the Good Things
When the Trump administration isn't doing unpopular things, it's doing popular things the wrong way. From bad actors abroad to the courts, we discuss the…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Larry Tate Trumpians
Donald Trump backs down on the tariffs and according to his fan base, this is a mark of his Machiavellian genius. This would seem to have something in common…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump, China, Trade, and Covid
The 104 percent tariff on China is kicking off a very risky conflict with the People's Republic with potential geopolitical and military ramifications. Is it…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Supremes Step In
Constitutional scholar Adam White joins us to talk about the surprisingly complex Supreme Court edit on the plane deportations to El Salvador and what it…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Intellectual Trade Deficit
The fallout from Trump's colossal trade-tariff moves has only just begun. What are the effects on the GOP? On the possibility of the Democrats finding their…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
How Did We Get Here?
Did the successive national shocks of the past half-century lead to the shock of "Liberation Day"? That was the focus of my COMMENTARY daily newsletter from…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Well, He Did It
David Bahnsen joins us today to discuss the Trump tariff earthquake and whether it's here to stay, will somehow be walked back, and whether any good can come…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Musk, Stefanik, Liberation from What?
Special elections last night offered a mixed picture of the political mood in the country, even as Democrats seem to be seizing on the idea that their path to…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
April Fool's: Kamala Harris
How did it happen that Kamala Harris ever rose to the summit? What forces led her there, and what does it mean that she was stopped and that Trump won over her…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Two Faces of Trump
his weekend we saw Bad Trump—the one saying he could serve a third term because of, you know, reasons—and Good Trump—the one saying Putin and Iran are angering…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Running Government as a Business
We discuss the defense proffered by Elon Musk and his Doge team in a fascinating interview last night on Bret Baier's Fox show for their actions and why, while…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Car Talk
No, we're not Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers; we're the COMMENTARY podcast and we're here to discuss automobile tariffs and the dangers thereto. Not to…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Does the Signal Scandal Matter?
Eli Lake joins us today to discuss the continuing fallout from the inadvertent addition of a journalist to a discussion at the highest levels of America's…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Signal Scandal and the COVID Conmen
We talk today about the three elements of the story about a journalist finding himself on the text chain revealing the deepest secret of the Trump…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Are Dems at a 50-Year Low?
Data from Democrats themselves indicate the party's fortunes are historically poor, and we spend the podcast discussing how they got themselves into this hole…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Rescuing Astronauts and Fighting Eco-Nuts
James B. Meigs joins today's podcast to discuss the return from space of the astronauts stranded for nine months after the failure of their Boeing craft and…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Inflation, the Economy, and Drugs
David Bahnsen and Tevi Troy join us today to talk about the Fed and its talk of inflation and uncertainty, and Tevi's lead article in the April issue of…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump, Year Zero
With Trump and Putin negotiating with each other in an attempt to force a resolution onto Ukraine, the question arises: How do former American agreements bind…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Lighting Up Gaza
Jonathan Schanzer joins the podcast to discuss Israel's aggressive moves against Hamas in Gaza as the "cease-fire" that ended 18 days ago really came to an…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
15 Things Just That Happened
How to keep up with the news? You can't. There's too much of it. Even over a weekend. We try to catch up. Wow. Give a listen. Learn more about your ad choices…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Ten Years of Podcasting
Founding father Noah Rothman joins us today to discuss the day's news before we offer a brief history of the birth, evolution, and growth of the COMMENTARY…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Green Carding of America
Liel Leibovitz joins us today to discuss the ongoing controversy over the immigration and speech status of Columbia extremist Mahmoud Khalil and how he, as…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Help! Everything Is Too Confusing!
Today's podcast is an effort to help me find my bearings in a world in which Ukraine agrees to a cease-fire, RFK Jr. is doing an ad for Steak'n'Shake, Donald…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Mahmoud Khalil and Casey Stengel
The question we ask on today's podcast about the Trump administration is simple: "Can't anybody here play this game?" What game? We explain and you should give…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump's War on Campus Anti-Semitism
Tough times at Columbia University as hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money are revoked and a leader of the pro-Hamas protests is taken into custody…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
First Person Singularity
We take an offbeat tack today, jumping off from a landmark achievement in the world of AI to ask just how close we are to the "singularity," and what that…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Hamas, Campus Anti-Semites, and Ukraine
What does Donald Trump's new threat against Hamas mean for the next phase of the hostage deal? And what options does the administration have for cracking down…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump Humiliates the Democrats
The not-really-a-State-of-the-Union on Tuesday night was notable more for the self-destructive shenanigans of the Democrats in the Capitol than it was for the…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Why Does Trump Want to Raise Prices?
