Politics + Media 101

John sits down with journalist and author Joshua Green, author of The Rebels, a new book on left-wing American populism. Joshua previously wrote The Devil's Bargain, which profiled Steve Bannon and the populist movement in the Republican Party. John and Joshua discuss the overlap between these two populist camps, the differences among key leaders of the progressive movement, and whether a left-wing populist candidate can win a...

Justin & John sit down with Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign-affairs correspondent at The Wall Street Journal. Yaroslav has covered wars and terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, and now reports on a war in his own home country, Ukraine. Yaroslav's new book Our Enemies Will Vanish offers stories and lessons from the first year after Russia's massive escalation against the country.

Buy the book here: h...

To learn more about presidential impeachment, Justin and John sit down with Professor Michael J. Gerhardt, the leading scholar of American impeachment law. Gerhardt appeared as an expert witness in the impeachments of both President Trump and President Clinton, and he recently appeared as a witness in the impeachment inquiry of President Biden.

Gerhardt is the author of many books on impeachment. His latest book on the sub...

On Sunday, December 10th, Argentina inaugurated a new president, the eccentric "anarcho-capitalist" Javier Milei. To learn about this new chapter in South American history, Justin and John sit down with Ariel González Levaggi, an academic at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Ariel describes Argentina's journey fr...

Justin and John sit down with  Astead Herdon, national politics reporter for The New York Times and host of the podcast “The Run-Up.” Astead recently published a major profile of Kamala Harris, including an exclusive interview he conducted with the vice president herself. With the PM101 team, he discusses his reporting on Harris, describing her difficulty building a national public persona despite her successful career as a prosecu...

In a special crossover episode, Justin and John sit down for a wide-ranging conversation with the hosts of Beyond Politics, Paul Hodes and Matt Robison. 

Paul is a former U.S. Congressman who represented Justin and John's home district in New Hampshire. Matt is a senior political strategist who served as Paul's chief of staff. Together, the group talk about the changes to the American political system that they&a...

A month into the devastating war between Israel and Hamas, Justin and John sit down with diplomat and analyst Aaron David Miller. An expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Aaron spent 25 years at the U.S. State Department advising Republican and Democratic secretaries of state on Middle East policy.

Aaron describes how the horrific terror attacks on October 7th have affected Israel, how Israel and the United States pe...

India and Canada are engaged in a heated diplomatic dispute after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of planning the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, near Vancouver. Indian officials deny the allegation and accuse Canada of harboring terrorists affiliated with the secessionist Khalistan movement.

To discuss these events, John sits down with Sadanand Dhume, Wall Street J...

Justin and John discuss the efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The two countries have been moving steadily towards strategic convergence, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has requested major concessions from the United States before formally establishing ties. John explains the Saudi approach and the reasons that American political figures - including Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Jared Kushner...

After recent health scares for Senator Mitch McConnell, Justin and John discuss the difficult issues of age and health in political leaders. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Grassley are often criticized for delaying retirement, as is President Joe Biden. Justin recalls his experiences working with the office of Senator Thad Cochran, a powerful Senator who handed his responsibilities to his staff when his health declined. John o...

Justin and John sit with Evan Drellich, senior writer at The Athletic. The group discuss baseball's major changes to game rules, assessing whether the sport can regain its place as the most popular pastime in American culture. Despite momentum with attendance and ratings, baseball faces challenges in a fragmented media system.

Evan is the author of Winning Fixes Everything, a recent book about the Houston Astros cheat...

A recent Wall Street Journal article reports that China and Cuba are working to establish a spy facility 100 miles from Florida.  To understand this development, John sits down with Dr. Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College and a Senior Associate at CSIS. Dr. Ellis describes China's activities in Latin America, assesses the level of threat, and evaluates the Biden administratio...

Justin and John sit down with technology reporter Katie Notopolous to discuss the new app Threads, launched in July by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta. The app seeks to supplant Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, as the leading platform for microblogging and text-based social media. Katie gives her assessment of the new app's strengths and weaknesses, addresses the rivalry between the two enigmatic founders, and offers her thoughts ...

The Daily Beast's Matt Lewis sits down with John and Justin to discuss his new book, Filthy Rich Politicians. Matt explains how politicians get rich through leveraging their position as elected officials -- legalized corruptions of sorts, including book deals and stock trading. Matt examines Marjorie Taylor Greene, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and many more politicians in this interview. 

You can buy Matt's book her...