Episodes

  • MAGA Grievance: A Short History

    MAGA Grievance: A Short History
    Apr 21 2025
    The Atlantic's Peter Wehner offers insights into the transformation of the GOP from the party that passed PEPFAR to the MAGA warriors of today.

    The Mona Charen Show is a weekly, one-on-one discussion that goes in depth on political and cultural topics. New shows drop Mondays. Find this show wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.

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    REFERENCES:

    • Peter’s recent work at The Atlantic

    • Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

    • The Closing of the American Mindby Allan Bloom

    • The Power of the Powerless and Summer Meditations by Václav Havel

    • The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

    • 1984 by George Orwell
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Is Free Speech on Life Support?

    Is Free Speech on Life Support?
    Apr 14 2025

    Greg Lukianoff of FIRE joins Mona to discuss why free speech matters (hint, it's not for the powerful) and how left and right are attempting to destroy it.

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    REFERENCES:

    The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All―But There Is a Solution by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott.
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Bad Politics Poisons Science

    Bad Politics Poisons Science
    Apr 7 2025
    The Atlantic's Helen Lewis joins Mona to talk about Andrew Tate, backlash to MAGA in Europe, and how polarization suppresses reasonable doubts about treatment of trans kids.

    References:

    When You’re MAGA, They Let You Do It...     Why Trumpworld is just fine with Andrew Tate’s violent misogyny, by Helen Lewis

    The Global Populist Right Has a MAGA Problem... In Europe, Trump looks too extreme even for many right-wing insurgents, by Helen Lewis

    What the Left Refused to Understand About Women’s Sports... Female athletes said competing against trans women was an injustice, by Helen Lewis.

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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • A Small d Democratic Hero

    A Small d Democratic Hero
    Mar 31 2025
    In this show before a live audience, Mona talks with Stephen Richer about standing up for reality, tangling with Kari Lake, and his political future.

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    34 mins
  • Crooks, Crackpots, Extremists, and Putinists

    Crooks, Crackpots, Extremists, and Putinists
    Mar 24 2025
    David Frum joins Mona to discuss Trump's Canada gripes, how tariffs will/are sabotaging America, NATO, defying court orders, and how best to counter all of it.

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    REFERENCES:
    Why Cede the Flag to Trump? by David Frum in The Atlantic (2017)
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    57 mins
  • An Insider's View of RFK, Jr. and the Risks to Public Health

    An Insider's View of RFK, Jr. and the Risks to Public Health
    Mar 17 2025
    Famed virologist Dr. Paul Offit describes his encounters with RFK, Jr., vaccine misinformation, trust in medicine, and what he fears most.

    REFERENCES:

    • Dr. Paul Offit’s Books:

      • Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All

      • The Cutter Incident(about a polio vaccine gone wrong)

    • Historical Vaccine References:

      • The Cutter Incident (1950s polio vaccine failure)

      • The history of polio, iron lungs, and the development of the Salk and Sabin vaccines.

      • The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

      • The impact of vaccines on childhood diseases like diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, and rotavirus.

    • Andrew Wakefield and Vaccine-Autism Misinformation:

      • Wakefield’s 1998 Lancet paper (later retracted) linking MMR vaccines to autism.

      • The role of The Lancet and editor Richard Horton.

      • The legal and financial conflicts of interest that led to Wakefield’s discrediting.

    • Anti-Vaccine Movement History:

      • The Anti-Vaccination League (1800s opposition to smallpox vaccine).

      • NBC’s DPT Vaccine Roulette (1980s), which fueled fears about the whooping cough vaccine.

      • RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine activism and misinformation campaigns.

      • The impact of anti-vaccine movements in places like Samoa, leading to deadly measles outbreaks.

    • Current Vaccine Issues and Policy Changes:

      • RFK Jr.'s role in the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) and vaccine policy.

      • The cancellation of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting.
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    47 mins
  • DOGE'S Bogus Cost Cutting

    DOGE'S Bogus Cost Cutting
    Mar 10 2025
    The Manhattan Institute's Jessica Reidl explains the fake fiscal posturing of DOGE as well as the ground truths about deficits and national debt. Predictions: More inflation, lower growth, less prosperity.
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    43 mins
  • Some Tough Love for Democrats

    Some Tough Love for Democrats
    Mar 8 2025
    Josh Barro joins Mona to discuss where the party needs to change, refocus on practical governance, and how to broaden its appeal to win elections against a rising Republican authoritarian threat.

    References

    • Josh Barro's Substack – Very Serious

      • Democrats Need Their Own DEI Purge by Josh Barro

    • Josh Barro's Podcast – Serious Trouble (with Ken White)
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    53 mins
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