The tariffs now imposed on Mexico, Canada, and China threaten to hit Americans in the pocketbook, and given the results of the last election, we discuss why…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Oscars, Ukraine, and Gaza Aid
What's with all the "sex worker" talk at the Oscars? Why couldn't Adrien Brody just condemn anti-Semitism in his acceptance speech for a role in which he plays…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
EMERGENCY POD: Oval Office Horrorshow
The jaw-dropping Oval Office set-to between Trump, Vance, and Zelenskyy is the subject of this emergency podcast. A grave moment for the United States. Give a…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
It's a Conspiracy!
Rob Long joins us today to discuss Trump's gaslighting on Ukraine, the fight over the Jeffrey Epstein documents, and whether the Oscars might go Hamas. Give a…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Post Changes and the Book on Biden
A media-centric show today, as we examine Jeff Bezos's announcement of changes to the opinion policies of the Washington Post, the complaints of the White…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The House Vote and the Hostage Funerals
Republicans get done what they needed to get done in the House of Representatives. And in Israel, hostages are buried and painful eulogies delivered, which we…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Not a Great Couple of Days for Trump
The courts are balking, Macron is correcting, the vote on Ukraine was shameful, and appointing a podcaster to be #2 at the FBI is dumb. It's 35 days in; maybe…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump Fealty, Ukraine, and Crowd Size
Today's podcast asks: Are Trump officials finding it necessary to echo the boss's "Ukraine started the war" in the same way Trump officials in the first month…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Israel's Stark Choices
Jonathan Schanzer joins us after the monstrous day in which Gazans danced around the coffins of a baby and a toddler who, we learned, had both been shot in the…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Absolute Horror of Hamas
Today we discuss Hamas's killing of the Bibas children and the choices facing Israel as the next phase of the hostage/cease-fire deal approaches. We then move…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump, Musk, and Ukraine
The podcast analyzes Donald Trump and Elon Musk's joint interview with Sean Hannity before trying to figure out what's going on with Trump accusing Ukraine of…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
DOGE Soldiers
If you want to move fast and break things, the problem is that you may break things you want—and you'll look sloppy, careless, and incompetent in the process…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Gallant: Not a Goofus
Dan Senor joins the podcast today to discuss his remarkable conversation with former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on his Call Me Back podcast and its…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Adams Case
Eli Lake joins the podcast to discuss the resignation of the interim U.S. attorney in New York and her argument that she could not in good conscience carry out…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Dark Times for Ukraine
Donald Trump's moves to end the war between Russia and Ukraine suggests he is pursuing a kind of foreign policy we haven't seen in the United States since the…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Man Who Sat in the Oval
As liberals continue to criticize and make fun of Donald Trump's Gaza clearance plan, it still stands as the only proposal on the table—so it's more likely to…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump's Hostage Deadline
Today Ruthie Blum joins the podcast to discuss Donald Trump's demand for Hamas to release all hostages by Saturday at noon. What happens next and what choices…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Trump at the Super Bowl
How does the president's appearance at the Super Bowl connect to his aggressive moves against the federal government's overspending? It does in ways you…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Mark His Words
Mark Halperin joins the podcast today to provide an overview on what he believes is an unprecedented and overwhelming beginning to Trump 2—and why Trump's…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Common Sense and the Liberals
What happened to the liberal ideal of speaking for and about common sense? How did America's liberals become advocates for wildly radical ideas? Is there a…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Eyeful in Gaza
Donald Trump says America will take "an ownership position" in a Gaza that is emptied, cleared, and rebuilt. This epochal proposal, with no precedent and no…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Are We Suckers?
In the morning, a tariff war; in the evening, a declaration of a truce in the tariff war. If there's no tariff war, was there ever going to be a tariff war?…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Tariff Madness
As Donald Trump attempts to impose a foreign and economic policy regime that has been in the doghouse for eight decades now, he is staking his presidency on…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
The Conspiracists Have Their Day
James B. Meigs joins the podcast to talk about the DC plane-helicopter collision and what it tells us about disasters, after which we examine the…
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast
Confirming the Unconfirmable
Will RFK Jr. make it through after his contentious confirmation hearing? How will Tulsi Gabbard fare, and what is behind the MAGA intellectual passion for her…