Episodes

  • Iran’s Next Move

    Iran’s Next Move
    Jul 3 2025
    Harry talks with Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and one of the country's foremost experts on Iran. Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at least damaged their targets and a ceasefire is holding. But will the U.S. strikes force Iran to abandon its drive for a nuclear weapon, or just fuel its desperation? Should the U.S. fear reprisals? And what would it take to bring real, lasting change to Iran? Sadjadpour offers some answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    33 mins
  • The Corrections

    The Corrections
    Jun 30 2025
    It was a week of legal, political, & military battles. Trump bombed Iran but with less definitive results than he had proclaimed, leaving next moves up in the air. A relative unknown stormed to victory in the NYC Dem primary, triggering widespread analysis of what if anything it showed about the state of the party. The Supreme Court ended its term with a series of 6-3 rulings. And Trump DOJ enforcer Emil Bove had a hearing for a judgeship amid widespread accusations of improper conduct at DOJ. Read Josh's post about Mamdani’s Win: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/three-and-one-half-thoughts-on-mamdanis-big-big-win Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Cory Booker’s Long Stand

    Cory Booker’s Long Stand
    Jun 26 2025
    Recorded live at Talking San Diego, Senator Cory Booker charts the personal and political path that led him from the streets of Newark to the well of the Senate—and to the longest speech in congressional history. With urgency and candor, he reflects on what it means to watch democracy erode in real time, and why moral imagination is now a political necessity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Trump at War

    Trump at War
    Jun 23 2025
    The episode starts with a 20-minute discussion with War Powers expert Rich Bernstein about Saturday’s bombing of Iran. From there we go to our Friday roundtable of Talking Feds stalwarts–Jason Kander, Norm Ornstein, & Jacob Weisberg. We focus on both the prospective bombing of Iran and the domestic use of force in CA & elsewhere. The court of appeals opinion green-lighting the federalization of the national guard in CA raises the prospect of an expansion to different big cities in blue states. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • How Social Media Broke Democracy and Childhood

    How Social Media Broke Democracy and Childhood
    Jun 19 2025
    Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt joins Harry Litman to discuss his bestselling book "The Anxious Generation" and how the shift to smartphone-based childhood around 2012 triggered a mental health crisis—especially among liberal girls. Haidt explains his moral foundations theory, why Americans can't agree on basic facts anymore, and how social media created a "curse of Babel" that's undermining both democracy and child development. Plus: his four practical norms for rolling back the phone-based childhood and why we may be accidentally training kids for authoritarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    51 mins
  • California Screamin'

    California Screamin'
    Jun 16 2025
    A wild, turbulent, and ugly week. Trump used protests to his immigration operations in LA to declare a “rebellion” and federalize the national guard. A court decision rejecting the move was itself stayed, leaving the situation tense and tenuous. Sen. Padilla was roughed up and arrested when he tried to ask a question at a press conference. Meanwhile, the Administration brought Abrego-Garcia back only to charge him with crimes, and an effort to have Congress ratify DOGE cuts looked likely to fail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Who Is Government, Really? with Michael Lewis

    Who Is Government, Really? with Michael Lewis
    Jun 12 2025
    Harry sits down with Michael Lewis—author of Moneyball and The Fifth Risk—to discuss Who Is Government?, his new book spotlighting the unsung public servants who quietly hold the country together. They trace the project’s roots to Trump’s chaotic transition, explore the GOP-led assault on federal expertise, and ask: Can the damage be undone? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    45 mins
  • Caught in a Bad Bromance

    Caught in a Bad Bromance
    Jun 9 2025
    It was a week in which events looked to be spinning out of control on multiple fronts. The bromance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump hit the rocks and broke to smithereens, with Musk by week's end calling for Trump's impeachment. The Big Beautiful Bill looked likewise to be at rough shoals, w/ several R's threatening to leave the fold. More courts ruled against the gov, especially in alien cases, and the gov reversed ground and brought Abrego Garcia home, only to charge him with federal crimes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 mins