American Wonk

Today, our topic is the state of the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. We’re recording this podcast just after Congress has come back to Washington from the Fourth of July recess. The Senate Republican health care bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, is on thin ice, with about ten Republican Senators […]

On this month’s episode of American Wonk, our topic is: What the heck is going on between Donald Trump, James Comey, and Russia? Is there fire underneath all that smoke? Is the President in any kind of legal jeopardy? To answer these questions, we needed to go to someone who could wonk out with us […]

In our last episode, taped in March of 2017, we spoke to Zeke Emanuel, one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act. Today, we’re going to talk to one of the guys who has played a leading role in thinking about how to replace Obamacare: Lanhee Chen. Lanhee is best known for his role […]

A lot of you have been waiting for us to talk health care at American Wonk. But we wanted to save it for a really special guest. And today, we have him. Zeke Emanuel, Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, joins us. Zeke, as you know, was one of the key […]

Well, Month One of the Trump Presidency hasn’t been boring. There are so many things we could talk about, but on this episode of American Wonk, we focus on one story in particular: the appointment and subsequent ouster of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as U.S. National Security Advisor. President Trump has a conspicuously more […]

Presidential elections happen every four years. But presidential transitions don’t. The last time we had a Republican president replace a Democratic one was in 2001. To give us some historical context on presidential transitions, and to evaluate how Donald Trump’s transition is going, Avik Roy turns to Tevi Troy, who was the domestic policy director for Mitt […]

In this episode of American Wonk, Avik Roy returns to the topic of the 2016 election with the guy who had it all figured out before anyone else: Sean Trende the Senior Elections Analyst at RealClearPolitics and author of The Lost Majority: Why the Future of Government is Up for Grabs and Who Will Take It. Sean also […]

On Tuesday, Donald Trump shocked the world and defied the polls by beating Hillary Clinton and winning the presidential election. What can we learn from his victory, and what does it bode for the future of the GOP? Emily Ekins, research fellow at the Cato Institute and member of the Board of Advisors of the […]

American Wonk covers a wide range of topics, with a focus on domestic and foreign policy. Avik explores important ideas and policies with the experts who know them best--right or left--and ask challenging questions to all, in the spirit of Bill Buckley.

American Wonk covers a wide range of topics, with a focus on domestic and foreign policy. Avik explores important ideas and policies with the experts who know them best--right or left--and ask challenging questions to all, in the spirit of Bill Buckley.